Victor Olof

Trained as a conductor, violinist, and pianist, Victor Olof is remembered chiefly as a recording producer, albeit one with less celebrity than his counterparts, EMI's Walter Legge and Decca's John Culshaw. Ironically, Olof preceded Culshaw at Decca (previously known as London in the American market) and coexisted with the imperious Legge at EMI. Although Olof was much more of a grey, behind-the-scenes presence than Legge or Culshaw, the list of legendary recordings he produced assures him a place with the industry's most important figures and a great many of his recordings have remained available and unsurpassed. Following studies in theory, piano, and violin at the Guildhall School of Music in London, Olof formed the Victor Olof Sextet in 1925 and continued to perform with that ensemble until 1939. During WWII, he conducted orchestral performances for English forces and, in 1943, joined Decca Records as a music advisor. He remained with Decca until 1956, functioning as a record producer and signing new postwar talent for the label. Under his aegis, Decca began to build an important opera catalog; he presided over the early series of Tebaldi discs and Viennese recordings by Erich Kleiber (Der Rosenkavalier and Le nozze di Figaro), Clemens Kraus (Fledermaus), and Josef Krips (Don Giovanni), which have continued to sell well. He also produced the incomparable Walter/Ferrier/Patzak Das Lied von der Erde. In his book Putting the Record Straight, Culshaw described Olof as "a musician of wide experience both as a player and an administrator," but noted that Olof liked to make his own discoveries: when Culshaw urged Olof to sign Karl Münchinger and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, his advice was ignored, but when Olof heard the ensemble in person a year later, he enthusiastically engaged them for Decca. Increasing tensions between his goals as producer and the concerns of others in selling large quantities of recordings eventually led Olof to leave Decca for EMI. There, he produced such famous recordings as Beecham's Carmen, Kempe's Lohengrin, and various discs featuring Barbirolli, Menuhin, Constantin Silvestri, Beecham, and other important EMI artists. Curiously, when Legge left EMI before completing work on a recording of Les contes d'Hoffmann featuring his wife Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as Giulietta, Olof finished the job.