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In 1950 Donald Gabor engaged Felix Guenther and sent him to Austria to conduct the Austrian Symphony Orchestra in recordings of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Strauss for Remington Records.

Felix Günther (Guenther) was a pianist, arranger and conductor. He worked in the German film industry and conducted the film orchestra for several productions of the UFA (Universum-Film AG). He arranged and supervised the musical scores of specific music for films and songs. An example is Here Lies an Actor, on a text by Paul Dresser.
Günther was also active as a free lancer in broadcasting, the modern medium of those days. All these activities suddenly stopped in 1933, the year the Nazis came to power. Before that he had conducted the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester) when making recordings for the Polydor label (Deutsche Grammophon) and other labels like Parlophon and Homocord, already in the 1920s, well before the electrical recording process was introduced.

Violinist Grete Eweler performed gems of Antonin Dvorak (Humoreske) and Peter Tchaikovsky (Chanson triste) and was accompanied by Felix Günther at the grand piano. Image courtesy Björn Cloppenburg, Hamburg.

As a pianist and as a conductor he accompanied various singers like Gitta Alpar (soprano), Ria Ginster (soprano), Friedrich Brodersen (baritone), Martin Abendroth (bass), Heinrich Schlusnus (baritone), made a recording with violinist Grete Eweler (Homocord), was the pianist in the recording of Schubert's Forellen (Trout) Quintet with the Nikolas Lambinon Artist Quartet (Nicolas Lambinon Künstler-Quartett) and played a grand piano of the German piano maker Schwechten in that recording. And Felix Günther accompanied the popular, Jewish singer Joseph Schmidt who performed in Carnegie Hall in 1937, but returned to Germany to be with his relatives. Via Holland, where he was very popular and where he gave a last recital in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Schmidt fled to Switzerland where he was interned in a refugee camp, became ill and died there in 1942.

Felix Günther - already in his fifties - did not hesitate to flee from Germany. He went to the US in 1936 or somewhat later and found refuge - as conductor Hans Wolf and producer Marcel Prawy did before World War II broke out. As a consequence Felix Guenther enlisted in the US Army in 1942 and by doing that he obtained US citizenship.

Right from the mid 1930s, he was active in the New York music scene. He wrote and compiled various publications. He was co-editor of "Everybody's Favorite First Position Violin Pieces", published by Amsco Music Publishing Co. Inc, 1600 Broadway, New York, 1939, which he prepared together with violin pedagogue Theodore Pashkus. He compiled and edited "Anthems of the United Nations: the inspiring national songs the Allies are singing on the battlefields and at home", New York, Edward B. Marks Music Corp., 1942 - obviously inspired by the commitment of America and the many nationalities of the troops who went to England first in order to liberate Europe. Published by the same company is "Liebestraum by Liszt", piano solo edited by Felix Guenther, 1941. From his hand is "Piano Concerto Highlights for Solo Piano", (Dover Publications, New York), "A Treasury of the Piano Sonata from Scarlatti to Shostakovitch", and a transcription for piano of "The Moldau" (Smetena), published by Francis Day & Hunter, 1950. Another title is "Heart of the Waltz" edited by Felix Guenther, Heritage Music Publications, 1943,
There is no evidence that he did return to Europe, except when he was requested by Donald Gabor, but stayed in the USA.

A total of 10 symphonic standards were announced by Don Gabor, but only two were recorded. Felix Gunther died in 1951 at the age of 65.

RLP-199-54 - Mozart: Two movements of incidental music to Thamos, Koenig in Aegypten, conducted by Felix Guenther, coupled with Sinfonia Concertante for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and Orchestra, condcuted by Kurt Wöss. These were also released on R-149-25 coupled with Finlandia (Sibelius) conducted by Kurt Wöss. In France issued on Concerteum TCR 273 coupled with Mozart's Serenade 13 conducted by Fritz Weidlich.

R-199-97 - Joseph Strauss: Dynamiden, Felix Günther conducting, coupled with Four Waltzes of Johann Strauss conducted by Kurt Wöss. A release of November 1952. Probably the same collection was released one month later on Plymouth P-10-12.

Felix Guenther also recorded Symphonies 1 and 3 of Carl Philip Emanuel Bach and Sinfonia Concertante of Johann Christian Bach, both for the Bach Guild label, reference 504.
Schwann Artist Listing of 1956 makes a mistake by saying that Columbia RL 3073 contains a selection of Strauss Waltzes performed by the Vienna Broadcasting Orchestra conducted by Felix Günther. It is not Felix Guenther, but Max Schönherr who is the conductor.
Royale LP 1247 (The Heart of the Symphony), LP 1252 (Brahms Violin Concerto), and other records released by Eli Oberstein mention Felix Guenther conducting "The Berlin Symphony" which was the moniker used by Oberstein for any orchestra on his Allegro Royale label he needed a name for. And on those recordings Felix Günther's name is a pseudonym for Wilhelm Furtwangler, Kirill Kondrashin, Joseph Keilberth, and Rudolf Albert.

Text and research, Rudolf A. Bruil. Page published July 10, 2011.