Norddeutscher Rundfunk Orchester
Musical routes have taken Norddeutscher Rundfunk Orchester to the best and most prestigious concert halls in the world.
In the summer of 1945, when most of Germany was in ruins and a mass of rubble, an officer of the British Army of Occupation together with the conductor Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt went in search of musicians, who were able to play in a newly-formed symphony orchestra. Several months later the first public concert took place - this was the birth of the NDR Symphony Orchestra, which an American newspaper later termed "the old world's youngest major symphony orchestra"! It did not take long for the orchestra to become one of the leading representatives of musical life in Germany after the second world war, and in undertaking international concert tours, it gained world-wide recognition.
Under its chief conductors Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Moshe Atzmon, Klaus Tennstedt, Günter Wand and John Eliot Gardiner, the orchestra dedicated itself intensively to cultivating the great classical and romantic works, at the same time making a name for itself as an interpreter of contemporary music. World premieres of works by Bussotti, Henze, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Nono, Penderecki, Schönberg, Stravinsky and B.A. Zimmermann were performed by this orchestra.
Closely connected with the orchestra is Günter Wand, who became its chief conductor in 1982. In this capacity he directed the NDR Symphony Orchestras artistic course until 1990, at which time the orchestra chose him to be honorary chief conductor for life. Apart from the complete recordings of the Beethoven and Brahms symphonies, his recordings and live recordings of concert broadcasts of the Bruckner symphonies 3 - 9 have gained enthusiastic reviews from international music critics. Günter Wand died at home in Switzerland in February 2002.
John Eliot Gardiner was the orchestra’s chief conductor from 1991 to 1994: during this time a number of CDs were recorded: a selection of the Hungarian Dances by Brahms, the Bohemian Suite and the Symphonic Variations by Dvorák, a live recording of Brittens War Requiem performed at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, also the "Seven Deadly Sins" and a selection of songs by Kurt Weill with Anne Sofie von Otter as soloist. Rachmaninovs Symphonic Dances together with Janaceks Taras Bulba were released on CD in October 1995. A further CD is released with Anne Sofie von Otter as soloist: song cycles by Gustav Mahler (Songs of a Wayfarer/Rückert songs) and Zemlinsky (Maeterlinck Songs).
Since August 1996 the sixth chief conductor of NDR Symphony Orchestra was Herbert Blomstedt, whose ties to the orchestra go back twenty-five years, when Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt invited him to Hamburg to work with the orchestra - this resulted in a recording of Alban Bergs "Seven Early Songs". 1981 Herbert Blomstedt took over at short notice concert tours for Klaus Tennstedt and also for Kyrill Kondrashin after his sudden death. Following further concerts, the public was able to enjoy Herbert Blomstedt most recently together with the NDR Symphony Orchestra at the opening concerts of the 1995, 1996 and 1997 Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and at the orchestras 50th anniversary concert on November 1st, 1995.
At the start of the 2004/05 Christoph von Dohnányi continued the tradition of major conductor personalities in the top position with the NDR Symphony Orchestra, supported by Alan Gilbert in the position of First Guest Conductor.
Permanent guest conductor of the orchestra is the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. A number of his compositions have had their first performance under his baton and have been released on CD: his "Polish Requiem" for four solo voices, two mixed choirs and orchestra, as well as Symphony No. 2 and the Adagio (Symphony No. 4). Apart from its regular work for radio- and television programmes, the orchestra gives performances for concert series in Hamburg, Kiel and Lübeck, as well as numerous concert tours, which have taken it to the most famous concert platforms all over the world.
