The World's Leading Classical Music Label
Newsletter 127  
December 2007  

December at Naxos.com



Explore the finest of British quartet music by composers such as Britten, Elgar, Ireland, among others with the Maggini Quartet.  Listen to their new release of Berkeley’s String Quartets Nos. 1-3 (8.570415).

Enter Rossini’s World of Operas, where you will find situational operas of love found in disguise, guardians misled and confused, humour enhanced by fine dramatic art. This is the perfect introduction to the operas, which includes the new release, Mosé in Egitto (8.660220-21).

Discover the music of a leading Czech composer of the 20th century, Bohuslav Martinů. We have selected a cross-section of recordings of his orchestral, chamber, keyboard, and vocal and choral works, which includes the complete symphonies and Volume 4 of the Complete Piano Music (8.570215), another Naxos December release.


For more of Naxos’ new releases available for streaming on the site, click here


Christmas comes to Naxos Radio


This month Naxos Radio introduces 3 new channels for the festive season. The new channels are A Christmas Celebration, Festive Moods and Christmas Nostalgia. Subscribe now to enjoy commercial free streaming 24 hours a day. Subscribe Now!


Most Streamed Tracks on Naxos.com - November 2007


Click on each track description to view the full album.

  1. I. Allegro moderato
    From the album KRAUS: Violin Concerto / Olympie / Azire 8.570334
  2. I. Allegro molto
    From the album HAYDN: Symphonies, Vol. 32 (Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12) 8.557771
  3. Polonaise No. 1 in C major
    From the album BACH, W.F.: Keyboard Works, Vol. 1 8.557966
  4. Fantasia on Christmas Carols
    From the album VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on Christmas Carols / Hodie 8.570439
  5. Homenaje a Rossini, Op. 2
    From the album SARASATE: Music for Violin and Piano, Vol. 2 8.570192
  6. II. Adagio
    From the album KRAUS: Violin Concerto / Olympie / Azire 8.570334
  7. Gloria
    From the album PALESTRINA: Missa Papae Marcelli 8.550573
  8. Fanfare da Festa
    From the album CHRISTMAS Elms: Festive Frolic - A Celebration of Christmas 8.570793
  9. I. La fuga in Egitto (The Flight into Egypt)
    From the album RESPIGHI: Vetrate di chiesa / Impressioni Brasiliane / Rossiniana 8.557711
  10. II. Andante
    From the album HAYDN: Symphonies, Vol. 32 (Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12) 8.557771

Album of the Month

8.557506
STRAVINSKY: Later Ballets

Commissioned by George Balanchine, Jeu de cartes is a prime example of melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas emerging helter-skelter from Stravinsky’s imagination. Unlike his other ballets, it contains no slow music and no lovers’ pas-de-deux adagio. Danses concertantes was the first large-scale piece composed entirely in what was to be Stravinsky’s Hollywood home for the next 24 years. First performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Robert Craft, Variations may be described as the densest piece of music Stravinsky ever wrote, yet the ingenious rhythmic structures allow every note to be heard. Ezra Pound, in a balcony at the Teatro La Fenice for a September 1934 performance of the Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, wrote: “the piano and orchestra are as two shells of a walnut”. Alban Berg, who had shared the same concert with Stravinsky, remarked to the latter: “I wish I could write such happy music”.


New Releases

Some releases may not be available on CD in all countries – please contact the Naxos distributor
in your territory. For a complete list of new releases available, click here

  Naxos

8.660220-21 ROSSINI: Mosè in Egitto

Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto combines the biblical narrative of the release of Moses and the Israelites from Egypt, and a more characteristically operatic element in the love of Pharaoh’s son Osiride for the Hebrew girl Elcìa, making this also a typical conflict between love and duty. The piece was reworked in 1822 for Paris with new arias, but is given here in the slightly revised Italian version of 1819, which includes the famous Act 3 Preghiera of Moses.


San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples (Elsa Evangelista, Chorus-master); Wildbad Wind Band (Martin Koch, Band-leader); Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Antonino Fogliani

8.570382 SCARLATTI, D. : StabatMater / Missabreve, "Lastella" / TeDeum/ Magnificat

Domenico Scarlatti is known today for his many harpsichord sonatas. The earlier part of his career, however, was concentrated on sacred and secular vocal music. While his Te Deum was probably written for Lisbon, the other works included here come from Scarlatti’s earlier period in Rome, where he was employed for a time at Santa Maria Maggiore and officially at the papal Cappella Giulia. The best known example of Scarlatti’s church music is his Stabat Mater. A remarkable synthesis of the old and the new, the work is scored for ten voices, two five part choirs, and continuo; all voices are seldom heard together but are deployed in a series of contrasting and sometimes florid textures.

Immortal Bach Ensemble, Morten Schuldt-Jense

8.570378 F. and K. DOPPLER: Music for Flutes and Orchestra

Brothers Franz and Karl Doppler were both accomplished flautists. Their compositions, sometimes written together, reflect the tastes of the period, making great use of Hungarian themes. The famous Duettino sur des motifs américains quotes Hail Columbia, Boatman Dance and The Star-spangled Banner, ending with the inescapable Yankee Doodle. Intended for recitals and conceived with piano accompaniment, the transcriptions and pot-pourris featured on this recording have been orchestrated at the request of Patrick Gallois. The Concerto for Two Flutes is a more ambitious work, suggesting the young Mendelssohn or Weber.


Patrick Gallois and Kazunori Seo (flutes); Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä, Gallois

8.570210 BACH: Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord

Bach’s three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, BWV 1027-29 have been variously dated, either to Bach’s Cöthen period, where as Kapellmeister he was responsible for all instrumental music, and had at his disposal a small but outstanding ensemble of musicians, or to the later period in Leipzig, when he was occupied with the Collegium Musicum. These intensely expressive and often technically demanding, yet intimate works have the usual texture of Bach’s instrumental sonatas, with two upper parts supported by a bass part.

Mikko Perkola (viola da gamba), Aapo Häkkinen (harpsichord)


8.570449 DOWLAND: Lute Music, Vol. 3 - Pavans, Galliards and Almains

The pre-eminent lutenist of his day, John Dowland was an almost exact contemporary of William Shakespeare. This third volume of Dowland’s Lute Music (Volumes 1 and 2 are available on Naxos 8.557586 and 8.557862) explores the three principal dances of the time, Pavans, Galliards and Almains. Of particular note are the strikingly unusual Galliard on a Galliard of Bachelar, which takes the opening four bars of an original dance by Dowland’s contemporary Daniel Bachelar and then branches off into its own world of great variety and fantasy, and the beautiful and serious Pavana Doulant, a work written from the very heart of the composer known as the ‘English Orpheus’.

Nigel North (lute)

8.570372 THOMAS, J.: Harp Music

Welsh harpist John Thomas was one of the most acclaimed harpist-composers of his time. His career culminated as official harpist to Queen Victoria. John Thomas' Welsh background, combined with classical training in London led him to composer a multitude of works in classical style, all imbued with Welsh folk melodies. This CD features the most captivating duos, as well as delightful solos, each displaying use of lyrical melodic material.


Lipman Harp Duo

8.570460 SVEINBJORNSSON: Piano Trios / Violin Sonata

The music of Iceland’s first composer, Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, is reflective of his personality, described by his contemporaries as vivacious and affectionate but temperamental at times. This recording celebrates the composer’s 160th anniversary by presenting an instrumental portrait of Sveinbjörnsson that should help to introduce his music to a wider audience.

Nína Margrét Grímsdóttir (piano);Auður Hafsteinsdóttir (violin);Sigurgeir Agnarsson (cello); Sigurður Bjarki Gunnarsson (cello)s



View all Naxos new releases



Feedback
What would you like to see (or see more of) in the Naxos.com newsletter? Please e-mail us your suggestions.
Naxos Bestsellers
Click here to view the Charts
Send a Gift
Send a gift that will last the whole year through!
Give a one-year Naxos subscription to your family and friends!

◊   Advertisements  ◊

Naxos Jazz


Subscription
Subscribe to Naxos today and enjoy quality music on demand
Access to over 5,000 CDs!
More than 50 new CDs added every month!
Access to all podcasts
Receive monthly newsletter
More Naxos Services
Services below require a separate subscription. Click the link to find out how to subscribe.
Naxos Music Library
Naxos Radio

Newsletter Archive
Missed any of the new releases and other information we sent out in the past months? Visit our Newsletter Archive.
To ensure you receive all our messages, please add no-reply@mailer.naxos.com and Customer.Service@naxos.com
to your email address book. This will allow your email filter to recognize our messages as legitimate.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome at Customer.Service@naxos.com

Unsubscribe
| Terms and Conditions of Use

Level 11, Cyberport 1, 100 Cyberport Road, Hong Kong
©Naxos Rights International Ltd. 2007. All rights reserved.


Home of Classicsl Music
Home of Classicsl Music The Music of Joseph Martin Kraus Christopher Hinterhuber Music Journeys to China's Great Tourist Destinations