Latest recording news

New Magic Flute recording to be released on 2nd August 2019

Deutsche Grammophone will release the 6th installment of its collection of Mozart’s late operas on 2nd August 2019. This follows recordings of Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Grammy Award Nomination), Le Nozze di Figaro (Grammy Award Nomination & Echo Klassik Award) and La Clemenza di Tito, all recorded at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and featuring tenor Roland Villazon. The cast of The Magic Flute includes:

Klaus Florian Vogt, Tenor (Tamino)
Rolando Villazón, Baritone (Papageno)
Christiane Karg, Soprano (Pamina)
Regula Mühlemann (Papagena)
Albina Shagimuratova, Soprano (Königin der Nacht)
Franz-Josef Selig, Bass (Sarastro)
Tareq Nazmi, Bass (Sprecher)
Paul Schweinester, Tenor (Monostatos)

RIAS Kammerchor

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praised Villazón’s “comic talent” in his first Papageno, “achieving ‘heights of emotion’ with the captivating Regula Mühlemann’s Papagena”, as well as the “magical tenor” of Klaus Florian Vogt as Tamino, Christiane Karg’s “lyrically perfect Pamina” and the “imposing” Franz-Josef Selig’s Sarastro. Nézet-Séguin “is a genuine Mozartian … and rolling out a red carpet for the singers”.

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe last recorded the opera for Kenneth Branagh’s film The Magic Flute back in 2008 with conductor James Conlon.

New Schumann recording with Gautier Capuçon and Bernard Haitink

On 18 January 2019, Warner Classics released a CD featuring Schumann’s Cello Concerto with the COE, Gautier Capuçon and Bernard Haitink recorded in 2015 at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. For more information, please visit Warner Classics’ website: http://www.warnerclassics.com/shop/3251820,0190295634216/gautier-capucon-schumann

Album of Week in the Times and on Classic FM
4/5 stars in the Financial Times

The CD can be purchased and downloaded from various platforms.

New Mozart recording with Seong-Jin Cho

A new recording with Korean piano star Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 2015 Chopin Competition, has been released on Deutsche Grammophon. Led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, this is a recording of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 K466 and Sonatas No. 3 and No. 12 made during our residency at the Festpielhaus in Baden-Baden in July.

‘Orchestra of the Year’ nomination
We are truly delighted, moved and honoured to have been nominated with seven other terrific ensembles for the 2018 “Orchestra of the Year” Award by Gramophone. As the only chamber orchestra amongst the seven other terrific ensembles, the COE has been selected by Gramophone’s editors in recognition of excellence and for its outstanding works on record over the past year. 

COE’s nomination is based in particular on our recordings of the Mendelssohn Symphonies with Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Deutsche Grammophon), the album Visions of Prokofiev with Lisa Batiashvili (Deutsche Grammophon) and the Mozart Piano Concertos No 25 & 27 with Piotr Anderszewski (Warners). All three recordings were shortlisted in different categories for this year’s Gramophone Awards as well.

Release of La Clemenza di Tito
Our residency at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus this year for the concert performances of The Magic Flute coincides with the release of La Clemenza di Tito, following last year’s recorded performances. Yannick Nézet-Seguin and Rolando Villazon were joined by a stellar cast featuring Joyce DiDonato, Marina Rebeka, Regina Mühlemann and Tara Erraught. This next addition to the live recorded Mozart series was released by Deutsche Grammophon on 6 July.

“With their lively phrasings and sharp attack, there’s also something refreshingly surprising about Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. After the supercharged overture it’s a shock to land on just a fortepiano and cello preparing us for the first recitative, where Vitellia lays out her brilliant plan to set the Capitol on fire and get Tito killed in the rumpus. La clemenza di Tito may never become anyone’s favourite Mozart opera, but this recording brings its drama roaring to life and scotches the work’s old reputation as a dry dud.” – Times

Visions of Prokofiev with Lisa Batiashvili
We are grateful that Lisa Batiashvili has chosen to work with the COE for her latest album “Visions of Prokofiev”, which has won an Opus Klassik Award (formerly ECHO). She explained her choice in various interviews, recalling the recording sessions as her most memorable musical experience in The Strad of February 2018. Speaking to BBC’s Clemency Burton-Hill, Lisa said the following:

“The very unique sound this orchestra can make is how I imagined the ideal version of these works would sound. Yannick gives a lot of freedom to those musicians to express their own individuality, proving it is possible to be an orchestra with a chamber music attitude. There is great generosity in their playing: they have an incredible timeless style which means it doesn’t belong to any fashion or school. That is something I long dreamed of having for this recording.” – BBC Music Magazine

The album has won the 2018 Opus Klassik (formerly ECHO) for best violin concerto recording.

Mozart Piano Concertos with Piotr Anderszewski
Piotr Anderszewski recorded the pairing of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos 25 and 27 with the COE  in the summer of 2017 following a series of concerts in which he directed the Orchestra from the keyboard. The album is now shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in the ‘concerto’ category and was already selected by the German circle of music critics in their second ‘Bestenliste‘ of this year. The recording continues receiving further critical acclaim in the press:

“The playing of the COE is beyond reproach, as is the profound sense of collaboration between players and soloist throughout.” – Limelight Magazine 

“It is the intimacy of [Anderszewski’s] rapport with the (sadly uncredited) wind soloists of the COE that makes this issue so special. His pristine finger work is always at the service of the score in continuous dialogue with the orchestral musicians, but he brings personal touches to these frequently recorded pieces. […] One listens with refreshed ears to this familiar music.” – The Sunday Times (£)

Mendelssohn Symphonies 1-5 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin led the COE in a complete cycle of Mendelssohn’s five symphonies on tour  across Europe in 2016. This album featuring sopranos Karina Gauvin and Regula Mühlemann, tenor Daniel Behle and the RIAS Kammerchor is the live capture of the performances at the Philharmonie de Paris. The recording is now shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in the ‘orchestral’ category.

“Nézet-Séguin and the orchestra summon up an appropriately dark, misty sound for the first, and a bright, joyous sound for the second. It’s all unimpeachably refined . . . anyone looking for a reliable complete set of Mendelssohn’s symphonies couldn’t do better.” – The Daily Telegraph

“Nézet-Séguin approaches the symphonies of Mendelssohn with an exploratory mind and deep care for colour, the COE responding with brilliance throughout this impressive set.” – Gramophone

“The symphonies are a whirlwind tour of Europe: from the windswept coasts of Scotland to verdant Italian hillsides to grand Lutheran churches. Nézet-Séguin’s intuitive sense of Mendelssohn’s melodies lends these disparate geographies profound unity, animated brilliantly by the COE.” – included in the Best Classical Recordings of 2017 on WQXR