Naxos Music Group - October 2016

Label of the Month: SWRmusic

SWRmusic is the label of the Southwest German Broadcasting Company. In cooperation with Naxos Germany, it releases recordings by the internationally renowned SWR orchestras and ensembles, as well as outstanding performances taken from its archives. The label celebrated its 15th anniversary in October 2015, having firmly established itself over the years in the fiercely contested music market. The numerous awards and prizes awarded to SWRmusic attest to its success.

The musical spectrum of the label covers major orchestral compositions, a cappella works, chamber music and jazz productions. Composers represented in its catalogue range from the Viennese classical composers – Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven – to contemporary composers such as Luigi Nono, György Kurtag and Wolfgang Rihm. The quality of SWRmusic's products is always of the highest order.

The SWR not only enriches the international discography with its high-quality recordings featuring leading, international ensembles; it also draws on the expertise of its music editors, together with resources from its archives, to produce photographic and textual materials that support SWRmusic's enviable reputation in the world market.

In addition to chamber recordings by internationally established artists, SWRmusic produces recordings by the following orchestras and ensembles:

SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
Principal Conductor: François-Xavier Roth
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
Principal Conductor: Stéphane Denève
German Radio Philharmonic of Saarbrücken and Kaiserslautern
Principal Conductor: Karel Mark Chichon
This orchestra was formed in 2007 from the fusion of the Saarbrücken Symphony Orchestra (SR) and the Kaiserslautern Radio Orchestra (SWR).
SWR Vocal Ensemble of Stuttgart
Principal Conductor: Marcus Creed
SWR Big Band

The SWR is the only German public radio network that permanently retains performances by its orchestras and other ensembles on CD. These recordings are also available as downloads and on various digital music platforms.

www.swrmusic.com

Sebastian Euler of
Duo d’Accord talks
about SWRmusic

Featured Digital Platform:
Naxos Works Database

Nicolas Horvarth’s
Glassworlds Marathon at the
Philharmonie de Paris

Nicolas Horvarth’s Glassworlds Marathon at the Philharmonie de Paris

Over the course of 12 hours, beginning in the evening of 1 October, NICOLAS HORVATH presented the complete piano works of Philip Glass in chronological order at one of his famous epic recital marathons at the Philharmonie de Paris. This was a touching tribute from one pianist to another, conveying Horvath’s deep regard for the works of one of the most influential musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The whole recital was capped by an hour of standing ovation, and nine encores from Nicolas, which includes works by Glass (Etudes, etc.), Satie (Gnossienne 1& 3), Jaan Rääts (Radio 4), and Scriabin (Vers la Flamme).

The fifth volume in our series of Philip Glass' piano works on Grand Piano was released this month (GP745). The programme includes Mad Rush, the revised version of Metamorphosis II, 600 Lines, and an arrangement of the Simon and Garfunkel hit The Sound of Silence.

Watch the video trailer

Naxos in the
Voyage of Time Trailer

Goldmund Quartet
performs Haydn

Goldmund Quartet performs Haydn

HAYDN, J.: String Quartets Nos. 1, 29 and 66

One of Naxos’ October highlights was the début recording of GOLDMUND QUARTET, starting a new series of Haydn’s String Quartets (8.573701). One of today’s most exciting young European groups, the Goldmund Quartet has won the 2014 Schoenberg International String Competition in China, the 2015 Bavarian Young Artist Award, and has appeared at international festivals such as the Festival Aix-en-Provence, Festival de Musica y Danza Granada, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and Heidelberger Fruhling.

www.goldmund-quartett.de

Watch the video trailer

Specials from

From the Naxos Blog:
Klaus Heymann at 80

Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
Van Zweden’s
Die Walküre.

Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Van Zweden’s Die Walküre

Part two on our ongoing Ring Cycle with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and renowned Wagnerian conductor Jaap van Zweden – Die Walküre – will be released next month (Naxos 8.660394-97 / NBD0051). As with the previous installment (Das Rheingold – 8.660374-75 / NBD0049), this recording features some of the top vocal soloists in the world, led by baritone Matthias Goerne (Wotan), mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung (Fricka), soprano Petra Lang (Brünnhilde), and soprano Heidi Melton and tenor Stuart Skelton as the young lovers Sieglinde and Siegmund.

“Wagner's Ring Cycle is at the pinnacle of our art form. Bringing it for the first time to the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and working together with the orchestra on this great music, will be a central pillar of my tenure as Music Director. Die Walküre conforms more to our idea of opera. Is it the perfect opera? Probably yes. Because of the love story, the scenes between individual characters, the drama, and the conflict. It has intimacy and humanity which probably surpasses Das Rheingold. This release will serve as a document of a cast which would be the envy of any stage in the world, and of a great orchestra, making thrilling music together.” – Jaap van Zweden

Critics have praised the performances last January:

“The most remarkable element of the performances was the high standard of the orchestral playing, astonishing for a band that had never tackled Wagner’s dramas in sound before.” – The Sunday Times

“Van Zweden and his orchestra deserve maximum credit for successfully sowing the seeds of Wagnerian appreciation in Greater China.” – Interlude

“Triumph for orchestra and singers alike” – South China Morning Post

“Highest praise for nearly all concerned.” – Der Neue Merker

www.hkphil.org

Watch an excerpt from Ride of the Valkyries

Featured Playlist –
Need to Know:
MOZART

Artist of
The Month

Henning
Kraggerud

HENNING KRAGGERUD – Interpretive Genius

HENNING KRAGGERUD is currently Artistic Director of the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, with a tenure recently extended to 2020. He is also, alongside violist Lars Anders Plots, Artistic Director of the Risør Chamber Music Festival (succeeding pianist Leif Ove Andsnes).

An artist of exquisite musicianship, HENNING KRAGGERUD is invited time and again to join many of the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Philharmonia, Hallé, Danish National Symphony, the Cincinnati, Baltimore, Toronto and Vancouver symphony orchestras, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He has performed with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and twice at the BBC Proms in London. In his native Norway, he is artistic director of the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.

This year, Henning's major project was a recording of Mozart's Violin Concertos Nos. 3, 4 and 5, performed with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra (Naxos 8.573513). This release not only demonstrates his impressive skills on the violin, but also his talent for composition, since he wrote the cadenzas used in all the concertos. A companion DVD release, with a bonus of Mozart's Adagio, K. 261, will be released this November (Naxos 2.110368).

Henning Kraggerud will also be the featured soloist in two November concerts in China, performing Mozart's Fifth Violin Concerto and the Adagio, K. 261:

5 Nov 2016 – with the China NCPA Orchestra, at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing

12 Nov 2016 – with the Macao Orchestra, at the Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium

Born in Oslo in 1973, Henning studied with Camilla Wicks and Emanuel Hurwitz. He is a recipient of Norway’s prestigious Grieg Prize and in 2007 was awarded the Sibelius Prize for his interpretations and recording of Sibelius’ music around the world. Henning is a Professor at the Barratt Due music conservatoire in Oslo, where he play/directs the Oslo Camerata. As from September 2015, he is International Chair in Violin at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

For full details of Henning Kraggerud's extensive discography on Naxos, please visit his artist page: www.naxos.com/person/Henning_Kraggerud/401.htm

You can also visit Henning Kraggerud’s website: www.henningkraggerud.com

Watch the video trailer

Watch masterclass excerpt

News from the Naxos Music Group

Label of the Month: SWRmusic

Sebastian Euler of Duo d’Accord talks about SWRmusic

Nicolas Horvarth’s Glassworlds Marathon at the Philharmonie de Paris

Naxos in the Voyage of Time Trailer

Goldmund Quartet performs Haydn

Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Van Zweden’s Die Walküre

HENNING KRAGGERUD – Interpretive Genius