“Karajan’s producer” on the podium – the complete recordings of Otto Gerdes for Deutsche Grammophon, including previously unpublished material and displaying some of the most thrilling versions of orchestral masterpieces to be recorded. Reviews for these recordings reached for superlatives: “a stunning disc from first moment to last” (Brahms 4); “Luminous sound” (Eugene Onegin); “rather sweeps the field” (Dvořák 9); “silence[s] all criticism” (Tannhäuser); “Trenchant interpretation” (Wagner Symphony in C)…

The 1961–62 cycle of Beethoven symphonies conducted by Herbert von Karajan is still celebrated for its technical as well as musical excellence. The recording producer was Otto Gerdes, who had joined DG in 1956 after working as a producer for Eterna in the former East Germany. He had trained as a conductor under Hermann Abendroth in his home city of Cologne and continued to conduct opera and concerts in Germany and Italy through the 1950s and 60s.

A notorious confrontation with Karajan led to Gerdes resuming his full-time career as a conductor, which led to a complete recording of Wagner’s Tannhäuser for DG, and the first stereo version of the composer’s early Symphony in C. Tannhäuser was cast with singers in their prime – Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – and German-language highlights of Eugene Onegin and Otello featured Fritz Wunderlich (as Lensky) and Fischer-Dieskau (as Onegin and Iago). 

In the early 1960s, Gerdes made three “test recordings” with the Berlin Philharmonic: the Fourth Symphony of Brahms, the “New World” by Dvořák and a collection of Wagner preludes. When released on LP, the symphonies were enthusiastically received for their old-school ebb and flow and Romantic intensity of expression. The Wagner recordings show Gerdes in full command of “Karajan’s orchestra”. 

The complete album of Hugo Wolf’s orchestral music is released on CD in its entirety for this first time, recorded live at the Musikverein in Vienna in 1968. This features Thomas Stewart and Evelyn Lear in the composer’s own orchestrations of his Lieder, as well as the Italian Serenade, and the rarely heard but enthralling tone-poem Penthesilea which shows Wolf at his most passionately inspired.

Additionally, there is a whole disc of previously unpublished material – overtures, ballet music and intermezzi.

Compiled together for the first time in an “Original Jackets” box, the DG recordings of Otto Gerdes pay tribute to a forgotten but significant figure in the recording world of the 1960s. The eventful story of Gerdes’s career is told in a new essay by Peter Quantrill, and all the recordings have been newly remastered.

“Gerdes is quite obviously a conductor of skill and, even more, a musician of integrity and powerful temperament. In fact, I found this a stunning disc from first moment to last, and the sound is superb.” – High Fidelity, August 1969 (Brahms: Symphony no.4)

“I would never have proposed an unknown conductor at work … the slow movement in particular is beautifully done … and at this price it rather sweeps the field.” – Gramophone, June 1968 (Dvořák: Symphony no.9)

“An instance of Wolf’s fevered mind at its most inflamed, and the performance [of Der Feuerreiter] is very much to the credit of Gerdes and the chorus.” – Saturday Review, New York, 1968 (Wolf: Penthesilea, etc.)

“Luminous sound … A first-rate group of singing actors … [Wunderlich’s] Lensky is filled with inescapable poignancy. Evelyn Lear is a womanly, impassioned, very attractive Tatyana … A desirable disc.” – Stereo Review, January 1969 (Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, highlights)

“Warm and penetrating interpretations … well worth your intention and investment.” – Birmingham News, June 1969 (Brahms: Symphony No. 4, etc.)

“Thrilling to find Wolf’s intensity and passion deployed here … The performance seems to me very striking.” – Gramophone, September 1969 (Wolf: Penthesilea, etc.)

“If you value technology highly, then this is your set. No doubt at all about that. It has a fine, fully fleshed sound of the utmost polish and clarity, as good as DGG’s best, which is saying a lot … As a conductor, Mr. Gerdes is impressive. He emphasizes clarity, almost to a Boulezian degree, and avoids lush romantic bounce; he refines and slims down the orchestra line, allowing the inner voices their just due.” – High Fidelity, December 1969 (Wagner: Tannhäuser)

“A Wolfram so tellingly characterised and so beautifully sung [by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau] as to silence all criticism: thanks are in order.” – Stereo Review, January 1970 (Wagner: Tannhäuser)

“Marvellously recorded … The performance itself is full of spirit, and with the Berlin Philharmonic in good form, this can hardly fail to give pleasure.” – Gramophone, October 1971 (Dvořák: Symphony no.9)

“Trenchant interpretation by the Bamberger Symphoniker, led by Otto Gerdes.” – Revue des deux mondes, April 1972 (Wagner: Symphony in C)

“Otto Gerdes’s reading is attractive and ebullient, and expressive playing from the Bambergers helps immensely … a very worthwhile recording.” – Hi-Fi News and Record Review, September 1972 (Wagner: Symphony in C, etc.)