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Artist: Yannick Nezet-Seguin
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Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Johannes Brahms, The Symphonies w/COOE

For over a decade, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) have been reunited each summer in the German spa town of Baden-Baden. In 2021, their work there led to a well-received complete Beethoven symphony recording for Deutsche Grammophon, the first such cycle to be based on the New Complete Edition of the composer’s works (“Incredible energy emanates from Nézet-Séguin’s conducting … There is a new explosion of vitality every minute, the sense of drive and optimism simply irresistible” – Forum Opéra ). 

The following summer, Nézet-Séguin became artistic director of the Festspielhaus’s new La Capitale d’Été festival. Established by the theatre’s general manager, Benedikt Stampa, the festival took its name from a guidebook by French writer Eugène Guinot, which stated that Europe had two capitals – Paris in winter, but Baden-Baden in summer. During their 2022 and 2023 residencies, Nézet-Séguin and the COE turned their attention to Brahms, performing and recording all four of his symphonies. Deutsche Grammophon available today Johannes Brahms: The Symphonies digitally and as a 3-CD set. 

The choice of Brahms for the COE’s 2022/23 residencies was particularly apt, given that the composer himself spent several summers in the village of Lichtenthal, just outside Baden-Baden, near the home of his friend Clara Schumann. He worked on many of his best-known compositions during those years, including the first two symphonies. The First had taken him many long years to complete, so haunted was he by the legacy of Beethoven, but the Second flowed more easily from his pen. Because of the latter work’s close links to the area, the festival broadcast a special relay of the COE’s triumphant performance to a screen in the courtyard of the medieval Lichtenthal Abbey. 

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Price - Sym No. 4, Dawson - Negro Folk Sym w/Phila

The Philadelphia Orchestra and its Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin continue their pioneering project to revive neglected music by Black American composers. Their latest recording, set for digital release by Deutsche Grammophon out today, captures Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4 and William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony. Listeners have the chance to sample movements from both works ahead of the album’s full release, with the “Juba” from Price’s Fourth Symphony and “O, Le’ Me Shine, Shine Like a Morning Star!” from the Negro Folk Symphony  also out now.

Born in Alabama in 1899, William Levi Dawson studied at the renowned Tuskegee Institute (he later founded its School of Music, serving as its director for 25 years), Kansas City’s Horner Institute and Chicago’s American Conservatory. His Negro Folk Symphony was premiered in 1934 by The Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski. Despite its overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception, it then suffered the fate of other works by Black composers, enduring decades of almost total neglect.

As part of his desire both to honour The Philadelphia Orchestra’s rich tradition of championing contemporary composers and shine new light on unjustly forgotten masterpieces, Nézet-Séguin programmed what he calls the “mind-blowingly well orchestrated” Negro Folk Symphony for only the third time in the orchestra’s history earlier this year, using a new edition of Dawson’s score. The performance at Verizon Hall, hailed by The Philadelphia Inquirer as “a knockout” and “momentous”, was recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon.

A lament for the millions of Africans shipped across the Atlantic into slavery, the symphony is built on original spirituals and themes written in the style of spirituals, each of its three movements boasting a programmatic title: “The Bond of Africa”, “Hope in the Night” and “O, Le’ Me Shine, Shine Like a Morning Star!”. Dawson reworked his score in 1952 (this recording is based on the revised version) to include some of the complex rhythms he had heard during a recent visit to West Africa, reinforcing the emotional impact of a work that combines the spiritual tradition with a symphonic language redolent of that of composers such as Dvorák and Brahms.

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Rachmaninoff Sym No 2,3, Isle Of The Dead /wPhila.

Deutsche Grammophon is set to mark the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth with the release of three essential albums. “Rachmaninoff speaks to listeners as powerfully today as ever,” says Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. “His music first entered the DG catalogue during his lifetime and – as our anniversary tribute proves – it continues to inspire a remarkable generation of performers today. These wonderful recordings and breathtaking STAGE+ videos offer fresh insights into some of his greatest works.”

To coincide with Rachmaninoff’s birthday on 1 April, STAGE+ is releasing a curated selection of video-on-demand streams – music by the composer performed by exceptional artists such as Yuja Wang, Hélène Grimaud, Lang Lang and Daniil Trifonov.
A special edition of Daniil Trifonov’s award-winning Destination Rachmaninov project, recorded with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra, comes out today (31 March), a day ahead of the celebration. The reissue, comprising 3 CDs and a High-Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray disc, includes all four piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, along with Trifonov’s solo piano transcriptions of the Vocalise and Silver Sleigh Bells and Rachmaninoff’s own transcription of three movements from Bach’s Partita for solo violin, BWV 1006.

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Beethoven - The Symphonies w/Chamber Orch. Europe

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe present Beethoven’s nine symphonies in what is the very first recorded cycle to be based on the recently concluded New Complete Edition of the composer’s works. “I’m interested in how Beethoven’s music can surprise us today,” says Maestro Nézet-Séguin. “Our interpretation should make the audience feel as if they were hearing this music for the first time. That is my goal.” Set for release by Deutsche Grammophon on 15 July 2022 as a 5 CD edition, Beethoven: The Symphonies will also be available digitally in standard stereo and in the immersive Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio formats. 

Originally planned as part of the Beethoven 250 celebrations, this project was postponed by the coronavirus pandemic. Its concerts were rescheduled and recorded in July 2021 at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, where orchestra and conductor were joined in the Ninth Symphony by soloists Siobhan Stagg, Ekaterina Gubanova, Werner Güra and Florian Boesch and the professional choristers of Laurence Equilbey’s Accentus.

The COE first recorded the Beethoven cycle thirty years ago, producing pioneering work with its first Honorary Member Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Its musicians were delighted to rediscover the symphonies with Nézet-Séguin, also now an Honorary Member of the orchestra. Building on their experience of working together, which dates back to 2008 and has already produced acclaimed DG recordings of the complete symphonies of Schumann and Mendelssohn, Nézet-Séguin and the COE players approached their third composer-led project for the Yellow Label by developing fresh interpretations informed by the recently concluded New Complete Edition of Beethoven’s works. 

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Florence Price - Symphonies 1 & 3 w/Phil.Orch.

Florence Price came to prominence almost ninety years ago, having surmounted systemic barriers to the progress of African-Americans and women in classical music. Much of her music then fell into neglect, however, and has only recently been rediscovered. Among those championing her work today are The Philadelphia Orchestra and its Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Their latest Deutsche Grammophon recording, Florence Price · Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3, will be released as an e-album on 24 September 2021, launching a planned series of recordings celebrating the achievements of the first African-American woman to have a work performed by a major American orchestra. 

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Introspection - Solo Piano Sessions

Famous conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin is also a versatile pianist. In Summer 2020, when the pandemic turned down most of the cultural life all over the world, he found, as he describes it, "kind of a salvation" in playing the piano – and recorded his very first Piano Solo Album, inspired also by the memory of his admired teacher Anisia Campos who had passed away that year.

Playing the piano "gave me an opportunity for introspection, something that I think most of us did – not only artists and musicians, but every human being – recalibrating our priorities, what our purpose is in life, and what our aspirations are", says Yannick Nézet-Séguin about this project. However, "now that I'm a conductor, when I go back to my instrument, I especially want to find the intimacy and the softer colors, the soothing ones and also the painful ones, the unknown areas where composers go".

"It was important for me to reflect the whole range of repertoire that Madame Campos taught me," continues Yannick Nézet-Séguin "and to offer this album as a journey through some very dark and intimate places, but also through some dreamy ones, more positive and hopeful. It's a broad spectrum from Scarlatti to today." One piece included on this album (D‘après Hopper) has been composed especially for Yannick Nézet-Séguin by the great composer Éric Champagne and dedicated to him during the pandemic.    

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro

After recordings of Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Entführung aus dem Serail, this new album is the fourth in DG's series of seven Mozart operas conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and initiated by Rolando Villazón, in collaboration with U-Live, Festspielhaus Baden Baden and with the support of ROLEX. The opera was recorded with a stellar cast, one of the brightest and most insightful conductors of our day and a handpicked orchestra performing in the stunning Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.  The new recording will be released July 8, 2016.

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Rachmaninoff Sym. 1 - Symphonic Dances w/ Phil.Or.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's symphonic works, among the most powerful and popular in the concert repertoire, hold a special place in the story of one of America's greatest musical ensembles. The Philadelphia Orchestra and its Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin are about to add a thrilling new chapter with the landmark launch of a cycle of Rachmaninoff's three symphonies and other orchestral scores for Deutsche Grammophon. The project follows naturally from their recordings of the Russian Romantic composer's piano concertos with Daniil Trifonov, the most recent of which – Destination Rachmaninov · Arrival – is in the running for a 2021 Grammy Award.

The first album, scheduled for international release in physical and digital formats on 29 January 2021, pairs the early Symphony No.1 with the Symphonic Dances, Rachmaninoff's last major composition, written for and dedicated to The Philadelphia Orchestra and its then conductor Eugene Ormandy and premiered by them 80 years ago this month. The second (Symphony No.2 and The Isle of the Dead) will be issued in early 2022, while the third and final recording (Symphony No.3 and The Bells) will appear as part of the commemorations of the composer's 150th birthday in April 2023.

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Stravinsky & Stokowski

The Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Leopold Stokowski, gave the US premiere of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps in 1922.  Now, a century after the work's Paris premiere, the Orchestra and current music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, honor this legacy with a new recording on Deutsche Grammophon.  Joining the Stravinsky masterpiece are four orchestral transcriptions by Stokowski of works by Bach and Stravinsky.  The album will be released on September 24 on the eve of the Orchestra's Opening Night Concert and Gala.

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Tchaikovsky Pathetique w/Lisa Batiashvili

The dynamic French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin records Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra where he is Music Director for his next Deutsche Grammophon recording.  To complete the album, the conductor plays piano and is joined by violinist Lisa Batiashvili in two sets of Tchaikovsky songs in arrangement.  The new album was released in January in advance of US engagements for both Batiashvili and Nézet-Séguin.

45 New ON  50 Total
SYND: PRI/Classical 24
Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, MOOD
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Portland, Baltimore, New Orleans, Austin, Pittsburgh, Denver, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Albuquerque, Tucson Louisville, Madison WI, Honolulu
Online: RadioIO, Taintradio, MusiClassical, WGOE

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Schumann: Symphonies

Canadian Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin is set to release Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4, his first recording of a complete symphony cycle for Deutsche Grammophon. Captured live at acclaimed concerts in Paris, Nézet-Séguin conducts one of the world's preeminent chamber orchestras, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. For this recording, Nézet-Séguin takes a new approach on familiar music while challenging the conventional view on Schumann's symphonies. "He's one of those composers whose personality is completely expressed in their music…those fluctuations between the melancholy and something very inward-looking are combined with a manic kind of energy that wants to conquer the world. That's what is so special about Schumann," states Nézet-Séguin.

42 New 'ON'  47 TOTAL
SYND: PRI/Classical 24
Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, MOOD
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Dallas, Atlanta, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Portland, Denver, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Detroit, Austin, Memphis, Louisville
Online: Taintradio

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Mahler - Symphony No. 8 w/Philadelphia Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin's new Mahler recording marks a return to the core symphonic repertoire with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mahler's Eighth Symphony was billed as the "Symphony of a Thousand," exploring themes of redemption through the power of love. The "sublime, transcendent" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) performances under the baton of Nézet-Séguin in March 2016 marked the 100th anniversary of the U.S. premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1916, conducted by Stokowski

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Bernstein Mass

Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for the inauguration of the Kennedy Center in 1971, Bernstein's Mass draws from religious and secular genres as well as the tumultuous ‘60s. Requiring two orchestras, a rock band, a marching band, multiple choirs and musical singers, Mass is rarely performed and even more rarely recorded. Recorded live by the Philadelphia Orchestra and several American ensembles under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, this album is DG's first Mass in its vast catalog.

Yannick Nezet-Seguin:

Mendelssohn - Symphonies 1-5

To mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe records the complete Mendelssohn symphonies, including the Reformation Symphony (No. 5), under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Designate of the Met Opera. This release is the latest installment in Nézet-Séguin's collaboration with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe - a recent partnership that has already garnered two Grammy nominations.

17 NEW  52 TOTAL
SYND: C24, Beethoven Net, CBC
Direct: SiriusXM, MOOD
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Portland, New Orleans, Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Piyttsburgh, Cincinnati, Honolulu, MN(Statewide), MI(Statewide), SC(Statewide), Canada
Online: BroadwayWorld, Passion Musique et Culture