Rimsky-Korsakov' orchestral genius shines through in his colourful operatic suites, and that from his final opera Le Coq d'or is richly dramatic and expressive.

Classical Music

Claudio Santoro was one of Brazil’s leading composers, having written a considerable amount of solo, chamber and orchestral music, including arguably the most important symphonic cycle ever written in that country. The fifteen Fantasias Sul América, composed as competition pieces for individual instruments, represent fascinating syntheses of his style heard in compressed form. Freely atonal and highly virtuosic, these pieces are now standard repertoire for Brazilian soloists, and were even used later by Santoro as material for his SymphonyNo.12(Naxos8.574406). The youthful Sonata for Solo Violin is a work of extraordinary density and experimentation that reveals an aesthetically consistent dialogue with the much later Fantasias.

REVIEWS:

Having recently enjoyed getting to know a number of Santoro’s orchestral works through this Music of Brazil strand I have to admit to being quite surprised by this latest volume. Giving a number of instruments the limelight in turn in this way allows the composer to draw out particular moods and expressions with a flexibility and without the need to balance and contrast a number of different forces. The notes state that the Fantasies have now become standard repertoire for Brazilian soloists and also that they were used as source material for Santori’s Symphony No 12. Many of these are premiere recordings.

-- Lark Reviews

Sir Arnold Bax wrote his seven symphonies between 1921 and 1939, embracing a prolific period that drew inspiration from a variety of sources. From the dramatic impact of the Second Symphony through to the seascapes of the Fourth and hints of Sibelius in the later works, Bax’s powerful symphonic world is one of surprising and at times stormy vigor contrasting with the most intense lyrical expressiveness and serenity. The selection of additional orchestral works evoking nature and atmospheric landscapes fascinates and rewards in equal measure, providing an essential overview of Bax’s music in critically acclaimed recordings.

REVIEW:

Listeners should come away mightily impressed by David Lloyd-Jones's clear-headed conducting of this intoxicating repertoire.

-- Gramophone

Past praise of previously released individual volumes included in this set:

Symphony No. 1 - In the Faery Hills - Garden of Fand

This first disc in the Naxos Bax series offers warmly idiomatic readings of two early symphonic poems, as well as the First Symphony…finely detailed. In the two symphonic poems, more specifically inspired by Irish themes, Lloyd-Jones draws equally warm and sympathetic performances from the Scottish Orchestra, bringing inner clarity to the heaviest scoring. First-rate sound...

-- Penguin Guide

Symphony No. 4, Nympholept, Picaresque Comedy Overture

The RSNO handle the difficulties of these scores well, with some wonderful solo playing from oboes and horns. The conductor David Lloyd-Jones allows those refulgent textures time to breathe, without letting the music sprawl.

-- Times of London

Symphony No. 5 - The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew

Lloyd-Jones's intelligent, meticulously observant and purposeful direction pays handsome dividends, and that a well-drilled RSNO in turn responds with sensitivity and enthusiasm. In short, another terrific coupling within what is turning out to be one mightily rewarding enterprise.

-- Gramophone

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.

• A delightfully colourful introduction to the orchestra, aimed to fire the imagination of children aged 4–9 years. There is a special guide in the book: a little green creature called Tormod. He is a troll who has come all the way from the top of a mountain in Norway to discover music. As he searches for the music that will help him to find his way home, readers learn about the different instruments – what they look and sound like, and how they belong in different families. Throughout the book children are referred to the accompanying CD so that they can hear examples as they read. There is a musical quiz at the end, with multiple choice answers.

• 37 classical music tracks on the CD include: Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy, Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute, Tchaikovsky’s ‘Russian Dance’ from The Nutcracker, Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser, Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ from Peer Gynt – and many more

• An original, colorful and lively approach to learning about music.

• Follows the huge success of My First Classical Music Book and Meet the Instruments of the Orchestra! from Naxos.

• 37 classical music tracks on the CD.

• Every instrument is featured, with clear audio examples.

• 60 beautifully illustrated pages that children will love."

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari is best known for his comic operas. With this reputation established, the appearance of Das Himmelskleid in 1927, with its ‘symbolical twilight world... that rises musically to religious greatness and a world of dreams’ was a surprise for critics of the day. The narrative is a parable of a young princess who is born with the ‘Garment of Heaven’, but she forgets this true gift in her greedy pursuit of wealth and power. Das Himmelskleid is perhaps the most profoundly mature of Wolf-Ferrari’s operas, with an amazing sensitivity and feeling for sound and color that were never bettered.

Russian pianist Valentin Malinin, winner of the 62nd Jaén International Piano Competition, has chosen a program that offers moments of reflection alongside dazzling virtuosity. The album opens with Shostakovich’s imposing Piano Quintet, one of the composer’s most popular chamber works. Granados evokes a ‘Ghost’s Serenade’ with guitar-like effects in the exuberant finale to his Goyescas, while Prokofiev’s Four Études are among the most complex and technically challenging works of their kind. Malinin’s own inspired fantasy The Pearl Fishers, based on Nadir’s Romance from Les Pêcheurs de perles, serves as a fine encore, reimagining Bizet’s original in daring, compelling style.

Heinrich Marschner, the leading German composer of Romantic opera between Weber and Wagner, was a progressive innovator, bringing to his music a new dimension – the supernatural anti-hero enmeshed in horror, such as the protagonist of Der Vampyr (1828). Before his psychological operas, however, Marschner composed a series of overtures and stage works exploring more conventional material. These have long been overlooked. In this first volume Schön Ella represents Marschner’s mastery of form, skillful orchestration and melodic gifts, while the excerpts from Ali Baba reveal his flair for theatrical concision and mood setting.

REVIEW:

With his call for a German national opera free of foreign influences, Heinrich August Marschner had a lasting influence on Richard Wagner. But Wagner’s success ultimately became Marschner’s undoing. Increasingly overshadowed by Wagner, he died largely unnoticed.

When it came to romantic expressiveness in the orchestra, melodrama and descriptions of situations, Marschner was in his element. With influences from Weber but also from Mendelssohn, his music is inventive and appealing.

Dario Salvi launches a complete recording of Marschner’s overtures and other pieces from his stage works. He does so very stylishly, with a stimulating alternation between relaxed and more dramatic music-making, and the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice responds at a high technical level.

-- Pizzicato (Remy Franck)

Brahms was opposed to the Lied cultivated by the ‘New German’ circle of composers around Franz Liszt who developed it into a highly artificial art form. In the books of the 49 Deutsche Volkslieder Brahms discovered a repository of dialogue songs, narrative ballads, laments, and songs of disputation and love, some tragic, others comic, that appealed to his need for authenticity. The book from which he sourced the songs had a printed text and melody, so Brahms’ artistic contribution lay in his richly varied piano accompaniments which subtly comment, heighten, inflect or expand on the texts. The first volume in this series is on Naxos 8574268.

The collection of pieces by Anton Rubinstein is a mini-treasure trove. Delicate, tasteful and irresistible.

Anton Rubinstein has occupied an uneasy place in the history of Russian music, largely because of his Jewish origins, which led some to write him off, and the related perception of him as a ‘German in Russia’. In recent years his solo piano music has begun to be re-evaluated. This album focuses on the series of works written in the mid-1850s and reveals music of charm and flair. The Three Pieces, Op. 16 are conventional in form but attractive, and the Two Pieces, Op. 28 contain a strongly contrasted Nocturne and Caprice. More ambitious, and intended to be performed in his concert repertoire as one of the greatest virtuosos of the age, are the Six Pieces, Op. 51.

REVIEW:

Noted Brazilian, Steinway artist Sergio Gallo concentrates his effort on the Romantic era. One can hear his connection to these pieces, filled with ardor and efficiency: a delicate edging, yet mighty in pockets of dramatic regale. Each of the pieces inside opus 16 “sing” beautifully and contain delightful swells of pitches and turns, suffused by lyrical freedom.

A caprice, in the most literal term, directly translates into unexpected twists and turns. Certainly so, as there is much more tension inside the Three Caprices. Each of the three movements is independent yet totally connected. M. Gallo’s performance is beautifully nuanced, nudging notes where needed, yet retrenching where critically needed.

The opening “Nocturne” inside Two Pieces has strong lines into Frédéric Chopin, yet Rubinstein’s composition is more restrained and bold within. But there’s a beautiful contrast which Rubinstein chose to compose in the segue “Caprice”: undoubtedly, it is fresh with mild hints of flittering deviousness. Catapults are brisk, unannounced, and filled with delightful enclaves of devilish delight, and the closing denouement is understated yet ravishing. Smooth and sleek in parts, Sergio Gallo gives a spectacular reading of this highly vivacious and spirited œuvre.

Open the capsule of case studies as we turn to the Six Pieces with its journey inside a range of mild emotions. Sergio Gallo takes a dignified and thoughtful stance into these characterizations, each one eliciting precious thoughts and careful reflections. Nothing harsh hits the ear, so a 6-term journey through reflections is spectacular! Sergio Gallo exquisitely unfolds the thoughts with delicate discernment. Brilliant.

The collection of pieces by Anton Rubinstein is a mini-treasure trove. Delicate, tasteful and irresistible.

-- ConcertoNet.com (Christie Grimstad)

Giovanni Sgambati, a composer admired by Wagner, was the man Busoni predicted would take Italian music ‘towards a bright new future’. Sgambati’s Symphony No. 2 is a compendium of Austro-Germanic devices whose mix of chromaticism and melodic invention is invigorating. Lost for decades, it was reconstructed by Rosalind Trübger whose performing edition is recorded here. Sinfonia epitalamio was commissioned to celebrate a royal wedding. Loosely programmatic, this beautiful work embraces the pastoral and celebratory framed in the form of a symphonic poem.

REVIEW:

Giovanni Sgambati’s four-movement Second Symphony remained unpublished and was never performed in its entirety during the composer’s lifetime. Then, during the 20th century, the complete score was lost and the symphony was forgotten until Rosalind Trübger began reconstructing the score from the handwritten orchestral parts in 2003 and published the first edition in 2006.

It is an imaginative, varied work that begins with a romantic Andante sostenuto but becomes quite lively, light, and upbeat thereafter. I believe that this symphony could be played with even more vitality and power than it is heard here.

The Sinfonia epitalamio, about the same length and 38 minutes long, Sgambati’s last symphonic composition, was performed in Turin on September 12, 1888, on the occasion of the wedding of Duke Amedeo d’Aosta to Princess Letizia Bonaparte.

The first part, In Chiesa, is solemn and lyrical. The second part, In Giardino, describes a folk festival, followed by a nocturne, then the recapitulation and the dance of the children.

The third part, In Corte, begins with a neo-baroque minuetto, followed by a solemn elevator that concludes the composition pompously. The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, under Francesco La Vecchia, offers an accurate interpretation of a work that I can admittedly also imagine being a bit more characteristic and exciting

-- Pizzicato (Remy Franck)

In the first volume of this series (Naxos 8571382), Matthew Schellhorn surveyed six decades of Herbert Howells’ compositions for the piano. This second volume reprises the journey, tracing the composer’s stylistic development from the charming poetic miniatures of his youth through to the resonant modal quirkiness of his later dances. The survey includes a centrally important work, the Sonatina of 1971, performed here in Schellhorn’s own edition compiled from the manuscript sources, which includes variants not heard for half a century.

REVIEW:

Howells is renowned for his choral and organ music. His piano music is less well known and these releases are very welcome. As in the first volume Matthew Schellhorn surveys this music over the whole of Howells’ career. Mostly miniatures, there is much to enjoy here and it is interesting to see the development in compositional style throughout. The CD ends with the longest work, his 1971 Sonatina and also includes A Little Book of Dances from 1928. Beautiful performances of this well crafted music in what are, incredibly, almost exclusively world premiere recordings.

-- Lark Reviews (Stephan Page)

Archibald Joyce was known as ‘The English Waltz King’. The composer of delectable vignettes directed his own dance band which, depending on the size of the venue, sometimes numbered a hundred. Convinced that the Viennese waltz was not to British tastes he wrote smoother examples that included Dreaming, his most famous work, which sold over a million copies, and is a perfect example of the ‘hesitation’ waltz. His evocative music also included theatrical numbers, dramatic suites and the ‘concert valse’, designed for the silver screen.

The year 1972 saw the death of Victor Babin, one half of the legendary Vronsky & Babin, arguably the most brilliant piano duo of the 20th century and a worldwide sensation for over three decades. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Babin’s death Katerina Moskaleva and Alexey Pudinov, themselves two musical forces of nature, come together as TWO4PIANO, a duo perfectly suited for breathing new life into Victor Babin’s appealing and colorful repertoire. Including newly rediscovered scores, this special program takes us from Rachmaninov’s unmistakably Romantic style via Borodin’s rousing folkloric rhythms and Tchaikovsky’s balletic waltzes to Babin’s own remarkable evocations of a bygone era.

REVIEWS:

The great sound and clarity heard here makes me think all pieces were played on two pianos. This is [Moskaleva and Pudinov's] third CD together.

Outside of Babin’s 3 Fantasies on Old Themes, all of the music is transcribed from other sources. Whether Rachmaninoff songs or Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff and Borodin orchestrations, Babin’s arrangements are spectacular. Both from a brilliance perspective and from a musical one, the knowledge of what two pianists can effectively do is performance-oriented. I’m sure these pieces were played, and likely refined, in the concerts of Vronsky and Babin. There is not an easy piece on this program. When notes aren’t flying around at the softest and loudest levels, there are beautiful melodies that are shaped and balanced by Moskaleva and Pudinov in this Homage to Victor Babin.

Since I know and like all of the music here except the Babin pieces, this was an easy disc to listen to many times. I remain astounded at the technical expertise and stamina shown in the Polovtsian Dances (one of my lifetime favorite pieces). I have been fortunate to accompany singers in all three of the Rachmaninoff songs and appreciate the integration of voice and piano parts, as well as the extra things added, especially in `Spring Waters’. The 41 bars of `Here It Is Beautiful’ are among the most exquisite ever written by the great Russian composer. Babin does not clutter this one up with unnecessary figurations; and the touch, unity, and musicality of Moskaleva and Pudinov are shown in their best light here.

The Tchaikovsky group is a great idea. Taken from four different sources, they are immediately recognizable as Tchaikovsky, but not all are as well known as the Swan Lake and Nutcracker selections. Rimsky’s `Cradle Song’ is from Sadko and quite beautiful. The `Dance of the Tumblers’ (from Snow Maiden) is something I heard most recently as an encore to a Trifonov-Babayan duo recital in 2018 at Carnegie Hall.

This is a fantastic performance.

-- American Record Guide