The release of the Beethoven Triple Concerto and the Septet concludes a monumental project by David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra to record all the major orchestral works and concerti by Beethoven for Sony/BMG on the Arte Nova label. These include the 9 Symphonies, the Missa Solemnis, the Overtures, the Piano Concertos with Yefim Bronfman, the Triple Concerto with Gil Shaham, Truls Mørk and Yefim Bronfman, the Septet and the Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff. The Choral Fantasy and Meerstille & Glückliche Fahrt will be the final CD in this Beethoven series to be released in 2006.
This project is a collaboration between Zinman, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and Arte Nova, part of the recently formed Sony/BMG Classics. The impact made by this transformatory interpretation of the symphonies has not only awakened people’s ideas to a different interpretation of Beethoven, but has also put David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra on the international musical map.
David Zinman has recently extended his contract with the Tonhalle Orchestra until 2010.
Zinman’s imagination and determination to record the complete works of Beethoven was made possible partly because of his unique working relationship with his friends, producer and recording engineer, Chris Hazell and Simon Eadon with whom he had worked during the heady recording period for Decca and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the 1980’s. When the Decca empire changed, Hazell and Eadon set up a partnership and, widely renowned for their deep knowledge of the music and excellence in producing the perfect sound, they decided to produce the finished CD and present it to the recording company.
Since the Beethoven project, the Hazell/Eadon team have also recorded the orchestral works of Richard Strauss and the Schumann symphonies, all of which have received rapturous reviews from the international press. Zinman’s refined and ‘classical’ approach to interpretation, inspired partly by his background as a violinist, has resulted in the special Zinman/Tonhalle Orchestra sound.
The Tonhalle Orchestra appeared at the Proms for the second time on August 29th this year. The programme included Beethoven Piano Concerto No 3 with Emmanuel Ax as soloist, and Richard Strauss tone poem ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’. The Tonhalle Orchestra has just returned from a tour of Germany, where they were hailed as ‘The wonder from Zurich’.
In July 2006, David Zinman will celebrate his 70th birthday. This will take place in Aspen, Colorado, where he is Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival. Each year he conducts several concert programmes and an opera with the Chamber Orchestra, made up from the best of the 750 students who are invited to attend for 9 weeks. David Zinman’s particular interest is the AACA, (American Academy of Conducting at Aspen) which he founded 10 years ago, and which he considers to be a unique training ground for maestros, and where he teaches every day for the duration of the festival. All students are required to play in the ‘conductor’s orchestra’, which contains section leaders from several American and European orchestras, including the Tonhalle Orchestra. This way, students can learn from within the orchestra as well as receiving tuition from the outside with the maestro and his assistants.
In February 2006, Zinman will start recording all the Mahler symphonies, also for the Arte Nova label, beginning with symphonies nos 1, 2 & 3; the cycle to be completed in the following seasons. This current season will culminate in a tour of Japan with the Tonhalle Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma.
Zinman’s guest conducting engagements in 2006 will take him to St Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra.
In January 2006, David Zinman received the prestigious Thomas Theodore Award, presented by the Conductors Guild. This award is presented biannually to a conductor, in recognition of outstanding achievement and extraordinary service to one’s colleagues in advancing the art and science of conducting, reflecting honour on the profession. The Conductors Guild is the only music service organization devoted exclusively to the advancement of the art of conductors and to serving the artistic and professional needs of conductors.
January 2006
For further information please contact:
Pippa Pawlik
PPPR, Ebnet 5,8126 Zumikon
pippapawlik@musique-cordiale.com
tel +41 43 288 0540 mob +41 79 234 82 69 skype +44 207 870 1691
For other recent news & reviews of David Zinman's concerts and recordings, see www.davidzinman.org/news & reviews