Travels this month have offered several eye- and ear-opening perspectives on music-making. It began with a visit to Bremen, where the city’s Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie were marking the 20th anniversary of the arrival of their Music Director, Paavo Järvi. Such is their commitment to recording that they regularly receive praise in these pages, most recently their recording of Haydn’s ‘Clock’ Symphony in last month’s Collection. Last autumn they were named our Orchestra of the Year, and in the accompanying tribute Andrew Mellor described them as ‘Germany’s most exportable orchestra’. That’s a very apt phrase, but as that Award was voted for by the public – their public – it was wonderful to see them play at home in the superb sounding Die Glocke auditorium. In London, it’s rare for a programme to be performed three nights in a row; it routinely happens there in a city of about half a million. The orchestra’s rehearsal space, meanwhile, is embedded in a suburban school, their activities part of students’ daily life. All in all, a heartening example of how an orchestra thrives among its community.

Then to Hamburg for a different perspective – literally – of how music-making sits within a city. The vast Elbphilharmonie, its distinctive shape etched on skyline and souvenirs alike, has after just seven years become Hamburg’s representative image; residents I met spoke of it with affection, calling it by its nickname Elphie. It sits within a post-industrial district being reborn; from its rooftop you gaze down on the busy docks across the river. This extraordinary venue is no detached city-centre ivory tower, and that’s crucial for a hall helping to hand classical music onto future generations.

Then to Bruges for Audio Classique, a conference drawing together the classical recording industry. Many meetings with record labels left me reassured that classical recording is in good health. The buoyant creativity wasn’t just about A&R either. I was relieved to discover labels navigating the changing, and invariably challenging, landscape of modern recording – from albums to online experimentation – with ideas, inspiration and confidence.

Some of this I explored in a discussion I chaired, my panellists drawn from broadcasting, an ensemble and a label, all sharing their fascinating perspectives rooted in experience of expanding what, beyond the foundational roots of the traditional album, ‘recording’ can mean. Some of the subjects we examined – from CDs to playlists, pre-release tracks to videos – have featured regularly our pages. Our previous two cover artists alone have thrown wide open how we define recording: pianist Yunchan Lim’s multifaceted online presence (competition streams, YouTube success, traditional album); and conductor Dalia Stasevska’s monthly addition to her innovative mixtape recording project. The perspective they – or the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie, or this month’s cover artist the brilliant Baroque violinist Rachel Podger – bring, is that what recording means can be as richly varied as classical music itself. And that is something to celebrate.

This article originally appeared in the June 2024 issue of Gramophone magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today