Gunter Wand. “Striding across the 20th Century of Music Maestros”

A few days ago I was checking the dates of some of my favourite conductors whose work I’ve valued greatly most of my musical life. I was struck by the fact that a clutch of these conductors were all born within twenty years of each other but have left a vastly different audio footprint to posterity. 

Carl Schuricht (1880-1967) is the earliest whose recordings have left a lasting impression. He was sadly let down by EMI who wouldn’t lend the French EMI arm of Angel stereo equipment to record his Beethoven cycle in the late 1950s (except the Choral symphony), leaving an incredible cycle but only in mono sound. His Bruckner symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic are magnificent but again only Three, Eight and Nine get the full justice of a stereo recording with the VPO. 

Herman Scherchen (1891-1966) has left a legacy of many admired recordings but he was denied access to the VPO and had to make do with the Vienna Opera orchestra, which despite having Philharmonic players involved, was not the crack ensemble he deserved. His best recordings, however, did give him the Royal Philharmonic in London to record his Beethoven cycle and some very fine performances they are. 

Franz Konwitschny (1901-1962) found himself locked behind the Berlin Wall and had to record with the East German record company Deutsche Schallplatten. At least he was given the mighty Leipzig Gewandhaus to lead and his recordings despite their age offer some of the finest interpretations then available outside Western Europe. 

Klaus Tennstedt (1926-1998) offers us a chance to enjoy modern recordings with the top orchestras but sadly his health led him to an early retirement and we will write more about him following articles.  

Then we come to Gunter Wand (1912-2002). Wand leads us into the 21st century. Even though he didn’t record after the late 1990s, I think he offers us probably the best option for those wishing to hear a more traditional style of German conducting yet never lets up on the energy and conviction of their core genius. 

Wand recorded cycles of all the German repertoire and although he only emerged from the shadows in the mid-1970s his twenty-year audio career embraced the NDR Symphony, Cologne Radio Symphony and the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics. He also produced many radio recordings that have emerged in the twenty years since his death including those with the BBC Symphony of whom he was chief guest for a few years and whose BBC Prom concerts were a must-go event in the 90s. 

Wand’s ninety-year life led him to be a concert leader long after the others had departed the stage, but after listening to his recordings for a week, I think that if you want to get a first-class representation of the core German repertoire then you can’t go wrong by investing in Wand on CD (also streaming his performances). You can still find many Wand performances on CD and LP and I’ve included a few illustrations of the current availability on the internet. RCA for whom he recorded always gave him a fine sound stage and all the orchestras are very polished and play out of their chairs for this most respected and reserved man. 

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