Recording Projects
Learn more about the joint recording projects of Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.
Gustav Mahler
Our Mahler cycle, which Paavo Järvi is recording with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, has been running since February 2024. It began with Symphony No. 5, followed by Symphonies No. 1 and No. 7, and now the programme includes Symphonies No. 2 and No. 10.
"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 was supported by the Georg und Bertha Schwyzer-Winiker-Stiftung, No. 1 by the Freundeskreis Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and No. 7 by the Elisabeth Weber-Stiftung. The vinyl production was supported by Prof. Dr Roger M. Nitsch.
We have also been able to secure a special guest performance partner for our Mahler residency over the next three seasons: Baden-Baden.
More information about the Mahler cycle
Arthur Honegger
The Swiss composer Arthur Honegger stirred up the Parisian music world in the 1920s as part of the "Groupe des Six". Paavo Järvi is also convinced: "It is a mission for us to keep these works alive." As part of our Honegger focus, we will therefore be recording various of his works on CD over the next two seasons.
Anton Bruckner
From 2022 to 2024, Paavo Järvi realised a Bruckner cycle with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich that spanned several seasons. The CD recordings of Symphonies No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9 were released as part of this cycle, which concludes the Bruckner cycle for the time being.
"With its great classical-romantic tradition, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich 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-Orchester Zürich 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 honoured with the Diapason d'Or April 2023
Symphony No. 8 honoured with the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in April 2024
The recordings of Symphony Nos. 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
