Walter Susskind

Jan Walter Susskind (1 May 1913 – 25 March 1980) was a Czech-born British conductor, teacher and pianist. He began his career in his native Prague and travelled to London in March 1939 when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. He worked for substantial periods in Australia, Canada and the United States, as a conductor and teacher.

Biography Süsskind was born in Prague. His father was a Viennese music critic and his Czech mother was a piano teacher.

Susskind was giving a piano recital in Amsterdam in March 1939 when Germany occupied Czechoslovakia, and his mother advised him not to return home. (She was later interned in Theresienstadt but survived the war. In 1944 he made his first recording for Walter Legge of EMI, conducting Liu's arias from Turandot with Hammond.

Susskind's first appointment as musical director was to the Scottish Orchestra, where he served from 1946 to 1952.

From 1968 to 1975 he was conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with which he made more than 200 recordings.

Susskind died in Berkeley, California, at the age of 66.

Discography (selection)

Recordings include:

Bartók – Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11, Sz.48 (Judith Hellwig; Endre Koréh; Ernö Lorsy); New Symphony Orchestra Bruch – Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 26 (Yehudi Menuhin, violin; Philharmonia Orchestra) Dvořák – Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 (Zara Nelsova, cello; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Dvorak – Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33 (Rudolf Firkušný, piano; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Dvorak – Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 (Ruggiero Ricci, violin; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Dvorak – Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F minor, Op. 11 (Ruggiero Ricci, violin; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Dvorak – Mazurek for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 49 (Ruggiero Ricci, violin; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Dvorak – Silent Woods (Waldesruhe) for Cello & Orchestra, Op. 68 (Zara Nelsova, cello; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Dvorak – Rondo in G minor for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68 (Zara Nelsova, cello; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Handel – Messiah (London Philharmonic Orchestra) Holst – The Planets (Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Mozart – Motet "Exsultate, jubilate", K. 165 (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano; Philharmonia Orchestra) Mozart – Piano Concerto No 20, K. 466 (Artur Schnabel, piano; Philharmonia Orchestra) Mozart – Piano Concerto No 24, K. 491 (Artur Schnabel; Philharmonia Orchestra) Mozart – Piano Concerto No 24, K. 491 (Glenn Gould, piano; CBC Symphony Orchestra) Prokofiev – Chout ballet suite, Op. 21a (London Symphony Orchestra) Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 (Leonard Pennario, piano; Philharmonia Orchestra) Saint-Saens – Cello Concerto No. 1 in a minor, Op. 33 (Pierre Fournier, cello; Philharmonia Orchestra) Sibelius – Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 (Ginette Neveu, violin; Philharmonia Orchestra) Smetana – Má vlast, Overture and Dances from The Bartered Bride (Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) Richard Strauss – Also sprach Zarathustra (Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra)