Karl Ristenpart

Karl Ristenpart (January 26, 1900 – December 24, 1967) was a German conductor.

Born in Kiel, Germany, he studied at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin and in Vienna. He was heavily involved in creating three orchestras in his lifetime, most notably the Chamber Orchestra of the Saar. With this group he created one of the earliest recorded collections of Bach's orchestral music. These recordings were made originally between 1954 and 1967 as Les Discophiles Français, Erato and Club Français du Disque releases in France and appeared then under license with various American labels (notably Nonesuch) on both LP and cassette.

Following an out-of-print period, in 2000 the French Accord label (Universal) released a six-CD set comprising the entire set of Ristenpart recordings of Bach orchestral works. The conductor and his colleagues from Saarbrücken have also recorded performances of works by Mozart and Haydn, among others. The lasting fame he received for these interpretations of Baroque and early Classical music overshadowed the fact that with his Saar orchestra he actually recorded works by approximately 230 composers, at least half of them belonging to the 20th century, for the Saar radio. A possible influence in this direction was Hermann Scherchen, with whom Ristenpart's mother was acquainted before 1914 and to whom she was married between 1919 and 1920. (Hermann Scherchen was a politically active conductor responsible for the premiere performances of what were at the time controversial pieces by composers such as Berg and Xenakis.)

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