The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Most Announce Johannes Brahms Cycle DVD; Now Available!

The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst have announced details of their latest DVD recording project: the Johannes Brahms Cycle DVD set, featuring the four Symphonies, both Piano Concertos, the Violin Concerto, and three other orchestral works. Beginning on December 1, 2015, the DVD set is exclusively available in the Cleveland Orchestra Store, located at Severance Hall. Starting January 8, 2016, it will be available in the United States via Amazon.com, where it is currently available for pre-order. This DVD project is the culmination of a series of live recordings by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and the Orchestra with guest artists Julia Fischer on violin and Yefim Bronfman on piano.

These works were recorded live in three of the world's most acclaimed concert venues between January 2014 and March 2015: at Severance Hall in Cleveland, the Orchestra's home concert hall, often regarded as one of the world's most beautiful concert halls; at London's Royal Albert Hall, home of each summer's BBC Proms Festival; and at Vienna's famed Musikverein. In addition to the musical performances, the DVD set includes bonus footage of interviews with Welser-Möst, Bronfman, and Fischer providing insight and reflection about recording and performing these iconic Brahms masterworks.

"The idea for this Brahms project started on a sailing trip with producer Herbert Kloiber," says Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. "We understood that the music of Brahms would be great with this orchestra and in the beauty of these great venues. By capturing the performances at these special locations, people can have a unique experience with these DVDs."

Continuing his comments, Welser-Möst notes: "The Cleveland Orchestra prides itself in being meticulous to all the detail of the music and performance. A recording project is an opportunity for the musicians to get it as close to perfection as you can, with the extra energy of a live recordings to give the atmosphere and the spontaneity of a performance. Not just thinking about getting the notes right, but actually going for the music as much as you can. The music of Brahms is well known for his romantic and melodic writing, as well as for the rigor of his craftsmanship and composition. We have captured some of this essence in these new recordings."

Critical acclaim for the performances recorded for the Johannes Brahms Cycle DVD project:

About their BBC Promenade Concert, The Guardian stated that The Cleveland Orchestra played with a "mellow and silky sound" and gave an "expansive account" of Brahms's First Symphony.

"A lean, propulsive performance." - The Plain Dealer

Franz Welser-Möst leads his "devoted and exemplary precise musicians..." - Die Presse

"Both scores Bronfman seized by their very hearts, drawing forth all the majesty, raw power and exquisite beauty that each contains." - The Plain Dealer

"Between her pure tone and forceful, ardent manner, she [Julia Fischer] represented the ideal Brahms protagonist." - The Plain Dealer

Product Details
JOHANNES BRAHMS CYCLE
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Julia Fischer, violin

Available December 1, 2015 at the Cleveland Orchestra Store for $60.00 bit.ly/1S7hAeV
Available January 8, 2016 via Amazon.com for $65.98 amzn.to/1YiSEoD (currently available for pre-order)

Disc 1
Academic Festival Overture, Opus 80
Violin Concerto in D major, Opus 77
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Opus 98
96 mins + 24 mins Bonus: Franz Welser-Möst and Julia Fischer on Brahms's Violin Concerto

Julia Fischer appears courtesy of Unitel.

A production of Clasart Film- und Fernsehproduktions GmbH in cooperation with WVIZ/PBS ideastream® © 2014 Clasart / Musical Arts Association operating The Cleveland Orchestra. All rights reserved.

Disc 2
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 68
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 73
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Opus 90
116 mins

Symphony No. 1: A BBC/Musical Arts Association co-production in association with Clasart Classic © 2014

Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3: A production of Clasart Classic in cooperation with Mezzo © 2014. All rights reserved.

Disc 3
Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Opus 56a
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Opus 15
Tragic Overture, Opus 81
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Opus 83

129 mins + 24 mins Bonus: Franz Welser-Möst and Yefim Bronfman on Brahms's Piano Concertos

A production of Clasart Film- und Fernsehproduktions GmbH in cooperation with WVIZ/PBS ideastream® © 2015 Clasart / Musical Arts Association operating The Cleveland Orchestra. All rights reserved.

Directors:

William Cosel (Discs 1 & 3)
Jonathan Haswell (Symphony No. 1)
Brian Large (Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3)

Producer: Herbert G. Kloiber

A production of Clasart Film - und Fernsehproduktions GmbH in cooperation with WVIZ/PBS ideastream® © 2015 Clasart / Musical Arts Association operating The Cleveland Orchestra.

Sound Formats: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, LPCM Stereo
Subtitles Bonus: German
Languages Bonus: English
Picture Format: 1080p HD 16:9
Region Code: worldwide

BluRay-Box / Cat. No. 08009 / EAN: 4260415080097

DVD-Box / Cat. No. 08005 / EAN: 4260415080059

www.belvedere-edition.com

The Cleveland Orchestra's Recording Legacy
The Cleveland Orchestra held its first recording session in 1924 and is one of the most acclaimed and recorded orchestras in the world. The Orchestra's performances have been heard by millions through radio and television broadcasts, on LPs, CDs, DVDs, and via internet downloads. Franz Welser-Möst has added to an extensive and widely praised catalog of audio recordings made during the tenures of the ensemble's former music directors. He has created DVD recordings of live performances of five of Bruckner's symphonies, presented in three acoustically distinctive venues (the Abbey of St. Florian in Austria, Vienna's Musikverein, and Severance Hall). With Cleveland, he has also released a recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as well as an all-Wagner album featuring soprano Measha Brueggergosman. In addition, in recent seasons the Orchestra has recorded important new albums with longtime guest artists Pierre Boulez and Mitsuko Uchida.

About The Cleveland Orchestra
As it nears the centennial of its founding in 2018, The Cleveland Orchestra is undergoing a renaissance. Acknowledged as among the world's best, its musicians, staff, board of directors, volunteers, and hometown are working together on a set of enhanced goals for the 21st century - to develop the youngest audiences of any orchestra; to renew its focus on fully serving the communities where it performs through concerts, engagement, and music education; to continue its legendary musical excellence; to build on its tradition of community support and financial strength; and to move forward into the Orchestra's next century with a commitment to diversified programming. The Cleveland Orchestra divides its time each year across concert seasons at home in Cleveland's Severance Hall and each summer at Blossom Music Center. Additional portions of the year are devoted to touring and to a series of innovative and intensive performance residencies. These include an annual four-week residency in Miami, a biennial residency at Vienna's Musikverein, and appearances at Switzerland's Lucerne Festival, New York's Lincoln Center Festival, and Indiana University. www.clevelandorchestra.com.