Leopold Ludwig
Leopold Ludwig was a leading Austrian conductor. Particularly well known as an opera conductor, he was also one of the first to make stereo LP recordings of symphonies of Gustav Mahler.
He learned piano as a boy and continued to study the instrument at the Vienna Conservatory with Emil Pauer. He began his conducting career in the traditional German manner, working himself up through a number of coaching and then conducting positions in provincial opera houses in south Germany and in Brno, Czechoslovakia.
He became the Music Director of the Oldenburg Staatsoper (State Opera) in 1936. Frequent guest conducting appearances in Berlin brought him to national attention, leading to his appointment as Principal Conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper in 1939. He became Principal Conductor of the Berlin Städtische Oper in 1943. After the war he continued in that position until 1951, and also frequently conducted at the Berlin Staatsoper. ("Städtische" means "Municipal"; the prefix "Staats-" means "State." The Berlin Städtische Oper is now the Deutsche Opera Berlin.)
In 1950, Ludwig was appointed General Music Director of the Hamburg Staatsoper, effective 1951. This was the base for his expanding international reputation, and he remained there until 1971. He was an active and effective administrator, and improved its artistic and musical standards. In 1952, he took it on an important festival visit, to the Edinburgh Festival in the United Kingdom, beginning a practice of taking to major foreign venues and festivals. (Another of the company's most important overseas visits was to the Lincoln Center Festival in New York in 1967). He also modernized and broadened the company's repertory.
He also made notable guest conducting appearances. He debuted in the United States at the San Francisco Opera in 1958, frequently returning there through 1968. He led the Glyndebourne (England) Festival Opera's first production of Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier in 1959. He championed Paul Hindemith's opera Mathis der Maler in a series of performances in 1967, though a series of cuts he made in it were considered questionable. His first appearance with the Metropolitan Opera House in New York was in 1970, leading Wagner's Parsifal.
He conducted in concerts with many leading orchestras. With the London Symphony Orchestra he made a pioneering recording of Mahler's Ninth Symphony, and conducted such leading orchestras as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra. He was known for his calm platform demeanor and lack of flashiness. He was always praised for his competence and way with balancing orchestral sounds to make outstanding effects, though some detractors sometimes rated him as highly competent and sometimes less than inspired.
© TiVo
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Beethoven: Concerto pour piano No. 4 (Stereo Version)
Emil Gilels, Leopold Ludwig, Philharmonia Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by Everest on 6/10/2017
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" (Stereo Version)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Ludwig, Emil Gilels
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr.2 f-moll op.21 / Polonaisen Nr.6 op.53 & Nr. 3 op. 40 Nr.1
Stefan Askenase, Berliner Philharmoniker, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1/01/2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 "From the New World" (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by Everest on 6/10/2017
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Airs
Birgit Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Leopold Ludwig, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 4/02/2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished" - Mozart: Symphony No. 40 (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by Everest on 6/10/2017
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 2
Berliner Philharmoniker, Leopold Ludwig, Richard Kraus
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1/01/1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Piano Concerto Nos. 1, S.124 & 2, S.125 / Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2
Andor Foldes, Berliner Philharmoniker, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 19/02/2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
Emil Gilels, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Leopold Ludwig, André Cluytens
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on 22/05/2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by Everest on 6/10/2017
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Cardillac; Mathis der Maler (Excerpts)
WDR Sinfonieorchester, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Joseph Keilberth, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1/01/2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : 5 Concertos pour piano (Mono Version)
Emil Gilels, Leopold Ludwig, Philharmonia Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner & Verdi: Airs d'opéra (Mono Version)
Birgit Nilsson, Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Quintette pour clarinette et cordes & Variations sur un thème de Haydn (Mono Version)
Reginald Kell, The Fine Arts Quartet, Leopold Ludwig
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Les préludes, S. 97 (Mono Version)
Leopold Ludwig, Berliner Philharmoniker
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Concerto pour piano No. 5, Op. 73, "L'empereur" (Stereo Version)
Emil Gilels, Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Ludwig
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tosca - Giacomo Puccini
Opera - Released by Preiser Records on 1/10/1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphonie No. 7, Op. 92 - Die Weihe des Hauses
Bamberger Symphoniker, Leopold Ludwig, Berliner Konzertchor, Berliner Symphoniker, Hans-Hubert Schönzeler
Classical - Released by Adora on 23/04/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler, Opern-Ausschnitte (Stereo Version)
Pilar Lorengar, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Leopold Ludwig
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach: Orphée aux enfers, Ouverture (Mono Version)
Leopold Ludwig, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo