The latest release on the Wiener Symphoniker’s own label, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, is a premiere of many sorts. The CD documents for the very first time the successful cooperation between the traditional Viennese orchestra and the young Israeli conductor Lahav Shani, who will be its Principal Guest Conductor from the 2017-18 season onwards. Furthermore the CD is the first publication from ‘Young Symphony’, the orchestra’s youth programme, which aims to arouse enthusiasm for classical music in children and young people. Two music outreach classics can be heard on the CD: Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with new texts by the much-loved children-television presenter Willi Weitzel, and Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, both recorded at concerts in the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein in winter/spring 2015-16

Moreover, the financing of this project was also new territory for the orchestra. The CD was partly realised through a crowdfunding campaign, whereby contributors could help finance the project in return for attractive and exclusive ‘benefits’: for example, a private visit to one of the orchestra’s rehearsals or a bespoke tour through Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo.

This latest publication is the tenth on the orchestra’s own label, which was founded in 2012. The back catalogue includes among others historical recordings with Sergiu Celibidache and Carlo Maria Giulini and new recordings with Fabio Luisi, Manfred Honeck and the orchestra’s current Musical Director Philippe Jordan.