In this month’s introduction to a classical record label, Tim Parry celebrates a company that promotes neglected orchestral music
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project, founded by its Artistic Director Gil Rose in 1996, is dedicated to commissioning new works as well as performing and recording music composed during the last 100 years. Having recorded for other labels – including Naxos, Chandos and Albany – Gil Rose set up the orchestra’s own record label in 2008, at a time of upheaval and uncertainty in the industry. The result, BMOP/sound, enabled the orchestra to create an evolving archive of 20th- and 21st-century, mostly American, orchestral music.
BMOP/sound draws heavily on the musical taste and ambition of Gil Rose, who focuses on music he sees as part of a continuous tradition, where craft is more important than concept; it’s a personal vision that requires a personal drive and commitment. The first release on the new label was a recording of John Harbison’s complete ballet Ulysses (1984, revised 2003), which remains one of BMOP/sound’s best-selling albums. In 2024 the label released its 100th album, the first recording of the complete ballet scores by John Alden Carpenter (12/24), which epitomises Rose’s commitment to rediscovering forgotten repertoire from the early 20th century. Another example, and one of Rose’s proudest achievements, is the 2015 recording of the complete symphonies by Lukas Foss (10/15), four works that range stylistically from neoclassicism to serialism, none of which had been recorded commercially before.
