BR-Klassik

BR-Klassik caught my attention not because of one star artist or one spectacular recording, but because of the consistency behind its catalogue. The label was launched by Bayerischer Rundfunk in September 2009 to make recordings by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester available beyond radio broadcasts and concert halls. That immediately gives BR-Klassik something many classical labels cannot easily reproduce: decades of professionally recorded concerts, studio sessions and broadcast archives combined with musicians of an exceptionally high standard. For me, that makes exploring the label rather different from listening to a conventional compilation or playlist. I am not simply moving from one attractive classical track to another, but hearing recordings connected by the same broadcasting tradition and a clear concern for performance, repertoire and recording quality.

A catalogue built around musicians rather than marketing

What I like most about BR-Klassik is that the music usually feels like the starting point. The catalogue includes new studio productions, recent concert recordings and archive material that might otherwise remain inaccessible, while the label also releases recordings connected with musica viva and its BR-KLASSIK Digital series. That range can take me from Mahler and Bruckner to contemporary music without making the catalogue feel completely random. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra naturally plays a central role, but the Münchner Rundfunkorchester and Bavarian Radio Chorus give the label a much wider musical identity than an orchestral catalogue alone would provide. There are major conductors and soloists throughout the releases, including Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Peter Dijkstra and Friedrich Gulda, yet I rarely get the impression that the famous name on the cover is more important than the performance itself.

A recording that explains the appeal especially well is Bernard Haitink conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and soprano Juliane Banse. BR-Klassik released the performance from concerts recorded at Munich’s Philharmonie im Gasteig on 3 and 4 November 2005. Haitink had worked with the orchestra for more than six decades, and I hear that familiarity in the way the performance is allowed to unfold without being pushed for effect. In Mahler’s first movement, the constantly changing instrumental combinations remain easy to follow, but the transparency never makes the orchestra sound lightweight. When Banse enters in the final movement, “Das himmlische Leben”, her voice sits naturally with the orchestra instead of being projected unnaturally forward. On a revealing pair of speakers I particularly enjoy the depth behind the woodwinds and strings, because the soundstage helps me understand Mahler’s orchestration rather than simply showing me how wide the recording can sound.

Archive recordings with a reason to exist

The archive side of BR-Klassik may interest me even more. *Gulda plays Mozart & Gulda* combines Friedrich Gulda recordings from two very different occasions. Mozart’s Rondos for piano and orchestra in A major, K. 386, and D major, K. 382 were recorded with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Leopold Hager in Munich’s Herkulessaal on 4 October 1969, while much of the solo material comes from Gulda’s appearance at the Munich Klaviersommer on 27 June 1982. That 1982 concert is fascinating because Gulda moves between his own improvisations and Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K. 330 without treating classical music and improvisation as opposing worlds.

The contrast around the K. 330 sonata is exactly what makes the recording work for me. Gulda’s “Improvisation 1” creates an unpredictable opening before Mozart suddenly brings clarity and proportion, while “Improvisation 2” pushes the music back into Gulda’s own territory afterwards. I can hear the physical character of the piano clearly, including the force of individual attacks and the rapid change from light articulation to much harder accents. The recording does not have the polished quietness of a modern studio production, and I would not want it to. The sense of an actual performance, together with Gulda’s refusal to behave like a conventional Mozart specialist, is much more important here than spotless surfaces.

A more recent BR-Klassik production shows the other side of the label. The 2024 release of Anton Bruckner’s *Messe Nr. 2 in e-Moll & Motetten* brings together the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Münchner Rundfunkorchester under Peter Dijkstra, with the main recording made in BR Studio 11 in Munich on 29 and 30 January 2024. Alongside the E minor Mass are five motets, including “Ave Maria”, “Locus iste”, “Virga Jesse”, “Os justi” and “Christus factus est”, as well as Bruckner’s two short Aequale for three trombones. A second disc, *Bruckners Welt*, provides a spoken introduction to the music and the composer’s life. The release later received the 2025 International Classical Music Award in the choral category, but the reason I find it convincing is much simpler: the choir can move from a compact, almost intimate body of sound to large dynamic peaks without losing the individual shape of the vocal lines.

“Locus iste” is particularly useful for hearing what this production does well. The voices do not form one anonymous block in the middle of the stereo image. I hear sections within the choir, the acoustic surrounding them and enough separation to follow Bruckner’s changing harmonies without dissecting the performance. In the E minor Mass, the combination of eight-part choir and wind ensemble creates an unusual balance, with human voices at the centre but winds adding colour and weight around them. Good midrange transparency helps enormously, especially when several vocal lines overlap, but I never feel that I am listening merely for technical details. The recording quality serves the scale and religious character of the music, which is exactly how I want an audiophile recording to work.

Why BR-Klassik matters to me

BR-Klassik also understands digital listening better than its traditional image might suggest. Its digital catalogue includes releases created specifically for streaming, such as the 2024 compilation *Good Morning*, catalogue number 900857, which draws on performances by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Chorus and Münchner Rundfunkorchester. The programme moves through very different repertoire, including Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 with Mariss Jansons, the opening movement of Glière’s Harp Concerto with Emmanuel Ceysson and Lawrence Renes, the Intermezzo from Sibelius’s *Karelia Suite* and the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s *Messiah* under Peter Dijkstra. I would not treat a compilation like this as a substitute for hearing the complete works, but it is a sensible doorway into the catalogue and shows how much material BR-Klassik has available beyond individual physical releases.

For my own listening, the real strength of BR-Klassik is the combination of musical authority and access. Haitink’s Mahler gives me disciplined orchestral playing and long-term artistic understanding, Gulda’s Mozart recordings preserve a performer taking genuine risks, and Dijkstra’s Bruckner shows what the label can achieve with a carefully controlled modern production. The sound quality is often excellent, but I value it because I can hear more of the musicians’ choices: the balance inside a choir, the relationship between wind sections, the changing pressure of a pianist’s touch and the depth of a large orchestra on stage. That is what makes BR-Klassik useful for serious listening. It gives me a remarkably broad view of Bavarian Radio’s musical work while keeping the performance itself firmly at the centre.

HiFi’ve, Ronald – Your EarFluencer