It is difficult to overstate the breadth of contribution of Anton Rubinstein to the development of the Russian culture in the 19th century. His multifaceted genius can be divided into three areas- Rubinstein the composer, the pianist, and the educator. In this first release in the series of recordings of his works for piano and orchestra, we focus on Rubinstein’s role as an educator. The album brings into light the effect Rubinstein had on the advancement of the Russian musical style in the 19th and 20th centuries. Hailed by The New York Times as a pianist of “a fiery sensibility and warm touch,” Anna Shelest is an international award-winning pianist who has thrilled the audiences she’s been in front of all over the world. Born in Ukraine, she began her studies at the age of six, and at the age of eleven she performed at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Her repertoire ranges from the Baroque to today’s contemporary composers. She has a particular affinity for Russian piano literature. Having received her Masters Degree at The Juilliard School, Anna Shelest currently resides in New York City with her husband and two sons. The Orchestra Now is group of vibrant young musicians from across the globe who are making orchestral music relevant to 21st century audiences. Hand-picked from the world’s leading conservatories, the members of TON are not only thrilling audiences with their critically acclaimed performances, but also enlightening curious minds by giving on stage demonstrations.

A fiercely independent composer, Henri Dutilleux wrote music that is refined, colorful and scrupulously crafted. Symphony No 1, his first purely orchestral score, established his international reputation. Structurally unconventional- it opens, unusually, with a passacaglia- it illustrates his principle of ‘progressive growth’ through its sustained lyricism and towering, chorale-like statements. Metaboles was inspired by the virtuosity of the woodwind section of George Szell’s Cleveland Orchestra. Distinctive instrumentation for each movement allows for deep expression, jazzy rhythms and moments of irony. The enigmatic diptych Les Citations quotes from fellow composers Benjamin Britten and Jehan Alain. After over 40 years at the head of the Orchestre National de Lille (ONL), of which he was the founder, Jean-Claude Casadesus enjoys an international career that has brought seasons in Germany, Russia, Japan, Latvia, and in Lille. His 30 albums with the orchestra have won critical and public acclaim and as a guest conductor he has appeared in Moscow, Singapore, Montreal, Baltimore, Seoul, St. Petersburg and Berlin. He is an enthusiastic champion of contemporary music and set up residences for composers with the Lille orchestra.

The four works gathered here belong to what could be described as the secret garden of twentieth-century French music. They remind one that, next to the handful of composers of the post-Debussy-Faur� generation that have found a secure place in posterity, such as Maurice Ravel, Albert Roussel, Francis Poulenc, and Olivier Messiaen, there were many others whose names may be less familiar, but who have also made outstanding contributions to the music of their time. Written over fewer than fifty years, the four works also testify to the pioneering role played by twentieth-century French musicians in reviving and promoting the flute as a solo instrument. Ransom Wilson, flutist and conductor has performed in concert with major orchestras the world over. As a flutist, he has recently launched an ongoing series of solo recordings on the Nimbus label in Europe. Conductor Perry So most recently made his European operatic debut at the Royal Danish Opera in Mozart's Die Zauberflote. He is known for his wide-ranging programming, including numerous world premieres on four continents and works from the Renaissance and the Baoque.

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American classical guitarist Xavier Jara has taken first prize at numerous international competitions, including the prestigious 2016 GFA International Concert Artist Competition. This release stands out not only for the sheer musicality and technical brilliance of the performer, but for his imaginatively structured and adventurous programme. It balances the poetic beauty of John Dowland and Alan Rawthorne with the broad appeal of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Variations across the Centuries, technically challenging works by Dusan Bogdanovic, as well as intriguing discoveries such as young composer Jeremy Collins’s Elegy. A native of Minnesota, Xavier Jara was a student of Alan Johnston at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis until 2011 when he moved to Paris to study with Judicael Perroy for six years. During this time he completed his Bachelor’s Degree at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris where he also studied with the French guitarist Olivier Chassain, and the lutenist Eric Bellocq.

Every instrument’s repertoire is usually rich in works composed in very idiomatic ways and realized by authors often unknown to the general audience. Especially in the 19th Century it is possible to notice a very rich literature dedicated to the most different musical instruments able to satisfy the needs and requirements of the one who had to perform as a soloist. In the case of oboe the works we present are an example of a production that collects virtuosity and melodic pleasure. They are all by 19th Century Composers from all over the world - Spain ( Escobés ), France ( Saint-Saëns, Stupuy ), The Netherlands ( Barth ) and England (Walmisley )- everyone with their own peculiarities but united in the perfect agreement of the virtuosic and expressive resources of oboe. Enrico Calcagni is a keen scholar of his instrument repertoire both classic and contemporaneous (as you can see in Vermeer 40020: Henry’s Adventure ) and in this release we have a tangible interpretation of instrumental brilliancy and vividness giving us back in their authenticity too long forgotten works.

With the belated success of his Third Symphony ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ Gorecki emerged in the 1990s as a composer of world stature. Between 1988 and 1995 he wrote three string quartets for the Kronos Quartet that are among his most important mature works. String Quartet No. 1 reveals chorale-like themes, so much a feature of his later writing, as well as hectic, dance-like motion, while the Second Quartet’s wider range of expression explicitly evokes Beethoven. Genesis I: Elementi offers a powerful contrast- a string trio from 1962 of uncompromising immediacy. The Tippett Quartet appear regularly at King’s Place, the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Bridgewater Hall, and perform regularly on BBC Radio 3. They have performed at the BBC Proms and toured Europe, Canada and Mexico. Their broad and diverse repertoire highlights the Tippett Quartet’s unique versatility. Their impressive catalogue of recordings has been released across several labels to universal acclaim and with classical chart-topping success.

One of the most prominent Bohemian composers working in Vienna during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Leopold Kozeluch was a prolific composer of instrumental music including seventeen symphonies. They are notable for mellifluous themes, sophisticated structures and, at times, a lyricism that seems to foreshadow the youthful works of Schubert. This unique recording draws on the original sources and corrects a number of mistakes encountered in previously published versions. This second volume of the complete edition of the symphonies of Leopold Kozeluch follows a first that was released in March 2017 and given a 9/9 score by ClassicsToday.com with plaudits for both conductor and orchestra: “Marek Stilec leads lively, smartly paced performances, and gets fine playing from the ensemble.”

In the latest volume of the complete works for harpsichord, the seven Toccatas (BWV 910-916) and teh large Fantasias, Preludes and Fugues (BWV 903-904, 894, 944) are presented as the culmination of the 17th century Stylus Phantasticus tradition. In this installment the pedal harpsichord is explored as a rich medium for Bach's harpsichord and organ works, its clarity and power bridging the gap between the two instruments. With its rich bass sonority and clarity, the pedal harpsichord comes into its own as an ideal performance medium for many of Bach's greatest works for keyboard. This album marks the first performance of all these works on a pedal harpsichord in over 60 years.

Ferdinand Ries is remembered as Beethoven's one-time pupil, secretary and copyist, but the discovery of his many compositions showed him to be a forward-looking composer in his own right. The 1799 Cello Sonata in C minor is among the first of it's genre, the 15-year-old Ries already showing remarkable talent in it's 'Sturm und Drang' moods. The Trio, Op. 63 was admired in it's day for it's ingenuity of modulations' and fashionable London society lapped up the exotic themes of works such as Introduction and a Russian Dance and the virtuosic Trois Airs Russes Varies.

The eighteen ‘Ungarischer Romanzero’ are transcriptions of popular Hungarian melodies made partially in collaboration with violinist Ede Remenyi. The manuscripts are not always complete, with space for performers to add their own elaborations, or to follow Liszt’s own hints on his own performances of pieces that give valuable insights into his Hungarian influences in their rawest form. The ‘Hungarian National Melodies’ provide opportunities for amateur players, while the hugely popular Rakoczi March became the unofficial national anthem of Hungary, also being used by Berlioz and other composers. Pianist Warren Lee made his televised debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of six and was the first prize winner of the 1995 Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition and the Grand Prix Ivo Pogorelich. His discography includes many acclaimed albums of solo and chamber music repertoire. The ‘American Record Guide’ called him a “first-rate artist” while Fanfare noted that he is “a pianist to watch out, whether as a soloist or chamber musician.”

Also available: Marx: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2

Joseph Marx was one of the leading figures of Austrian musical culture during his lifetime, but his music was out of step with 20th-century Modernism and most of his music disappeared from concert programmes after his death. The Natur-Trilogie is a richly impressionistic work that brims with lyrical passion, portraying the moods of Marx’s untouched native landscapes while displaying his magical feel for harmony and orchestration. This recording’s original release was the first time the Natur-Trilogie had been heard in its complete and original form, and was considered ‘a major discovery’ by MusicWeb International. This recording was first released in 2003 on the ASV label, and is the first in a four-volume set of Joseph Marx’s orchestral works to be re-released on Naxos. Of the original release, MusicWeb International wrote: “This is unambiguously the work of a nature ecstatic. If you already count Bax’s nature canvasses among your favorite works, then you will be losing out if you do not get this excellent release.”

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REVIEW:

This lush and mostly un-Germanic music first appeared on an ASV CD release back around 2002. This sequence of three meaty, rhapsodic yet interlocked pieces makes up a single triptychal work: the slightly more than hour-long Natur-Trilogie. Marx's impressionistic South German voice soaks into this music the quintessence of lyrical expression.

– MusicWeb International

Beethoven was commissioned to write his first stage work- a ballet score for Die Geschopfe des Prometheus ('The Creatures of Prometheus')- for the dancer and choreographer Salvatore Vigano, nephew of composer Luigi Boccherini. In the myth, Prometheus is punished by Zeus for stealing fire for the benefit of mankind; in the allegorical ballet, Prometheus brings Enlightenment ideas of art and science to humanity. The overture remains popular and the finale- the theme of which Beethoven was later to use in his 'Eroica' Symphony- offers a heroic conclusion.

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By the 1940s Heitor Villa-Lobos was widely recognized as Latin America’s greatest composer. Working in the United States gave him new perspectives, and his later symphonies move away from the folk influences and exotic effects of works written in the 1920s and 30s, such as the Bachianas Brasileiras, towards more concise, sometimes neo-classical, models. The Eighth and Nineth share a transparent lightness of touch while the Eleventh, described as a work of ‘immediate charm,’ is the perfect introduction to the later work of Villa-Lobos. Since its first concert in 1954 the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra has developed into one of today’s leading orchestras. An indispensable part of Sao Paulo and Brazillian culture that promotes deep cultural and social transformation, the orchestra has released over 60 recordings and has toured throughout Brazil, Latin Aerica, the United States, and Europe. In 2012 Marin Alsop was engaged as principal conductor, and in 2013 she was appointed music director. That same year the orchestra went on a fourth European tour, performing to great acclaim at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the PHilharmonie in Berlin, and at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

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REVIEW:

Isaac Karabtchevsky's sure-footed pacing conveys a deep understanding of these scores. The orchestra is wonderfully on point, which makes an enormous difference in music as finely shaded as this. An absolutely essential release.

– Gramophone

A central element in Liszt's life was his religious conviction. Harmonies poetiques et religieuses, one of his most famous religious works, was inspired by the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine. Excerpts featured on Vol. 3 of this series were critically acclaimed. Vol. 53 presents the 1847 cycle in it's first version; one that follows the poetic works that inspired it more closely than the more frequently performed and recorded later version. Wojciech Waleczek is recognized internationally as a pianist with uncompromisingly high standards in performance. The artist, born in 1980, has been pursuing a robust concert career playing as soloist with symphonic orchestras, solo piano recitals and chamber music concerts in the 27 countries of Europe as well as in Kazachstan, Jordan, Tunesia, Palestina, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Guyana, Suriname, Canada and the USA.

Brahms’s string concertos are indissolubly linked with the musicians for whom the works were written. He wrote his Violin Concerto for Joseph Joachim, and inn it he combined what a contemporary critic termed ‘the great and serious’ with songful lyricism, melodic beauty, and a fiery Hungarian finale. To mend a breach with the violinist, Brahms later composed a concerto with the unusual combination of violin and cello, the latter played at the premiere by Joachim’s colleague Robert Hausmann. Neither instrument predominates in a work of reconciliation that embodies both drama and reflection. Highly acclaimed Naxos artists Tianwa Yang and Gabriel Schwabe are featured on this recording, as well as Antoni Wit, one of Naxos’s best-selling and best-known conductors.

REVIEWS:

[Yang] plays the concerto with great passion and expressivity, highlighting many details and indulging in more sliding than we usually hear today. Behind all this I sense a directness, a desire perhaps to expose the virtuosic elements of the piece. Conductor Wit is also a musician who does not tend to linger, but I am not sure they are always on the same page. Yang leans toward aggressive playing, while Wit is more mellow—more Eastern European. If you like the concerto with a minimum of philosophizing, you’ll like this performance because it is very well done.

– American Record Guide

In Yang’s and Schwabe’s hands the Double Concerto enjoys an incarnadine reading which benefits from a sweet, close-quarters recording. What we hear evinces both concentration and brio. When a performance of the Double really works it communicates a nicely elongated storminess, as is the case here and with the classic recording by Leonard Rose, Isaac Stern, and the Philadelphia conducted by Eugene Ormandy.

Yang makes tense but re-creative work of the Violin Concerto. Elder statesman Antoni Wit has been facilitating with Naxos for many years. He and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin work in commodious harness with the two soloists.

– MusicWeb International (Rob Barnett)

Schumann’s love of the cello, which developed when he learned the instrument as a young man, is expressed most fully in his ‘Cello Concerto in A minor.’ It is a work marked by freshness of spirit and singing lyricism and stands as a rich example of mid-19th-century Romanticism. The series of characterful small pieces that include ‘Funf Stucke im Volkston’ reveals Schumann’s joy in the cello’s unique lyrical capabilities. The ‘Drei Romanzen’ and the ‘Intermezzo’ from the ‘F-A-E Sonata’ are presented here in new arrangements for cello and piano by Gabriel Schwabe. Gabriel Schwabe has established himself among the leading cellists of his generation. He is a laureate of numerous national and international competitions, including the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann and the Concours Rostropovich in Paris. As a soloist he has worked with orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Malmo and Norrkoping Symphony Orchestras and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. He plays a rare Italian instrument made in Brescia (c. 1600).

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REVIEW:

With just the necessary amount of vibrato, Gabriel Schwabe's cello, dating from around 1600, sings eloquently for him. The score of the concerto’s central section contains much sadness; without any undue haste, he generates an appropriate sense of triumphant brilliance as the work ends.

Schwabe and pianist Nicholas Rimmer give a particularly fast and vibrant account of the Allegro, in the Adagio and Allegro. It is a similarly outgoing performance of the Fantasiestucke that acts as a foil to the moments of beauty in the Three Romances; the five Volkston vividly characterised and contrasted, while the arrangement of the Intermezzo has simply taken the solo part down by an octave.

The catalogue is certainly not short of recordings of the Concerto, but this coupling is unusual and most enjoyable.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

Alexander Moyzes’ symphonic cycle is the best-known by a Slovak composer. His synthesis of Slovak influences and contemporary trends in European music informs every strand of his compositions. The Symphony No. 7, Op. 50 is his largest and most powerful orchestral statement, which he dedicated to the memory of his young daughter. Peasant scenes, folk dances and exceptional lyric beauty form the bedrock of a passionate and dramatic work. Written as a response to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Symphony No. 8 ’21.08.1968,’ Op. 64 is a brooding lament that shares affinities with Shostakovich’s symphonic writing. This album is volume 3 in a series of reissues from the Marco Polo label. These releases remain as the only easily accessible reference, and with recordings and performances that still sound fresh and invigorating, we felt it was time for a revival. Of the original release, International Record Review wrote: “the Seventh Symphony… opens, in a beautiful albeggiante pastorale- quite the loveliest thing I’ve heard from Moyzes- which leads into a jolly, even rumbustious, folk dance. Ladislav Slovak, who died in 1999, does Moyzes as proud in these two releases as in the previous recordings in the cycle: reliable playing, good sound.”

Robert Schumann is in many ways typical of the age in which he lived, combining in his music a number of the principal characteristics of Romanticism, as he did in his life. Schumann’s literary sensibility was exceptionally receptive to the ideas of fantasy and fairy tale. His poetic Hausmusik-music for domestic consumption- represents a motion from the outer to the inner world. This recording explores these affiliations in a unique way as most of the performances are the first to have been recorded on period instruments. The clarinet is a replica of the early 19th century type Schumann knew, all three string instruments use gut strings while the piano is an original 1843 Pleyel, and the music’s intimacy and volatility are significantly intensified through their use.

When his pupil, the Infanta Maria Barbara married the heir to the Spanish throne, Domenico Scarlatti travelled with her from Lisbon to Madrid, a move that led to the completion of hundreds of single-movement sonatas or exercises. Designed for her to play, and containing some of his greatest music, the sonatas offer a plethora of features that have ensured their lasting popularity and influence. In this volume one can encounter effortless use of repetition, imitation and arpeggio figuration, dynamic left hand octave writing and hand crossing, some, as in the Sonata in C minor, of spectacular velocity. Born in Israel, Eylam Keshet began his musical studies at the age of nine. He has participated in prestigious festivals and events all over the world, and has been awarded scholarships for excellence from several foundations.

Nikolay Tcherepnin, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov in St Petersburg, achieved fame as a conductor, directing the premiere of his ballet Le Pavillon d’Armide as the opening to Diaghilev’s first Ballets Russes season in 1911 which also marked the Paris debut of Nijinsky. A work of great importance in the history of modern ballet, with choreography by Fokin, this enchanting score brings to life a Gobelin tapestry in a mysterious and haunted pavilion in the grounds of a French chateau. Cocteau described its effect as ‘better than a poem by Heine, than a story of Poe, than any dream, this is nostalgia for things partly seen, insubstantial and insistent.’ This recording was first released in 1995 on our Marco Polo label, and being the only complete recording of this stunning work currently available. This recording was acclaimed on its initial release, with Classic CD concluding that ‘excellent performances from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra under Henry Shek and sympathetic engineering make this worth seeking out’, and Fanfare stating that ‘the performance is thoroughly convincing and ably recorded... an enjoyable discovery.’

Throughout the 20th century Venezuelan composers created a repertoire of guitar works that, with their vivid rhythms, folkloric elements and brilliant colors, captured the country’s musical soul- a process that continues to this day. These elements can be found in the rich lyricism of the folk songs arranged by guitarist Nirse Gonzalez, in the charm of Inocente Carreno’s suites, or in the sophisticated synthesis of Latin American styles evoked by Federico Ruiz. Ceremonial ritual and use of the jaropo dance are expressive features of Pedro Mauricio Gonzalez’s Tetralogia.

Alexander Moyzes is considered one of the leading composers of his generation, his style skillfully fusing inspiration from both his Slovakian heritage and contemporary European trends. The premiere of his Ninth Symphony took place in 1971, only three years after the Soviet-led invasion of his homeland, and the work’s dark and dramatic atmosphere depicts the tragedy and hopelessness of this period. By contrast, the serene colors of the Tenth Symphony avoid political connotations, and the piece is stylistically typical of the composer’s last decade in its technical virtuosity, formal elegance and brilliant artistic design. The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra was established in 1929 as the first professional symphony orchestra in Slovakia. The orchestra is currently led by conductor Mario Kosik.

The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world’s greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with multiple cameras in and around the orchestra, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. The first work on this release is Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The beloved orchestral showpiece is a series of imaginative portraits, including “The Glome,” the “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks in Their Shells,” and the spectacular Finale, “The Great Gate of Kiev.” The next work is Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Excerpts from the famous ballet include: Capulets and Montagues, the Dance of the Knights, Portrait of a Young Juliet, Scene at the Ball, the Fight and The Death of Tybalt. Finally, Jan Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 is presented. The work is a pinnacle of Nordic Romanticism. The grand, expansive melodies and searing harmonies have been called the musical equivalents of fire and ice. This is the most famous of the Finnish composer’s symphonies.

Enrique Soro rose to great esteem not only as Chile's leading composer but as a distinguished pianist, conductor and teacher. The Sinfonia romantica was the first symphony to be composed in Chile and remains the most important example of the genre in the country's musical history. Soro's melodic distinction, mastery of orchestration and his sense of form are equally distinguished. The Tres aires chilenos espouse a kind of nationalism, fusing Chilean folk music, specifically the tonada, with the European classical tradition. The rousing Danza fantastica is a perfect concert opener.

The chamber combination of trombone and piano is unusual and charming. On Sapphire, Peter Steiner and his pianist partner Constanze Hochwartner give an insight into how this combination can work, thereby exploding the myth of commonly-held preconceptions about what the trombone is capable of. It is not just the instrument that shall sound on the Day of Judgment; it can sing tenderly and sweetly, producing a myriad of timbres that sparkle like a sapphire. With his trombone, the solo instrument that is rarely featured in the field of classical music, Peter Steiner is at home all over the world. After studying at the Mozarteum and the Juilliard School in New York, the young Austrian not only won three solo instrument competitions staged by the International Trombone Association ITA as the first trombonist ever to achieve the feat; he went on tour round the world, from Brazil via the USA to Japan. In 2017 he got to know the young pianist and organist Constanze Hochwartner, with whom he recorded the album Sapphire in Columbus/Georgia, USA. The programme of the album combines arrangements of works by Mozart and Puccini with melodies by Bernstein and complements contemporary trombone literature with film music from the movie "The Godfather.” Peter Steiner wishes to illustrate how versatile his instrument is, and the sounds he produces are indeed astounding. Soft sounds that range through all the registers alternate with catchy and powerfully mesmerizing musical concepts.