SWF-Sinfonieorchester

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The SWF-Sinfonieorchester was the symphony orchestra of the south-west German broadcaster Südwestfunk, based in Baden-Baden. The orchestra began in 1946, at first with members of the town's disbanded spa orchestra. When that spa orchestra was revived two years later, the radio orchestra was reconstituted. Hans Rosbaud became the first chief conductor. He was known as an advocate of modern music, and the music director Heinrich Strobel also set great store by contemporary composers. As a result the orchestra's emphasis lay on new music.

Music and breakthrough

After Rosbaud (1948 to 1962) the orchestra was led by, among others, Ernest Bour, Kazimierz Kord, Michael Gielen and Sylvain Cambreling. In 1998 Südwestfunk merged into Südwestrundfunk, which took over the orchestra. The orchestra made commercial recordings for the Hänssler label, including music by Messiaen, Bartók, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Wolfgang Rihm. In 2012 the broadcaster decided on a merger with the Stuttgart radio orchestra. The orchestra gave its last concert in Freiburg in 2016, under François-Xavier Roth. The new orchestra is called the SWR Symphonieorchester.

Influence

One of the most widely heard recordings by this orchestra is Atmospheres by György Ligeti, conducted by Ernest Bour, which is on the soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this way avant-garde orchestral music reached a large audience outside the concert hall.

Listening