PENTATONE Announces Release Date for New Minnesota Orchestra album

Music Director Thomas Søndergård and the Minnesota Orchestra perform works by Thomas Adès on a recording to be released by PENTATONE November 14

The Orchestra and Søndergård’s first album together features the world premiere recording of The Exterminating Angel Symphony alongside the contemporary British composer’s Violin Concerto with soloist Leila Josefowicz

On Friday, November 14, PENTATONE releases an all-Thomas Adès album featuring the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Music Director Thomas Søndergård. The recording includes two of Adès’ most captivating orchestral works: the world premiere recording of The Exterminating Angel Symphony and his Violin Concerto, featuring soloist Leila Josefowicz. The recording marks the debut of the Minnesota Orchestra and Josefowicz on the PENTATONE label, as well as Søndergård’s first recording with the Minnesota Orchestra. It was recorded live at Orchestra Hall during concerts on September 26-28.

Highlighting two sides of Adès’ artistry, the album comprises the world premiere recording of The Exterminating Angel Symphony, a four-movement orchestral distillation of the British composer’s acclaimed 2016 opera, and his Violin Concerto, a piece Josefowicz has championed for more than 20 years and has become a signature in her repertoire. Performed during the Orchestra's 2024-25 season, both works showcase Adès’ ability to blend intricate virtuosity with emotional resonance, creating music that is intellectually compelling and powerfully moving.

“I first worked with Thomas Søndergård 20 years ago in Copenhagen on The Tempest and couldn’t imagine a finer pair of hands to entrust with this premiere recording of The Exterminating Angel Symphony,” said Thomas Adès. “And the Minnesota Orchestra was the first professional orchestra to perform my work in the United States, so it is especially touching to hear them play my music in this breathtaking recording.” The Orchestra performed his Asyla in 1997 performances with Jeffrey Tate conducting. Adès went on to become among the most successful composers of our time, writing three operas that have been staged across the globe, winning a Grammy for his recording of The Tempest and becoming the youngest recipient of the Grawemeyer Award.

Adès’ 2020 composition, The Exterminating Angel Symphony, is an adaptation of his 2016 opera based on the 1962 cult-classic film of the same name, directed by Luis Buñuel. In both film and opera, The Exterminating Angel is an absurdist dark comedy that satirizes the secretive, performative nature of the bourgeoisie as they arrive at a mansion for a dinner party—only to find themselves inexplicably unable to leave. In its symphonic version, Adès relies heavily on an extensive array of percussion, along with a substantial wind and brass section. The first movement, Entrances, excerpted from the opera’s opening, features grotesque distortions of high society music, mocking the elite as the guests enter the mansion. In the second movement, Marches, recurring rhythmic and harmonic motifs mirror party-goers' desperation to leave. In the third movement, Berceuse, a triple-meter melody sweeps through the orchestra, lulling listeners into the final movement, Waltzes. The only section not directly quoting extended material from the opera, the final movement reassembles “bits of a broken porcelain object” into a surreal dance, according to Adès.

The Violin Concerto (originally subtitled Concentric Paths), commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Berlin Festspiele, is a three-movement work following a fast-slow-fast structure. Since its 2005 premiere, the concerto has become a staple in the contemporary violin repertoire, affirming Adès’ place among today’s leading composers. The first movement, Rings, is a whirlwind of violin harmonics and arpeggios spiraling over Adès’ signature descending chromatic sequences, with the music demonstrating influence from Ligeti and Fibonacci’s sequence. The second movement, Paths, begins with baroque-like figures exchanged between Josefowicz and the brass section, and evolves from simple tension into total collapse. In the final movement, Rounds, the violin line soars before being overtaken by bursts of primal rhythm from the orchestra.

Minnesota Orchestra Recording History

The Minnesota Orchestra issued its first recording in 1924 and has since recorded more than 450 works, including widely praised Beethoven, Mahler and Sibelius Symphony cycles under the direction of Osmo Vänskä, who served as the orchestra’s music director from 2003 to 2022. The Orchestra’s Sibelius cycle garnered critical attention with the second recording in the cycle featuring the First and Fourth Symphonies winning the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance. The Orchestra is also featured on a recording released by Doomtree Records in November 2019: Sound the Bells, a live-in-concert album spotlighting singer-rapper-writer Dessa and recorded live at Orchestra Hall in March 2019 under the baton of Sarah Hicks. In September 2023, the Orchestra and Decca Classics released a digital recording of brea(d)th, the landmark commission by composer Carlos Simon and librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph inspired by George Floyd and the ongoing struggle for racial justice, conducted by Jonathan Taylor Rush. The Orchestra’s most recent album release came in June 2024, a recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony under the direction of Vänskä. It was their tenth and final release as part of the ensemble’s eight-year initiative to perform and record all the Mahler symphonies.

PENTATONE

One of the leading classical music labels in the world, PENTATONE presents a diverse range of world-class artists, and is dedicated to premium quality productions captured in exceptional sound. The Grammy Award-winning label works together with today and tomorrow’s leading artists to provide timeless recordings of core, fringe and lesser-known repertoire, with uncompromising attention to the best possible quality in artistry, design and recording technology. Thomas Søndergård previously recorded an album with cellist Johannes Moser for the label, featuring cello concertos by Lutosławski and Dutilleux.

THOMAS ADÈS
THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL SYMPHONY
VIOLIN CONCERTO
PTC 5187 487

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Leila Josefowicz, violinist

THOMAS ADÈS (b. 1971)

The Exterminating Angel Symphony (2020)
  I. Entrances
  II. March
  III. Berceuse
  IV. Waltzes

Violin Concerto (2005)
  I. Rings
  II. Paths
  III. Rounds

For press copies or downloads, please contact:

Gwen Pappas, Vice President of Communications and Public Relations
gpappas@mnorch.org

Alexandra Robinson, Content and Communications Manager
arobinson@mnorch.org