Spectacular New Naxos Blu-ray Audio Disc
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SZYMANOWSKI Symphonies Nos 1 and 2
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra • Antoni Wit, conductor
Naxos Orchestral Blu-ray Audio NBD0021
Although Szymanowski later dubbed his Symphony No. 1 a “contrapuntal-harmonic-orchestral monster” and disavowed the influence of Wagner, Reger and Richard Strauss, it is an astonishingly powerful work by a composer only in his mid-20s and still enthralls listeners a century after its première. The unusually structured Symphony No. 2 is a work of great impact and invention, with many passionate and varied contrasts in its use of solo instruments, in particular the violin. On their CD release, these thrilling interpretations of Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 1 (8.570722) earned 5 STARS from BBC Music Magazine, while the Symphony No. 2 (8.570721) gained Gramophone Editor’s Choice and 5 STARS for these “deliriously sensual scores” from Classic FM.
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Download CD version (8.570721)
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Sample track from this album
Symphony No 2: 2nd Movement, Variation 6
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Spectacular New Naxos Blu-ray Video Disc
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ALFANO Cyrano de Bergerac (Blu-ray Disc Version)
Plácido Domingo (Cyrano) • Sondra Radvanovsky (Roxane)
Arturo Chacón Cruz (Christian) • Rod Gilfry (De Guiche)
Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana
Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana • Patrick Fournillier, conductor
Michal Znaniecki, stage director
Naxos Opera Blu-ray Video NBD0005
While best known today for having composed the ending to Puccini’s unfinished Turandot, Franco Alfano wrote some dozen operas, including Cyrano de Bergerac (1936) with a libretto by Henri Cain based on Edmond Rostand’s drama of the same name. It is a moving tale of romantic misunderstanding, swash buckling bravado and heartbreaking loyalty, in which the eloquent Cyrano feels unable to express his love for Roxane because of his famously protuberant nose - except on behalf of his handsome but inarticulate friend, Christian. When Domingo and Radvanovsky sang Cyrano and Roxane at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Andante magazine wrote: “Incredibly, Cyrano is his 121st role. And it suits him splendidly… Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was luminous as Roxane, her passionate outbursts showing off her powerful upper register to good effect”.
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