BRUCE BROUGHTON
Broughton: And on the Sixth Day / String Theory / Concerto for Horn and Orchestra Olivier Stankiewicz (oboe) William VerMeulen (horn) / London Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Bloxham [ Naxos American Classics / CD - due 21/Jun/2024 ] Although Bruce Broughton is best known for his many film and television scores, over the past five decades he has composed scores for a diverse array of projects from film and TV to concert music and even theme parks. His work has been recognized... |
MARGARET BROUWER
Brouwer: The Art of Sailing at Dawn / Rhapsody, Concerto for Orchestra / Symphony No. 1 "Lake Voices" ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop [ Naxos American Classics / CD - due 21/Jun/2024 ] Margaret Brouwer is a composer renowned for her music's lyricism, imagery and emotional power. The five premiere recordings on this album span 24 years. |
PETROS PETRIDIS
Petridis: Saint Paul Soloists / Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Byron Fidetzis [ Naxos / 2 CD - due 21/Jun/2024 ] Petros Petridis was one of the leading composers of the Greek National School. In Saint Paul he sought to combine the polyphonic approach of Byzantine music with the form of the oratorio. The libretto follows the Acts of the Apostles with fourteen... |
LUKAS FOSS
Foss: Ode / Renaissance Concerto / Three American Pieces / Symphony No. 1 in G major Amy Porter (flute) Nikki Chooi (violin) / Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta [ Naxos American Classics / CD - due 24/May/2024 ] Berlin-born Lukas Foss studied music in Paris before settling in Philadelphia in 1937. Though he freely explored diverse compositional styles, three of the works in this recording fall into his early neo-Classical period and exemplify his dictum that... |
VALENTIN SILVESTROV
Silvestrov: Symphony for Violin and Orchestra / Postludium for Piano and Orchestra Janusz Wawrowski (violin) Jurgis Karnavičius (piano) / Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Lyndon-Gee/ [ Naxos / CD - due 24/May/2024 ] Berlin-born Lukas Foss studied music in Paris before settling in Philadelphia in 1937. Though he freely explored diverse compositional styles, three of the works in this recording fall into his early neo-Classical period and exemplify his dictum that... |
DANIEL-FRANCOIS AUBER
Auber: Overtures, Vol. 6 [Incls 'L'Ambassadrice' & 'Le Dieu et la Bayadère' ] Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Dario Salvi [ Naxos / CD - released 19/Apr/2024 ] Auber's overtures were once as popular as those by Rossini and Suppé, with no less a figure than Tchaikovsky commenting on the 'elegant clarity of his harmonisation, his delightful and striking melodies … and beautiful instrumentation.' Full evidence... |
ELISABETTA BRUSA
Brusa: Requiem Op.25 / Stabat Mater Op.24 Réka Kristóf (soprano) Dorottya Láng (alto) István Horváth (tenor) Marcell Bakonyi (bass) / Hungarian radio Symphony and Choir, Riccardo Frizza [ Naxos / CD - released 19/Apr/2024 ] Most of Elisabetta Brusa's compositions have been written for orchestral forces, with four volumes currently available on Naxos. The two new choral pieces in this fifth volume offer a revealing look at the composer's response to spirituality and her... |
JOHN ADAMS
Adams: City Noir / Fearful Symmetries / Lola Montez Does the Spider Dance ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop (conductor) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 5/Apr/2024 ] John Adams' music has long since captured the admiration of listeners for its inimitable American qualities. City Noir was inspired by the cultural and social history of Los Angeles, with Adams calling it 'an imaginary film score' in its evocation of... |
Cesar FRANCK / Ernest CHAUSSON
Franck/Chausson: Symphonies Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Jean-Luc Tingaud [ Naxos / CD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] César Franck's only symphony came at a time when the French music world was seeking to rival the great Austro-German tradition. The 'darkness-to-light' narrative of the Symphony in D minor owes a debt to Beethoven and there is a unique power within... |
EDINO KRIEGER
Krieger: Ludus Symphonicus / Variações Elementare / Canticum Naturale / etc Flavia Fernandes (soprano), São Paulo Symphony Choir, Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra • Neil Thomson [ Naxos The Music of Brazil / CD - released 10/Nov/2023 ] Edino Krieger was a leading figure in Brazilian music as both composer and arts director who influenced a generation of his compatriots during his long life. |
LOUIS WAYNE BALLARD
Ballard: The Four Moons / Devil's Promenade / etc Fort Smith Symphony, John Jeter [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 10/Nov/2023 ] Louis Wayne Ballard - also known as "Honganozhe", which means "Stands with Eagles" in the Quapaw language - was the first indigenous North American composer of art music, and his extensive knowledge of the music, dance and mythology of this culture... |
JEAN-BAPISTE LULLY
Kodaly: Háry János Suite / Summer Evening / Symphony in C major Chester Englander (cimbalom) / Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta [ Naxos / CD - released 27/Oct/2023 ] Zoltán Kodály's life was largely occupied with collecting his country's folk music and devising the internationally renowned method of music education that bears his name. |
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN
Haydn:Symphonies 96 "Miracle", 97 & 98 Danish Chamber Orchestra, Adam Fischer [ Naxos / CD - released 13/Oct/2023 ] "Fischer must have conducted more Haydn than anyone alive. And after half a century's immersion in these symphonies his delight in the composer's unpredictable inventiveness and (in the finales) darting wit is as palpable as ever." Gramophone |
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI
Penderecki: Symphony No.6 'Chinese Songs' Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit, with Jarosław Bręk (bass-baritone), David Guerrier (trumpet) Aleksandra Kuls (violin) [ Naxos / CD - released 13/Oct/2023 ] Penderecki's Symphony No. 6 'Chinese Songs' is an intimate, chamber-scale work for bass- baritone and orchestra. It sets eight Chinese poems in German adaptations linked with interludes for the two-stringed erhu. It proved to be Penderecki's last... |
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS
Villa-Lobos: Cello Concertos Nos, 1 and 2 / Fantasia for Cello and Orchestra Antonio Meneses (cello) / São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Isaac Karabtchevsky [ Naxos The Music of Brazil / CD - released 22/Sep/2023 ] The Cello Concerto No. 1 was Villa-Lobos's first major orchestral work. Filled with youthful energy and displaying an eclectic style, it is the sound of the composer finding his voice. Three decades later and with his reputation at its height, the... |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47 / Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70 Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 was premiered in 1937. It was composed in response to the Soviet denouncement in Pravda of the composer's most recent works. The symphony was an overwhelming success, returning the composer to favour with the... |
PAUL CHIHARA
Chihara: Concerto-Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra Quynh Nguyen (piano) Rieko Aizawa (piano) / London Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Barlow [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] Recipient of numerous notable awards and commissions, Paul Chihara is renowned for his film and television scores as well as for an extensive catalogue of orchestral, choral and chamber works. Composed for and in close collaboration with... |
JAMES PRICE JOHNSON
Johnson: De Organizer / The Dreamy Kid (excerpts) Rabihah Davis Dunn, Olivia Duval, Lori Celeste Hick & other soloists / University of Michigan Opera Theatre and Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Kiesler [ Naxos American Opera Classics / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] Renowned as an influential jazz pianist, James P. Johnson also flourished as a composer of opera and of show tunes in the 1920s and 1930s. His two short operas The Dreamy Kid and De Organizer offer contrasting stories of African American life at that... |
JOACHIM RAFF
RAFF: Symphony No. 5 'Lenore' / Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott - Overture Slovak State Philharmonic, Urs Schneide [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] The imposing nature and sweeping expressive range of Joachim Raff's Fifth Symphony has seen it become one of his most popular works in the genre. Its subtitle 'Lenore' refers to a lurid and macabre poem by Gottfried August Bürger in which the forlorn... |
Solon MICHAELIDES / Manolis KALOMIRIS / Yannis CONSTANTINIDIS / Nikos SKALKOTTAS
TOPOS - 20th-Century Greek Orchestral Music Noé Inui (violin) / Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, Zoi Tsokanou [ Naxos / CD - released 25/Aug/2023 ] Greek-Cypriot composer Solon Michaelides's evocative Dawn at the Parthenon is infused with impressionist elements whereas Manolis Kalomiris, the leading figure in Greek national music, turns more to the voluptuous richness of Rimsky-Korsakov. |