Pentatone (stylized as PENTATONE) is an international

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

label located in Baarn, Netherlands.

History

Three former executives of Philips Classics, Giel Bessels, Dirk van Dijk and Job Maarse, established the label in 2001. The name comes from the words penta (five) and tone (sound), meaning five channels of sound. The label is renowned for its

high-resolution Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...

multichannel

surround sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener ( surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to ...

recordings which are released in the

Super Audio CD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the compact disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple a ...

format. In January 2002, PENTATONE recorded the official music which was performed during the wedding ceremony of the Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander and Máxima Zorreguieta. The album, “The Music from the Royal Wedding”, sold more than 75,000 copies, thereby attaining the unique “triple platinum” status. The label has also licensed recordings made by other labels such as Philips Classics and

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. Among these are some from the 1970s which were originally recorded for 4-channel

quadraphonic sound Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic, also called quadrasonic or by the neologism quadio formed by analogy with "stereo"">portmanteau.html" ;"title="/nowiki>portmanteau">formed by analogy with "stereo" sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 s ...

. PENTATONE has remastered them for re-release and presented them in surround sound for the first time. All PENTATONE's hybrid Super Audio CD discs can also be heard in 2-channel

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

on conventional

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

players. In 2013, a new management team joined PENTATONE and the label expanded to multiple formats releases, including regular cd, vinyl, and all formats for streaming and downloads. The first vinyl was released in 2017 as a luxury 3LP edition. The label decided to honour Julia Fischer's Bach violin solo recordings (originally released by the label in 2005). In April 2022, PENTATONE appointed Sean Hickey as managing director, succeeding Simon M Eder. The following month it was announced that PENTATONE had been acquired by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Awards

In 2004, the label received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for their recording of ''

Peter and the Wolf ''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и волк, Pétya i volk, p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk) Op. 67, a "symphonic tale for children", is a Program music , programmatic musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a ...

'', narrated by

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

and

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, where the story is told from the perspective of the wolf and has the theme of letting animals live in peace. Other award-winning issues have included John Corigliano's ''The Ghosts of Versailles'', part of the American Opera Series, which won multiple awards, including the 59th

as Best Opera Recording and Best Engineered Album. In 2019 PENTATONE's premiere recording of the Mason Bates opera “ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” won the Best Opera Recording at the 61st Grammy Awards. Among the winners were composer Mason Bates, librettist Mark Campbell, the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...

, conductor Michael Christie, and the cast, which included Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Edward Parks, Garrett Sorenson, Wei Wu, and Elizabeth Ostrow. The opera was nominated for Best Contemporary Composition but lost to the Kernis Violin Concerto. In 2019, the label was awarded Label of the Year by the Gramophone Magazine. In 2020, PENTATONE won the title of Label of the Year in the International Classical Music Awards. In 2024, four albums received GRAMMY nominations in four different categories. In April 2024, PENTATONE exclusive artist Sean Shibe won the Instrumental Award at the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Awards for his album
Profesión
'' In October 2024, PENTATONE's long term recording partner Czech Philharmonic wo
Orchestra of the Year
at the Gramophone Awards 2024 before being awarded the 'Orchestral Recording of the Year' award at th
BBC Music Magazine Awards
in 2025.

Artists

Piano * Pierre-Laurent Aimard * Yulianna Avdeeva * Tamara Stefanovich * Inon Barnatan * Sa Chen * Saskia Giorgini * Martin Helmchen * Mari Kodama * Momo Kodama *

Denis Kozhukhin Denis Viktorovich Kozhukhin (; born in Gorky, 2 July 1986) is a Russian pianist who was awarded third prize in the 2006 Leeds International Piano Competition. He was also awarded first prize in the 2010 Belgian Queen Elisabeth Competition for pi ...

* Francesco Piemontesi * Tiffany Poon * Charlotte Hu * Lara Downes Cello * Matt Haimovitz * Johannes Moser * Alisa Weilerstein *

Max Lilja Max Lilja (born 27 October 1975) is a Finnish cello player. He is best known as a founding member of the Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica, a band he left in 2001 to join the Finnish thrash metal band Hevein. Beginning in 2007, Lilja has ...

Violin * Julia Fischer * Leticia Moreno * Arabella Steinbacher * Chloe Chua * Philippe Quint Guitar * Sean Shibe Clarinet * Annelien Van Wauwe Oboe * François Leleux Mandolin * Alon Sariel Accordion *

Richard Galliano Richard Galliano (born 12 December 1950, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French accordionist of Italian heritage. Allmusic biography/ref> Biography He was drawn to music at an early age, starting with the accordion at 4, influenced by his father ...

Soprano * Christina Landshamer * Eleonora Buratto * Kathryn Lewek * Hanna-Elisabeth Müller * Lisette Oropesa * Rosa Feola * Sondra Radvanovsky * Chen Reiss Mezzo-Soprano *

Sasha Cooke Sasha Cooke (born ) is an American mezzo-soprano. Cooke was born in Riverside, California, and grew up in College Station, Texas, where her parents are professors of Russian at Texas A&M University. She earned a bachelor's degree from Rice Univers ...

Alice Coote Alice Coote OBE (born 10 May 1968) is a British mezzo-soprano. Known internationally for her performances in opera playing both female and male roles, and her recitals with piano and concerts with orchestra, Coote has performed extensively acro ...

* Ann Hallenberg * Magdalena Kožená * Elisabeth Kulman Countertenor * Bejun Mehta * Maarten Engeltjes * Franco Fagioli Tenor * René Barbera * Piotr Beczała * Ian Bostridge * Javier Camarena * Christian Elsner * Michael Fabiano * Adam Plachetka * Stefano Secco * Karim Sulayman * Nathan Granner Conductors *

Marc Albrecht Marc Albrecht (born 1964) is a German conductor resident in The Netherlands. He was chief conductor of the Dutch National Opera, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra from 2009 to 2020. Biography Born in ...

* Herbert Blomstedt * Semyon Bychkov * Roderick Cox *

Christoph Eschenbach Christoph Eschenbach (; born 20 February 1940) is a German pianist and conductor. Early life Eschenbach was born on 20 February 1940 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) as Christoph Ringmann. His parents were Margarethe (née Jaross), a ...

* Diego Fasolis * Lawrence Foster * Riccardo Frizza * Gustavo Gimeno * Philippe Herreweghe *

Jakub Hrůša Jakub Hrůša (born 23 July 1981 in Brno) is a Czech conductor. He is chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony. Education Hrůša is the son of the architect . There were no professional musicians in his family who were drawn mainly from technica ...

René Jacobs René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his musi ...

* Marek Janowski * Vladimir Jurowski * Yakov Kreizberg * Andrew Manze * Neville Marriner * Simon Murphy *

Kent Nagano Kent George Nagano (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been ''Generalmusikdirektor'' (GMD) of the Hamburg State Opera (until 2025). Early life and education Nagano was born in Berkeley, ...

* Jonathan Nott * Daniel Oren * Andrés Orozco-Estrada * Mikhail Pletnev * Carlo Ponti * Daniel Reuss *

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish conducting, conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Sw ...

Kazuki Yamada Kazuki Yamada (山田和樹; born 26 January 1979) is a Japanese conductor. Biography Yamada was born in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture. He studied music, with a focus on percussion, at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where his conducting teach ...

* Rafael Payare Ensembles * Calder Quartet * Calefax * Emerson String Quartet * I Giardini * Mirò Quartet * Quatuor Diotima * Signum Quartet * PRJCT Amsterdam Orchestras * Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin * B'Rock Orchestra * Czech Philharmonic *

Detroit Symphony Orchestra The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall (Detroit, Michigan), Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown, Detroit, ...

* The Dresdner Philharmonie * Houston Symphony * Il pomo d’oro * hr-Sinfonieorchester * Gewandhausorchester Leipzig * Holland Baroque * Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra *

Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is an American opera company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox (Chicago opera), Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, w ...

* NDR Radiophilharmonie * Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest * New Dutch Academy * Orchestre de la Suisse Romande *

Oregon Symphony The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the "Portland Symphony Society" in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. It ...

* Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin * Russian National Orchestra *

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley, San Francisco, Hayes Valley ne ...

Washington National Opera Washington National Opera (WNO) is an American opera company in Washington, D.C. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performance ...

* WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne * Lyric Opera of Kansas City * Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Composers * Timo Andres * David Balakrishnan * Liza Balkan *

Marcos Balter Marcos Balter (born April 1, 1974) is a Brazilian contemporary classical music composer and the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University. Life and professional career Balter began his music studies at age five at t ...

* Lisa Bielawa * Todd Boss * Mark Campbell (librettist) * Christopher Cerrone * Annabelle Chvostek * Francisco Coll * John Corigliano * Nia Franklin *

Gordon Getty Gordon Peter Getty (born December 20, 1933) is an American businessman and classical music composer, the fourth child of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. His mother, Ann Rork Light, Ann Rork, was his father's fourth wife. When his father died in 1976, G ...

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

* Jake Heggie * Wim Henderickx * Jennifer Higdon * Hilarion (Alfeyev) * Huang Ruo *

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

* Vijay Iyer * Gabriel Kahane * David Lang * David T. Little *

Tod Machover Tod Machover (born November 24, 1953, in Mount Vernon, New York), is a composer and an innovator in the application of technology in music. He is the son of Wilma Machover, a piano, pianist and Carl Machover, a computer scientist. He was named ...

* Sky Macklay * Missy Mazzoli *

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, touring and recording while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's quar ...

* Nico Muhly * Colleen Murphy * Niloufar Nourbakhsh * Nkeiru Okoye * Tomeka Reid * John K. Samson * David Sanford * Kamala Sankaram * Gene Scheer * Caroline Shaw * Roberto Sierra * Gabriella Smith * Lewis Spratlan * Tamar-kali *

Jeanine Tesori Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson, (born November 10, 1961) is an American composer and Arrangement, musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical com ...

* Royce Vavrek * Fernando Velázquez * Luna Pearl Woolf * Paul Moravec

Catalogue series

* Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg series * AMERICAN OPERAS Series * Dances Series * REMASTERED CLASSICS Philips Classics * PENTATONE Oxingale Series * REMASTERED CLASSICS Deutsche Grammophon * RQR Series

References

External links

Official website of Pentatone

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{{Authority control Classical music record labels Dutch record labels Record labels established in 2001 2001 establishments in the Netherlands