Dacapo records New York Philharmonic composer

Charlotte Smith
Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Nordic breeze that has blown through New York’s new music scene will be captured on disc by Denmark’s national label in a new partnership between Dacapo Records and the New York Philharmonic.

Following Alan Gilbert’s surprise signing of a contract in 2011 to record Carl Nielsen’s six symphonies and three concertos for the Danish label, the conductor has brokered a deal with Dacapo to record works by composers who have served as the New York Philharmonic’s composer-in-residence.

The first results arrive in June with a disc featuring three sizeable orchestral tapestries by the Finn Magnus Lindberg: his Piano Concerto No 2, Al largo and Expo. Gilbert conducted the latter piece during his first concert as the New York Philharmonic’s music director in September 2009, but the recording took place during more recent sessions in New York.

Gilbert admits he was ‘so impressed by the quality’ of Dacapo’s technical and managerial staff that he approached the label with the proposition that they make the recordings. ‘I couldn’t be more pleased with this capture of the excitement and brilliance of the New York Philharmonic’s performances,' he said of the Lindberg recording. The label’s approach, he claimed, would ‘enrich the presentation’ of the performances.

In a further collaboration with New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the discs will stand apart from Dacapo’s usual and much-praised visual design style by using artworks from the museum’s collection on its covers, beginning with Absent Objects by Anish Kapoor, which adorns the cover of the Lindberg disc.

Lindberg’s tenure lasted from 2009 until 2012; during the latter season his fellow Finn Kaija Saariaho held a similar residency at Carnegie Hall.

Andrew Mellor

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