Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is Australia's oldest professional symphonic ensemble, having been founded in 1906. It is also arguably the most versatile, with a performing repertory and recording catalog that include everything from standard orchestral works to unusual Australian works to pop and cinematic pieces.
Alberto Zelman, who founded the Melbourne Symphony, led it for its first 21 years of existence and built it into a world-class ensemble. Zelman was also the first Australian to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic and London Philharmonic Orchestras. The orchestra affiliated itself with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1934, and it became the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in 1945; the orchestra has been supported by the government of Australia's Victoria State. The original Melbourne Symphony Orchestra name was restored in 1965. The orchestra had numerous conductors during the postwar years, most of them Europeans who stayed for only a short time. In 1974, Japan's Hiroyuki Iwaki ascended the podium; he would remain until 1997, becoming the orchestra's longest-serving conductor to date and taking the group on tour to Japan twice. That inaugurated a period of international exposure that included tours of North America, East Asia, and Europe, and in 2014 the Melbourne Symphony made its debut at the BBC Proms in London. Iwaki was succeeded in turn by the German Markus Stenz, Italy's Oleg Caetani (under whom the orchestra absorbed the Melbourne Chorale in 2008 and renamed it the MSO Chorus), and the Japanese-British Tadaaki Otaka before veteran British conductor Sir Andrew Davis arrived in 2013; his tenure was set to conclude in 2019.
Davis brought in such international stars as singers Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming, and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for concerts, and took the orchestra on tours of China and Indonesia. He also continued the orchestra's vigorous recording program, which has been mostly associated with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's ABC Classics label. The variety of the Melbourne Symphony's recording catalog has been notable, including such items as a new recording of the soundtrack to the film Babe, the jazz recording Ella and Louis, and, in 2019, a recording of Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ on Britain's major Chandos label.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Marsalis: Symphony No. 4 "The Jungle"
Wynton Marsalis, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra
Symfonische muziek - Released by Blue Engine Records on 26 mei 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35, TrV 184 & Other Works
Daniel Müller-Schott, Herbert Schuch, James Ehnes, Christopher Moore, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
Klassiek - Released by Orfeo on 12 jul. 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Markus Stenz, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Symfonische muziek - Released by ABC Classic on 1 apr. 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ives: New England Holidays, Central Park in the Dark, Three Places in New England & The Unanswered Question
Sir Andrew Davis, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 mrt. 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Christian Li, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 20 aug. 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Blueback (Original Motion Picture Score)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Northey, Nigel Westlake
Originele soundtracks - Released by ABC Classic on 16 dec. 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ives: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
Sir Andrew Davis, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 31 mrt. 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ives: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Andrew Davis
Klassiek - Released by Chandos on 1 mrt. 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Grainger: The Warriors, Danish Folk-Music Suite, Hill-Songs 1 & 2, Et Al.
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No 5
Symfonische muziek - Released by ABC Classic on 1 apr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mso Live: Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 and Piano Concerto No. 2
Tadaaki Otaka, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Garrick Ohlsson
Klassiek - Released by ABC Classic on 19 jul. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live At Hamer Hall (Live at Hamer Hall)
The Bamboos, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Soul - Released by BMG Rights Management (Australia) Pty Ltd. on 2 dec. 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvres orchestrales (Volume 2)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jeffrey Crellin, Andrew Davis, Marshall McGuire, Alannah Guthrie-Jones
Klassiek - Released by Chandos on 1 mrt. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ella and Louis
James Morrison, Patti Austin, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Vocale jazz - Released by ABC Jazz on 24 nov. 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Four Orchestral Pieces & Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner
Klassiek - Released by Chandos on 1 nov. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grainger: Works for Large Chorus and Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Sydney Chamber Choir, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis
Klassiek - Released by Chandos on 2 apr. 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Live At Hamer Hall (Live at Hamer Hall)
The Bamboos, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Soul - Released by BMG Rights Management (Australia) Pty Ltd. on 2 dec. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Works for Orchestra (Live)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, James Ehnes, Andrew Davis
Klassiek - Released by Chandos on 1 mei 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Babe (Music from the Original Motion Picture)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Nigel Westlake
Originele soundtracks - Released by ABC Classic on 3 jul. 2015
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Beauty of the Violin
Benjamin Northey, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Lu Siqing
Concertmuziek - Released by ABC Classic on 2 feb. 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony / Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
Klassiek - Released by ABC Classic on 2 feb. 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo