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Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal - Kent Nagano

The John Adams Album

Decca Classics

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Kent Nagano & the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal: European tour 2014
OSM conductor Kent Nagano: pleasure in a profession
Kent Nagano of the Montreal Symphone Orchestra -
1 Common Tones in Simple Time  
2 Harmonielehre i. First Movement  
3 Harmonielehre ii. The Anfortas Wound  
4 Harmonielehre iii. Meister Eckhardt and Quackie  
5 Short Ride in a Fast Machine  
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Released to coincide with Nagano's final season with the Montréal Symphony, The John Adams Album contains his key orchestral works conducted by one of his greatest, lifelong champions "Like all great pieces, each time one returns to them and restudies them, I'm able to find something more - new dimensions that I haven't seen before, other reflections of innovation and genius." - Kent Nagano on John Adams

Continuing the award-winning series of orchestral and operatic recordings from OSM and Nagano on Decca

  • Unsuk Chin wins Ernst von Siemens Music Prize / YONHAP NEWS AGENCY
    Posted At: February 19, 2024 12:00 AM
    YONHAP NEWS AGENCY's Shim Sun-ah writes…..South Korean composer Unsuk Chin won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, dubbed the Nobel Prize of classical music, Thursday, becoming the first Asian to do so. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts announced that the 62-year-old musician was chosen as the winner of the prestigious award for this year. Chin will receiv...
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  • Unsuk Chin on the Violin Concerto she swore she would never write / The New York Times
    Posted At: March 13, 2022 12:00 AM
    The New York Times David Allen writes….The 21st century has been a strong one for violin concertos. Think Jennifer Higdon, whose neo-Romantic showpiece for Hilary Hahn won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010. And Esa-Pekka Salonen, Thomas Adès, Harrison Birtwistle, Jörg Widmann (twice) and John Adams (the same).And also Unsuk Chin, whose exceptionally difficult, alluringly colorful 2001 concerto brought her prominen...
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  • Montreal's classical music scene honours Beethoven on what would have been his 250th birthday / Global News
    Posted At: December 16, 2020 12:00 AM

    Music lovers around the world have reason to celebrate tonight, even if a global health pandemic has forced many into quarantine or precluded orchestras to perform before live audiences: Ludwig van Beethoven would have been 250 today. Or at least, he was baptized on Dec. 16, 1770, the closest record to his actual birthday. Radio stations, orchestras, fans of classical music and many others are re...
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  • OSM and Nagano - The John Adams Album on Decca wins 2020 JUNO award for 'Classical album of the year: large ensemble' / CBC
    Posted At: June 29, 2020 12:00 AM

    The 2020 Juno Awards have wrapped, announcing a list of winners that has been on hold since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the in-person Saskatoon weekend of events in March. But tonight, June 29, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) and CBC combined the usual two-night series of events into an hour-and-a-half-long pre-recorded special, delivering a night that Canadian music fans ...
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  • OSM - The John Adams Album gets 2020 JUNO Award nomination
    Posted At: January 29, 2020 12:00 AM

    Released to coincide with Nagano's final season with the Montréal Symphony, The John Adams Album contains his key orchestral works conducted by one of his greatest, lifelong champions "Like all great pieces, each time one returns to them and restudies them, I'm able to find something more - new dimensions that I haven't seen before, other reflections ...
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  • 'Common Tones in Simple Time' from OSM: Kent Nagano - The John Adams Album is 'Out of the Box' on 99.5WCRB: Boston
    Posted At: January 23, 2020 12:00 AM

    "Common Tones in Simple Time" is featured on a 'minimalist' album brimming with sublime subtlety, which, like so many things in life, is much more than it first appears. The Montréal Symphony Orchestra's The John Adams Album presents some of John Adams's most spectacular orchestral works. Included are the Schoenberg-inspired "Harmonielehre," the fast-paced "Short Ride in a Fast Machine...
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  • Kent Nagano conducts the national anthem at Habs game / CTV News
    Posted At: January 10, 2020 12:00 AM

    Though Habs fans did not get the result they wanted Thursday night against the Oilers, they did get a rare treat as Montreal Symphony Orchestra maestro Kent Nagano took in the game and played the national anthem to the capacity crowd at the Bell Centre. Nagano was spotted on the metro green line before the game with his daughter Karen. "They managed to really seduce me to this great tradition," said Naga...
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  • Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano - The John Adams Album is the WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At: December 3, 2019 12:00 AM

    The John Adams Album" continues the award-winning series of recordings from the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano on Decca, released in time for Nagano's final, triumphant season with the orchestra. The recording contains the composer's key orchestral works, including Common Tones in Simple Time and Harmonielehre, conducted by one of his greatest champions. For December 2, 2019, The Mo...
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  • Kent Nagano discusses his last summer with the MSO / Global News
    Posted At: May 2, 2019 12:00 AM

    Kent Nagano previews his last summer with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.cHis name is synonymous with our city's vibrant cultural scene and music to the ears to so many Montrealers. Kent Nagano became Music Director of the Montreal Orchestra in September 2006. At the time of his appointment he said ..."Symphony to be the new Music Director of this highly respected Orchestra as of 2006 - and, at the...
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  • How Kent Nagano got a french accent / Deutsche Welle
    Posted At: March 19, 2019 12:00 AM

    At age 67, the Californian-born maestro has been a fixture in the musical landscape in Europe for decades. Having occupied important positions in Berlin and Munich, Nagano is now the general music director at the Staatsoper opera house in Hamburg. Always maintaining a bicontinental existence, he went from the Los Angeles Opera to the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, where he will have served as ...
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  • Leonard Bernstein career offers a lesson in the perils of hero worship / The New Yorker
    Posted At: September 17, 2018 12:00 AM

    Worldwide celebrations of the hundredth birthday of Leonard Bernstein, which fell on August 25th, have touted the man as a kind of musical superhero, who conquered every medium he touched: conducting, composing, Broadway shows, education, television, the intricate game of American celebrity.  The centenary year has yielded not only hagiography but also candid biographical accounting. Jamie Berns...
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  • Nagano: OSM chamber reduction of Leonard Bernstein's 'A Quiet Place' brings sharper focus than predecessor / The Guardian
    Posted At: June 28, 2018 12:00 AM

    Leonard Bernstein composed one of the greatest of all musicals in West Side Story, as well as, in Candide, one of the few 20th-century comic operas that is likely to persist in the repertory. But until the end of his life he kept trying to write the great American opera – something that would hold up a truthful mirror to American life in the second half of the 20th century. A Quiet Place, first per...
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  • Kent Nagano says OSM is a very special orchestra / Global News interview
    Posted At: April 15, 2018 12:00 AM

    Over the years, Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) maestro Kent Nagano has grown to embody the spirit of the city's rich culture. "We wanted to create a symphony that was really vibrant and directly attached and directly relevant to the community," he said. With his laid-back attitude and long hair, the California-born was a breath of fresh air when he arrived as a guest conductor in 2004. "That was, for ...
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  • MontrealSymphonique rouses 80thousand on MountRoyal / CBC
    Posted At: August 20, 2017 12:00 AM

    The city marked its 375th birthday with the giant, free outdoor concert by three orchestras. Police say 80,000 converged at the foot of Mount Royal to watch the 'Montréal Symphonique' concert Saturday night celebrating the city's 375th anniversary. Put on by the city's three major orchestras - The Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Mé...
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  • As the OSM prepares for a new season, Kent Nagano stops by the Breakfast Television studios
    Posted At: August 2, 2017 12:00 AM

    Kent Nagano has announced he will leave the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at the end of his contract in 2020, leaving both of Montreal's main orchestras along with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra looking for new musical directors to take up the baton. Mr. Nagano, who will be the second-longest-serving maestro at the OSM when his term ends, renewed his contract on his other main job with the Ham...
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  • Kent Nagano receives the ECHO KLASSIK Award for 'Conductor Of The Year'
    Posted At: July 27, 2017 12:00 AM

    Kent Nagano receives the ECHO KLASSIK Award for http://www.crossovermedia.net/artists/orchestre-symphonique-de-montreal-kent-nagano/projects/l-aiglon/‘Conductor Of The Year.' The ECHO KLASSIK trophies will be handed out on Sunday, 29 October 2017 during a gala event in the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall in Hamburg. All of the artists receiving an ECHO KLASSIK this year have made outstanding...
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  • Kent Nagano leaving OSM / The Globe and Mail
    Posted At: July 1, 2017 12:00 AM

    Kent Nagano has announced he will leave the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at the end of his contract in 2020, leaving both of Montreal's main orchestras along with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra looking for new musical directors to take up the baton. Mr. Nagano, who will be the second-longest-serving maestro at the OSM when his term ends, made the announcement Thursday afternoon without gi...
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  • Musical Toronto: RECORD KEEPING | Danse Macabre marks a golden age for the OSM
    Posted At: November 28, 2016 12:00 AM

    The Orchestre symphonique de Montreal's (OSM) Decca recordings enjoyed great acclaim during Charles Dutoit's tenure (1977-2002) as conductor; perhaps it can recapture its former glory under current conductor, Kent Nagano, who took over the podium in 2006. This is the OSM's second release with Decca under this new contract. The first, the rarely-heard Ibert-Honegger opera L'Aiglon, was well-received and t...
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  • Montreal Symphony hosts 5th annual 'Classical Spree' Music Festival / Huffington Post
    Posted At: August 4, 2016 12:00 AM

    You couldn't find a better time to explore Montreal, the ‘City of Festivals' than from August 10-13 when the fine Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and music director Kent Nagano throw their annual musical gift to the city, OSM's Classical Spree, Couche-Tard. Now in its fifth year, Classical Spree is a marathon of music, solo to symphonic, spread over four days that includes over forty perfo...
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  • Kent Nagano conducts 'Symphonic Mob' in Berlin Mall / ABC: Australia
    Posted At: May 17, 2016 12:00 AM

    Members of the German Symphony Orchestra have been joined by more than 900 amateur musicians in a spontaneous concert at a Berlin mall, entertaining hundreds of spectators. Led by conductor Kent Nagano, the "Symphonic Mob" performance treated passersby to works by the likes of Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner and George Bizet, winning rave applause. Germany's Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported that ab...
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  • Kent Nagano leads OSM with style and colour in L'Aiglon / Musical Toronto
    Posted At: April 17, 2016 12:00 AM

    I suspect that this new recording will come as a complete surprise to most music-lovers. Who knew that two leading 20th-century French composers had collaborated on an opera? In fact, Honegger and Ibert had done just that. There was even a recording (incomplete) of L'Aiglon (The Eaglet) made in the LP era (1956), but it was never re-released on CD. Obscure pieces do turn up from time to time; not all are...
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  • OSM - Saint-Saens, Moussa, Saarihao / KDFC: Download of the Week
    Posted At: April 6, 2016 12:00 AM

    Each week KDFC: San Francisco members can download a free mp3 from some of the biggest releases in the world of Classical music. Since its founding in 1934, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal has distinguished itself as a leader in the orchestral life of Canada and Québec. A cultural ambassador of the highest order, the Orchestra has earned an enviable reputation internationally through ...
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  • OSM - Saint-Saens, Moussa, Saarihao wins JUNO Award for for 'Best Classical Album of the Year - Large Ensemble'
    Posted At: April 6, 2016 12:00 AM

    Since its founding in 1934, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal has distinguished itself as a leader in the orchestral life of Canada and Québec. A cultural ambassador of the highest order, the Orchestra has earned an enviable reputation internationally through the quality of its many recordings and tours. The OSM carries on that rich tradition under the leadership of its Music Director, ...
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  • Kent Nagano & OSM returnn to Berkeley and receive a hero's welcome / San Jose Mercury News
    Posted At: March 28, 2016 12:00 AM

    Kent Nagano returned to Berkeley on Saturday night and received a hero's welcome. The Califonia-born conductor was music director of the Berkeley Symphony from 1978 to 2009, and longtime Bay Area music lovers who attended his concerts in Zellerbach Hall during that era still treasure the memories of his local premieres of new works by Ades, Adams and Ligeti. As Cal Performances director Matias Tarnop...
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  • Kent Nagano and OSM prove gripping in Santa Barbara / Los Angeles Times review
    Posted At: March 27, 2016 12:00 AM

    I you check out the surprisingly cursory Wikipedia entry on the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal you will discovery that "in recent years, the OSM has fallen on tough times." That depends on how you define "recent" and maybe even "tough." If we are talking about the early 2000s, things weren't looking so hot. If we are talking about the triumphant concert the orchestra gave at Granada Th...
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  • Kent Nagano leads OSM in thrilling - La Jolla Music Society performance / San Diego Union-Tribune
    Posted At: March 25, 2016 12:00 AM

    Spring arrived three days late at Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall. On Wednesday, Kent Nagano led the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in a thrilling performance of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring." It was joined by two more early 20th-century masterpieces: Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no. 3 and Debussy's "Jeux" (Games). In the MSO's fantastic performance, presented by the La Jolla Music Society,...
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  • Expect the unexpected on Kent Nagano: OSM recordings / Los Angeles Times
    Posted At: March 23, 2016 12:00 AM

    Kent Nagano can be heard is on a series of outstanding recordings with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal over the last decade. These include a Beethoven symphony cycle, Mahler recordings with German baritone Christian Gerhaher ("Das Lied von der Erde" is a must) and Unsuk Chin's phenomenal Violin Concerto, all of which show the Montrealers to be in gorgeous shape. The latest are two se...
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  • Montreal Symphony brilliant at Symphony Center / Chicago Tribune
    Posted At: March 21, 2016 12:00 AM

    Most visiting orchestras can be relied on to pack their most glamorous party pieces as tour baggage, doing so perhaps more to seek audience favor than to make a serious statement about what they are all about musically. The Montreal Symphony Orchestra, which delivered an impressive and often exciting concert Friday night at Symphony Center, is a notable exception to that depressing rule. What set the...
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  • OSM makes triumphant return to Chicago / Chicago Classical Review
    Posted At: March 20, 2016 12:00 AM

    The last time the Montreal Symphony Orchestra came to Chicago, Ronald Reagan was in the last year of his presidency, The Last Emperor was Best Picture of the Year, and U2‘s Joshua Tree won the Grammy for Best Album. More to the point, Charles Dutoit was music director of Orchestre symphonique de Montreal and the partnership was at the peak of their international fame before thei...
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  • OSM plays Carnegie Hall in first NYC appearance in five years / New York Times
    Posted At: March 17, 2016 12:00 AM

    I could not help wondering this on Tuesday evening, when Kent Nagano conducted the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in an impressive program at Carnegie Hall, this ensemble's first appearance in New York in five years. Mr. Nagano opened with a slyly seductive account of Ravel's "La Valse," followed by a majestic performance of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with the distinguished Portuguese pianist Maria Jo...
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  • OSM & Daniil Trifonov Storm Citadel / The Boston Musical Intelligencer
    Posted At: March 17, 2016 12:00 AM

    As part of its cross-country tour, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal dazzled Symphony Hall Wednesday night under the direction of music director Kent Nagano in Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto with Russian piano sensation Daniil Trifonov. Each of the works represents an integra...
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  • OSM returns to Chicago with Daniil Trifonov for LIVE Concert and Conversation with WFMT
    Posted At: March 16, 2016 12:00 AM

    This week, the Montréal Symphony Orchestra returns to Chicago for the first time since 1988. Friday, musicians from the Orchestra join pianist Daniil Trifonov for a live concert and conversation with WFMT host Lisa Flynn at 10:00 am. MSO Music Director Kent Nagano joins Kerry Frumkin at 11:00 am as a guest host. Later, the orchestra performs at Symphony Center under Nagano's direction. Nagano ...
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  • OSM's 2016-17 season celebrates Montreal, modernism / Montreal Gazette
    Posted At: March 9, 2016 12:00 AM

    Urbanism, minimalism, Haydn, anniversaries and a steady if subtle stress on the 20th century: these are some of the themes of the 2016-17 OSM season, presented Wednesday by music director Kent Nagano at city hall. "We are only 16 years into the 21st century," Nagano said in an interview earlier this week. "To me it's fascinating that when I was conducting 20th-century music in the 20th century, it w...
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  • OSM's Beethoven's nine symphonies / KDFC: 'Download Of the Week'
    Posted At: February 17, 2016 12:00 AM

    Each week KDFC: San Francisco members can download a free mp3 from some of the biggest releases in the world of Classical music. ANALEKTA's catalogue already features seven of Beethoven's nine symphonies performed by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, under the direction of Maestro Kent Nagano. The Canadian label is now releasing the famed composer's complete nine symphonies, ...
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  • OSM - Saint-Saens - Moussa - Saarihao / CBC - First Play
    Posted At: October 16, 2015 12:00 AM

        This new album on the Analekta label celebrates the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique, the massive new Casavant organ recently installed in La Maison symphonique de Montréal, the 2,100-seat concert hall that is home to the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Named after the founder and general manager of the OSM from 1939 to 1970, this organ bears the Casavant opus numbe...
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  • 10 Questions for Unsuk Chin
    Posted At: April 6, 2015 12:00 AM

    There is no mistaking the music of Unsuk Chin. Born in Korea and based in Berlin, Chin brings a range of cultural perspectives to her work. She often describes her music in terms of light and colour, and evokes dreamscapes when recalling her inspirations. Yet her music also has a strong gestural quality, her musical ideas are clear and definite, often subtle but never ambiguous. It is an approach tha...
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