Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the most prominent U.S. symphonic ensembles, with deep roots in the Germanic practices that formed the model for American orchestral culture. The orchestra's catalogue of recordings on the RCA Victor label in the middle of the 20th century, artistically ambitious and sonically top-notch thanks to the ambiance of Boston's magnificent Symphony Hall, continue to set a standard. The Boston Symphony Orchestra was formed in 1881 with principal support from banker Henry Lee Higginson, who also spearheaded the construction of Symphony Hall and its opening in 1900. Its membership consisted largely of German-trained musician, and its first conductor, George Henschel, was a friend of Brahms. Subsequent conductors were German or, in the case of Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian. Especially important was Karl Muck, a former conductor of the Berlin Court Opera (now the Berlin State Opera), who led the orchestra from 1906 to 1908, and again from 1912 to 1918 after the leadership of Max Fiedler in the interim. Muck stepped down and was held in an internment camp in Georgia after espousing pro-German sympathies during World War I. But beginning with Pierre Monteux in 1919, the Boston Symphony boasted a series of internationally renowned and non-German conductors. Monteux was French; Serge Koussevitsky, who led the orchestra from 1924 to 1949, was Russian and a towering figure who commissioned numerous modern works and led the world premieres of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, among many other now-standard works, and founded the annual Tanglewood Music Festival and its associated talent-development classes, with the BSO in residence. Koussevitsky was succeeded by Alsatian-French Charles Münch (1949-1963) and the Austrian-Jewish Erich Leinsdorf, whose RCA recordings were central to collections in the LP era in the U.S. Leinsdorf was succeeded for several years by the ailing William Steinberg and in 1973 by Japanese-born Seiji Ozawa, whose leadership was artistically controversial but long, and also marked by significant recordings, mostly on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Another conductor with an operatic background, James Levine, followed Ozawa in 2002; he stepped down due to ill health and Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons, who had taken on Mahler's vast Symphony No. 8 ("Symphony of a Thousand") as an emergency replacement for Levine, was named conductor. His contract has been extended through 2022, and he has led the orchestra in new recordings with Deutsche Grammophon, including a live cycle of the symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich. A notable feature of the orchestra's musical life is the existence of the Boston Pops light music orchestra, with personnel drawn from the ranks of the BSO; under conductor Arthur Fiedler (son of Max), that group attained unprecedented popularity on American radio and television as well as in live concerts. The Boston Symphony Orchestra has also been heard on the scores of two films by director Steven Spielberg, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, with the scores' composer, John Williams, as conductor.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Takemitsu: Quatrain; A Flock descends
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ives: Symphony No.4; Central Park in the Dark; Three Places in New England
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Symphonic Music - Released by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg on 1 Jan 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Ma Mère l'Oye; Rapsodie espagnole; La Valse; Menuet antique
Bernard Haitink, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 11 May 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck: Symphony In D minor / Poulenc: Concerto For Organ, Strings And Percussion In G Minor (Live)
Simon Preston, Everett Firth, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.2 / Schumann/Shostakovich: Violin Concerto in A minor
Gidon Kremer, Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture; Romeo & Juliet; Dances from Eugene Onegin; Dances from Oprichnik
Sir Colin Davis, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 3 Feb 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Ma Mère l'Oie
Classical - Released by Past Classics on 18 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos.5 & 7
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 4; Variations On A Theme By Haydn
Bernard Haitink, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Mar 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leopold Stokowski Conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Live) [Remastered 2022]
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski, Ralph Gomberg, Gino Cioffi, Sherman Walt, James Stagliano
Classical - Released by Archipel on 6 Jan 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gubaidulina: Offertorium; Hommage à T.S. Eliot
Gidon Kremer, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Copland: Quiet City, Symphony No. 3, Appalachian Spring Suite
Georges Mager, Louis Speyer, Serge Koussevitzky, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 13 Apr 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 1; Rückert-Lieder
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, Berliner Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tribute to Charles Munch [Berlioz, Franck, Saint-Saëns...]
Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Praga Digitals on 1 May 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss, R.: Elektra
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso & Havanaise, Debussy: La Mer
Yehudi Menuhin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Past Classics on 2 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel-Set: Karajan/Boulez/Abbado/Ozawa/Argeric
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Ouverture des Noces de Figaro - Beethoven: Gratulations-Menuett (Mono Version)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5 In E Minor, Op.64, TH.29
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished"; Rosamunde - Incidental Music
Sir Colin Davis, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 2 May 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4
Seiji Ozawa, Rudolf Serkin, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Telarc on 1 Mar 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo