THOMAS DAUSGAARD AND SEATTLE SYMPHONY RELEASE BREATHTAKING PERFORMANCES OF SCRIABIN’S THE POEM OF ECSTASY AND RICHARD STRAUSS’ ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA
WORLDWIDE RELEASE OCTOBER 16, 2020
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-SALE OCTOBER 2 ON APPLE MUSIC AND AMAZON
Seattle, WA — On October 16, 2020, Music Director Thomas Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony release stirring live recordings of two extraordinary orchestral works composed near the turn of the 20th century: Alexander Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy and Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra. Recorded in the acoustically stunning Benaroya Hall, these colorful scores celebrate the search for creative meaning and the triumph of the human spirit.
Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy — the first of the album’s two works, which share a late Romantic sound world — brings listeners on a capricious ride, swinging between agitation and lethargy. The Symphony’s performance of the piece “gave full reign to the sense of ecstatic liberation Scriabin has in view” (Bachtrack). Of the performance, Bachtrack also notes, “Dausgaard is an especially fine interpreter of late Romantic repertoire — he's already given Seattle a taste of his first-rate Richard Strauss — and in the Scriabin this gift showed itself above all in the luscious, sensual, gorgeously balanced blends of colour he drew from the orchestra.”
R. Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra was performed at the opening night concert in September 2019 that ushered in Dausgaard as Seattle Symphony’s Music Director. The Symphony’s performance of the orchestral showpiece features “the wonderfully rumbly bass tones from Benaroya Hall’s Watjen Concert Organ [and] demanding virtuoso musicianship from every section in the orchestra” (The Seattle Times).
Digital downloads and CDs are available through all major online music retailers and streaming services and will be available worldwide on October 16, 2020. This recording is also available in an immaculate 5.1 digital surround version engineered by the 2017 Grammy Award winner for Best Surround Sound, Dmitriy Lipay.
To obtain a physical or digital review copy of the release, photos, liner notes or any other information on Seattle Symphony Media, please contact Dinah Lu at press@seattlesymphony.org.
RECORDING DETAILS
R. STRAUSS
ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA
SCRIABINTHE POEM OF ECSTASY
Thomas Dausgaard conductor
Seattle Symphony
Worldwide Release Date
October 16, 2020
Label: Seattle Symphony Media
Catalog Number: SSM1025
Producer: Dmitriy Lipay
Thomas Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony release stirring live performances of two extraordinary orchestral works composed near the turn of the 20th century: Alexander Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy and Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra on October 16, 2020. Recorded in the stunning acoustics of Benaroya Hall, these bold, colorful scores celebrate the search for creative meaning and the triumph of the human spirit.
RICHARD STRAUSS ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA
Total Timing: 30:07 // Catalog Number: SSM1025 // Producer: Dmitriy Lipay //
Label: Seattle Symphony Media
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN THE POEM OF ECSTASY
Total Timing: 20:16 // Catalog Number: SSM1025 // Producer: Dmitriy Lipay //
Label: Seattle Symphony Media
The Seattle Symphony is grateful to Joan Watjen for her generous support of SEATTLE SYMPHONY MEDIA CDs in memory of her husband Craig.
Recorded in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington.
Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra was recorded live in concert September 14, 2019.
Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy was recorded live in concert November 21 and 23, 2019.
R. Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra was presented as part of the 2019 Opening Night Gala sponsored by Nordstrom. Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy was presented as part of the Delta Air Lines Masterworks Season. Thomas Dausgaard’s performances are sponsored by the Scan|Design Foundation by Inger and Jens Bruun.
Digital downloads and CDs are available through iTunes, Amazon, Acoustic Sounds and HD Tracks. Recordings can be streamed through Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Primephonic.
THOMAS DAUSGAARD | MUSIC DIRECTOR
Music Director of the Seattle Symphony, Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard is esteemed for his creativity and innovative programming, the excitement of his live performances and his extensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings. A renowned recording artist with over 70 discs to his name, Dausgaard’s releases with the Seattle Symphony have garnered critical acclaim resulting in international honors including a 2017 Gramophone Award nomination for Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 (Deryck Cooke version), Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year Award, and a 2019 Best Orchestral Performance Grammy nomination for Nielsen’s Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4. An avid champion of contemporary works and the music of his homeland, Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony will release the much-anticipated cycle of symphonies by Carl Nielsen.
Performing internationally with many of the world’s leading orchestras, Dausgaard is also the Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Laureate of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and Honorary Conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
Dausgaard has been awarded the Cross of Chivalry by the Queen of Denmark and elected to the Royal Academy of Music in Sweden.
SEATTLE SYMPHONY MEDIA
Launched in 2014, Seattle Symphony Media is the Seattle Symphony’s independent Grammy Award-winning in-house record label. The Symphony has an extensive catalogue of nearly 150 recordings, which have brought forth five Grammy Awards, 26 Grammy Award nominations and two Emmy Awards throughout its history. The Seattle Symphony was named Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year. Under the direction of Music Director Thomas Dausgaard, 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 Award-winning 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 on stage 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.
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Led by Music Director Thomas Dausgaard, the Seattle Symphony unleashes the power of music, brings people together and lifts the human spirit. Recognized as one of the “most vital American orchestras” (NPR), the Seattle Symphony is internationally acclaimed for its inventive programming, community-minded initiatives and superb recordings on the Seattle Symphony Media label. With a strong commitment to new music and a legacy of over 150 recordings, the orchestra has garnered five Grammy Awards, 26 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and was named Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year. The Symphony performs in Benaroya Hall in the heart of downtown Seattle from September through July, reaching over 500,000 people annually through live performances and radio broadcasts.
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