Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, USA
Beethoven Digital Box Set: All Nine Symphonies for $24.99!
Order today at dso.org/Beethoven
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Joni Henson, soprano
Kelley O'Connor, mezzo soprano
Vale Rideout, tenor
Jason Grant, bass-baritone
UMS Choral Union | Jerry Blackstone, music director
Enjoy all nine symphonies recorded live by Leonard Slatkin and the DSO on your computer, iPod, or other personal music device. The Digital Box Set is produced by Blanton Alspaugh, 2013 Grammy Award winner for Classical Producer of the Year, and available in high-quality mp3 format at 256 Kbps. Each Digital Box Set includes digital liner notes featuring commentary on all nine symphonies, behind-the-scenes photos, and audio and video interviews with Leonard Slatkin.
A note from Leonard Slatkin:
For every orchestra, the nine symphonies by the German master represent a summit of the musical experience. Each is a mountain that musicians must climb several times in their careers. The journey never gets easy. Each time we embark, we are filled with trepidation as to what new perils will confront us.
Actually, there are few trips more worth taking than this one. It is not about the dangers but more about the adventure. When I performed these works with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in February 2013 it was my third time conducting the cycle over a relatively short period of time. Immersing oneself in these masterpieces, without the intervention of other composers, is exhilarating. Each discovery brings one closer to the musical truth, although that truth is always elusive.
This Digital Box Set, recorded live during those performances, is a testament to the staying power of these masterworks. They still resonate with all of us and speak with directness like no other cycle. Beethoven’s spirit, his struggles, his revolutionary vision remain the height of creative genius. Listening to him grow from classical simplicity into a romantic giant is a journey worth taking in our time, on stage.
A note from producer Blanton Alspaugh:
For a number of reasons most orchestral recordings are now made in live performances before an audience instead of recording sessions in an empty hall. For this set of Beethoven symphonies we are doing our best to preserve the feeling of “being there” at the live concerts, but what we hope above all to have preserved and shared with you is a memorable encounter between Beethoven, Leonard, and the DSO.
Making a recording is all about collaboration between the conductor, the players, the producer, and the engineer. I’m extremely fortunate: it’s almost always good, everywhere I go. But these Beethoven symphonies with Leonard and the DSO seem to have brought out the best in everyone. Even when we were all a little tired after so much demanding music and so much concentration, it seemed as if Beethoven’s spirit itself was contagious and we had all caught it---mostly grace and wit, a little mischief, no rage to speak of, stoicism only because of the February weather, and plenty of joy.
© Victor Mangona
