The first album, featuring the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, was released in January 2005 and the second album, showcasing the Third and Eighth Symphonies, in May 2006.

The most recent recording, of the ninth, debuted at no. 12 on the Billboard charts when it was released in October 2006.

The orchestra will record the First and Sixth symphonies this June. All future releases in the cycle will be immediately available through online music retailers.

"The enthusiasm with which the public has responded to this Beethoven series has been very gratifying," says Minnesota Orchestra president and CEO Tony Woodcock. "We're enormously pleased that we can now make the symphonies available to listeners in whatever format works best for them. This sort of flexibility allows us to reach a broader and, in many cases, new audience with this music, which is very important to the orchestra."

Osmo V‹nsk‹ and the Minnesota Orchestra will visit New York's Carnegie Hall next month for a two-day mini-festival (February 13-14) pairing the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies of Beethoven with those of Sibelius. More information is available at www.carnegiehall.org.