Recording projects
Learn more about the joint recording projects of Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle- Orchester Zürich.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
In the 2020/21 season all five symphonies as well as the «Midsummer Night's Dream» by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy were recorded.
«This Mendelssohn project is particularly exciting for me because I have always wanted to do this. Mendelssohn is very dear to my heart, and being able to concentrate fully on him and record all five symphonies plus the «Midsummer Night's Dream» is like a dream come true. A «Midsummer Night's Dream come true», so to speak! I am a great fan of Mendelssohn, I always have been.
His music speaks to me. I've never had to strain myself much, it speaks to me instantly. Even the piano music I played as a young student. I generally had the feeling that his harmony and melody, his elegance were on a par with Brahms and Schumann. Unfortunately, the opinion is widespread that only the «Scottish» and the «Italian» are good, the other symphonies less so. The truth is: everything he wrote is convincing. His music is simply wonderful.
Nevertheless, a Mendelssohn cycle is perhaps not what one would expect - that is good news! I thought it was great to start with something unknown, and probably nobody expected a Tchaikovsky cycle. Let's continue to do something musically interesting and meaningful!»
Paavo Järvi
The Mendelssohn Cycle is supported by Hans Imholz-Stiftung
Pjotr I. Tschaikowsky
In the 2019/20 season, symphonies as well as other orchestral works by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky were recorded live. The first CD from the Tchaikovsky cycle, featuring the Fifth Symphony and the symphonic poem «Francesa da Rimini», was released in the fall of 2020, and the entire CD box set will be released in September 2021.
«Many see Tchaikovsky as the quintessential 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 traveled, 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
Tchaikovsky cycle supported by Hans Imholz-Stiftung.
Olivier Messiaen
In the 2018/19 season, works by Olivier Messiaen were recorded on CD. They were 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 composition 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
