FRANCIS POTT
Pott: At First Light / Word Joseph Spooner (Cello) Christian Wilson (Organ) / Commotio, Matthew Berry [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] "Every now and then you hear a new work and feel that excitement, the knowledge that here is a piece that is going to become part of the landscape." Gramophone Editor's Choice Sept 2020 . |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: La finta giardiniera (complete opera recorded in 2018) BLU-RAY Teatro alla Scala / Krešimir Špicer, Julie Martin du Theil, Bernard Richter / Diego Fasolis (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 9/Jul/2021 ] "The whole, remarkably filmed by Daniela Vismara, is to be seen by all those who are reluctant to opera: conversion is guaranteed!" © 2021 Crescendo |
HERBERT HOWELLS
Howells: Piano Music, Vol. 1 [Incls Harlequin Dreaming & Summer Idyls] Matthew Schellhorn (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] With this album, Matthew Schellhorn sheds new light on Herbert Howells as a truly significant 20th-century composer for the piano. From the charming Summer Idyls, written before the composer began studies at the Royal College of Music, to the mature... |
ALBERT KETELBEY
Ketelbey: A Dream Picture - Piano Pieces Rosemary Tuck (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 23/Jul/2021 ] Albert Ketèlbey reached such a pinnacle of eminence and popularity that in 1929 he was named as Britain's greatest living composer, based on the number of performances of his works. |
CAMILLO TOGNI
Togni: Piano Music, Vol. 5 Aldo Orvieto (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] Camillo Togni loved the piano and fully understood the instrument's great potential for colour and virtuosity. This final volume in the series explores Togni's very first piano works. |
PAUL ABRAHAM
Abraham: Ball at the Savoy (complete operetta sung in English) Alison Kelly, Gerald Frantzen, Ryan Trent Oldham, Cynthia Fortune Gruel / Folks Operetta, Anthony Barrese [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 9/Jul/2021 ] Hungarian composer Paul Abrahám enjoyed huge success across Europe with his 'jazz operettas', not least in Weimar Berlin where his works scored for an orchestra augmented by a jazz band caused a sensation. |
ESTEBAN BENZECRY
Benzecry: Ciclo de canciones / Violin Concerto / Clarinet Concerto Ayako Tanaka (Soprano) Xavier Inchausti (Violin) Mariano Rey (Clarinet) / Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Pablo Boggiano [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] French-Argentinian composer Esteban Benzecry has built up a distinctive body of work, from symphonies to works for solo piano. He stands as a worthy successor to such masters as Ginastera, Villa-Lobos and Chávez, with music that is suffused with... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Canons and Musical Jokes Cantus Novus Wien / Ensemble Tamanial, Thomas Holmes [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] One of the least explored areas of Beethoven's compositions is the miscellaneous sequence of canons, early exercises in counterpoint, mature jokes and jeux d'esprit that he wrote over many years. He composed a two-part canon for the composer Hummel... |
JOAN TOWER
Tower: Strike Zones / Still/Rapids / Ivory and Ebony / Small Dame Evelyn Glennie (percussion), Blair McMillen (piano) / Albany Symphony, David Allan Miller [ Naxos / CD - released 23/Jul/2021 ] Joan Tower is widely regarded as one of today's most important American composers. The works heard here in their world premiere recordings are part of a growing legacy that one pundit has described as "The Power of Tower." Strike Zones is tailor-made... |
AARON JAY KERNIS / ASTOR PIAZZOLLA / ROBERTO SIERRA
Double Echo - New Guitar Concertos from the Americas David Tanenbaum (guitar) / New Century Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Derthick, Aaron Jay Kernis [ Naxos / CD - released 9/Jul/2021 ] This album of guitar concertos from the Americas features pieces composed for David Tanenbaum. Building on a tradition of prominent guitarists generating repertoire through new commissions, these works present the guitar in a variety of settings.... |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: Madrigals [Books 1 - 9] Delitiæ Musicæ, Marco Longhini [ Naxos / 15 CD Box Set - released 24/Jul/2020 ] The editions used in these recordings are the most authentic and uncut, and, in keeping with 17th-century practice, employ male voices only. Praised as 'compelling, simultaneously controlled and imaginative' (American Record Guide) |
LEO WEINER
Weiner: Orchestral Works (Complete), Vol. 3 Ditta Rohmann (Cello) Melinda Felletár (Harp) / Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Valéria Csányi [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] Leó Weiner, a contemporary of Bartók and Kodály, was a profoundly important teacher in Budapest whose own music developed from a more traditional Romantic model to an absorption of his native Hungarian folk music during the 1930s. |
VIVALDI / ALBENIZ / OSCHER / CHARLIER / VILLA-LOBOS
Egregore+ : Trumpets and Chamber Orchestra Music Fábio Brum [Cornets, Trumpet, Flugelhorn] / Kammerensemble Konsonanz, Pacho Flores [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] The aim of this innovative album is to introduce listeners to the rich variety of sounds in the trumpet family and through the use of modern instruments-one especially developed for the project-to imbue the music with unique colours and textures. All... |
GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN
Telemann: The Colourful Telemann - Concertos, Sonata, Sinfonia Melodica Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Barthold Kuijken [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] The Colourful Telemann presents works from different periods of Georg Philipp Telemann's life, reflecting his lively personality and exploring his seemingly unlimited invention over a wide variety of styles and genres. |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Cello Suites, Vol. 1 - Nos. 1-3, BWV 1007-1009 (arr. J. McFadden for guitar) Jeffrey McFadden (guitar) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] The six Cello Suites represent J.S. Bach's genius at its most distilled, with the composer confronting the enigma of writing counterpoint for a monophonic instrument at its core. Jeffrey McFadden's arrangement for guitar enhances the music, adding a... |
IAN KROUSE
Krouse: Nocturnes / Invocation Jessica Rivera (soprano) Vladimir Chernov (baritone) Maryanne Kim (Piano), etc [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] Ian Krouse has been acclaimed by Gramophone as "one of the most communicative and intriguing" of today's composers, his style drawing on historical and traditional influences as well as being innovative and modern. |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Le Nozze di Teti e di Peleo [cantata] Joshua Stewart (Tenor) Leonor Bonilla (Soprano) ...Marina Comparato (Mezzo-soprano), etc / Virtuosi Brunensis, Pietro Rizzo [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] Rossini composed Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo, an allegorical cantata on the theme of the wedding between the sea goddess Thetis and the hero Peleus. |
JOAQUIN RODRIGO / MANUEL PONCE
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez / Ponce: Concierto del sur Junhong Kuang (guitar) / Czech Chamber Philharmonic, Pardubice, Darrell Ang [ Naxos Spanish Classics / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez is the most celebrated classical guitar work of the 20th century, music that conjures up the colour, sophistication and glories of eternal Spain. |
LORI LAITMAN
Laitman: The Secret Exit / I Never Saw Another Butterfly / Living in the Body (with works by Diana Rosenblum & Kalmen Opperman) Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk (Soprano) Denise Gainey (Clarinet) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] This collection of songs with voice and clarinet has at its heart Lori Laitman's profoundly moving cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly, which sets the words of hope and desolation written by children imprisoned in the Terezín concentration camp.... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: La finta giardiniera (complete opera recorded in 2018) La Scala / Krešimir Špicer, Julie Martin du Theil, Bernard Richter / Diego Fasolis (cond) [ Naxos DVD / 2 DVD - released 9/Jul/2021 ] On 13 January La finta giardiniera, a dramma giocoso, was premiered at the Salvatortheater in Munich, then on 23 April the serenata Il re pastore was staged at the archbishop's palace in Salzburg. |