News from the Naxos Music Group
March 2019
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Label of the Month – ARC Music
ARC Music is a leading record label and publisher in the field of world and folk music. Established in 1976, ARC Music's goal is to preserve the ethnic music of world cultures, and to spread traditional and original music with a positive message. The label now offers the largest selection of traditional and contemporary ethnic music from all corners of the world. Their unrivalled repertoire comprises many hundreds of albums from over 120 countries and cultures.
Whilst their catalogue contains riches such as rare field recordings of Tibetan monks in sacred temples by ethnomusicologist Deben Bhattacharya and traditional music of Eastern Polynesia from David Fanshawe’s monumental Pacific Collection, ARC Music also features renowned artists such as Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy, Scottish pipes & drums band Saor Patrol, the legendary and award-winning Irish band Clannad, Toledo-based singer-songwriter and composer Ana Alcaide, sitar player Baluji Shrivastav OBE and many more.
Hossam Ramzy
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Saor Patrol
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Clannad
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Baluji Shrivastav
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After 40 years ARC Music still flourishes. In the last decade the company has enjoyed considerable success in Hollywood, their music being used in some of the biggest motion pictures of the last 10 years or so, including two James Bond films – Skyfall and Casino Royale – Martin Scorsese’s Silence and Zero Dark Thirty, Steven Spielberg’s Munich, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Silence, American Assassin, and many others.
In 2014, ARC Music launched Pixie Pace Records, a sub-label working with contemporary folk artists and up-and-coming singer-songwriters. Whereas ARC Music continues as a leader in traditional and contemporary world music, Pixie Pace nurtures artists who have a mainstream appeal yet one foot firmly rooted in tradition.
Late 2017 saw the launch of the bendigedig label, a new and unique cooperation between ARC Music and Theatr Mwldan (Wales) in which the artist really takes the lead. Fully supported by Mwldan and ARC, bendigedig artists enjoy the benefits of a record label, publishing, management, touring and publicity in an equal partnership. This has resulted in highly successful releases including 22 Strings by Seckou Keita, Tro by Welsh singer-songwriter and poet Gwyneth Glyn, and the award-winning SOAR by Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita. Other new projects are already in the pipeline.
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ARC Music continues to find and release exciting music from all corners of the globe. The hunt for new (and old!) music continues…
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS
Björk album as an opera – Vespertine
![DVOŘÁK, J. / HÄUBLEIN, P. / VINUESA, R.: Vespertine [Opera] (after Björk's album, 2018)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/OC978.jpg "DVOŘÁK, J. / HÄUBLEIN, P. / VINUESA, R.: Vespertine [Opera] (after Björk's album, 2018)")
OehmsClassics begins the new partnership with the Nationaltheater Mannheim (NTM Edition) with this spectacular production which was premiered on May 26th, 2018.
When Björk’s album Vespertine was released in 2001, it came as a bombshell. The singer had turned away from the usual drum & bass sound and towards complex orchestral music. On Vespertine, choirs and violins murmured and Björk’s unique voice became the starting point for symphonic outbreaks and absences. So, it seemed to be only a matter of time until a classical music genre would discover this particular jewel.
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‘An ecstatic experience for all senses.’
– Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung
‘Vespertine is a coherent adaption of the legendary album.’
– Mannheimer Morgen
RECENT OPERA RECORDINGS FROM THE NAXOS MUSIC GROUP
![CHABRIER, E.: Étoile (L') [Operetta] (DNO, 2014) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110595.jpg "CHABRIER, E.: Étoile (L') [Operetta] (DNO, 2014) (NTSC)")
![BENJAMIN, G.: Lessons in Love and Violence [Opera] (Royal Opera House, 2018) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/OA1221D.jpg "BENJAMIN, G.: Lessons in Love and Violence [Opera] (Royal Opera House, 2018) (NTSC)")
![HANDEL, G.F. / LEO, L.: Rinaldo (1718 Naples version) [Opera] (Festival della Valle d'Itria, 2018) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-37831.jpg "HANDEL, G.F. / LEO, L.: Rinaldo (1718 Naples version) [Opera] (Festival della Valle d'Itria, 2018) (NTSC)")
![EINEM, G. von: Prozeß (Der) [Opera]](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/C5358.jpg "EINEM, G. von: Prozeß (Der) [Opera]")
on US Tour
Daniel Müller-Schott on US Tour
On 12 March, cellist Daniel Müller-Schott joined violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her long-time pianist Lambert Orkis in the world premiere of Sebastian Currier’s Ghost Trio at Carnegie Hall. The work was commissioned by and dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter. The musicians also performed Beethoven’s contrasting Ghost Trio in D major Op. 70/1 alongside Currier’s Ghost Trio at a concert held in Chicago’s Symphony Center on March 17.
The concerts were dedicated to the memory of Sir André Previn, who passed away on February 28, 2019.
NOTABLE RELEASES FEATURING DANIEL MÜLLER-SCHOTT
– Gramophone
– The Strad
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– The Classical Reviewer
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For more recordings by Daniel Müller-Schott, please visit www.orfeomusic.de.
Boris Giltburg’s 5-Minute Library
Pianist Boris Giltburg has collaborated with the Louisiana Museum in Denmark to create an engaging video series, “Boris Giltburg's Five Minute Library”. Each episode covers an interesting topic, including less obvious musical or technical matters.
The Louisiana Museum presents classical music in new ways and from new perspectives by using the latest film technology. These classical music videos are a natural extension of the museum's high-profile concert programme, and they lift the special interplay between Louisiana and world-class musicians so that it reaches beyond the museum's concert hall and is accessible to everyone.
More videos from the “Boris Giltburg Five Minute Library” can be seen on YouTube.
BORIS GILTBURG’S UPCOMING RELEASE
Written over a period of 18 years, Rachmaninov’s sets of Préludes are a mirror and a record of his compositional development. With so rich a variety of character, colour, texture and mood, no two préludes are fully alike, and differentiation of tempo and register ensures that each prélude’s character is clearly defined. The first eleven pieces were conceived by Rachmaninov as a single cycle, and their full-hearted Romanticism contrasts with the significantly more angular, modernistic Op. 32. Whether evoking ballad or bell toll, the exotic or folk influences, the Préludes stand in the great tradition of works by Bach and Chopin written in all 24 major and minor keys.
Visit naxos.com to view Boris Giltburg’s complete discography.
Tianwa Yang plays Rihm
Two established Naxos artists team up for this eagerly awaited second volume of music for violin and orchestra by Wolfgang Rihm, one of today's leading composers. Soloist Tianwa Yang, who featured on Volume 1 (8.573812, awarded 5 stars by Pizzicato), is joined on this follow-up release by conductor Darrel Ang. They received fine reviews for their previous recording of violin concertos by Lalo and Manén (8.573067), which also received an ICMA nomination. You can expect a similarly enthusiastic reception for this latest release with its substantial programme: Gesungene Zeit, one of Rihm’s most performed works; the beautiful, transparent and sensuous Lichtes Spiel (‘light, but not lightweight’ in the composer’s words); and COLL’ARCO, his largest concertante work that takes the soloist to the extremes of virtuosity.
MORE RECORDINGS OF RIHM’S MUSIC FEATURING TIANWA YANG
– International Record Review
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– Pizzicato ★★★★★
Visit naxos.com to view Tianwa Yang’s complete discography.
Sir Roger Norrington
Happy 85th Birthday to Sir Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Norrington celebrated his 85th birthday on 16 March. Exactly one year ago, the SWR Symphonieorchester gave him a birthday surprise while rehearsing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'. Check out the following video and enjoy this special arrangement by Georg Ter Voert:
Born into a distinguished Oxford family which was musical as well as academic, Roger Norrington studied at the Royal College of Music in London and started his career as a singer and conductor. In 1969 Norrington took up the post of chief conductor of Kent Opera, remaining with this company for 15 years and conducting a wide repertoire of 40 different works, a fact which helped prevent his being narrowly labeled as a musical specialist. He made his debut with English National Opera with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in 1973, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Handel’s Samson in 1986. He has conducted opera in Italy at La Scala, Milan, La Fenice, Venice, and at the Maggio Musicale, Florence, as well as in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam. In order to pursue the period-instrument performance of a wider repertoire than was usual at the time, he formed the London Classical Players in 1978; the orchestra’s programme of concerts was often supplemented by popular ‘Experience’ weekends, during which interpretation and performance were examined in depth.
He has appeared with many of the major orchestras of Europe and the USA as a guest conductor, suggesting different ways of performing the traditional symphonic repertoire. His permanent appointments have included those of chief conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta (1985–1989) and chief conductor of the Orchestra of St Luke’s in New York, (1990–1994); he became chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1998 and of the Camerata Salzburg in the same year. In 2006 he took up the position of artistic adviser to the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, one of North America’s leading period performance groups. In England, Norrington works closely with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he was principal guest conductor in the mid 1990s, and with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, which took over the work of the London Classical Players in 1997, the year in which he received a knighthood.
During his time with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) Roger Norrington succeeded in an ambitious project of directing modern symphony orchestra performances according to historically informed performance practices. The results were enlightening and inspiring. You can now listen to a handpicked selection of his classic SWR recordings on Spotify.
SIR ROGER NORRINGTON’S RECORDINGS ON SWR CLASSIC
This re-release of an SWR bestseller is published on the occasion of Sir Roger Norrington’s 85th birthday. This recording gives testimony of Norrington’s specific “Stuttgart Sound“ and contains two major works by Antonín Dvořák.
For more recordings featuring Sir Roger Norrington, please visit to naxos.com.
at the Givenchy SS19 show
Tosca's aria a stand-out at the Givenchy SS19 show
Naxos Licensing in the UK has recently secured a sync license for Puccini’s ‘Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore’ from Tosca which is included in the latest Givenchy Haute Couture collection for Spring Summer 2019. The collection theme is “Bleached Canvas” around which Clare Waight Keller (artist director) furthers her philosophy of modern couture and broadens the distinctive Givenchy signature with an of-the-moment aesthetic that is hers alone. Throughout the show, the atmosphere was heightened by a soundtrack featuring soprano Nelly Miricioiu hitting Puccini's high notes from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Need to license some music for a project and don’t know where to start? Visit Naxos Licensing to find out how!
Farewell, Maestro Gielen (1927 – 2019)
We were saddened by the loss of maestro Michael Gielen, who passed away on 8 March 2019 at the age of 91.
Born in Dresden in 1927, the son of the stage and theatre director Joseph Gielen, Michael Gielen studied with Erwin Leuchter in Buenos Aires from 1942 to 1949 and then with Josef Polnauer in Vienna from 1950 to 1953. He began his career as a choral répétiteur at the Teatro Colón and from 1950 at the Vienna State Opera, where he served as conductor from 1952 until 1960. Until 1965 he was principal conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm and in 1965 conducted the first performance of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s opera Die Soldaten. After several years as principal conductor of the Belgian Radio Symphony Orchestra and work as a guest conductor, particularly for German radio, he took charge of the Netherlands Opera in 1972. From 1977 to 1987 he was music director of the Frankfurt-am-Main Opera and at the same time, from 1980 to 1986, served as music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1979 he also took up the appointment of permanent guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. From 1986 he took over the direction of the SWF Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden (which later became the SWR Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg) and until his emeritus appointment in 1995 directed the conducting class at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Michael Gielen gave many first performances of important contemporary works.
In October 2014, Michael Gielen issued a press release announcing that he had been forced to end his conducting activities for health reasons. He conducted his last concert with the NDR Symphony Orchestra in February 2014.
‘Music must be directed against the ignorance of the world.‘ – Michael Gielen
On the occasion of his 90th birthday in 2017, SWR Classic launched a 10-volume Michael Gielen EDITION which honours this outstanding musician by making a detailed survey of his five-decade career as a leading conductor. The edition is currently approaching completion and the next volume (Vol. 8) will be released in June 2019.
SWR Classic – Michael Gielen EDITION
– Gramophone
– Pizzicato ★★★★★
– Pizzicato ★★★★★
– Gramophone
– Pizzicato
– MusicWeb International
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– MusicWeb International
MORE RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS
MacMillan’s magnificent Manon
Sarah Lamb and Vadim Muntagirov star as tragic lovers Manon and Des Grieux in this performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, a classic of the Royal Ballet repertory.
Nicholas Georgiadis’ period designs set the ballet in the contrasting worlds of Paris luxury and Louisiana swampland, while the intense emotion of MacMillan’s choreography is complemented by a score drawn from Massenet’s music.
The impassioned pas de deux from Manon and Des Grieux drive this tragic story, and make Manon one of MacMillan’s most powerful dramas.
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 (NTSC)](images/OA1285D.png "MACMILLAN, K.: L'histoire de Manon (arr. M. Yates) [Ballet](Royal Ballet, 2018) (NTSC)")
‘Kenneth MacMillan’s retelling of Abbé Prévost’s cautionary tale of a young man brought low by an amoral young beauty has been a mainstay of the Royal Ballet repertoire since 1974. The current revival is vividly played and danced by some first-rate casts.’ – The Financial Times ★★★★★
‘Vadim Muntagirov made his debut as Des Grieux, bringing puppyish, longing and a beautiful, long line to the characters yearning solos. As Manon, Sarah Lamb was heart-breaking, the delicious delicacy of her early scenes replaced by an overwhelming sensual pleasure in her own power, and finally despair.’ – The Telegraph ★★★★★
Recorded in true Surround Sound.
| Sarah Lamb | Manon |
| Vadim Muntagirov | Des Grieux |
| Ryoichi Hirano | Lescaut |
| Gary Avis | Monsieur G.M. |
| Itziar Mendizabal | Lescaut’s Mistress |
| Kristen McNally | Madame |
| Thomas Whitehead | The Gaoler |
| James Hay | Beggar Chief |
| Artists of the Royal Ballet | |
| Choreographer | Kenneth MacMillan |
| Music | Jules Massenet (orch. Martin Yates) |
| Orchestra of the Royal Opera House | |
| Conductor | Martin Yates |
| Designer | Nicholas Georgiadis |
Extra Features:
An Introduction; Creating the Courtesans; Former Royal Ballet Principal Darcey Bussell interviews Deborah MacMillian (choreographer's wife)
More full-length videos? NaxosVideoLibrary.com brings you an extensive streaming video library of classical music performances, opera, ballet, live concerts and documentaries. Watch the world's greatest opera houses, ballet companies, orchestras and artists perform on demand! NaxosVideoLibrary.com offers over 2,800 full-length videos, accessible anytime, anywhere.
collection of classical music
The most comprehensive collection of classical music
Naxos Music Library (NML) is the largest collection of classical music for streaming, with new content added daily! Also providing educational resources that include a musical dictionary, guided tours through musical eras, an interactive junior section, and much more, NML is quickly becoming the go-to music resource for colleges, public libraries, professional music organisations, and other users. Watch the following video to learn more:
Naxos Music Library sets the industry standard in streaming classical music, featuring over 143,000 CDs from more than 800 prestigious record labels, including BIS, Chandos, Sony Classical, Nettwerk Music Group, Sun Records, Virgin Classics and Warner Classics (including the former EMI Classics catalogue). With more than 2.2 million tracks of music, plus a raft of educational tools, Naxos Music Library is available through either individual or institutional and professional subscriptions.
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![WAGNER, R.: Rheingold (Das) [Opera]](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/900133.jpg "WAGNER, R.: Rheingold (Das) [Opera]")
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Visit www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/ and get free 15-minute preview!
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Sounds Interesting –
Mandelay to Tinseltown
Recording Studio:
Tangos for Yvar
From the Recording Studio: Tangos for Yvar
The American pianist Yvar Mikhashoff (1941–1993) commissioned 127 of the world’s leading composers to write tangos for him. Between 1983 and 1991 he received an eclectic, stylistically varied range of works that offer a unique body of contemporary tango music for the piano. Tango’s origin was in the waltz and mazurka but has long embraced jazz and even electronic music.
A former child prodigy, Hanna Shybayeva has become a mature and exciting musician and presents this unique collection of tango compositions. The span of this collection is international and individual, ranging from traditional evocations to include the twelve-tone approach of Milton Babbitt, the minimalism of Tom Johnson, and the very personal voice of Michael Nyman.
RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS
– Cinemusical ★★★★
and grace. A lovely disc—don’t miss it.’
– American Record Guide
– American Record Guide
Listen to the most attractive piano music of Latin American composers from this playlist!
for March
Playlists for March
Celebrate the beginning of Spring with our exciting selection of playlists! Enjoy the refreshing sounds of the new season with our curated playlist of works by Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Vivaldi and more! Explore brilliant classical works by women composers, including groundbreaking music from Florence Price, Jennifer Higdon, and many others with the Women Composers playlist. Relax with unCLASSIFIED’s Chill Classical playlist, the perfect soundtrack for a rainy spring day! Lastly, tap in to Grand Piano’s most popular keyboard recordings and lift the lid on a range of irresistible works!
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the Month
Artist of the Month – Olcay Bayır, vocalist
‘Working with ARC Music has been a pleasure. An amazing team, people full of love, care and professionalism. As performers, we are really sensitive about our music! What made me really happy and reassured was to see the amount of care and love that comes from every single person who works in the team. The support and respect they showed my music, sharing my artistic vision during the album artwork preparation, was very encouraging and positive. I would like to thank this wonderful team and I am really looking forward to our shared success, both now and in the future!’ – Olcay Bayır
Classically trained as a soprano, collaborations with musicians from all around the world have informed Bayır’s music as much as the rich tradition of Kurdish and Turkish folk songs of her youth. Born in Gaziantep in the south of Turkey – the geographical and cultural counterpart to Aleppo across the Syrian border – Olcay Bayır’s childhood was characterised by transition. Moving every few years to different areas of Anatolia gave the young Olcay an insight into the diverse cultural and religious approaches of the region, and what it means to be Anatolian: “I believe that culture – more than religion or nationality – provides identity. I’d rather talk about traditions and regions, rather than specific religions and nations. You are you, whatever religion or country you’re from.” At the age of 16, Olcay and her family moved to London, an experience she credits as forming the cornerstone of her musical identity. It was a time of intense vulnerability for Olcay. Not knowing the language rendered her practically mute; for some time, music was the manner by which Olcay could best interact with the new world around her.
Through her studies and collaborations in music, Olcay found her voice. Her debut album ‘Neva / Harmony’ (Riverboat Records, 2014) was a collection of Anatolian folk songs in her own arrangements, in which she sings in five languages. ‘Olcay Bayir is an impressive newcomer to London’s vibrant global music scene … this is an elegant and often gently exquisite set’, commented The Guardian.
The new album – Rüya – showcases Olcay’s own compositions for the first time. Rüya – the poignantly hopeful title track meaning ‘dream’ – speaks of Olcay’s dream for a better world which, fittingly, came to her while she slept. Olcay says she became a child again in that moment, innocently putting forth her wish for love and peace in the world.
This album, arranged and produced by Al MacSween and Giuliano Modarelli, exemplifies this and bears the musical stamp of their world-jazz collective Kefaya – a lilting west African feel somehow sits comfortably with the Kurdish song Ferzê, and the traditional Cypriot dance song Dolama is restructured with a catchy melodic hook and a groove that builds to an ecstatic climax.
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