Elbphilharmonie Hamburg – The first recording

JOHANNES BRAHMS

SYMPHONY No. 3 F major op. 90
SYMPHONY No. 4 e minor op. 98

NDR ELBPHILHARMONIE ORCHESTRA

THOMAS HENGELBROCK

“These recordings are the first to be made in the new 2100-seat concert hall that sits at the heart of the €780 million commercial, residential and arts complex in Hamburg harbour. In a multimedia age, a great hall cannot be designed for concert-giving alone, which is why it’s not without significance that these recordings were made two months before the Elbphilharmonie’s official opening in January 2017.

The hall is a younger sibling of Hans Scharoun’s game-changing 1963 Berlin Philharmonie. Its ‘vineyard’ layout derives from the Philharmonie, as did Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, another Scharoun- and Karajan-influenced design, whose acoustic engineer Yasuhisa Toyota is also responsible for the Elbphilharmonie. The difference is that where it took several years for the Berlin Philharmonie to become a plausible recording venue, the new hall seems pretty well spot-on from the outset. Try the last movement of the Third Symphony or the Scherzo of the Fourth to sample its qualities.” (Gramophone Magazine)

Special edition including NDR documentary

The CD is available in a standard edition as well as in a limited special edition which includes a DVD/Blu-ray featuring Annette Schmatz’ 60-minute NDR documentary “Die Elbphilharmonie – Von der Vision zur Wirklichkeit” (The Elbphilharmonie – from vision to reality).

Publication: 2017