Most Streamed Tracks on Naxos.com - August 2007

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1. Nagauta Symphony, "Tsurukame"
   8.557971 YAMADA, K.: Nagauta Symphony / Meiji Symphony / Maria Magdalena
   
2. Voldomiro: Overture
   8.570508 CIMAROSA: Overtures, Vol. 1
3. Robin Hood Suite: III. March of the Bowmen
   8.570575-76 BEST OF BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC
4. Variations on America
   8.570559 IVES: Variations on America / Old Home Days / The Alcotts
5. I. Golden Gate
   8.559300 HEADLEY: California Suite / Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Symphony No. 1
6. Milonga del Angel
   8.570523 PIAZZOLLA: Maria de Buenos Aires Suite / Verano Porteno / Milonga del Angel
7. Piano Sonata No. 1 in G major, DLR VI:1.1 (arr. of Scarlatti Keyboard Sonata, K.520/L.86/P.362)
   8.557939-40 GRANADOS: Piano Music, Vol. 9 - Transcription of 26 Sonatas by D. Scarlatti
8. I. Introduzione: Andante meditamente
   8.570298 MEDTNER: Works for Violin and Piano (Complete), Vol. 1
9. Organ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 13, No. 1: V. Marche Pontificale
   8.570310 WIDOR: Organ Favourites
10. No. 1. Der Konig von Thule
    8.570456 SCHUMANN, R.: Romances and Ballads

8.570338 CCANTELOUBE: Chants d'Auvergne (selections), Vol. 2 / Chant de France / Triptyque

Since his death in 1957, Canteloube has become widely known for his many folk-song arrangements, particularly the enchanting Chants d’Auvergne. This second Canteloube disc featuring Véronique Gens, herself native to the Auvergne region, completes the Naxos cycle of the complete Chants d’Auvergne accompanied by full orchestra. It also includes two rarely performed works: excerpts from Chants de France, another anthology of folk-songs subsequently harmonised and orchestrated, and the Triptyque, three exquisite settings worthy of being ranked alongside the greatest songs by Chausson and Ravel. Volume 1 of the Chants d’Auvergne is available on Naxos 8.557491.

Véronique Gens (soprano), Orchestre National de Lille-Région Nord/Pas-de Calais, Serge Baudo

8.557525 SCHOENBERG: 6 Orchestral Songs / Kol Nidre / Friede auf Erden (Schoenberg, Vol. 7)

Volume VII of the Robert Craft Schoenberg Collection begins with the early Six Songs for Soprano and Orchestra, in which the obvious harmonic and melodic influence of Wagner is counterbalanced by a more personal instrumentation. Also in this recording is his small-scale masterpiece Kol Nidre and excerpts from the ‘Golden Calf’ scene of Schoenberg’s unfinished opera Moses und Aron.
 
Jennifer Welch-Babidge (soprano), David Wilson-Johnson (rabbi-narrator), Simon Joly Chorale, Philharmonia Orchestra, Robert Craft

8.570297 STRAUSS, R.: Songs of Love and Death

The song was Richard Strauss’ lifetime companion, from Weihnachtslied written at the age of six and Nebel written when he was fourteen, to his masterpiece, Four Last Songs, that completed his life’s work. Although Strauss wrote over two hundred songs, many inspired by and written for his wife, barely a dozen are well known to the public at large. This recording includes Ruhe, meine Seele (Quiet, my soul), Zueignung (Dedication) and Allerseelen (All Souls), with a host of lesser known songs, all of which display Strauss’ mastery of the female voice in this genre.

Hedwig Fassbender (mezzo-soprano), Hilko Dumno (piano)

8.570437 TANEYEV: String Quartets (Complete), Vol. 1 (Nos. 1, 3)

A pupil of Tchaikovsky, whom he replaced at the Moscow Conservatory, Sergey Taneyev was a virtuoso pianist and a teacher of Scriabin and Rachmaninov. He composed a sizeable body of chamber music, including six String Quartets. These beautifully crafted works are marked by technical assurance at every turn, as well as dramatic inspiration and intense lyricism. The masterly five-movement Quartet No. 1, in fact Taneyev’s Fifth, includes two notable slow movements, while the lighter Quartet No. 3 features a graceful theme with eight variations, alternately playful and contemplative.

Carpe Diem String Quartet

8.570324 CAUCASIAN IMPRESSIONS

This collection of music from the Caucasus features Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani composers whose works have long deserved a wider hearing. In common with other composers trained in regions of the former USSR, they draw largely on folk material as their inspiration.

Caucasian Chamber Orchestra, Uwe Berkemer

8.570465 SLEEPER: Trumpet Concerto / MASLANKA: Symphony No. 3

Thomas Sleeper’s music has been described as “hauntingly mysterious” and “richly lyrical”, and includes operas, concertos, an orchestral suite and orchestral song cycles. His Trumpet Concerto was written for conductor Gary Green and soloist Craig Morris, who perform it here. David Maslanka has written a wide variety of chamber, orchestral and choral pieces, but it is his works for winds and percussion for which he is particularly well known. Of his Symphony No. 3 the composer has written, “The impetus for this piece was in part my leaving university life and moving from New York City to the Rocky Mountains of Western Montana... Animal and Indian spirits still echo strongly in this land, and these elements have found their way into my music”.

Craig Morris (trumpet), Frost Wind Ensemble at the University of Miami, Gary Green

8.559291 THOMSON, V.: Plow that Broke the Plains (The) / The River

Pare Lorentz’s The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) and The River (1937) are landmark American documentary films*.  Aesthetically, they break new ground in seamlessly marrying pictorial imagery, symphonic music, and poetic free verse, all realized with supreme artistry. Ideologically, they indelibly encapsulate the strivings of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’. Virgil Thomson’s scores for both films are among the most famous ever composed for the movies.

*Available from Naxos on DVD (2.110521)

8.559348 BOLCOM: Works for Cello (Complete)

This recording of William Bolcom’s complete works for cello begins with Capriccio, written in a sonata-like form that combines aspects of Milhaud and Brahms. Bolcom’s Suite No. 1 expands on stage music written for Arthur Miller’s tragic Broken Glass, and reflects the play’s sombre mood. The one-movement Décalage is strongly influenced by the music of Pierre Boulez, and the bleak and barren universe of Dark Music recalls certain plays of Samuel Beckett. Bolcom’s Cello Sonata returns to a traditional form and world of sound, echoing the models of Schubert and Brahms.

Norman Fischer (cello), Jeanne Kierman (piano), Andrea Moore (timpani)

8.559366 HERSCH, F.: Concert Music (2001-06)

Award-winning jazz pianist and composer Fred Hersch is one of the most important creative musicians in the world today. This is the first recorded collection of his through-composed concert works. It features the epic, virtuosic 24 Variations on a Bach Chorale and the deeply romantic Lyric Piece for Trio. Also included are two short sets of piano character pieces (including the stunning Nocturne for the Left Hand Alone) and the poignant Tango Bittersweet for cello and piano.

Natasha Paremski (piano), Blair McMillen (piano), Dorothy Lawson (cello), Fred Hersch (piano), The Gramercy Trio

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