Berliner Philharmoniker & Seiji Ozawa - Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie (2024) [Hi-Res]

Few other conductors had or have a relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker to match Seiji Ozawa’s. His musical abilities earned him the orchestra’s respect from the very outset. He knew his scores down to the smallest detail and knew precisely what he wanted. However — and this is what made working with him so wonderful — he never imposed his views on us but rather integrated them into a partnership on equal terms. That led not only to personally rewarding encounters: it also made possible the kind of music making in which freedom and spontaneity always had a place.

Seiji Ozawa was in several ways a mediator for the Berliner Philharmoniker. He lent an added dimension to our central relationship with the Japanese musical world, brought an American perspective into our collaboration owing to his long years in the US, and, not least, built bridges between musical periods. As Herbert von Karajan’s artistic protégé, he was firmly rooted in that important musicaldirectorship chapter of our history, while also, through his approachability and often unconventional manner, embodying a refreshing new type of con ductor.

In short: Seiji Ozawa was for us in every respect an inspiring artistic personality. In 2016, with joy and in gratitude, we made him our Honorary Member.This edition primarily documents concerts from the 1980s, an especially intensive phase of our collaboration, in that Seiji Ozawa guest conducted us several times every season. The works display both his wide stylistic range and his predilections — Austro-German Classicism and late Romanticism, French rep ertoire and modern classics. More than anything, however, we hope that these recordings convey the spirit of our partnership: a mutual ideal of musical dedication and human interchange.