There was a lot of post-production to complete but there was time for a brief visit in between to Berlin for the filming for TV (arte)/Unitel of Anna Netrebko’s recital of Russian songs, accompanied by Daniel Barenboim in the Philharmonie.

The renowned baritone Thomas Hampson is co-editor of a new edition of Gustav Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The new edition brings to light numerous inaccuracies in previous ones and for a first recording based on this version Hampson asked Christopher to produce the sessions near Vienna with the Wiener Virtuosi.

After almost 3 months of unbroken snow in Hamburg it was good to spend a week in Rome, especially as the reason to be there was to record the new album by Jonas Kaufmann of verismo arias for DECCA. The other star on the disc is the orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the baton of the irrepressible Antonio Pappano. News came from Korea that Sumi Jo’s new album Ich liebe dich was top of the pop charts.

For Universal Korea the soprano Sumi Jo is their commercially most important artist. Her new album of German Lieder in arrangements with various chamber ensembles had to be recorded and a master produced in record time for her April tour, and so they asked Christopher to produce the sessions in Cologne. Despite a harrowing schedule (also for the singer!) the master was delivered to Universal only 10 days after the sessions. Lang Lang’s move from Deutsche Grammophon to SONY was announced in the press worldwide. His first recording for his new ‘home’ was in connection with a recital in Vienna and he asked Christopher to produce the discs, which include works by Beethoven, Albeniz, Prokoffiev and Chopin.

Christopher was asked by SONY to make the debut recording of the exciting young Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo. Sessions took place in Parma with the orchestra and chorus of the Teatro Regio di Parma under the direction of Pier Giorgio Morandi.

Two months full of piano recordings: firstly in Zürich with Yundi (formerly known as Yundi Li) who has been signed by EMI to make a complete traversal of Chopin’s piano works over the next five years. Here we recorded the complete Nocturnes for release in early 2010. The second recording was in Neumarkt with the young German-Korean pianist Christopher Park of transcriptions by Russian composers, and then the third in Hamburg with the celebrated Armenian pianist Sergei Babayan of works by Rachmaninov.

For the inaugural concert of Gustavo Dudamel's tenure as Music Director at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Christopher Alder was asked to be the audio producer for US and international TV broadcasts as well as preparing an iTunes download version in record time. The download in the Deutsche Grammophon Digital Concert s series is available from 20th October.

The  prestigious German ECHO opera award was  given to the recording of Bellini's  I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Joseph Calleja and the Wiener Symphoniker conducted by Fabio Luisi, produced by Chris Alder in 2008 for Deutsche Grammophon.

After a recording of a Liszt programme with Andrew von Oeyen, an exceptional US pianist Chris is in Copenhagen for Danish Radio as audio producer for two concerts, one with Anna Netrebko and Massimo Giordano, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume; the other a gala event, the so-called Crown Prince Concert (“Kronprinsparrets Kulturpris”) both of which take place in the wonderful new DR Concert Hall designed by Jean Nouvel.

At the Lucerne Festival Chris Alder was the audio producer for EuroArts for concerts with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. The soloist was Magdalena Kozena and the Mahler symphonies will appear on DVD. The Financial Times critic wrote of the concerts: “There is a life-or-death immediacy, coupled with a level of technical perfection that has no equivalent anywhere in the world…This was a religious experience.”

Martin Engstroem, founder of the Verbier Festival, asked Chris to produce the second half of a concert (“something different and entertaining”) with the three bass-baritones René Pape, Thomas Quasthoff and Bryn Terfel. Chris made a medley of numbers from Broadway shows, and some evergreens such as Delilah and New York, New York, and asked Matthias Kosel to arrange them. The accompanying piano trio consisted of Vadim Rapin, Mischa Maisky and Lang Lang. The programme demanded much of the singers including some tricky ensembles, and for the instrumentalists it was unusual fare. The public loved it and their roars of approval could be heard right down the valley!

At the end of the month Chris was in the studio again, recording Schubert’s cycle “Die Schöne Müllerin” with the tenor Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch, piano. This rush release is due out in October.

The recording of German arias "Sehnsucht" by tenor Jonas Kaufmann - "surely the finest of the world's young tenors" (Daily Mail) - is released in Germany and immediately rises to the top of the classical music charts. Chris Alder produced the album in Parma in November 2008. Kaufmann is partnered by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado. Chris Alder produces a new recording of works by de Falla with the Spanish National Orchestra and their principal conductor Josep Pons, the first of a wide-ranging series of discs for Universal Music, Spain with that orchestra over the next few years.

Chris Alder was in Naples for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Europakonzert. He was the audio producer for the worldwide TV broadcast from the newly-renovated Teatro San Carlo in a programme of works by Verdi, Martucci and Schubert with Violeta Urmana, mezzosoprano, conducted by Riccardo Muti.

A busy month: first a recording of Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier Book 1 with Maurizio Pollini in Munich (to be completed in summer) and then on to Paris to complete an opera with the tenor Roberto Alagna and New York with Angela Gheorghiu.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's new Music Director from the 2010 season is Riccardo Muti. His first concerts with the CSO since the announcement are in January, and the CSO has asked Chris Alder to produce the recording of the Verdi Requiem for the CSO Resound label. The release will also be in surround sound on SACD as well as a conventional stereo release.

In September Chris Alder was in Berlin recording at the Deutsche Opera with Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna in Mascagni's opera L'Amico Fritz, conducted by Alberto Veronesi. This grand opera was followed in October by a recording of the intimate sounds of the classical guitar with the renowned Swiss guitarrist Christoph Denoth.

The year closed with a return to the world of opera with a recording in Parma, Italy, of German arias by the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra was conducted by Claudio Abbado in arias by Wagner, Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner and will be Kaufmann's second release for DECCA. His first disc Romantic Arias was also produced by Chris Alder.

Chris Alder has finished the post-production work on two Chopin recordings: a solo recital with Maurizio Pollini which is due for release in Fall 2008 and both concertos with Lang Lang, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Zubin Mehta due out shortly, both for Deutsche Grammophon.

The DVD release of the Berlin Staatsoper production of Massenet's Manon with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón is in August. Directed by Vincent Paterson and conducted by Daniel Barenboim, Chris Alder was the audio producer for Unitel.

At the Lucerne Festival this year, Chris Alder will be the audio producer for the TV broadcasts and DVD production for EuroArts of the concerts with Hélène Grimaud, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado. The programme includes Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2 and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite.

Deutsche Grammophon's big opera release for 2008 has just come out
Puccini's La Bohème with an all-star cast of Anna Netrebko, Nicole Cabell, Rolando Villazón, Boaz Daniel, Vitalij Kowaljow and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Chris Alder was the executive and recording producer. Recorded last April in Munich, the soundtrack is also the basis for a film directed by Robert Dornhelm which will be in cinemas worldwide in Autumn.

Chris was recording another opera, Donizetti's I Capuletti e i Montecchi in Vienna in the last two weeks of April. Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca and Joseph Calleja, accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi.


Historic NY Phil concert in North Korea
Chris Alder was in Pyongyang as audio producer for EuroArts - part of an international team from both Koreas, Germany, and France –who were responsible for the broadcast and recorded the “unprecedented concert” (Reuters) given by the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel on 26 February, which made headlines around the world. The first time in over 50 years that a US cultural organisation has been allowed into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the concert was telecast live in both North and South Korea, and was watched the same day by over 200 million viewers in the USA, Japan and Europe.


2008 started for Chris Alder in Beijing, China, where he was asked to be the audio producer by the national broadcaster CCTV for the New Year Concert which marks the opening season of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. The spectacular building on Tiananmen Square designed by Paul Andreu houses an opera house, a theatre and a concert hall. The concert included the violinist Vadim Rapin, the soprano Kathleen Battle, Jiang Jianhua on erhu, and China’s most famous classical artist, Lang Lang. The programme ranged from Offenbach, Saint-Saens, Dvorak, and Puccini to a new piece for organ and orchestra by Ye Xiao Gang and ended with Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Seiji Ozawa conducting the China National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

In January, Chris is recording in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic (Puccini Arias with Violeta Urmana, Plácido Domingo) and Leoncavallo’s opera “Fedora” in Brussels with Plácido Domingo and Angela Gheorghiú, Alberto Veronesi conducting.


2007 Grammy Award Nominations 6th December.
Anna Netrebko's "The Russian Album" was nominated in the category of 'Best Vocal Album'. Chris Alder was both Executive and Recording Producer for this disc, which was recorded in the Mariinsky Theatre, St.Petersburg with Valery Gergiev conducting. The winner wil be announced in February 2008.


Three recordings which Chris Alder produced are awarded the ECHO prize, Germany’s most prestigious accoloade in classical music: Best Concerto recording for Pollini’s recording of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 21 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; as Best DVD the DEAG Waldbühne Concert with Netrebko, Domingo and Villazón; and Best Seller the Russian Album with Anna Netrebko and Valery Gergiev conducting the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre.


Often a quiet time of year for recordings because of the Festivals, this year Chris was busy on several projects, including a world première recording of Leoncavallo’s opera I Medici with a cast including Plácido Domingo and Carlos Alvarez, in Florence, Alberto Veronesi conducting (release 2008); in Prague the debut album for DECCA of the outstanding young German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, accompanied by the Prague Philharmonic and Marco Armiliato conducting : TV and DVD production of an Opera Gala from Baden-Baden, with Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Ramon Vargas, Ludovic Tezier, the Südwest Rundfunk Orchester and Marco Armiliato conducting; TV broadcast from Bonn with the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.


A busy month, with recordings of Mozart Piano Concertos in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra and Maurizio Pollini playing and directing; Bach Cantatas in Berlin with Dorothea Röschmann and Thomas Quasthoff, accompanied by the Berliner Barocksolisten directed by Rainer Kussmaul: Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.2 and the Ravel G major Piano Concerto with Yundi Li partnered by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Seiji Ozawa. Chris was the audio producer for a live broadcast for TV and production for DVD of Massenet’s Manon from the Berlin State Opera, starring Anna Netrebko and Rolkando Villazón, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.


The CD of Duets with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón is released internationally. In Germany it enters the pop charts at number 3 and goes straight to the top of the classical charts in several European countries.

Recording of Puccini’s La Bohème in Munich with an all-star cast including Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Nicole Cabell, and Bertrand de Billy conducting the Bavarian State Radio Symphony Orchestra (due for release in early 2008)


At France’s annual “Victoires de la Musique Classique” awards ceremony week, televised in prime time at the end of February, Maurizio Pollini’s recording of Chopin Nocturnes won the prize for “Classical Recording of the Year”

Maurizio Pollini
Chopin
Nocturnes
2 CD 477 5718

• Los Angeles: Grammy Award for Chopin’s complete Nocturnes (Maurizio Pollini) – for which Alder was both Executive and Recording Producer – in the category “Best Instrumental Soloist Performance”
• Grammy Award for Intimate Voices (Emerson String Quartet) as “Best Chamber Music Performance” (Chris Alder was Executive Producer, Recording Producer: Da-Hong Seetoo)

Four of Chris Alder’s recordings are nominated for the 49th Annual Grammy awards:

• Chopin’s complete Nocturnes (Maurizio Pollini) – for which Alder was both Executive and Recording Producer – in the category “Best Instrumental Soloist Performance”
• plus three discs for which Alder served as Executive Producer: Intimate Voices (Emerson String Quartet) as “Best Chamber Music Performance”; Consider, My Soul (Betrachte, meine Seel) (Thomas Quasthoff) as “Best Classical Vocal Performance”; and Mozart’s C minor Mass (Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort & Players) as “Best Choral Performance”.

• DVD release of this year’s concert from the Berlin Waldbühne, with Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón and Plácido Domingo. It achieves Gold status in Germany within three weeks of release.
• Maurizio Pollini’s recording of the complete Chopin Nocturnes is nominated by French critics as “Record of the Year” (La Victoire de la Musique)

• Anna Netrebko’s Russian Album with the Mariinsky Opera Orchestra under Valery Gergiev is released and enters the German pop charts at number 8 – the highest entry of a classical album since the legendary “3 Tenors” CD in 1990. It achieves Gold status in Germany and Austria in four weeks and easily achieves six-figure sales internationally. Gramophone magazine writes that “the recording, especially the balance between voice and orchestra, is fine throughout. This is the best disc Netrebko has made so far.”
• Gramophone names Mozart’s Zauberflöte conducted by Abbado as “Best Opera Recording” in their annual awards in London.

Release of Mozart Piano Concertos K453 and K467 with Maurizio Pollini playing and directing the Vienna Philharmonic:

“Listening to this new CD…you hear a man in love…. He plays Mozart with real feeling, leading us into the music’s depth, its inner melodies, never content with the surface…the music always moves forward, developing, growing, with the subtlest range of colours …These are performances of conversational intimacy”– The Times (London).


Recording sessions take place in Dresden for the Duet Album of Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, with the Staatskapelle conducted by Nicola Luisotti. Composers include Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Massenet, Gounod, Tchaikovsky and Moreno Torroba. Release will be spring 2007.


The Mozart Album is released, a specially recorded collection of the composer’s most famous arias with Anna Netrebko*, Erika Miklósa*, Elina Garanca, Christoph Strehl*, Thomas Quasthoff, Bryn Terfel, René Pape*, Mahler Chamber Orchestra*, Orchestra Mozart*, Claudio Abbado*, Scottish Chamber Orchestra Sir Charles Mackerras, Staatskapelle Dresden, Sebastian Weigle. Elina Garanca
* Christopher Alder, producer


International release of Die Zauberflöte with a brilliant young cast and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra recorded in conjunction with performances at the Teatro Comunale of Modena.

“It is Abbado's conducting that compels attention, making this as good as any new version of Zauberflöte released on disc since Otto Klemperer's set more than 40 years ago.” – The Guardian (London)

“It's hard to remain level-headed with the sound of Claudio Abbado's new version of Die Zauberflöte – recorded in Modena last year during his tour of the work – ringing in the ears…Every bar matters, and every detail is considered afresh…It doesn't matter how many Zauberflöte recordings you own, you will need this one too.” – Opera (London)

“Clear-textured, articulate and wondrously natural…You will seldom hear such unmannered and graceful Mozart playing.” – The New York Times

“Claudio Abbado leads this “live” performance of The Magic Flute with a nimble, light hand, stressing the playful elements of the score and turning the experience into a sheer delight…Excellent sonics.” – Classics Today.com