Gurrelieder

"Sometimes less is not more. More is exhilarating...the music-making was superb...And what terrific soloists!" ***** Richard Morrison, The Times

"The opening songs have a featherweight transparency, the interludes a natural fluency … and the choral climax transmits a properly ecstatic, pantheistic glow"
The Financial Times

"… some electrifying choral singing, and playing as passionate as it is detailed … the climactic Wild Hunt of the Summer Wind is about as heart-rending as it can possibly get."
The Guardian

Acknowledged as the UK's foremost musical pioneers, with an extraordinary recording legacy, the Philharmonia leads the field for its quality of playing. Together with its relationships with the most sought-after artists, most importantly its Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonia Orchestra is at the heart of British musical life.

Esa-Pekka Salonen made his London conducting debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra in September 1983 and he has returned to conduct the Orchestra on a regular basis ever since. This is the first in our series of Philharmonia releases that feature Salonen as conductor and is a hybrid SACD/CD in both stereo and surround. Forthcoming recordings as part of Salonen's new partnership with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Signum include Mahler's 6th and 9th symphonies and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

"[Salonen] brought this extravagant manifestation of late Romanticism to a suitable blazing climax."
The Evening Standard

"The Philharmonia played as if the music really mattered, with beautifully moulded textures and impeccable attacks."
The Financial Times