Mahler Chamber Orchestra
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra grew out of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and represents the vigor brought to the orchestral scene in recent years by European youth orchestras. The group has collaborated with pianist Yuja Wang and other world-class artists and has a substantial recording catalog.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1997 at the initiative of Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra members and their conductor, Claudio Abbado; the new group was made up of musicians who wanted to continue to perform together after aging out of the youth orchestra. Its work has been marked by high technical standards and a commitment to an unusually broad repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music and from chamber music to opera. To this end, the orchestra has enlisted and attracted a range of top-flight long-term collaborators, including veteran Baroque conductor Reinhard Goebel and Ligeti specialist Jonathan Nott.
The group has had long associations with two major festivals, backing a series of contemporary opera productions in Aix-en-Provence, France, beginning with Britten's The Turn of the Screw in 2001. That performance was led by Daniel Harding, a major figure in the orchestra's embrace of contemporary music; the orchestra made its recording debut in 2000 with Harding as conductor on a Virgin Classics recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Harding has served as the orchestra's principal guest conductor, music director, principal conductor, and conductor laureate. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra consists of 45 musicians from 20 different countries and gives between 60 and 70 concerts a year on five continents so far. Its organizational structure is notable; unlike most European ensembles, it is entirely privately financed. It may expand and contract according to the needs of the repertoire it performs, and it has no home base. Instead, it mounts tours on which it performs in various cities and holds rehearsals that serve as launching points for future concerts.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra has also maintained a strong connection with the Lucerne Festival, where it has performed both as the core of the festival orchestra and under its own aegis. The orchestra has backed top soloists, including Cecilia Bartoli and Martha Argerich, and in 2009, appeared on an album by star tenor Jonas Kaufmann. It has recorded a cycle of Beethoven's piano concertos with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, whom it also backed on the multi-volume "Mozart Momentum" series. In 2017, it appeared on the Deutsche Grammophon double album Chopin Evocations. The 2017 season saw the group on tour with Wang, whom it had backed on the 2011 album Rachmaninov on Deutsche Grammophon. As of 2024, Daniele Gatti served as the orchestra's conductor and artistic advisor. The orchestra has recorded mostly for that label, Sony Classical (on the Andsnes albums), and Harmonia Mundi. By 2024, when it was led by conductor Pablo Heras-Casado on an album of works by Stravinsky and Falla, its recording catalog comprised some 100 releases.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite - Falla: El Retablo de Maese Pedro & Harpsichord Concerto
Pablo Heras-Casado, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Alard, Airam Hernández, José Antonio López, Héctor López de Ayala Uribe
Symphonies - Released by harmonia mundi on 23/02/2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin Evocations
Daniil Trifonov, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev, Sergei Babayan
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 6/10/2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sempre libera
Anna Netrebko, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 9/08/2004
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104; Cello Concerto in A Major
Steven Isserlis, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Harding
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 29/09/2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Falla : El sombrero de tres picos
Pablo Heras-Casado, Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 20/09/2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Serge Rachmaninov : Concerto n°2 - Rhapsodie
Yuja Wang, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1/01/2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludwig van Beethoven : Fidelio
Jonas Kaufmann, Nina Stemme, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 13/06/2011
Gramophone: Recording of the Month16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Die Zauberflöte
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Full Operas - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 24/01/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Janine Jansen, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Harding
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1/01/2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Auf Mozarts Spuren
Albrecht Mayer, Claudio Abbado, Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1/01/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte - Highlights
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1/01/2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Violin Concertos
Kolja Blacher, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Classical - Released by Universal Music Italia srL. on 1/01/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Concerto For Piano And Orchestra No. 2 In F Minor, Op. 21 (Arr. By Mikhail Pletnev), 3. Allegro vivace
Daniil Trifonov, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 4/08/2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique / Herminie
Aurélia Legay, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Members of, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Marc Minkowski
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1/01/2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major & Lieder from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn"
Daniel Harding, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Dorothea Röschmann
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1/01/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: The Turn of the Screw
Daniel Harding, Ian Bostridge, Joan Rodgers, Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1/01/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin Evocations
Daniil Trifonov, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev, Sergei Babayan
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 6/10/2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Auf Mozarts Spuren (Online Exclusive)
Albrecht Mayer, Claudio Abbado, Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1/01/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The World's Greatest Orchestras - Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 9/01/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 & Lieder from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn"
Daniel Harding, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Dorothea Röschmann
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1/01/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe - Myrtenlieder - Violin Concerto in D Minor, WoO 23 - Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 105 - Three Romances, Op. 94
Martin Stegner, Tomoko Takahashi, Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by Phil.harmonie on 1/01/2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo