This month Alpha Classics releases Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s first recording of Bruckner, captured live in concert in January 2022, during Järvi’s third season as Music Director. Symphony No. 7 is the first of three Bruckner releases, to be followed by Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 in the run up to the composer’s bicentenary in 2024.

Paavo Järvi’s recording of Symphony No. 7 follows a long tradition of performing Bruckner in the Tonhalle. The first performance of the work took place on 14 January 1924, to mark the centenary of the composer’s birth. Under the direction of conductors such as Walter (1937), Furtwängler (1940), Klemperer (1956), Böhm (1971) and Karajan (1980), the orchestra has since given many performances of this monumental work.

Together Järvi and his “top orchestra” (NDR Radio) have performed Bruckner at home and on tour, most recently in residency at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie in November 2022. They are back on tour later this month with a new programme – Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with soloist Antoine Tamestit, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1, arranged by Schönberg – with performances at the Vienna Musikverein (29 January), Luxemburg Philharmonie (31 January), Paris Philharmonie (1 February) and the Theater Basel (2 February).

”Järvi’s Bruckner performances have their very own character … an organic flow of structure, a subtle gradation of the layers of sound and a sure feeling for this unique magic that only Bruckner is able to create.” Hamburger Abendblatt