Otto Ackermann was one of the top-ranking conductors of the German school during the first half of the 20th Century. The Swiss Ackermann, a native of Romania, was educated in Bucharest and Berlin and was a student of Georg Szell and Walter Gmeindl. He is considered an excellent interpreter of opera and operetta, with numerous recordings to his name, especially of Strauss and Mozart. His celebrated operetta recordings include the 'Zigeunerbaron' ('Gypsy Baron') with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Nicolai Gedda, included here as a complete recording. However, Ackermanns artistic endeavours extend well beyond these genres, as this documentation of original albums from the years 1952 to 1957 proves. It includes concert and symphonic repertoire by the likes of Mozart, Liszt, Dvorak and Mendelssohn, with high calibre performers and orchestras that include Solomon, Leonid Kogan, Dinu Lipatti, Paul Tortelier, Benno Moiseiwitsch, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.
