The Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, despite its Gallic moniker, was founded in England in 1990 by noted conductor John Eliot Gardiner. The organization was the next logical step in the evolution of the period-performance movement, its purpose to present the music of the Romantic era (broadly, from Beethoven to the early twentieth century with emphasis on the early Romantics) as authentically as possible. It is a sobering thought thatRead more orchestral music from the first half of the nineteenth century was heard on crooked horns, woodwinds with minimal keys, and now-extinct instruments such as the ophiclide, to say nothing of interpretive idiosyncrasies of the era. That said, even the best and most sincere recordings of Karajan or Solti of the Beethoven symphonies were bound to sound quite different from what audiences of 1820 heard. Gardiner's mission was to treat the music of Beethoven, Weber, and Berlioz with the same scholarly respect accorded to early, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical period works as an alternative, rather than replacement, to the best modern treatments of the same.
The O.R.R. under Gardiner has released some musicologically significant recordings. The 1991 Antwerp discovery of a surviving score of Berlioz's Messe Solennelle, a work dismantled by the self-critical composer and used as "lumber" for future works, led to the 1994 premiere recording of the mass, revealing an energy and even joyfulness in the score. The Gardiner/O.R.R. 1997 recording of Leonore revealed to the musical public Beethoven's early attempt at the opera that would one day become Fidelio. Typical of the re-creative readings of the Orchestre are acclaimed sets of the Beethoven symphonies, Schumann's orchestral works, and Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique, the latter in which not only instrumentation and interpretation followed ca. 1830 practice, but was also recorded in the Ancien Conservatoire of Paris where Berlioz conducted his work, in order to obtain acoustic fidelity as well. The O.R.R.'s traversal of the large-scale music of Romantic era has extended to early Brahms and Verdi. It may be imagined that investigation by Gardiner and his ensemble in performance practices such as the use of elastic tempi and string portamento will yield re-discoveries of the late Romantic works by Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, and others. Read less
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 4797477
Release Date: 08/04/2017
Number of Discs: 40
Composer:
Claude Debussy,
Maurice Ravel,
Alexander Scriabin,
Johannes Brahms
...
Performer:
Gaston Litaize,
Alain Moglia,
Luben Yordanoff,
Christa Ludwig
...
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado,
Daniel Barenboim,
Leonard Bernstein,
Karl Böhm
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
New England Conservatory Chorus,
London Symphony Orchestra
...
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 002054602
Release Date: 06/03/2014
Number of Discs: 56
Composer:
Giovanni Battista Sammartini,
Johann Wenzel Stamitz,
Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf,
Johann Christian Bach
...
Performer:
Dame Gwyneth Jones,
Hanna Schwarz,
René Kollo,
Kurt Moll
...
Conductor:
Kevin Mallon,
Christopher Hogwood,
Thomas Füri,
Sir Neville Marriner
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Aradia Ensemble,
Academy of Ancient Music,
Camerata Bern
...
Label: Archiv Produktion (Dg)
Catalog: 002020702
Release Date: 04/15/2014
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Robert Schumann
Performer:
Gavin Edwards,
Susan Dent,
Robert Maskell,
Roger Montgomery
...
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique,
Monteverdi Choir,
Hanover Boys' Choir Members
Recommendation
Label: Decca
Catalog: 002009846
Release Date: 03/25/2014
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Felix Mendelssohn,
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Viktoria Mullova
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Recommendation
Label: Soli Deo Gloria Records
Catalog: 718
Release Date: 01/28/2014
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Lucy Crowe,
James Gilchrist,
Matthew Rose,
Jennifer [Mezzo-soprano Vocal] Johnston
Conductor:
John E. Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Recommendation
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001894302
Release Date: 09/03/2013
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Giacomo Puccini,
Georges Bizet,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Charles Gounod
...
Performer:
Jonas Kaufmann,
Jana Sibera,
Renée Fleming,
Barbara Vignudelli
...
Conductor:
Marco Armiliato,
Antonio Pappano,
Claudio Abbado,
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Prague Philharmonic Orchestra,
Verdi Grand Symphonic Orchestra Milan,
Verdi Chorus Milan
...
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001826002
Release Date: 04/30/2013
Number of Discs: 30
Composer:
Claudio Monteverdi,
Henry Purcell,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel
...
Performer:
Marinella Pennicchi,
Michael Chance,
Mark Tucker,
Bryn Terfel
...
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
English Baroque Soloists,
Monteverdi Choir,
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
...
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001813172
Release Date: 03/19/2013
Number of Discs: 51
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Janet Perry,
Agnes Baltsa,
Vinson Cole,
José van Dam
...
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado,
John Eliot Gardiner,
Carlos Kleiber,
Leonard Bernstein
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique,
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Label: Archiv Produktion (Dg)
Catalog: 001697002
Release Date: 07/24/2012
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Robert [Tenor Vocal] Johnston,
Julian Podger,
Constanze Backes,
Julian Clarkson
...
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Label: Soli Deo Gloria Records
Catalog: 706
Release Date: 03/27/2012
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Heinrich Schütz,
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Katharine Fuge,
Matthew Brook
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Recommendation
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001651302
Release Date: 03/13/2012
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Carl Maria von Weber
Performer:
Katherine Fuge,
Marina Comparato,
Frances Bourne,
Jonas Kaufmann
...
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Recommendation
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001423002
Release Date: 05/25/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Robert Schumann
Performer:
Nelson Freire,
Malcolm Martineau,
Bryn Terfel,
Paul Gulda
...
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner,
Sir Neville Marriner,
Herbert von Karajan,
Leonard Bernstein
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique,
Hagen String Quartet,
Cleveland Orchestra
...
Label: Archiv Produktion (Dg)
Catalog: 001408302
Release Date: 03/30/2010
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Gilles Cachemaille,
Anne Sofie von Otter,
Anthony Rolfe Johnson,
Luba Orgonasova
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique,
Monteverdi Choir
Recommendation
Label: Soli Deo Gloria Records
Catalog: 703
Release Date: 03/10/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Franz Schubert
Performer:
Nathalie Stutzmann
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique,
Monteverdi Choir
Recommendation
Label: Soli Deo Gloria Records
Catalog: 702
Release Date: 10/14/2008
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Felix Mendelssohn
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique,
Monteverdi Choir
Recommendation
Label: Philips
Catalog: 4756563
Release Date: 08/09/2005
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Carl Maria von Weber
Performer:
Jonas Kaufmann,
Frances Bourne,
Marina Comparato,
Katherine Fuge
...
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Recommendation
Label: Archiv Produktion (Dg)
Catalog: 474551
Release Date: 10/14/2003
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Robert Schumann
Performer:
Roger Montgomery,
Gavin Edwards,
Susan Dent,
Robert Maskell
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique