Honorary Conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker

The critic Franz Endler summed it up in February 1993: “Even the musical life of Vienna would be in need of an artist of his quality as a permanent institution – a phrase that will certainly be written after every Wolfgang Sawallisch concert.” Three decades beforehand, Sawallisch was the first Chief Conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker (1960-1970) during the post-war transition to normalcy of what was then a locally safeguarded institution with an increasingly internationalized profile. Under his direction, the orchestra first toured the USA in 1964 and Japan in 1967 as part of a worldwide tour. The great success of these tours turned this important Viennese concert orchestra into an internationally recognized ensemble. Through a considerable number of LP recordings, including the complete orchestral works of Brahms, Sawallisch also succeeded in creating a prominent place for the Wiener Symphoniker in the recording world.

As the Karajan cycle concluded in the early 1960s, he provided the impetus for the emerging symphonic cycle that centred mainly around cyclical presentations of symphonic works by the great Classical and Romantic composers. During the economic boom of the 1960s, a kind of three-pillared model of orchestral performance developed that would remain in effect for quite some time. This model combined close attention to the orchestra’s core duties within Viennese concert life with international touring activities and a presence in the record market. After being absent for a decade, it was a pure stroke of luck for the Wiener Symphoniker that Wolfgang Sawallisch returned to the podium in 1980 to lead an extended European tour in honour of the orchestra’s eightieth birthday. This resulted in ongoing collaborations that would last for another quarter century. And so a period of forty-eight years lay between the first and last appearances of this great conductor with the Wiener Symphoniker, an interval of collaborative music-making that hardly any other conductor has equalled.

The musicians appreciated his unpretentious directness, which radiated collegial understanding and occasionally turned into Bavarian grouchiness: “My dear first violins, please play this passage piano for me! Of course you can do it!” With Sawallisch, one always felt in good hands: In the Interest of Clarity is the title of the first book that he wrote about music, and technical as well as interpretive clarity characterized his way of making music. Exhibitionistic displays were abhorrent to him, for he still belonged to the generation of conductors who placed the music – and not themselves – at the centre of their consciousness and considered it their sole, as well as their most distinguished obligation. This sometimes earned Sawallisch the reputation of a dry-dust academic among a fraternity of critics who increasingly presumed that originality of interpretation was the ultimate sign of quality. In their estimation, he always brought predictable results to the table, particularly because he did not get involved in the interpretive changeover as symbolized by the original instrument movement and Urtext editions. But anyone who ever made music with him could feel his passionate, unfailing love for music, which always stood at the forefront of his efforts to fittingly express it, efforts that were always shaped by a great sense of responsibility.

When Wolfgang Sawallisch gave up his active musical career for health reasons in 2005, an era that has a special place in the orchestra’s history truly came to a close. In gratitude for countless beautiful and memorable concerts, we wish our former principal conductor many happy years in the best of health.