Tonhalle Paavo Järvi

Paavo Järvi, Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich since October 2019, launches a complete recording of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, the first in both his rich discography and that of the Swiss orchestra.
Jarvi writes: ‘When I think of the Fifth Symphony, I think of vulnerability and hope. It looks directly into our soul. It is perhaps the finest of his symphonies. The famous horn solo moves me and enriches me every time I hear it . . . Unlike the Sixth, the Fifth still holds out hope for life.’

Paavo Järvi inaugurates his new contract as conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich with a programme devoted to Messiaen. Alpha Classics will accompany this extremely promising combination: ‘I’ve always admired French music very much. (…) I think Messiaen is the most original voice, someone absolutely unique. You need only listen for three seconds to a work by Messiaen to be sure that it is by him. His style is so clear, so unmistakable. In his two early works Les Offrandes oubliées and Le Tombeau resplendissant, religion and mysticism play an important role. If you listen carefully, you will notice how a harmony is continually transformed, so that you can never predict what sound will come next. But Messiaen’s harmonic language is not experimental: it produces an inevitable meaning, and you get the feeling that the chord sequence can be that way and no other.Music is a language of its own; music begins where words leave off.’

Following their recordings of Bruckner's Symphonies Nos. 7 (ALPHA932, Diapason d'Or) and 8 (ALPHA987, awarded 'best symphonic recording of the year' at the International Classical Music Awards), Paavo Jarvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich here conclude their tribute to the Austrian composer in this bicentenary year with a recording of his 9th symphony. The orchestra's history has been closely linked to Bruckner since it gave the first Swiss performance of one of his symphonies under Richard Strauss in 1903. "The great classical and romantic tradition of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich make it ideally suited to Bruckner, the central composer for modern symphony orchestras," says Paavo Jarvi. Bruckner composed this musical farewell (he wrote the words "a farewell to life" in the score) in his final years; legend has it that he was still working on the symphony on the day he died.

Following their recordings of Bruckner's Symphonies Nos. 7 (ALPHA932, Diapason d'Or) and 8 (ALPHA987, awarded 'best symphonic recording of the year' at the International Classical Music Awards), Paavo Jarvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich here conclude their tribute to the Austrian composer in this bicentenary year with a recording of his 9th symphony. The orchestra's history has been closely linked to Bruckner since it gave the first Swiss performance of one of his symphonies under Richard Strauss in 1903. "The great classical and romantic tradition of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich make it ideally suited to Bruckner, the central composer for modern symphony orchestras," says Paavo Jarvi. Bruckner composed this musical farewell (he wrote the words "a farewell to life" in the score) in his final years; legend has it that he was still working on the symphony on the day he died.

Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich since October 2019, Paavo Järvi continues his complete cycle of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, following a first volume devoted to Symphony no.5 and the symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini . This second volume features Symphonies nos. 2 and 4. The Fourth, composed in 1878 and nicknamed the ‘Fate’ Symphony because of its sombre colouring, which may recall the neuroses attributed to Tchaikovsky, is one of his most frequently performed. The Second Symphony, composed in 1872 and much less frequently performed in concert, is known as the ‘Little Russian’ because Tchaikovsky drew on Ukrainian folk tunes. The very first movement begins with a solo horn version of the folksong ‘Down by Mother Volga’…

Paavo Järvi, Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich since October 2019, here launches a complete recording of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, the first in both his rich discography and that of the Swiss orchestra: ‘When I think of the Fifth Symphony, I think of vulnerability and hope. It looks directly into our soul. It is perhaps the finest of his symphonies. The famous horn solo moves me and enriches me every time I hear it . . . Unlike the Sixth, the Fifth still holds out hope for life.’ The symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini op.32 completes this programme. This dark and violent ‘symphonic fantasy after Dante’, a drama of jealousy, was premiered in 1877, at the same time as Swan Lake.