Just Released: CONTACT!’s Greatest Hits

The twelfth and final release in the Philharmonic’s digital recording series, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic 2011–12 Season, is now available on iTunes. Relive your favorite new-music memories from last season’s CONTACT! series, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert and David Robertson, including world premieres by Elliott Carter and Alexandre Lunsqui, and HK Gruber’s pan-demonium Frankenstein!!

All Smiles 

Danish music producer and recording engineer Mikkel Nymand certainly looks like he is enjoying his work today. Set up in one of Avery Fisher Hall’s green rooms, Mr. Nymand is part of the team recording the Philharmonic’s performances this week of Nielsen’s Violin and Flute Concertos with violinist Nikolaj Znaider and Principal Flute Robert Langevin as part of The Nielsen Project. 

The first release, including Nielsen’s Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3, has garnered praise from BBC Music and MDT’s blog. Click here to purchase a copy of your own.

We’re Nuts about Nielsen

Not sure who Carl Nielsen is? You’re not alone, but you can quickly become an aficionado thanks to the Philharmonic’s special page dedicated to the early-20th-century Danish composer whose music Alan Gilbert passionately enjoys, saying it is “powerful” and “captivating.”

Browse videos and a Nielsen timeline, check out upcoming concerts and info on the CD coming out next week, all at The Nielsen Project.

Carl, Glad to Know You

Alan Gilbert believes that every music lover needs to know Carl Nielsen. That’s why our Music Director has spearheaded The Nielsen Project, a multi-season survey of the six symphonies and three concertos by Denmark’s beloved composer through performances and recordings by the Philharmonic on Denmark’s Dacapo label.

Learn more through videos, recordings, scores, exhibits, and lots more at our just-launched The Nielsen Project Web page.

Recording Recognition

David Denby of The New Yorker writes in his latest contribution, “Ten Perfect Orchestral Recordings”: “I don’t know that perfection is of the greatest importance in music-making. Spirit, power, phrasing, tempo, expressiveness — all these things matter more than note-perfect execution.”

Apparently the Philharmonic has those elements down to a science, as Mr. Denby ranked a 1985 recording ofMahler’s Symphony No. 7, led by none other than Leonard Bernstein, as one of the top recordings of all time. To experience this for yourself, you can purchase the recording on ArkivMusic or Amazon and follow along on Lenny’s score, courtesy of our Digital Archives.

Just Released

In this latest release from the Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic 2011–12 Season digital recording series, the Music Director leads Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé, Suite No. 2, and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, with Artist-in-Residence Frank Peter Zimmermann offering an inspired performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

It’s now available on iTunes and other major online music providers. 

Today’s the day … Have you ordered your copy of A Concert for New York?

A Time to Heal

The live recording of A Concert for New York will be released by the Philharmonic and ACCENTUS Music on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 8 in the U.S., and worldwide at the end of November. The September 10, 2011 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, was given in remembrance and renewal on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and featured German soprano Dorothea Röschmann, American mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, and the New York Choral Artists.

The recording will be distributed in the U.S. by Naxos, and will be available for purchase through major music retailers and on nyphil.org/recordings.