The music of Rachmaninoff is of “enormous significance” to Kirill Petrenko. In it, he finds his “musical home”. His third edition together with the Berliner Philharmoniker is dedicated to the Russian composer, the 150th anniversary of whose birth was celebrated in 2023. It presents four key works: the Second Symphony, the Piano Concerto No. 2 and The Isle of the Dead – Rachmaninoff regularly performed them together until his emigration in 1917 – and the Symphonic Dances, which the composer wrote shortly before his death.

Unsuk Chin’s music is a magical realm: sometimes it unfolds labyrinths of innovative sounds and complex structures, then again moments of otherworldly beauty. Her astonishing ingenuity gives each work its own character – which makes the encounter with Chin’s music a "continuous adventure" for the Berlin Philharmonic.

For the orchestra, many highlights of this fruitful collaboration are linked to special memories: Chorós Chordón, for example, accompanied the Philharmonic on their last tour of Asia with Simon Rattle. This edition documents all the works by Unsuk Chin that have been performed by the Berlin Philharmonic to date.

In addition to the recordings on CD and Blu-ray and a bonus film, the hardcover edition features an attractively designed accompanying book with moiré effect art by Takahiro Kurashima, and introductory texts.

The Berliner Philharmoniker’s contribution to the great Russian composer’s anniversary year places a landmark performance of his perennially popular C minor Concerto by Kirill Gerstein and Kirill Petrenko in the illuminating context of his solo music.

Gerstein says that a feeling of love for Rachmaninoff’s music was palpable in his rehearsals with Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmoniker, and their love was shared with listeners to this performance at the Waldbühne Concert in June 2022. Such a deeply gratifying collaboration led naturally to a Rachmaninoff project, with Gerstein recording solo music at the Philharmonie to complement the concerto from the Waldbühne. In his selection, the pianist curates a glimpse into the evolution of Rachmaninoff’s creative vision. Starting out from the familiar Romantic brilliance of the Second Concerto, the pieces glance backward to the youthful style of his early works and forward to the pared-down harmonies of his late Variations on a Theme of Corelli. Rachmaninoff 150 is also a celebration of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s own ties to the man and his music: a tradition that dates back to 1903, when the C minor Piano Concerto became the first of his works to be performed by the orchestra. The composer played this same concerto in 1908 at his Berliner Philharmoniker debut, as did Kirill Gerstein at his debut with the orchestra in 2016. Accompanying the SACD/CD release with stereo and surround sound is an illustrated 76-page booklet containing atmospheric artwork by Thomas Struth as well as extensive texts.

Includes: 

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3: No. 3 Mélodie
Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42
Six Songs, Op. 4: No. 3 In the Silence of the Secret Night (Arr. Kirill Gerstein)

Fritz Kreisler
Old Viennese Dances: No. 2 Love's Sorrow (Arr. Sergei Rachmaninoff)

A “musical snapshot of the early collaboration between the Berliner Philharmoniker and myself, and at the same time the initial spark of our association”, as Kirill Petrenko describes the edition in the foreword. Three repertoire strands are outlined here: first, there is the music of Russia, which Kirill Petrenko grew up with, and is represented here by Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies No. 5 and 6. These are performances in which not only the passion and power of these works unfold fully, but also their details and fine nuances. Another of Kirill Petrenko’s interests is that of unjustly forgotten composers. As examples of this, the edition presents two composers on the cusp between late-Romanticism and Modernism: Rudi Stephan and Franz Schmidt. The latter’s Fourth Symphony is presented here: music full of sonority and pain and at the same time a favourite of Kirill Petrenko.

And then – as a further cornerstone of the partnership – there is German-Austrian Classicism and Romanticism. The importance of this repertoire to Kirill Petrenko is demonstrated by the prominent place Ludwig van Beethoven occupied in his concerts to open the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons, when the Seventh and Ninth Symphonies respectively were programmed. Both performances are also documented here. Now, for the first time, these special recordings appear in a high-quality vinyl edition limited to 1,500 copies on 6 LP with a 56-page clothbound accompanying book and the option of hi-res download.

Kirill Petrenko describes Dmitri Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony as an “incredible psychological drama”. The composer wrote it while his life was in danger during the Second World War: between a perilous existence and Stalinist censorship. The Ninth and Tenth also bear vivid witness to Shostakovich’s confrontation with the regime – and his self-assertion. Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings now releases the recordings of Symphonies 8–10 as the orchestra’s second major hardcover edition with chief conductor Kirill Petrenko.

They are among the most striking recordings of classical music ever made: the radio recordings with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Wilhelm Furtwängler, made between 1939 and 1945. Made at the height of the collaboration between orchestra and conductor, Furtwängler’s artistic personality is conveyed here as vividly as nowhere else. You can experience performances whose immediate expressive intensity arises from the moment of performance – and in which not least the existential experience of the Second World War reverberates. In a limited vinyl box with 8 LPs, Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings is now releasing a selection of all the surviving radio recordings that have already appeared on the CD/SACD Wilhelm Furtwängler: The Radio Recordings 1939-1945. With the enclosed code you can also download all the recordings of this edition in studio quality. When he was elected chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1922, Wilhelm Furtwängler impressed the musicians with his unique charisma. It was based on an intriguing interpretative principle: his baton technique avoided very precise gestures and deliberately relied on the blurring of tonal contours. For the remastering of the radio recordings, the best available material was used, in particular original tapes that were taken to the Soviet Union after the end of the war and only returned to Germany in the early 1990s. The recordings were carefully restored before vinyl mastering, digitally scanned using state-of-the-art technology and remastered in 24-bit resolution.

Anton Bruckner is a composer with an unmistakable musical language: darkly glowing, overwhelmingly beautiful, but also energetic and innovative. For the Berliner Philharmoniker, this music has been part of their artistic identity for over a hundred years. The orchestra now presents Bruckner's symphonies in an exclusive edition, recorded over the last ten years together with some of the foremost Bruckner interpreters of our time. The Berliner Philharmoniker is a German orchestra based in Berlin which is consistently ranked among the top orchestras in the world, distinguished amongst peers for it's virtuosity and compelling sound.

REVIEW:

This may be a premium-priced product but the set undoubtedly offers premium quality, which justifies the price tag, with terrific audio and video as well as excellent documentation. Even more importantly, you get all nine symphonies played by a peerless orchestra. Furthermore, as I hope my comments on the individual performances have shown, there are some considerable interpretations in this set – and not one that is less than very good. I think it’s a decided asset that we see and hear at work not just one conductor but several, all of them excellent Bruckner interpreters.

So, though it’s an expensive proposition, this is a set that will grace any Bruckner collection. With it the Berlin Philharmonic has set out to celebrate their proud Bruckner tradition and they’ve certainly achieved that.

— MusicWeb International

In these recordings, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Berliner Philharmoniker present a brilliant and multifaceted interpretation of Franz Schubert’s eight symphonies. This Schubert is colorful and dramatic – and represents a unique synthesis in which the famous sound of the Berliner Philharmoniker is as evident as Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s familiarity with the transparency and sound speech of historical performance practice. The CD hardcover edition enables playback with either the best CD sound or – when used as an SACD – in high-resolution audio quality and in surround sound. Founded in 1882, the Berliner Philharmoniker has consistently been ranked as one of the best orchestras in the world. In 2006, ten European media outlets voted the ensemble number three on a list of “Top Ten European Orchestras,” and in 2008 it was voted the world’s number two orchestra in a survey by Gramophone.