Recording Projects
Learn more about the joint recording projects of Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.
Gustav Mahler
In February 2024, Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich began a new Mahler cycle with Symphony No. 5, which will continue over the next few years.
"This is the logical continuation of our previous work. This line from Haydn via Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Bruckner - in other words, the German symphonies – leads to Mahler. Everything has been said with him, after that we had to look in other directions." Paavo Järvi
The CD recording of Symphony No. 5 is supported by the Georg and Bertha Schwyzer-Winiker Foundation. The vinyl production was supported by Prof. Dr Roger M. Nitsch.
Anton Bruckner
Since January 2022, Paavo Järvi has been realising a Bruckner cycle with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich that will run over several seasons. The CD recordings of Symphony No. 7 and Symphony No. 8 have already been released. The Symphony No. 9, which was released in September 2024, concludes the Bruckner cycle for the time being.
"With its great classical-romantic tradition, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich is ideally suited to Bruckner, this central composer for modern symphonic orchestras. If Bruckner's music has been repeatedly dismissed as 'static' in the past, it is being done an injustice. For this is above all a problem of interpretation. His music has the same merits, values and aspects of the symphonies of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Beethoven, for example. Bruckner is the natural continuation of this tradition. Even though the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich has often played Bruckner and I have also conducted it, I am looking forward to discovering many new things together." Paavo Järvi
Symphony No. 7 awarded the Diapason d'Or April 2023
Symphony No. 8 awarded the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in April 2024
The recordings of Symphony No. 8 and 9 were supported by the Freundeskreis Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
More information about 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 box has been released in March 2024.
"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
Awarded the Presto Award 2024
The Mendelssohn cycle was supported by the Hans Imholz-Stiftung
John Adams
In the 2021/22 season, we recorded works by our Creative Chair John Adams. The recording of the four orchestral works "Slonimsky's Earbox", "My Father Knew Charles Ives", "Tromba Lontana" and "Lollapalooza" was made in March 2022 and released in September 2022.
John Adams is one of the most important contemporary composers and the musical voice of the USA: he is also a creative thinker, extremely versatile, likeable and reflective. Last but not least, he is a conductor. As Creative Chair, John Adams worked, rehearsed and performed with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich in the 2021/22 season and provided an insight into his music that only the composer himself can give. He also prepared the orchestra specifically for the concerts and 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-Stiftung
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-Stiftung
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
