When Georges Prêtre celebrated his 80th birthday in August 2004, Peter Voß, who was the SWR director at the time, paid a tribute to his “personal style”, his “esprit” and “profundity”. Prêtre worked with the RSO Stuttgart for many years, and in 1996 he was appointed its new chief conductor. Together, they celebrated the orchestra’s 50th anniversary with a major tour, and Prêtre was subsequently appointed honorary conductor. His preference, as this edition testifies, was primarily for music of the Romantic and late Romantic periods. It is therefore not surprising that Prêtre immersed himself in works such as Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Antonín Dvořákʼs Symphony No. 9, From the New World with other orchestras in his early years, and worked on them again during his time in Stuttgart. He also made occasional forays into classical music, for example with Beethovenʼs Third Symphony. In 2004, Prêtre conducted the RSO Stuttgart for the last time, performing Respighiʼs Roman tone poems, among other works. These and many other recordings from their time together are featured in this collection.

The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1945 and developed into one of Germany’s most important musical ambassadors over the following seven decades. Each season, the RSO performs around 80 concerts in the SWR broadcasting area; it has also made guest appearances in national and international music centres and at festivals worldwide. The RSO Stuttgart focuses on exemplary performances of both large classical and romantic repertoire, and on contemporary music and rare musical works, including those by little-known composers. In September 2016, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra of the SWR merged with the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg and formed the new SWR Symphonieorchester which is headquartered in Stuttgart.