Award Winning Recording of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Music & culture

Jan 26

Who: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

What: Music recordings

Where: Bergen

Project period: 2015 – 2020

Web: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is an internationally renowned symphony orchestra with a rich history which spans over more than 250 years. Under the direction of Chief Conductor Edward Gardner, the orchestra has a busy concert schedule, a substantial outreach programme and strong international presence through tours, recordings and the concert streaming service BergenPhiLive. The orchestra is owned by Musikkselskapet Harmonien, which also runs Bergen Philharmonic Chorus and Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

One of the world’s oldest orchestras, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra dates back to 1765 and celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2015. Edvard Grieg had a close relationship with the Orchestra, serving as its artistic director during the years 1880 – 82. Numbering one-hundred-and-one musicians, the Orchestra has achieved the status of a Norwegian National Orchestra. Edward Gardner has been Chief Conductor since 2015 and has taken the orchestra on multiple international tours, which include the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Edinburgh International Festival, Southbank Centre and the BBC Proms. Former international tours have included the Wiener Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, New York, and the Philharmonie, Berlin.

In 2015 the Orchestra established its free streaming platform Bergenphilive which offers a fine selection of live streams and works performed by the Orchestra and a range of conductors and soloists. A youth symphony orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, was also been established in 2015, which gives four to six concerts per year.

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Grieg Foundation

The Orchestra has an active recording schedule, at the moment releasing four CDs every year, made possible and funded by the Grieg Foundation. Critics worldwide applaud its energetic playing style and full-bodied string sound. Recording projects include Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie, ballets by Stravinsky, the symphonies, ballet suites, and concertos by Prokofiev, and the complete orchestral music of Edvard Grieg. Enjoying long-standing artistic partnerships with some of the finest musicians in the world, the Orchestra has recorded with Leif Ove Andsnes, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, James Ehnes, Gerald Finley, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Stephen Hough, Freddy Kempf, Truls Mørk, Steven Osborne, Lawrence Power, Sara Jakubiak, and Stuart Skelton, among others.

The Orchestra has recorded Tchaikovsky’s ballets and critically acclaimed series of works by Johan Halvorsen and Johan Svendsen with Neeme Järvi, orchestral works by Rimsky-Korsakov with Dmitri Kitayenko, and music by Berlioz, Delius, Elgar, Sibelius, and Vaughan Williams with Sir Andrew Davis.

The first collaboration on disc between Edward Gardner and the Orchestra was a recording of orchestral realisations by Luciano Berio. A critically acclaimed series devoted to orchestral works by Janáček, including a Grammy-nominated recording of his Glagolitic Mass, has been completed, and Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder was released in 2016. 2017 saw the release of a CD of orchestral songs by Sibelius, with Gerald Finley as soloist, and a disc of orchestral works by Bartók, including the Concerto for Orchestra. Recordings of the Piano Concerto and incidental music from Peer Gynt by Grieg as well as the Grande Messe des morts by Berlioz appeared in 2018. The Orchestra’s latest releases are Johannes Brahms’ Symphonies Nos 1 and 3, and Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande and Erwartung, and an internationally acclaimed recording of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes.