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.
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Paper Planes (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Nigel Westlake
Film Soundtracks - Released by ABC Classic on Jan 9, 2015
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Goossens: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Sir Andrew Davis, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmin Little
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Spectacular
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on Jul 15, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MSO Live - Tchaikovsky: Complete Symphonies
Symphonic Music - Released by ABC Classic on Jul 19, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tansman: Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6 (Vol. 1)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Chorale, Oleg Caetani
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tansman: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3, 4 Mouvements (Vol. 3)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Oleg Caetani
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on Sep 30, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvres orchestrales
Sergei Stadler, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Oleg Caetani
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on Oct 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Harold en Italie, Intrata di Rob-Roy MacGregor & Rêverie et Caprice
Sir Andrew Davis, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, James Ehnes
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on May 1, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Werner Andreas Albert
Classical - Released by CPO on Jan 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MSO Live - Adès: Polaris - Stanhope: Piccolo Concerto
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on Mar 14, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben / Intermezzo: Four Symphonic Interludes
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on Mar 11, 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Takemitsu: Music for Orchestra
Hiroyuki Iwaki, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on Mar 3, 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvres orchestrales
Howard Shelley, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on Feb 12, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Missa Solis: Requiem for Eli
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on Sep 7, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grainger: Works for Large Chorus and Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Chamber Choir, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Chandos on Apr 2, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
MSO Live: Vaughan Williams - Chopin - Dukas
Symphonic Music - Released by ABC Classic on Sep 11, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A World of Christmas
Benjamin Northey, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Idea of North
Jazz - Released by ABC Jazz on Nov 10, 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Goossens: Orchestral Works
Sir Andrew Davis, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Mar 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ives: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Sir Andrew Davis, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Mar 1, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Spirit of France
John Lanchbery, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on Jan 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Heart of Night
Concertos - Released by ABC Classic on Dec 10, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo