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Andris Nelsons - Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 & 15, Chamber Symphony in C Minor

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KLASSIK

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Andris Nelsons - Schostakowitsch - Sinfonien Nr. 1, 14 & 15, Kammersinfonie

Andris Nelsons - Shostakovich: Symphonies 1, 14 & 15, Chamber Symphony in C Minor

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 & 15 / Nelsons

Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra continue their Grammy-winning Shostakovich cycle with recordings of Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 & 15 and the Chamber

Andris Nelsons Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 & 15 Website News Header

Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra continue their Grammy-winning Shostakovich cycle with recordings of Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 &amp; 15 and the Chamber Symphony in C Minor. In this latest installment, Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra bookend the composer&rsquo;s brilliant, often turbulent symphonic career.
Nearly half a century lies between Shostakovich&rsquo;s triumphant debut with the First, premiered before his 20th birthday, and the Fifteenth, an inventory of influences written under the shadow of his own mortality. Penned just two years earlier, the Fourteenth is a symphonic song cycle, and the Chamber Symphony is a skillful adaptation of that tragic masterpiece, the Eighth String Quartet.
This album is released today, 25 June 2021.

A major milestone: Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker present their complete Mahler recording, Mahler: The Symphonies   

The recording of all ten symphonies is released digitally and as a 12-CD box set on 23 October 2026
Every performance was recorded live between 2018 and 2026
Featuring leading soloists and three choral ensembles in Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 8
&ldquo;Gustav Mahler&rsquo;s music is part of the Wiener Philharmoniker&rsquo;s DNA.&rdquo;
- Prof. Daniel Froschauer, Chairman of the Wiener Philharmoniker. 
Deutsche Grammophon releases the 12-CD box set Mahler: The Symphonies on 23 October 2026, featuring the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Andris Nelsons. The edition brings together all ten of Gustav Mahler&rsquo;s symphonies; every performance was recorded live between 2018 and 2026. With this release, the eight-year performance and recording project shared by orchestra and conductor reaches its triumphant conclusion. The combination of Nelsons&rsquo; deeply committed approach to this repertoire and the Wiener Philharmoniker&rsquo;s fabled sound and history of interpreting Mahler&rsquo;s music promises to make this one of the most significant Mahler projects of our time.&nbsp;
The cycle draws directly on the Wiener Philharmoniker&rsquo;s close, longstanding artistic partnership with Gustav Mahler, the Austrian composer and former director of the Vienna Court Opera. The orchestra gave the world premieres of some of his works and still performs from historical musical materials dating from his time. Nelsons and the orchestra have worked closely together for 15 years and have already recorded a <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/de/katalog/produkte/beethoven-the-symphonies-nelsons-9271">Beethoven cycle</a> for Deutsche Grammophon.
The recordings feature a distinguished ensemble of soloists: sopranos Lucy Crowe, Ying Fang, Christiane Karg, Sarah Wegener and Jacquelyn Wagner; mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova; altos Wiebke Lehmkuhl and Tamara Mumford; tenor Benjamin Bruns; baritone Michael Nagy; and bass Tareq Nazmi. The choral parts in Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 8 are shared by the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien and Wiener S&auml;ngerknaben.
&ldquo;We are thrilled to release our complete symphonic cycle of Mahler&rsquo;s music with Deutsche Grammophon. The Vienna Philharmonic has a unique relationship with Mahler, and the orchestra&rsquo;s famous sound encompasses the full palette of colours he uses to express his doubt and anxiety about the world, but also his joy and profound love of humanity. Mahler&rsquo;s music is truly universal, yet at the same time it can form an intensely intimate and personal connection with each listener. There is something almost mystical in that encounter: a connection that reaches across time and place and speaks directly to the soul. The tensions and contrasts at the heart of Mahler&rsquo;s musical imagination produce some of the most heartbreaking, but also the most euphoric moments ever composed. It is a great privilege to explore these extraordinary heights and depths with the remarkable musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic.&rdquo; &ndash; Andris Nelsons.
The box set was preceded by Symphony No. 5, recorded at the 2022 Salzburg Festival and released digitally and as a 2-LP edition on 1 May 2026, which received widespread critical acclaim. The 11 May 2026 performance of the Eighth was streamed live on STAGE+ and completed an audiovisual Mahler cycle filmed in Vienna and Salzburg. The concerts in the audiovisual cycle remain available to stream on <a href="https://www.stage-plus.com/video/vod_concert_APNM8GRFDPHMASJKBSOJ4DHL?utm_source=share">STAGE+</a>.
October 2026

Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker  Present Mahler’s Fifth Symphony  as the Prelude to a Forthcoming Symphony Cycle

Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker will release all ten of Mahler&rsquo;s symphonies for an exceptional new anthology
The dramatic Fifth Symphony, with its lyrically beautiful Adagietto, leads the way on 1 May 2026
The complete cycle will be released on 23 October
&ldquo;The famous Adagietto gets under your skin &hellip; Nelsons&rsquo; interpretation [of the Fifth] is one of enormous love and passion&rdquo;
BR KLASSIK, on this performance of Mahler&rsquo;s Symphony No. 5
Following his celebrated Shostakovich cycle with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a towering project that recently won a fifth GRAMMY&reg; Award, as well as his newly issued Mendelssohn cycle with the Gewandhausorchester,&nbsp;Andris Nelsons&rsquo; next release is devoted to the music of&nbsp;Gustav Mahler. He has joined forces with the&nbsp;Wiener Philharmoniker&nbsp;&ndash; Mahler&rsquo;s own orchestra &ndash; to record&nbsp;all ten of the composer&rsquo;s symphonies. To herald the release of the complete cycle later this year,&nbsp;Deutsche Grammophon&nbsp;is issuing&nbsp;Symphony No.&nbsp;5&nbsp;as a standalone album, digitally and on vinyl (2&nbsp;LPs), on&nbsp;1&nbsp;May 2026. The much-loved Adagietto will be available to stream/download from&nbsp;3 April.
Mahler&rsquo;s first purely instrumental symphony since the First,&nbsp;No.&nbsp;5 in C&nbsp;sharp minor&nbsp;was written in 1901 and 1902, the years in which the composer suffered a serious health crisis but also met and married Alma Schindler &ndash; a course of events which could be said to be reflected in the work&rsquo;s darkness-light narrative arc. The opening funeral march is followed by a &ldquo;stormily agitated&rdquo; second movement and the exuberant joy of the dancing Scherzo. The fourth movement is one of Mahler&rsquo;s best-known pieces &ndash; the intimate and tender Adagietto for solo harp and strings, thought to have been a love letter to his young wife. The Rondo-Finale brings the work to an end in a radiant blaze of D major.
The performance recorded here took place at the 2022 Salzburg Festival. In its review, BR Klassik singled out the warmth of the horn section &ndash; &ldquo;one of the trademarks of the Wiener Philharmoniker&rdquo;. &ldquo;In [the Scherzo],&rdquo; the reviewer continued, &ldquo;Mahler creates a colourful mix of joy and pain, folk music and counterpoint, major and minor. Nelsons, a musician who reacts instinctively, moment by moment, is absolutely in his musical element, while his technical mastery is also clear to see.&rdquo;
Andris Nelsons has established a close working relationship with the Wiener Philharmoniker over the last 15 years, and has already recorded a Beethoven cycle with the orchestra for DG. Together they have given many acclaimed performances of Mahler&rsquo;s symphonies: their new box set comprises exclusively live recordings, captured between 2018 and 2026. The combination of Nelsons&rsquo; deeply committed approach to this repertoire and the Wiener Philharmoniker&rsquo;s fabled sound and history of interpreting this composer&rsquo;s music promises to make this one of the most significant Mahler projects of our time.
Scheduled for release digitally and as a 12-CD set on 23&nbsp;October,&nbsp;Gustav Mahler &ndash; The Symphonies&nbsp;will also feature an array of leading soloists &ndash; sopranos Lucy Crowe, Ying Fang, Christiane Karg, Sarah Wegener and Jacquelyn Wagner; mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova; altos Wiebke Lehmkuhl and Tamara Mumford; tenor Benjamin Bruns; baritone Michael Nagy; and bass Tareq Nazmi. Between them, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien&nbsp;and Wiener S&auml;ngerknaben provide the choral elements in Nos. 2, 3 and 8.
Andris Nelsons finds Mahler&rsquo;s art a source of endless fascination, &ldquo;speaking to us at a universal level whilst creating an intimate and personal connection with each listener&rdquo;, resulting in &ldquo;an almost mystical connection between you, the composer and the music &ndash; reaching across time and place, directly touching your soul&rdquo;.
Symphonies Nos. 3 and 8 will be recorded by Deutsche Grammophon later this season, when Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker perform the works at Vienna&rsquo;s Musikverein (No.&nbsp;3; 1-3 May) and Konzerthaus (No.&nbsp;8; 9‑11&nbsp;May 2026). The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stage-plus.com/video/live_concert_9HKNCPA3DTN66PBIEHFJ2CHM6K">11&nbsp;May performance of No.&nbsp;8</a> will be streamed live on Deutsche Grammophon&rsquo;s streaming service STAGE+, crowning the concurrent audiovisual cycle of Mahler&rsquo;s symphonies, filmed in Vienna and Salzburg and made available to the platform&rsquo;s subscribers.
April 2026

Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester  Record Mendelssohn’s Symphonies & Oratorios 

Adding to their acclaimed DG discography, Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester present a 7CD set of Mendelssohn&rsquo;s five symphonies and two completed oratorios, Elijah and St Paul
Theirs will be the first full-length recording of St Paul to enter the DG catalogue
The oratorios and choral Symphony No. 2 feature a stellar cast of soloists, including Andr&egrave; Schuen, Golda Schultz and Georg Zeppenfeld, as well as the MDR-Rundfunkchor 
The Mendelssohn compilation will be released worldwide on 27&nbsp;March 2026
Of all Andris Nelsons&rsquo; predecessors as Gewandhauskapellmeister in Leipzig, none is more illustrious than Felix Mendelssohn, who directed the Gewandhausorchester between 1835 and 1847. Now Nelsons and his players celebrate the composer and his wide-ranging influence on the orchestra and the city&rsquo;s cultural life more generally with a new set of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. Their generous collection encompasses his five symphonies and two completed oratorios, Elijah and St Paul, the latter new to the label&rsquo;s catalogue.
Nelsons and the orchestra are joined by the MDR-Rundfunkchor in the oratorios (both sung in German) and Symphony No.&nbsp;2, &ldquo;Lobgesang&rdquo; (Hymn of Praise). The soloists are sopranos Elsa Benoit and Christiane Karg (Symphony No. 2), Julia Kleiter (St Paul), Golda Schultz (Elijah); alto Wiebke Lehmkuhl (St Paul, Elijah); tenor Werner G&uuml;ra (all three works); baritone and Andr&egrave; Schuen (Elijah) and bass Georg Zeppenfeld (St Paul).
The recordings will be released digitally and as a 7CD capbox set on 27 March 2026. Three tracks will be issued for streaming/download before that date: the second movements of the &ldquo;Scottish&rdquo; Symphony (6&nbsp;February) and Symphony No. 1 (27&nbsp;February), and the Overture to St Paul (13&nbsp;March).
&ldquo;It has been a great pleasure and privilege to record these masterpieces with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Felix Mendelssohn&rsquo;s long relationship with the city of Leipzig can still be heard in the orchestra&rsquo;s unique sound quality and has led to a deeply held musical tradition like no other,&rdquo; says Andris Nelsons. &ldquo;Discovering the incredible versatility of Mendelssohn&rsquo;s music through his symphonies and oratorios has been a fascinating and joyous experience. From moments of real spirituality and solemnity to unbridled and euphoric joy, Mendelssohn is a composer to suit every mood and personality, speaking to all of us across borders and cultures. I would like to thank the wonderful musicians of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig for their superb artistry, and our teams at the Gewandhaus and Deutsche Grammophon for their tremendous work on these recordings. I am excited to share this beautiful box set with our audiences.&rdquo;
Still only 26 when he began his association with Leipzig, Mendelssohn over the next 12 years shaped not only the sound and style of the Gewandhausorchester, but also its repertoire, notably reviving the music of Bach as well as championing that of his own contemporaries &ndash; Schubert, Schumann, Berlioz and Liszt, among others. In these recordings, Nelsons both explores the connections with the past and brings his own creative insight and energy to bear on Mendelssohn&rsquo;s choral and orchestral writing.
The composer&rsquo;s St Paul (1836) and Elijah (1846) played a key role in the revival of the oratorio genre. It was with the former, a moving and Bachian portrayal of the martyrdom of Stephen and subsequent conversion and ministry of Saul (St Paul), that Mendelssohn gave his last public performance in Leipzig &ndash; a charity concert on Good Friday 1847, six months before his death. Moving from the New Testament to the Old, he composed Elijah for the 1846 Birmingham Music Festival and conducted its triumphant premiere himself. As he wrote to his brother afterwards, so intent were all present on the performance that &ldquo;not the slightest sound was to be heard among the whole audience&rdquo;, allowing him to &ldquo;sway at pleasure the enormous orchestra and choir&rdquo;.
Mendelssohn&rsquo;s five symphonies (not numbered in order of composition) span a period of almost 20 years, from the youthful No. 1 in C minor of 1824 to the much-loved No. 3 in A&nbsp;minor, &ldquo;Scottish&rdquo; (premiered by the Gewandhausorchester in 1842). They bookend the &ldquo;Reformation&rdquo; Symphony of the early 1830s (No. 5), a celebration of Lutheran Protestantism; the &ldquo;Italian&rdquo; Symphony of 1833 (No. 4), a collection of musical souvenirs of Mendelssohn&rsquo;s travels around Italy; and the choral &ldquo;Lobgesang&rdquo; of 1840 (No. 2), a much larger-scale work written to mark the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg&rsquo;s invention of movable type and only the second ever &ldquo;choral&rdquo; symphony, after Beethoven&rsquo;s Ninth.
Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester return to Mendelssohn&rsquo;s music in Leipzig early in 2026. Together with the MDR-Rundfunkchor and soloists Nikola Hillebrand, Catriona Morison, Werner G&uuml;ra, Matthias Goerne and Alexander Grassauer, they perform the composer&rsquo;s unfinished third oratorio, Christus; his setting of Psalm 42; and the secular cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht (5, 6 &amp; 8 February).

DG recordings triumph in two of the key classical categories at the 68th GRAMMY awards

Berlin, 2 February 2026 - Yesterday, the 68th GRAMMY Awards ceremony was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The GRAMMY, which recognises both artistic and technical achievement, is the recording industry&rsquo;s most prestigious prize.
Deutsche Grammophon has once again asserted its leadership in classical music, securing wins in two of the major classical categories: A Grammy for Best Classical Instrumental Solo was awarded to a new recording of Shostakovich&rsquo;s complete cello concertos featuring soloist Yo-Yo Ma. This release is a cornerstone of Deutsche Grammophon&rsquo;s monumental Shostakovich project in collaboration with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Andris Nelsons. Initiated in 2015, this ambitious collaboration reached its peak in 2025 with the release of a towering anthology featuring the complete Shostakovich symphony cycle alongside the composer&rsquo;s complete piano and cello concertos and other major works. With this accolade, the label has now won the Instrumental Solo category for the third consecutive year. 
In addition, Pianist and 2024 Grammy-Award-Winner Yuja Wang alongside conductor Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra have won in the Best Orchestral Performance category for their acclaimed recording of Messiaen&rsquo;s sprawling Turangal&icirc;la-Symphonie. 
&bdquo;A big bravo and huge congratulations to Yuja, Yo-Yo, Andris and the Boston Symphony Orchestra,&rdquo; says Dr. Clemens Trautmann, President, Deutsche Grammophon and New Business Strategy Global Classics. &ldquo;The brilliance and versatility of the orchestra and its music director Andris Nelsons is underlined by the fact that two completely different projects and sonic textures got recognized this year. And it is heartening that the longstanding musical friendships with Yuja Wang and Yo-Yo Ma are being celebrated with the successes. Not least, the recognition for the Shostakovich recording marks the grand finale of our groundbreaking complete symphony and concerto cycle - a multi Grammy winning decade-long endeavor. We at Deutsche Grammophon feel grateful that the work of our artists and producers is recognized so prominently in the major classical categories, in each of which we have actually competed against other fantastic releases on the Yellow Label.&ldquo;
&nbsp;
68th GRAMMY AWARDS
Best Orchestral Performance MESSIAEN: TURANGAL&Icirc;LA-SYMPHONIE Andris Nelsons &amp; Boston Symphony Orchestra
Best Classical Instrumental Solo SHOSTAKOVICH: THE CELLO CONCERTOS&nbsp; Yo-Yo Ma; Andris Nelsons, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
&nbsp;

Yo-Yo Ma Joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra and  Andris Nelsons to Record the Shostakovich Cello Concertos

Shostakovich: The Cello Concertos will be released on 25 April 2025 &ndash; listen to the first movement of Concerto No. 1 <a href="https://dgt.link/Yo-YoMa-Shostakovich">here</a>
The two concerto recordings are also included in the BSO&rsquo;s monumental Shostakovich anthology, it too coming soon as part of the commemorations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the composer&rsquo;s death
&ldquo;I think Shostakovich&rsquo;s artistic truth was to represent the voice of the voiceless&rdquo;
Yo-Yo Ma
&nbsp;
In October 2023, cellist Yo-Yo Ma returned to Boston&rsquo;s Symphony Hall to play Shostakovich&rsquo;s two cello concertos with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Andris Nelsons. Recorded by a team headed by legendary Hollywood producer Shawn Murphy and BSO lead recording engineer Nick Squire, their performances of these two very different works are now set to be released by Deutsche Grammophon to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the composer&rsquo;s death in 1975.
Shostakovich: The Cello Concertos will be issued as a standalone digital, CD, and vinyl album on 25&nbsp;April 2025. The opening Allegretto of the First Concerto will be available to stream or download from 28&nbsp;February. Yo-Yo Ma&rsquo;s recordings are also included in the anthology bringing together the BSO&rsquo;s decade-long, GRAMMY Award&reg;-winning Shostakovich project. This contains all fifteen symphonies, key incidental works, new recordings of the complete cello, piano, and violin concertos &ndash; the latter with soloists Yuja Wang and Baiba Skride respectively &ndash; and the first commercial audio release in more than 20&nbsp;years of the composer&rsquo;s only full-length opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. It will be released digitally and as a 19-CD box set on 28&nbsp;March.
Shostakovich&rsquo;s Cello Concerto No. 1 in E&nbsp;flat major dates from 1959. Cast in four movements, it was dedicated to and premiered by the composer&rsquo;s old friend Mstislav Rostropovich. Yo-Yo Ma has played the work many times, and here brings out the contrasting moods of its writing, from dark irony to poignant lyricism, with his signature virtuosic brilliance. In many places he creates an eloquent dialogue with BSO principal horn Richard Sebring.
Reviewing the First Concerto performance, the Boston Globe wrote, &ldquo;in the second movement&rsquo;s eerie duet between the cello and celesta, the high-pitched sound of Ma&rsquo;s cello harmonics was so thin and crystalline that they sounded like a wind instrument. The extended cadenza was pensive, slowly ramping into the sardonic burlesque of the finale, which sent the orchestra hurtling to the finish line with Ma clinging to his cello as if for dear life.&rdquo;
Rostropovich premiered the Second Cello Concerto in G major in Moscow on 25&nbsp;September 1966, Shostakovich&rsquo;s 60th birthday. He was also the soloist for the BSO&rsquo;s first performance of the work, which, by sad coincidence, took place on 10&nbsp;August 1975, the day after the composer&rsquo;s death.
The Second begins in a melancholy vein, with a sighing phrase for the solo cello. After the extended Largo, the second and third movements are played without a break. Shostakovich mimics a street song from Odessa in the central Allegretto. That tune is dramatically restated in the finale, which begins with a horn fanfare and eventually ends with wood block, tom-tom, snare drum, and xylophone (part of the orchestra&rsquo;s huge percussion section) punctuating a long-held drone note from the cellist.&nbsp;&nbsp;
This more reflective, inward-looking work is less frequently performed than its predecessor. As noted by the Boston Globe, however, &ldquo;one could scarcely have asked for a better trail through [this less familiar territory] than the path Ma charted with Nelsons and the BSO &hellip; Here the cello brooded resolutely &hellip; there it raged in dark outbursts only to be answered by explosive thuds from the bass drum.&rdquo;
Yo-Yo Ma will be reunited with the BSO and Nelsons at Symphony Hall on 11 April 2025 (sold out) and at New York&rsquo;s Carnegie Hall on 24 April. Together they will perform the First Cello Concerto as part of an all-Shostakovich programme which will also feature the composer&rsquo;s Symphony No. 11 &ldquo;The Year 1905&rdquo;.
&ldquo;Having Yo-Yo Ma, one of the greatest cellists of our time, join us on our journey through Shostakovich&rsquo;s music has been an immense privilege and a joy for all of us at the BSO,&rdquo; says Andris Nelsons. &ldquo;Yo-Yo has a totally unique imagination which infects everyone around him. His incredible range and depth and his humanity are ever present when performing Shostakovich&rsquo;s demanding cello concertos. We are very proud to present this recording with Deutsche Grammophon, including as part of our complete Shostakovich box set, and I look forward to reprising the First Cello Concerto with Yo‑Yo in Boston and at Carnegie Hall later this spring.&rdquo;

Andris Nelsons and the BSO Conclude their  Award-Winning Decade-Long Shostakovich Project  with Release of 19-CD Box Set

The Boston Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Andris Nelsons mark their&nbsp; tenth anniversary together and the 50th anniversary of the composer&rsquo;s death&nbsp; by presenting their acclaimed Shostakovich symphony cycle This exceptional anthology also contains brand-new recordings of: &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp;Shostakovich&rsquo;s complete piano, violin and cello concertos,&nbsp; featuring soloists Yuja Wang, Baiba Skride, and Yo-Yo Ma &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp;and his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,&nbsp; starring Kristine Opolais, Brenden Gunnell, Peter Hoare, and G&uuml;nther Groissb&ouml;ck &ldquo;It is hard to imagine a better orchestra than the BSO to play Shostakovich&rsquo;s music nowadays&rdquo; OperaWire
In 2015 the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its newly appointed Music Director Andris Nelsons teamed up with Deutsche Grammophon to record Shostakovich&rsquo;s fifteen symphonies. Ten years, four GRAMMY Awards&reg;, and scores of rave reviews later, DG is issuing the full cycle as part of a towering anthology of Shostakovich&rsquo;s major works. These recordings will enable listeners to immerse themselves in a dramatic and endlessly fascinating sound-world, thanks to performances that reflect the intimate bond between orchestra and conductor, and the profound insight they have gained into a composer whose music has been central to their first decade together.
The anthology&rsquo;s release in 2025 coincides with the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich&rsquo;s death. As well as the symphonies and incidental works already issued, it also includes new recordings of the composer&rsquo;s complete piano, violin, and cello concertos, and the first commercial audio release in nearly 20 years of his only full-length opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. Nelsons and the BSO are joined by pianist Yuja Wang, violinist Baiba Skride, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the concertos, while the Lady Macbeth cast is headed by Kristine Opolais, Brenden Gunnell, Peter Hoare, and G&uuml;nther Groissb&ouml;ck. Benefiting from the superb audio quality achieved in the exceptional acoustic of Boston&rsquo;s Symphony Hall &ndash; by a team led by legendary Hollywood producer Shawn Murphy and BSO lead recording engineer Nick Squire &ndash; the anthology will be available digitally and as a 19 CD set on 28 March 2025.
Presenting Symphony No. 10 and the Passacaglia from Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, the first album in the DG/BSO/Nelsons Shostakovich project was released in July 2015. It was hailed by Gramophone as &ldquo;powerful and beautifully crafted&rdquo; and went on to win a GRAMMY&reg; for Best Orchestral Performance, as did the next two albums in the series, with volume 3 also winning the award for Best Engineered Album, Classical. The last of the six releases, featuring Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 12, and 13, came out in October 2023 and, like its predecessors, garnered widespread critical acclaim. &ldquo;The cycle has been a monumental achievement, and this final instalment is as shattering and insightful as earlier ones,&rdquo; concluded The Sunday Times.
Before that last symphony recording was made, plans were already in place to expand the project with readings of the composer&rsquo;s six concertos. Yuja Wang here gives characteristically dynamic and expressive performances of his two contrasting piano concertos, written 24 years apart, with the BSO&rsquo;s principal trumpet Thomas Rolfs playing the obbligato trumpet part in the First. Shostakovich wrote his two violin concertos for his friend David Oistrakh, withholding the darker First Concerto from public performance until after Stalin&rsquo;s death. Baiba Skride makes both works her own, &nbsp;from the pyrotechnics of the First to the more lyrical writing of the Second.
Yo-Yo Ma gives similarly inspired performances of the two cello concertos. The inventive First was written for another friend, Mstislav Rostropovich, while the far more introspective Second was the composer&rsquo;s 60th-birthday present to himself. Introducing the latter work to the Symphony Hall audience, Ma said, &ldquo;This piece is as relevant today as it was then. I think Shostakovich&rsquo;s artistic truth was to represent the voice of the voiceless.&rdquo;
The final addition to this hugely successful survey of Shostakovich&rsquo;s major works is a rare treat for opera fans &ndash; a concert version of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District captured at Symphony Hall in January 2024. Premiered 90 years earlier, the opera was an instant hit both in Russia and around the world. In early 1936, however, Stalin attended a performance in Moscow &ndash; two days later the work was denounced on all levels by the state-run newspaper Pravda. Shostakovich never wrote another opera and Lady Macbeth disappeared from the repertoire for 40 years. A cast led by soprano Kristine Opolais, tenors Peter Hoare and Brenden Gunnell, and bass G&uuml;nther Groissb&ouml;ck, together with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, joined the BSO and Nelsons for the &ldquo;incandescent performance&rdquo; (Bachtrack) presented here. For The Boston Globe, the opera &ldquo;roared with visceral fury &hellip;, bringing a grand conclusion to the long-running Shostakovich project &hellip; The orchestra came prepared, and so they delivered. Lady Macbeth demanded a colossal ensemble and even more vast dynamic range, and Nelsons drew out the best.&rdquo;
Summing up his thoughts on exploring the world of Shostakovich with the BSO, Andris Nelsons states, &ldquo;The music of Shostakovich has been a constant companion on my journey with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. We are incredibly proud to bring together all the symphonies, concertos, and the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District into one, all-encompassing celebration of Dmitri Shostakovich&rsquo;s genius. His music is a cross-section of what it means to be human, and sharing this exploration of his works over the past ten years with an orchestra as extraordinary and versatile as the Boston Symphony Orchestra has been a great privilege and a real joy. We have also been lucky to share the stage with some of the world&rsquo;s most talented soloists, including Yuja Wang, Yo-Yo Ma, Baiba Skride, and the wonderful cast of our recording of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. We are thrilled to present this box set as a tribute to Shostakovich&rsquo;s great legacy and to the remarkable artistry and dedication of everyone who brought this project to life.&rdquo;

Andris Nelsons - Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 5-7 

MAHLER Symphonies Nos. 5-7 / Andris Nelsons

Andris Nelsons - Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 8-10 

MAHLER Symphonies Nos. 8-10 / Andris Nelsons

Andris Nelsons - Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies

MAHLER The Symphonies / Andris Nelsons

Andris Nelsons - Mahler: Symphony No. 5

MAHLER Symphony No. 5 / Nelsons

Andris Nelsons - Mendelssohn: Symphonies & Oratorios

MENDELSSOHN Oratorios & Symphonies / Andris Nelsons

00028948670451-Cvr Nelsons Yuja Wang

MESSIAEN Turangalîla / Nelsons, Wang

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Andris Nelsons - Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 & 15, Chamber Symphony in C Minor

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Andris Nelsons - Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 & 15, Chamber Symphony in C Minor

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