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Eliahu Inbal's recording of Shostakovich's 11th Symphony is the first purely orchestral release by the fledgling SWR Symphony Orchestra.
Our three-part series of interviews marking Eliahu Inbal's 85th birthday kicks off with musings and memories about his musical roots.
In the second instalment of our series of interviews to mark Eliahu Inbal’s birthday, the conductor looks back on his apprenticeship years in Israel and Europe.
Johannes Brahms, Akademische Festouvertüre C minor, Op. 80
Johannes Brahms, Concerto for Violin Op. 77 in D major
Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
Eliahu Inbal, conductor
Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Taipei Symphony Orchestra
Frédérik Chopin, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra Nr. 2 f minor op. 21
Dmitri Schostakowitsch, Symphonie No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93
Bela Bartok, Violin Concerto No 2
Camille Saint-Saëns, Symphony in D minor
Augustin Dumay, violin
Franz Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1 E-flat major
Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 8
Kevin Chen, piano
Benjamin Britten, Violin Concerto, Op. 15
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1 in D major 'Titan'
Liza Ferschtman, violin
Orchester des Nationaltheaters Mannheim
In Inbal, one can trace the clear traits of role models and teachers such as Franco Ferrara and Sergiu Celibidache; he possesses the strength for tranquillity and the sense to create unbridled passion and dramatic effect. (Die Welt)
Since winning first prize in the Cantelli Conducting Competition at the age of 26, Eliahu Inbal has enjoyed a career of international renown, conducting leading orchestras around the world. Over the years, he has been appointed principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hr-Sinfonieorchester), Teatro La Fenice in Venice, RAI National Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Czech Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, who named him conductor laureate in 2014. From 2019 until 2022, Eliahu Inbal served as principal conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and will also become its conductor laureate from 2023.
During his tenure with the hr-Sinfonieorchester (1974-1990), where he is still honorary conductor, Eliahu Inbal distinguished himself with his outstanding musicianship. Based in Berlin, the charismatic Israeli conductor has garnered international acclaim for his interpretations of Mahler and Bruckner on a number of award-winning recordings (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Grand Prix du Disque), and was the first to record the original versions of Bruckner’s symphonies. He has received special recognition particularly for his interpretations of Dmitri Shostakovich’s symphonies.
In recent years, orchestral tours have taken Eliahu Inbal repeatedly to Japan and Spain; guest conducting engagements have brought him back to the orchestras in Monte-Carlo, St. Petersburg, La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, to the Brucknerfest Linz (with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin), and to the SWR Symphony Orchestra. In December 2022, he returns to the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra for six concerts.
He has conducted opera at such renowned houses as Paris, Glyndebourne, Munich, Stuttgart, Zurich, and Madrid, among others. He celebrated the 2013 Wagner anniversary year with highly acclaimed performances of Tristan and Isolde at the Festival de Opera de A Coruña and Parsifal at the Vlaamse Opera (International Opera Award 2014). Eliahu Inbal has also been awarded the national Italian critic’s prize Abbiati and Viotti for his exceptional interpretations of Wagner’s Ring cycle with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra.
Eliahu Inbal’s extensive discography includes the complete symphonic works of Berlioz, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Ravel, Schumann, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, and the Second Viennese School. He has recorded these works with the hr-Sinfonieorchester as well as with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestre National de France, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Czech Philharmonic. His performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 (full version by D. Cooke), part of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Mahler cycle, was also released on DVD.
Born in Israel, Eliahu Inbal studied violin and composition at the Jerusalem Music Academy before completing his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris on the recommendation of Leonard Bernstein. His teachers there included Louis Fourestier, Olivier Messiaen, and Nadia Boulanger. He was also greatly influenced by Franco Ferrara in Hilversum (Netherlands) and Sergiu Celibidache in Siena (Italy). In 1990, the French government named Eliahu Inbal an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters. In February 2001 he was awarded the Golden Medal of Merit from the city of Vienna. He received the Goethe Badge of Honour from the City of Frankfurt and the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany in 2006.
2022/23 season
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"Where Mozart was convincing, Mahler was downright inspiring. Almost across the board, the audience rose and celebrated all the artists, who had visibly given their all, with unending applause. This performance was undoubtedly a resounding success and a pleasure to be a part of."
klassik-begeistert, Daniel Janz, 19/10/2022
"Inbal, an old master, knew instinctively how to make known to the audience the full force of Bruckner's singularity beyond any limitations of the circumstances. The Bruckner Festival thus took place in the not-quite-full house, whose walls shook at the end of the eighty minutes from enthusiastic cheers and applause."
Österreichisches Volksblatt, September 2019
"This work [...] sounded incredibly cohesive under Inbal´s direction. Like a revolution via musical notes. A colourful yet still urgent music. Art that might possibly help -- if only to merely survive. Conductor and orchestra interpreted Shostakovich with thrilling intensity and the highest ability."
Badische Zeitung, Johannes Adam, 14/11/2018
"This is no wildly gesticulating maestro, but rather a man who, with a precise baton technique, lets the great late-Romantic storms break loose while always remaining firmly in control. The remarkable thing is that Inbal’s approach still leaves a great deal of room for Bruckner's enigmatic mysticism."
NRZ Düsseldorf, Michael-Georg Müller, 08/05/2017
"Inbal's main merit, however, was that his interpretation suggested continually the presence of this ambivalence of meaning, intention, and effect of the piece, which is fundamental to engaging with the work of Shostakovich."
Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 2/3/2015
Schostakowitsch: Sinfonie Nr. 11 g-Moll ∙ SWR Symphonieorchester ∙ Eliahu Inbal
Puccini: Messa di Gloria ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ MDR Rundfunkchor ∙ Solisten ∙ Eliahu Inbal
Bernstein: 3. Sinfonie (»Kaddisch«) ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Samuel Pisar etc. ∙ Eliahu Inbal
Wagner: Prelude ∙ Tristan und Isolde ∙ Sinfónica de Galicia ∙ Eliahu Inbal
16.02.2016, Francemusique.fr: Bon anniversaire Monsieur Inbal!
Excerpts from Gurrelieder, Valses nobles et sentimentales, Lelio, Bruckner No. 9, and Mahler Nos. 4 and 5
F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1, E minor, Romance ∙ Claudio Arrau ∙ London Philharmonic Orchestra ∙ Eliahu Inbal
R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben · Orchestre de la Suisse Romande · Jean Piguet · Eliahu Inbal
I. Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps [1947]: IV Spring Rounds · Philharmonia Orchestra · Eliahu Inbal
A. Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 in C minor : I Allegro moderato · Radio Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt · Eliahu Inbal
II Scherzo - Allegro moderato
III Adagio - Feierlich langsam, doch nicht zu schleppend
IV Finale - Feierlich, nicht schnell
SWR Symphonieorchester, Eliahu InbalSWR, 2021, 10407386
Claudio Arrau, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Eliahu InbalSWR, 2019, 9435152 (Original SWR Tape Remastered)
Live-Aufnahme aus dem Teatro La Fenice; Regie: Andreas Homoki
Dynamic, 2014, 4919145
Plácido Domingo, Orchestra and Chorus of Verona Arena, Eliahu InbalOpera dOro, 2013, OPD1296
Royal Concertgebouw, Eliahu Inbal (Nr. 10)
DVD, 2013
Claudio Arrau, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Eliahu InbalDecca, 2012, 2788159
Jard van Nes, Peter Schreier, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Eliahu InbalDenon, 2010, 6631785
Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Eliahu InbalWarner/Teldec, 2564 68022-8
Wiener Symphoniker, Eliahu InbalDenon, 2010, 8484353
Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Eliahu Inbal
Brilliant Classics, 2006, 8156