The Folly - Tragedy of Erasmus of Rotterdam is the latest release on Naxos from the renowned conductor and composer Fabrice Bollon. The opera focuses on Erasmus of Rotterdam, the influential Renaissance reformer, cosmopolitan humanist and intellectual who, in old age, reflects on the events of his life. World premiere recording.

Petros Petridis, one of the leading composers of the Greek National School, sought to combine the polyphonic approach of Byzantine music with the form of the oratorio in Saint Paul. Conductor Byron Fidetzis has prepared this definitive edition from the composer's original manuscripts. The album also features Fidetzis's 1986 recordings of Petridis's Symphony No. 1 'Hellenic' and the Kleft Dances. World premiere recordings.

Airat Ichmouratov's Concerto Grosso No. 3 subtitled 'Liechtenstein' is a world premiere recording and was composed specifically for Alexander Gilman and the LGT Young Soloists, one of the world's most successful touring youth orchestras. Mahler's arrangement of Schubert's Death and the Maiden string quartet expands it into a grand orchestral spectacle.

This recording of Corigliano's chamber arrangement of Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan featuring soprano Laura Hynes, is coupled with Vincent Ho's virtuosic and mystical Gryphon Realms for piano trio. World premiere recordings. Corigliano's orchestration of Mr. Tambourine Man can be heard on 8.559331.

I had always heard, by reputation, of the high regard accorded the folk-ballad singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. But I was so engaged in developing my orchestral technique during the years when Dylan was heard by the rest of the world that I had never heard his songs. So I bought a collection of his texts, and found many of them to be every bit as beautiful and as immediate as I had heard – and surprisingly well-suited to my own musical language.

I chose seven poems for what became a thirty-five minute cycle. A Prelude: Mr. Tambourine Man, in a fantastic and exuberant manner, precedes five searching and reflective monologues that form the core of the piece; and Postlude: Forever Young makes a kind of folk-song benediction after the cycle’s close. Dramatically, the inner five songs trace a journey of emotional and civic maturation, from the innocence of Clothes Line through the beginnings of awareness of a wider world (Blowin’ in the Wind), through the political fury of Masters of War, to a premonition of an apocalyptic future (All Along the Watchtower), culminating in a vision of a victory of ideas (Chimes of Freedom). Several years after composing the vocal/piano score I orchestrated the work, and some years later transcribed it for Pierrot ensemble, a chamber group. This is the first recording of the chamber version. - John Corigliano

Gryphon Realms is a three-movement work, inspired by gryphon mythology, that explores the coloristic, virtuosic and expressive possibilities of the piano trio while highlighting my more personal musical language. - Vincent Ho

Marco Enrico Bossi was a renowned Italian composer and organ virtuoso admired by Verdi and Puccini. The two violin sonatas heard on this programme reveal a composer whose chamber music stands equal to the most renowned works produced in the late 19th century.

Lithuanian composer Vytautas Bacevicius spent the latter part of his life in exile in the US. The two piano concertos heard here interweave Lithuanian folk songs into the musical fabric, while Symphony No. 3 strikes a positive and optimistic tone. Includes two world premiere recordings. Volume 1, featuring Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 4, can be heard on 8.573282.

Albert Dietrich - a composer and friend of the Schumanns and Brahms - has largely been forgotten since his death in 1908. However, the Symphony in D minor heard here was one of the most performed symphonies of it's day. Albanian violinist Klaidi Sahatci is the soloist in the Violin Concerto in D minor. Christoph Konig conducts the acclaimed ensemble Solistes Europeens, Luxembourg.

This album brings together all of Kodaly's extant pieces for organ, plus works by his contemporaries. They are performed on the Chancel Organ at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, Atlanta by the acclaimed Welsh organist Iain Quinn, professor of organ at Florida State University.

REVIEW:

The disc opens with Ernő Dohnányi’s quite substantial Fantasie in C minor which is listed as a world premiere recording. As is my preference when encountering unknown music, I listen before I read any of the detail, so my surprise as to why this work should sound so unlike this composer’s other music is easily explained, as it is a student work by a fifteen year old. For sure, there is talent and confidence and no little skill but this does sound rather like a test or exercise piece where some Bachian passages jostle with imposing hymn-like melodies and some rather broad-brush Romantic gestures.

Sandwiched between music by familiar composers are a couple of pieces by less well-known names. Bedřich Antonín Wiedermann's Pastorale dorico is another modest, rather unassuming work with a conservative outlook that belies its 1942 composition.

Kodály's set of nine Epigrammák are in fact transcriptions for solo organ made by Gábor Trajtler of songs by Kodály written originally in 1954. These are consciously unaffected and simple pieces. As a sequence they come across as a bit unvaried, but I cannot imagine a better case being made for them than here by Iain Quinn

Just in time the work around which the whole disc was planned arrives. This is Kodály’s quite wonderful Csendes mise. There is an immediate substance and stature to the music here. There is a variety of expressive and musical style that makes for a compelling experience – and this is most definitely a work that benefits from being heard complete.

The disc is completed by another unfamiliar name and work: Miloš Sokola’s Passacaglia quasi toccata na téma B-A-C-H. Dating from 1963 this work makes for an interesting and energetic ‘recessional’ piece for this program

— MusicWeb International

Part of the British Music Society series, this work presents Grace Williams’ songs and folk-song arrangements in world premiere recordings. The acclaimed Welsh baritone Jeremy Huw Williams is accompanied by the Australian pianist and composer Wendy Hiscocks.

Franscisco Mignone was a leading figure in the Brazilian music scene during the 20th century. The concertos and concertinos heard here all share a Brazilian nationalist idiom. Neil Thompson and Giancarlo Guerrero conduct the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra with featured soloists Ovanir Buosi, Alexandre Silverio, Emmanuele Baldini and Fabio Zanon. Includes two world premiere recordings.

The latest instalment in this popular series turns to the life and times of George Frideric Handel. Written by Davinia Caddy, narrated by Nicholas Boulton and featuring excerpts from Handel's most popular works culled from the Naxos label and it's affiliates.

This second volume of George Walker's piano music joins its predecessor on Naxos 8.559916 (April 2024), together forming a unique complete piano works edition. On this new release, Steinway Artist Alexandre Dossin performs the cyclical Fourth Piano Sonata, which alternates between sections of virtuoso muscularity and lyrical repose, and the Piano Concerto, which integrates expansive Classical forms with inspiration derived from songs by Duke Ellington, something also cleverly hidden in Guido's Hand. The album closes with Walker's passionate Fifth Piano Sonata.

REVIEW:

Dossin makes much of the alternately moody and energetic first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 4. His ability to grasp the long line of Walker’s music is a really big factor in one’s enjoyment of his performances. The pianist's ability to use “space” in his interpretations makes these performances fascinating and ultimately rewarding.

— Art Music Lounge

Stellar Moldovan-Israeli violinist Janna Gandelman presents a programme of original violin pieces by Catalan composers alongside transcriptions by luminaries such as Fritz Kreisler and Joseph Szigeti. She is accompanied by the Spanish pianist Laia Martin.

Alberto Franchetti and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari shared a dual heritage, and all three of the works on this album were written while the composers were respectively in Germany. Late Romantic and cast in the German symphonic tradition, Franchetti's Symphony in E minor is a colourful, evocative and majestic work, heard here alongside Nella Foresta nera, which was inspired by the wild beauty of the forests of the Rhine valley. Wolf-Ferrari's expansive Sinfonia da camera rounds out the programme.

Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 99 in E flat major was his first ever symphony to use clarinets; No. 100 in G major gained it's 'Military' appellation due to it's grand second movement featuring cymbals and triangle; and No. 101 in D major has long been nicknamed 'The Clock' due to the ticking rhythm in the second movement for plucked strings and bassoons. Previous volumes in the series are available on 8.574516 and 8.574517.

Eugene Zador's delightful concerto for the accordion - which he called an 'underprivileged' instrument - is tonal, but coloured by a communicative, contemporary vocabulary, and he finds glorious sonority and colour in the Suite for Brass Instruments. The evocative smaller pieces have been arranged by Mariusz Smolij, as has the characterful and wide-ranging Piano Quintet of 1933, all heard here in world premiere recordings.

Sergey Taneyev's supreme mastery of European classical technique placed him outside the more nationalist trends of the day. The Violin Sonata in A minor is neo-Classical in its reserved and often song-like moods and expressions, and contrasts dramatically with the grand scale of the Piano Quintet in G minor.

REVIEW:

In the Violin Sonata, the players add some piquant touches to the occasionally dissonant harmonies and bring a degree of charm to the composer’s rustic-sounding rhythms and melodies. The Piano Quintet receives a fantastic performance, really capturing the gripping tension and turmoil the music whips up.

— Fanfare

A product of Samaras's operatic maturity, Tigra, heard here in a faithfully orchestrated version by Byron Fidetzis, is a ravishing love story set in medieval Venice. With it's innovative harmonic language, musical Orientalism and Franco-Italian influences it helped pave the way for the emerging Greek National School. Epinikeia is reminiscent of Samaras's famous Olympic Anthem of 1896, whilst Chitarrata is a youthful work composed in Paris. World premiere recordings.

Mostly dating from Erich J. Wolff's final decade, the songs in this selection range from the charming children's cycle Vier Kinderlieder nach Richard Dehmel to the incomparably profound cemetery scene of Friedhof. The recital concludes with the radiant Mein Meister, Op. 33, No. 10, one of Wolff's very last songs. Volume 1 of this complete edition (8.574451) was released in April 2024. Volume 3 (8.574558) is scheduled for release in November.

Click here to listen to the Naxos podcast interview with Paul Jacobs about this release.

This release features organ concertos by some of America's finest contemporary composers: Horatio Parker's 'imposing and brilliant' piece is heard alongside Christopher Rouse's concerto of contrasting light and dark sonorities, which is dedicated to album soloist Paul Jacobs, and Wayne Oquin's Resilience reflects the human capacity for tenacity and perseverance. The program ends with Ives' Variations on 'America' for solo organ.

Award-winning composer and educator Wenchen Qin's unique musical language is influenced by his multicultural background, integrating Eastern and Western elements. All the works on this release are infused with literature, mythology and a fascination with nature. The Cloud River revitalises the sheng - an ancient Chinese instrument - with new playing techniques. With the sheng also playing a leading role, Poetry of the Land ruminates on how the land provides great inspiration.

East meets West offers a series of geographical and musical connections that bind the music of composers Ian Krouse and Ronald Pearl. The album includes the first recording of Krouse's Roderick Usher's 'Phantasmion' (in it's 2009 revision), as well as the eloquent tone poem La Petite Fille aux Allumettes("The Little Match Girl"), and his version of a Hassidic song. Pearl: My Name is Red is inspired by Orhan Pamuk's novel and reveals a range of Islamic influences.

Famous for his role as the keyboard player in rock band Genesis and as a solo artist, Tony Banks was always fascinated by the idea of writing orchestral music. His success incomposing for films led to the acclaimed Seven - A Suite for Orchestra. The intense orchestral sound pictures in Seven, Six and Five rank among some of Banks's most accomplished works, marrying experimentation with form and structure, and a trademark melodic character which powerfully conveys both melancholy and joy. Originally released on individual discs as 8.57414, 8.572986, 8.557466

Beethoven's Sonatas for Piano and Cello, Op. 5 are revolutionary works, with neither instrument subservient and the piano fully independent. This release also features his vivacious variations on 'Ein Madchen oder Weibchen' and 'Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fu�hlen' from Mozart's Die Zauberflote. Volume 2 is scheduled for release on 8.574530 in November.

Anton Bruckner 200 (1824-2024)

Released to coincide with Bruckner's 200th birthday in 2024, this 18-CD set brings together the entire recorded cycle of Bruckner's symphonies in the Capriccio label's The Complete Versions Edition. Markus Poschner's acclaimed recordings of Bruckner's symphonies feature all of the versions identified as having significant revisions and changes in the authoritative Neue Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe (New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition), making this the most comprehensive Bruckner Symphonies cycle available today.