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The Cleveland Orchestra announces limited edition vinyl box set celebrating Franz Welser-Möst’s 25-year legacy as Music Director CLEVELAND— The Cleveland Orchestra announces Signature Welser-Möst, a limited edition, 15-disc vinyl box set commemorating Franz Welser-Möst’s 25th and final season as Music Director. Personally curated by Welser-Möst, the deluxe collection celebrates this extraordinary artistic partnership, bringing together landmark recordings that have shaped The Cleveland Orchestra’s acclaimed sound over the past quarter century. Spanning works by Haydn, Beethoven, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Eastman, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Mozart, and Verdi, the set reflects the scope and richness of Welser-Möst’s tenure as the Orchestra’s longest-serving Music Director. The collection also highlights his enduring commitment to contemporary music, featuring commissions by Kaija Saariaho, Bernd Richard Deutsch, and Allison Loggins-Hull, alongside three recordings with The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. “For this retrospective, I have selected pieces and recordings that are meaningful to me personally and significant to my quarter century as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. I am deeply grateful to have shared this journey with all of you, here in Cleveland and all around the world,” Welser-Möst said. This vinyl set opens with Haydn’s radiant oratorio The Creation, the first work Welser-Möst conducted as Music Director during his inaugural season in 2002, and concludes with Verdi’s monumental Requiem, recorded during his penultimate season in 2026. The 14 featured recordings frame an era defined by artistic ambition, global recognition, and uncompromising excellence. Welser-Möst’s dedication to championing contemporary voices and expanding The Cleveland Orchestra’s repertoire shines on Signature Welser-Möst through three of the 47 works he has commissioned during his tenure with the Orchestra. Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, the first composer Welser-Möst commissioned as Music Director, is represented by Orion, her vividly textured three-movement work, which received its world premiere from The Cleveland Orchestra in 2003. The collection also features two of the Orchestra’s former Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellows. Austrian composer Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Intensity was inspired by hearing The Cleveland Orchestra perform an all-Beethoven program in Vienna, making it a fitting inclusion for their final European tour together this October. The music of American composer Allison Loggins-Hull was first introduced to Welser-Möst by Principal Flute Joshua Smith. Premiered by the Orchestra in 2023, the orchestral version of Loggins-Hull’s Can You See? incorporates melodic material from The Star-Spangled Banner. The collection’s only instrumental soloist is the late Radu Lupu, whose interpretation of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 was recorded with Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall in 2005. “Radu Lupu was the most influential musician in my career. The way he approached music and the way he made music sound — his range of colors, his deep understanding of a piece — really influenced me. I’m so happy that we have this specific piano concerto on this set. I’ve never heard anybody in my life, other than Radu, play the piano’s second entrance in the slow movement like he did, where one single note can have so much meaning,” Welser-Möst said. While 12 of the collection’s 14 works were recorded at Severance Music Center, The Cleveland Orchestra’s home in the city’s University Circle neighborhood since 1931, two were captured at iconic venues closely connected to the music they feature. In 2006, Welser-Möst led the Orchestra in Bruckner’s monumental and meticulously structured Symphony No. 5 at St. Florian Monastery in Upper Austria, where the composer is buried. Six years later, the Orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall, where Welser-Möst had made his first appearance with the ensemble in 2003, to play Shostakovich’s enigmatic Symphony No. 6, with its expansive opening movement and exhilarating, fast-paced conclusion. Signature Welser-Möst is available for $450, with pre-order now open through The Cleveland Orchestra Store ahead of its worldwide release on November 6. Customers who place their order before September 21 will not only secure the limited-edition collection but will also receive an invitation to an exclusive meet and greet with Welser-Möst following The Cleveland Orchestra’s September 26 concert at Severance Music Center. Cleveland Orchestra Store presale participants will also receive free domestic shipping and be entered to win a rare vinyl lacquer used in the original production of the recordings. International copies of the box set, excluding Japan, are also available through an exclusive distribution agreement with Presto Music. Distribution information for Japan is forthcoming. With only 1,000 copies available, Signature Welser-Möst offers collectors and music lovers a rare opportunity to own a lasting document of one of the most significant artistic partnerships in The Cleveland Orchestra’s history. Find out how to preorder Signature Welser-Möst here. Production Information Franz Jospeh Haydn The Creation The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Malin Hartelius, soprano James Taylor, tenor Thomas Quasthoff, bass-baritone The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Recorded in 2002 Kaija Saariaho Orion The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2003 Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Radu Lupu, piano Recorded in 2005 Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 5 The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2006 at St. Florian Monastery in Austria Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2012 at Carnegie Hall in New York City Richard Strauss Suite from Der Rosenkavalier (compiled by Franz Welser-Möst) The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2022 Bernd Richard Deutsch Intensity The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2022 Julius Eastman Symphony No. 2 The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2023 Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 5 The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2023 Allison Loggins-Hull Can You See? (Orchestral Version) The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2023 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2, “Ukrainian” The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2023 Franz Schubert Mass No. 6 The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Joélle Harvey, soprano Daryl Freedman, mezzo-soprano Julian Prégardien, tenor Martin Mitterrutzner, tenor Dashon Burton, bass-baritone The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Lisa Wong, Director of Choruses Recorded in 2023 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter” The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Recorded in 2026 Giuseppe Verdi Requiem The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Asmik Grigorian, soprano Deniz Uzun, mezzo-soprano Joshua Guerrero, tenor Tareq Nazmi, bass The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Lisa Wong, Director of Choruses Recorded in 2026 |