Partnership with Bavarian Radio
A close collaboration has linked Bavarian Radio with the Bamberg Symphony ever since their foundation. Countless concert relays, studio recordings and co-productions of commercial LPs and CDs have not only enriched BR’s schedules but have brought the added benefit of building and consolidating the Bamberg Symphony’s reputation.
Each season, BR broadcasts up to six concerts from Bamberg, offering a portrait of the Orchestra’s repertoire and guest artists. In addition, it records works of various periods, including contemporary music, as studio productions, giving young conductors and soloists a chance to notch up their first experiences with a top-flight orchestra.
There are real treasures both in BR’s archive and on commercially published records, such as the 1964 recording of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde under Joseph Keilberth, with two of the 20th Century’s greatest singers, Fritz Wunderlich and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; no less admired by connoisseurs, and still a benchmark interpretation, is Rudolf Kempe’s 1962 performance of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, again with Fritz Wunderlich. In subsequent years and under conductors from Horst Stein to Christoph Eschenbach and Ingo Metzmacher, the Orchestra recorded a whole series of cycles of works by great composers, such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Raff, Strauss, Pfitzner, Reger und Hartmann.
Lately, this list has lengthened yet further: in co-production with BR and the Swiss label Tudor, and under the artistic direction of Jonathan Nott, the Bamberg Symphony has tackled several new projects on CD. As well as the Schubert cycle, coupling his works with music of the 20th Century, and a series of core works by Bruckner, Stravinsky and Janáček, the music of Mahler has loomed large in the Orchestra’s recordings, which have been rewarded with prestigious prizes and citations, including the International "Toblach Composing Hut" Record Prize for 2009 and the MIDEM Classical Award in 2010.
Bamberg’s new First Guest Conductor, Robin Ticciati, has already aroused keen interest with his first entry in the Bavarian State Philharmonic’s CD discography, again issued by Tudor: a recording of choral works by Brahms with the Choir of Bavarian Radio.
Continuing this long-standing media partnership, during the 2010/2011 season Bavarian Radio will maintain the Bamberg Symphony’s high profile with further productions and broadcasts.
For more information about the Bavarian Radio please click here.
For information about Tudor please visit www.tudor.ch.