The Philadelphia Orchestra has signed with the Finnish recording label Ondine, giving it a commercial recording agreement for the first time in nearly a decade, and making it the only ensemble in the so-called “Big Five” of American orchestras to have such a contract. In signing on to the deal, the orchestra’s musicians agreed to buck the national, union-negotiated recording agreements previously adhered to by all U.S. orchestras, and forego upfront payments in favor of a revenue sharing agreement, a provision of the deal which is already very controversial among other professional orchestras.