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Label of the Month: Orfeo
Founded in Munich in 1979, ORFEO has achieved its current international standing thanks to the consistency of its policy towards repertoire and artists. Its earliest recordings were issued under license to RCA and EMI, but by 1982 the company was producing and distributing records under its own name. Famous artists have done much to ensure that since it was launched at the start of the digital age the label has maintained a lasting and exciting presence in the marketplace. Not only familiar works have been made accessible in this way, so too have interesting rarities, including many world-première recordings, always in outstanding performances.
ORFEO's most recent recording took place in Berlin in April, 2017 at the Jesus Christus Kirche in Dahlem, which was adopted by Wilhelm Furtwängler after WWII as a rehearsal venue for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Many famous recordings have taken place at the church, including one of Mstislav Rostropovich with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. From April 2 to April 6 it hosted cellist Daniel Müller-Schott and the Deutsche Symphonieorchester Berlin under the baton of Aziz Shokhakimov, a young gifted conductor from Ukraine and winner of the Young Conductors Award in Salzburg. The Russian programme included Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and works by Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov. The release will be Müller-Schott's 15th CD for ORFEO, while 2018 will mark 15 years of collaboration between the label and the artist.
Recent releases from Orfeo
Lars Vogt’s Goldberg Variations on Lincoln Center Great Performers Series
Pianist Lars Vogt presented his unique take on J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations in his Lincoln Center ‘Great Performers’ recital on April 9. In a review of the concert The New York Times stated: “Mr. Vogt, 46, was not particularly known for his Bach when he recorded the “Goldberg” Variations in 2014. He has excelled in later music of Germanic weight and breadth, Brahms especially. He brought that quality of breadth to his performance on Sunday.”
Released on Ondine in August 2015, Lars Vogt’s Goldberg Variations had unprecedented success in download charts as well as receiving widespread acclaim:
“Lars Vogt is an artist with much to communicate, and this is a distinguished addition to the discography of the Goldberg Variations in all their glorious elegance.” – Gramophone
“This is really quite a special reading of the work—radiant, blissful, even beatific in the slow variations, and filled with exuberance and sheer joy for the contrapuntal play in the fast-paced variations.” – Fanfare
“Vogt’s treatment is straightforward, with nothing brought so far to the fore that it would interfere with the considerable contrapuntal detail that emerges naturally from the individual variations.” – Allmusic.com
OTHER RECENT RECORDINGS
– American Record Guide
Discover The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe and Toshio Hosokawa
Edgar Allen Poe, one of the most influential of all American writers, was a Romantic, a fabulist and a master of imaginative horror.
His best-known work, The Raven, captured the public imagination and established his name as a poet, as well as an author.
The poem follows a man’s slow descent into madness upon the death of his lover. Dark imaginings, brooding romanticism, linguistic richness, and a powerful sense of foreboding all combine to create a wild work about romance-fueled despair.
Toshio Hosokawa’s monodrama of the same name places the poem in an orchestral setting, with a mezzo-soprano singing Poe’s lyrics, conveying its spine-tingling terror to full effect.
Its eerie strings and passionate intensity will stay with the listener long after listening.
Read by Kerry Shale, John Chancer, and William Roberts
![HOSOKAWA, Toshio: Raven (The) [Monodrama]](images/8.573724.jpg "HOSOKAWA, Toshio: Raven (The) [Monodrama]")
Charlotte Hellekant, Mezzo-soprano
United Instruments of Lucilin
Kentaro Kawase
The above titles can also be streamed online at naxosspokenwordlibrary.com and naxosmusiclibrary.com.
JoAnn Falletta conducts a new work by Kenneth Fuchs
Conductor JoAnn Falletta and composer Kenneth Fuchs celebrated their 30-year collaboration with a performance of a new work by Fuchs, Poems of Life. Scored for countertenor, cello and orchestra, it was given its world premiere performance on April 7 and featured countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (stepping in for David Daniels), cellist Michael Daniels and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. The five-movement work is based on the poems of Judith Wolf, a well-known artist and writer.
Bachtrack gave the performance 5 stars, praising the vocal soloist: “This world première performance featured an unexpected and wholly welcome soloist in countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, who stepped in at the last moment to replace an indisposed David Daniels. Fresh from his prizewinning performances at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Cohen learned the score in just 48 hours. It was quite a feat – and even more impressive considering how beautifully the interpretation came together, featuring not only Cohen but also VSO principal cellist Michael Daniels.”
JoAnn Falletta boasts successful recordings of Kenneth Fuchs’ works on Naxos:
– Fanfare
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★★
– The Buffalo News
– ClassicsToday.com
Nicolas Horvath pays tribute to Jaan Rääts
French pianist Nicolas Horvath performed at the 2017 Eesti Muusika Paevad (Estonian Music Days) with a programme titled Hommages: Jaan Rääts, in celebration of the composer’s 85th birthday this year. The programme included works dedicated to Rääts and written by composers who studied with him – Avi Benjamin, Raimo Kangro, Tõnis Kaumann, Mihkel Kerem, Kerri Kotta, Tõnu Kõrvits, Vsevolod Pozdejev, Timo Steiner and Erkki-Sven Tüür. It also featured the first performance of Rääts’ Prelüüd.
Nicolas Horvath is an enthusiastic promoter of contemporary music. He has commissioned numerous works (including no fewer than 120 as part of his Homages to Philip Glass project in 2014) and collaborated with leading contemporary composers from around the world, including Régis Campo, Mamoru Fujieda, Jaan Rääts, Alvin Curran and Valentyn Silvestrov. He has become noted for the organisation of events and concerts of unusual length, sometimes lasting over twelve hours, such as the performance of the complete piano music of Philip Glass, and Erik Satie’s Vexations. In October 2015 he gave the closing day concert in the Estonia Gallery at the Expo World Exhibition in Milan with a programme of music by Jaan Rääts. A Steinway Artist, his career as a virtuoso pianist has taken him to concert venues around the world, and he is also an electroacoustic composer.
Nicolas Horvath’s new recordings
Netflix’s The Discovery
The Naxos Licensing team is excited to be a part of the new Netlfix original movie The Discovery! Enjoy the trailer below and give us a shout if you want to have Naxos assist your next project with great music and creative help!
Licensed music from Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K. 626 (8.550235).
Watch | The Discovery (Official Trailer)
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Check out other notable Naxos placements on www.naxoslicensing.com.
INTRODUCING ARKIVJAZZ - THE SOURCE FOR JAZZ MUSIC
ArkivJazz features one of the largest selections of jazz recordings from hundreds of labels including Atlantic, Blue Note, Concord, ECM, Prestige, Sony, and Verve. Whether you are looking for that classic Louis Armstrong recording or that genre-defining Miles Davis album, we have you covered.
Designed with both the jazz expert and new listener in mind, ArkivJazz offers easy navigation to find the latest releases or classic titles within a label’s deep catalog. If you live in the U.S. you can join our VIP program and receive free shipping in the continental US, a free subscription to DownBeat Magazine, and special VIP only offers.
New Releases
Bo Skovhus Sings Schubert
Bo Skovhus & Stefan Vladar – The Schubert Recordings
Twenty years ago, at the beginning of his career, the young baritone Bo Skovhus made his first recording of Schubert’s “Schöne Müllerin”. Now, as a famous opera and Lied interpreter he presents a new production of all 3 Schubert Cycles: “I’m very thankful to do this again. As a young man you do not reflect so much to what happens. Now, when I’m older, I understand much more about. Especially for this cycle it’s important to have another point of view” (Bo Skovhus). Stefan Vladar, the famous Viennese pianist and his partner on the piano, shows us the virtuosity of the piano part in a new different light.
New from Ondine: Brahms’ two serenades
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Watch | Recording session video
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Johannes Brahms’ two Serenades were written in the late 1850s; together with the First Piano Concerto, they offer the earliest surviving examples of his orchestral writing. Brahms revised the Serenade No. 1 several times, and intended to transform it into a symphony. The 6-movement work, originally titled 'Nachtmusik', is an impressive poetic creation by the young Brahms. Serenade No. 2 was conceived from the outset as a parallel to Mozart’s wind serenades, with an unusual chamber-music setting: double woodwinds, two horns and a string ensemble that entirely omits the bright sound of violins and instead deploys the violas as the principal part.
“a most enticing 72-minute issue.” – Classic FM
Featured Playlists – Classical Music for Spring
The chill of winter has finally thawed and the season of Spring is here! This month we've gathered a selection of playlists to celebrate all that this wonderful season has to offer. There's music to accompany your holiday celebrations, outings to explore the great outdoors, or an afternoon at home watching earth-quenching rainfall stirring the blooming flowers of May! Add these playlists to your library to enhance all of these occasions and more. Enjoy, and happy listening!
Krassimira Stoyanova – Soprano Superlative
“For me as an opera singer, every new role has its decisive significance. Interpreting the role is the most interesting part of my work. For me, the secret is not just to seek to advance my personal and professional development in these new roles, but to detect something new in all that I sing; to have a “dialogue” with the composer, and to discover his most profound thoughts. I often find this opportunity in the different stagings of operas, such as the current production at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where I am singing Aida in Verdi’s eponymous opera. The scenery of this production actually gives me the feeling I am in Egypt, in the famous Valley of the Kings. Sometimes, too, I draw inspiration from a costume I am wearing.
I am also very excited about my two new CDs – “Verismo” and “Puccini complete songs” – both of which have proved hugely successful. I am so happy when people from the audience approach me and tell me how much they appreciate my work, both my singing on stage and my recordings. I believe that is the greatest form of recognition for any artist.”
– Krassimira Stoyanova
Naxos interview: Laurence Vittes talks to Krassimira Stoyanova
Krassimira Stoyanova was born in Bulgaria and studied singing and violin at the Music University in Plovdiv. In 1995 she made her debut at the Sofia National Opera. She started her international career at the Vienna State Opera, where she is now a frequent guest, having been awarded the title “Kammersängerin” in 2009. She appears at major opera houses throughout Europe, at the New York Metropolitan Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera in principal soprano roles, and enjoys a parallel career in the concert hall. She has collaborated with highly eminent conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Fabio Luisi, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Georges Prêtre, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser-Möst. She has a number of recordings to her credit, on both CD and DVD.
– kulturradio vom rbb ★★★★★
– Pizzicato
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Wiener Staatsoper
Stiftung Mozarteum, Salzburg
Salzburger Festpiele
Schubertiade Schwarzenberg Hohenems
Wiener Staatsoper
Herkulessaal, Munich
Kölner Philharmonie
Wiener Staatsoper
December 2
Metropolitan Opera House, New York
Wiener Staatsoper
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