The Minnesota Orchestra has an illustrious past, numbering such legendary figures as Eugene Ormandy, Dimitri Mitropoulos and Antal Dorati among its music directors. As of...

The Minnesota Orchestra has an illustrious past, numbering such legendary figures as Eugene Ormandy, Dimitri Mitropoulos and Antal Dorati among its music directors. As of 2003, Osmo Vänskä is the tenth man on the post, and has had a very successful first season, rounded off by a European tour. During this eventful year, the team also recorded the first volume in what will be one of the first complete cycles of Beethoven's symphonies in Surround Sound. We are now releasing this recording on a disc which is sure to make its mark! Osmo Vänskä -- described as 'an exemplary Beethoven conductor, it's hard to think of anyone better at present' (Andrew Clements in The Guardian) -- has chosen to open his Beethoven cycle with Symphonies No.4 and No.5. The Fourth was on the programme during the orchestra's European tour this spring in performances that were very warmly applauded by the critics: the Vänskä/Minnesota interpretation ?bristled with energy and displayed a muscular, finely honed ensemble-- and 'proved that the possibilities of the modern-instrument approach are not exhausted yet' according to the British music press, and a German reviewer was struck by the symphony's Finale ('one could not imagine it played more vivaciously and grippingly') as well as 'the immensely rich' dynamic contrasts of the performance as a whole qualities that certainly are brought out in the Surround Sound version on the present disc. (As all our Surround Sound releases, this too is issued on a so-called hybrid disc playable on all CD-players in stereo.) In first-class acoustics (Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis) and using the latest recording technology, our most experienced recording team have given free sonic rein to Osmo Vänskä and his Minnesota Orchestra in performances that are among the most exciting one can imagine!