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2 unusual facts about Günter Wand


Günter Wand

From the early 1950s he guest-conducted a number of orchestras, making his London debut in 1951 with the London Symphony Orchestra.

After several recordings of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven with the Gürzenich for a French subscription collection in the mid-1950s, he made no studio recordings for nearly two decades with the exception of an appearance with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on Decca Records, accompanying Wilhelm Backhaus in Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto (his only recording with that orchestra).


Bern Symphony Orchestra

Reaching beyond Switzerland from the 1930s, the fame of the orchestra later attracted guest conductors including Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Ernest Ansermet, Hans Knappertsbusch, Ferenc Fricsay, Rafael Kubelík, Günter Wand, Kurt Sanderling, Horst Stein, Yuri Ahronovitch and Eliahu Inbal.

Bluthochzeit

Bluthochzeit – Orchestra and chorus of Cologne Opera conducted by Günter Wand (recorded 1 and 6 July 1957 by Westdeutscher Rundfunk, released 2007 as Volume 12 of The Günter Wand Edition).

Paul Baumgartner

However, he is nowadays mainly remembered as a teacher, numbering among his pupils Alfred Brendel, Karl Engel, Arie Vardi, Peter Efler and the conductor Günter Wand.


see also