Anyone who likes classical music knows the iconic yellow label of the Deutsche Grammophon record label. For more than a century, the label has set the tone of the international classical music industry with recordings that have found their way onto shelves and playlists around the world.
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi can now look forward to releasing a CD box set under the famous yellow logo - as the first Danish orchestra ever. They have signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon to release all six of Carl Nielsen's symphonies on three albums, which will be released from spring 2022.
“Of course, it's a dream scenario to see the DR Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi released on arguably the most legendary classical record label that has such great luminaries among its artists - both historical and contemporary,” says Kim Bohr, Director of DR Koncerthuset and Artistic Director of the DR Symphony Orchestra.
“But I'm particularly pleased that the collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon is helping to give our national composer Carl Nielsen and thus Danish music a historic boost. With the new release series, Nielsen's symphonies really enter the international classical music canon, which is fully deserved,” says Kim Bohr.
According to chief conductor Fabio Luisi, there is an obvious explanation for the international success he and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra have achieved with Nielsen's music on tours abroad in recent years.
“The Danish National Symphony Orchestra has played Nielsen's symphonies since the composer's own lifetime and has its own distinctly Nordic Nielsen tradition. But I myself have only recently discovered the music, and this has given us an exciting common starting point for a new interpretation of the symphonies,” says Fabio Luisi.
Luisi has spoken warmly several times about his joy at discovering Nielsen's music:
“Getting to know a new composer feels a bit like a love affair. The more I explore Nielsen's music with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the more fascinating I find it. Nielsen is an interesting, complex and deeply original composer, and I am delighted that the orchestra and I can bring his music to an even larger audience through our collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon.”
The yellow Deutsche Grammophon logo that will adorn the Danish National Symphony Orchestra's new Nielsen recordings has a proud history. The label has dominated the classical market since 1898, making it the world's oldest existing record label.
Ever since the first major orchestral recording was released in 1913 - a Beethoven symphony on four discs - Deutsche Grammophone has set the standard in the classical music industry, both artistically and technologically. The company first came to prominence when it was among the first pioneers to release classical music on the new medium of compact disc in the 1980s. The Berliner Philharmoniker and Herbert von Karajan became the first artists ever on CD, and several of the label's CD releases with names like Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniel Barenboim and the world's leading symphony orchestras have sold millions of copies over the years.
Today, Deutsche Grammophon is part of Universal Music, and in addition to international physical and digital distribution, the company has several independent streaming platforms such as DG Stage and DG Premium.
If you think it's a long time until 2022, when the first recording in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra's new Nielsen series is released, you can rejoice in the fact that some of the music can be experienced live in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra's new season. Fabio Luisi will conduct three of Nielsen's symphonies in the Concert Hall in connection with the recording of the symphonies for release on Deutsche Grammophon. The rest of the programme for the DR Symphony Orchestra's upcoming season will be announced on Tuesday 4 May.