Esteemed German conductor Rudolf Kempe specialised in interpreting the works of composers Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner and his light, graceful touch and reserved, precise approach to music made him hugely admired and appreciated by musicians, if not always critics.
Starting off as an oboe player, he was a member of the Dortmund Opera and then the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra before turning his hand to conducting in 1936 when he led a performance of the comic musical 'Der Wildschutz'. During the Second World War he was consigned mainly to musical duties, such as entertaining the troops and directing the Chemnitz Opera, but he went on to lead East Germany's premier orchestra the Staatskapelle Dresden with whom he made his first recordings in the early 1950s. A stint at the Bavarian Opera and appearances at some of the world's great concert halls secured him a move to England in 1960, where he became principal conductor and artistic director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and gave several memorable performances at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
His music reflected his even, balanced temperament and he rarely brought his musicians to heavy, bombastic climaxes, instead preferring to concentrate on a style that was spritely, bright and fluid. In later years his recordings of Strauss' orchestral pieces with the Staatskapelle Dresden for EMI were particularly well received and his work with the Vienna Philharmonic on album 'Gold and Silver' in 1971 was one of his personal highlights. He had also begun working with the BBC Symphony Orchestra shortly before his death in 1976, aged 65.
