Valery Gergiev: Münchner Philharmoniker

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Valery Gergiev

In September 2016, the first CD recordings under the orchestra’s own label »MPHIL« and which document the conductor’s work with the Munich Philharmonic were released. The orchestra’s own MPHIL label also released the Bruckner cycle, which was made with Valery Gergiev between 2017 and 2019 in the monastery of St. Florian.

ANJA HARTEROS WITH WAGNER, BERG & MAHLER

Critics and audiences alike have nothing but rapturous praise for the voice of Anja Harteros. The fin de siècle atmosphere of Berg’s Seven Early Songs, Wagner’s Tristanesque conjuration of love in his Wesendonck-Lieder and Mahler’s focus on a world of private introspection in his Rückert-Lieder offer Anja Harteros ample scope for her multifaceted musical sensitivity.

Mahler: Symphony No. 8 »Symphony of a Thousand«

The Münchner Philharmoniker brought this very repertoire to performance on numerous occasions during their 125 years anniversary season, one of which marks this recording: a concert at the Philharmonie de Paris in February 2019.

Beethoven: Violin concerto

Daniel Lozakovich had been dreaming about recording the Beethoven Violin Concerto since he was eight. Now he reunited with his mentor Valery Gergiev to record the Beethoven for Deutsche Grammophon with the Münchner Philharmoniker, with whom Lozakovich has been working for almost as long.

Strauss: »Don Juan« and »Ein Heldenleben«

Available as a CD as well as a digital album: The recording is from September 2016 and features Richard Strauss’ »Don Juan« and »Ein Heldenleben« under the baton of Maestro Valery Gergiev.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4

The world premiere of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 took place under his baton on 25 November 1901 in Munich’s »Großen Kaim-Saal« with the then called »Kaim-Orchester«, present day Munich Philharmonic. After the outstandingly successful first MPHIL release of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in September 2016 followed this release of the Symphony No. 4 with Valery Gergiev.

Stravinsky: »Chant Funèbre«

With this recording the Münchner Philharmoniker highlight one of the most monumental musical rediscoveries of the past years: Igor Stravinsky’s »Chant Funèbre« (Funeral Song), which he composed in 1908 upon the death of his teacher Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Strauss: »Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche«

Richard Strauss' »Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche«, recorded in September 2016 with Valery Gergiev.

Schostakowitsch: Symphony No. 9

An exclusive digital archive release of a concert recording from 4 November 2015 of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 1

Having started this past September 2017, in the Monastery of St. Florian fascinating a setting with unique historical significance in this context, the Munich Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev present the most spectacular and ambitious cycle of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies. The Munich Philharmonic proudly commence their St. Florian Live Recordings Series with the release of his First Symphony, recorded in September 2017.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 3

Having started in September 2017 the Munich Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev present the most spectacular and ambitious cycle of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies. The second release in this series is Anton Bruckner’s Third Symphony, called »Wagner-Symphony«.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 5

Bruckner never heard a performance of his Fifth Symphony in its orchestral guise. By the time the work was premiered in Graz, he was already too ill to attend. It is regarded as one of his most challenging and at the same time most impressive creations, not least on account of its contrapuntal and powerful final movement.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 7

The Seventh Symphony marked Bruckner’s international breakthrough: the Leipzig premiere on 30 December 1884 was followed by an acclaimed performance in Munich on 10 March 1885 that ushered in the work’s triumphal conquest of concert halls all over the world. Bruckner dedicated the Adagio, the symphony’s second movement, to the memory of Richard Wagner, of whose death he learned while he was working on the symphony.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9

In his Ninth Symphony - his final contribution to the medium - Bruckner took stock of his life, which he was able to do only on the basis of his unshakeable faith. But he was unable to finish the score and died while working on its final movement. Its three completed movements lead us into a world that constitutes a quest for answers to life’s ultimate questions, while the Scherzo introduces us to a scene of demonic terrors, the Adagio to a universe of sound which, after the earlier struggles and doubts, ushers in a mood of peaceful valediction.

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15

An exclusive digital archive release of a concert recording from 11 December 2015 of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Tschaikowsky: »Rococo Variations«

Another digital-only release on the MPHIL label: A recording from May 2017 under the baton of Maestro Valery Gergiev with Andrei Ioniţă as soloist for Tchaikovsky’s »Variations on a Rococo Theme«.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 2

Bruckner’s Second Symphony already reveals all the hallmarks of the fully developed »Bruckner style«: powerful agglomerations of sound in its outer movements, the »atmosphere of a moonlit night« in its slow movement and a rustic dance scene in its Scherzo. This Scherzo is arguably the reason why this work is also known as Bruckner’s »Upper Austrian Symphony«.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4

Bruckner himself used the epithet »Romantic« to describe his Fourth Symphony. The experience of the many-faceted manifestations of nature is at the very heart of the work. Only when he was revising his composition did Bruckner add the famous »Hunt Scherzo« in third position.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 6

The Sixth is a special case among Bruckner’s symphonies. Once held in lesser regard, it is now seen as just as multilayered and profound a masterpiece as his other contributions to the medium. The opening does not grope its way forward in a typically tentative Brucknerian manner by allowing its thematic structures to emerge only gradually; instead, the music is »there« from the outset.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8

In writing his Eight Symphony, Bruckner hoped to surpass all that he had previously achieved in the field of symphony and to do so, moreover not only in terms of the dimensions of the individual movements, but also in the intensity of his expression - he was all the more disappointed, then, when his contemporaries initially rejected the work. He revised the symphony and it was in this reworked version that it enjoyed a triumphant premiere in 1892, proving that the world of music was finally ready to confront the strenuous demands placed upon it by such a large-scale symphony.

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 »Ressurection«

The recording of Mahler’s Second Symphony was made during the opening concerts of Valery Gergiev’s first season as Music Director of the Munich Philharmonic. For this astonishing recording, they are joined by soprano Anne Schwanewilms and mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina, as well as the Munich Philharmonic Choir.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 »Romantic«

The Fourth Symphony is the only one of his symphonies to which Anton Bruckner assigned a title. By the use of the term Romantic, he was a referring to a medieval world, similar to the settings of many of Wagner’s operas and depicting nature, forests, and birdsong with chivalrous knights on horseback.