This new release is an enchanting collection of traditional and contemporary music from mainland China and Taiwan, with both sung and instrumental pieces, showcasing traditional Chinese instruments such as the board zithers guqin and zheng, lutes, such as pipa and ruan, flutes, dizi and xiao, as well as erhu (fiddle), yangqin (hammered dulcimer), sheng (mouth-blown bamboo organ) and konghou (Chinese harp). Eastern music specialist Diz Heller compiled the songs featured here and mastered them for optimal sound quality. Authentic ensembles and musicians perform here, including the Pan Jing Ensemble, Mei Han & Red Chamber, Silk & Bamboo Ensemble, and many more. Information about each song is included in the booklet.

CD Track Listing Cantique de Nöel (O Holy Night) 2. Adeste Fideles 3. Ave Maria, dolce Maria 4. Wiegenlied 5. Oh Tannenbaum 6. Tu scendi dalle stelle 7. Amazing Grace 8. White Christmas 9. Dormi, O bambino 10. Silent Night 11. Pregaría (El cant de l'ánima a la Verge) 12. Susani 13. Happy Christmas/War is Over 14. Wiegenlied 15. Carol of the Drum (The Little Drummer Boy) 16. La virgen lava pañales 17. I'll Be Home for Christmas 18. Sleigh Ride 19. Winter Wonderland 20. Un nuevo siglo 21. Feliz Navidad DVD Track Listing Medley: White Christmas, Let It Snow, Oh Tannenbaum, Ay! Para Navidad, Tu scendi dalle stelle, Carol of the Drum (The Little Drummer Boy), Medley: Ave Maria, dolce Maria - Video, Wiegenlied, Jingle Bells, Medley: Children of Christmas, La virgen lava pañales, I'll Be Home for Christmas, Adeste Fideles, Cantique de Nöel (O Holy Night), Amazing Grace, Feliz Navidad, Silent Night, Pregaría (El cant de l'ánima a la Verge), Medley: Winter Wonderland, Wiegenlied, Sleigh Ride, Susani, Un nuevo siglo, Medley: Dormi, O bambino, Happy Christmas (War is Over).

The award winning Aeolus Quartet offers the second installment in their Many-Sided Music Project, Ariel and Other Poems. This ongoing project collects distinctive voices of American composers, combining the classic with the modern. Ariel and Other Poems takes its name from the original title of Sylvia Plath's last manuscript. The poems contained therein include the work that inspired Christopher Theofanidis' Ariel Ascending, and joined by the rich expansive tones of the Copland, the buzzing electricity of the Mazzoli, and the deep catharsis of the Barber, the album Ariel and Other Poems seeks to offer a small sampling of the multi-faceted collection of American chamber music.

“First recording of complete ballet” this CD tray card proudly proclaims. Sorry guys, that honor goes (at a minimum) to Karl Anton Rickenbacher with the Bamberg Symphony on Koch, released way back in 1995. Statements such as this are all the more annoying when they can be disproved in about two seconds simply by looking at the listings on Amazon.com. Anyway, the lapse is forgivable, in this case, because that earlier recording is long out of print and the present release features a much better performance. Still, it’s always good to double-check these things, if only to maintain one’s credibility with hard-core collectors, who are the people most likely to be interested in this repertoire.

In its suite form Nobilissima Visione, Hindemith’s ballet about St. Francis of Assisi, consists of five numbers out of a total of eleven. The Introduction and Rondo actually takes two sections from the ballet’s later stages: Meditation and The Wedding with Poverty. The March and Pastoral comes from the middle: the same march, and the Appearance of the Three Women, while the passacaglia concludes both the suite and the complete ballet, in the latter as The Songs of Praise of the Creatures Begin. The entire work plays for about forty five minutes (in this performance), and it deserves to be heard whole–it is very beautiful, sort of an apotheosis of the mature Hindemith’s individual lyricism.

Whether it works as a ballet is another matter, and one which need not concern us. As a concert piece, it is totally viable in terms of length, thematic content, and scheme of contrasts. Schwarz’s performance is markedly superior to Rickenbacher’s. Just compare Schwarz’s “Wedding with Poverty” to Rickenbacher’s comparatively droopy, bland version, and you’ll get the picture. I suppose you could say that Schwarz’s is the more “balletic” interpretation, but its characteristic emphasis on lively tempos, transparent textures, and strong rhythms serves the music best in any context, and the Seattle Symphony plays very well.

The Five Pieces for String Orchestra make an interesting coupling. Arranged from Hindemith’s teaching works, they are designed to acquaint students with modern harmony while remaining easy to play, and they accomplish this goal admirably (meaning Hindemith does not pull any punches). They are not major works, but like all of his music they are well-crafted, and in any event more substantial that Rickenbacher’s coupling, the brief but charming Suite of French Dances. Fine sonics make this a valuable addition to the Hindemith discography, restoring a major and unjustly neglected work to the catalog.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Learn more about the music from this Naxos Classical Spotlight podcast episode!

These two concertos - one a staple of the repertoire, the other almost unknown - share melodic richness and a Spanish influence. Lalo's Symphonie espagnole reflects the quicksilver technique of its dedicatee, Pablo de Sarasate, in its ingenious and virtuosic passagework, with its moods and rhythms indelibly Iberian in feel. Juan Manén, in his day almost as famous as his fellow Catalan Pau Casals, was an admired virtuoso violinist and a prominent composer. His Concierto español, the first of three violin concertos, is suffused with technical demands, lyric warmth, and rhapsodic nostalgia. Soloist Tianwa Yang's Sarasate recordings have received international acclaim.

REVIEW:

Yang seems to have a natural affinity for Spanish works, having already recorded the complete violin works of Pablo de Sarasate, and her dazzling brilliance seems perfectly suited to the nature of the music. As in the Sarasate set, Yang is paired with a Spanish orchestra for even more authenticity.

– The WholeNote (CA)

"This is the fourth production on the Sinfonieorchester Basel's in-house label, established in 2012. Renowned American conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 2009. Honegger's Second Symphony (‘Symphonie liturgique’), completed in 1941 and premiered by Paul Sacher in 1942, follows the dramatic and emotional symphonic tradition of Beethoven, but in its form and spirit, hues towards the style of Haydn or Mozart."

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Strathclyde Concertos are amongst his most imposing contributions to the genre. The solo pairing of his Concerto No. 5 was inspired by Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, the soloists appearing in dialogue over intricate harmonies and dense string textures. Illuminated by Peter Bruegel's painting Children's Games, the distinctively scored Concerto No. 6 has an uninhibited lightness and transparency. Strathclyde Concerto No. 2 can be heard on Naxos 8.573017, Nos. 3 and 4 on 8.572353.

One of the least recorded of Paganini's 6 Violin Concertos.

Conducted by Christopher Bell, Chicago’s Grant Park Chorus, “as fine a symphony chorus as any to be found anywhere in the nation” (Chicago Tribune), makes its a cappella CD debut with an all-American program of eight imaginative, moving, and sometimes whimsical works written between 1975 and 25, including four world-premiere recordings. Premieres include Abbie Betinis’s Toward Sunshine, Toward Freedom: Songs of Smaller Creatures. Lee Kesselman’s Buzzings: Three Pieces about Bees offers vignettes based on Emily Dickinson poems. Paul Crabtree’s Five Romantic Miniatures is a set of affectionate tributes to characters from The Simpsons animated TV series. The chorus made its commercial recording debut performing with the Grant Park Orchestra on the 211 Cedille Records release The Pulitzer Project, which attracted international attention. Chicago’s New City said the CD “spectacularly showcased” the chorus’s “remarkable transparency and flexibility.”

Volume 2 of this complete edition of Martinu's songs is set mainly to Czech poems on themes of life, love and nature. Mezzo-soprano Jana Wallingerova, a member of the National Theatre in Brno, Czech Republic, has sung many of the most well-known mezzo roles on it's stage. Concert activities are also an essential part of her repertoire. Prague-born Giorgio Koukl is a pianist/harpsichordist and composer who has given many recitals and concerto performances.

4 RHAPSODIES from critically-acclaimed pianist Kristina Marinova and Navona Records is a collection of vibrant, dynamic, and technically demanding works for solo piano. The album’s titular piece, Four Rhapsodies op. 11 by early 20th-Century composer Ernst von Dohnanyi is rarely performed in concert given the level of musicianship it requires of pianists. Now, its combination of stark drama and dazzling virtuosic passages may be enjoyed by listeners everywhere. This impressive piece, along with works by the likes of Astor Piazzolla, Franz Liszt, and George Gershwin, makes for a varied collection of masterworks performed by the gifted hands of Kristina Marinova.

The March sisters are among the most beloved characters in children’s literature, and Little Men picks up the story of fiery, headstrong Jo where Little Women left off. Intelligent, funny, perceptive and genuinely touching, the novel is set at a rather unusual boarding school run by Jo and her husband, where the pupils are encouraged to pillow fight and keep pets. When the penniless but talented orphan Nat Blake shows up on her doorstep, Jo takes him in, and his arrival sets in motion a chain of events that will affect all their lives. Liza Ross has read several titles for younger listeners. Her warm and personable voice perfectly complements Alcott’s gentle tone. Little Women, the first volume, is currently available on Naxos Audiobooks as well. This release is presented for the junior audience as always with attractive classical music.

This new release is an album of eloquent contemporary music for children performed by Mr. E and Me and The Norwegian Radio Orchestra. The wonderful songs are written, arranged and sung by the highly accomplished duo Mr. E and Me, which consists of Martin Hagfors and Erik Johannessen. Martin, American born, is an artist, composer and lyricist in his own right and a popular collaborator for the likes of Ellen Andrea Wang, Bobby Bare, Big Bang, Motorpsycho etc. Erik is a Norwegian composer, arranger and trombone playing member of Jaga Jazzist, he is also known for his studio work with Susanne Sundfor and The Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. New Orchestral Hits 4 Kids also includes a guest appearance by the world music icon, Mari Boine on the hauntingly eerie, Long, Long and performances by The Norwegian Girls Choir. New Orchestral Hits 4 Kids aims to open ears to the wonderful sounds of the orchestra while introducing whimsical, imaginative songs about friendships, forests, wet socks, dancing, space, a robot, a birthday, and a beautiful narrative about a girl on the moon.

Beethoven’s permanent move to Vienna in 1782 allowed him direct contact with the operatic and Italianate culture of the city. He took lessons in Italian word setting from Salieri and almost immediately began the composition of a series of arias in that language, including Primo amore, piacer del ciel and later the dramatic recitative and aria Ah! perfido. Beethoven also set strophic songs in German that form part of the popular Singspiel tradition which are genial and rare examples of his art. Here, the songs are performed by soprano Reetta Haavisto, tenor Dan Karlstrom, and baritone Kevin Greenlaw.

The sparkling overture to Leonard Bernstein’s 1956 musical Candide immediately found a prominent place in concert programs all over the world and is now one of his most frequently performed pieces. Many of Bernstein’s best loved works drew inspiration from the city of New York, and this is true both of the three sailors pursuing female conquest in the ballet ‘Fancy Free,’ and of the rip-roaring swing rhythm and big tunes from the musical ‘Wonderful Town.’ Bernstein celebrated his friends and family with his ‘Anniversaries’- piano vignettes heard here for the first time in colorfully expanded orchestrations. Marin Alsop is an inspiring and powerful voice in the international music scene who passionately believes that “music has the power to change lives.” She became music director of the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and made history in 2013 as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms, which she returned to conduct in 2015. As a student of Leonard Bernstein, Alsop is central to his 100th anniversary celebrations, conducting Bernstein’s ‘Mass’ at the Ravina Festival, where she serves as musical curator for 2018 and 2019.

For most of his life Eric Craven has kept a very low profile, concentrating on his teaching career and quietly developing his 'non-prescriptive' composing method, a sort of aleatory style that allows the performer varying degrees of freedom. His earlier cycle of short pieces, 'SET', was recorded after Craven was persuaded by leading pianists to make his work available. Highly praised, that technique is shown again to great effect in the 'Pieces for Pianists', producing music that is varied, interesting, but perfectly accessible for listener and performer. Volume 1 attracted very positive reviews: "joyous, playful and satisfying music." - New Classics; and we are sure that this second set will find many new fans for this very individual composer.

Mary Dullea is an Irish pianist based in London, who enjoys a very busy career as a soloist and chamber musician and regularly performs and broadcasts in many countries. Her discography is exceptional and demonstrates her support and championing of new music. Her pianism and musicality as well as remarkable virtuosity make her an ideal interpreter. She is also Reader in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Following the huge success of My First Classical Music Book, Genevieve Helsby and Jason Chapman return with My First Piano Book. Bursting with life and humor, this is a uniquely comprehensive introduction to the piano, designed first and foremost to inspire. Text and illustrations are so perfectly in tune with each other that every page is a treat to explore. With a cast of animal characters showing what they know (and what they don’t!), this truly is both informative and great fun. This original and vibrant approach to the piano integrates listening to professionals and learning to play in a unique and approachable way.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Choral Concert: William Ferris Chorale – HOVHANESS, A. / COH