Hans Swarowsky
Known as widely for his teaching as for his orchestral direction, Hans Swarowsky had much to share with a younger generation of musicians. He studied composition and conducting with several of the twentieth century's greatest icons, absorbing and exercising what he had learned in a respected career as a conductor. Despite an uneven cast, his recording of Wagner's Ring cycle, taped in Prague, has considerable power and poetry.
Born in Hungary, Swarowsky studied in Vienna with composers Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern and trained in conducting with Felix Weingartner, Richard Strauss, and Clemens Krauss. His engagements subsequently took him to many parts of Europe, first to Stuttgart and Hamburg, later to Berlin (1934), Zürich (1937-1940), and Krakow (1944-1946).
Following several harrowing experiences in flight from the Nazis, Swarowsky found his career stabilized once more in the postwar period with an engagement at Graz from 1947-1950. During this time and in subsequent assignments at the Wiener Staatsoper, Swarowsky was recognized as a conductor with a long measure of technical expertise. Thus, his classes at Vienna's Academy of Music and the Performing Arts, where he had been professor of conducting since 1946, drew a remarkable pool of aspiring young musicians. Among them were Claudio Abbado, Jesús López-Cobos, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinopoli, and Bruno Weil, later to be among the most prominent of their generation. Vienna's Hans Swarowsky International Conductors' Competition has attracted musicians from all parts of the globe, becoming in the process one of the world's most important clearing houses for rising talent.
From 1957 to 1959, Swarowsky served as chief conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra. In 1959, he was appointed chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra; together with his service to that ensemble, he continued to appear with the Wiener Staatsoper.
In addition to performing compositions from the Classical and Romantic periods, Swarowsky served his own age with diligence. Aside from Strauss and Webern, composers such as Britten, Einem, Hindemith, Pfitzner, and Stravinsky figured prominently in the conductor's programming. Among his recordings for Concert Hall, Erato, Nonesuch, Vanguard, Vox, and Weltbild, he committed to disc an especially delightful set of orchestral suites from Humperdinck operas.
© TiVo
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Mozart: Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201
Bamberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on May 17, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Die Walkure Highlights
Grosses Symphonieorchester, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Gotterdammerung Highlights
Grosses Symphonieorchestra, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Die Walkure
Grosses Symphonieorchester, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Siegfried Highlights
Grosses Symphonieorchster, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on Jul 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1, Impromptus Nos. 1-3 & Fantasy-Impromptu
Mieczysław Horszowski, Wiener Symphoniker, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 2 and Solo Piano Works
Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky, Rena Kyriakou
Classical - Released by HORTUS on Jan 11, 1991
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Four Symphonies
Süddeutsche Philharmonie, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Das Rheingold Highlights
Grosses Symphonieorchster, Hans Swarowsky
Gospel - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn - Piano Concerto No. 2 - Scherzo A Capriccio
Rena Kyriakou, Felix Mendelssohn, Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Siegfried
Grosses Symphonieorchester, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Gotterdammerung
Grosses Symphonieorchester, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Bamberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on May 17, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Overtures
Bamberger Symphoniker, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Allegretto on Jan 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385 (Digitally Remastered)
Bamberger Symphoniker, Hans Swarowsky
Symphonic Music - Released by EMG Classical on Nov 13, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Operní předehry I.
Hans Swarowsky, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Supraphon a.s. on Sep 25, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV75
South German Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on May 17, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Greatest Romantic Mezzo Arias
Hans Swarowsky, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Rita Noel
Classical - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on May 17, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 4, Hungarian Dance 1 & 2
Hans Swarowsky, Süddeutsche Philharmonie
Classical - Released by SendClassic on Aug 24, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms, Symphony No. 2, Op. 73 - Tragic Overture Op. 81
Hans Swarowsky, Süddeutsche Philharmonie
Classical - Released by SendMusic on Jun 23, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo