Record Label Of The Year
Gramophone Chooses ECM
"In an age of increasing standardisation, it's good to salute genuine individuality. Each year we pay tribute to a record label that demonstrates a winning blend of creativity, imagination, business acumen, style – all adding up to that word again: individuality. This year we turn the spotlight on a label that has been ploughing its particular furrow with notable success for 40 years, ECM, and more particularly for "classical music fans, its New Series... While many companies shy away from contemporary music, Manfred Eicher seeks it out – and again it’s a tribute to his taste and extraordinary judgement that many of the composers he’s championed have gone on to become familiar names: Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Valentin Silvestrov and Erkki-Sven Tüür, to name just four. And ECM, once it has found a musician to champion, does it properly, not merely with a single disc but often exploring different genres of that musician’s art. And of course that is one incentive to stay with the label and follow the lead it so obviously offers. Add to the provocative A&R, first-class musicianship, invariably demonstration-worthy recording quality and the label’s trademark design – usually black and white, always slipcased, and adorned not with a going-through-the-motions programme note but something altogether more challenging – and you have all the ingredients that have convinced us that this, of all years, belongs to Manfred Eicher and his wonderful ECM label." -James Jolly, Gramophone Editor
Explore The ECM Catalog
Neharót / Kim Kashkashian
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-08-25
Works: Betty Olivero: Neharót Neharót, for viola solo, accordion, percussion, 2 string ensembles & tape; Tigran Mansurian: Tagh for the Funeral of the Lord; Three Arias (Sung Out the Window Facing...Performers: Avraham, Lea; Elia, Ilana; Jungk, Philipp; Kashkashian, Kim; Mansurian, Tigran; Raskin, An; Schulkowsky, Robyn
Ensemble: Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Munich Chamber Orchestra
These intense and complex compositions are also highly melodious and accessible and are tied together by Kim Kashkashian's outstanding musical personality, sensitivity and tone. Themes...continue...
Paganini: 24 Capricci / Thomas Zehetmair
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-08-25
Works: Niccolò Paganini: 24 Capricci per violino solo, Op. 1Performers: Zehetmair, Thomas
One of today's most versatile violinists presents a new account of Paganini's unsurpassed compendium of technical difficulties. Zehetmair plays the caprices as "improvised character pieces"...continue...
Recording information: Propstei St. Gerold (12/2007)....continue...
J.S. Bach: Six Partitas / Andras Schiff
2 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-08-25
Works: Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita 5 in G major, BWV 829; Partita 3 in A major, BWV 827; Partita 1 in B flat major, BWV 825; Partita 2 in C minor, BWV 826; Partita 4 in D major, BWV 828; Partita 6 in E m...Performers: Schiff, Andras
Schiff has long been recognized as one of the leading Bach interpreters on the modern piano and his playing combines spontaneity, intellectual depth, and a...continue...
Recording information: Historischer Reistadel, Neumarkt (09/21/2007)....continue...
Schubert: Trio in E flat, Notturno / La Gala Scienza
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-08-04
Works: Franz Schubert: Trio in Es-Dur für klavier, violine und violoncello, Op. 100, D 929; Trio in Es-Dur für klavier, violine und violoncello, Op. Posth. 148, D 897 "Notturno"Performers: Dahler, Jorg Ewald; Demenga, Thomas
Recording information: 07/1995....continue...
Eleni Karaindrou: Dust of Time / Alexandros Myrat, et al
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-06-30
Works: Eleni Karaindrou: Dust of TimePerformers: Bildea, Maria; Nastasa, Sergiu
Eleni Karaindrou's music for Theo Angelopoulos's new movie, 'Dust of Time' starring Willem Dafoe, Irene Jacob and Michel Piccoli which premiered at the Berlin Film...continue...
Personnel: Eleni Karaindrou; Alexander Myrat; Vangelis Christopoulos, Spyros Kazianis, Renato Ripo, Dinos Hadjiirodanou, Antonis Lagos, Natalia Michailidou, Maria Bildea, Sergiu Nastasa.
Record...continue...
Holliger: Romancendres; C.W. Schumann: Romances / Richter, Várjon, et al
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-05-19
Works: Clara Wieck Schumann: Romances (3) for Violin and Piano, Op. 22; Heinz Holliger: Romancendres (6); Gesänge der FrühePerformers: Richter, Christoph; Varjon, Denes
Ensemble: Southwest German Radio Vocal Ensemble, Stuttgart; Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
This concept album presents deeply felt romantic and thought-provoking modern music by Clara Schumann and Heinz Holliger juxtaposed in a way that deepens the understanding...continue...
Being Dufay
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-05-05
This release combines early music and contemporary sensibilities in a most attractive way. The project presents a respectful but imaginative approach to Dufay, a key...continue...
Personnel: Ambrose Field (electronics); John Potter (tenor).
Guillaume Dufay was a French composer during the 1400s whose works bridged the medieval and Renaissance eras. His attractive, melod...continue...
Bach: Inventionen, Sinfonien, Französische Suite no 5 / Till Fellner 
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-04-14
Works: Johann Sebastian Bach: Two-Part Invention no 1 in C major, BWV 772; Two-Part Invention no 2 in C minor, BWV 773; Two-Part Invention no 3 in D major, BWV 774; Two-Part Invention no 4 in D minor, BWV 7...Performers: Fellner, Till
"He is clearly a lover of the modern piano and all of its capabilities, and he gives us a clean and clear presentation of these...continue...
ECM B001278902
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Canto di speranza, Violin Concerto, etc / Zehetmair, Demenga, Holliger
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-03-31
Works: Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Concerto for Violin; Canto di speranza; Ich wandte mich und sah an alles Unrecht, das geschah unter der SonnePerformers: Bockmann, Gerd; Demenga, Thomas; Hunger-Buhler, Robert; Schmidt, Andreas [baritone]; Zehetmair, Thomas
Ensemble: Cologne West German Radio Orchestra
Contemporary music of great emotional intensity: Zimmermann, best known for his maximalist opera "Die Soldaten" (1958/64), is the great maverick of post-war German modernism (1918-1970)....continue...
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-1970) was perhaps the first truly important German post-war composer (before the more radical Karlheinz Stockhausen). Zimmerman's cutting-edge style was an amalgam of the ...continue...
Schnittke: Symphony no 9; Raskatov: Nunc dimittis / Dennis Russell Davies, Elena Vassilieva, et al
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-03-31
Works: Alfred Schnittke: Symphony no 9; Alexandr Raskatov: Nunc dimittisPerformers: Covey-Crump, Rogers; Harrold, Steven; James, David [Countertenor]; Jones, Gordon [Baritone]; Vassilieva, Elena
Ensemble: Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra; Hilliard Ensemble
"This 2009 ECM disc containing the world premiere of Alfred Schnittke's Ninth Symphony, the composer's final work, will be mandatory listening for fans of post-modernist...continue...
Alfred Schnittke's ninth and final symphony is given its world premiere on this recording. Due to a stroke, Schnittke struggled to finish the work before his death, which was then taken up by Russian ...continue...
ECM B001266702
Pärt: In principio, etc / Kaljuste, Estonian NSO, et al
1 CD / ECM New Series / 2009-03-03
Works: Arvo Pärt: In principio; La Sindone; Cecilia, vergine romana; Da pacem Domine; Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäler; Für Lennart in memoriamEnsemble: Estonian National Symphony Orchestra; Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir; Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
"Arvo Part has put his finger on something that is almost impossible to put into words – something to do with the power of music...continue...
The label ECM celebrates its 25 years of collaboration with Arvo Pärt with the release of IN PRINCIPIO. The album illuminates various facets of the Estonian composer's musical preoccupations with...continue...
