In Thursday’s (2/14) Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns writes, “Just as conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin suggested a year ago, the Philadelphia Orchestra will follow him onto the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon recording label this spring, though so far only one disc is assured. After a string of performances of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring this month, the orchestra will record the groundbreaking 1913 ballet along with Leopold Stokowski Bach transcriptions in a disc that will be a tribute to the orchestra’s first great music director. … The recording conditions promise to be optimum: Rather than editing together live concerts, as most American orchestras do, the music will be recorded under more expensive studio conditions at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall for release later this year. … [Philadelphia Orchestra Vice President for Artistic Planning Jeremy] Rothman would say the arrangement had financial support from the recording company but was also possible thanks to ‘a great deal of interest and flexibility from our players . . . to find the best conditions for the hall and for the ensemble.’ … Though no stranger to major labels, the Philadelphia Orchestra has not recorded anything for DG since 1997; the only two were under guest conductors Christian Thielemann (Wagner overtures) and Myung-Whun Chung (Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4).”
Posted February 14, 2013
