Latest album releases from Naxos en-us Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:03:03 GMT Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:03:03 GMT http://www.naxos.com/ http://www.naxos.com/images/naxos_logo_blue.gif 93 93 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559258 ]]>Acclaimed as ‘one of the best opera composers of the moment’, American composer-librettist Mark Adamo has also ventured into symphonic composition and other fields in each of which his theatrical sensitivity, political commitment and musical mastery are equally evident. The vivacity of his Overture to Lysistrata accentuates the play’s anti-war theme, while Alcott Music rethinks the music from his hit opera Little Women. Regina Coeli pays tribute to the Queen of Heaven and Late Victorians is dedicated both to the memory of those who have died and to those who have survived AIDS. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_121_8.559258 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.110270 ]]>While best known today for having composed the ending to Puccini’s unfinished Turandot, Franco Alfano wrote some dozen operas, including Cyrano de Bergerac (1936) with a libretto by Henri Cain based on Edmond Rostand’s drama of the same name. It is a moving tale of romantic misunderstanding, swashbuckling bravado and heartbreaking loyalty, in which the eloquent Cyrano feels unable to express his love for Roxane because of his famously protuberant nose—except on behalf of his handsome but inarticulate friend, Christian. When Domingo and Radvanovsky sang Cyrano and Roxane at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Andante magazine wrote: “Incredibly, Cyrano is his 121st role. And it suits him splendidly…Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was luminous as Roxane, her passionate outbursts showing off her powerful upper register to good effect”. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_77_2.110270 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572170 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_116_8.572170 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572233 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_80_8.572233 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572006-07 ]]>Among the wealth of works composed during his Weimar period, J.S. Bach made 22 keyboard transcriptions of concertos by Italian and German composers: six for two keyboards and pedal (BWV 592–596) and sixteen for keyboard (BWV 972–987), the latter of which are recorded here by multi-award-winning harpsichordist Elizabeth Farr. Complementing these masterful transcriptions is the Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV894, which Bach later reworked as the opening and closing movements of his Triple Concerto BWV1044. Farr’s other Naxos recordings have been universally praised. ]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_60_8.572006-07 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572221 ]]>One of the best-kept secrets of chamber music, Beethoven’s String Quintet in C major, Op. 29, forms a bridge between the well-known ‘early’ and ‘middle’ string quartets. This strangely neglected masterpiece of startling originality is coupled here with Beethoven’s own transcription for string quintet of his early C minor Piano Trio and the Fugue in D major, a musical curiosity written as an inducement to his publisher to make fewer printing errors. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_96_8.572221 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.110271 ]]>‘A mix of futurism à la Metropolis, fantasy à la Batman and quotes from Piranesi’s Carceri, juxtaposed in the form of photo montages, enhanced with…robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope’, was how the Neue Zürcher Zeitung described this astonishing Salzburg Festival production of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini. The high-calibre cast, headed by Burkhard Fritz as the temperamental Renaissance artist and the 26-year-old Latvian soprano Maija Kovalevska as Teresa, the woman with whom he tries to elope, is conducted by Valery Gergiev who ‘pulled out all the stops. He whips the Vienna Philharmonic into a delirium similar to that which possibly took hold of the composer’. (Der Standard) This is French grand opera at its fast-paced and spectacularly-staged best. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_63_2.110271 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.119017 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_31_2.119017 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572069 ]]>Pedro Casals, an expert on Manuel Blasco de Nebra, continues his fascinating survey of the Spanish composer’s keyboard sonatas. This, the second in a three-disc series, comprises the final seven sonatas preserved in manuscript in the Montserrat Archive and two late sonatas, the first edition of which is held in the Library of Congress in Washington DC. They show de Nebra’s innovative contribution to the development of the modern piano sonata. Volume 1 is available on Naxos 8.572068. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZMC_71_8.572069 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572150 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZMC_71_8.572150 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572226 ]]>After Things to Come, his most famous film score, Arthur Bliss composed the soundtrack scores of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS and MEN OF TWO WORLDS, two dramatic pictures which are largely forgotten today. Their music, however, enlivened by Spanish and African rhythms respectively, is colourful and interesting enough to be revived in the form of concert suites. Men of Two Worlds contains BARAZA, a miniature concert piece for piano and orchestra (like Addinsell’s “Warsaw Concerto” from Dangerous Moonlight, Bax’s Oliver Twist, Rózsa’s Spellbound and Herrmann’s “Concerto Macabre” from Hangover Square), with additional male choir. The three orchestral pieces from SEVEN WAVES AWAY are another real discovery and if anything even more deserving of concert performances than the two earlier scores. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT GIC_107_8.572226 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572177 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZHC_119_8.572177 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572284 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_34_8.572284 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572077 ]]>The sixth volume of Busoni’s piano music features two major projects from the earlier part of his career. The Liszt transcription powerfully recreates the composer’s grandest work for organ in terms of the piano, while the Piano Sonata in F minor is an exhilarating example of late-Romantic virtuosity that remained unknown until recent decades. In total contrast, the brief Prélude et étude en arpèges finds Busoni’s late musical language at its most concentrated and refractory. ]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_143_8.572077 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.579004 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZMC_112_8.579004 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559358 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_142_8.559358 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572102 ]]>Performances of carols both ancient and modern have become central to the celebration of Christmas. The choral music on this disc includes Holst’s surprisingly neglected Christmas Day, as well as music by Leighton, Joubert, Mathias, Gardner and Rutter. The nostalgic mood of Howells’s evergreen carol-anthems is echoed in Finzi’s In terra pax, which recalls the pealing of bells at midnight on a frosty Christmas Eve. The City of London Choir, which enjoys an enviable reputation as a ‘leader among nonprofessional choruses’ (The Times), makes its Naxos début with this delightful recording. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_107_8.572102 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572264 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_138_8.572264 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572287 ]]>Peter Dickinson weaves together musical styles popular and classical, past and present, using a technique of ‘style modulation’. In his Mass of the Apocalypse the Book of Revelations’ visions of a new heaven and earth interact with the liturgical text. The music of Sidney Bechet and Bix Beiderbecke played at Philip Larkin’s memorial service suggested the means for him to set the words of the great British poet, himself a jazz critic. His Five Forgeries spoof the styles of famous composers, while the other works showcase different aspects of his many-sided talent. Jennifer Bate’s recording of Dickinson’s complete solo organ works is available on Naxos 8.572169. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_137_8.572287 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.119019 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_31_2.119019 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572009 ]]>Following the release of their highly praised Naxos recording of Fauré’s Piano Quintets (8.570938)—‘warmly expressive, their phrasing generous and intense’ (The Guardian)—Cristina Ortiz and the Fine Arts Quartet again join forces for this recording of Franck’s Piano Quintet, the extraordinary emotional range of which is unified by the tight thematic relationships typical of the composer’s ‘cyclic’ structuring. His String Quartet, composed ten years later, is a summit of Franck’s achievement, also cyclically conceived and revealing his admiration of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms. ]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_91_8.572009 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.119021 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_42_2.119021 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570939 ]]>Porgy and Bess and An American in Paris deservedly rank among George Gershwin’s most popular works, while in his Three Preludes for piano and Piano Concerto the composer’s love of jazz, popular and classical music also find spirited expression. Frank Villard’s sparkling arrangements for clarinet and strings give legendary numbers including Summertime, I got plenty o’ nuttin’ or It ain’t necessarily so a new voice, accentuate their jazz flavour or add new timbres to Gershwin’s unforgettable music for the stage and concert hall. ]]> Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_136_8.570939 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570999 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_143_8.570999 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572262 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZMC_57_8.572262 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.119020 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_44_2.119020 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.119016 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_33_2.119016 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.108003 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_34_2.108003 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570890 ]]>Leclair’s studies of dancing and violin, and his admiration for Corelli’s influential set of Violin Sonatas Op. 5, stimulated the young Frenchman to compose his own set of twelve Violin Sonatas Op. 1 in which the fusion of the two national styles, les goûts réunis, is charmingly achieved. This third volume presents the last four sonatas, whose bright and energetic fast movements and luminously singing slow movements are complemented by the rustic quality of their dances. Volumes 1 (Nos. 1–4, 8.570888) and 2 (Nos. 5–8, 8.570889) are also available. ]]> Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_85_8.570890 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570956 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_108_8.570956 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570744 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZMC_120_8.570744 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570756 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZMC_109_8.570756 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.110246 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_52_2.110246 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.110237 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_55_2.110237 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.110252 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_54_2.110252 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.119015 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_40_2.119015 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=9.70073 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_68_9.70073 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572204 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_126_8.572204 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570323 ]]>Stéphane Denève’s accounts of Roussel’s symphonies have been praised for their ‘energy, enthusiasm, and panache’ (American Record Guide on No. 2 – 8.570529 – which also gained Gramophone Editor’s Choice) and ‘electrifying…ravishing…breathtaking’ (The Herald on No. 3 – 8.570245). Résurrection, Roussel’s first orchestral work, is a delicate and mysterious piece inspired by Tolstoy’s last novel, while Le marchand de sable qui passe (The Sandman) is a tuneful, colourfully orchestrated suite. His Symphony No. 1 ‘Poem of the Forest’ traces the cycle of seasons from winter to autumn through its four movements. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_143_8.570323 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572286 ]]>The English composer Edmund Rubbra described the string quartet as ‘the purest and most lucid texture available to a composer’, his essays in the form enlivened by Beethovenian vigour and song-like beauty. It is a testament to his profound compositional craftsmanship that even when deploying diverse rhythms simultaneously or releasing the latent potential of what he called the ‘most positive yet mysterious intervals’, Rubbra weaves fascinating musical textures into a satisfying whole. His Piano Trio No. 1 foregoes mere virtuosity for spiritual intensity, while several songs show his sensitivity in setting Medieval and Renaissance texts. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_133_8.572286 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559641 ]]>American composer and pianist Paul Schoenfield is at the keyboard for two searing, heart-piercing works commissioned by Music of Remembrance. Schoenfield gives voice to the words of two brilliant poets—one a Holocaust survivor, one murdered—and the range of their emotions through rage, bitter humor, tenderness and fragile hope. This first English-language recording of his Camp Songs (a 2003 Pulitzer Prize finalist) joins his newest song cycle Ghetto Songs—transporting listeners from the horrors of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin to life in the Kraków Ghetto. Gerard Schwarz’s Rudolf and Jeanette is a haunting, romantic chamber orchestra work evoking the life and love of the composer’s Viennese grandparents, who were killed by the Nazis. Produced by Music of Remembrance, a Seattle-based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the precious cultural legacy of works created by musicians during the Holocaust, and to commissioning new works in memory of their spiritual resistance. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_118_8.559641 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572110 ]]>The Naxos Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition: Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music. The Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition presents all Schubert’s Lieder, over 700 songs, grouped according to the poets who inspired him. Thanks to Bärenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (New Schubert Edition), Tübingen, which uses primary sources, the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team. Schubert’s part-songs for male voices have always been highly popular. Whether simple, refined and sophisticated or simply light-hearted and catchy, they still convey the sense of camaraderie and enjoyment that first attracted the music-making and -loving public. Volumes 1 and 2 of his part-songs are available on Naxos 8.570962 and 8.570961. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZGC_50_8.572110 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570764 ]]>A chorister from the age of eight until his voice broke seven years later, Franz Schubert was well placed to compose sacred music, including several splendid settings of the Mass. His second, completed in 1815, and fourth, written during the following year, follow Mozart’s examples but with strikingly Schubertian touches such as his dramatic use of key relationships and contrasting vocal textures to express the prayerful, meditative and glorious nature of the liturgical text. For the so-called German Mass, Schubert wrote unassuming yet heartfelt settings of congregational hymns for performance during the service. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_91_8.570764 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559625 ]]>‘Whatever meaning my life has is to be found in the music itself’, declared William Schuman of his extraordinary career as a composer and artistic catalyst in the fertile and evolving environment of 20th-century America. His single-movement Symphony No. 6 stands as one of his most intense and integrated, its somberness enlivened with intricate rhythms and startling counterpoint. Prayer in a Time of War and New England Triptych highlight Schuman’s abiding sense of patriotism, the former written soon after America’s entry into World War II, the latter based on hymns from the time of the American Revolution. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_104_8.559625 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572255 ]]>Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud is one of Scandinavia’s most sought after artists; Christian Ihle Hadland one of Norway’s most exciting young pianists. Together they comprise a formidable partnership, as their release of Sinding’s Violin and Piano Music Vol. 1 (8.572254) has shown. Volume 2 presents several of the Norwegian composer’s finely crafted salon pieces, whose charming character, sweet melodic lines and lively harmonies are Sinding’s hallmarks. The Sonata in Olden Style, while richly Romantic, includes an innovative movement whose time signatures 5/4 and 7/4 perhaps look forward rather than back. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_64_8.572255 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2.119018 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_32_2.119018 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570150 ]]>A pioneer in the development of the symphony, Johann Stamitz also composed several concertos, including fourteen for flute. The four flute concertos presented here show what delightful results came from the combination of Stamitz’s lively musical imagination with the talents of the highly admired Mannheim orchestra’s players for whom they were written. Virtuosity, lyricism and a dash of Bohemian spirit characterise these charming works, in which the emergence of the Classical style from its Baroque antecedents can be heard. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZNC_80_8.570150 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572365 ]]>Francisco Tárrega, the most influential Spanish virtuoso performer of the nineteenth century, was a charismatic romantic who, with a cigarette in his mouth, mesmerized his audiences for hours with his performances. On this disc, Swedish Royal Academy member Mats Bergström expresses the ‘light and shade’ of Tárrega’s music (sans cigarette!) on a modern instrument based on an 1888 model owned by the composer himself. The Preludes, composed between 1889 and 1909, are particularly well regarded pieces, while the other works include original compositions and imaginative transcriptions. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT GEC_37_8.572365 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572141 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZMC_119_8.572141 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572304 ]]>The popular overture from Vaughan Williams’s incidental music for Aristophanes’s The Wasps introduces a suite whose mischievously witty, noble and farcical movements underline the play’s satire of the Athenian legal system. A similar vivacity characterises his English Folksong Suite and The Running Set, where Vaughan Williams relishes setting tunes such as Barrack Hill, Irish Reel, The Blackthorn Stick and Cock o’ the North. Folksong-like melodies also feature in his magnificent Piano Concerto, in which the magisterial influence of Bach and Busoni may also be heard. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_135_8.572304 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572346 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_54_8.572346 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572407 ]]>The viola, with its plangent tone, subtle sonority and lyrical qualities, is often overshadowed by its more brilliant-sounding sibling, the violin. An accomplished violist himself, Frank Bridge wrote little solo music for this instrument; only the Pensiero and Allegro appassionato were published in his lifetime, the other works on this disc being the composer’s arrangements of some of his violin pieces. Similarly, Delius’s Third Violin Sonata is heard here in an effective arrangement by the celebrated violist Lionel Tertis, the dedicatee of Bliss’s expressive Viola Sonata. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_92_8.572407 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572219 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_98_8.572219 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.120886 ]]> ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT GMC_70_8.120886 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572319 ]]>Three outstanding musicians join the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble for this thrilling addition to Naxos’s popular Wind Band Classics series, which exemplifies the theme of synergy (‘working together’). Described by the composer as ‘a panoramic clarinet concerto’, Daugherty’s Brooklyn Bridge pays tribute to the splendid view from this New York landmark. Burritt’s Duo Concertante, composed for John Yeh and his daughter Molly, shows the composer’s affinity with jazz and popular music. In his Concertino, Gillingham pits four percussionists against the wind ensemble, David’s Fantasy Etudes pay tribute to Stravinsky and Ligeti, while McAllister’s Black Dog rhapsodizes on the classic Led Zeppelin song. ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_137_8.572319 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.669022-24 ]]>A longtime collaborator of John Adams and champion of his music, Marin Alsop directs this live recording of Opera Colorado’s 25th Anniversary Celebration production of Nixon in China, presented at Denver’s new Ellie Caulkins Opera House during the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention, and featuring an internationally recognized cast. Alice Goodman’s epic libretto and John Adams’s distinctive music weave together a colorful fabric of actual events from President Nixon’s historic visit to the People’s Republic of China with intimate examinations of the opera’s real life characters. The spectacle, drama, humor and pathos of this masterpiece remain as compelling today as when the opera was premièred in 1987. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_107_8.669022-24 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.578072 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_40_8.578072 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.506024 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NXC_55_8.506024 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.571262 ]]>“Biret grasps the size of Beethoven’s style. The polyphony is laid out in a relaxed way with little indulgence in point making. She keeps the big line and yet is thankfully sparing in her use of fortissimos. The piano tone is sumptuous. Biret’s gentle and almost sensuous sonorities are really captivating. One is reminded that her mentor has been Wilhelm Kempff.” Gramophone “Idil Biret gives an impressive performance. A supreme mastery of tempi, sonorities, polyphony and technique permits Biret—a disciple of Alfred Cortot—to embrace all the moods of Beethoven and gives her playing a symphonic depth rarely heard until now.” Le Nouvel Observateur “Idil Biret has recently recorded Liszt’s transcriptions of Beethoven’s nine Symphonies for EMI. Her superbly authentic performance of the 5th Symphony, heard at her Herkülessaal recital in Munich, received a thunderous reception.” Münchner Merkur ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_99_8.571262 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.504016 ]]>Arguably the finest recordings of Dowland’s much-loved lute music, Nigel North’s Dowland Lute Edition has gained him a garland of critical accolades: ‘A collector’s item’ (The Times on Vol 1, 8.557586), ‘a remarkable performance of wonderful music’ (American Record Guide on Vol 2, 8.557862), ‘North’s sweet-toned playing is both unfailingly musical and highly imaginative’ (Gramophone on Vol 3, 8.570449), ‘Nigel North’s Dowland cycle sets a new benchmark’ (5 STARS, BBC Music Magazine), ‘Everything comes together for perfection.’ (MusicWeb International on Vol 4, 8.570284). Nigel North is one of the most highly respected lutenists today. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NXC_42_8.504016 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559636 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_61_8.559636 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.557667 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_79_8.557667 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559657 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_57_8.559657 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=NBD0001-04 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAD_79_NBD0001-04 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572213 ]]>The chamber music pieces on this disc show how richly satisfying Hindemith’s music can be. By turns passionate, deeply moving and humorous, each work which features the clarinet explores the wind instrument’s expressive potential, whether through lyrically arching melodies, passages of lilting innocence or fiery spirit. In the Three Easy Pieces for Cello and Piano Hindemith demonstrates mastery through restraint. Spectrum Concerts Berlin has also recorded two acclaimed discs of music by Hindemith’s contemporary and fellow exile Ernst Toch for Naxos (8.559324 and 8.559282). ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_133_8.572213 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559653 ]]>The release by Naxos of Huang Ruo’s Chamber Concertos Nos. 1–4 (8.559322) was hailed as ‘a bold debut’ (Gramophone) which ‘shows a major compositional voice emerging’ (The Juilliard Journal Online). This disc, also conducted by the composer, presents three of his Drama Theaters for various combinations of Eastern and Western instruments—including 18 beer bottles—the elusive subtitle of each strikingly suggesting a musical/cultural/philosophical idea. Similarly, The Three Tenses explores a paradoxically integrated notion of time, where past, present and future create ‘a seamless entity called timelessness’. Huang Ruo won the 2008 International Composition Prize of the Luxembourg Society for Contemporary Music and has been cited by the New Yorker as ‘one of the most intriguing of the new crop of Asian-American composers.’ ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_104_8.559653 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559370 ]]>When asked to define a masterpiece in music Stravinsky chose Ives’s Decoration Day, a tone poem that Ives later made the second movement of his Holidays Symphony (its first movement, Washington’s Birthday, is available on Naxos 8.559087). The remaining movements also celebrate key American holidays with characteristic verve. The General Slocum movingly commemorates a 1904 boating disaster in which more than a thousand people lost their lives. The Overture and Postlude are early works that nonetheless display Ives’s originality, while Yale-Princeton Football Game exuberantly depicts a legendary 1897 match. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_108_8.559370 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570991 ]]>A colleague of Mendelssohn, the Schumanns and Brahms, the virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim was himself a composer of note. His exuberant single-movement Opus 3 Violin Concerto from around 1851 was dedicated to Liszt, from whom he subsequently distanced himself. It is a tour de force by a highly gifted twenty year old. The Opus 11 Violin Concerto followed six years later, its Classical three movements frequently coloured by Hungarian inflections, most strikingly in the ‘gypsy finale’ which calls for astonishing technical control, immense stamina and fiery abandon from the soloist. Suyoen Kim is the Winner of the 2006 Hannover International Violin Competition. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_141_8.570991 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572190 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_99_8.572190 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559304 ]]>Morten Lauridsen is America’s preeminent composer of choral music. Characterized by long, arching and highly expressive lines, his works are enjoyed by performers and audiences worldwide. O nata lux, perhaps Lauridsen’s most popular work, is a serene evocation of heavenly light, while the searingly intense and technically demanding Madrigali inhabit a more feverish and earthy realm. The refined Les Chansons des Roses employ a design reminiscent of the formal gardens, filled with roses, found in the grounds of the great French châteaux. The unforgettable final movement is the now-famous Dirait-on. The Mid-Winter Songs for chorus and piano are a stunning example of compositional virtuosity. O magnum mysterium, for a cappella chorus, is a setting of a Christmas text that has inspired composers from Victoria to Poulenc. ]]> Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT NUC_63_8.559304 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570605 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_71_8.570605 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.505225 ]]>Peter Maxwell Davies is universally acknowledged as one of the foremost composers of our time, and is currently Master of the Queen’s Music. His musical idiom has been described by The New York Times as a combination of ‘medieval mysticism, modernist rigour and happy accessibility’. Maxwell Davies’s 10-quartet cycle commissioned by Naxos is now collected in this 5-CD boxed set. The composer has written of Quartet No 10, ‘in no way must this be a last quartet. I needed to leave the door open: I had enjoyed writing the Naxos Quartets so much, and perhaps even learned a thing or two, that more could, in theory, eventually flourish’. ‘The Maggini perform with the no-holds-barred commitment and jaw-dropping technical acumen we have come to expect from them throughout this massive project.’ (Gramophone) ‘Peter Maxwell Davies’s Naxos Quartet cycle, now complete on disc, make a hugely varied sequence in mood, manner, scale and inspiration’ (The Guardian) ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NXC_76_8.505225 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572161 ]]>J.S. Bach’s famous Magnificat and that of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel were the templates for the teenage Mendelssohn’s first major work for soloists, chorus and full orchestra, a brilliant setting of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s song of praise, composed in 1822, floridly Baroque in conception and similar in scale to the Bach settings. His Ave Maria of 1830 again evokes Baroque splendour, but also points towards his later oratorios, Paulus and Elijah. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_136_8.572161 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572174 ]]>Love and faith, mortality and eternity are the abiding themes of these three important and beautifully shimmering works by one of the 20th century’s most innovative composers. Les offrandes oubliées, Messiaen’s first published orchestral work, is a symphonic meditation on Christ’s loving sacrifice to redeem the sin of humanity. Poèmes pour Mi sets nine mystical texts which were written as highly personal love songs to his first wife, Claire Delbos, while Un sourire pays homage to what he saw as Mozart’s ever-smiling attitude to life’s many hardships. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_113_8.572174 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572298 ]]>One of Milhaud’s finest and most expressive later scores, L’Amour chante sets poems on the subject of love by various poets, making of each a ‘novel within a sigh’. In the Poèmes juifs, whose anonymous texts Milhaud read in a magazine, the vocal line threads its way through myriad keys, creating subtle effects reminiscent of Fauré or Debussy. Alissa, based on a novel by André Gide, completes this survey of the cream of Milhaud’s output for voice and piano. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_71_8.572298 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572278 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_128_8.572278 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570926 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_112_8.570926 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.557881 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_112_8.557881 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570948 ]]>The guitar music of North African composer Maurice Ohana, though indebted to Spanish culture, is far removed from any stereotypical Iberian aspects and, with the exception of Tiento, was written for the ten-string guitar as played by Narciso Yepes. Inspired by the possibilities of this newly developed instrument, Ohana’s imagination created a unique, complex and highly inventive musical language which makes immense demands on both player and listener. The enigmatic Si le jour paraît…is a seven-movement suite influenced by Debussy’s piano Préludes. Cadran lunaire (‘moon-dial’) juxtaposes ideas from classical antiquity, flamenco and traditional guitar music, conveyed through a rich variety of contrasts and moods. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT GEC_97_8.570948 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572193 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_93_8.572193 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.660224 ]]>First performed at Versailles in 1745, the opera ballet Zélindor is a delightful rococo pastorale which found favour with Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour, no doubt because its story about a king who loves a commoner reflected her own situation. Opera Lafayette’s 2007 revival was hailed as “brilliant” by The Washington Post, which praised the soloists, headed by Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, and chamber chorus who “sang with a gusto matched by the orchestra’s rhythmic pungency”. This is the work’s world première recording with full orchestra and chorus. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NOC_133_8.660224 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572173 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_68_8.572173 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570892 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT ZHC_108_8.570892 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570941 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_89_8.570941 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570942 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_87_8.570942 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572317 ]]>Carl Rütti’s choral music is ‘sensuous and exuberant by turns, combining dazzling rhythms and soaring melodies with distinctively lush harmonies’ (Choir & Organ magazine). Of his Requiem, immense in scale yet often intimate in tone, the composer writes that ‘no words are strong enough to express the feelings of the bereaved, nor sufficient to explain what will await us after death. Music may be the most appropriate language’. Scored for soprano, baritone, double choir, strings, harp and organ, Rütti’s Requiem ultimately affirms life’s precious fragility. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_92_8.572317 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572191 ]]>Her recordings of Sarasate’s music for violin and piano (8.557767, 8.570192) have earned the young violinist Tianwa Yang praise for her ‘great polish and confidence’, American Record Guide describing her playing as ‘perfect’. This disc is her first volume of the Spanish virtuoso-composer’s music for violin and orchestra, a delightful survey of some of his most bewitching and demanding creations. Albert Spalding’s description of Sarasate’s playing could well apply to Tianwa Yang’s interpretations: ‘His violin sang like a thrush, and his incomparable ease tossed aside difficulties’. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_103_8.572191 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559380 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_107_8.559380 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572167 ]]>Following their electrifying account of Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony (8.572082), Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra explore the profound ambivalences of the composer’s most performed symphony, the Fifth, written in 1937 at a time when he was under intense personal and political pressure from the authorities. The jaunty, neo-classical character of the Ninth Symphony (1945) prompted Shostakovich to remark that ‘musicians will like to play it, and critics will delight in blasting it’. Shostakovich’s startlingly different original draft for the opening of the Ninth’s first movement is available on 8.572138. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_103_8.572167 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559603 ]]>Often referred to as the ‘dean of African-American composers’, William Grant Still received many honours for his pioneering music for the concert platform, film and television. Still’s most distinctive works use African-American forms such as the blues, spirituals and jazz within a neo-romantic idiom. He declared that his Fourth Symphony was ‘intended to represent the spirit of the American people’, an idée fixe unifying its four contrasting movements into an appealing whole. His triumphant Fifth Symphony celebrates ‘the sharing of resources and achievements’ which the composer saw as the key to America’s greatness. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_111_8.559603 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570895 ]]>Richard Strauss’s orchestral music includes several works with autobiographical significance, including Ein Heldenleben (Naxos 8.554417). Scored for large symphony orchestra, the Symphonia domestica depicts the delights and vicissitudes of married life with Strauss, his wife, child and other family members deftly portrayed in a variety of situations, including a ‘cheerful quarrel’ in which the father has the last word! In contrast, Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings is Strauss’s heartbreaking meditation on the destruction of German culture during World War II. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_76_8.570895 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.557804 ]]>Somewhat unusually for a pianist-composer of his calibre, Taneyev wrote few works for that instrument alone, although each establishes its own memorable mood. The Violin Sonata, subtitled ‘Of medium difficulty’, belongs to his mature compositional period and is notable for its blend of technical virtuosity and meditative inwardness. The Theme and Variations pays tribute to Taneyev’s teacher and colleague Tchaikovsky. Several of the solo piano pieces here receive their world première recordings. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_63_8.557804 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570497 ]]>Completing their acclaimed survey of Tippett’s string quartets, the young British quartet which has taken his name as their own here presents the composer’s Third and Fifth String Quartets. Both are infused with Tippett’s abiding fascination with Beethoven; the former work brimming with passionate counterpoint that recalls Beethoven’s late string quartets and piano sonatas, the latter harking back to Tippett’s earlier preoccupation with dramatic sonata principles. By turns dazzling, dynamic and lyrical, these are pivotal works of 20th-century chamber music. Volume 1 is available on 8.570496. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_66_8.570497 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572265 ]]>Until recently the rôle of women as composers and performers of both sacred and secular music during the Middle Ages has been seriously underestimated. This disc, sung by the all-female group Musica Ficta, reveals how well suited to women’s voices are music from Notre-Dame in Paris and the songs of many trouvères (the northern counterparts of the troubadours of Languedoc). The latter songs, for instance, often feature female protagonists and present different perspectives on love and life to those by their male counterparts. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NEC_133_8.572265 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559607 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NUC_69_8.559607 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572345 ]]> ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_53_8.572345 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570977 ]]>While Ysaÿe’s Six Solo Violin Sonatas (Naxos 8.555996) remain his best known works, the Belgian virtuoso also composed other pieces which translate his thorough knowledge of the violin’s capabilities into thrilling music. The performance here of his Sonata for Two Violins is based on the composer’s autograph and that of the String Trio draws on the original hand-written parts. For the recording of the Cello Sonata the artist referred to Ysaÿe’s own fingering and bowing instructions. All three works display the composer’s dazzling mastery of technique and instrumental colour. ]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_106_8.570977 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.505040 ]]> ]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT NXC_54_8.505040 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572309 ]]> ]]> Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT NAC_92_8.572309 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.660193-94 ]]>Composed as a sequel to Christopher Columbus, available on Naxos 8.660237–38, Leonardo Balada’s The Death of Columbus has been critically acclaimed as ‘uncommonly impressive and winning’. From its spectacular opening scene depicting the triumphant return of Columbus to Barcelona from his discovery of the New World, to the tormented delirium of the great explorer’s death-bed scene, The Death of Columbus is an intensely moving opera, filled with lyrical melodies and imaginative orchestration. This is a landmark addition to Naxos’s highly-praised series of Balada’s music. ]]> Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT NOC_146_8.660193-94