NEW SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
RECORDINGS RELEASED TODAY

The first of eight CDs to be released this season featuring
performances led by former Music Director Hans Vonk

            (ST.LOUIS)  October 8, 2007 – The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra announced today that a set of four compact disc recordings featuring the Orchestra and former Music Director Hans Vonk will be available on October 8, 2007.  These are the first four of eight new discs featuring the late Maestro Vonk to be introduced this season.  The remaining four will be released in the Spring of 2008.
Vonk was music director of the SLSO for six years (1996-2002), before a neurological condition made conducting impossible and forced him to resign.  He died two years later on August 29, 2004.

            SLSO Concertmaster, David Halen, remarked, "In his final months, Hans listened extensively to all of our live recordings with this project in mind. The joy I saw in his face then, as he would listen to a favorite performance or a particular phrase, was immeasurable.  This collection is without question some of Hans Vonk's finest collaborative work with the musicians of the Saint Louis Symphony.  It is indeed a testament to the quality and depth of his music-making and to the lasting impact he made on the Orchestra and in the city of St. Louis". 

            The recordings, made during Vonk’s tenure as Music Director, include a variety of classical styles.  The four being released today include: 

  • Disc 1 Ludwig von Beethoven; Symphony No. 1 in C major, op. 21and Johannes Brahms; Symphony No. 4 in Eminor, op. 98
  • Disc 2  Claude Debussy; La Mer; Maurice Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales and La Valse; Albert Roussel; Suite No. 2 from Bacchus et Ariane, op. 43
  • Disc 3 Olivier Messiaen; Turangalîla-symphonie, featuring Garrick Ohlsson, piano and Jean Laurendeau, onedes martenot
  • Disc 4 Anton Bruckner; Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, "Romantic"

           Vonk considered his tenure at the SLSO the most satisfying in his life artistically -- the culmination of his musical development.  With his meticulous style of conducting, he brought both rhythmical clarity and a lush and warm sound to the strings as well as a nuanced lyricism of the German-Austrian tradition. 

            Principal Trumpet, Susan Slaughter, said, "Maestro Vonk's attention to detail was incredible.  He was passionate about his respect for the composer and made every effort to honor what the composer intended."

            One of his rare remarks sheds light on his artistic approach:  "To express yourself openly, it must be entirely in your head.  The pulse, the tempo, is the same as it was yesterday.  There is no 'I feel happy' or 'I feel sad'. I don't want to be affected by exterior things or my own feelings.  There is only music in your head."

            Produced by Pentatone, and distributed in the United Staes by Naxos, the Vonk CDs will be available at retail locations throughout the U.S. as well as online at www.slso.org/vonk and at the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra’s Boutique at Powell Symphony Hall.

Hans Vonk
Music Director, 1996 - 2002

            Hans Vonk made his debut with the SLSO in 1992 and was well received by the audience, musicians and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch critic, James Wierzbicki, at the time.  He next appeared with the SLSO in 1993, of which Wierzbicki wrote: "To judge from the raptness with which the . . . crowd took it in, Vonk's performance was for many listeners almost literally breathtaking.  The 'bravissimo' shouter, I think, spoke for the entire audience."  ¹
Post-Dispatch music critic Sarah Bryan Miller later said, "…it was Vonk, in his six year music directorship, who painstakingly polished its [SLSO's] sound, made it as much at home in the great European classics as it was in 20th century American works, and built the orchestra into [a] superb instrument…" ²
The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) has been a source of pride for the St. Louis region since its founding in 1880.  The SLSO has earned a reputation as a first-tier orchestra through the generations of excellent performances, through its mastery of a wide-ranging repertoire, and a tradition of partnering with leading musical artists from around the world. Led by innovative American-born conductor David Robertson, the Orchestra continues to strive for artistic excellence, fiscal responsibility and community connection.
            In addition to its regular concert performances at Powell Symphony Hall, the SLSO is an integral part of the St. Louis community, presenting more than 250 free education and partnership programs in the community each year.

¹ Sarah Bryan Miller, "Illness Claims Maestro." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 30 August 2004, sec. A.
² Ibid.