Naxos recordings are available from good record stores around the world. You may also purchase them online from NAXOSDIRECT and other leading retailer websites. Read more

Naxos Classical Music Spotlights are a great way to learn more about the artists, composers and music on Naxos recordings. A fascinating series of Naxos Classical Music Spotlights is scheduled for June. Eagerly followed by music lovers around the world, these episodes are also invaluable resources for music teachers and students. Read more

You can also read interviews with many Naxos artists on naxos.com, including these:

• Gerard Schwarz: A Life in Music
  
• Elizabeth Farr: My Passion Is My Profession
  
• Nigel North: Doing Dowland Proud
  
• Marin Alsop: Innovator and Rebel
  

Read more interviews
Visit the Naxos Blog for more podcasts

Naxos distributes Capriccio, DACAPO, OUR Recordings and Phoenix Edition worldwide. See what’s coming this month as well as titles that have recently been added to naxos.com. Read more

The world’s leading critics acclaim Naxos recordings. See this month’s selection of the most highly praised titles on Naxos and the labels we distribute worldwide. Read more

And, of course, we’re delighted to announce all of this month’s New Releases.

Distributed Labels: Capriccio | Dacapo | Phoenix Edition

There are no Naxos DVD new releases this month. Recent Naxos DVD releases include:

2.110268 DONIZETTI Maria Stuarda
Sferisterio Opera Festival, 2007

Filmed at the Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca, Italy, on 4-6 August 2007 as part of the 33rd Festival of the Valle d'Itria, Italy, this centenary performance of Umberto Giordano’s Marcella was prepared from the composer’s manuscript, the score and parts having been destroyed during World War II. ‘a fine, creditable account of an interesting rarity.’ (MusicWeb International)

See more great Naxos Opera DVDs

See All Naxos DVDs

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8.570791 KORNGOLD Violin Concerto, Much Ado about Nothing,
Schauspiel Overture
Philippe Quint, violin • Orquesta Sinfónica de Mineria
Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor

Much admired today as a pioneer of film music, Erich Korngold was a precociously talented composer of concert and chamber music, opera and stage works, as his Schauspiel Overture, written when he was only fourteen, shows. The phenomenal success of his Violin Concerto, an ultra-romantic masterpiece drawing themes from his scores for the films Another Dawn, Anthony Adverse and The Prince and the Pauper, has overshadowed much of his other music, though his Much Ado About Nothing Suite has remained popular for its expressivity, humour and robust good spirits.

8.570584 TANEYEV Oresteya Overture and Entr'acte,
Overture in D minor, Overture on a Russian Theme
Stanislav Jankovsky, clarinet • Novosibirsk State Philharmonic Chamber Choir Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra • Thomas Sanderling, conductor

The Temple of Apollo at Delphi is the best-known excerpt from Taneyev’s only opera, Oresteia, the mammoth overture to which has all the force of a Romantic symphonic poem. His Overture on a Russian Theme is based on the same folksong that Rimsky-Korsakov used in his own Fantasy on Russian Themes while the shorter works demonstrate in various ways Taneyev’s scrupulous craftsmanship. Thomas Sanderling and the Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra’s acclaimed recording of Taneyev’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 3 is available on Naxos 8.570336.

8.570752-53 MAYR The Marriage of Tobias
Judith Spiesser, soprano (Raguel, the father)
Margriet Buchberger, soprano (Anna, Raguel’s wife)
Cornelia Horak, soprano (Sara, their daughter)
Stefanie Irányi, mezzo-soprano (Tobias, a young man)
Susanne Bernhard, soprano (The Archangel Raphael)
Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble • Directed from the harpsichord
by Franz Hauk

One of the most important composers of opera and sacred music between Mozart and Rossini, and Donizetti’s teacher, Johann Simon Mayr also composed several major oratorios, including David (8.570366-67) and
The Marriage of Tobias. Like Haydn’s more famous Il Ritorno di Tobia
(8.570300-02), Mayr’s work recounts how the archangel Raphael miraculously helps the boy Tobias to cure his aged father’s blindness. Conductor Franz Hauk prepared the performing edition for this exciting new recording. Mayr’s L’Amor coniugale (8.660198-99), and L’Armonia and Cantata sopra la morte di Beethoven (8.557958) are also available.

8.570739 NIELSEN Symphonies Nos 4 & 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / DR • Michael Schønwandt, conductor

The most important Danish composer of the first third of the twentieth century, Carl Nielsen was prolific in almost all genres. The six Symphonies are essentially tonal, emotionally direct works, which alternate long lines of melody with passages of blazing energy. Symphony No 4
‘The Inextinguishable’, his most dramatic, conveys ‘the elemental will to live’, while in his Symphony No 5, written after the 1914-18 war, Nielsen develops new and stronger rhythms and more advanced harmonies. Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6 (8.570737) and Nos. 2 and 3 (8.570738) are also available.

8.557793 BRUCH Violin Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Maxim Fedotov, violin • Russian Philharmonic Orchestra
Dmitry Yablonsky, conductor

While Max Bruch’s first violin concerto is one of the most popular in the repertoire, his other two remain relatively unknown. The second, dedicated to the virtuoso Pablo Sarasate, opens with a rhapsodic Adagio brimming with sublime melodies, its declamatory middle movement leading to a rhythmic finale. In contrast, the third, from 1891, launches heroically, the soloist taking centre-stage in the lyrical Adagio middle movement, a perpetuum mobile rondo finale capping the work. Maxim Fedotov’s recording of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No 1 can be heard on Naxos 8.557689. His recording of the Scottish Fantasy is available on 8.557395.

8.570961 SCHUBERT Part Songs 1 for Mixed Voices (Lied Edition 32)
Sibylla Rubens, soprano • Silke Schwarz, soprano • Regina Jakobi, alto Ingeborg Danz, alto • Markus Schäfer, tenor • Marcus Ullmann, tenor
Thomas E. Bauer, bass • Markus Flaig, bass • Marcus Schmidl, bass
Ulrich Eisenlohr, piano

Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music.
The Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition presents all Schubert’s Lieder,
over 700 songs, grouped according to the poets who inspired him.
Thanks to Bärenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (New Schubert Edition), Tübingen, which uses primary sources, the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team. Ulrich Eisenlohr, praised as the ‘splendid accompanist’ on many of Naxos’s Schubert Lieder discs, and on Mozart’s Complete Songs (8.557900-01) joins nine outstanding singers on this first volume of Schubert’s delectable part-songs.

See all albums in the Schubert Lied Edition

8.570938 FAURE Piano Quintets
Fine Arts Quartet • Cristina Ortiz, piano

Gabriel Fauré’s chamber works, long overshadowed by his popular Requiem (Naxos 8.550765), are regaining their rightful place, as the success of his Violin Sonatas (8.550906) and Cello Sonatas (8.557889) attests. Dubbed the ‘Master of Charm’ by Debussy, Fauré responded to the quasi-orchestral opportunities offered by the piano quintet with two gorgeous works whose frequent economy of means belies the wealth of his inventiveness, the subtlety of his burgeoning counterpoint and the sheer beauty of his melodic and harmonic inspiration. Debussy’s back-handed remark short-changes the value of a true master composer.

8.570255 BEETHOVEN Piano Trio Op 1 No3,
Symphony No 2 (arr. for Piano Trio)
Xyrion Trio - Nina Tichman, piano • Ida Bieler, violin • Maria Kliegel, cello

Haydn’s misgivings about Beethoven’s third piano trio were not entirely unfounded: symphonic in conception, it was a breakthrough work – Beethoven’s first masterpiece and eventually one of his most popular chamber pieces – and retains its power to amaze to this day. His Symphony No. 2 also broke through Classical conventions, a scherzo replacing the customary minuet. In the composer’s own arrangement for piano trio it loses none of its impact. The youthful Allegretto in E flat is, in effect, a minuet without the expected trio section.

8.570780 GINASTERA String Quartets Nos 1-3
Ensō Quartet • Lucy Shelton, soprano

Naxos’s recording of Ginastera’s Complete Music for Cello and Piano (8.570569) was hailed for ‘the music’s percussive rhythms as well as its reflective and mysterious melodic invention’ by The Strad. Similarly, each of his highly individual and engaging string quartets abound in kinetic energy, glowingly evocative writing and the ever-present rhythms and sounds of his native Argentinean music. In his expressive Third String Quartet a solo soprano, fully integrated into the quartet texture, sings texts by Alberti, Jiménez and Lorca to create an intensely coloured spectrum of words and music.

Beneath the shimmering surface of Delius’s little-known violin sonatas are the latent exuberance and nostalgic rapture which have made his orchestral music so popular. Across the decades separating the B major Violin Sonata of 1892 from the Third Violin Sonata of 1930, Delius developed a unique musical language which leavened the post-Romantic heritage of Wagner with French Impressionism and European and Afro-American folk idioms; an intoxicating mix that moved Sir Thomas Beecham to call him ‘the last great apostle in our time of beauty and romance in music’.

8.572106 LAMPEL Chamber Music
Parisii Quartet • Sébastien Risler, piano • Uppsala Chamber Soloists
Régis Pasquier, violin • Emmanuel Strosser, piano • Henri Demarquette, cello

Each of the works on this disc embodies Swedish composer David Lampel’s paradoxical idea that ‘music can be heard before it starts, and continues after the last note’. All are performed by the musicians for whom they were composed or to whom they were dedicated. Lampel’s musical imagination transforms his Piano Sonata intoa game of hide-and-seek. His String Sextet and Prelude and Chaconne pay homage to Schoenberg and Bach respectively, while the String Quartet and Violin Sonata reinvent Classical and Romantic style within an accessible modern idiom.

8.570604 Wild Grass – ZHOU Su, Pianogongs, Taiping Drum,
Wild Grass, Taigu Rhyme, CHEN Monologue, Chinese Ancient Dances
Beijing New Music Ensemble

The music of multi-award-winning Chinese-born American composer
Zhou Long and of Chen Yi, the first woman to receive a master’s degree in composition in China and the first woman to present a full evening multimedia orchestral concert in the USA, represent highly individual contributions to contemporary trends in cultural cross-fertilisation. Their compositions often bring into fascinating juxtaposition Western and Eastern instruments and compositional techniques that are alive both to contemporary trends and to ancient traditions. The results are by turns haunting, thrilling, earthy and mystical.

8.570603 GE GAN-RU String Quartets No 1 ‘Fu’,  No 4 ‘Angel Suite’  
& No 5, ‘Fall of Baghdad’
Modern Works Quartet

China’s first avant-garde composer, Ge Gan-Ru studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music before obtaining his doctorate from Columbia University in the USA. The composer notes that he ‘often tries to combine contemporary Western compositional techniques with my Chinese experience and Chinese musical characteristics to create a new music world’. Modernworks! was founded in 1997 in New York by cellist Madeleine Shapiro to focus exclusively on recent string repertoire. The ensemble has given premières of works by Berio, Gubaidulina and Xenakis.

8.570533 Song of the Stars – A celebration of Catalan Music by BLANCAFORT, CASALS, GRANADOS, MORERA & OLTRA
Voices of Ascension • Dennis Keene, conductor • Douglas Riva, piano
Mark Kruczek, organ • Erica Kiesewetter, violin

A rich musical heritage and vibrant contemporary culture intersect in Catalunya in north-eastern Spain. Granados’s long-lost masterpiece Song of the Stars is comparable to a virtuoso piano concerto with chorus and organ rather than orchestra, gloriously combining Romantic-Modernista poetry with post-Wagnerian harmonies. The internationally famous cellist Pau Casals also composed a small body of very beautiful music, including the deeply spiritual choral works on this disc. Morera’s The Nightingale and Blancafort’s Love Song are evocative of their Catalan texts, while Oltra’s Echo and Prelude explore themes of memory and hope through images of nature.

8.572139 PALOMO Mi jardin solitario,
Madrigal y Cinco canciones sefardies, Concierto de Cienfuegos
María Bayo, soprano • Pepe Romero, guitar • The Romero Guitar Quartet Seville Royal Symphony Orchestra • Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, conductor

Acclaimed for her ‘beautifully clear, warm and intelligent coloratura’
(The Gramophone) and ‘naturally bright, vernal timbre’ (BBC Music Magazine), Spanish soprano María Bayo has shone as a prima donna internationally, yet reserves a special place for the music of her native country. With legendary guitarist Pepe Romero, she is an ideal interpreter of the heartfelt songs of Lorenzo Palomo, one of Spain’s most successful contemporary composers. The Romero Guitar Quartet premiered Palomo’s beguiling Concierto de Cienfuegos. His equally appealing Andalusian Nocturnes and Spanish Songs are also available (8.557135).

8.572024 MARTINŮ Complete Piano Music Vol 6
Giorgio Koukl

Giorgio Koukl’s survey of Martinu°’s complete piano music has been praised
as “a delight” (Gramophone) and “estimable and important”
(MusicWeb International). Since the release of Volume 4 (8.570215), several manuscripts of previously unperformed, unknown or lost works have been discovered. While Volume 5 (8.572175) presented six polkas and five waltzes, this disc draws on manuscript sources for Jeux (Games) Series I,
Three Lyric Pieces, Evening at the Shore, Song Without Words and the Nocturne, works which deepen our appreciation both of Martinů’s genius
and of Koukl’s advocacy of his music.

8.570031 VIVALDI The Four Seasons
(Transcribed For Piano By Jeffrey Biegel)
Jeffrey Biegel

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons are among the most popular of Baroque concertos and have inspired musicians to perform them in their original form and in many different guises. Following the lead given by J.S. Bach when he transcribed a number of Vivaldi’s other concertos for keyboard, this disc presents a sparkling new version of The Four Seasons for solo piano by Jeffrey Biegel, complemented by equally effective arrangements by
Andrew Gentile of two of Vivaldi’s other beloved concertos for mandolin
and lute.

8.572341 Yun-yi Qin Piano Recital - MOZART, SCHUBERT, HAYDN, GRANADOS, SCRIABIN, FRIEDMAN, LISZT, PRIETO
Yun-yi Qin (Winner of the Jaén 2008 International Piano Competition)

A multiple prize-winner at several international competitions, the young Chinese pianist Yun-yi Qin here presents a wide-ranging recital of major works and delightful miniatures that showcases her remarkable ability.
The light-fingered elegance required by Haydn and Mozart, the technical and expressive challenges posed by Schubert, and the almost demonic power demanded by Liszt are effortlessly met by this extraordinary teenager,
whose assured technique, musical maturity, unaffected virtuosity and busy concert schedule already mark her as an important artist.

8.570779 CASTELNUOVO -TEDESCO
Complete Music for Two Guitars Vol 2 - Preludes and Fugues
Nos 13-24 from ‘Les Guitares Bien Tempérées , Fuga Elegiaca
Brasil Guitar Duo

8.570454 REGER Organ Works Vol 9
Josef Still, Johannes Klais Organ of Trier Cathedral

8.572231 Millennium Canons – Looking Forward
Looking Back – PUTS, NEWMAN, KUSTER, MACKEY, HOLST, GORB
The University of Georgia Wind Ensemble • John P Lynch, conductor

Comprising the University’ s most accomplished musicians, The University of Georgia Wind Ensemble commissions and premieres new compositions and performs other significant works from the wind band repertoire. From Holst’s Hammersmith, depicting the good natured Saturday night crowds in west London during the 1930s, and Millennium Canons, composed by Kevin Puts to welcome the 2000s with a fanfare, to Lost Gulch Lookout, a piece reflective of the craggy, colorful landscape of Kristin Kuster’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado, a spirit of celebration and lyricism infuses the entire disc.

See other Naxos Wind Band Classics

8.559618 GERBER Chamber Music - Piano Trio, Duo, Elegy,
Notturno, Gershwiniana
Kurt Nikkanen, violin & viola • Cho-Liang Lin, violin • Cyrus Beroukhim, violin Brinton Smith, cello • Sara Davis Buechner, piano

Each of Steven Gerber’s works is ‘an important addition to music…its sense of evolution from previous generations welcome at a time when change seems to have become a virtue in itself’ (Fanfare). Whether meditating on Gershwin’s music or classic folksongs, paying tribute to Shostakovich or exploring the possibilities offered by a particular musical idea, his solo and chamber works can possess the imagination and haunt the memory of listeners in a way that is both authentically American yet also universal in its humane spirit.

8.556839 The Best of Purcell
Various Artists

Recognised during his lifetime as a genius, Henry Purcell subsequently influenced countless classical composers from Handel to Britten. This delightful assortment of his best-known works includes the beautiful yet melancholy ‘Dido’s Lament’ from his perennially popular opera Dido and Aeneas and the joyful Jubilate Deo for choir and orchestra, as well as some of his instrumental works; the elegant Fantazia in C minor is a particularly exquisite example of the English composer’s mastery.

8.556840 The Best of Dowland
Various Artists

The Renaissance composer John Dowland (1563-1626) was the foremost lutenist and lute song composer of his generation. While renowned as the master of musical melancholy, he was reputedly a cheerful man, though disappointed by his long failure to find employment at the English court. Dowland penned some of the most enduringly beautiful music of his age,
his subtly masterful songs, lute pieces and consort music retaining their freshness and emotional power almost four centuries after his death.

8.556841 The Best of Monteverdi
Various Artists

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) was a musical revolutionary who championed the new style of music that replaced intricate Renaissance counterpoint with the more theatrical music of the early Baroque. Yet he was a master in both these styles, as this selection from his loveliest madrigals and most famous opera and sacred works shows. Whether praising the divine or lamenting the pain of mortal love, Monteverdi remains a composer whose music can melt the hardest heart and set the soul dancing.

8.556842 The Best of Tallis
Oxford Camerata and Jeremy Summerly

Though he lived through some of the most tumultuous times in English history, from the reigns of Henry VII to Elizabeth I, Thomas Tallis
(c. 1505–1585) composed music for both the Catholic and Anglican churches that resounds the world over to this day. Whether singing the monumental splendour of his famous 40-part motet Spem in alium or the intimate prayer I call and cry to thee, O Lord, the internationally renowned Oxford Camerata conducted by Jeremy Summerly are perfectly attuned to Tallis’s timeless genius.

8.571263 BEETHOVEN Symphonie No 3 ‘Eroica’ (arr. Liszt) (Beethoven Symphonies Vol 4, Biret Beethoven Edition Vol 13)
Idil Biret, piano

‘Listening to Beethoven through Liszt’s keyboard transcriptions put a fresh perspective on these familiar symphonies. Idil Biret has taken up the complete cycle and I admire her taste, technique and sound musical decisions.’ (New York Magazine)

 ‘Idil Biret gives an impressive performance. A supreme mastery of tempi, sonorities, polyphony and technique permits Biret – a disciple of Alfred Cortot to embrace all the moods of Beethoven and gives her playing a symphonic depth rarely heard until now.’ (Le Nouvel Observateur)

 ‘Universally gifted pianists like Idil Biret, who do not limit themselves to a cleverly selected repertory are nowadays very rare…With the recent release of the Beethoven/Liszt Symphonies international recognition should be secure for her.’ (Fonoforum)

8.571271 TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 3
(Biret Concerto Edition Vol 2)
Idil Biret, piano

‘The Turkish pianist Idil Biret was one of the greatest child prodigies of the 20th century…This is the kind of playing that makes reservations irrelevant; there is no one like her, which is what defines a unique artist.’
(concert review, Boston Globe)

‘Extraordinary memory, brilliant technique and unusually insightful performances – these are the features of Idil Biret’s music making which allow her to play works inaccessible to other pianists, even eminent ones.
The range of her repertoire is truly astounding…In her playing Idil Biret reaches the levels of her great masters Kempff and Cortot.’
(Duszniki Featival Poland)

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8.111328 PUCCINI Suor Angelica (1957 recording)
Victoria de los Angeles • Fedora Barbieri
Rome Opera House Orchestra and Chorus • Tulio Serafin

‘Victoria de los Angeles’s performance as Sister Angelica demands superlatives:  it is in every way perfect, beautifully sung, infinitely touching, and free from the slightest suggestion of theatricality,’ wrote Gramophone when this recording was originally released in 1958. Indeed, the review praised the entire production: ‘It is evident that Tullio Serafin loves this opera: he draws very beautiful playing from the orchestra, secures just the right tempi, and at once establishes the right moodin every scene.’
This is by all measures a classic recording.

8.111353 BACH Partitas Nos 1, 5 7 6,
BEETHOVEN Piano SonataNo 17 ‘Tempest’ (1938-40 recordings)
Walter Gieseking, piano

Walter Gieseking’s interpretations of Bach gained him laurels for ‘the clear definition of his agile finger-work… the firm outlines of his rhythm and phrasing [making] everything he plays both vividly interesting and delightful to the ear’. Gieseking’s account of Beethoven’s ‘Tempest’ Sonata also won him contemporary critical accolades: ‘perfect playing matched with perfect recording… I know of no better interpretation of this sonata… a splendid achievement, one of the high water marks of piano recording’. These legendary recordings now live again in Ward Marston’s digital restorations.

See Naxos Historical Catalogue

Naxos Historical CDs are not available in Australia, Singapore and the USA.

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NA196112 ALBORNE Afghanistan in a Nutshell (Unabridged)
Read by Benjamin Soames

‘In a Nutshell’, the new 1-CD audiobook series from Naxos AudioBooks, continues with a fascinating history of Afghanistan. For centuries it has been the playground of big powers, from Alexander the Great to the British Empire and the Soviet Union. It has been torn by internal strife and ideological differences, yet Afghans, tribal though they may be, remain a proud nation. Here is a short history, setting the background to the current situation.

NA196212 GREGSON Tibet in a Nutshell (Unabridged)
Read by David Rintoul

‘In a Nutshell’, the new 1-CD audiobook series from Naxos AudioBooks, continues with a fascinating history of Tibet. Part of China for many years,
yet with a clearly distinctive culture (with the central devotion of its people being to Buddhism and the Dalai Lama), Tibet has a unique character in the panoply of world nations. Here we have an independent view of its history and the customs and beliefs of its people – and a commentary on the current situation.

NA296612 STEVENSON The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde (Abridged)
Read by John Sessions

Scientist Dr Jekyll discovers a way of changing his personality and becoming the violent and aggressive Mr Hyde. At the start, moving from one to the other is easy. But not for long. Both a psychological investigation and a thrilling story, the double nature of the hero has made him an iconic figure in literature. The tempestuous nature of the tale makes it an ideal title for Young Adult Classics, the introductory series for the 13-17 age range.

NA396412 O'BRIEN The Third Policeman (Abridged)
Read by Jim Norton

Flann O’Brien’s most popular and surrealistic novel concerns an imaginary, hellish village police force and a local murder. Weird, satirical, and very funny, it is read by Irish master reader Jim Norton. The unabridged recording of The Third Policeman read by Jim Norton [NA645512] was welcomed widely. This more compact version retains all the delightfully whacky and humorous moments. Released to coincide with the focus on Irish literature that always occurs on June 16 – Bloomsday.

NA397012 HARDY Far from the Madding Crowd (Abridged)
Read by Neville Jason

Far from the Madding Crowd was Hardy’s fourth novel, gaining significant popularity and critical attention. It tells of Gabriel, an up-and-coming shepherd, who falls in love with a proud and vain young beauty Bathsheba, who refuses his offer of marriage as she values her independence too much. The novel can be described as an early piece of feminist literature and is regularly studied in schools. This is part of the ‘Young Adult Classics’ series launched by Naxos AudioBooks in 2009.

NA496312 CHESTERTON The Innocence of Father Brown Vol 1 (Unabriged)
The Blue Cross, The Secret Garden, The Flying Stars & other stories
Read by David Timson

Father Brown is an eccentric priest with his own particular ways of dealing with crime. David Timson, having completed the whole of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes canon, a remarkable achievement, turns his hand to the genial but certainly not innocent priest! This collection contains a group of stories from The Innocence of Father Brown, told unabridged.

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Foote Francesca da Rimini Op 24
Seattle Symphony Orchestra • Gerard Schwarz
8.559365

Born in Massachusetts, Arthur Foote was unusual among 19th century American composers in that practically all of his training took place in the United States. His individualistic style recalls the classical structure of Brahms while reveling in exotic harmonies and colourful orchestrations typical of late romanticism. Foote’s ‘Symphonic Prologue,’ Francesca da Rimini, based on the story of the doomed lovers Francesca and Paolo as immortalized in Dante’s Inferno, is a thrillingly original musical vision, and offers a fascinating comparison to Tchaikovsky’s well-known tone poem of the same name. Also featured on this CD are exquisite character pieces inspired by the poetry of the medieval Persian mystic Omar Khayyám.

Great Movie Themes Vol 2
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra • Carl Davis
8.572111

Some of the best cinema music works on two levels: within the film it reflects the mood, deepens the characterization and comments on the film, but it also works on a purely musical level and some of these themes become enormously popular. This collection features themes from Batman,
The Pink Panther, Mission Impossible, Love Story, Superman,
The Godfather, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shakespeare in Love,
and many more.

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GERMANY

8.551275 Walzer für Klavier zu vier Händen
(Waltzes for Piano Four-hands)
Waltzes by Wolfgang Rihm, Antonín Dvořák, Sigfrid Karg-Elert &
Max Reger Klavierduo Eckerle

Waltzes for 4 hands were the embodiment of convivial music-making in the early 1800s. Wolfgang Rihm (born in 1952) upholds this tradition in his short waltzes, as he does in many other areas of music. It is unfortunately impossible to shed full light on the darkness surrounding Dvořák’s Waltzes Op 54. What is certain is that the composer commenced with the work in the late autumn of 1879 and originally conceived these eight waltzes for piano for 2 hands. Dvořák was able to complete the work in early 1880. In Karg-Elert’s Waltz-Caprices the sounds of a new era are perceivable, and at times it appears that he has ventured into Scriabin’s spheres of sound. Max Reger had considerable hopes for his Waltzes Op 22 that were composed in the autumn of 1898. They were among the first works composed in his native town of Weiden, to where he had returned following an existential crisis suffered in Wiesbaden.

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8.572337 Swedish Choral Society Vol 1
Eric Ericsons Kammarkör •  Eric Ericson, conductor

Choral singing is an integral part of Swedish culture. People have sung in choirs here for generations and Sweden now has an international reputation as a nation of choristers with both breadth and quality. It has been estimated that about half a million people in Sweden are regular members of choirs. Sveriges Körförbund (The Swedish Choral Association) is an organization of mixed choirs, female choirs and male choirs. Theses, in turn, can be further divided into youth choirs, vocal groups, church choirs, chamber choirs,
barber shop choirs, gospel choirs, operatic choirs and corporate choirs.
The list of new types of choir is constantly growing! This CD introduces a unique collaboration between Sveriges Körförbund and Naxos. The aim of this collaboration is to document the activities of Swedish choirs in all their breadth and diversity and to make this documentation available in Sweden and the rest of the world. The series – Swedish Choral Society – is planned to comprise fifty discs of choral music.  This is a very much more extensive documentation of contemporary Swedish choral singing than has ever been attempted before.

BUYONLINE FROM NAXOSDIRECT.SE

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Capriccio, DACAPO and Phoenix Edition are distributed worldwide by Naxos. 

There will be no Capriccio new releases until August 2009. The following Capriccio titles have recently been added to naxos.com:

MIDNIGHT LOUNGE - Chill Out Classics and Meditation
Music by Beethoven, Bochmann, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Elgar, Faure, Grothe, Haentzschel, Humperdinck, Lekeu, Lincke, Mackeben, Mendelssohn, Offenbach, Perez-Freire, Respighi, Rheinberger, Saint-Saens, Schoenberg, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Traditional, Wagner & Wolf
Various Artists
CAPRICCIO C49326

BIZET Carmen
Tsvetanka Arshinkova •  Georgi Genov • Pavel Gerdjikov • Nicola Ghiuselev Alexandrina Milcheva • Nikola Nikolov • Milen Paounov • Stefka Popangelova Liliana Vassileva • Verter Vrachovsky • Sofia National Opera Chorus & Orchestra • Ivan Marinov, conductor
CAPRICCIO C51183

SCHNITTKE Violin Sonata No 1, Suite in the Old Style,
5 Fragmente zu Bildern von Hieronymus Bosch
Alexander Ghindin • Dmitri Kortchak • Moscow Virtuosi
Vladimir Spivakov, conductor
CAPRICCIO C67016

OBOE CONCERTOS Schuncke, Nielsen, Kalliwoda, Ropartz
Lencses, Lajos • Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra • Bernhard Guller
CAPRICCIO C67134

HAYES Orchestral Music
Capriccio Basel Baroque Orchestra
CAPRICCIO C71135

Capriccio CDs are not distributed by Naxos in the UK.

Capriccio Catalogue

Romantic Violin Concertos - GADE, LANGE-MÜLLER, LANGGAARD
Christina Åstrand, violin • Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgårds, conductor

These three important examples of the genre firmly establish that the great Romantic violin concerto certainly had a place in Danish music: from
Niels W. Gade’s grand, finely orchestrated concerto from 1880 through P.E. Lange-Müller’s concerto from 1902 with its many moving melodies to 1943-44 when Rued Langgaard combined old virtues with new currents in his brief pastiche of a violin concerto. These three rarely-performed works are presented on this release by one of Denmark’s absolutely finest soloists, Christina Åstrand, here in good Finnish company with the Tampere Philharmonic and its chief conductor John Storgårds.
DACAPO 6.220562 (SACD)

LANGGAARD Rose Garden Songs
Ars Nova Copenhagen • Tamás Vetö, conductor

The music of the romantic outsider Rued Langgaard encompasses the whole range from Romantic to Modernist styles, and is by turn monumental, expressive, and visionary.
DACAPO 6.220561 (SACD)

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The following Dacapo titles have recently been added to naxos.com:

LUNDBY-JAEGER Chamber Music and Songs – Offertorium,
7 Stages to 3 Chinese Texts, Trio, Elements, 3 Songs
Helene Gjerris, mezzo soprano • Danish Chamber Players

Bo Lundby-Jæger (b. 1964) finds the germ of his chamber music in poetry and in the individual characteristics of the instruments. Poetry is the music’s expressive undertone and the texts – often in serious words – give much of the music its specific content. The five works on the CD are music of simple contrasts between new melodies and old forms, between inward calm and pulsating motion, which together produce a succession of original and straightforward musical experiences.
DACAPO 8.226533 (CD)

LANGGAARD Messis, In tenebras exteriores
Flemming Dreisig, organ • Vor Frue Kantori

In the 1930s the Late Romantic outsider Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) concentrated on a single composition: Messis, a visionary organ drama of the end of the world. As one of the most expansive works in the organ literature it is also a compendium of a vanished Romantic era which goes to the heart of Langgaard’s religious view of art. In ténebras exteriores (Buried in Hell)
from 1947 builds further on Messis, but in this case it is Langgaard’s
sarcastic pessimism that predominates.
DACAPO 6.220528-29 (SACD)

There will be no Phoenix Edition new releases until August 2009. The following Phoenix Edition titles have recently been added to naxos.com:

SCHULHOFF Piano Music
Margarete Babinsky • Maria Lettberg • Andreas Wykydal
Phoenix181

MANKELL Piano Music
Anna Christensson
Phoenix184 

Phoenix Edition Catalogue

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MONTEVERDI Sweet Torment
Madrigals from Books 5 and 6:  T’amo mia vita, Hor che’l ciel e la terra, Ohime dov’e il mio ben, Ohime il bel viso, Zefiro torna in 5 parts,
Zefiro torna in 2 parts, Gira il nemico insidioso, Questi vaghi concenti,
Si dolce tormento, Ballo dell’Ingrate
I Fagiolini • Robert Hollingworth, director
CHANDOS CHAN0760

In this their third survey of Monteverdi Madrigals, I Fagiolini once again demonstrate the astonishing range of the composer’s lush, intensely emotive vocal writing, leading us from the works of his early Mantuan maturity to the Baroque glories of his Venetian years. I Fagiolini’s superbly responsive singing highlights the contemporary relevance of this lovelorn music.
The ensemble has also met with acclaim for its ground-breaking film,
The Full Monteverdi on Naxos (2.110224).

All Chandos new releases for June are available
from Wesley Classics online

RAVEL Songs
Histoires naturelles, Ronsard à son âme, Don Quichotte à Dulcinée,
Un grand sommeil noir, Les grands vents venus d’outremer, Sur l’herbe, Chants populaires, Noël des jouets, Deux épigrammes de Clément Marot, Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, Deux mélodies hébraïques
Gerald Finley, baritone • Julius Drake, piano
HYPERION CDA67728

The award-winning partnership of Gerald Finley and Julius Drake continues its musical explorations with this beautiful and thought-provoking disc. Gerald Finley’s lustrous tones, extraordinary gift for characterization, and direct, unaffected utterance make him an ideal and revelatory performer of Ravel’s songs. From charming folk-song settings to the almost surrealist world of Histoires naturelles, these works demonstrate the endless variety and vast emotional scope of Ravel’s musical realm.

All Hyperion new releases for June are available
from Wesley Classics online

HARMONIA (CD + printed catalogue)
BACH Harpsichord Concertos
Concerto in D Minor BWV1052, Concerto in E Major BWV1053,
Triple Concerto BWV1044
Richard Egarr, harpsichord Academy of Ancient Music
Andrew Manze, violin & direction
MUNDI HMX2907283

J.S. Bach’s harpsichord concertos and the ‘Triple’ Concerto BWV1044 span
the total range of Baroque expression. Richard Egarr and the Academy of Ancient Music (performing in Australia late 2009) present these masterpieces in radically fresh, intimate readings charged with dramatic intensity.
This budget-price reissue is packaged with the complete 2009
Harmonia Mundi printed catalogue.

All Harmonia Mundi new releases for June are available
from Wesley Classics online

Select Australia Priorities & Featured Titles

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Schumann Frauenliebe und –leben
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto • Daniel Blumenthal, piano
Naïve V5159

At the age of 24, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux became the first Canadian to win the 1st Prize as well as the Special Prize for Lieder at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium. Winning this prestigious award opened the door to an immediate international career allowing her to perform in concert and on the operatic stage with many great orchestras, opera houses and conductors around the globe. Marie-Nicole Lemieux has triumphed in baroque and romantic works, and is exquisite in the French repertoire. Accompanied by pianist Daniel Blumenthal, this album features two favourite German cycles sung in Marie-Nicole’s own lively, loving way.

"The young Québec contralto has never sounded finer than in this album of 25 Lieder by Robert Schumann. Lemieux's rich, expressive voice lends depth to these intensely nuanced, immediate-feeling interpretations. Daniel Blumenthal is an ideal accompanist on piano." - John Terauds, Toronto Star

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Purcell Fantasias
Les Voix humaines
ATMA ACD2 2591

In his fantasias, Purcell penetrated all the mysteries of the old style,
and created music with an unprecedented degree of complexity but without a hint of the academic. In the words of André Mangeot, the fantasias are
“of astonishing beauty.” With more than twenty ATMA recordings,
Montreal-based Les Voix humaines have received critical acclaim including Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Repertoire-Classica 10, Goldberg 5, Classics Today 10/10, and Prix Opus. For this recording, Les Voix humaines uses the Hart House viols. This collection of diverse 17th and 18th century instruments has been at the University of Toronto since the 1930s. They were restored to playing condition for this project, the first professional recording on these instruments. 

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GERMANY

HAYDN String Quartets op 55 nos 1-3
Meta4
HAENSSLER CLASSIC 98.587

The Finns have music in their blood! Numerous conductors from this North European country have inspired audiences and experts alike, the string quartet Meta4 is now the equivalent in the field of chamber music that conquers the music world. The four young Finnish musicians have been awarded first prizes at the International Shostakovich Competition in Moscow and at the 3rd International Joseph-Haydn Competition in Vienna. The young ensemble likewise devotes his debut CD to Haydn and his rather seldom played three string quartets op. 55. Besides the classical repertoire the quartet frequently performs works its own commissions and also breaks new grounds into comprehensive genres cooperating with artists from the domains of Jazz and Dance.  

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Exotic Dances from the Opera
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV The Snow Maiden - Dance of the Tumblers,
RICHARD STRAUSS Salome - Dance of the Seven Veils,
TCHAIKOVSKY Mazeppa – Hopak,
MUSSORGSKY Khovanschina - Dance of the Persian Slaves,
RABAUD Marouf, Cobbler of Cairo - Dances,
DVOŘÁK Rusalka - Polonaise, ANTON RUBINSTEIN
The Demon - Ballet Music, SAINT-SAËNS Samson et Dalilah - Bacchanale. Arranger: Jeremy Monteiro
Minnesota Orchestra • Eiji Oue, conductor
Reference Recordings HR-71 HRx

Reference Recordings HRx DVD-R data discs contain exact, digit-for-digit copies of the original Reference Recordings 176.4 kHz / 24-bit digital masters. This is the ultimate in fidelity for two-channel sound: TRUE high-resolution audio, ready to load from DVD-R data discs onto your computer music server!
Best of Show award for “Greatest Technological Breakthrough: Reference Recordings’ HRx ultra-high resolution (176.4/24) digital music format.”
(Alan Taffel: The Absolute Sound  April/May 2008) To play HRx, the files on the DVD-R data disc must be uploaded to a computer music server, which then will play the music files through your audio system.  HRx cannot be played on CD, DVD, or SACD players.

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BO LINDE Orchestral Works Vol 3
Gävle Symphony Orchestra • Petter Sundkvist, conductor
SSACD 1133

The span of an entire decade passed between Bo Linde’s first symphony and the composition of his second. Meanwhile, he managed to compose a significant number of orchestral works. The first of the second symphony’s (Sinfonia, Op. 23) three movements contains a beautiful cello solo, a little sample of how well Bo Linde handled the instrument (something which revealed itself a few years later in the cello concerto). The second movement, Toccata, is an intense, passionate and forceful piece of music that the composer wanted to be performed “con ira” (with fury). The movement seems to twirl and spin artistically around this musical nucleus. It differs significantly from the considerably lighter touch in the concluding movement, which becomes almost thoughtful toward the end. Under the direction of Sten Frykberg, the Radio Orchestra premiered Sinfonia in a radio broadcast on September 17, 1961.

Between 1949 and 1952, the teenager Bo Linde traveled on four different occasions to the great Nordic music conservatory libraries in Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Oslo. During Linde’s fourth visit, his Sinfonia Fantasia (Opus No. 1) premiered in the Norwegian Radio studio, performed by the Orchestra of the Philharmonic Company with Öivind Fjeldstad conducting. Bo Linde wrote Sinfonia Fantasia in the autumn of 1951, during a time when he was diligently commuting between Gävle and Stockholm, where he studied at the Academy of Music. Linde was a student of professor and composer Lars-Erik Larsson who also taught Hans Eklund, Jan Carlstedt from Orsa, and Maurice Karkoff. These four notable musicians have been referred to as “Larsson’s Quartet.”

Bo Linde’s 35th birthday, January 1, 1968, was also the premiere of one of his most beloved orchestral works, Pensieri sopra un cantico vecchio. Bo Linde plays with a familiar 16th century melody, Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming, weaving small portions of the original hymn throughout Pensieri. This becomes a starting point for the composer who offers us richly imaginative music with elements of a waltz.

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UK

Whirling Dance - Works for Flute and Traditional Chinese Orchestra
CHUNG YIU-KWONG Whirling Dance for flute and Chinese orchestra; Concerto for Flute and Chinese Orchestra;
Traditional (arr. ZHOU CHENGLONG) The Thivats of Autumn,
arranged for flute and small Chinese instrumental ensemble;
MA SHUI-LONG (arr. CHEN HSUAN-HO) Bamboo Flute Concerto,
arranged for piccolo and Chinese orchestra; HUANG YIJUN
(arr. PENG XIUWEN) Fair Flowers under Full Moon,
arranged for piccolo and Chinese orchestra; DENG YU-XIAN
(arr. QU CHUNQUAN) Longing for the Spring Breeze
Sharon Bezaly, flute and piccolo • Liu Hung-Yu, guzheng (Chinese zither)
Tsai Yu-Feng, yangqin (Chinese cimbalon) • Yeh Shu-Chen, zhongruan (Chinese 4-string moon-shaped lute) • Taipei Chinese Orchestra
Chung Yiu-Kwong
BIS-SACD-1759 

The sparkling music on this disc includes two newly composed works by Chung Yiu-Kwong, both dedicated to Bezaly, as well as a the arrangement of Ma Shui-Long’s concerto for bamboo flute and symphony orchestra into a concerto for piccolo and Chinese orchestra.

“Anyone who has yet to encounter the playing of the astonishing young flautist Sharon Bezaly should do so without delay. She makes a sensational sound, can play anything from Bach to contemporary...” 
- Classic FM Magazine

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CHOPIN 21 Mazurkas
Vassily Primakov, piano
BRIDGE 9289

This new recording of 21 of Chopin's Mazurkas sees the young Russian pianist Vassily Primakov commencing his exploration of Chopin's solo works for Bridge Records. In recent years, Primakov's remarkably intuitive performances have captured the hearts of the public and critics alike, winning standing ovations and rave reviews in the international press. Writing of Primakov's Chopin Concertos disc (BRIDGE 9278) Gramophone stated: “Primakov's empathy with Chopin's spirit could hardly be more complete”.

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See more featured titles from Select UK

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USA

ROTA Symphonies Nos 1 & 2     
Orchestra Filarmonica ‘900 del Teatro Regio di Torino
Marzio Conti, conductor
Chandos CHAN 10546

Nino Rota achieved international recognition primarily as a composer of film music. His most admired and enduring work in this field sprang from his collaboration with Federico Fellini; However, his orchestral music has recently undergone a reappraisal. Much of this music is rare on CD and this program is unique.

ROTA Concerto per cello No 2,
Concerto per archi, Trio per clarinetto, cello e piano
Alessandro Carbonare, clarinet • Alberto Miodini, piano
I Musici di Parma Enrico Bronzi, conductor
Concerto CD2043

The rediscovery in recent years of the enormous catalogue of Nino Rota’s music held by the Cini Foundation in Venice is perhaps finally balancing out Rota’s popularity as a composer of film music with his output as a
“Classical Music” composer. This recording presents his Concerto per violoncello with Enrico Bronzi, one of the greatest and most sensitive musicians of the new generation.

LANGGAARD Messis
Flemming Dreisig, organ • Vor Frue Kantori
Dacapo 6.220528-29

This disc features Rued Langgaard’s epic work for organ, Messis. A vast,
Late Romantic and apocalyptic drama, recorded by organist of the Copenhagen Cathedral Flemming Dreisig.

VILLA-LOBOS Complete String Quartets
Cuarteto Latinoamericano
Dorian Sono Luminus DSL-90904

This exciting set, encompassing all of the string quartets of master Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, is a beautiful collection of some of the greatest modern string compositions. This is also the first time all of the quartets have appeared in their entirety in one set. Performed by one of the world’s most preeminent string quartets focusing on Latin American music, the recordings have received critical acclaim, a GRAMMY nomination for Best Chamber Music Performance as well as a LATIN GRAMMY. It is only fitting that this spectacular set is being released in the year of the 50th anniversary of his passing. Along with the 6 CDs the set includes a DVD with a full performance of Quartet No. 1 as well as interviews with the ensemble about Villa-Lobos and their connection with the music.

Carmina Burana:
Medieval Songs from the Codex Buranus (13th Century)
Clemencic Consort
Oehms Classics OC 635

This exciting set, encompassing all of the string quartets of master Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, is a beautiful collection of some of the greatest modern string compositions. This is also the first time all of the quartets have appeared in their entirety in one set. Performed by one of the world’s most preeminent string quartets focusing on Latin American music, the recordings have received critical acclaim, a GRAMMY nomination for Best Chamber Music Performance as well as a LATIN GRAMMY. It is only fitting that this spectacular set is being released in the year of the 50th anniversary of his passing. Along with the 6 CDs the set includes a DVD with a full performance of Quartet No. 1 as well as interviews with the ensemble about Villa-Lobos
and their connection with the music.

Staatskapelle Dresden -
BRUCKNER, BERLIOZ, STRAUSS, SHOSTAKOVICH                           
Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Giuseppe Sinopoli & Kyril Kondrashin
Profil PH08064

This double album is a homage to the Staatskapelle as intended and commissioned by the Thorens company. The Swiss record manufacturer cannot rival the orchestra's 460 years, but at 125 years of age it holds the record as the oldest company of the entertainment industry still in existence. These LPs are meant as a double birthday gift: to ourselves, but above all to our many friends around the world. For friends of the Staatskapelle, friends of Thorens and above all, for lovers of good-quality music reproduction.
- Heinz Rohrer, Managing Director CEO Thorens Export Company Ltd.

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Buy all 6 tracks for only
USD 1.49 / GBP .99 / EUR .99

8.570584  TANEYEV Overture in D minor
8.557793  BRUCH Violin Concerto No 2 - Finale: Allegro molto
8.570791  KORNGOLD Much Ado About Nothing Suite - Intermezzo
8.570932  MARTUCCI Piano Concerto No 2 - Larghetto
8.572139  PALOMO Concierto de Cienfuegos - Canto a la noche - Arrullos
8.572231  PUTS Millennium Canons

Naxos June 2009 Sampler II
CHAMBER MUSIC – INSTRUMENTAL
– SOLO VOCAL – CHORAL

Buy all 13 tracks for only
USD 1.49 / GBP .99 / EUR .99

8.570031  VIVALDI The Four Seasons (arr. for piano) Spring - Allegro Pastorale
8.572024  12 MARTINŮ Esquisses Book 1 - No 4 Poco andantino
8.572261  DELIUS Violin Sonata No 3 - Lento
8.570255  BEETHOVEN Piano Trio No 3 - Andante cantabile con variazioni
8.570938  FAURÉ Piano Quintet No 1 - Allegretto moderato
8.559618  GERBER Notturno
8.570454  REGER O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid
8.570780  GINASTERA String Quartet No 2 - Adagio angoscioso
8.570604  ZHOU Romance of Hsiao and Ch'in (version for violin and piano)
8.570603  GE String Quartet No 4 ‘Angel Suite’ - Angel's March
8.570752-53 MAYR Tobia Part I O filia misera (Chorus)
8.570961  SCHUBERT Die Geselligkeit ‘Lebenslust’
8.570533  GRANADOS Salve regina