• Tracks

On the occasion of Cambreling's 75th birthday the label SWR Classic releases on a 10 discs boxed set recordings made by the SWR between 1999 and 2011. Sylvain Cambreling was the chief conductor of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden and Freiburg between 1992-2016. When he took up his position at the broadcasting corporation Südwestrundfunk, he knew only too well that he was the successor to charismatic colleagues such as Hans Rosbaud, Ernest Bour and Michael Gielen, and did not have to be told that the orchestra's tradition was not geared towards providing wellness experiences for hedonistic listeners. He had been engaged because his programmes were daring, informative, suggestive, epoch-spanning, always a bit brushed the wrong way and disconcerting for he regards music as "intellectually stimulating material" and despises the beaten programme tracks. He met with an orchestra that was young, efficient and enthusiastic, and whose members were eager and willing to fulfil the task the broadcasting corporation had set: a strong commitment to New Music. Cambreling was and still is enormously hard-working, curious about anything new and complex, displays a versatility that is without competition, and is a great communicator: therefore, he was the ideal cast for this orchestra and it's tasks. The hymns of praise, specifically those of the foreign press, regularly (and not without envy) point out the qualities and possibilities of the orchestra and also the apparently reliable sponsorship from the broadcasting corporation. Just as reliable were the invitations from Salzburg, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Lisbon, Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence.