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Minnesota Orchestra recording sessions canceled

Planned September recording dates scratched due to ongoing labor dispute.

August 20, 2013 at 7:42PM
Osmo Vanska conducting the Minnesota Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 2010.
Osmo Vanska conducting the Minnesota Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 2010. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Minnesota Orchestra will not record Sibelius symphonies and a Beethoven piano concerto next month as planned. The Sweden-based BIS label was scheduled to ship recording equipment to Minneapolis this week for sessions that were to start Sept. 16.

The parties agreed that without a musicians' contract, it didn't make sense to send the equipment.

"We know there is a week that works next spring," said Gwen Pappas, the orchestra's spokeswoman. She acknowledged that no dates have yet been confirmed.

(Update added Aug.20:) "The Sibelius Symphonies project is an extremely important one to both BIS and the Minnesota Orchestra, and we look forward to rescheduling these sessions as soon as a contract resolution is in place," BIS executive Rob Suff said in a statement on Tuesday:

The third and sixth Sibelius symphonies were to be recorded in the session, a continuation of a CD cycle devoted to all seven of the Finnish composer's symphonies.

The 2012 release by the orchestra of the second and fifth Sibelius symphonies was nominated for a Grammy award. Symphonies 1 and 4 were released on a BIS CD this year, reviewed here.

Music Director Osmo Vänskä said in a letter last April that it was "extremely important to make the [Sibelius] recordings in September as planned."

Yevgeny Sudbin is expected to record the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2, part of a series of concertos with the pianist.

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Still in question is the orchestra's date at Carnegie Hall in early November. Carnegie is close to imposing a deadline for the orchestra to confirm its availability, Pappas said.

Last April, Vänskä said he would resign his position if the Carnegie concerts were canceled.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299

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Graydon Royce, Star Tribune

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