The Cleveland Orchestra Releases Second Recording in 2020 Featuring Schubert's Symphony in C Major

The Cleveland Orchestra, has announced details of its next new recording, to be released worldwide on Friday, October 2. The new album, available on CD (Hybrid SACD) or digitally via online streaming or download purchase, is the Orchestra's second release on its own label, following their inaugural album titled A New Century, released in June 2020.

The new recording features Schubert's greatest symphonic masterpiece, his "Great" C-major Symphony (D.944) paired with a uniquely modern work by 20th-century composer Ernst Křenek, Static and Ecstatic. Both pieces were recorded live at Severance Hall with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst in March 2020, and mark The Cleveland Orchestra's final performances prior to performing arts groups being shuttered around the world due to the coronavirus.

Worldwide release of the album, via international retail outlets and the Cleveland Orchestra Store, will take place on Friday, October 2, 2020. Pre-orders for the physical set can be purchased now via the Orchestra's Store at cleveland-orchestra-store.myshopify.com/. Selections will be available on streaming services in the months leading up to the release. For additional details, see the Production Information section below and clevelandorchestra.com/schubertkrenek.

"Earlier this year, The Cleveland Orchestra launched its own recording label with an inaugural three-disc album titled A New Century," said André Gremillet, President & CEO of The Cleveland Orchestra. "That album offered six musical selections written across three centuries, all chosen to showcase the extraordinary artistry and versatility of our storied ensemble under Franz Welser-Möst's direction. This second release continues that exploration and focus, bringing together Schubert's greatest symphonic masterpiece with a singularly modern work by Ernst Křenek.

"The recording of these two pieces took place in March 2020, created under poignant and emotion-filled circumstances. The artistic expression they embody is central to The Cleveland Orchestra's belief in the power of music to impact people's lives. In a world filled with uncertainty and too often driven by divisions and discord, we need more than ever the inspiration and perspective that music brings, as well as the understanding and empathy it can foster."

"This new recording - pairing a symphony by Schubert with a modern piece by Křenek - came together quite unexpectedly, from two separate projects," said Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. "In the midst of changing circumstances, as the world itself was revolving in One Direction and slowing down in so many other ways, these two pieces suddenly became an unlikely but obvious twosome.

"Each time I listened to the final master proofs of these two pieces, recorded in March 2020, I am amazed both by the performances and by the circumstances in which they were recorded. We created these just as the world was shutting down and just as life, the way most of us knew it on a day-to-day basis, was about to change quite radically,"

"In rehearsal, I talked with the Orchestra about Schubert's music - and the fact that he often works in small focus, creating and developing so carefully and creatively the smallest details. Thus, in one sense, he creates a small world. But it is always an incredibly rich world. This, in many ways, mirrors what so many of us have experienced in the ensuing weeks and months - as we isolated with family, sitting in a small and very personal world, surrounded by something larger, a deeply interconnected world.

"And one thing I understood at the time, in the midst of uncertainty, in what seemed like very dire, dark times. I'm extremely, extremely grateful that I was part of this performance, as much as I regret the virus and the devastation it has caused. I can see - and feel - how the poignancy of the moment balances against the timelessness written into Schubert's music."

In the Orchestra's On a Personal Note podcast, "The Sound of Crisis" episode, Welser-Möst recalls his conflicting emotions conducting The Cleveland Orchestra under such unusual circumstances - and without knowing when the musicians might make music together again. This performance was recorded under the first phase of restrictions put in place by the Governor of Ohio limiting a total of no more than 100 people being together in an enclosed space. Additional restrictions were implemented in subsequent weeks, making the March 13 performances the last time The Cleveland Orchestra has been able to play together for the time being.

To hear that intimate account by Mr. Welser-Möst of the March performances and rehearsals, listen to "The Sounds of Crisis" episode of On a Personal Note, The Cleveland Orchestra's new podcast via clevelandorchestra.com/podcast or it can be streamed or downloaded via most podcast apps (Apple, Google, Spotify, etc.)

Access to the recordings for media reviewing is available upon request as well as high resolution images of the product packaging, and photos of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.

Released by The Cleveland Orchestra, the Scubert/Křenek recording will be available on all major digital download and streaming services worldwide (including Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, TIDAL, Qobuz, IDAGIO, Primephonic, and QQ Music China.)

This and planned, ongoing future album releases (which will take into account the Orchestra's shifting schedule for 2020-21, with at least one new release scheduled per year) are designed to share the unique artistry of the Welser-Möst/Cleveland Orchestra partnership with audiences in Cleveland and around the world, while expanding the Orchestra's extensive recording catalog, including video/DVD releases of Bruckner and Brahms under Welser-Möst's baton.

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