Listen To The Atlanta Symphony While It's Locked Out — Again

Robert Spano conducts members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, who are now locked out for the second time in two years after failed contract negotiations.

J.D. Scott/Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Alas, it is déjà vu all over again for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. At midnight Saturday, the ASO musicians and management failed to meet the deadline to agree on a new contract after eight months of negotiations. That means the players, while still employees of the orchestra, are effectively locked out of the Woodruff Arts Center (the orchestra's home) and will not receive paychecks until a new agreement can be ratified. ASO musicians demonstrated outside the hall Tuesday.

A similar labor dispute silenced the orchestra exactly two years ago. The gulf between musicians and management appears to be wide this time. The ASO claims its financial situation is unsustainable while the musicians fear the proposed cuts will inflict irreversible damage to the sound and reputation of the orchestra. Let's hope the two sides can reconcile soon. Meanwhile, here's audible proof — posted in Sept. 2012, the last time this happened — that the Atlanta Symphony is well worth caring about, no matter where you live.

With just a month to go before opening its 68th season, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has gone silent. A bitter labor dispute between the ASO musicians and orchestra management has resulted in a lockout — meaning the players have literally been prevented from entering the Woodruff Arts Center and stripped of their salaries and health benefits.

The two sides appear to be stuck over the amount of cuts ASO players are willing to endure versus the amount management says its needs to help battle a bulging $20 million debt. The lockout seems a pity, considering that the two sides are so close. They are arguing, at this point, over a figure of $1.2 million over a proposed two-year contract.

Let's forego details on what is, for the moment, essentially a war of words and budget numbers. Instead, let's focus on what makes the ASO one of this country's important orchestras, hoping that the dispute will resolve quickly (and fairly).

In the meantime, below are five terrific Atlanta Symphony Orchestra recordings. They make the point that the ensemble, under conductors like Robert Shaw (who created the excellent Atlanta Symphony Chorus), Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles, is a versatile, gutsy group with a longstanding commitment to contemporary music — not to mention the vast contributions it has made to its home city and the American South.

The ASO has had the great fortune to be recorded in resplendent sound by the Telarc label in more than 100 albums over a 32-year span. Over that time the group has racked up a dazzling 27 Grammy Awards (yet not, it should be noted, without a modicum of controversy). These days the orchestra records for its own ASO Media.

Got your own favorite Atlanta Symphony recordings? Have you been to hear the orchestra lately? Please tell us in the comments section.