Münchner Philharmoniker has curated 125 years of music history, choosing some of the most sought after recordings with the great conductors of this and the last century. They look back upon more than a hundred years of musical collaboration and artistic fecundity. This exclusive selection includes Hans Knappertsbusch, Fritz Rieger, Eugen Jochum, Sergiu Celibidache, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Günter Wand, Horst Stein, James Levine, Christian Thielemann and Valery Gergiev.

With their 125 Years deluxe CD box set they want to invite audiences around the world to join in their anniversary celebration by making their musical history accessible worldwide.

Over its 125-year history, the Munich Philharmonic has defined the sound of German music and performance. It has benefitted from close associations with numerous composers, premiering works by Bruckner and Mahler among others, including Mahler’s Symphony no.8. It has worked with each generations’ greatest soloists and conductors and its most recent Music Directors include Rudolph Kempe, Sergiu Celibidache, James Levine, Christian Thielemann and Lorin Maazel. September 2015 saw the arrival of its new Music Director, Valery Gergiev, as well as a launch of a major media programme.

Although he has enjoyed close associations with orchestras and opera houses around the world including the LSO, Metropolitan Opera, Pacific Music Festival, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Mariinsky Theatre, Gergiev has never previously held a permanent position with an orchestra in Germany. Since winning the Karajan Competition at the age of 24, conducting Beethoven, Gergiev has achieved worldwide fame, especially in Russian and French repertoire. But over the past 20-years, he has established a formidable reputation in German music, especially Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner and Strauss – music that is at the very heart of the Munich Philharmonic’s repertoire.

Contents:

CD 1: Hans Knappertsbusch
Beethoven - Symphony no.3 in E flat major “Eroica”, op.55 (17 December 1953)

CD 2: Hans Knappertsbusch
Brahms - Symphony no.2 in D major, op.73 (13 October 1956)

CDs 3 & 4: Fritz Rieger
Mozart - Die Zauberflöte (26 Juli 1964)
- Erika Köth, Anneliese Rothenberger, Fritz Wunderlich, Hermann Prey

CD 5: Eugen Jochum
Brahms - Alto Rhapsody, op.53 (30 April 1981)
- Christa Ludwig
Reger - An die Hoffnung, op.124 (8 November 1979)
- Christa Ludwig
Reger - Variationen und Fuge über ein lustiges Thema von Johann Adam Hiller, op.100 (30 April 1981)

CD 6: Sergiu Celibidache
Prokofiev - Scythian Suite, op.20 (17 January 1980)
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliette (excerpts from the Suites, op.64a+b) (22 June 1988)

CD 7: Zubin Mehta
Mozart - Gran Partita, K361 (22-26 March 2016)
Mozart: Requiem, K626 & Ave verum corpus (22-26 March 2016)
- Mojca Erdmann, Okka von der Damerau, Michael Schade, Christof Fischesser

CDs 8 & 9: Lorin Maazel
Verdi - Messa da Requiem (2015)
- Anja Harteros, Daniela Barcellona, Wookyung Kim, Georg Zeppenfeld

CD 10: Günter Wand
Mozart - Symphony no.40 in G minor, K550 (17 January 1991)
Schubert - Symphony no.5 in B flat major, D485 (18-23 February 1997)

CDs 11 & 12: Horst Stein
Pfitzner - Von deutscher Seele (11-16 June 1998)
Luana DeVol (soprano), Doris Soffel (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Moser (tenor), Alfred Muff (bass)

CDs 13 & 14: James Levine
Berlioz - La Damnation de Faust (4-6 June 1999)
- Katarina Dalayman, Marcello Giordani, José van Dam, Roderick Earle

CD 15: Christian Thielemann
Schubert - Symphony no.9 in C major, D944 (11-15 January 2006)

CD 16: Valery Gergiev
Shostakovich - Symphony no.4 in C minor, op.43 (2 November 2011)

CD 17: Valery Gergiev
Stravinsky - Symphonies of Wind Instruments (22-26 February 2018)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, op.35 (12-13 May 2017)