Translate
This month’s must-hear highlights include Florence Price’s largest choral work Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, alongside several other world premiere recordings that reflect her deep literary and spiritual roots, conducted by John Jeter; Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks, featuring sacred gems from Cambridge’s oldest college chapel performed by the Choir of Peterhouse, Cambridge under Simon Jackson; Peter Breiner’s Greatest Melodies presenting elegant piano arrangements of beloved works by Tchaikovsky and Mozart; Zygmunt Noskowski’s Symphony No. 3 “From Spring to Spring” and Steppe, a vivid orchestral journey with Antoni Wit; Donizetti’s powerful Roberto Devereux in a star-studded Donizetti Opera Festival production; Max Reger’s rarely heard Four Tone Poems after Böcklin and Romantic Suite from the Gävle Symphony Orchestra and Jaime Martín; and a joyful staging of The Gondoliers, bursting with wit and melody from the Scottish Opera and partners; and more.
Florence Price had an abiding love of literature, setting poets affiliated with the Harlem Renaissance as well as Byron, Robert Frost and others. Her largest choral work is Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, which sets a poem published in 1914 imagining Lincoln surveying the modern world with dismay. Song of Hope, which uses Price’s own text, is an intense supplication that also draws on spirituals. Two sacred works and a number of charming, smaller-scale settings devoted to the natural world complete the programme, which features a number of world premiere recordings. Conductor John Jeter has already raised Price’s profile with three previous Naxos recordings of her symphonic music: ‘Conductor John Jeter … [has] been a driving force behind the reintroduction of the composer’s richly textured, tuneful symphonies to American audiences.’ (WXQR (New York) on 8.559827) This latest album will undoubtedly extend that accolade.
Collected for use in the chapel of Cambridge University’s Peterhouse college in the 1630s, and hidden during the Civil War, the Peterhouse Partbooks represent one of the most important manuscript collections of sacred choral music from the period. In this recording, the Peterhouse choir presents a snapshot of its chapel’s distinctive musical heritage in a programme that reflects both the discovery of recently unearthed music and the foundations of a tradition still very much alive in today’s Anglican church. Ranging from the Venetian splendour of Croce’s eight-part anthem Omnes gentes plaudit to the penitential intimacy of Tallis’s O God be merciful, this release will have a sure and equal appeal to both scholars and lovers of early religious choral music.
Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42, TH 116: No. 3, Mélodie. Moderato con moto
Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 "Turkish": III. Rondeau. Tempo di menuetto
* Only available via download and streaming
Conductor, pianist, arranger and composer Peter Breiner is one of the world’s most recorded musicians, with over 200 releases and more than two million albums sold. He adds to his significant footprint in the Naxos catalogue with two digital releases featuring his piano arrangements of music by two giants of the classical canon. The respective programmes present selections from Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, songs, operas, ballets and chamber works; and from Mozart's symphonies, concertos, choral works and lesser-known compositions. The definitive performances are by Peter Breiner himself.
Available on all digital streaming platforms on 8 August.
Although Polish composer Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909) is less well known for his works than those of his teacher (Stanisław Moniuszko) and his students (Karol Szymanowski and Mieczysław Karłowicz), he was nonetheless the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland for most of the 19th century; he also introduced the idea of the symphonic poem to colleagues who would follow in his footsteps. This programme of his Third Symphony and the symphonic poem The Steppe, Op. 66 blends sweeping Romanticism with Polish folk spirit. The symphony is a journey through the seasons, while The Steppe evokes Poland’s vast landscapes with colourful hints of Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia. Conductor Antoni Wit breathes new life into these forgotten gems to produce a uniquely engaging orchestral programme.
![DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux [Opera] (Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, 2024) (NTSC)](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-38076.jpg "DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux [Opera] (Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, 2024) (NTSC)")
Roberto Devereux is the fourth and finest of Donizetti’s works dedicated to the Tudor period of English history, and is considered by many to be the ultimate masterpiece amongst his Italian operas. The tragic narrative is a tale of intrigue and vengeance in the court of the elderly and weary Queen Elizabeth I, with Donizetti’s powerful score expressing all the intense drama and sorrowful emotion demanded by the opera’s finely etched characters. This star-studded Donizetti Opera Festival production received wide critical acclaim, being hailed as ‘a glowing success’ (apemusicale.it) while, more specifically, ‘in the title role, John Osborn is simply perfect.’ (Opera Libera)
Also available on Blu-ray Video (DYN-58076)
The 150th anniversary of Reger’s birth was celebrated in 2023, yet his music appears on concert programmes only very occasionally, despite being highly admired during his lifetime. Paul Hindemith described Reger as ‘the last giant of music’ and when Schoenberg founded his Society for Private Musical Performances in 1918, Max Reger, along with Debussy and Bartók, was one of the most frequently performed composers. Admiring Reger's importance as an innovator, Schoenberg promoted his music because ‘he still remains unfamiliar’ and ‘I consider him a genius.’ This new album from the Gävle Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jaime Martín amply vindicates Schoenberg's judgment with fine performances of two of Reger’s orchestral works written towards the end of his life: the Four Tone Poems after Böcklin and the Romantic Suite.
![SULLIVAN, A.: Gondoliers (The) [Operetta] (Scottish Opera, 2021) (NTSC)](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/OA1393D.jpg "SULLIVAN, A.: Gondoliers (The) [Operetta] (Scottish Opera, 2021) (NTSC)")
Known for its sun-drenched, fun-filled disposition and with more ‘tra la las’ per square inch than any other opera in the canon, The Gondoliers is a joy from start to finish. As the twelfth of Gilbert and Sullivan's fourteen operas, it's been an audience favourite since its first performance in 1889. The tunes are infectious, the romantic and family conflicts heartfelt, and the satire of rank and social station constantly entertaining and relevant. This Scottish Opera co-production with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and State Opera South Australia is performed by some of the world’s finest Gilbert and Sullivan enthusiasts and exponents. Under conductor Derek Clark and stage director Stuart Maunder, you'll surely join the critics in finding it ‘Gleeful and deliciously frivolous.’ (The Stage ★★★★)
Also available on Blu-ray Video (OABD7305D)