WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
The WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, or West German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, is one of Germany's leading symphony orchestras. The group plays the music of various periods but has specialized in contemporary music, a specialty made possible by the fact that the WDR network also maintains another orchestra, the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, that performs lighter music and pops material.
The broadcast of orchestral music on the radio in Cologne dates back almost to the foundation of the Richessender Köln radio station in 1927. After World War II, Allied administrators announced the breakup of the central broadcasting of the Nazi era in favor of a system of regional broadcasters that persists today. The Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester was established to serve the new Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (Northwest German Radio), in 1947; the name was changed to WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln in the 1990s. In the beginning, the group hosted only guest conductors, but since 1964, when Christoph von Dohnányi was named principal conductor, the orchestra has reliably spawned international conducting careers. Recent principal conductors have included Hans Vonk (1991-1997), Semyon Bychkov (1997-2010), Jukka-Pekka Saraste (2010-2019), and, since 2019, Cristian Macelaru. Guest conductors have included international greats: Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, and Zubin Mehta, among others. The orchestra's contemporary music specialty dates back many years and has included premieres of works by Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. This tendency, along with the WDR's maintenance of its own electronic music studio directed for many years by Stockhausen, helped to establish Cologne as a center for contemporary music. The orchestra performs at the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie.
The WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln has recorded for both German and international labels. In 1989, under frequent guest conductor Günter Wand, the orchestra released recordings of Schubert's Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 ("The Great"), and Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 on RCA Red Seal. The orchestra has also recorded for Wergo, Audite, CPO, and many others. Although quite prolific, with more than 80 recordings to its credit as of the early 2020s, the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln has not been strongly associated with any single imprint. In 2020, the group released its first two albums on Sony Classical, Beethoven's World, and a release devoted to the violin concertos of Franz Joseph Clement, with violinist Mirijam Contzen and conductor Reinhard Goebel.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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BRUCKNER, A.: Symphony No. 7 (South West German Radio Symphony, Norrington)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Roger Norrington
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on Jan 1, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lohengrin, WWV 75
Opera - Released by Myto Historical on Aug 14, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cage Edition, Vol. 26: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Mayumi Miyata, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Classical - Released by Mode Records on Oct 22, 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ein deutsches Requiem, op. 45
WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, Hans Hotter, Agnes Giebel, Hans Bachem, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Sergiù Celibidache
Symphonic Music - Released by Myto Historical on Feb 1, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Klemperer Live in Cologne, Vol. 4 (Historical Recordings) [Live]
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Claudio Arrau, Otto Klemperer
Classical - Released by Archiphon on Sep 1, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Siegfried Wagner: Scenes & Arias
Iris Vermillion, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, Werner Andreas Albert
Opera - Released by CPO on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Höller: Sphären - Der ewige Tag
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, Semyon Bychkov
Classical - Released by NEOS Music on May 25, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Reger, Schubert & Schumann: Works for Piano
Eduard Erdmann, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by Orfeo on May 21, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss, R.: Horn Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Schoeck, O.: Horn Concerto, Op. 65 / Pfluger, H.-G.: Horn Concerto
Andrew Joy, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Werner Andreas Albert, Wolf-Dieter Hauschild
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on Jan 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn - Bartók - Reger: Piano Concertos, Vol. 1
Wolfram Lorenzen, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Ernest Bour, Jiri Starek, Reinhard Petersen
Classical - Released by Troubadisc on Sep 4, 2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Feldman: Beckett Material
Classical - Released by wergo on Apr 8, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Orchestral Works (Live)
Clifford Curzon, Sir Georg Solti, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Orchestre National de France
Classical - Released by Archipel on Oct 2, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aber der Richtige…
Arabella Steinbacher, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Lawrence Foster
Concertos - Released by PENTATONE on Oct 30, 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Henze: Ein Landarzt / Das Ende einer Welt
Opera - Released by wergo on Oct 11, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Manuel Hidalgo: Beethoven
Juditha Haeberlin, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Ensemble Resonanz, Lothar Zagrosek
Classical - Released by KAIROS on Jun 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14, H. 48
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, André Cluytens, Léopold Stokowski
Classical - Released by Archipel on Jul 25, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joseph Keilberth: Rare Recordings (1943-1957)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberger Symphoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Joseph Keilberth
Classical - Released by Andromeda on Feb 11, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Riehm: Shifting / Archipel Remix
Classical - Released by Wergo on Nov 11, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kessler: , Said the Shotgun to the Head. & Utopia II
Classical - Released by NEOS Music on Oct 24, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandi maestri dell'interpretazione: Clara Haskil, Vol. 1
Clara Haskil, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Orchestre Philarmonique de L'ORTF, Otto Ackermann, Paul Hindemith
Classical - Released by Stradivarius on Jan 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cologne, Vol. 1 (Live)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Anonyme, Otto Klemperer
Classical - Released by Archiphon on Jul 7, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo