Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Orchestra

Orchestra.

Swedish orchestra founded 1905; catalog skews toward Nordic repertoire (Sibelius, Alfvén, Rautavaara). Associated with conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

    An American Dream?
    Alpha

    An American Dream?

    CD · 1 disc

    $20.99
    Composer
    Aaron Copland, Bill Elliott, George Gershwin, Barbara Hannigan, Richard Rodgers
    Artist
    Barbara Hannigan, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
    Released
    May 22, 2026
    With 'An American Dream?', Barbara Hannigan explores the concept of The American Dream. "I grew up in awe of America. I am still in awe, but largely in a nostalgic way. With this repertoire, I want to express my admiration for the incredible creativity and tenacity of composers who shaped a musical language that was truly their own." The Canadian conductor and soprano collaborates with her long-term partners, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, on this programme of works by American composers. With 'the fair' as a recurring theme across the repertoire, the image on the cover shows a carousel horse that is at a standstill. A pretty, painted object - but the floor is cracked and half the lights are burned out. Nostalgia and memory are mixed with underlying darkness and destruction. From George Gershwin's masterpiece Porgy and Bess - an opera about love, addiction, racism, and hope - Robert Russell Bennett's iconic arrangement of A Symphonic Picture is featured. Inspired by watching the silent film Nosferatu, Aaron Copland composed the vibrant Dance Symphony. The Carousel Waltz (arr. Don Walker) is the overture to the Broadway musical Carousel by Richard Rodgers. For the grand finale, Barbara Hannigan reunites with American composer and arranger Bill Elliott in their joint creation, At the Fair, a suite which includes a multitude of American songs and themes, including Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair? and Jule Styne's famous hit Don't Rain on my Parade.
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  • An American Dream?

    An American Dream?

    Alpha May 2026
    1 disc
    CD
    $20.99
  • Alfven & Rautavaara: Orchestral Works
    Chandos

    Alfven & Rautavaara: Orchestral Works

    SACD · 1 disc

    $21.99
    Composer
    Hugo Alfven, Einojuhani Rautavaara
    Artist
    Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
    Released
    Feb 13, 2026
    Hugo Alfvén was an accomplished writer and painter as well as musician and composer. Born in Stockholm in 1872, he studied first at Kungliga Musikhögskolan (the Royal College of Music) and then in Berlin, Dresden, Paris, and Brussels. Influenced by Wagner and Richard Strauss, Alfvén's style is also permeated with the influence of Swedish folk music. Festspel (Festival Play) was commissioned to inaugurate the new art nouveau building for Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern (the Royal Dramatic Theatre) in Stockholm, in 1908, the work is suitably rousing and celebratory for such an occasion. Alfvén was asked in 1932 to write incidental music for a play by Ludvig Nordström, to commemorate the 300-year anniversary of the death of the protestant Swedish monarch at the battle of Lützen, at the end of the Thirty Years War, the suite that he subsequently extracted is a substantial work in it's own right. Cantus arcticus is perhaps Rautavaara's best-known work, and was commissioned by the University of Oulu, in northern Finland, to honour it's first formal doctoral graduation ceremony, in 1972, Rautavaara instead took his inspiration from the natural environment of the region, incorporating two-channel tape recordings of birdsong as part of the orchestral texture.
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  • Alfven & Rautavaara: Orchestral Works

    Alfven & Rautavaara: Orchestral Works

    Chandos Feb 2026
    1 disc
    SACD
    $21.99
  • Sibelius: Orchestral Songs

    Sibelius: Orchestral Songs

    BIS Jan 1985
    1 disc
    CD
    $21.99
  • Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Works, Symphonies 1-6  / Jarvi, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
    BIS

    Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Works, Symphonies 1-6 / Jarvi, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

    CD · 6 discs

    $59.99
    Composer
    TCHAIKOVSKY, PYOTR ILYICH
    Artist
    Neeme, Jarvi
    Released
    Dec 01, 2010

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Gothenburg Symphony OrchestraNeeme Jarvi, conductor Symphony no 1 in G minor "Winter Dreams", Op. 13; Romeo &Â?JulietSymphony no 2 in C minor "Little Russian", Op. 17; Overture in FSymphony no 3 in D major "Polish", Op. 29; The Snow Maiden, Op.12Symphony no 4 in F minor, Op. 36; Symphony no 5 in E minor, Op 64Symphony no 6 in B minor "Pathetique", Op. 74; The Tempest;Overture on the Danish National Anthem; Voyevoda Dances;Dmitri Pretender and Vassily Shuisky; Serenade for N.Rubinstein;Capriccio Italien; Francesca da Rimini; etc.

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  • Stenhammar: Piano Concerto No 2 /Järvi, Ortiz, Gothenburg So

    Stenhammar: Piano Concerto No 2 /Järvi, Ortiz, Gothenburg So

    BIS Aug 1990
    1 disc
    CD
    $21.99
  • Fagerlund: Isola / Sundqvist, Slobodeniouk, Gothenburg Symphony
    BIS

    Fagerlund: Isola / Sundqvist, Slobodeniouk, Gothenburg Symphony

    SACD · 1 disc

    $21.99
    Composer
    FAGERLUND, SEBASTIAN
    Artist
    Christoffer, Dmitri, Sundqvist, Slobodeniouk
    Released
    May 01, 2011
    This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

    Born in 1972, Sebastian Fagerlund was recently described on the website MusicWeb International as ‘yet another obscenely talented young musician from Finland’. The occasion was the release of his opera Döbeln (BIS-SACD-1780), with a score that the reviewer went on to characterize as ‘both forward-looking and audience friendly’. Composed in 2009, Döbeln is Fagerlund’s first and so far only opera, and on the present disc we hear three orchestral scores. The musicians of the eminent Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra revel in the composer’s striking gift for orchestration, in performances supervised by the rapidly emerging young conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, who has collaborated with Fagerlund on several occasions previously. The clarinettist Christoffer Sundqvist is also well acquainted with Fagerlund’s music, and his playing served as inspiration for the composer as he wrote his colourful and eventful Clarinet Concerto. Following that work here is Partita, consisting of three movements with titles that mirror the composer’s concerns: Cerimonia (Ceremony), Risonanza (Resonance) and Preghiera (Prayer). According to Fagerlund himself, the work is not associated with any specific religion but rather with an inner, spiritual struggle in general; the need for everyone to find his or her own ‘prayer’. Closing the disc is Isola (Island) which sprang from a visit by the composer to an island in the Turku archipelago formerly used to segregate lepers and the mentally ill from the rest of society. On admittance inmates were expected to bring with them the wood for their own coffins, an ‘isle of the dead’ which today is an idyllic holiday location. A similar alternation of darkness and light, of movement and motionlessness, of violence and sensitivity, permeates Fagerlund’s tone poem.
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    Alpha

    Sibelius: Symphony No. 4; The Wood-Nymph; Valse Triste / Rouvali, Gothenburg SO

    CD · 1 disc

    $20.99
    Composer
    Jean Sibelius
    Artist
    Santtu-Matias Rouvali
    Released
    Jan 26, 2024

    The Fourth is Sibelius's most difficult symphony. For some, it is his masterpiece. When the symphony was premiered on 3 April 1911 in Helsinki, one critic compared it to Barkbröd - tree bark eaten by the Finns in times of famine! It is fittingly a Finn, conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, who explores this symphony that lays bare our emotions. With his Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, he continues his cycle of the complete Sibelius symphonies, with the addition of the famous Valse Triste and the symphonic poem inspired by Swedish folklore called The Wood Nymph.

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  • Sibelius: Swanwhite, Belshazzar's Feast, Etc / Järvi

    Sibelius: Swanwhite, Belshazzar's Feast, Etc / Järvi

    BIS Jan 1987
    1 disc
    CD
    $21.99
  • Stenhammar: Symphony No. 2 & Serenade / Blomstedt, Gothenburg Symphony
    BIS

    Stenhammar: Symphony No. 2 & Serenade / Blomstedt, Gothenburg Symphony

    SACD · 1 disc

    $21.99
    Composer
    STENHAMMAR, WILHELM
    Artist
    Blomstedt
    Released
    Jan 04, 2019
    A MusicWeb International Recording of the Month

    It was in 1953, 65 years ago, that Herbert Blomstedt conducted the Gothenburg Symphony for the first time. Since then he has been back on numerous occasions, performing a wide range of works – only not those by Wilhelm Stenhammar. Blomstedt has told of how an international career gave him little opportunity to study and conduct Stenhammar’s music. At the age of 85, however, when he no longer had any obligations as a chief conductor, he thought ‘now or never’ and began to study the composer’s major scores in earnest. And when the time came to perform and record them, what other orchestra could he choose but the Gothenburg Symphony – Stenhammar’s ‘own’ orchestra which he conducted between 1907 and 1922. The works on this album are possibly the finest orchestral music that Stenhammar composed and he gave the premières of both with the orchestra, Symphony No. 2 in 1915 and the revised version of the Serenade in 1920. In fact, he even dedicated the symphony to the members of the orchestra, his ‘dear friends’.

    -----

    REVIEW:

    This is an outstanding disc which all lovers of the music of Wilhelm Stenhammar should hear. I think that both works are new to Herbert Blomstedt’s discography and I’m thrilled not only that he’s now recorded them but also that he’s given us performances of such distinction. And how fitting it is that the orchestra involved should be the Gothenburg Symphony, since Stenhammar was the orchestra’s principal conductor from 1907 to 1922; not only did they give the premiere of the Second Symphony but also Stenhammar dedicated it to the orchestra.

    As usual with a BIS release, production values are high. As I’ve indicated already, the recorded sound is excellent and despite the long playing time of the disc I detected no diminution in sound quality. The notes by Tomas Block are very good. BIS have recycled the portion of his note dealing with the Serenade from the Lindberg disc but why not: the note is excellent so why reinvent the wheel?

    – MusicWeb Internatioanl
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    BIS

    Netzel, Sandstrom & Tarrodi: Piano Concertos / Johansson, Bancroft, Gothenburg Symphony

    SACD · 1 disc

    $21.99
    Composer
    Peter Friis Johansson, Laura Netzel, Sven-David Sandstrom, Andrea Tarrodi
    Artist
    Peter Friis Johansson
    Released
    Nov 04, 2022

    Passionate about the music of his own country, Peter Friis Johansson has commissioned new works as well as worked toward the unearthing of overlooked masterpieces of Swedish music. His latest disc presents the fruits of these efforts: one older, unfinished work with a completion by Johansson himself, the two others commissions made on his initiative. All three concertos were premièred between 2017 and 2020. At the turn of the previous century, Laura Netzel was one of Sweden’s most acclaimed and frequently performed composers internationally. Composed around that time, the Piano Concerto, Netzel’s largest composition, exceeds the expected framework with grand dramatic gestures and waves of emotion. Sven-David Sandström’s Five Pieces departs from the traditional concerto form with its division into ‘pieces’. The solo piano seems to seek to twist dissonances from the hands of a reluctant orchestra to recover beauty and harmony, striving, as the composer put it, ‘for something that can be found high up, per­haps a heavenly ascension’. Stellar Clouds, Andrea Tarrodi’s first piano concerto is another heavenly journey, reminiscent of the soundtracks of science-fiction movies. Here, the soloist might be interpreted as a sort of protector of humanity that seeks to provide a safe haven for personal harmony in a complex cosmic context.

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  • Gubaidulina: '...The Deceitful Face Of Hope And Despair' / S

    Gubaidulina: '...The Deceitful Face Of Hope And Despair' / S

    BIS Mar 2006
    1 disc
    SACD
    $21.99
  • Gubaidulina, S.: Deceitful Face Of Hope And Despair (The) /

    Gubaidulina, S.: Deceitful Face Of Hope And Despair (The) /

    BIS Oct 2008
    1 disc
    CD
    $21.99
  • Rosenberg: Symphonies 3 & 6 / Venzago, Gothenburg SO

    Rosenberg: Symphonies 3 & 6 / Venzago, Gothenburg SO

    BIS Feb 2010
    1 disc
    CD
    $21.99
  • Martinsson / Part / Tamberg: Trumpet Concertos

    Martinsson / Part / Tamberg: Trumpet Concertos

    BIS Dec 2002
    1 disc
    CD
    $21.99
    BIS

    Flaminis Aura: Works By Tommie Haglund

    SACD · 1 disc

    $21.99
    Composer
    HAGLUND, TOMMIE
    Artist
    Glaser, Afkham, Zilliacusperssonraitinen, Kretz-Larsson
    Released
    Jul 07, 2017

    This composer portrait opens with Tommie Haglund's first score for full orchestra - the cello concerto Flamnis aura. Composed in 2001 and rewarded 13 years later with Sweden's most important composition prize, the work is in a single movement with a slow basic pulse, the work is in a single movement with a slow basic pulse, and thus conforms to a recurring pattern within Haglund's production. Its Latin title describes a state immediately prior to a religious revelation, and the music forms an exploration of both the human interior and the cosmos - towards the end of the work a tape with space sounds recorded by NASA is heard: a ''Song of Earth''. Performed by Ernst Simon Glaser and the Gothenburg Symphony, the concerto is followed by another composition from 2001, the string quartet Il regno degli spiriti, and the string trio Sollievo. Both these works are here performed by the highly regarded string trio ZilliacusPerssonRaitinen, joined by Julia Kretz-Larsson on second violin in the quartet. Sollievo... was composed for ZPr in 2013, and its title - ''relief after teh storm'' - refers to the end of a period of painful treatment following a back operation. With a generous playing time of close to 84 minutes, teh album closes with Serenata per Diotima from 2014, interpreted by the strings of Malmo Symphony Orchestra with substantial violin solos from Hakan Rudner. Celebrating the female philosopher of Greek antiquity, the piece was also inspired by the birth of teh composer's first grandchild.

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  • Flaminis Aura: Works By Tommie Haglund

    Flaminis Aura: Works By Tommie Haglund

    BIS Jul 2017
    1 disc
    SACD
    $21.99
    BIS

    Dean: Dramatis Personæ - Francesconi: Hard Pace

    SACD · 1 disc

    $21.99
    Composer
    DEAN FRANCESCONI
    Artist
    Hardenberger, Storgards
    Released
    Jun 02, 2017

    Ever since his very first disc, released by BIS some thirty years ago, Hakan Hardenberger has earned recognition for his performances of the classical repertory, but also as a pioneer of significant and vituosic new music for the trumpet. Collaborations with composers such as Takemitsu, Part, Henze, and H.K. Gruber have resulted in numerous works, of which the two recorded here are among the more recent. Brett Dean's concerto Dramatis personae is named after the term used for the list of characters in a stage work, and casts the soloist in the role of the ''Hero''. Dean's protagonist is a complex one, however, with traits inspired by comic book super heros as well as the classical flawed heros of literature and legend: ''Soliloquy'', the second movement, is a reference to Hamlet, while Charlie Chaplin's character in Modern Times has inspired the work's finale, ''The Accidental Revolutionary''. If there is a hero in the concerto by Luca Francesconi, it is Miles Davis. In his comment sto the work, Francesconi talks of Davis as ''a musician who transcends all labels'' with ''a delicate, cracked sound'' and a voice which speaks directly to the listener. Hard Pace, the title of Francesconi's work, is an allusion to a difficult journey, but it is also a conflation of the names of the performers for whom it was written: Hardenberger, Antonio Pappano and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra. On the present recording it is the Gothenburg Symphony and conductor John Storgards who provide Hakan Hardenberger with expert support in these demanding and rewarding scores.

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  • Dean: Dramatis Personæ - Francesconi: Hard Pace

    Dean: Dramatis Personæ - Francesconi: Hard Pace

    BIS Jun 2017
    1 disc
    SACD
    $21.99
  • Lost Landscapes
    Alpha

    Lost Landscapes

    CD · 1 disc

    $20.99
    Composer
    Anders Hillborg
    Artist
    Ida Falk Winland, Pekka Kuusisto, Brad Lubman, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
    Released
    Aug 14, 2026
    Anders Hillborg is Sweden's leading composer: born in 1959, he has devoted himself entirely to composition since 1982, and his music is performed by the world's leading orchestras and conductors. This release on Alpha is part of the partnership between the label and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. It features three works by the composer. Through Lost Landscapes (premiered in 2020) illustrates the richness of his musical world: spectacular sound textures, moments of extreme tension, and the interplay of light and shadow. 'When I compose, especially for orchestra, says Hillborg, I like very much to create sounds that you can't really identify.' The use of rare instruments and the influence of electronic music punctuate Sound Atlas, premiered in 2019, which is also reminiscent of the world of Sibelius. These two works, conducted by Pekka Kuusisto for the first and by Brad Lubman for the second, are recorded here for the first time. In 2013, at the request of Renee Fleming, he wrote The Strand Settings, based on texts by the Canadian poet Mark Strand Swedish soprano Ida Falk Winland delivers an inspired performance of it, again under the direction of Pekka Kuusisto.
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  • Lost Landscapes

    Lost Landscapes

    Alpha Aug 2026
    1 disc
    CD
    $20.99
    Chandos

    Atterberg: Orchestral Works, Vol. 5 / Larsson, Persson, Jarvi, Gothenburg Symphony

    SACD · 1 disc

    $21.99
    Composer
    ATTERBERG, KURT
    Artist
    Larsson, Persson, Jarvi
    Released
    Aug 26, 2016

    This new release is the final installment in Chandos’ Atterberg series with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Jarvi. This volume features two rarely performed centuries from the later years of Atterberg’s career. The seventh century is featured first in its final form which consists of three movements. While it was composed in 1942 with four movements, it didn’t reach its final shape until 1969 when Atterberg removed the last movement. The ninth symphony was regarded by the composer as “evil.” He set parts of the Icelandic poem “Volupsa” which tells of how evil came into the world and how it will eventually cause total destruction. The work is a single movement large-scale rondo form.

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  • Weinberg: Concertos, Fantasia For Cello / Svedlund, Gunnarsson, Claesson

    Weinberg: Concertos, Fantasia For Cello / Svedlund, Gunnarsson, Claesson

    Chandos Jun 2008
    1 disc
    CD
    $21.99
  • Five Nordic Masters: Svendsen / Stenhammer / Nielsen / Sibel

    Five Nordic Masters: Svendsen / Stenhammer / Nielsen / Sibel

    BIS Jun 2004
    5 discs
    CD
    $49.99