The Belgrade Philharmonic and Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz are recording their first CD together, for German record label Dreyer Gaido, of the monumental symphony Ilya Muromets by Reinhold Glière. Immediately following their big Balkans premiere of this symphony, which will be held at the Kolarac Music Hall on 2 March, the Philharmonic and Feltz are going into the studio for 18 hours of complicated recording sessions.

“The orchestra needs a compact disc as a kind of evaluation of its current level. That is very important for us and I am proud that our first recording together will be Glière’s symphony. I have searched a long time to find this solution because we need a high-quality and interesting masterpiece, which should also be a surprise and a novelty on the market. This is a huge opportunity for the orchestra because the music production company for which we are recording is very prevalent on the American and Japanese markets,” said Gabriel Feltz, who has published 17 CDs for the Dreyer Gaido record label – a very impressive achievement for a conductor of his generation.

International critics have already started writing about the concerts of the Belgrade Philharmonic, and the chief conductor is expecting the publication of the CD to generate additional attention and interest of critics, particularly in the United States, Great Britain, and Japan. This recording of Glière’s symphony will be a major refreshment for the market, where so far there have been only a dozen recordings, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra with JoAnn Falletta, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with Edward Downes, a very old recording with Ferenc Fricsay for Deutsche Grammophon, and a rather abridged version of the Philadelphia Orchestra with Stokowski.