Classics Today 10/10; Gramophone: Editor's Choice; BBC Music Magazine: outstanding.
The Minnesota Orchestra has an illustrious past, numbering such legendary figures as Eugene Ormandy, Dimitri Mitropoulos and Antal Dorati among its music directors. As of 2003, Osmo Vänskä is the tenth man on the post, and the team has had a very successful first season, rounded off by a European tour – and by Osmo Vänskä being chosen ‘Conductor of the Year’ by the prestigious publication Musical America. During this eventful year, the team also recorded the first volume in what will be one of the first complete cycles of Beethoven’s symphonies in Surround Sound. Osmo Vänskä – described as ‘an exemplary Beethoven conductor’ (Andrew Clements in The Guardian) – has chosen to open his cycle with Symphonies No. 4 and No. 5 on a disc which is sure to make its mark:
in first-class acoustics (Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis) and using the latest recording technology, our most experienced recording team have given free sonic rein to Osmo Vänskä and his Minnesota Orchestra in performances that are among the most exciting one can imagine! And the reviews confirm our own impression. They have compared this first installment favourably with legendary recordings by Karl Böhm, Carlos Kleiber, and Lorin Maazel, giving it top marks and commending both the performances and the "demonstration-quality sound'.
BIS hybrid Super Audio-CDs are playable on both CD and SACD players in stereo (CD and SACD) and Surround Sound (SACD).
Some press voices:
"These performances are as compelling as any, beautifully realized in every respect. Music lovers purchasing this remarkable disc will find ample cause for delight, and there's plenty that even the most jaded Beethoven collectors have never heard before, or heard so well."
Classics Today.com
"Le chef finlandais organise à la perfection la circulation des thèmes musicaux entre les pupitres et obtient de tous les musiciens une discipline absolue... Et pourtant, tout cela est frais, moderne, énergique...Relayé par une prise de son et un SACD de démonstration cela donne un très grand disque symphonique."
Classics Today France.com
"Performances faithful in letter and spirit... Anyone wanting Beethoven symphonies in state-of-the-art sound should not hesitate."
BBC Music Magazine, March 2005
"Fiery, elegant, bristling with character - this is impressive Beethoven... an urgent performance and a substantial one."
Gramophone March 2005
"Der Notentext wird von Osmo Vänskä und dem fabelhaften Minnesota Orchestra nicht nur detailgenau befolgt, sondern vor allem in subtilster Nuancierung zum Klingen gebracht... Einen so vielschichtigen Klang wird man wohl bis zur Veröffentlichung der nächsten Beethoven-Sinfonien bei BIS nur schwerlich vernehmen – außer im Konzert.”
klassik.com
"Here is the modern Beethoven recording par excellence; perfectly attuned to the music's drive, deftly balanced between tradition and 'period' inflexion, crisp in attack and sensitive in dynamic shading." Andrew Clark,
Financial Times 12/02/2005
"This is the best kind of modern-instrument Beethoven playing - light, lithe, with sharply pointed rhythms and perfectly floated melodies." Andrew Clements,
The Guardian 25/02/2005
"Vänskä läßt so beredt und zugleich spannungsvoll phrasieren und artikulieren, daß auch für einen den Klang von Orchestern auf alten Instrumenten bevorzugenden Hörer kaum Wünsche offen bleiben."
Klassik Heute.de
"Vänskä plays his Beethoven without gimmicks but with an integrity and honesty that make these performances uniquely exciting."
Classic FM 04/2005
Minnesota Orchestra
