Philadelphia Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra
based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, in the United States. One of the "Big Five
" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900. The orchestra's home is the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
, where it performs its subscription concerts, numbering over 130, in Verizon Hall.
From 1900 to 2001, the Philadelphia Orchestra gave its concerts at the Academy of Music
. The orchestra continues to own the Academy, and returns there one week per year that includes the Academy of Music's annual gala concert and concerts for school children. The Philadelphia Orchestra's summer home is the Mann Center for the Performing Arts
. It also has summer residencies at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center
, and since July 2007 at the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival in Vail, Colorado
. The orchestra also performs an annual series of concerts at Carnegie Hall
.
Since 2008, the orchestra's Chief Conductor has been Charles Dutoit
. Wolfgang Sawallisch
, music director from 1993 to 2003, is the orchestra's Conductor Laureate. Yannick Nézet-Séguin
is the orchestra's Music Director Designate, as of June 2010, and is scheduled to become the orchestra's eighth Music Director with the 2012–2013 season.
The orchestra was founded in 1900 by Fritz Scheel
, who also acted as its first conductor
. The orchestra had its beginnings with a small group of musicians led by the pianist F. Cresson Schell (1857–1942).
In February 1907, Leandro Campanari
took over and served as interim conductor for a short time during Scheel's illness and after his death. A flautist in the orchestra, August Rodemann, had stood in before Campanari's arrival. He started sabotaging the performances and Campanari was obliged to remove himself from a bad situation.
In 1907, Karl Pohlig became music director; he served until 1912. New music he programmed was unpopular with audiences, and revelations that he had an extra-marital affair with his secretary caused outrage. The orchestra cancelled his contract, giving him a year's salary ($12,000) in severance to avoid a suit from Pohlig alleging a conspiracy to oust him.
In 1912 Leopold Stokowski
became music director, and brought the orchestra to national prominence. Under him, the orchestra gained a reputation for virtuosity, and developed what is known as the "Philadelphia Sound." Stokowski left the orchestra in 1941, and did not return as a guest conductor for nearly 20 years.
In 1936 Eugene Ormandy
joined the organization, and jointly held the post of principal conductor with Stokowski until 1938 when he took over the role full-time. He remained with the orchestra for a total of 44 years, after which he became Conductor Laureate. Ormandy conducted many of the orchestra's best-known recordings. He took the orchestra on its historic 1973 tour of the People's Republic of China
, where they were the first Western orchestra to visit that country in many decades. They were highly popular in China, and have since returned for three more successful tours.
Riccardo Muti
became principal guest conductor of the orchestra in the 1970s, and took over from Ormandy as Music Director in 1980, serving through 1992. His recordings with the orchestra included the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven
, Johannes Brahms
, and Alexander Scriabin
, for the EMI and Philips labels.
Wolfgang Sawallisch
succeeded Muti as Music Director from 1993 to 2003. He made a number of recordings with the orchestra of music of Robert Schumann
, Richard Strauss
and Richard Wagner
, among other composers, for the EMI label. However, the orchestra lost its recording contract with EMI during this time, which led to the orchestra going on strike for 64 days in 1996. Toward the end of Sawallisch's tenure, the orchestra released a self-produced set of recordings of the Schumann symphonies with Sawallisch conducting. In 2003, Sawallisch was named Conductor Laureate of the orchestra.
In 2003, Christoph Eschenbach
became music director. This appointment was controversial because Eschenbach had not conducted the orchestra in over four years and there was a perceived lack of personal chemistry between him and the musicians prior to the appointment. At least one early report tried to downplay this concern. The orchestra returned to commercial recordings with Eschenbach, on the Ondine label. However, in October 2006, Eschenbach and the orchestra announced the conclusion of his tenure as music director in 2008, for a total of five years, the shortest tenure as music director in the history of the Philadelphia Orchestra, along with Pohlig.
In February 2007, the orchestra named Charles Dutoit
to the newly created posts of chief conductor and artistic adviser for four seasons, starting in the fall of 2008 and running through the 2011–2012 season. This move was made to provide an "artistic bridge" while the orchestra searched for its eighth music director. According to news articles from August 2007, the orchestra had now devised a search process in which each musician in the orchestra would have a say in the choice of the next Music Director.
In December 2008, at the invitation of Dutoit, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
made his first guest-conducting appearance with the orchestra. He returned for a second series of concerts in December 2009. In June 2010, Nézet-Séguin was named the eighth Music Director of the orchestra, effective with the 2012–2013 season. He immediately assumed the title of Music Director Designate, with a scheduled duration under that title from 2010 to 2012, with 2 weeks of scheduled appearances in the 2010–2011 season, and 5 weeks of scheduled appearances in the 2011–2012 season. His initial contract as music director is for 5 seasons, with 7 weeks of scheduled concerts in the 2012–2012 season, 15 weeks in the next 2 seasons, and 16 weeks in the subsequent 2 seasons of his Philadelphia contract.
The Philadelphia Orchestra's current concertmaster is David Kim
. Past concertmasters have included Norman Carol and Erez Ofer. Since 2000, the Associate Conductor of the orchestra is Rossen Milanov, who is scheduled to conclude his tenure in Philadelphia after the 2010–2011 season. Past Associate Conductors of the orchestra have included William Smith and Luis Biava. The resident chorus of the orchestra is the Philadelphia Singers.
due to the organization's large operational deficit. This is the first time that a major U.S. orchestra has filed for bankruptcy
. Amid mounting dissent from the musicians, the incoming music director, Nézet-Séguin, offered in August 2011 to work a week without pay in a gesture to help relieve the financial crisis .
in 1929) and the first to appear on a national television broadcast (on CBS
in 1948). The Philadelphia was the first American orchestra to make a digital recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies on compact disc
(in 1988), and the first major orchestra to give a live cybercast of a concert on the internet (in 1997). In 2006 the orchestra was the first to offer downloads of music from their own website without a distributor.
In other firsts, the Orchestra made diplomatic history in 1973 when it became the first American orchestra to tour the People's Republic of China
, performing in Beijing
's Great Hall of the People
. In 1999, under Wolfgang Sawallisch
, it became the first American orchestra to visit Vietnam
. More recently, the orchestra appointed Carol Jantsch
principal tuba as of 2006–2007. According to the announcement, she is likely the first full-time female principal tuba player in an American orchestra.
, in 1917, when Leopold Stokowski
conducted performances of two of Brahms's Hungarian Dances for the Victor Talking Machine Company
. The historic first electrical recordings were also made in Camden, in April 1925, beginning with Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre
. Then, in 1926, Victor began recording the Orchestra in the Academy of Music. Stokowski led them in experimental long-playing, high-fidelity, and even stereophonic sessions in the early 1930s for RCA Victor and Bell Laboratories. They recorded the soundtrack for Walt Disney
's Fantasia
in multi-track stereophonic sound in 1939-40.
Arturo Toscanini
made a series of recordings with the orchestra in 1941 and 1942. Due to technical problems with the masters, the recordings were never issued on 78-rpm discs. Years later, after extensive electronic editing, all of the recordings were issued by RCA Victor on LP and CD.
The Orchestra remained with RCA Victor through 1942. Following a settlement of a recording ban imposed by the American Federation of Musicians
, the Orchestra switched to Columbia Records
in 1944, recording some of the dances from Borodin
's Prince Igor
. They returned to RCA Victor in 1968 and made their first digital recording, Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra
, in 1979. The Orchestra has also recorded for EMI
and Teldec
.
In May 2005, The Philadelphia Orchestra announced a three-year recording partnership with the Finnish label Ondine
, the Orchestra's first recording contract in 10 years. The resumption of a regular recording program was one of Christoph Eschenbach's stated priorities as music director. A number of recordings have been released since November 2005, to international acclaim.
On September 21, 2006 the Philadelphia Orchestra became the first major United States orchestra to sell downloads of their performances directly from the orchestra's website. While other American orchestras had downloads of their music on the internet, the Philadelphia Orchestra said it was the first to offer the downloads without a distributor. In 2010 this practice was abandoned, and the orchestra formed a partnership with IODA
, a digital distribution company with downloads available through a variety of online retailers, including iTunes
, Amazon.com
, Rhapsody
, and eMusic
.
In other media, musicians from the orchestra were featured in a documentary film by Daniel Anker, Music from the Inside Out, which received theatrical release and television airings. The film has received both positive and negative criticism.
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, in the United States. One of the "Big Five
Big Five (orchestras)
In the context of classical music in the United States, the Big Five refers to five symphony orchestras that were considered to be the most prominent and accomplished ensembles when the term gained widespread use by music critics in the late 1950s...
" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900. The orchestra's home is the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is a large performing arts venue located on Broad Street, along the stretch known as the "Avenue of the Arts", in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by Kimmel Center, Inc., an organization which also manages the Academy of Music in...
, where it performs its subscription concerts, numbering over 130, in Verizon Hall.
From 1900 to 2001, the Philadelphia Orchestra gave its concerts at the Academy of Music
Academy of Music (Philadelphia)
The Academy of Music, also known as American Academy of Music, is a concert hall and opera house located at Broad and Locust Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1857 and is the oldest opera house in the United States that is still used for its original purpose...
. The orchestra continues to own the Academy, and returns there one week per year that includes the Academy of Music's annual gala concert and concerts for school children. The Philadelphia Orchestra's summer home is the Mann Center for the Performing Arts
Mann Center for the Performing Arts
The Mann Center for The Performing Arts is a 14,000 seat summer musical venue located in Philadelphia's West Fairmount Park. The venue operates as both an indoor performance hall and an outdoor music venue...
. It also has summer residencies at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is an amphitheater in Saratoga Springs, New York, which presents summer festivals of all kinds of music , dance, and opera, as well as a Wine & Food Festival...
, and since July 2007 at the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival in Vail, Colorado
Vail, Colorado
The Town of Vail is a Home Rule Municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,589 in 2005. The town was established and built as the base village to Vail Ski Resort, with which it was originally conceived...
. The orchestra also performs an annual series of concerts at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
.
Since 2008, the orchestra's Chief Conductor has been Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
. Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...
, music director from 1993 to 2003, is the orchestra's Conductor Laureate. Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a French Canadian conductor. He is Music Director Designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and will become Music Director in 2012.-Biography:...
is the orchestra's Music Director Designate, as of June 2010, and is scheduled to become the orchestra's eighth Music Director with the 2012–2013 season.
History
Leadership
Fritz Scheel
Johann Friedrich Ludwig “Fritz” Scheel was a German conductor born in Fackenburg, Schleswig-Holstein. Scheel was the founder and first music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1900. He conducted rehearsals in German, and played mostly German music...
, who also acted as its first conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
. The orchestra had its beginnings with a small group of musicians led by the pianist F. Cresson Schell (1857–1942).
In February 1907, Leandro Campanari
Leandro Campanari
Leandro Campanari Although Baker gives his dob as 1857,The New York Times gives his dob. as October 20, 1859, as does the music magazine The Etude . The Etude biographical note is based on a personal interview. was an Italian violinist, conductor, composer and music teacher...
took over and served as interim conductor for a short time during Scheel's illness and after his death. A flautist in the orchestra, August Rodemann, had stood in before Campanari's arrival. He started sabotaging the performances and Campanari was obliged to remove himself from a bad situation.
In 1907, Karl Pohlig became music director; he served until 1912. New music he programmed was unpopular with audiences, and revelations that he had an extra-marital affair with his secretary caused outrage. The orchestra cancelled his contract, giving him a year's salary ($12,000) in severance to avoid a suit from Pohlig alleging a conspiracy to oust him.
In 1912 Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
became music director, and brought the orchestra to national prominence. Under him, the orchestra gained a reputation for virtuosity, and developed what is known as the "Philadelphia Sound." Stokowski left the orchestra in 1941, and did not return as a guest conductor for nearly 20 years.
In 1936 Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
joined the organization, and jointly held the post of principal conductor with Stokowski until 1938 when he took over the role full-time. He remained with the orchestra for a total of 44 years, after which he became Conductor Laureate. Ormandy conducted many of the orchestra's best-known recordings. He took the orchestra on its historic 1973 tour of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, where they were the first Western orchestra to visit that country in many decades. They were highly popular in China, and have since returned for three more successful tours.
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...
became principal guest conductor of the orchestra in the 1970s, and took over from Ormandy as Music Director in 1980, serving through 1992. His recordings with the orchestra included the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, and Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
, for the EMI and Philips labels.
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...
succeeded Muti as Music Director from 1993 to 2003. He made a number of recordings with the orchestra of music of Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
and Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, among other composers, for the EMI label. However, the orchestra lost its recording contract with EMI during this time, which led to the orchestra going on strike for 64 days in 1996. Toward the end of Sawallisch's tenure, the orchestra released a self-produced set of recordings of the Schumann symphonies with Sawallisch conducting. In 2003, Sawallisch was named Conductor Laureate of the orchestra.
In 2003, Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early...
became music director. This appointment was controversial because Eschenbach had not conducted the orchestra in over four years and there was a perceived lack of personal chemistry between him and the musicians prior to the appointment. At least one early report tried to downplay this concern. The orchestra returned to commercial recordings with Eschenbach, on the Ondine label. However, in October 2006, Eschenbach and the orchestra announced the conclusion of his tenure as music director in 2008, for a total of five years, the shortest tenure as music director in the history of the Philadelphia Orchestra, along with Pohlig.
In February 2007, the orchestra named Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
to the newly created posts of chief conductor and artistic adviser for four seasons, starting in the fall of 2008 and running through the 2011–2012 season. This move was made to provide an "artistic bridge" while the orchestra searched for its eighth music director. According to news articles from August 2007, the orchestra had now devised a search process in which each musician in the orchestra would have a say in the choice of the next Music Director.
In December 2008, at the invitation of Dutoit, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a French Canadian conductor. He is Music Director Designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and will become Music Director in 2012.-Biography:...
made his first guest-conducting appearance with the orchestra. He returned for a second series of concerts in December 2009. In June 2010, Nézet-Séguin was named the eighth Music Director of the orchestra, effective with the 2012–2013 season. He immediately assumed the title of Music Director Designate, with a scheduled duration under that title from 2010 to 2012, with 2 weeks of scheduled appearances in the 2010–2011 season, and 5 weeks of scheduled appearances in the 2011–2012 season. His initial contract as music director is for 5 seasons, with 7 weeks of scheduled concerts in the 2012–2012 season, 15 weeks in the next 2 seasons, and 16 weeks in the subsequent 2 seasons of his Philadelphia contract.
The Philadelphia Orchestra's current concertmaster is David Kim
David Kim
David Kim is a violinist born in Carbondale, Illinois and was the only American to win a prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1986, where he got sixth prize. Since 1999, he has been the concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra...
. Past concertmasters have included Norman Carol and Erez Ofer. Since 2000, the Associate Conductor of the orchestra is Rossen Milanov, who is scheduled to conclude his tenure in Philadelphia after the 2010–2011 season. Past Associate Conductors of the orchestra have included William Smith and Luis Biava. The resident chorus of the orchestra is the Philadelphia Singers.
Recent events
On April 16, 2011, the Philadelphia Orchestra's board of directors voted to file for Chapter 11 reorganizationChapter 11, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most...
due to the organization's large operational deficit. This is the first time that a major U.S. orchestra has filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. Amid mounting dissent from the musicians, the incoming music director, Nézet-Séguin, offered in August 2011 to work a week without pay in a gesture to help relieve the financial crisis .
Firsts
The Philadelphia Orchestra boasts a number of significant media firsts. It was the first symphony orchestra to make electrical recordings (in 1925). It was the first orchestra to make a commercially sponsored radio broadcast (on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 1929) and the first to appear on a national television broadcast (on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1948). The Philadelphia was the first American orchestra to make a digital recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies on compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
(in 1988), and the first major orchestra to give a live cybercast of a concert on the internet (in 1997). In 2006 the orchestra was the first to offer downloads of music from their own website without a distributor.
In other firsts, the Orchestra made diplomatic history in 1973 when it became the first American orchestra to tour the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, performing in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
's Great Hall of the People
Great Hall of the People
The Great Hall of the People is located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square, Beijing, People's Republic of China, and is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party of China. It functions as the People's Republic of China's...
. In 1999, under Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...
, it became the first American orchestra to visit Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. More recently, the orchestra appointed Carol Jantsch
Carol Jantsch
Carol Jantsch is an American tuba player. She is the daughter of a medical doctor and a Kenyon College vocal-music teacher, Nancy Jantsch. She began to study piano at age 6, and the euphonium at age 9...
principal tuba as of 2006–2007. According to the announcement, she is likely the first full-time female principal tuba player in an American orchestra.
Recordings
The Orchestra's first recordings were made in Camden, New JerseyCamden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, in 1917, when Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
conducted performances of two of Brahms's Hungarian Dances for the Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
. The historic first electrical recordings were also made in Camden, in April 1925, beginning with Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre
Danse Macabre
Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre , Danza de la Muerte , Dansa de la Mort , Danza Macabra , Dança da Morte , Totentanz , Dodendans , is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's...
. Then, in 1926, Victor began recording the Orchestra in the Academy of Music. Stokowski led them in experimental long-playing, high-fidelity, and even stereophonic sessions in the early 1930s for RCA Victor and Bell Laboratories. They recorded the soundtrack for Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
in multi-track stereophonic sound in 1939-40.
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
made a series of recordings with the orchestra in 1941 and 1942. Due to technical problems with the masters, the recordings were never issued on 78-rpm discs. Years later, after extensive electronic editing, all of the recordings were issued by RCA Victor on LP and CD.
The Orchestra remained with RCA Victor through 1942. Following a settlement of a recording ban imposed by the American Federation of Musicians
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...
, the Orchestra switched to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in 1944, recording some of the dances from Borodin
Borodin
Borodin , or Borodina is a Russian last name and may refer to:*Alexander Borodin , Russian composer and chemist*Alexander Parfeniyevich Borodin, Russian scientist in the field of rail transport...
's Prince Igor
Prince Igor
Prince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue. It was composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the East Slavic epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of Russian prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Polovtsian tribes in 1185...
. They returned to RCA Victor in 1968 and made their first digital recording, Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra
Concerto for Orchestra
Although a concerto is usually a piece of music for one or more solo instruments accompanied by a full orchestra, several composers have written works with the apparently contradictory title Concerto for Orchestra...
, in 1979. The Orchestra has also recorded for EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and Teldec
Teldec
The Teldec is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.-History:...
.
In May 2005, The Philadelphia Orchestra announced a three-year recording partnership with the Finnish label Ondine
Ondine (record label)
Ondine is a Finnish classical record label founded in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland, where the company is still based, and today offers an extremely eclectic catalogue of both contemporary Finnish music, as well as recordings with major Finnish and international artists...
, the Orchestra's first recording contract in 10 years. The resumption of a regular recording program was one of Christoph Eschenbach's stated priorities as music director. A number of recordings have been released since November 2005, to international acclaim.
On September 21, 2006 the Philadelphia Orchestra became the first major United States orchestra to sell downloads of their performances directly from the orchestra's website. While other American orchestras had downloads of their music on the internet, the Philadelphia Orchestra said it was the first to offer the downloads without a distributor. In 2010 this practice was abandoned, and the orchestra formed a partnership with IODA
IODA
IODA is an abbreviation that may refer to:* Independent Online Distribution Alliance, a digital distribution company* International Optimist Dinghy Association, see Optimist...
, a digital distribution company with downloads available through a variety of online retailers, including iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
, Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, Rhapsody
Rhapsody (online music service)
Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...
, and eMusic
EMusic
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. It is headquartered in New York City with an office in London and owned by Dimensional Associates. As of September 2008 eMusic has over 400,000 subscribers....
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In other media, musicians from the orchestra were featured in a documentary film by Daniel Anker, Music from the Inside Out, which received theatrical release and television airings. The film has received both positive and negative criticism.
Music Directors
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Wolfgang Sawallisch Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for... Christoph Eschenbach Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early... Charles Dutoit Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music... (Chief Conductor) Yannick Nézet-Séguin Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a French Canadian conductor. He is Music Director Designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and will become Music Director in 2012.-Biography:... (Music Director Designate)†
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External links
- Philadelphia Orchestra Official website
- The Philadelphia Singers Official website
- The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Ondine label
- Philadelphia Orchestra at Art of the States
- Beethoven's Nine, The Philadelphia Orchestra performs all nine of BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
symphonies for NPR's Performance TodayPerformance TodayPerformance Today is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio show, currently hosted by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations...