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Recording with the OPO|The Other Chandos Recordings…

Brucker Ninth

  Bruckner’s Ninth I have written in detail about the Oslo Philharmonic’s recordings of the Tchaikovsky symphonies, which were eventually released on the Chandos label during the 1980s. They still stand the test of time, and sound as fresh as they day we recorded them. They were supposed to lead to a much more open-ended …

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My Musical Career | Part Twenty-Nine

A View from Bern Munster

  My Musical Career|Part Twenty-Nine Touring with the Oslo Philharmonic Fall 1985 – Germany, Switzerland and Austria In my last post in this series, I wrote about my first “big” tour with the orchestra to the United Kingdom. During the course of that tour we visited England, Scotland and Wales. Needless to say, other than …

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Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Seven

Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony

  Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Seven   “Manfred” Symphony, op. 58 You will recall from the last blog post that we re-recorded the “Pathetique” Symphony in the late fall of 1986, after having put it on tape the previous August. The reason for this was that our chief conductor Mariss Jansons felt that …

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Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part Six

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6

  Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part Six   Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, op. 74 “Pathetique” By this time, it was clear to all of us in the organization that we had two symphonies left to record. Symphonies 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 had been recorded (the Second and Third had not yet …

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Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Five

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 3

  Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Five   Symphony No. 3 in D major, op. 29 At this point in time, the Oslo Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons were on a roll (figuratively) when it came to recording the Tchaikovsky symphonies for Chandos. It was the early winter of 1986. Symphonies No. 5 and 4 …

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My Musical Career|Part Twenty-Eight

Westminster Abbey

  My Musical Career | Part Twenty-Eight   Touring with the Oslo Philharmonic – U.K 1984 In my previous post, I talked about some of the highlights of my first seasons with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. My first tour with the orchestra was an overnight run-out to Gothenberg, Sweden. My first “big” tour with the …

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Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Four

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2

  Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Four   Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, op. 17 “Little Russian” Now that we had three of the Tchaikovsky symphonies on tape – by this time two had been released, and the 1st Symphony was due for release in the late fall of 1985, the orchestra …

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My Musical Career |Part Twenty-Seven

Practicing Bartok

  My Musical Career|Part Twenty-Seven   Playing the Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (orchestral version) and Other Highlights… One of the biggest challenges facing me that first season with the orchestra happened relatively early on. I was fully aware of it as I had been sent a copy of the season’s program during …

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Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Three

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1

  Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Three   Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 in G minor, op. 13 “Winter Daydreams” With the Fifth Symphony released, and the Fourth Symphony already on tape, it was time to for Mariss and the Chandos team to decide which of the symphonies to record next. Should we go for …

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Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part Two

Tchaikovsky 4th

Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part Two In my last post, I wrote about how the Tchaikovsky recording project got started. It began with the desire on the part of both orchestra and conductor to record the standard repertoire, which lead to the orchestra waiving their fee and paving the way for our recording of Tchaikovsky’s 5th …

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