Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has launched a digital-only record label in collaboration with Universal Music.
Peral Music will, eventually, comprehensively showcase Barenboim’s career as a conductor, pianist and chamber musician.
‘With the experience that I have assembled over 60 years of recording I want to try and look at the future,’ says Barenboim. ‘I want to really get myself into the mentality of the digital world.’
The first recording on the label – Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos 1-3 performed by the Staatskapelle Berlin – is now available through the iTunes Store in the ‘Mastered for iTunes’ format.
‘It has to do with a certain freedom in the playing, a certain freedom in the phrasing and a certain vocal – as opposed to purely instrumental – quality,’ says Barenboim. ‘This is why I wanted to record the Bruckner Symphonies with the Staatskapelle and why I think it will be very different from the other two versions.’
As well as the rest of the Bruckner symphonies, other works planned for the Peral Music label include a collection of piano studies.
The pear tree logo of Peral Music was designed by architect Frank Gehry, a good friend of Barenboim’s who wanted to signify the conductor’s heritage (the conductor’s name in its Yiddish form is Birnbaum, which means pear tree).
Barenboim will continue to record with Deutsche Grammophon and Decca alongside the Peral project.