Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
The Slovak Philharmonic (in Slovak, Slovenská filharmónia) is one of the youngest among Europe's great symphonic ensembles, yet it has gained international renown in the 1990s and early 2000s. The orchestra has recorded extensively and has attracted top-notch international collaborators. The Slovak Philharmonic was founded in Bratislava, then part of Czechoslovakia, in 1949. Its first conductor, Vaclav Talich, and first music director, Ludovit Ratjer, were key figures in the orchestra's formation and emergence. In the 1950s, the orchestra began giving concerts in the handsome 1773 Reduta Bratislava concert hall, which has remained its home base. After Rajter stepped down as conductor in 1976, the orchestra had several other highly regarded conductors including Ladislav Slovak (until 1981), Libor Pesek, and, in 1990 and 1991, Aldo Ceccato, its first conductor from outside Czechoslovak lands. After Slovakia split peacefully from the Czech Republic in 1993, the Slovak Philharmonic went from being a strong orchestra in a country with many of them to something of a national flagship, and it increasingly attracted foreign conductors and instrumental collaborators as guests. Among the former group have been Claudio Abbado, Sergiu Celibidache, and Mariss Jansons. The permanent conductorship, however, remained mostly in Slovak and Czech hands; the renowned Jiří Bělohlávek served a term in the 2003-2004 season. That changed with the appointment of France's Emmanuel Villaume in 2009; he remained in the job until 2016, when he was succeeded by Britain's James Judd, a former conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the founder of the Miami Music Project. The orchestra has also been led in recent years by its permanent guest conductors, Leos Svarovsky (until 2018), Rastislav Stur, and Petr Altrichter. The orchestra has a large collection of recordings, most of them on the Naxos, Zebralution, and Denon labels; on Naxos the group released a recording of symphonic poems from Bedřich Smetana's Swedish period.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Georg Friedrich Händel - Concerti grossi op. 6
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Josef Bagin
Symphonic Music - Released by Bella Musica Edition on 18 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No.4 in G major
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pešek
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on 17 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 and 2 / From Holberg's Time
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pešek
Classical - Released by Amadis on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg (The Master-Singers of Nuremberg): Overture [Digitally Remastered]
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Bystrík Režucha
Opera - Released by EMG Classical on 16 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44 (Digitally Remastered)
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pešek, Peter Toperczer
Concertos - Released by EMG Classical on 14 Aug 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rubinstein: Violin Concerto / Cui: Suite Concertante
Takako Nishizaki, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Halasz, Kenneth Schermerhorn
Concertos - Released by Naxos on 17 Apr 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sinfonia Drammatica
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Nazareth
Classical - Released by Naxos on 31 Dec 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Leaper
Symphonic Music - Released by Naxos on 11 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 8 / Rosamunde
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Halasz
Classical - Released by Naxos on 10 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 / A Midsummer Night's Dream (Excerpts)
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Anthony Bramall
Classical - Released by Naxos on 23 Dec 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherezade. Symphonic Suite, Op. 35
Classical - Released by Digital Masterworks on 12 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Capriccio Espagnole
Classical - Released by Denon on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Françaix: Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 9 Jul 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E Flat major, Op. 49
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pešek
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on 17 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Godár: Partita for 54 Strings, Harpsichord, Timpani and Tubular Bells (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 6 Aug 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classic for You: Weber: Aufforderung zum Tanze
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Smetacek
Classical - Released by Bella Musica Edition on 1 Jun 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classic for You: Bach: Brandenburgische Konzerte 1 - 4
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Bohdan Warchal
Classical - Released by Bella Musica Edition on 17 May 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LE BAL DE PARIS
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Kurt Redel
Classical - Released by Pierre Verany on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Rienzi, Der Letzte Der Tribunen (Rienzi, The Last of the Tribunes), WWV 49: Overture [Digitally Remastered]
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Bystrík Režucha
Opera - Released by EMG Classical on 23 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorak / Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos
Mariko Honda, Peter Michalica, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Cassovia, Keith Clark, Richard Zimmer
Classical - Released by Amadis on 17 Nov 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Epic of Gilgamesh (The)
Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Zdenek Kosler
Classical - Released by Naxos on 11 Oct 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo