Bruckner's heritage and the Vienna Philharmonic - DVD Edition "Bruckner 11"
Salzburg, July 29, 2022
With the recording of Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony at the 2022 Salzburg Festival, Christian Thielemann, the Vienna Philharmonic and UNITEL will complete the complete audiovisual recording of Anton Bruckner's symphonic works and present Edition Bruckner 11 to the public.
No less than two of the total of five releases will appear on DVD and Blu-ray in the summer of 2022 on the UNITEL EDITION label. By 2024, the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner's birth, three more individual releases will follow, as well as a complete box set.
Bruckner 11 is the first symphonic complete recording in the orchestra's history. With Christian Thielemann, who already set standards in 2011 with his Beethoven cycle on the podium of the Vienna Philharmonic, the orchestra was able to win one of the most renowned Bruckner interpreters of today as conductor.
Recording for the centennial project Bruckner 11 began in April 2019 and took place at the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Musikverein. UNITEL produced in collaboration with international broadcast partners such as ORF, ZDF, Arte, 3sat and Japanese television NHK in the highest technical quality, i.e. in Ultra High Definition and with surround sound. The cycle, originally designed to include the nine known symphonies, was expanded in winter 2021 to include the two early symphonies in F minor and D minor. Pandemic-related cancellations of tours and festivals made it possible at short notice to rehearse and record these early works, which neither Christian Thielemann nor the orchestra had ever played before. Both works are "true discoveries" and may be considered full-fledged symphonies, which is what the edition name Bruckner 11is meant to express. As part of this release, the F minor and D minor symphonies are also being released on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time ever.
Each release includes extensive bonus material: for each symphony, there is an introductory conversation between Christian Thielemann and Austrian Bruckner expert Dr. Johannes Leopold Mayer.
The project was enriching for both orchestra and conductor: "I find the collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic to be extraordinarily harmonious, not only artistically but also on a personal level," says Christian Thielemann. "I feel particularly at home with this orchestra and can first and foremost only thank them for the incredibly beautiful collaboration. The fact that we were able to do Bruckner 11 together, and that I have unexpectedly come to the honor of being the first conductor to record all the Bruckner symphonies with this orchestra, is a very special surprise and pleasure."
For the Vienna Philharmonic, Anton Bruckner has special significance, especially in view of the composer's 200th birthday in 2024: "With the audiovisual edition Bruckner 11, the Vienna Philharmonic pays tribute to the extensive symphonic oeuvre of the great Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. More than almost any other orchestra, we can look back on a shared history with him that was borne of the composer's great esteem for the orchestra and had a significant impact on Austrian musical culture," says Philharmonic Board Member Prof. Daniel Froschauer. "The anniversary provides a welcome occasion to revive the tradition of Bruckner's music for the first time in our orchestral history in a complete recording of all nine symphonies and two of his rarely performed brilliant early works with one and the same conductor. We have a very close artistic partnership and friendship with Christian Thielemann."
Markus Hinterhäuser, artistic director of the Salzburg Festival: "For me, there is currently no more ideal combination for the symphonic works of Anton Bruckner than the Vienna Philharmonic and Christian Thielemann. This was impressively demonstrated by the acclaimed performances of the Fourth and Seventh in the last two Festival summers. So this summer I am looking forward to the Ninth with our Vienna Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann. I would like to thank our exclusive audiovisual media partner UNITEL for preserving and publishing our Festival performances at the highest technical and artistic level."
Jan Mojto, Managing Partner of UNITEL: "Since its founding, UNITEL has also seen itself as a preserver of traces. After the artistic success of Beethoven 9 with Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic, we are proud to now also realize their Bruckner cycle including the two early works recorded for the first time."
Beyond its release on DVD and Blu-ray, Bruckner 11 will be distributed by UNITEL worldwide in TV, cinema and new media.
Beyond the release on DVD and Blu-ray, Bruckner 11 will be distributed by UNITEL worldwide in TV, cinema and new media.
The concert of the Vienna Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann on July 30, 2022 will be broadcast in Austria and Germany as follows:
Saturday, July 30, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. live on myfidelio.at
Saturday, 29.10.2022, at 8.15 p.m. on 3sat
Internationally, the concert will further be shown on Mezzo and on medici.tv. The complete cycle will be available on Carnegie Hall+ in the fall of 2022.
The Vienna Philharmonic and UNITEL have been working together for more than 55 years and have now realized more than 300 joint productions, including several legendary symphonic cycles under the greatest conductors of the time and a large number of opera recordings. This makes the Vienna Philharmonic by far UNITEL's closest and longest-standing partner.
At the Salzburg Festival, of which UNITEL has been the exclusive audiovisual partner since the Mozart Year 2006, the company has recorded more than 150 productions to date, including such cult productions as La Traviatamit Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, Salome with Asmik Grigorian, William Kentridge's Wozzeck and all Mozart operas as part of Mozart 22. In the anniversary year 2020, when the Salzburg Festival was one of the few organizers to offer performances despite the pandemic, UNITEL, in cooperation with ORF, ZDF, ARTE, myfidelio.at and others, broadcast a production from Salzburg every day during the festival season.
UNITEL EDITION is UNITEL's in-house label, distributed by C-Major. Founded in 2018, it has released more than 30 releases to date, including Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts, a John Cranko cycle with the Stuttgart Ballet, and 15 recordings from the Salzburg Festival.