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NEW YORK, NY (October 31, 2024) — In the 80th birthday year of conductor, composer, pianist, and educator Michael Tilson Thomas, DG Eloquence releases the first complete collection of MTT’s recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and Argo. The 14-disc box set will be available on November 8 in the United States.
The collection comprises recordings spanning from 1970 to 2003, featuring Tilson Thomas as both conductor and pianist. MTT recorded his first albums for Deutsche Grammophon at the start of his tenure as Assistant Conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra; the offerings include Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1, Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, and works by American composers Charles Ives, Walter Piston, Carl Ruggles, and William Schuman. This period also showcases MTT as a pianist, joining members of the BSO in chamber works by Debussy.
When he became Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1995, MTT rekindled his Deutsche Grammophon relationship with two albums of music by Leonard Bernstein; those recordings feature vocal soloists Frederica von Stade and Thomas Hampson, both longtime friends and collaborators of MTT. This period also resulted in albums of Shostakovich Cello Concertos with Mischa Maisky and Elvis Costello’s Il sogno, a ballet score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The set’s final three discs are devoted to MTT’s Argo recordings with the New World Symphony, which he co-founded in 1987 as a training orchestra but which rapidly established itself as a top-caliber ensemble in its own right. The repertoire on these recordings includes Latin American dances, a survey of works by Morton Feldman, and a tribute to MTT’s college composition teacher Ingolf Dahl.
The collection includes all original jackets with archival photography, new remasterings, and authoritative notes by music journalist Peter Quantrill. Taken as a whole, the box set demonstrates Michael Tilson Thomas’s affinity for a wide range of repertoire, his ear for complex rhythms and textures, and his skills as an orchestra builder.
Track Listing
CD 1
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 2
GRIEG · SCHUMANN Piano Concertos
Jean-Marc Luisada; London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 3
DEBUSSY Images; Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 4
DEBUSSY Violin Sonata; Cello Sonata; Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp; Syrinx
Boston Symphony Chamber Players; Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
CD 5
IVES Three Places in New England
RUGGLES Sun-treader
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 6
STRAVINSKY Le Roi des étoiles; Le Sacre du printemps
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 7
PISTON Symphony No. 2
WILLIAM SCHUMAN Violin Concerto
Paul Zukofsky, violin; Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 8
SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Mischa Maisky, cello; London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 9
BERNSTEIN On the Town
Frederica von Stade; Tyne Daly; Marie Mclaughlin; Thomas Hampson & supporting cast
London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 10
BERNSTEIN Arias and Barcarolles; A Quiet Place; Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Frederica von Stade; Thomas Hampson
London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 11
ELVIS COSTELLO Il sogno
London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 12
TANGAZO – MUSIC OF LATIN AMERICA
Chávez; Copland; Roldán; Revueltas; Caturla; Piazzolla; Ginastera
New World Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 13
INGOLF DAHL Concerto for Alto Saxophone; Hymn; Music for Brass Instruments; The Tower of Saint Barbara
John Harle; New World Brass; Ertan Torgul; Gregory Miller; Tisha Murvihill
New World Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 14
MORTON FELDMAN Piano and Orchestra; Cello and Orchestra; Coptic Light
Alan Feinberg; Robert Cohen
New World Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
About Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is the Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Co-Founder and Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony. He is a twelve-time Grammy Award winner and has conducted the major orchestras of Europe and the United States.
Born in Los Angeles, he studied conducting and composition with Ingolf Dahl at the University of Southern California and, as a young musician, worked with artists including Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland. In his mid-20s, he became Assistant Conductor—and later Principal Guest Conductor—of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He subsequently served as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 1987, he co-founded the New World Symphony, a postgraduate orchestral academy in Miami Beach dedicated to preparing young musicians of diverse backgrounds for leadership roles in classical music. He has worked with more than 1,200 NWS Fellows, many of whom have gone on to major musical careers.
He became Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony in 1995, ushering in a period of significant growth and heightened international recognition for the orchestra. He led SFS in championing contemporary and American composers alongside classical masters.
His discography includes more than 120 recordings, and his television work includes series for the BBC and PBS, the New York Philharmonic's Young People’s Concerts and numerous televised performances. His profile Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is aired on PBS’s American Masters series in fall 2020.
Throughout his career, he has been an active composer, with major works including From the Diary of Anne Frank, premiered with narrator Audrey Hepburn, and Meditations on Rilke. Both appear on SFS Media’s recent Grammy Award-winning recording of his music. In 2023, Yuja Wang and Teddy Abrams released a recording on DG which included Michael Tilson Thomas' You Come Here Often? which won a 2023 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo.
He is an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, member of the American Academies of Arts & Sciences and Arts & Letters, National Medal of Arts recipient and 2019 Kennedy Center Honoree.
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