The recording Berio: Sinfonia / Mahler-Berio: Frühe Lieder, conducted by Josep Pons with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and baritone Matthias Goerne, received widespread international critical acclaim following its release on the Harmonia Mundi label.
The album was honoured with several of Europe’s most prestigious recording awards, including the Choc de Classica, the Diapason d’Or, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, and the CD of the Month award from the Spanish magazine Scherzo. These distinctions established the recording as one of the outstanding orchestral releases of the season.
The programme presents a unique dialogue between two composers whose musical worlds are closely connected. Luciano Berio’s monumental Sinfonia, one of the landmark works of twentieth-century music, is paired with Mahler’s Frühе Lieder in Berio’s orchestration, creating a fascinating encounter between late Romanticism and contemporary musical thought.
The participation of Matthias Goerne, widely regarded as one of today’s leading interpreters of the German vocal repertoire, brings exceptional depth and expressive intensity to Mahler’s songs and crowns an important artistic collaboration with Josep Pons.
The recording reflects Josep Pons’s longstanding commitment to the great symphonic repertoire of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and his interest in exploring the dialogue between tradition and musical innovation.