Paul Angerer & Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim - Corelli: Concerti grossi, Op. 6 (1991)

Paul Angerer is an Austrian composer and conductor who is better known in the latter endeavor, especially for his numerous recordings. He has held positions with mostly second-tier orchestras and opera companies, though has managed to gain the respect of critics and public alike. He has also appeared in concerts as both a violist and violinist, acquitting himself well in both instrumental genres. His compositional style is conservative and divulges the influence of Hindemith. His catalog includes operatic and orchestral works, incidental music for the theater, oratorios, masses, and chamber music.

Angerer demonstrated unusual musical skills as a child and at age 14, enrolled at the Vienna Music Academy, where his instrumental studies included piano, organ, and violin. Like many violinists, he eventually extended his string-playing skills to include the viola. He also studied theory and composition at the academy and shortly after his 1946 graduation, he took a position in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra as a violist. At the 1948 Geneva Music Competition, he won a medal, which boosted his reputation and allowed him to take a more favorable post with Orchester de la Suisse Romande, from 1948 to 1953. Angerer also remained active as a pianist, organist, and composer during the early years of his career, though it was his orchestral work that provided him his means of support. He returned to the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1953 as the first-chair violist. A year later, he entered one of his organ compositions in the international music competition in Haarlem, Holland, and captured first prize. In 1956, Angerer resigned from his duties as violist with the VSO and accepted the appointment as conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He secured a second post in 1960 as conductor of the Vienna Burgtheater, for which he composed music for live dramas. He left the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Burgtheater positions in 1963 and 1964, respectively, and accepted an appointment as principal conductor of the Bonn opera house in the latter year. By now, Angerer was regularly making recordings. Among his more memorable efforts from this period were his collaborations with pianist Alfred Brendel on the Mozart piano concertos No. 17, No. 22, No. 25, and No. 27 and with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Angerer also recorded the Haydn Concerto in D major No. 11 (H. 18) with Brendel and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Angerer departed his Bonn post to accept the directorship of the Ulm Theater (opera house) in 1966, where he would serve two years. In the period 1968 - 1972, he served as music director at the Salzburg opera house (Landestheater). He then accepted the directorship of the Pforzheim-based Southwest German Chamber Orchestra in 1972. He made several memorable recordings with this ensemble, most notably the Concerti Grossi (12) of Corelli and oboe concertos by Telemann, with Lajos Lencses as soloist. Angerer and this ensemble also appeared in three of the seven volumes of the Vox label's Romantic Piano Concerto series. After departing the Pforzheim post in 1982, Angerer limited his conducting activity to guest-conducting engagements and joined the faculty of the Vienna Hochschule für Musik for a decade, retiring in 1992. ~ Robert Cummings