We are delighted to present a choice selection of new releases this month, including the stunning 3rd edition of the popular A-Z of Classical Music. Please take a moment to peruse our Newsletter and to click through to naxos.com for more new releases, and more information about each of them.
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Naxos’s new recording of John Adams’s path-breaking opera Nixon in China
8.669022-24 has already been acclaimed:
- ‘an incandescent performance’ - 5 STARS The Financial Times
- ‘brilliant…[Alsop] leads the score with grand sweep and understanding, and her Colorado forces bring out its colors vividly; moreover, she inspires her cast to sing as if they're having a great time - 10/10 Classics Today
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As Christmas is now less than two months away, please contact your local retailer without delay – just in case any Naxos album is not in-store, you’ll need to allow time for it to be ordered for you. On naxos.com we have prepared a special ‘Countdown to Christmas’ page, bursting with great musical gift ideas from Naxos.
You can also browse through previous month’s releases, amongst which are many treasures, by using the helpful drop menu on our New Releases page.
For information about our other new releases, please use the navigation menu below and click through to our website. |
SPECIAL RELEASE |
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8.558212-13 The A-Z of Classical Music
Various Artists
The third edition of The A-Z of Classical Music has been greatly expanded, now including most of the composers represented in the Naxos catalogue. Entries remain, however, restricted by space and by the immense proliferation of classical recordings in which Naxos has been a notable participant. For the same reason the recommended recordings of the earlier editions have been omitted; such information can now be obtained from the previous edition of The A–Z of Classical Music.
Rather than describing the A-Z as a list of the great composers and their greatest works, the new edition, while not quite ‘All Composers, Great and Small’, now includes a number of less familiar figures, some eclipsed by passing contemporary fashions and others now finding their way back into current concert repertoire. Once again the attempt has been made to provide a modicum of information for the interested, intelligent listener, without the burden of technical jargon, much of which is, in any case, explained in the Glossary of Musical Terms.
The new edition is accompanied by two CDs with a brand new selection of sample tracks, ranging from John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine to Palestrina’s Hodie Christus natus est to ‘Isolde’s Liebestod’ from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. And with 150 more tracks (over 15 hours of music) there is a Bonus Area online: www.naxos.com/atozclassicalmusic [Username and Password required. You need to have purchased The A-Z of Classical Music first]. Thanks to Naxos’s extraordinary library of recordings, this new edition of The A-Z of Classical Music is a remarkable musical resource. The expanded 3rd Edition of The A-Z of Classical Music is Currently available except in the UK and USA. This item will be released in the UK and USA in early 2010.
Also available:
8.558087-90
The A-Z of Conductors*
8.555037-38
The A- Z OF Opera
8.558107-10
The A-Z of Pianists*
* Not available in the United States due to possible copyright restrictions |
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8.559258 ADAMO Late Victorians,
Alcott Music, Regina Coeli
Emily Pulley, soprano • Andrew Sullivan, narrator • Dotian Levalier, harp Eclipse Chamber Orchestra • Sylvia Alimena, conductor
Acclaimed as ‘one of the best opera composers of the moment’, American composer-librettist Mark Adamo has also ventured into symphonic composition and other fields in each of which his theatrical sensitivity, political commitment and musical mastery are equally evident. The vivacity of his Overture to Lysistrata accentuates the play’s anti-war theme, while Alcott Music rethinks the music from his hit opera Little Women. Regina Coeli pays tribute to the Queen of Heaven and Late Victorians is dedicated both to the memory of those who have died from and to those who have survived AIDS. |
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8.572006-07 BACH Complete Concertos for Solo Harpsichord
Elizabeth Farr, harpsichord
Among the wealth of works composed during his Weimar period, JS Bach made 22 keyboard transcriptions of concertos by Italian and German composers: six for two keyboards and pedal (BWV 592-596) and sixteen for keyboard (BWV 972-987), the latter of which are recorded here by multi-award-winning harpsichordist Elizabeth Farr. Complementing these masterful transcriptions is the Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV894, which Bach later reworked as the opening and closing movements of his Triple Concerto BWV1044.
Elizabeth Farr’s other Naxos recordings have been universally praised. |
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8.572069 BLASCO DE NEBRA Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol 2
Pedro Casals, piano
Pedro Casals, an expert on Manuel Blasco de Nebra, continues his fascinating survey of the Spanish composer’s keyboard sonatas. This, the second in a three-disc series, comprises the final seven sonatas preserved in manuscript in the Montserrat Archive and two late sonatas, the first edition of which is held in the Library of Congress in Washington DC. They show de Nebra’s innovative contribution to the development of the modern piano sonata. Volume 1 is available on Naxos 8.572068 |
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8.572077 BUSONI Piano Music Vol 6 - Piano Sonata in F minor, Prelude et etude
LISZT Fantasy and Fugue on Ad nos ad salutarem undam
Wolf Harden, piano
The sixth volume of Busoni’s piano music features two major projects from the earlier part of his career. The Liszt transcription powerfully recreates the composer’s grandest work for organ in terms of the piano, while the Piano Sonata in F minor is an exhilarating example of late-Romantic virtuosity that remained unknown until recent decades. In total contrast, the brief Prelude et etude en arpeges finds Busoni’s late musical language at its most concentrated and refractory. |
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8.572287 DICKINSON Mass of the Apocalypse, Larkin's Jazz,
5 Forgeries, 5 Early Pieces
Jo Maggs, soprano • Meriel Dickinson, mezzo-soprano
Reverend Donald Reeves, speaker • Henry Herford, baritone-speaker
St James’s Singers • Peter Dickinson, piano • John Flinders, piano
Duke Dobing, flute • James Holland and David Johnson, percussion
John Alley, piano • The Nash Ensemble • Ivor Bolton, Lionel Friend, conductors
Peter Dickinson weaves together musical styles popular and classical, past and present, using a technique of ‘style modulation’. In his Mass of the Apocalypse the Book of Revelations’ visions of a new heaven and earth interact with the liturgical text. The music of Sidney Bechet and Bix Beiderbecke played at Philip Larkin’s memorial service suggested the means for him to set the words of the great British poet, himself a jazz critic. His Five Forgeries spoof the styles of famous composers, while the other works showcase different aspects of his many-sided talent. Jennifer Bate’s recording of Dickinson’s complete solo organ works is available on Naxos 8.572169 |
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8.572009 FRANCK String Quartet in D major, Piano Quintet in F minor
Cristina Ortiz, piano • Fine Arts Quartet
Following the release of their highly praised Naxos recording of Fauré’s Piano Quintets (8.570938) - ‘warmly expressive, their phrasing generous and intense’ (The Guardian) -Cristina Ortiz and the Fine Arts Quartet again join forces for this recording of Franck’s Piano Quintet, the extraordinary emotional range of which is unified by the tightthematic relationships typical of the composer’s ‘cyclic’ structuring. His String Quartet,composed ten years later, is a summit of Franck’s achievement, also cyclically conceivedand revealing his admiration of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms. |
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8.570939 GERSHWIN Clarinet and Strings Music - Porgy and Bess Suite, An American in Paris, Preludes
Michel Lethiec, clarinet • Sinfonia Finlandia Jyvaskyla • Patrick Gallois
Porgy and Bess and An American in Paris deservedly rank among George Gershwin’s most popular works, while in his Three Preludes for piano and Piano Concerto the composer’s love of jazz, popular and classical music also find spirited expression. Frank Villard’s sparkling arrangements for clarinet and strings give legendary numbers including Summertime, I got plenty o’ nuttin’ or It ain’t necessarily so a new voice, accentuate their jazz flavour or add new timbres to Gershwin’s unforgettable music for the stage and concert hall. |
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8.570890 LECLAIR Violin Sonatas Op 1 Nos 9-12
Adrian Butterfield, baroque violin • Alison McGillivray, viola da gamba Laurence Cummings, harpsichord
Leclair’s studies of dancing and violin, and his admiration for Corelli’s influential set of Violin Sonatas Op 5, stimulated the young Frenchman to compose his own set of twelve Violin Sonatas Op 1 in which the fusion of the two national styles, les gouts reunis, is charmingly achieved. This third volume presents the last four sonatas, whose bright and energetic fast movements and luminously singing slow movements are complemented by the rustic quality of their dances. Volumes 1 (Nos 1-4, 8.570888) and 2 (Nos 5-8, 8.570889) are also available. |
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8.570323 ROUSSEL Symphony No 1 ‘Le poeme de la foret’, Resurrection, Le marchand de sable qui passe
Royal Scottish National Orchestra • Stephane Deneve, conductor
Stephane Deneve’s accounts of Roussel’s symphonies have been praised for their ‘energy, enthusiasm, and panache’ (American Record Guide on No 2 - 8.570529 - which also gained Gramophone Editor’s Choice) and ‘electrifying…ravishing…breathtaking’ (The Herald on No 3 - 8.570245) Resurrection, Roussel’s first orchestral work, is a delicate and mysterious piece inspired by Tolstoy’s last novel, while Le marchand de sable qui passe (The Sandman) is a tuneful, colourfully orchestrated suite. His Symphony No 1 ‘Poem of the Forest’ traces the cycle of seasons from winter to autumn through its four movements. |
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8.559641 SCHOENFIELD Camp Songs,
Ghetto Songs
SCHWARZ Rudolf and Jeanette
Angela Niederloh, mezzo-soprano • Erich Parce, baritone
Paul Schoenfield, piano • Morgan Smith, Baritone
Music of Remembrance • Mina Miller, artistic director and piano
Gerard Schwarz, conductor
American composer and pianist Paul Schoenfield is at the keyboard for two searing, heart-piercing works commissioned by Music of Remembrance. Schoenfield gives voice to the words of two brilliant poets - one a Holocaust survivor, one murdered - and the range of their emotions through rage, bitter humor, tenderness and fragile hope. This first English-language recording of his Camp Songs (a 2003 Pulitzer Prize finalist) joins his newest song cycle Ghetto Songs -transporting listeners from the horrors of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin to life in the Krakow Ghetto. Gerard Schwarz’s Rudolf and Jeanette is a haunting, romantic chamber orchestra work evoking the life and love of the composer’s Viennese grandparents, who were killed by the Nazis. Produced by Music of Remembrance, a Seattle-based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the precious cultural legacy of works created by musicians during the Holocaust, and to commissioning new works in memory of their spiritual resistance. |
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8.572110 SCHUBERT Lied Edition 34 (Part Songs Vol 3)
Markus Schafer, tenor • Marcus Ullmann, tenor • Thomas E. Bauer, bass Markus Flaig, bass • Marcus Schmidl, bass • Ulrich Eisenlohr, piano
The Naxos Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition: 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 Baerenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (New Schubert Edition), Tuebingen, which uses primary sources, the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team. Schubert’s part-songs for male voices have always been highly popular. Whether simple, refined and sophisticated or simply light-hearted and catchy, they still convey the sense of camaraderie and enjoyment that first attracted the music-making and -loving public. Volumes 1 and 2 of his part-songs are available on Naxos 8.570962 and 8.570961.
Naxos Schubert Lied Edition |
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8.570764 SCHUBERT Masses Nos 2 & 4, Deutsche Messe
Claudia Reinhard, soprano • Christine Wehler, alto • Rudiger Ballhorn, tenor Raimund Minarschik, tenor • Tobias Berndt, baritone • Markus Flaig, bass Immortal Bach Ensemble • Leipziger Kammerorchester
Morten Schuldt-Jensen, conductor
A chorister from the age of eight until his voice broke seven years later, Franz Schubert was well placed to compose sacred music, including several splendid settings of the Mass. His second, completed in 1815, and fourth, written during the following year, follow Mozart’s examples but with strikingly Schubertian touches such as his dramatic use of key relationships and contrasting vocal textures to express the prayerful, meditative and glorious nature of the liturgical text. For the so-called German Mass, Schubert wrote unassuming yet heartfelt settings of congregational hymns for performance during the service. |
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8.559625 SCHUMAN Symphony No 6, Prayer in a Time of War, New England Triptych
Seattle Symphony Orchestra • Gerard Schwarz, conductor
‘Whatever meaning my life has is to be found in the music itself’, declared William Schuman of his extraordinary career as a composer and artistic catalyst in the fertile and evolving environment of 20th-century America. His single-movement Symphony No 6 stands as one of his most intense and integrated, its somberness enlivened with intricate rhythms and startling counterpoint. Prayer in a Time of War and New England Triptych highlight Schuman’s abiding sense of patriotism, the former written soon after America’s entry into World War II, the latter based on hymns from the time of the American Revolution. |
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8.572255 SINDING Violin and Piano Music Vol 2
Henning Kraggerud, violin • Christian Ihle Hadland, piano
Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud is one of Scandinavia’s most sought after artists; Christian Ihle Hadland one of Norway’s most exciting young pianists. Together they comprise a formidable partnership, as their release of Sinding’s Violin and Piano Music Vol 1 (8.572254) has shown. Volume 2 presents several of the Norwegian composer’s finely crafted salon pieces, whose charming character, sweet melodic lines and lively harmonies are Sinding’s hallmarks. The Sonata in Olden Style, while richly Romantic, includes an innovative movement whose time signatures 5/4 and 7/4 perhaps look forward rather than back. |
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8.570150 STAMITZ Flute Concertos
Robert Aitken, flute • St Christopher Chamber Orchestra
Donatas Katkus, conductor
A pioneer in the development of the symphony, Johann Stamitz also composed several concertos, including fourteen for flute. The four flute concertos presented here show what delightful results came from the combination of Stamitz’s lively musical imagination with the talents of the highly admired Mannheim orchestra’s players for whom they were written. Virtuosity, lyricism and a dash of Bohemian spirit characterise these charming works, in which the emergence of the Classical style from its Baroque antecedents can be heard. |
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8.572407 The English Viola - BLISS/DELIUS/BRIDGE
Eniko Magyar, viola • Tadashi Imai, piano
The viola, with its plangent tone, subtle sonority and lyrical qualities, is often overshadowed by its more brilliant-sounding sibling, the violin. An accomplished violist himself, Frank Bridge wrote little solo music for this instrument; only the Pensiero and Allegro appassionato were published in his lifetime, the other works on this disc being the composer’s arrangements of some of his violin pieces. Similarly, Delius’s Third Violin Sonata is heard here in an effective arrangement by the celebrated violist Lionel Tertis, the dedicatee of Bliss’s expressive Viola Sonata. |
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8.572319 Synergy - Wind Band Music by DAUGHERTY/BURRITT/GILLINGHAM
John Bruce Yeh, clarinet and basset horn • Teresa Reilly, clarinet
Molly Yeh, percussion • Columbus State University Wind Ensemble
Robert W. Rumbelow, conductor
Three outstanding musicians join the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble for this thrilling addition to Naxos’s popular Wind Band Classics series, which exemplifies the theme of synergy (‘working together’). Described by the composer as ‘a panoramic clarinet concerto’, Daugherty’s Brooklyn Bridge pays tribute to the splendid view from this New York landmark. Burritt’s Duo Concertante, composed for John Yeh and his daughter Molly, shows the composer’s affinity with jazz and popular music. In his Concertino, Gillingham pits four percussionists against the wind ensemble, David’s Fantasy Etudes pay tribute to Stravinsky and Ligeti, while McAllister’s Black Dog rhapsodizes on the classic Led Zeppelin song.
See more Naxos Wind Band Classics
See all our New Releases for November 2009
See full Naxos catalogue
See our Upcoming Releases for December 2009 |
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8.111349 MOZART Violin Concerto No 3
BRAHMS Violin Concerto (1941, 1949)
Gioconda de Vito • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Thomas Beecham German Opera House Orchestra, Berlin
Paul van Kempen
Violinist Gioconda De Vito was a key figure in the renaissance of Italian string playing after 1945. With her broad phrasing, ample tone and generous vibrato, she excelled in performances of Brahms’s Violin Concerto using Joachim’s cadenza, as in this 1941 recording. The Manchester Guardian wrote of her 1949 recording of Mozart’s G major Concerto: ‘Every note was perfectlyintoned and of individual life, yet aseasefully and indivisibly belonging to the phrases of song as waves in a flowing sea…quite heavenly’.
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8.111005 WAGNER Opera excerpts /
STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel
BRAHMS Hungarian Dances Nos 1 & 10 (Furtwangler, Early Recordings, Vol 4) (1930-36)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra • Wilhelm Furtwangler
This fourth volume of Wilhelm Furtwangler’s early recordings features music by composers who were closely associated with the renowned conductor. These distinguished recordings include seamless and intensely wrought interpretations of evergreen favourites from Wagner’s Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde and Gotterdammerung, the accomplishment of a musician who knew the music-dramas as a whole. The graphic and lovingly turned account of Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks benefits from a remarkably vivid 1930 recording which belies its age.
See Naxos Historical Catalogue |
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8.120886 WILLSON The Music Man
Original Cast Recording 1957: Robert Preston • Barbara Cook • Eddie Hodges Pert Kelton • Paul Reed • Iggie Wolfington • Bill Spanganberg • Wayne Ward Al Shea • Vern Reed • Helen Raymond • Elaine Swann • Peggy Mondo
Adnia Rice • Martha Flynn• Herbert Greene, conductor
When swindler Harold Hill, posing as a boys ’ band leader to sell instruments and uniforms before running off with the cash, is detected in River City, Iowa, by the prim librarian Marian it seems the game is up. But when he helps her younger brother, Marian falls for Harold and he for her. The Music Man was a Broadway hit in 1957, running for 1,375 performances and winning five Tony Awards, including for Best Musical. On initial release, this recording won the first Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Album.
See all Naxos Nostalgia CDs
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Opera |
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2.110270 ALFANO Cyrano de Bergerac
Plácido Domingo • Sondra Radvanovsky • Arturo Chacón Cruz • Rod Gilfry Corrado Carmelo Caruso • Roberto Accurso • Javier Franco
Itxaro Mentxaka • Nahuel di Pierro • Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana
Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana • Patrick Fournillier, conductor
Francesc Perales, chorus master • Michal Znaniecki, stage director and stage designer
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, swashbuckling 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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2.110271
BERLIOZ Benvenuto Cellini
Burkhard Fritz • Maija Kovalevska • Laurent Naouri • Brindley Sherratt
Mikhail Petrenko • Kate Aldrich • Wiener Philharmoniker
Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor • Valery Gergiev
‘A mix of futurism à la Metropolis, fantasy à la Batman and quotes from Piranesi’s Carceri, juxtaposed in the form of photo montages, enhanced with…robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope’, was how the Neue Zuercher Zeitung described this astonishing Salzburg Festival production of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini. The high-calibre cast, headed by Burkhard Fritz as the temperamental Renaissance artist and the 26-year-old Latvian soprano Maja Kovalevska as Teresa, the woman with whom he tries to elope, is conducted by Valery Gergiev who ‘pulled out all the stops. He whips the Vienna Philharmonic into a delirium similar to that which possibly took hold of the composer.’ (Der Standard) This is French grand opera at its fast-paced and spectacularly-staged best. |
Musical Journeys |
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2.110237 A Musical Journey RAVENNA, VENICE & FAENZA
The Places
The tour starts in Northern Italy, in Ravenna, once the capital of the Roman Emperor Honorius, who moved there from Milan with his court in AD 402. The place is famous for its mosaics. The tour also takes us to Faenza, famous for its majolica ware, known as faïence, and to the great Basilica of San Marco in Venice and its Carnival.
The Music
The music for this tour of Italy is by Mozart and includes his two Flute Concertos, written for a patron during a visit to Mannheim in 1777-78.The Andante, K.315, is thought to date from the same period. Mozarthad made three extended Italian tours between 1771 and 1773, andhis father Leopold had hoped that his family might be able to settlethere, if a position could be found for his son. Northern Italy hadbecome part of the Hapsburg Empire, but attempts to find a place inMilan or Florence were unsuccessful. 1777 found him again anxious tofind a position away from his native Salzburg, but it was only in 1781that he was able to make a break with his patron, the Archbishop of Salzburg, thereafter settling in Vienna for the last decade of his life.
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2.110246 A Musical Journey BAVARIA & SWITZERLAND
The Places
The musical tour starts in the Bernese Alps, which offer some of the finest scenery in Switzerland, with glaciers and snow-covered expanses, waterfalls, mountain lakes, and the towering Matterhorn. The Nymphenburg Palace and Park, near Munich, present a contrast, in their baroque elegance. The tour ends with glimpses of the Chiemsee, the largest of the Bavarian lakes, with its three wooded islands, on one of which Wagner’s patron, King Ludwig II,
built his folly, the Schloss Herrenchiemsee.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor, one of the best known of all romantic concertos.This is followed by his Souvenir d’un lieu cher, three pieces originallyfor violin and piano, but here orchestrated by the composerGlazunov, a gentler memento of a stay at the country estate of hisgenerous and unseen patron, Nadezhda von Meck in Ukraine at atime of some personal difficulty, after the failure of his marriage.
A Musical Journey DVDs coming in December 2009:
2.110239 ROME with LISZT Piano Concerto
2.110249 FRANCE with FAURE Requiem
2.110251 NORTHERN ITALY & SICILY with MOZART Symphonies Nos 25 & 41 |
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2.110252 A Musical Journey SOUTHERN ITALY & SICILY
The Places
From Caserta and Naples in Southern Italy we travel to Sicily, an island with a remarkably varied history, held by Phoenicians and Carthaginians before becoming part of Roman territory, later to be occupied by Ostrogoths, recaptured by the Byzantines, ruled by Saracens, and held by Normans, Germans, French and Spanish. Only in the mid-nineteenth century was Sicily drawn into the unified country of Italy.
The Music
The music is by Mozart, his Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467, written in Vienna in March 1785, and the second of his two piano concertos in a minor key, the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491, composed in Vienna in the following year. Mozart had made three extended Italian tours between 1771 and 1773, and his father Leopold had hoped that his family might be able to settle there, if a position could be found for his son. In this, however, they were unsuccessful, and the third Italian tour was Mozart's last.
See all Naxos/Marco Polo DVDs |
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NAX93512 BULGAKOV The Master and Margarita
Read by Julian Rhind-Tutt
The Devil comes to Moscow; but he isn't all bad. Pontius Pilate sentences a charismatic leader to his death, but yearns for redemption; and a writer tries to destroy his greatest tale, but discovers that manuscripts don't burn. Multilayered and entrancing, blending sharp satire with glorious fantasy, The Master and Margarita is ceaselessly inventive and profoundly moving. In its imaginative freedom and raising of eternal human concerns, it is one of the world's great novels.
Related titles:
NA693612
BULGAKOV The Master and Margarita (Abridged)
NA396412
O'BRIEN The Third Policeman (Abridged)
NA691312
HASEK The Good Soldier Svejk (Abridged) |
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NA799612 LAMPEDUSA The Leopard
Read by David Horovitch
Elegiac, bittersweet and profoundly moving, The Leopard chronicles the turbulent transformation of the Risorgimento, in the period of Italian Unification. The waning feudal authority of the elegant and stately Prince of Salina is pitted against the materialistic cunning of Don Calogero, in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s magnificently descriptive memorial to a dying age. Tomasi’s award-winning, semi-autobiographical book became the best-selling novel in Italian history, and is now considered one of the greatest works of 20th-century fiction. It tells an age-old tale of the conflict between old and new, ancient and modern, reflecting bitterly on the inevitability and cruelty of change.
Related titles:
NA205112
FITZGERALD The Great Gatsby (Abridged)
Other Naxos AudioBooks ready by David Horovitch |
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NA498012 McCARTHY No Country for Old Men
Read by Sean Barrett
Comac McCarthy is considered one of America’s greatest living writers. His epic novel No Country for Old Men, released in 2005, traces the violent consequences of a single decision, which soon spiral horribly out of control. This is the dark but striking story of Llewelyn Moss, who goes on the run after being tempted by the bounty of a drug deal gone awry. A thrilling sequence of events ensues as a ruthless hitman and benevolent sheriff trail him in a nail-biting and suspenseful chase that will decide Moss’s fate one way or another. It was recently made into a critically acclaimed film by the Coen brothers, which won four Academy Awards. This is the third Cormac McCarthy novel to be released on Naxos AudioBooks this year.
Related titles:
NA497112
McCARTHY The Road (Abridged)
NA699412
McCARTHY Blood Meridian (Abridged)
Other Naxos AudioBooks read by Sean Barrett |
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NA198612 WENBORN The French Revolution In a Nutshell
Read by Roy McMillan
The fifth in the new Naxos AudioBooks series ‘In a Nutshell’, The French Revolution is a short and accessible introduction to one of the most important periods in European history. It brings vividly to life the implacable Robespierre, the frightened Marie Antoinette and the iconic image of the guillotine. But it also demonstrates the key role the Revolution played in the development of European politics.
Related Titles:
NA196112
ALBONE/HUDSON Afghanistan In A Nutshell (Unabridged)
NA194412
WHITFIELD Darwin In A Nutshell (Unabridged)
NA194512
JINANANDA Karma and Rebirth In A Nutshell (Unabridged)
NA196212
GREGSON Tibet In A Nutshell (Uabridged)
Other Naxos AudioBooks read by Roy McMillan
See all Naxos AudioBooks
Naxos AudioBooks Website |
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DACAPO, OUR Recordings and Phoenix Edition are distributed worldwide by Naxos. Capriccio is not distributed by Naxos in the UK. Ondine is not distributed by Naxos in Germany. |
Capriccio |
There are no Capriccio new releases this month.
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HAMERIK The Symphonies
Randi Stene, contralto • Danish National Choir
Danish National Symphony Orchestra • Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra Thomas Dausgaard, conductor
6.200002
Asger Hamerik (1843-1923) counts as the most cosmopolitan Danish 19th-century composer and was even celebrated as a pioneering figure in American musical life of his day. Sadly, however, his more than one hundred compositions fell into oblivion, and a revival is long overdue. Hamerik’s crowning efforts were the seven symphonies and a Requiem. Composed during his long tenure as director of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, this is grand Late Romantic music, and the internationally oriented cycle of symphonies perfectly matches the qualities that characterize Thomas Dausgaard, one of the most remarkable Nordic conductors of today and a passionate champion of great music off the beaten track. |
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JPE HARTMANN The Key Masterpieces
Inger Dam-Jensen, soprano • Poul Elming, tenor • Hans Fagius, organ
Nina Gade, piano • Bohudmila Jedlickova, piano Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, violin • Lunds Studentsangforening
Danish National Symphony Orchestra • Tre Musici
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor • Michael Schønwandt, conductor
8.226103-04
JPE Hartmann (1805-1900) composed music throughout eight decades and was greatly admired by Grieg, and a stylistic inspiration for Nordic national romanticism. Hartmann took centre stage in the wake of the old Danish masters Weyse and Kuhlau and became the prime exponent of Danish ‘national’ music. The finest examples of this can be found in among other works the remarkable piano sonatas, the masterly theatre overtures and the opera Little Kirsten, judged at the time to be the very essence of Danishness. |
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NORGARD The Divine Circus
Fabienne Jost, Andrea Stadel, soprano • Daniel Szeili, tenor
Bernd Gebhardt, Steffen Kubach, Hubert Wild, baritone
Hans-Kristian Sorensen, percussion • Dorian Keilhack, conductor
6.220572-73
The Divine Circus is Per Norgard’s marvellous portrayal of the Swizz schizophrenic artist Adolf Wolfli (1864-1930). It stands as a key-work in contemporary Nordic music drama and present in two atcs Wolfli’s two periods in life: the rough upbringing in Switzerland in the late 19th century and confinement in an insane asylum, where Wölfli in over more than 30 years produced an endless number of incredible artworks. The encounter with Wölfli’s life and art became a significant turning point in Norgard’s music, which led to a series of great works all dealing with chaos and catastrophe, including The Divine Circus, which is here presented on disc for the first time in a live performance from Stadttheater Bern in 2008
See Dacapo catalogue |
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Ondine
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Naxos now distributes the prestigious Finnish label Ondine (except in Germany). |
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MARTINU Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 4, Les fresques de Pietro della Francesca, Overture
Robert Kolinsky, piano • Basel Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
ODE1158-2
Also available:
SUK Asrael (Helsinki Philharmonic, Ashkenazy) ODE1132-5
TANEYEV Suite de concert, Overture to Oresteya (Kuusisto, Helsinki Philharmonic, Ashkenazy) ODE959-2 |
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BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos Nos 4 & 5
Olli Mustonen, piano & conductor • Tapiola Sinfonietta
ODE1146-5
Also available:
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No 3, Piano Concerto in D major Op 61a ODE1123-5
BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos Nos 1 &2 ODE1099-5
Olli Mustonen Ondine Discography
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Unexpected Encounters – HAYDN Keyboard Sonatas Nos 10, 38, 42 & 60
Tzimon Barto, piano
ODE1154-2
Also available:
A Basket of Wild Strawberries - RAMEAU Keyboard Music ODE1067-2
RAVEL Gaspard de la nuit, Miroirs, Jeux d'eau ODE1095-2
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PAGANINI Duos
Pekka Kuusisto, violin • Ismo Eskelinen, piano
ODE1142-2
Pekka Kuusisto Discography
Ismo Eskelinen Discography
See Ondine catalogue
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OUR Recordings
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There are no new OUR Recordings this month. |
Phoenix Edition
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There are no Phoenix Edition new releases this month. |
AUSTRALIA |
Classical |
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Adagio 2
8.578062-63 Adagio 2 - the ultimate collection
Almost 2 ½ hours of relaxing, easy listening classical music drawn from masterpieces by the world’s greatest composers:
CD 1: Albinoni Double Oboe Concerto Op 9 No 12, Mozart Divertimento No 15, Bach Triple Concerto, Hofmann Oboe & Harpsichord Concerto in F, Haydn Piano Concerto No 9, Boccherini Cello Concerto in D, Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 1, Mozart Divertimento No 2, Albinoni Oboe Concerto Op 7 No 12, Rode Violin Concerto No 13, Haydn Symphony No 26 ‘Lamentatione’, Kraus Symphony in E minor
CD 2: Bach Easter Oratorio, Hummel Violin Concerto, Hofmann Oboe Concerto in C, Mozart Piano Concerto No 7, Boccherini Cello Concerto in G, Saint-Georges Violin Concerto Op 3 No 1, Rosetti Bassoon Concerto in B flat, Haydn Piano Concerto No 4, Mozart Symphony No 36 ‘Linz’, Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 6, Rode Violin Concerto No 10, Stamitz Clarinet Concerto No 7, Godard Violin Concerto No 2
Each of the Adagios on this 2-CD set offers pure delight, whether you’re looking for a lovely sampling of the classics or are interested in exploring the classical repertoire further.
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Digital Releases on iTunes |
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Coffee & Jazz
Various Artists
Naxos 9.50091
An irresistible combination of coffee, cream, big band swing, and jazz for a laid-back afternoon. Featuring some of the biggest names in jazz including Ella Fitzgerald with ‘Black Coffee’, Stephane Grappelli with ‘You’re The Cream In My Coffee’ and Nat King Cole with ‘The Frim Fram Sauce’.
Download from iTunes |
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A Date With The Devil
Various Artists
Naxos 9.00043
An entertaining and sometimes scary compilation featuring frightening classical works by Stravinsky, Dukas, Saint-Saens, Grofe and more. Includes Devil’s Hole Massacre from Grofe’s Niagara Falls Suite, The Devil’s Dance from Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale (Suite) and Saint-Saens’ Danse macabre.
Dowload from iTunes
Downloads from Select Audio-Visual Distribution
Visit Select Australia’s Website
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CANADA |
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Beatles Go Baroque
Original Songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (except track 17) and arranged by Peter Breiner
Peter Breiner and His Chamber Orchestra 8.555010
Under the hand of Peter Breiner, however unlikely their disguise, these Beatles favourites, shorn of their words and strangely enhanced by their Baroque setting, retain the simplistic, modal clarity of McCartney’s originals. Re-arranged in their classical guise they are made to sound even more nostalgic, almost improved by some time-honoured process of alchemy. These favourite anthems of the 1960s in this fresh and unique setting still have the power to transport us ‘over the hills and far away’.
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GERMANY |
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8.551283 A SCARLATTI Cantatas
Tianwa Susanna Crespo Held, soprano • Musica Poetica
Alessandro Scarlatti was one of the leading Italian composers of the baroque era. Within a short time he became the darling of the Roman nobility, for whom he composed many secular cantatas; approximately 799 have survived to this day. The lyrics, drawing on themes from ancient mythology and pastoral poetry, are set within in compact yet highly expressive musical structure comprising three or four arias connected by recitatives. Aside from pure basso continuo accompaniment, solo instruments are frequently featured. Scarlatti’s skill in expressing dramatic effects is impressively shown on this world premiere recording of five marvellous soprano cantatas. BUY ONLINE FROM JPC
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UK |
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8.572102
In Terra Pax - A Christmas Anthology
HOLST Christmas Day, JOUBERT There is no rose, MATHIAS Sir Christèmas, HOWELLS Here is the little door, A spotless Rose, FINZI In terra pax - Christmas scene, WARLOCK Three carols, LEIGHTON A hymn of the Nativity, RUTTER What sweeter music, GARDNER Tomorrow shall be my dancing day, MATHIAS A babe is born, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Folk songs of the four seasons - Winter
Julia Doyle, soprano • Roderick Williams, baritone
Mark Williams, organ and piano • City of London Choir
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra • Hilary Davan Wetton, conductor
Performances of carols both ancient and modern have become central to the celebration of Christmas. The choral music on this disc includes Holst’s surprisingly neglected Christmas Day, as well as music by Leighton, Joubert, Mathias, Gardner and Rutter. The nostalgic mood of Howells’s evergreen carol anthems is echoed in Finzi’s In terra pax, which recalls the pealing of bells at midnight on a frosty Christmas Eve. The City of London Choir, which enjoys an enviable reputation as a “leader among non-professional choruses” (The Times), makes its Naxos début with this delightful recording.
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8.572304
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Piano Concerto, The Wasps (Aristophanic Suite), English Folk Song Suite (orch. Gordon Jacob), The Running Set
Ashley Wass, piano • Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
James Judd, conductor
The popular overture from Vaughan Williams’s incidental music for Aristophanes’s The Wasps introduces a suite whose mischievously witty, noble and farcical movements underline the play’s satire of the Athenian legal system. A similar vivacity characterises his English Folksong Suite and The Running Set, where Vaughan Williams relishes setting tunes such as Barrack Hill, Irish Reel, The Blackthorn Stick and Cock o’ the North. Folksong-like melodies also feature in his magnificent Piano Concerto, in which the magisterial influence of Bach and Busoni may also be heard.
‘Make no mistake about it: this boy [Ashley Wass] is special. What I love about his playing is its sincerity and tenderness. He doesn’t just caress the piano, he probes its soft depths with the utmost consideration.’ - The Independent
BUY ONLINE FROM NAXOSDIRECT.CO.UK |
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Coming in December 2009:
8.572469
DUFFY & JOHNSON MANNING The Manchester Carols
The Manchester Carollers, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tanner
See Select UK’s Webpage |
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USA |
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ALFANO Cyrano de Bergerac
Domingo • Radvanovsky • Cruz • Gilfry • Caruso • Accurso • Franco Mentxaka • di Pierro • Vázquez • Solá • Navarro • Durá • Mora • Cano
de Murga • Belmonte • Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana
Cor dela Generalitat Valenciana • Fournillier
Naxos DVD 2.110270
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, swashbuckling 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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AUSTRALIA |
Classical Albums |
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ELGAR The Crown of India – Incidental Music, Marches
Gerald Finley, baritone • Clare Shearer, mezzo-soprano
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus • BBC Philharmonic
Andrew Davis, conductor
Chandos CHAN10570
An elaborate pageant and theatrical presentation, The Crown of India was first staged in 1912 to celebrate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Delhi for their coronation as Emperor and Empress of India. Chandos presents the first complete recording of the masque with Clare Shearer and the 2009 Gramophone Award-winning Gerald Finley, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis (newly signed to Chandos). The work is presented on 2 CDs for the price of a single CD: Disc 1 includes the entire masque with narration, whilst Disc 2 contains only the music and the famous Marches. Sir Andrew’s fascination with Elgar runs deep: ‘This is from Elgar’s mature period, the time of the Violin Concerto and Sospiri. There’s a ‘March of the Moguls’ which is the only march I know in three time and an exquisite interlude with solo violin.’ BUY ONLINE FROM WESLEY CLASSICS |
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SCHUMANN Lieder, Poems of Queen Mary Stuart Op. 135
Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano • Anthony Spiri, piano
Harmonia Mundi HMC902031
‘I would like to sing myself to death like a nightingale’, wrote Schumann in 1840, revealing a sudden passion for the lied, a genre he had hitherto disdained. His deeply Romantic cycles disclose in the piano part what the words do not express, to the point where he completely dissolves the traditional forms of versification. Written in 1852 in a period of intense nervous suffering, the cycle of Poems of Queen Mary Stuart stands out for its austerity and exceptional concentration of resources; it might be seen as its composer’s testament. Bernarda Fink is one of the world’s most celebrated mezzo-sopranos, often compared with the legendary Janet Baker for her rich, focused tone. Her previous 2009 release for Harmonia Mundi (Bach Cantatas HMC902016) was an ABC Classic FM CD of the Week.
BUY ONLINE FROM WESLEY CLASSICS |
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HANDEL Messiah
Julia Doyle, soprano • Iestyn Davies, countertenor • Allan Clayton, tenor Andrew Foster-Williams, bass • Polyphony • Britten Sinfonia
Stephen Layton, conductor
Hyperion CDA67800
‘No-one, but no-one performs Messiah better every year than the choir Polyphony under the conductor Stephen Layton’ (Evening Standard). Polyphony and Stephen Layton’s live Messiah at St John’s Smith Square has become one of the highlights of the London musical season. The joyful sincerity and urgent brilliance of the performers has brought the familiar story to life again and again. Now this wonderful experience is available on disc, recorded in 2008 for a new release that will surely prove a strong competitor in a necessarily crowded market. Polyphony is joined by the Britten Sinfonia and a quartet of magnificent young soloists, all variously acclaimed as the premier Handel singers of the new generation. Stephen Layton visits our shores in December 2009 to conduct Messiah in Australia – a real Christmas treat. BUY ONLINE FROM WESLEY CLASSICS
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My First Ballet Collection
Darcey Bussell • The Royal Ballet
Paris Opera Ballet and many other outstanding performers
OA1019D
THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOUR DAUGHTER!
Featuring some of the world’s most exciting and talented dancers, this sparkling collection brings together some of the best scenes from your favourite ballets. From the graceful elegance and passion of Swan Lake, to the humour and wit of the Clog Dance from La Fille mal gardée and the exuberant liveliness of The Nutcracker, this is a perfect collection for any budding ballerina.
BUY NOW FROM READINGS
See all Select Australia’s new releases
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GERMANY |
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RAFF The Symphonies
Bamberger Symphoniker • Hans Stadlmair, conductor Tudor TUD 1600
Though born in Switzerland in very poor circumstances, Joseph Joachim Raff, achieved success as a composer because of his musical skills, strong will, and some fortunate circumstances. An interesting anecdote illustrates this. Raff went by foot from Zurich to Basel to see Franz Liszt perform in concert, somehow obtaining a seat on the stage for the sold-out event. He used the opportunity to persuade the maestro of his abilities and got a job orchestrating Liszt’s music! This honed the skills of the high talented self-taught composer immensely. Despite his friendship with Hans von Buelow, who encouraged Raff’s music, he didn’t belong to the New German School, nor did he follow the lead of Mendelssohn and Schumann. So Raff’s music was neglected for a long time. All except two of his symphonies were given programmatic titles and all are characterised by the airiness and fantasy of his compositional methods. The colourful instrumentation of his symphonies was frequently praised by critics. This Tudor recording of Raff’s symphonies by the well-known Bamberg Symphony Orchestra conducted by the Austrian and Raff expert Hans Stadlmair, is without doubt an excellent introduction to the considerable range symphonies and orchestral works by Raff. stood on its own.
BUY ONLINE FROM JPC
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HONG KONG/CHINA |
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Exotic Dances from the Opera
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV The Snow Maiden - Dance of the Tumblers, R STRAUSS Salome - Dance of the Seven Veils, TCHAIKOVSKY Mazeppa – Hopak, MUSSORGSKY Khovanschina - Dance of the Persian Slaves, RABAUD Marouf Cobbler of Cairo – Dances, DVORAK Rusalka - Polonaise, A RUBINSTEIN The Demon - Ballet Music, SAINT-SAENS Samson et Dalilah - Bacchanale
Minnesota Orchestra • Eiji Oue, conductor
Reference Recordings RR-71SACD
You will enjoy amazing sound on this deluxe 2-channel hybrid SACD of favorites and rarities. This collection of exceptional performances from the Minnesota Orchestra has been a perennial favorite and best seller on CD, and NOW can be heard on SACD! It also includes HDCD encoding on the CD layer for highest audiophile quality. Deluxe imported pressings and packaging from Germany. This recording is one of legendary engineer ‘Prof.’ Keith Johnson's very best and favorite titles.
Press quotes about the CD version:
‘a sonic spectacular. The orchestra sounds full, natural, warm, and nicely spread out over the soundstage. There is none of the glare that still seems to affect many orchestral digital recordings; even the highest register of the violins sounds smooth and musical. Climaxes are never congested, and the fullest textures still retain clarity... this is simply to enjoy.’ (Henry Fogel, Fanfare)
‘Paradoxically, the sound I heard offered a clearer, more 'natural' balance between strings, winds, brass and percussion than my balcony seat in the hall.’ (John Michel, Skyway News, Minneapolis)
‘a mound of whipped cream, served with panache. The sheer virtuosity of the playing is a marvel -- this remains one of the great American orchestras - and the interpretations are clean, light, sometimes tongue-in-cheek’ (Michael Fleming, St Paul Pioneer Press)
‘Oue's program offers an inventive combination of worthwhile obscurities interlocked with superb versions of popular classics.’ (Heuwell Tircuit, InTune)
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USA |
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BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No 1 in C major
MOZART Piano Concerto No 18 in B-flat major
Martha Argerich, piano • Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Eugen Jochum, conductor BR Klassiks 403571900701
A concert by Martha Argerich is always sensational, sometimes grandiose, and occasionally the audience experiences a truly stellar event. Going through the archives of Bavarian Broadcasting, the feeling was unanimous, and many ‘ear witnesses’ themselves remembered the concerts: on these evenings Argerich was in top form, collaborated with two congenial conductors, inspired the orchestra and drew inspiration from it. In short: these live recordings should, indeed must be heard!
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MAHLER Symphony No 2
Miah Persson, soprano • Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus & Orchestra • Bernard Haitink, conductor
CSO Resound CSOR 901 914
A musical force in Chicago and around the world, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been consistently hailed as one of the finest international orchestras since its founding in 1891. At its helm since 2006 are Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink and Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez. Maestro Haitink leads the Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Chorus in CSO Resound’s November release, Mahler’s Second Symphony. Joining them in this performance are soprano Miah Persson and mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn. Persson is a sought-after soprano soloist of the major works in the sacred repertoire. This season, she returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and makes her debuts at the Theater an der Wien and at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona.
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The Glare
Michael Nyman • David McAlmont • Michael Nyman Band
MN Records MNRCD116
David McAlmont's exquisite voice has enthralled soul and jazz fans alike: "One day he will open his mouth and a cathedral will fall out" - Melody Maker. Michael Nyman is one o f the UK's most prestigious and innovative composers.
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Naxos November 2009 Samplers |
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