A new recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 will be released on Tuesday April 9 by Michael Tilson Thomas, the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall in June 2012, at the conclusion of the Orchestra’s centennial season, this hybrid SACD album will be available on SFS Media, the Orchestra’s in-house label.
Part of MTT and the Symphony's multi-season, multi-year focus on the music of Beethoven, the album also features soprano Erin Wall, mezzo-soprano Kendall Gladen, tenor William Burden, and Nathan Berg, bass. It precedes a two-week Beethoven Festival - to be held between May 2 and 11 - during which Michael Tilson Thomas will lead the Symphony in exploring the composer’s early inspirations and their influence on his later music, as well as on other composers.
During the Festival, SFS Media will also record composer John Adams’ Absolute Jest with the St Lawrence String Quartet, for future release. This work was inspired by and based on fragments of Beethoven’s scherzos for string quartets, and was co-commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, and premiered as part of last season’s American Mavericks Festival, in keeping with the Symphony’s commitment to performing not only core classical masterworks, but less mainstream music as well.
The Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Recording which was won by MTT and the SF Symphony in February this year was given in recognition of its recording of John Adams’ Harmoneliehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine. During the 2013-14 season, SFS Media will record performances of three works by composer Mason Bates: Liquid Interface, Alternative Energy, and The B-Sides which was commissioned by the SF Symphony.
A 5-minute video clip about the Beethoven recording can be viewed at http://youtu.be/krCiR04u8Ig. It features concert footage and interviews with Michael Tilson Thomas, Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin, Erin Wall and SFS musician Cathy Payne.
BEETHOVEN Symphony No 9 can be pre-ordered from iTunes and on SACD from the San Francisco Symphony Store. The album will be available for purchase at the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall and other music retailers from Tuesday, April 9.
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