Chamber orchestra of the Saarland Radio

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The Saarland Radio Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1953 by Karl Ristenpart , based in Saarlouis in the Saarland . As a chamber orchestra , the ensemble - initially under the name Saarlouis Chamber Orchestra - was primarily to perform works from the Baroque and Early Classical periods in public concerts, on radio broadcasts and on records .

Development phase

In the summer of 1953, the conductor Karl Ristenpart and head of the Berlin RIAS chamber orchestra accepted an offer from Radio Saarbrücken, which later became the Saarland Broadcasting Corporation , to found a new chamber orchestra in Saarland . This offer was based on the plan to use the new orchestra to produce recordings for both radio and a French record label.

Within a few weeks, Ristenpart built up his orchestra with 16 strings, of which he had brought 10 from Berlin, including the Berlin Hendel Quartet , whose primary violinist Georg Friedrich Hendel was hired as concertmaster. The winds, including the wind soloists, initially came from France, such as the flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal or the oboist Pierre Pierlot .

The first public concert was given in October 1953 - in Saarlouis in the Saarland , the seat of the orchestra in the development phase. So it came about that the ensemble was initially called the Saarlouis Chamber Orchestra , and later the Saarland Chamber Orchestra . At the beginning of the 1960s, after the completion of the new radio building on the Saarbrücker Halberg , the final renaming took place.

The Saarland Radio Chamber Orchestra

Karl Ristenpart's chamber orchestra was an independent orchestra, administratively equipped with its own location plan, thus completely separate from the large symphony orchestra of the Saarland radio. In the 14 years up to Ristenpart's death in December 1967, the chamber orchestra acquired a reputation as a top European ensemble for its interpretations of works from the baroque and pre-classical periods , but also for many works of new music . Hundreds of recordings for Saarland radio, the production of around 170 LPs , several times awarded the Grand Prix du Disque , many television programs in the ARD program and in the third programs and repeated concert tours are evidence of this.

Transition years

After Ristenpart's death in 1968, the cellist and conductor Antonio Janigro took over the direction of the orchestra until he left in 1972, supported by Wolfgang Hofmann , head of the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim. After that, from the 1973/74 season onwards, the chamber orchestra's positions were taken over in the large staff plan of the symphony orchestra, primarily to expand the playing strength of the large orchestra. Until they finally merged, the two ensembles were called the Saarbrücken Radio Chamber Orchestra and Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra

literature

  • Fritz Raff, Axel Buchholz (ed.): History and stories of the station on the Saar . 50 years of Saarland broadcasting. Herder, 2007.

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