Most Streamed Tracks on Naxos.com - March 2008

1. Amphitryon, Z. 572, "The 2 Sosias" - I. Overture
   From the album Purcell: Theatre Music, Vol. 1 - Amphitryon / Sir Barnaby Whigg / The Gordian Knot Unty'd / Circe 8.570149
   
2. Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 131 - I. Allegro moderato
   From the album Godard: Violin Concerto No. 2 / Concerto romantique / Scenes poetiques 8.570554
3. Toccata in G major, BuxWV 165
   From the album Buxtehude: Harpsichord Music, Vol. 1 8.570579
4. Symphony No. 3 in D minor - I. Allegro con spirito
   From the album Taneyev: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 8.570336
   
5. A fabol faragott kiralyfi (The Wooden Prince), BB 74 - Opening
   From the album Bartok: Wooden Prince (The) 8.570534
6. Apotheosis
   From the album Rautavaara: Apotheosis / Manhattan Trilogy / Symphony No. 8, "The Journey" 8.570069
7. Piano Concerto in F major, Hob.XVIII:3 - I. Allegro
   From the album Haydn: 24 Solo Concertos, Vol. 5 (Piano Concertos, Hob XVIII: 3, 4, 9, 11) 8.570485
8. Viola da gamba Sonata in C major, Wq. 136, H. 558 - I. Andante
   From the album Bach, C.P.E.: Viola da gamba Sonatas 8.570740
9. Symphony No. 8, "The Journey" I. Adagio assai - Andante assai
   From the album Rautavaara: Apotheosis / Manhattan Trilogy / Symphony No. 8, "The Journey" 8.570069
10. Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19 - I. Allegro moderato - Grazioso
    From the album Szymanowski: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 (Wit) 8.570721

8.559356
ANDERSON: Orchestral Music Vol. 2

Leroy Anderson etched out his own unique place in American music – a composer rigorously trained in the classical tradition whose records topped the pop charts, a meticulous arranger of music whose own melodies were crafted with inventive precision. While he laboured alone over each measure of each piece, the result sounded as if he had pulled one marvellous tune after another out of his hat almost at will. Here, in the first complete cycle of Anderson’s orchestral music, the Anderson family has made available several pieces that the composer did not release, with some first recordings scattered among the familiar and not-so-familiar titles. Volume Two contains most of the little-known works from Anderson’s last decade.

Alistair Young, piano; David McCallum, trumpet; BBC Concert Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin

Naxos  | Naxos American Classics |
Naxos Wind Band Classics | Naxos Historical   

8.570529
ROUSSEL: Symphony No. 2 / Pour une fête de printemps / Suite in F major

A perennial outsider in French music, Albert Roussel was the tutor of a whole generation of composers, including such diverse figures as Eric Satie and Edgard Varèse. The three works included here outline the transitional phase in which Roussel’s mature idiom took shape. Most important of these is his Second Symphony, with its densely intricate orchestration and its wide range of expression, while Pour une fête de printemps is a symphonic poem that could be thought of as preparation for the larger work. With the Suite in F, Roussel arrived at his mature style; the piece is taut and economical in design, with a distinctly ‘contemporary’ feel.

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stéphane Denève

8.570277-78
BACH, J.S.: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-1006

Profound in spirit and monumental in scope Bach’s Six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin are arguably the most difficult original solo works ever written for the violin. Their formidable technical challenges, especially the persistent use of multiple stops, are not just virtuoso features but are the natural result of the complexity of Bach’s musical ideas and his understanding of the instrument. The crowning glory of the set is the immense Chaconne from the Partita in D minor, a set of variations on a theme which makes unprecedented demands on the performer’s expressive and technical abilities.

Ilya Kaler, violin

8.570708
Music for Shakespeare’s Theatre

Music played an important role in the Renaissance theatre and Shakespeare brought new subtlety to its use. In a theatre without lights and sets, it fell to music to underline mood, whether for magic, comedy, feasting or pathos. Here are thirty or so settings from Shakespeare’s lifetime by Morley, Johnson, Dowland, Byrd, Ferrabosco and others, including lyrics set to ballad tunes that would have been very familiar to the actors in his company.

England’s Helicon (Gerald Place, tenor; Dorothy Linell, lute); Rebecca Hickey, soprano

8.570746
SAYGUN: Piano Music

A colleague of Béla Bartók in the collection of Turkish folk-music, Adnan Saygun was among the most distinguished Turkish composers of the twentieth century, writing music that combined Western techniques with essential elements of his country's own musical traditions. His piano music includes works that explore the characteristic ‘limping’ rhythm, Turkish dance-forms and, in Inci’s Book, children's pieces of charm and simplicity.

Zeynep Üçbasaran, piano

8.559379
HEGGIE: For a Look or a Touch / SCHWARZ: In Memoriam / LAITMAN: The Seed of Dream

The song cycle For a Look or a Touch is based on the true story of two teenage lovers the Holocaust tore apart. By noted young American opera composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, the work juxtaposes the freedom of pre-World War II Berlin with the Nazi horrors that followed, while making an eloquent, poignant plea for remembrance. Seattle Symphony’s Gerard Schwarz penned In Memoriam, a beautifully meditative, elegiac piece for cello and string quartet, in honour of cellist David Tonkonogui (1958–2003). From American art song composer Lori Laitman comes The Seed of Dream, a powerful song cycle based on poems written by Abraham Sutzkever during his imprisonment in the Vilna Ghetto.

These works were commissioned by Music of Remembrance, a Seattle-based non-profit organization dedicated to remembering Holocaust musicians through their art (www.musicofremembrance.org).

Morgan Smith, baritone; Julian Patrick, actor; Julian Schwarz, cello; Erich Parce, baritone; Music of Remembrance; Mina Miller, piano

8.559324
TOCH: Piano Quintet / Violin Sonata No. 2 / Burlesken

Since 1997 Spectrum Concerts Berlin has made an important contribution to the growing recognition and appreciation of Ernst Toch’s unique musical voice. One of the most neglected 20th century composers, and a noted teacher and writer on musical composition, Toch was a self-taught modernist who learned music’s fundamentals from the Mozart string quartets. This rare recording of Toch’s solo and chamber music features the Piano Quintet (1938), written in Hollywood following the composer’s escape to the USA, and the poignantly melancholy Violin Sonata No. 2 (1928), a product of Toch’s Berlin years when his music was regularly performed to appreciative audiences.

Spectrum Concerts Berlin; Daniel Blumenthal, piano; Annette von Hehn, violin; Julia-Maria Kretz, violin; Hartmut Rohde, viola; Frank Dodge, cello

8.559377
WUORINEN: Ashberyana / Fenton Songs I and II / Josquiniana

This CD features Charles Wuorinen’s vocal chamber works from the late 1990s to 2007, new piano work, and ‘remakings’ of music by Josquin des Prés. Ashberyana, a major new work commissioned by Da Camera of Houston, sets the dazzling poetry of John Ashbery for a tour-de-force ensemble led by the composer. Fenton Songs I and Fenton Songs II offer contrasting poems by James Fenton, ranging from lyrical confessions of love to the horrors of Tiananmen Square. Two personal solo piano pieces – one dedicated to conductor James Levine – and Josquiniana, composed for the Brentano Quartet, complete this compelling portrait of one of today’s most important musical voices.

Sarah Rothenberg, piano; Leon Williams, baritone; James Pugh, trombone; Mark Steinberg, violin; David Fulmer, violin; Misha Amory, viola; Nina Maria Lee, cello; Lucy Shelton, soprano; Mark Steinberg, violin; Nina Maria Lee, cello; Alan Feinberg, piano; Brentano String Quartet; Charles Wuorinen

8.570968
American Tapestry

John Williams’ arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner sets the stage for this collection of American works for wind band spanning 100 years. Featuring traditional compositions from the likes of George Gershwin, Howard Hanson, Robert Russell Bennett and John Philip Sousa, as well as contemporary works from the younger generation of American composers, this release will appeal to both the wind band enthusiast and the general music lover.

Richard Shuster, piano; Lone Star Wind Orchestra, Eugene Migliaro Corporon

8.111136
FURTWÄNGLER: The Early Recordings, Vol. 1

Volume 1 of this new Naxos edition of Wilhelm Furtwängler’s pre-1940s recordings includes an account of J.S. Bach’s third Brandenburg Concerto that is light years away from the ‘historically informed’ norm of today, yet eloquent, deeply-felt and with a real sense of light and shade. The two Mozart opera overtures are typically dramatic and intense, while in the ever-popular Eine kleine Nachtmusik Furtwängler caresses the melodies, allowing rhythms to stand proud and making effective use of dynamic contrasts. The Overture to Schubert’s Rosamunde is especially weighty in Furtwängler’s hands, while the B flat Entr’acte is tender and warmly expressed, and the G major Ballet Music puckish and witty.

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

8.111313
SEGOVIA: American Recordings, Vol. 5

Volume 5 of Segovia’s 1950s American recordings includes music by composers of various nationalities, (Italian, Spanish, Polish, Argentinean, Venezuelan, and Swiss), demonstrating the international appeal of the guitar. The diversity of musical styles featured is considerable, ranging from the folkloric appeal of South America to the more esoteric inwardness of European composers. Of particular interest is Segovia’s performance with a string quartet of the great Italian composer, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Capriccio diabolico, one of the most successful examples of the synthesis of plucked and bowed sonorities.

Quintetto Chigiano; Ricardo Brengola, Mario Benvenuti, violins; Giovanni Leone, viola; Lino Filippini, cello