LUDOVIC MORLOT AND THE SEATTLE SYMPHONY RELEASE VOL. 2 OF ORCHESTRAL WORKS BY HENRI DUTILLEUX

Violinist Augustin Hadelich Featured on L’arbre des songes

Pre-sale Starts July 17 on Amazon and iTunes

Seattle, WA – On August 14, Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony release the second volume of orchestral works of Henri Dutilleux on Seattle Symphony Media. Part of a three-disc, multi-year recording project, Volume 1 was hailed by The New York Times as a “Gorgeous, authoritative collection” and received three Grammy nominations earlier this year for Best Orchestral Performance, Best Classical Instrumental Solo by Xavier Phillips and Best Engineered Album. In Volume 2, Morlot and the orchestra continue their distinctive survey of the French composer’s orchestral works, featuring a studio recording of the violin concerto L’arbre des songes (The Tree of Dreams) with violinist Augustin Hadelich, and electrifying live performances of Symphony No. 2 and Métaboles. The orchestra plans to release Volume 3 during Dutilleux’s 100th anniversary season in 2016.

“The orchestra has been on a journey through Dutilleux’s music for the past four years now, and in my view has developed a very intrinsic understanding of this incredible body of work,” says Music Director Ludovic Morlot. “This second installment, in a way, encapsulates all that we’ve accomplished on this repertoire over my tenure so far, and I think Dutilleux would have taken great pride in the fact that his music is being played so often in Seattle and with such dedication."

The latest album captures the Seattle Symphony in live and studio performances at Benaroya Hall with exceptional sound quality, see below for details. The first volume, released in March of 2014, featured Symphony No. 1, the cello concerto Tout un monde lointain (“A Whole Distant World”) with cellist Xavier Phillips, and The Shadows of Time with boy sopranos Benjamin Richardson, Kepler Swanson and Andrew Torgelson. Symphony No. 1 and Tout un monde lointain were recorded in studio sessions, and The Shadows of Time was recorded live. Regarding The Shadows of Time, Morlot recalls, “I first met Henri Dutilleux in the fall of 2001 after having spent the summer as a student at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home. The Boston Symphony commissioned The Shadows of Time, and I had the privilege of sitting next to Dutilleux during rehearsals as he reworked his score from its previous premiere. I witnessed firsthand his considerable creative powers, as he was a perfectionist in the best sense of the word, and was always engaged. We subsequently met over martinis in Paris, discussing music and literature. He made an important era of 20th-century music come alive for me, and in the process deepened and enriched my understanding. I feel grateful to have known him.” 

To obtain physical or digital review copy of either release, or other information on Seattle Symphony Media, please contact You You Xia at youyou.xia@seattlesymphony.org for log-in credentials. 

RECORDING DETAILS:

Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Seattle Symphony

HENRI DUTILLEUX

Métaboles
L’arbre des songes
Symphony No. 2, Le double

Total Timing: 73:08 // Catalog Number: SSM1007 // Producer: Dmitriy Lipay

Seattle Symphony Media page 

Recorded in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington. Métaboles was recorded live in concert on September 25, 27 and 28, 2014.

L’arbre des songes was recorded on November 4 and 7, 2014.

Symphony No. 2, Le double was recorded live in concert on June 5 and 7, 2014.

Digital downloads and CDs are available through iTunes and Amazon. Seattle Symphony Media recordings are also available in 96k 24-bit high resolution and 5.1 surround sound formats.

The Seattle Symphony is grateful to Joan Watjen for her generous support of Seattle Symphony Media CDs in memory of her husband Craig.

The performances of Métaboles were presented as part of the Delta Air Lines Masterworks Season and the performance on September 28 was sponsored by Microsoft.

The June 5 performance of Symphony No. 2, Le double was sponsored by Delta Air Lines.

“the performances are first-rate and the sound quality of this CD is exceptional, a hallmark of the Seattle Symphony’s label.”   – All Music

ABOUT SEATTLE SYMPHOY MEDIA:

Launched in 2014, Seattle Symphony Media is the Seattle Symphony’s independent in-house record label.  The Symphony has an extensive catalogue of over 140 recordings, which have brought forth 18 Grammy Award nominations throughout its history. Under the direction of Music Director Ludovic Morlot, and President & CEO Simon Woods, the Symphony's in-house record label features both “core repertoire” and some of the eclectic and contemporary programming for which the Seattle Symphony has become recognized. The label includes both studio recordings and performances captured live in concert, allowing the organization an unprecedented breadth of repertoire choices. 

All recordings are made in the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall and engineered by the Grammy-nominated recording engineer Dmitriy Lipay. Using the Symphony’s own state-of-the-art in-house recording studio, recordings have been engineered to audiophile standards and aim to capture as realistically as possible the sound of the orchestra performing onstage with naturalistic imaging, depth of field and dynamic range. Distributed by Naxos of America, the recordings are available in both physical and digital formats from a variety of retailers. Digital content is available in stereo, “Mastered for iTunes,” 96k 24-bit high resolution and 5.1 surround sound.

ABOUT LUDOVIC MORLOT

French conductor Ludovic Morlot is in his fifth season as Music Director of the Seattle Symphony. There have been many highlights during his first four seasons in this position, including an exhilarating performance at Carnegie Hall in May 2014, as reported in The New York Times: “The performance Mr. Morlot coaxed from his players was rich with shimmering colors and tremulous energy.”

During the 2015–2016 season he leads the Seattle Symphony in a wide variety of works including the launch of a two-year cycle of Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos; Berio's Sinfonia featuring vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth; Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4; Mahler’s Symphony No. 1; and Fauré’s Requiem. Complemented by the Seattle Symphony’s highly innovative series, Symphony Untuxed and [untitled], this season will also see the release of several more recordings on the orchestra’s new label, Seattle Symphony Media.

Morlot was also Chief Conductor of La Monnaie, one of Europe’s most prestigious opera houses, for three years (2012–2014). During this time he conducted several new productions including La Clemenza di Tito, Jenůfa and Pelléas et Mélisande. Concert performances, both in Brussels and Aix-en-Provence, included repertoire by Beethoven, Britten, Bruneau, Stravinsky and Webern.

Morlot’s orchestral engagements this season include returns to the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC. He also has a strong connection with the Boston Symphony Orchestra whom he has conducted in Boston, Tanglewood and on a tour to the west coast of North America. This relationship started in 2001 when he was the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor at the Tanglewood Music Center and subsequently appointed Assistant Conductor for the orchestra and their Music Director James Levine (2004–2007). Morlot has also conducted the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

In Europe, Morlot will this season make his debut with the Geneva Camerata conducting a Homage to Ligeti and will also return to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Morlot has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London and on tour in Germany. Other recent notable performances have included the Budapest Festival, Czech Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre National de France, Royal Concertgebouw, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Morlot served as conductor in residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon under David Robertson (2002–2004).

Trained as a violinist, Morlot studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London and then at the Royal College of Music as recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship. Morlot was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of his significant contribution to music. He is Chair of Orchestral Conducting Studies at the University of Washington School of Music and lives in Seattle with his wife, Ghizlane, and their two children.

ABOUT SEATTLE SYMPHONY

Founded in 1903, the Seattle Symphony is one of America’s leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard live from September through July by more than 300,000 people. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community-engagement programs reach over 100,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season, including John Luther Adams’ recent Become Ocean, which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music and a 2015 Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. The orchestra has made nearly 150 recordings and has received 18 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.