Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Discography
In 2007, the first CD of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski was released. Now, the eagerly awaited first CD under the ensemble’s new principle conductor Christoph Poppen follows (the young orchestra unites the RSO Saarbrücken and the SWR RSO Kaiserslautern). Three CDs present the five symphonies of the composer once named by Schumann as “the Mozart of the 19th century”: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. While Symphony No. 1, which Mendelssohn com- hristoph oppen fi rst principle conductor of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie posed in 1824 at the age of fifteen, is still firmly in the Viennese Classic style, Symphony No. 2 (“Hymn of Praise”) begins where Beethoven’s Ninth left off: texts from Luther’s translation of the Old Testament are set to music in a cantata-like manner. In the final movement of Symphony No. 5 (“Reformation Symphony”), the Luther chorale A mighty fortress is our God is heard. The famous Symphonies No. 3 (“Scottish”) and 4 (“Italian”) are full of impressions of foreign lands.