Following acclaimed recordings of French revolutionaries Berlioz, Boulez, Dutilleux and Messiaen, Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony return with a release of works by contemporary French composer Marc-Andre Dalbavie. This album features Dalbavie’s La source d’un regard alongside his concertos for oboe, flute and cello. Morlot has championed the music of his countrymen throughout his career — and this album defines his legacy as a foremost interpreter of contemporary French repertoire. The Seattle Symphony is one of America’s leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard from September through July by more than 500,000 people through live performances and radio broadcasts. The ensemble has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season.

Thomas Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony return with inspiring and powerful performances of works rooted in the fascination with the Antichrist. For Langgaard it became his opera, Antichrist, which was also the original title for Strauss' An Alpine Symphony. Coupling Langgaard's Prelude to Antichrist with Strauss' An Alpine Symphony, this album explores the composers' disparate ideological interpretations of the Antichrist in expansive, thought-provoking live performances, superbly played by the Seattle Symphony. With naturalistic imaging, depth of field and dynamic range, all Seattle Symphony Media recordings have been engineered to audiophile standards and aim to capture as realistically as possible the sound of the orchestra performing on the Benaroya Hall stage.

Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony present passionate performances of two rarely recorded masterpieces by Morlot's countryman, French composer Olivier Messiaen. One work celebrates Messiaen’s love for his wife, the other his commitment to his faith. Together they make up an album of sacred and transcendent beauty, showing the two sides of one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. A quarter-century since his passing, Olivier Messiaen stands securely among the major French composers of the 20th century. From a broader perspective, he was one of the most original musicians of any period, the creator of a singular and often astonishing body of work. Adhering to none of the modernist styles or movements in vogue during his lifetime, Messiaen followed his own sensibilities throughout his career, forging a unique musical language out of bird calls, scales and chords of his own invention, rhythms derived from an ancient Hindu treatise, numerical symbols, and a strongly felt affinity between sound and color. The Seattle Symphony is one of America’s leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard from September through July by more than 500,000 people through live performances and radio broadcasts. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world- the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall- in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community engagement programs reach over 65,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season. The orchestra has made nearly 150 recordings and has received three Grammy Awards, 23 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.

Renowned for his interpretation of the French repertoire, Seattle Symphony Music Director Ludovic Morlot and the orchestra are joined by acclaimed tenor Kenneth Tarver, a "voice of considerable beauty and freedom" (Washington Post) in a masterful performance of Hector Berlioz's momentous Requiem. The first performance of Hector Berlioz's Grande messe des morts, or Requiem, took place in Paris in 1837. It was one of the high points of it's author's career, but this triumph did not come easily. Still in his early 30s, Berlioz was widely considered the untamed radical among French composers, and the conservative bureaucrats who controlled the Paris Opera, the Conservatoire and other musical institutions saw fit to place obstacles in his path whenever they could. Kenneth Tarver is considered one of the outstanding Bel Canto tenors of his generation, acknowledged for his beauty of tone, virtuosic technique, extensive and even vocal range, coupled with an attractive and elegant stage presence.

A momentous release, as Morlot and the Seattle Symphony follow their acclaimed recording of Ives’ Symphony No. 2 with the next installment that includes four of the composer’s greatest works. The rarely recorded Symphony No. 4 is a haunting summation of American musical styles, and one of the masterpieces of American music. It receives here a live performance of staggering authority and eloquence that brings Ives’ multi-layered sonic canvas to new life. Recorded alongside Symphony No. 3 and Ives’ two most beloved short orchestral works, this release is engineered to audiophile standards and set to be an authoritative voice among recordings of Ives’ discography.

REVIEW:

These live performances are outstanding, and the coupling gives you what is basically “the essential Ives” orchestral music. The Fourth Symphony is a tricky piece, particularly in its second and fourth movements, whose chaotic climaxes need to ride that border between riotous, tuneful abundance and mere noise. Morlot gets it, and the orchestra provides a lean, clear sonority that convinces you that something meaningful is happening down there underneath the welter of sound. Only the “simple” third movement might raise an eyebrow, with it’s extremely quick tempo, but the phrasing helps to make the approach more convincing than you might at first believe.

The two short pieces, The Unanswered Question and Central Park in the Dark, belong together, but seldom get presented that way. It’s great to have the opportunity to hear them in their proper sequence. Finally, Morlot offers a very attractive, flowing account of the Third Symphony, with textures keenly observed in order to provide this gentle music with the maximum amount of color. It’s all very well recorded before a quiet and attentive audience. The sonics do lack the richness of, say, Litton on Hyperion, my versions of reference, but this is by any standard awfully good.

-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

This new release is the third volume in the Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s Grammy Award-winning Dutilleux cycle. Especially notable on this installment, is the inclusion of a live performance of Dutilleux’s masterpiece “Timbres, espace, mouvement.” German-born violinist Augustin Hadelich is featured on this recording of “Sur le meme accord.” He performs on the 1723 Kiesewetter Stradivarius violin, provided by the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Fauré’s most beloved orchestral works are presented here in sumptuous, refined and beautifully recorded performances. With charismatic interpretations of the three short works for solo instruments and a rare recording of the choral version of the famous Pavane, this is a definitive collection of Fauré’s orchestral music.

With naturalistic imaging, depth of field and dynamic range, these recordings are engineered to audiophile standards and aim to capture as realistically as possible the sound of the orchestra performing on the Benaroya Hall stage. Digital content will be available in stereo, 96k 24-bit high resolution, and 5.1 surround sound.

This is the fourth disc on the Seattle Symphony’s new in-house label, reflecting the highly acclaimed partnership between talented young French conductor Ludovic Morlot and his American orchestra.

REVIEW:

Conjuring a wonderful palette of color from the Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot manages to give his Fauré performances an unmistakably and idiomatically character from start to finish, and his subtle conducting is able to let his musicians communicate all the music’s emotions.

-- Pizzicato

In honor of what would have been Henri Dutilleux’s one-hundredth birthday, this commemorative box set is being released by The Seattle Symphony. This three-volume series is a critically acclaimed overview of all of Dutilleux’s major works for orchestra. This is an essential collector’s item for any lover of 20th century French music. The individual releases included in this box set have been nominated for a number of honors, included Grammy Award nominations for Best Orchestral Performance, Best Engineered Album, Classical, and received the Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo by Augustin Hadelich.

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REVIEW:

The defining recording project of Ludovic Morlot’s tenure as music director in Seattle, this luscious three-disc set is a compendium of the orchestral canvases of Henri Dutilleux, whose centenary has been celebrated this year. It’s all played with considerable refinement, but there are particularly special results when the poised violinist Augustin Hadelich joins in for “L’arbre des songes” and “Sur le même accord.”

­– New York Times (David Allen)

One of the popularly cherished notions about musical genius is that its products spring sui generis from the minds of composers. Originality is, to be sure, an important quality in nearly any compositional masterpiece. But as the accumulated trove of Western art music has grown over time, its substance and traditions have provided rich stimulus to composers’ imaginations. Each of the three compositions recorded here entails, among other things, an ingenious transformation of pre-existing musical material or styles. The eight-voice, Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth joins the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot in an exhilarating live performance of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia. Morlot paired Berio’s Sinfonia with Boulez’s Notations and Ravel’s La valse, creating a sonic spectrum unlike any other. Hear every stunning detail of this recording in an immaculate 5.1 digital surround sound version engineered by 2017 Grammy winner for Best Surround Sound, Dmitriy Lipay.

In 2014, the Seattle Symphony and Music Director Ludovic Morlot announced the launch of Seattle Symphony Media, the Symphony’s in-house record label, with its first three recordings.

This disc is dominated by two masterpieces of early 20th century American music, which reflect eclectic influences of jazz club, church hall and military band. Elliott Carter’s last orchestral work and his penultimate composition of any kind, Instances, received its world premiere in February 2013 in Seattle Symphony’s Benaroya Hall. The work was a co-commission by the Seattle Symphony and Tanglewood Music Center and the first live performance of this single-movement piece is featured on this recording. Carter dedicated Instances to Ludovic Morlot, who, in his words, “has performed many of my works so beautifully.” All works on this disc were recorded live. - Seattle Symphony Media

"Despite their common French nationality, Camille Saint-Saëns and Maurice Ravel represent very different aspects of French music. Saint-Saëns Third Symphony, one of his finest creations, is lush, ecstatic and compositionally innovative with an eye towards Lisztian methods. Ravel's orchestral works sparkle with endlessly fascinating coloristic outpourings. The Seattle Symphony under their Music Director Ludovic Morlot has enjoyed national and international acclaim for its programming and performances. "

The latest [2015] release from the Seattle Symphony’s Grammy-nominated label is a provocative coupling of two great works by European composers reflecting their response to the vibrant culture of the New World. Varèse’s Amériques, written only 30 years after Dvo?ák’s beloved “New World” Symphony, is a pivotal masterpiece that changed the course of music forever. In live performances of electrifying energy, and recorded in stunning sound, this is a mind-bending combination of masterpieces. - Seattle Symphony Orchestra

Following the Seattle Symphony’s first Grammy®-nominated Henri Dutilleux disc comes the second installment in the Symphony’s venture to record a complete survey of the orchestral music of this late, great, long-lived, and most important French composer whose music has been authoritatively described as “sumptuous… fastidious… rigorous… seductive… non-dogmatic…” – Guardian. This time Ludovic Morlot and his musicians turn their attention to Dutilleux’s most well-known and exciting orchestral work – Métaboles. Augustin Hadelich joins for a performance of the violin concerto, L’arbre des songes, with the disc completed by a performance of the composer’s Second Symphony (“Le Double”), the recordings realized within the spectacular acoustics of Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, and, in the cases of Métaboles and the Symphony No. 2, recorded live in concert. Founded in 1903, the Seattle Symphony continues to be one of America’s leading symphony orchestras. Music Director Ludovic Morlot has been leader of the orchestra since September 2011. Constantly astonishing audiences with his phenomenal technique, poetic sensitivity and gorgeous tone, violinist Augustin Hadelich’s remarkable consistency throughout the repertoire, from Beethoven to Thomas Adès, is seldom encountered in a single artist.

Stravinsky’s much-loved work Petrushka receives a beautiful performance in this live recording by the Seattle Symphony. Alongside this titan of a work is the little-known children’s ballet by Debussy, La boite a joujoux (The Toy Box). Conductor Ludovic Morlot does a fantastic job of interpreting these works by two of the twentieth century’s finest conductors.

A 2021 GRAMMY Nominee for Best Orchestral Performance!

Thomas Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony release thought-provoking live performances of two extraordinary orchestral works composed near the turn of the 20th century: Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra and Alexander Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy. Recorded in the stunning acoustics of Benaroya Hall, these bold, colorful scores celebrate the search for creative meaning and the triumph of the human spirit. With naturalistic imaging, depth of field and dynamic range, all Seattle Symphony Media recordings have been engineered to audiophile standards and aim to capture as realistically as possible the sound of the orchestra performing on the Benaroya Hall stage.

The Seattle Symphony releases powerful live performances of works by two brilliant American composers, William L. Dawson and Pulitzer Prize winner George Walker. These deeply expressive scores — recorded in the stunning acoustics of Benaroya Hall — take inspiration from a variety of sources, including Negro spirituals, jazz harmonies and modernist traditions.

The music of George Walker and William Levi Dawson is a microcosm of Black classical composers’ stylistic diversity. Each draw upon African American music idioms for different settings, characters and functions. And yet, the works connect through the importance of programmatic and emotive narratives within the Black classical practice. Whether quoting or arranging spirituals, or using blues notes or serialism, the music of both Walker and Dawson tells a story, be it enormous internal journeys or a massive historical epic.

REVIEW:

The performances are universally excellent. The sound quality is full and clear. My criticisms of the music are generally minor. But all of the music is worth knowing and rewards repeated listening. This disc warrants a hearty recommendation.

-- Fanfare

The Seattle Symphony releases live performances of Olivier Messiaen's Des canyons aux �toiles... ("From the Canyons to the Stars..."), which takes inspiration from the rock spires, birdsong and night sky of Utah's national parks. With Judith Fong Conductor Emeritus Ludovic Morlot on the podium and guest Steven Osborne on piano, the Symphony presents Messiaen's starry-eyed journey through nature and the divine, recorded before a live audience in the stunning acoustics of Benaroya Hall alongside video projections of inspiring national parks and monuments.