• Tracks

Seiji Ozawa remains the longest-serving music director in the history of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, having held the position for 29 seasons from 1973-2002. He has made his mark as one of the most prominent conductors in North America from early on in his career, having been appointed by Leonard Bernstein as assistant conductor to the New York Philharmonic for the 1961-62 season and continuing to serve as music director at the Ravinia Festival, the Toronto Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony, among many other engagements. This superb 25-CD set contains all the recordings that the Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa made for EMI and Erato, now Warner Classics, between 1969 and 1998. They particularly showcase his mastery of large-scale orchestral scores and his prowess as an accompanist to major soloists. The collection places an emphasis on Seiji Ozawa's mastery of the large-scale orchestral scores of the 19th and 20th centuries. It's scope is wide - from mainstays of the Romantic repertoire to works premiered as recently as 1997 - and it features an array of the world's greatest orchestras and soloists, including Itzhak Perlman, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Mstislav Rostropovich.