Recording Projects
Learn more about the joint recording projects of Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.
Gustav Mahler
In February 2024, the new Mahler cycle by Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich will begin with Symphony No. 5 and continue in the coming years.
"This is the logical continuation of our work to date. This line from Haydn to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Bruckner – in other words, German symphonic music – runs towards Mahler. With him everything is said, after that one had to look in other directions." Paavo Järvi
Anton Bruckner
Since January 2022, Paavo Järvi has been conducting a Bruckner cycle with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich that will run for several seasons. The CD recording of Symphony No. 7 has already been released.
Awarded the Diapason d'Or April 2023
The recording of Symphony No. 8 will be released at the opening of the 2023/24 season.
Symphony No. 9 will be recorded in September for the 2023/24 season opening and will conclude the Bruckner cycle for the time being.
Both recordings are supported by the Freundeskreis Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
"With its great classical-romantic tradition, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich is ideally suited for Bruckner, this central composer for modern symphonic orchestras. If Bruckner's music has been repeatedly dismissed as 'static' in the past, one does it an injustice. For this is above all a problem of interpretation. His music has the same merits, values and aspects of the symphonies of, say, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Beethoven. Bruckner is the natural continuation of this tradition. Even though the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich has often played Bruckner and I also conduct, I look forward to discovering many new things together." Paavo Järvi
More information on the Bruckner cycle
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
In the 2020/21 season, all five symphonies were recorded, as well as "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in January 2023. The CD is expected to be released in November 2023.
"Mendelssohn is very close to my heart. His music speaks to me. I never had to make a special effort, it speaks to me immediately. And to be able to concentrate completely on him and record these works of his is like a dream come true. A 'midsummer night's dream come true', so to speak!" Paavo Järvi
The Mendelssohn cycle was supported by the Hans Imholz Foundation
John Adams
In the 2021/22 season, John Adams was our Creative Chair. He is one of the most important contemporary composers and the musical voice of the USA: he is also a creative thinker, extremely versatile, personable and reflective. Last but not least, he is a conductor. As Creative Chair, John Adams worked, rehearsed and performed with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in the 2021/22 season, providing an insight into his music that only the composer himself can give. He also prepared the orchestra specifically for the concerts as well as the recording of this CD by sharing his unique inspiration and perspective – an unforgettable experience for the musicians and Paavo Järvi.
The recording of the four orchestral works "Slonimsky's Earbox", "My Father Knew Charles Ives", "Tromba Lontana" and "Lollapalooza" was made in March 2022.
Awarded the Diapason d'Or of the Month November 2022
The recording was supported by the D&K DubachKeller Foundation
Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky
In the 2019/20 season, the six famous symphonies as well as other orchestral works by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky were recorded in our interim venue Tonhalle Maag under the baton of Paavo Järvi.
"Many see Tchaikovsky as the epitome of a Russian composer. But I believe that he was not only one of the greatest Russian composers, but above all a cosmopolitan. He was a Russian who travelled, who spoke several languages, who was a connoisseur of Europe and the world and also of European musical culture. I grew up with Tchaikovsky's music, I knew and loved it. Tchaikovsky therefore means a lot to me." Paavo Järvi
Awarded the German Record Critics' Prize 2020 as well as the Diapason d'Or de l'année 2021
The Tchaikovsky cycle was supported by the Hans Imholz Foundation
Olivier Messiaen
In the 2018/19 season, works by Olivier Messiaen were recorded on CD. This was released in October 2019.
"Messiaen I consider, even from today's point of view, after the Second Viennese School, after French serialism and everything we have experienced, to be the most original and to have an absolutely unique voice. You only need to listen to three seconds of a work by Messiaen and you can be immediately sure that it is a work by him. His style is so unmistakably clear: the fantastic harmonic language, while occasionally it can be so confusing that you're not sure where it's going – yet it has an inner logic that is absolutely coherent." Paavo Järvi
Awarded the Diapason d'Or
