NEWS FROM THE NAXOS MUSIC GROUP
September 2020
Label of the Month: NXN Recordings – Breaking the moulds. Shaping new sounds.
NXN Recordings is a new record label founded by Naxos Norway, run from Oslo, and distributed globally by the Naxos Music Group. The label believes that the shape of sound is unlimited and their goal is to release new Nordic music that will inspire and surprise audiences around the world.
When Norwegian music industry veteran Tomas Linnes took over as General Manager of Naxos Norway in September 2018, he soon saw an opportunity for creating a platform to release new and neo-Classical music from the vibrant music scene in Norway. He went about his mission and created the concept and the visual form of the label.
Founded in late 2019, NXN released its first digital album A Night At Studio Paradiso by Andreas Ihlebæk in April this year. Recorded live from an intimate concert, the performance was also filmed and premiered on the highly acclaimed German magazine Jazz Thing.
More albums followed and by August, three NXN releases have been praised by Norwegian and European press as “neo-classical excellence”, “a highly moving listening experience” and “a soundscape so beautiful and unique”.
NXN will be releasing four titles this autumn including an impressive concept album, a collection of song-writing excellence, a church recorded modern jazz-trio at their peak and a totally new take on beloved Christmas Songs.
Going forward, the label aims to continue to cross genre borders and release grand, new projects, beautiful music and help shape new and established artists.
Follow NXN Recordings on social media for more exciting news:
Artists of the Month – Heidi Torsvik and Lazerus Winter
– Beat Magazine
Norwegian singer/composer Heidi Torsvik and GRAMMY-nominated American producer/composer Lazerus Winter co-created the new double album Hidden Soul of the Fjords, joined by renowned soloists including Karl Seglem (tenor sax and Bukkehorn), Stein Urheim (electric guitar), Benedicte Maurseth (Hardanger Fiddle), Alexander Grieg (Contrabass), David Chelsom Vogt (Violin) and drummer Ivar Thormodsæter.
Exploring the haunting beauty of one of the earth’s most exquisitely majestic landscapes, Hidden Soul Of The Fjords is a musical journey, an ‘Elemental-Sonic Soundscape’ artfully expressing the primal origins, mythic mysteries and life and death realities of the stark and stunning Fjords of Western Norway. Initially composed in an old wooden home on the edge of the fjord waters and including multiple field recordings and found sounds from travels throughout the region, Hidden Soul of the Fjords touches the heart, mind and soul with a unique musical vision that might remind the listener of such diverse musical references as Arvo Pärt and Massive Attack. The project seeks to bring the magic of one of the earth’s greatest natural eco-systems to the all who listen in a one-of-a-kind ‘elemental-sonic soundscape’.
Heidi Torsvik began performing as a singer in public by the age of 8. She was in her first recording session by the age of 10 and as a teenager she performed with the likes of jazz legend Toots Thielemans. In her 20s she created several projects working with her pseudonym ‘Heidi Goodbye’ including The Last Hurrah which received universal critical acclaim. Along with her popular solo album work, Heidi continues to innovate and create visionary art with music, film, writing and explorations of new technology for recording and live performances.
Lazerus Winter has worked with a wider range of diverse music artists including Jean-Michel Jarre, Steely Dan and Mike Oldfield and is a GRAMMY-nominated, 12-time multi-gold and platinum award-winning record producer, composer, artist, musician and mastering/mix engineer. His early work includes the recording of Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly which was nominated for seven GRAMMY Awards. Lazerus has also worked on the Soundtracks for two Sundance-winning films, Dig! and Fuel. He has a master's degree in Consciousness Studies.
Naxos Music Group among the 2020 OPUS Klassik Award winners
Recordings from Naxos and its affiliated labels are among the recently announced winners of the 2020 OPUS Klassik Awards, Germany’s most prestigious awards body for classical music.
Particularly pleasing in this 250th anniversary year of Beethoven's birth was Naxos winning the Best Symphonic Recording (19th century) category for its edition of Beethoven's Complete Symphonies (8.505251), performed by the Danish Chamber Orchestra under Ádám Fischer. ‘These renditions showcase Beethoven’s revolutionary side in a way few other sets even come close to managing.’ (Fanfare)
Naxos also took the award for Best Opera Recording (20th–21st century) for Erich Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane (2.110584-85), an audiovisual production of Deutsche Oper Berlin, conducted by Donald Runnicles. ‘It is not surprising that this revelatory presentation of a great work concluded with twenty minutes of applause.’ (Ritmo)
![KORNGOLD, E.W.: Wunder der Heliane (Das) [Opera] (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2018) (NTSC)](images/2.110584-85.png "KORNGOLD, E.W.: Wunder der Heliane (Das) [Opera] (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2018) (NTSC)")
Daniel Müller-Schott won the award for Instrumental Solo (cello) in recognition of his release of #CelloUnlimited (C984191) on the Orfeo label. ‘To experience Daniel Müller-Schott’s intimate and instinctive understanding of the cello’s sound world throughout this wide variety of unaccompanied works is a completely compelling musical journey.’ (Gramophone)
Finally, German composer Detlev Glanert was recognised as Composer of the Year for his opera Oceane (OC985), another Deutsche Oper Berlin production that was released on the Oehms Classics label. ‘Dramatically and musically, it’s all wonderfully assured and convincing.’ (The Guardian)
![GLANERT, D.: Oceane [Opera]](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/OC985.jpg "GLANERT, D.: Oceane [Opera]")
Congratulations to all the artists for these distinguished acknowledgments of their singular musicianship. The awards will be announced and streamed on October 18th live from the Konzerthaus Berlin.
Two Creative Child Magazine awards for Naxos
Naxos has held education at the core of its mission to bring a love of classical music to the widest possible audience. The group has received Creative Child Magazine’s 2020 Kid's Product of the Year award for the Naxos MusicBox, as well as the 2020 Book of the Year in the Books for Kids or Parents category for the My First Piano Book.
Naxos MusicBox is a brand new, carefully produced and beautifully presented music resource for children, accessible through monthly or yearly subscriptions. Developed to enhance the music education of children aged 4–12, the colourful, clear design and specifically written texts will appeal to a young audience, whilst also provide parents plenty of materials and activities to try out with the children. Children can explore MusicBox, with its wealth of activities and resources, on their own, or together with their friends, parents or teachers.
Click here for a free 7-day trial of Naxos MusicBox
Bursting with life and humour, My First Piano Book flaunts the piano in all its glory to inspire a new audience. Each page is a treat to explore, as its animal characters show what they know (and what they don’t!). It truly is both informative and great fun.
This 72-page, fully-illustrated hardback adopts a unique approach for its comprehensive introduction to the world of the piano. Integrating performances by professional pianists with the early steps of playing the instrument, the publication includes two CDs and online tracks with music and narration, and follows in the wake of Naxos' internationally successful My First Classical Music Book by the same authors.
Special Offer on Presto Classical: 50% Off Hi-Res Downloads 2020
Renowned for its outstanding catalogue featuring works by both popular and lesser known composers, Naxos has produced over 1000 recordings in Hi-Res audio. The pinnacle of modern digital audio, Hi-Res files retain the higher definition used by sound engineers in the mastering process – enabling a considerably greater range of dynamics and frequencies, and more closely replicating the sound quality that engineers and musicians were working with in the studio.
Until 5th October 2020, Presto Classical is offering 50% off all Hi-Res downloads on Naxos – this is the perfect chance to try these great recordings in the best possible sound. The promotion includes brand new titles, too.
Hans Werner Henze’s Der Prinz von Homburg
Resonating powerfully with Hans Werner Henze’s pacifist perspective, Der Prinz von Homburg is based on a play by Heinrich von Kleist that opposes authority, celebrating a dreamer rather than a classical hero, and individualist freedom rather than militarist nationalism. Ingeborg Bachmann’s libretto heightens this message, and Henze’s chamber music setting is at once powerful and unpredictable. This visually stunning production stretches from intimate transparency to dramatic heights, in a critically acclaimed staging by the award-winning director Stephan Kimmig.
![HENZE, H.W.: Prinz von Homburg (Der) [Opera] (Staatsoper Stuttgart, 2019) (NTSC)](images/2.110668.png "HENZE, H.W.: Prinz von Homburg (Der) [Opera] (Staatsoper Stuttgart, 2019) (NTSC)")
‘The glowing intensity and sensitive musical interpretation of the work by Cornelius Meister and the Stuttgart State Orchestra is outstanding... With his high baritone, Robin Adams impresses as the Prince of Homburg.’
– Online Merker
‘[Vera Lotte Böcker] managed to do so admirably, she was always full of expression.’ – Bachtrack
CAST
| Friedrich Wilhelm / Elector of Brandenburg | Štefan Margita |
| The Electress, his wife | Helene Schneiderman |
| Princess Natalie of Orange, her niece | Vera-Lotte Böcker |
| Friedrich Artur, Prince of Homburg | Robin Adams |
| Count Hohenzoller | Moritz Kallenberg |
| Field Marshal Dörfling | Michael Ebbecke |
| Colonel Obrist Kottwitz | Friedemann Röhlig |
Orchestra of the Staatsoper Stuttgart
| Conductor | Cornelius Meister |
| Stage Director | Stephan Kimmig |
| Set Designer | Katja Haß |
| Video Director | Andy Sommer |
Filmed on 20 and 22 March 2019 at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Germany
A co-production by Staatsoper Stuttgart and BelAir Media
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 3,450 full-length videos, accessible anytime, anywhere.
Julia Severus: Who Played the Barjansky Stradivarius?
Julia Severus, who has recorded the complete piano works of Adolf Barjansky for Grand Piano, now seeks to unveil the mystery behind the Barjansky Stradivarius: which prestigious cellist, born in 1883, was the guardian of the master's legendary instrument? The name of Barjansky the virtuoso cellist was well known in worldwide musical circles during the first half of the 20th century but, paradoxically, that's where the daunting problem of identification began. Click here to read Julia Severus' article, in which she unveils the mystery behind the legendary instrument.
Adolf Barjansky was born in Odessa into a wealthy Russian-Jewish family, and received his musical education in Vienna, Paris and Leipzig, studying piano with Carl Reinecke and Salomon Judassohn. Barjansky composed relatively few works, but his highly attractive and original piano music reveals the influence of Schubert, Beethoven and Brahms with a wealth of Russian colour, as heard in the Fantasy Pieces. The 6 Piano Pieces are impressionistic and radiant, while the large-scale Piano Sonata No. 1 uses spatial sound as a principal means of expression, blending it with a highly modern simplicity and transparency of structure that anticipates 20th-century minimalism.
‘Pianist Julia Severus seems to be the perfect pianist to offer this music.’
– The Classical Music Guide Forums
‘Listening to these three works reveals a performance that is committed, powerful and often moving.’ – MusicWeb International
Celebrate Beethoven
Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth
In celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birth year, we have curated a special Celebrate Beethoven playlist which is refreshed monthly according to various interesting themes based on his life, compositional periods, genre, and more. The tracks are sourced from the Naxos Complete Beethoven Edition, a new 90-disc boxed set also released to mark the anniversary year, hailed by the critics or being the most comprehensive set available.
This month we focus on RARITIES AND WORLD PREMIERES of his music.
Ludwig van Beethoven is renowned for the monumental greatness of his orchestral, chamber and solo works, and is one of the most influential composers in the history of Western music. Less well known but similarly fascinating aspects of his output include numerous sketches and unpublished or unfinished pieces for piano, early versions of known works and all kinds of arrangements, transcriptions and reconstructions. Including recordings of unknown works such as Musik zu Carl Meisls Gelegenheitsfestspiel from Die Weihe des Hauses, these rarities always have important things to tell us about Beethoven’s vast legacy.
Follow the Celebrate Beethoven playlist on your favourite streaming platform to discover a wide range of works from one of the most influential composers in the history of classical music.
Themed Digital Album
Each month, we also have corresponding digital albums that you may download and enjoy again and again. Please click on the cover image to your left to download this month's release and remember to come back and visit our mini‑site each month for more amazing music!
This CELEBRATE BEETHOVEN catalogue contains an impressive collection of works by this master composer across the Naxos Music Group labels.
Beethoven’s Missa solemnis is the one work the composer admired above all his compositions. It was written for his great patron and friend Archduke Rudolf of Austria at around the same time that he embarked on his Ninth Symphony and as the writer Donald Tovey noted, ‘there is no choral and no orchestral writing, earlier or later, that shows a more thrilling sense of the individual colour of every chord.’ This insightful documentary follows Frieder Bernius on a journey of discovery as he immerses himself in Beethoven’s monumental masterpiece in preparation for a recording.
Boris Giltburg has set out to learn and film all 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven by the end of 2020. The project started as a personal exploration, driven by curiosity and his strong love of the Beethoven sonatas, and the recordings presented in this initial volume display Giltburg’s customary spirit, technical finesse and convey the electric atmosphere of the live recording.
Beethoven’s monumental contribution to Western classical music is celebrated here in this definitive collection marking the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Surveying the totality of his career and achievement, the Complete Edition spans orchestral, concerto, keyboard, chamber, music for the stage, choral and vocal works, encompassing his most familiar and iconic masterpieces, alongside rarities and recently reconstructed fragments and sketches in world premiere recordings.
Visit and bookmark the mini-site for this release, which will be regularly updated.
Review by ClassicsToday.com’s David Hurwitz:
In the recording studio: Tetzlaff-Vogt Duo reunite for a new Beethoven album
Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt, a dream team in chamber music, are joining their forces together on a new special Beethoven album to be released on Ondine in the coming future. This time they are playing three Beethoven’s Sonatas Op. 30 (Nos. 6–8). The recording took place at Sendesaal Bremen, where most of the recordings of these artists are produced.
Tetzlaff’s recording of violin concertos by Beethoven and Sibelius (ODE1334-2) with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Robin Ticciati recently received the Classical Music Awards 2020 nomination by the Gramophone Magazine in the Concerto category. ‘The engaging, ever-communicative artistry of Christian Tetzlaff led us to focus on him this issue – a quality perfectly demonstrated in these questing, excellent concerto performances.’ (Gramophone)
Baiba Skride plays Mozart’s Violin Concertos
Mozart composed his violin concertos in 1773 (K 207) and 1775 (K 211, 216, 218 and 219). These five works and the three single movements recorded here have been passed down complete and verified as authentic. The genesis of these works is closely linked to Mozart’s work as Kapellmeister at the Salzburg court, ending with probably the most notable kick-out in music history. Mozart scored no solo cadenzas for his violin concertos; in the practice of the time, they were improvised. All the cadenzas on these recordings are by Baiba Skride.
‘I know that there are so many different and super recordings of Mozart, but I think it is important to enjoy the music you have heard a thousand times and will hear a thousand times more with new eyes and simply allow the music to play.’ – Baiba Skride
‘Baiba is such an intuitive player. She has this rare quality of discovering the music as we play. So she never plays exactly the same. There is a wonderful sense of creating, discovering and finding new ways.’ – Eivind Aadland
– The Strad
Visit naxos.com to view Baiba Skride’s complete discography.
Playlists for September
Looking for new music? Our selection of curated playlists has you covered with music to complement the season, moment, or activity! Whether you’re working from home or studying for your next big test, get in the zone with Focus Fuel, take a moment to relax with Coffee & Chill, feel the love with Grand Piano’s Romantic Piano playlist, and discover the rich heritage of classical music from Latin America in unCLASSIFIED’s featured playlist. Happy listening!
Catalani’s aria featured in Chanel’s film
The music of Alfredo Catalani’s well-known aria Ebben? ne andrò lontana from La Wally is featured in the following video to highlight the contemporary elegance of the Chanel’s 2019/20 Métiers d’art collection.
Need to license some music for a project and don’t know where to start? Visit Naxos Licensing to find out how!
Jazz stimulates the mind, explore at Naxos Music Library JAZZ
Naxos Music Library Jazz is one of the most comprehensive collections of jazz music available online. It offers over 230,000 tracks from more than 20,200 albums. It boasts a wide range of jazz music, from jazz legends to contemporary jazz. Recordings of over 32,000 artists are represented. Naxos Music Library Jazz comprises the catalogues of over 520 labels, including Warner Jazz, Fantasy and others.
Visit www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/jazz and get free 15-minute preview!
Take the world of jazz wherever you go with mobile applications for Apple devices. Login the NML Jazz app with your member playlist account and listen to the playlists that you have created. Scroll through the categories list to find the style you want to listen to. Play on a Bluetooth speaker while practicing, relaxing, exercising, or eating dinner.
Who Played the
Barjansky Stradivarius?
