Alfred Walter
Alfred Walter ( born May 8, 1929 in Wallern, Czechoslovakia; † 7 March 2004 in Brussels ) was an Austrian conductor.
Life and work
As the son of former Austrian parents, born in the Sudetenland, he studied at the Karl- Franzens- University of Graz and in 1948 second conductor at the Theatre House in Ravensburg. In 1951 he was engaged at the Graz Opera, where he worked until 1965. In addition, he was also an assistant to Hans Knappertsbusch and Karl Böhm at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1966, Walter was chief conductor of the Durban Symphony Orchestra in South Africa and in the years 1969 to 1970 chief conductor at Radio Reykjavik for three years. From 1970, he was appointed for 15 years as General Music Director of the Municipal Theater of Münster, but also appeared as a guest conductor, so several times at the Vienna State Opera. His special love was in Münster the works of Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler and those of contemporary composers such as Isang Yun, Viktor Kalabis or Gottfried von Einem. After 1985, Walter was chief conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Brussels for two years and then worked as a freelance conductor only.
His discography was created mainly for the labels Naxos and Marco Polo and includes works by Johann Strauss ( son ) ( 20 CDs) and all the symphonies by Wilhelm Furtwängler and Louis Spohr, and selected works by Gottfried von Einem, Max von Schillings, Franz Schubert, Oscar Straus and Carl Reinecke.