The music of Eugene Zádor is both warmly expressive and colorful. The composer took great delight in writing for overlooked solo instruments, as his Trombone Concerto, garnished with elements of Hungarian folklore, clearly shows. The easy-going, gypsy-influenced Music for Clarinet and Strings is a beautifully proportioned quasi-concerto. The Sinfonia Technica, composed much earlier when he was living in Vienna, and something of a one-off, is an enchanting and exuberantly orchestrated example of ‘industrial music’. Polish conductor Mariusz Smolij has garnered much critical acclaim from the international press, and has led over 130 orchestras in 28 countries. He currently serves as music director of the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra in Louisiana, the Riverside Symphonia in New Jersey and the International Karol Lipi?ski Violin Festival and Competition in Toru?, Poland. His recordings for Naxos include releases of works by Andrzej Panufnik (8.570032), Tadeusz Szeligowski (8.570371), Eugene Zádor (8.572548, 8.573529, 8.573274, 8.572549 and 8.573800) and Ernst Bloch (8.570829). In 2015, his recording of music by female Polish composer Gra?yna Bacewicz (8.573229) won the prestigious Fryderyk Award.

Mackerras unseated? This magical version from Australia comes close

Chandos certainly has guts, going toe-to-toe with Mackerras’s Gramophone Award-winning set. Hickox’s Australian forces need not fear the comparison. Cheryl Barker may not have the refulgent tones of Renée Fleming on Decca (who has?) but she is even more moving in conveying Rusalka’s desperation. Mackerras is still my must-own, but this runs it close.

-- Gramophone [3/2008]

Andr� Toussaint was a native Haitian who made his home in Nassau, Bahamas, for most of his singing career. He was known for his golden voice, sometimes compared in his calypso lounge-style to Harry Belafonte, and thrilled guests everywhere he performed. Toussaint was a regular at the popular Bay Street bistro Blackbeard's and the famous La Fin, where one of his live shows was recorded. Several selections from that performance are featured on this collection.

REVIEWS:
American Record Guide (11-12/97, p.139) - "...Two of the instruments heard--an oboe and the musette--were made by Hotteterre....The playing is alert, adept, and sometimes even better than in more recent period-instrument forays....This is French baroque music at its best."

One of the most emotional liturgical works, the Stabat Mater meditates on the suffering of Mary the mother of Jesus during the crucifixion. The Stabat Mater by Boccherini, featured on this new release, was composed for solo soprano and string ensemble, one of the most intimate settings for this text. A specialist in Baroque repertoire, soprano Francesca Boncompagni performs here alongside the Ensemble Symposium, which performs on original instruments.

2020 is the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, and this album presents three works that reshape the composer's awe-inspiring music for the 21st century. The Sonata for Orchestra considers how the Violin Sonata No. 7 would sound had it been written for orchestra, while A Fidelio Symphony transforms vocal lines into symphonic textures to take us through the entire arc of the composer's sole opera. Based on the famous Ode to Joy of Beethoven's final symphony, BEETHOVEN9 Symphonic Remix uses loops, grooves and musical transformations to create a contemporary tribute to Beethoven's universal message. This release contains world premiere recordings of three works that reimagine the music of Beethoven in differing and special ways: a brand-new 'symphony' in the style of Beethoven based on the Seventh Violin Sonata, an orchestral suite that captures the spirit of Fidelio, and Gabriel Prokofiev's unique take on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony featuring styles from minimalism to impressionism via Hip-Hop, African, Funk, Baroque and many others to create an eclectic but striking remix of some of the most famous movements in all music. Conductor Yaniv Segal is a versatile polymath who has appeared on stages as a violinist, actor, singer, composer, and conductor dedicated to bringing classical music of all types to a broad and mainstream audience, and has been spotlighted by Esquire Magazine as a rising star that is 'redefining classical music.'

Christ Church Cathedral Choir and Stephen Darlington join forces with Soloists from The Sixteen and a stellar group of instrumentalists on this premiere recording. Persecution of the innocent, malevolent authority exerting itself against ideas that threaten and challenge, the power of a peaceful, loving humility in the face of tyranny, the facing-down of fear; all hold profound universal resonance for people of many faiths and those of none. Such is the power of the Passion story and in his new work, Invictus: A Passion, multi-award-winning composer Howard Goodall has found a route directly to people’s hearts, telling the story afresh through his choice of thought-provoking texts combined with heart-rending yet inspiring music. Howard Goodall is a composer of choral music, stage musicals, TV and film scores and a music historian and broadcaster. His choral music has been commissioned to mark many national ceremonies and memorials; his settings of Psalm 23 and Love divine are amongst the most performed of all sacred music. Howard has composed some of the best-known British TV theme tunes of the last 30 years, and his score for the HBO film Into the Storm won him a Primetime EMMY award for Original Dramatic Score in 2009. For the last 25 years he has written and presented his own TV documentary series on the theory and history of music.

The insatiable demand for sheet music for domestic use in the 19th century meant that popular works were widely disseminated in piano duet form. Robert Schumann's own arrangements of the 'Spring' Symphony (in collaboration with his wife Clara Schumann) and the Fourth Symphony balance playability and fidelity to the original with tremendous skill. Clara considered the Fourth Symphony to be 'another work from the innermost depths of Robert's soul', a symphony that has become one of the most quintessential of the Romantic era. This is a highly collectible set of Schumann's works in arrangement for piano duet, appearing here in world premiere recordings for versions of symphonies arranged by the composer himself along with his wife Clara. Vol. 1 (8.572877) was considered 'extremely well done' by Fanfare. Vol. 2 can be found on 8.572878, Vol. 3 included the Third Symphony 'Rhenish' and is on 8.572879, while Vol. 4 (8.572880) which was considered a 'handsome account off our symphonic works' by the Audio Video Club of Atlanta, and of the Second Symphony: 'The whole work works extremely well in this arrangement; it is also interesting to compare the details which are brought out by the arrangement - Clara and Robert clearly knew exactly what they were doing. I am very much looking forward to the next volume'.(MusicWeb International)

Having worked with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Deutsche Oper and MusicAeterna, Sissi Makropoulou has established a reputation among the most talented harpists of her generation, as well as a composer working under the name Sissi Radu. On this, her debut solo album, she brings both talents together. As she explains in her engaging booklet notes, she has been familiar with The Seasons since childhood. They count among the composer’s most intimate works, as well as his most popular. ‘I hear tenderness, benevolence and loneliness – the core of romantic love – in each and every note.’ It is the harp that lends a unique color to some of Tchaikovsky’s most memorable passages such as the cadenzas in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. In some cases – January, for example - Sissi Makropoulou has transposed the pieces to sit more easily on the harp and to exploit its sumptuous palette of enharmonics. And while the Shrovetide Fair of February presents considerable challenges to the harpist in terms of quicksilver articulation and lightning-fast chord changes, the results speak for themselves in terms of a happy marriage between music and instrument. March, for example, could have been written with the harp in mind. As an encore, Sissi Makropoulou plays her own arrangement of the second movement from Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. The gentle mood of this Andantino ‘in the style of a song’ transfers itself sympathetically to the harp in her hands, and is informed by her experience of playing the composer’s music under one of its most inspirational modern conductors, Teodor Currentzis.

Among jazz fans, you can have a lot of fun arguing whether “European Jazz” is a useful counterpoint to the American tradition, an original supplement thereto or “is worth less than American jazz on the market” as it can be read in a Wikipedia forum. There is no doubt that there have been and are gifted musicians this side of the Atlantic, who have molded and formed jazz for decades. They have developed very unique playing styles by merging European music traditions with American influences. To give these pioneers of European jazz a stage was the idea for the series of articles “European Jazz Legends,” which has been launched in the magazine Jazz thing on their 100th issue in September 2013. Accompanying each edition of the magazine a concert is planned especially for the occasion is organized and the highlights recorded and released. The multi-instrumentalist from Bayonne, who had turned eighty just a few days before the interview, masters various clarinets and saxophones as well as the bandoneon, and is also recognized as a composer. His wit and wisdom, and the youthful energy and curiosity he brings to his astonishing improvisations are only some of the reasons Portal has enjoyed such a fruitful and enduring career. Having helped to kick start the Free Jazz movement, he went on to form “New Phonic Art” to encourage collective improvisation and instant composing.

They may look like a pop, rock, or crossover group, but don't be fooled! I FURIOSI is the hottest new baroque ensemble on the scene, reinventing the traditional classical music experience, and we are happy to announce the release of their commercial debut CD, CRAZY. CRAZY is an exciting and diverse program of musical pieces whose premise is either insanity itself, or is the product of the disturbed mind of the composer. The album matches unparalleled performances with, painstakingly crafted program notes that provide insight into both the composer's own vision, however twisted, and the broad social themes of their day. The program which includes masterworks by some of the greatest composers of the 16th-18th century is concluded in contrast by a beautifully haunting rendition of Suzanne by master song writer Leonard Cohen's Suzanne.

In developing its programming, I FURIOSI worked diligently to craft themes linked to current events, to provide contemporary audiences with an insight into historical themes that are entertaining as well as educational. The detailed liner notes provide insight behind the selection of each track. 

Two highly dramatic short works by Monteverdi, Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Ballo delle ingrate are performed by distinguished French soloists with Jean-Claude Malgoire directing La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roy.

After all is said and done, after 30 years, after a pandemic which shattered the world, after thousands of kilometers travelled and many more thousands of notes played and sung, what remains ? A deep love and respect for great music and the greatness in music, a deep love for the humanity that is brought to life by it, a deep appreciation for the gift of friendship and for the power and resonance that brought and kept us together all these years, and for that curiosity and passion, that meticulous quest to unveil the deepest mysteries of music, that drives us always onwards. Finally, we’ve given it a name: Afterallogy

After all is said and done, after 30 years, after a pandemic which shattered the world, after thousands of kilometers travelled and many more thousands of notes played and sung, what remains ? A deep love and respect for great music and the greatness in music, a deep love for the humanity that is brought to life by it, a deep appreciation for the gift of friendship and for the power and resonance that brought and kept us together all these years, and for that curiosity and passion, that meticulous quest to unveil the deepest mysteries of music, that drives us always onwards. Finally, we’ve given it a name: Afterallogy

Also available on Blu-ray

Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic accent the colors, rhythms and passion of music by leading composers from Argentina in this invigorationg evening at the Hollywood Bowl - Astor Piazzolla, the master of Nuevo Tanog, who's four tangos feature on stage the dance company Tango Buenos Aires, known worldwide as the most authentic and uncompromising representative of the tango, Alberto Ginastera, one of the most important 20th century classical composers of the Americas and Piazzolla's first teacher, and Lalo Schifrin, who, beside his concert music, is the composer of the famous scores of "Mission: Impossible" and "Dirty Harry". His "concerto for Guitar and Orchestra", a world premiere recording, is composed for Angel Romero, an iconic master of the classical guitar.

Classical Music

Ensemble Caprice and Ensemble Vocal-Arts Québec, under the direction of Matthias Maute, present George Frideric Handel’s Messiah featuring Karina Gauvin. Although it is certainly not the first recording of The Messiah, it serves as an opening act to new beginnings; a breath of fresh air after the isolation and empty concert halls caused by the pandemic. These Messiah excerpts feature Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin, known especially for her interpretation of Baroque music, and the recipient of the prestigious award of “Soloist of the year” award by the Communauté internationale des radios publique de langue français. The recording also features the flute part from Mozart’s arrangement of The Messiah, honoring the two giants, Handel and Mozart, of the classical compositional world. Opening the album is composer Jaap Nico Hamburger’s Hope and Belief, which served as the title track for Ensemble Caprice and Ensemble Vocal-Arts Québec Mini Concerts Sante, and closes with Matthias Maute’s piece “O magnum mysterium,” which “attempts to grasp something of the elusive mystery of music.”

Cellist Laura Metcalf enjoys a thriving career performing as a soloist, orchestral musician, and performing in the ensembles Break of Reality and Sybarite 5. Joined by pianist Matei Varga, this release is Laura’s debut solo recording. Following this release, Laura has scheduled a series of concerts which will begin in New York City in April. The program for this album features works by Martinu, Enescu, Poulenc, and more.

The first volume of the premiere recordings of Jurgis Karnavicius’ (1884–1941) string quartets resulted in a growing number of excellent album reviews. It included the composer's romantic and folk music-inspired first two quartets. This second volume includes the composer’s last two quartets: Nos. 3 & 4 which are more expressive and modern in nature. Karnavicius wrote his four impressive string quartets during his study and teaching years in St. Petersburg during the 1910s and 1920s, filling the chronological and stylistic gap between the String Quartets of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. After its premiere in St. Petersburg, it took nearly a half century before the String Quartet No. 3 was heard again: in 1969, long after the composer’s death. Similarly, the composer’s String Quartet No. 4 had to wait for its next performance until the 1980s and still remains unpublished. In this album the Vilnius String Quartet is giving beautiful world premiere recordings to these two expressive works by the Lithuanian composer.

Classical Music