Under Franz Welser-Möst, its longtime music director, the ensemble now has a label of its own.

By David Allen

” While commercial recordings on legacy labels are not unheard-of — and have even picked up in Boston, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia — several American ensembles have started their own labels, perhaps most successfully the Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago symphonies. Others, like the New York Philharmonic, now rack up streams of their concerts on Spotify.

“We had our radio broadcasts, but I never was really happy with the quality,” Mr. Welser-Möst said, when asked why Cleveland was late to this party. “They were OK, but they didn’t really project all the different colors and qualities this wonderful orchestra has.”

The orchestra’s Severance Hall, moreover, has never been easy to record in, its narrow stage shaped in such a way as to make microphone placement tricky.”

Source: The New York Times