This is wonderful advocacy of enchanting music.

A brilliant swordsman, athlete, violin virtuoso and composer, Joseph Bologne, Chevalierde Saint-Georges might well lay claim to being the most talented figure in an age of remarkable individuals. The string quartet was still in its infancy in France in the 1770s,but while these pieces are small in scale they are exceptionally rewarding. Saint-Georges appreciated the intimate nature of this genre, avoiding overt soloistic virtuosity and exploring chamber music timbres, amply demonstrating his rich lyrical gifts and a natural ability to delight performers and audiences alike.

REVIEW:

The Six Concertante Quartets were typical of the still nascent genre of French string quartets in the 1770s when they were composed. Elegant and fun, these delectable works were intended for ‘amateurs’, a word that still referred in the thriving French scene to music lovers rather than implying lower skill levels.

There’s certainly no lack of prowess in these delightful performances. The  Arabellas wisely err on the side of briskness for the faster music, but with no loss of grace or refinement. They also appropriately add little ornaments and variants, making the fifth quartet’s ‘Gratioso’ a model of tasteful decoration. Occasionally more could be made of the score’s relatively few dynamic markings, though the boomy acoustic does not help. And violinists Julie Eskar and Sarita Kwok might have sat opposite each other to highlight when phrases flit back and forth between them. In all, though, this is wonderful advocacy of enchanting music.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Meyerbeer was a precocious composer and this album traces some of his very earliest works. Der Fischer und das Milchmädchen was his first stage work, a charming rural vignette that contains all the essential features of a ballet-divertissement couched in writing that enchantingly evokes the 18thcentury. Collaborating with his teacher, the Abbé Georg Vogler, Meyerbeer composed DerAdmiralin1811. The following year saw Wirt und Gast with the vivid Oriental exoticism of its Janissary music, while Romildae Constanza, his first Italian opera, shows his complete assimilation of Rossinian models.

REVIEWS:

Convincing performances of some delightful, largely unknown, scores.

I have had cause to praise the players of the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice on this website before...On this occasion their skilled sensitivity to the demands of the music is again well to the fore and they give us completely idiomatic accounts that are characterised, as appropriate, by delicacy or finely controlled energy. Several passages, especially in the earliest works, offer considerable opportunities for solo woodwind players and, whether from the flautist, oboist or clarinettist, those are invariably finely delivered. To employ a well-worn but nonetheless very useful cliché, all 34 musicians perform as real chamber players who are constantly listening intently to each other – as well as taking their musical lead from their conductor. Dario Salvi is, of course, something of a specialist explorer of the lesser-known byways of music composed in the second and third quarters of the 19th century and, by skilful control of orchestral colour, orchestral balance and dynamics he creates performances that could hardly, I think, be more idiomatic.

-- MusicWeb International

Ives’ Sets for Chamber Orchestra are largely based on his songs, and display a panoply of style and technique. Set 9 includes The Unanswered Question in its original form, and this recording contains world premiere recordings of new realisations and editions, as well as being the first recording of the complete edition of the Sets. The three Orchestral Sets conducted by James Sinclair can be heard on 8.559370.

REVIEW:

The Sets for Chamber Orchestra by Charles Ives (1874–1954) are, in a sense, songs without words, based on songs whose texts are printed in the booklet. Although some sets do not have descriptive titles as others do (Three Poets and human Nature, From the Side Hill, Water Colors) most parts of the sets do have a name that describes their character. Set 9 includes The Unanswered Question in its original form.

For this recording, James Sinclair, Kenneth Singleton, and David Porter have thoroughly revised the scores and weeded out errors.

The interpretations are refined, clearly structured, and expressive. Unlike other conductors, Sinclair does not play to the fullest the aggressiveness of the compositions, but strives for a fine portrayal of the grotesque, the ironic, and the nostalgic.

-- Pizzicato (Norbert Tischer)

Baroque works for oboe have long been fertile ground for transcription to the trumpet and there are several examples here of this refashioning. The sequence of concertos and sonatas include examples from Handel’s Italian years, and from Johann Gottfried Stolzel, who was strongly influenced by Vivaldi. Telemann’s marvelously inventive Concerto in D Major is performed on the modern flugelhorn. In addition, there is the only known surviving work from Johann Michael Fasch, younger brother of the more famous Johann Friedrich.

Sir Arthur Sullivan called Edward German ‘the one man to follow me who has genius’. Notwithstanding German’s success in operetta, especially with Tom Jones and Merrie England, orchestral music was always central to his life. Stylistic affiliations with French and Russian music – not that common in British music of the time – are often evident. German, like Elgar, was a stylistic cosmopolitan whose music is, paradoxically, quintessentially English, and the ‘Norwich’ is indeed an outstanding late 19th-century British symphony. German gave us another superb symphony too, albeit in miniature, with his Welsh Rhapsody, a brilliant orchestral showpiece that remains his most performed extended orchestral work.

REVIEW:

In the mid-1990s, Marco Polo set about recording much of Edward German’s orchestral music. This programme was issued in 1995, and is now one of four discs re-released on Naxos.

I have not heard German’s 1st Symphony. His four-movement 2nd Symphony subtitled ‘Norwich’ is apparently even finer. It was commissioned by the Norwich Festival Committee. It has assured orchestration and inventive colours, and its material is often memorable and always clearly presented. There have been other recordings over the last fifty years, but none is now available.

The second movement Andante con moto, the real star for me, is overwhelmingly enchanting. But we start with a sonata-form Allegro preceded by a dark, slow introduction marked Andante maestoso. This powerful movement compares interestingly with the lighter touches of the later Allegro scherzando and the boisterous finale. The last movement at times brought to my mind anything by Dvořák and, possibly less surprisingly, Eric Coates. To me, this is the finest British symphony before Elgar; some of you might even prefer it. David Russell Hulme’s excellent, detailed booklet notes remind us that Elgar thought very highly of Edward German.

German’s most performed orchestral work may be the Welsh Rhapsody, written for the Cardiff Music Festival of 1904. The booklet writer calls it symphonic, and I know what he means. It falls into four distinctly different movements of varying tempi and mood. German uses several traditional melodies. The third part is a whirling Scherzo. The finale begins with a chorale-like idea, and moves into the famous ‘Men of Harlech’ tune developed with much enthusiasm. You might think it’s a little over the top, but it brings the work to a great climax, so it often gets a standing ovation.

The Valse gracieuse was originally part of the Leeds Suite written for the Leeds Festival in 1895. This beautifully scored piece proved so popular that German revised it twenty years later to make an independent concert waltz. If you know German’s famous Tom Jones or his Merrie England with its waltz-songs, then the main melody of Valse gracieuse may remind you how good a tunesmith he could be.

I have known this music for over twenty years, and it never fails to please. The performances and recording are a joy, and do the music proud.

-- MusicWeb International (Gary Higginson)

The sixth volume in this series features three fine examples of Paul Wranitzky’s incidental music for Vienna’s court theatres, with these world premiere recordings fully demonstrating his compositional diversity. These often symphonically conceived works feature battle music, solemn polyphonic elements and the popular Turkish style with its characteristic janissary percussion. (Vol. 5: 8.574399, Vol. 4: 8.574290, Vol. 3: 8.574289, Vol. 2: 8.574255, Vol. 1: 8.574227.)

"This collection of recordings is especially meaningful for me because it charts my growth as an orchestral composer from my years as a student – when the Marimba Concerto was composed – to more mature work such as Moonlight. It also reflects the wonderful relationship I have enjoyed over the years with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop. The Marimba Concerto, which reflects my love of Mozart’s piano concertos, also represents my most direct and unguarded voice as a composer. The City was originally intended as a portrait of the city of Baltimore and more generally of the American city, but the death of Freddy Gray while in police custody and the subsequent unrest in Baltimore sent me in an unexpected direction with the piece." -- Kevin Puts

REVIEW:

Marin Alsop, as well as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, have contributed significantly to this composer’s prominence, as they do here. Their playing reveals the diverse aspects of the works. Thus they do not overload the Marimba Concerto with unnecessary context, and in The City they show the demanding bustle of American cities with concisely figured playing. They offer the soloists colorful panoramas on which to develop.

Ji Su Jung was very interested in the marimba concerto and thus offered it for recording. Personally, the instrument is not particularly close to me, but Ji Su Jung elicits wide spectrums from the work with superior technical execution that proves the stylistic possibilities of use despite a unified sound.

With this fresh addition to the solo repertoire, oboist Katherine Needleman has found a rich field of activity for her instrument that she fills with virtuosity and creative inspiration.

-- Pizzicato

Chamber music was a crucial element in Enescu’s output and these two works, separated by seven years, represent very different phases of his compositional development. The large-scale Piano Quartet No.1 marks the climax of his early maturity. The Piano Trio in A minor, however, was unknown until 1965 and represents a more transitional stage – a compact but intricately expressive work with an animated and compelling sequence of variations at its heart.

"This evocative and powerful music has certainly been given its deserved attention through the beautiful and dedicated playing on this excellent album." -Gramophone

Meyerbeer completed L’Africaine on the day he died and after he had changed its title to Vasco da Gama. A performing version was prepared for the premiere under its original title after the composer’s death but the new critical edition of the score recorded here reflects Meyerbeer’s original intentions. This Oper Frankfurt production features tenor Michael Spyres in the principal role, conducted by Antonello Manacorda.

This second album of Mozart’s complete Masses (Volume 1 is on 8.574370) pairs one work of exceptional dimensions and ambition with a miniature example. The ‘Great’ Mass in C minor is one of Mozart’s most spectacular and cast on such a scale that it embraces every human and spiritual emotion, reconciling the Salzburg tradition with that of Italian opera. The Mass was left incomplete by Mozart– it is heard here in a performing version made by the German musicologist and Mozart specialist Franz Beyer. By comparison the Missa brevis in C major exudes a spirit of festive concision.

Russian organist Konstantin Volostnov performs Brahms’ complete organ works on the Röver organ of the Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. The instrument was built in 1898 and had suffered years of neglect but, remarkably, was one of the only Röver organs to remain completely original and intact, with a subsequent overhaul undertaken over several years.

Learn more about this recording on the Naxos Classical Spotlight podcast!

Louis Wayne Ballard was the first indigenous North American composer of art music and a highly respected authority on his culture’s musical heritage. Conductor John Jeter and the Forth Smith Symphony continue their Naxos journey of rediscovering neglected American composers in a program of world premiere recordings.

REVIEW:

The conductor John Jeter could be categorized as an angelic force for overlooked American music. Here, he and his Fort Smith Symphony are back for an invaluable hour in the company of the Native American composer Louis Wayne Ballard, whose music has yet to receive substantial interest from record labels.

The first three movements from “Scenes From Indian Life,” written in 1963, have an unassuming playfulness. (The fourth movement, appended in 1994, takes on a graver cast.) But the longer pieces are even more impressive. Selections from Ballard’s ballet “The Four Moons” could pair well with Bernstein’s “Fancy Free” suite. The tone-poem writing of Ballard’s Fantasy Aborigine No. 3, “Kokopelli” could lend an American air to an orchestral program featuring music by Strauss.

The singing wind, brass, and string lines threaded throughout his “Devil’s Promenande” are captivating, too. While the playing here is persuasive as per usual, I also came away from this album hoping to hear Ballard’s music taken up by orchestras far and wide.

-- New York Times (Seth Colter Walls)

"Merit[s] hearty recommendation." -- Textura

Learn more about this recording on the Naxos Classical Spotlight podcast!

Naxos’s exploration of the works of Florence Price continues with this album of music for string quartet. Price and Leo Sowerby were contemporaries in the Chicago music community of the 1930s and 1940s, and they are known to have respected each other’s works. Sowerby’s String Quartet in G minor is a world premiere recording. Performed by the Avalon String Quartet – one of America’s leading chamber music ensembles.

Claudio Santoro’s remarkable final decade, in which he allied more traditional and eclectic styles to his earlier experiments. Both the Concerto Grosso and the Three Fragments on BACH were written for student orchestras, but are nonetheless substantial pieces which show his command of writing for strings. The Eleventh Symphony is one of the densest and most dramatic of the cycle, its finale exploding into an evocation of the opening of Brahms’ First Symphony, while the Twelfth Symphony is an unusual ‘sinfonia concertante’ for nine soloists and orchestra.

REVIEW:

I am enjoying getting to know some of this music in ‘The Music of Brazil’ series from Naxos. Santoro’s works have already featured and here we have a further pairing of two of his later symphonies (of a total of 14). They are complemented here by Concerto grosso for string quartet and Three fragments on BACH. Three of the four works here are world premiere recordings. Some of the music features some beautifully percussive ‘Latin’ orchestration and rhythm whilst there is also much that is reminiscent of Soviet traditions of the early/ mid twentieth century. The whole CD makes for enjoyable, interesting listening.

-- Lark Reviews

German-American composer Lukas Foss transformed the Buffalo Philharmonic into an adventurous and world-renowned orchestra during his tenure as music director, and he was a mentor to the orchestra’s current music director, JoAnn Falletta, at the start of her career. This album celebrates the 100th anniversary of Foss’s birth with four works, including the lyrical Symphony No. 1 and the Renaissance Concerto.

REVIEW:

Foss's music is much like the man, full of charm, brilliance, playfulness, deep seriousness, and bewildering variety. This resonant, well-filled recording gives us three early works from the 1940s, with colorful solo playing by flautist Amy Porter and violinist Nikki Chooi. The Ode, an expression of grief and admiration for men who died in World War II, begins with a funereal tread but builds in excitement, with a soaring climax showing off the excellent Buffalo brass and ending on a serene major chord.

A delightful contrast is The Renaissance Concerto, a neo-baroque piece based partly on Rameau and Monteverdi. The Three American Pieces, influenced by what Foss calls the “open-air” sound of Copland, display Foss’s lyricism and fondness for jazzy syncopation. The latter also erupts in the scherzo of his Symphony 1, which is based on classical form and has a satisfying symmetry. The finale, which exudes youthful confidence and optimism, revisits motifs from the opening movement, launches an exciting fugue for strings, and builds to a majestic culmination on an ecstatic major chord, ending a winning album with a bang.

— American Record Guide

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)

György Ligeti’s Études redefined the piano’s tonal possibilities and are considered one of his major creative achievements, as well as being one of the most significant sets of piano studies of the 20th century. They inevitably draw on influences from the past such as Chopin and Debussy, but avoid any sense of eclecticism. Ligeti’s often spectacularly virtuoso use of complex rhythms and geometric patterns proceeds from simple core ideas to create music that is ‘neither “avant-garde” nor “traditional”, neither tonal nor atonal’, and always backed by that glint of humour in the composer’s eye.

Paul Wranitzky was a characterful composer with a masterful sense of orchestration, as this series has demonstrated. The composer's mature Symphony in C major is a fine example of his abilities, and the finale of the Symphony in D major bursts into life in true Janissary style. Wranitzky's command of singspiel and music for the stage show equal excellence in these fields. World premiere recordings. (Vol. 6: 8.574454; Vol. 5: 8.574399; Vol. 4: 8.574290; Vol. 3: 8.574289; Vol. 2: 8.574255; Vol. 1: 8.574227)

‘Da-da-da-DAAAAH, Da-da-da-DAAAAH’: the start of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is really famous. See if you recognise it! It’s just one of many popular pieces here. There are some animals, too—an elephant and a swan. And right at the end, guess which boy wizard joins the party…Come and join it too!

A bird dancing, an ox on a roof, flowers doing a waltz, a swan twirling about…what world is this? This is the magical world of ballet. The stage is full of people in colourful costumes, but nobody speaks. All the stories are told by music and dancing. Composers have written such exciting pieces for ballet: listen to this collection and see which ones you like best!

The ‘My First’ album series from Naxos is the ideal springboard for a lifelong journey through classical music. Each selection is carefully tailored for younger listeners and includes famous tracks as well as unexpected gems. The booklet is full of information on every piece of music. Unique and imaginative, these CDs will open a door to a wonderful world that children and parents can discover together.

CONTENTS:

• My First CLASSICAL MUSIC Album
• My First MOZART Album
• My First BEETHOVEN Album
• My First TCHAIKOVSKY Album
• My First PIANO Album
• My First VIOLIN Album
• My First BALLET Album
• My First LULLABY Album
• My First ORCHESTRA Album

• 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."

Brouwer: Guitar Music, Vol. 3

Includes work(s) for harp by various composers. Soloist: Claudia Antonelli.

Scheidemann: Organ Works, Vol. 3

SPERGER: String Symphonies

It seems that every Chabrier collection differs slightly in one or two details, and this excellent offering is no exception. The Bourrée fantasque, which wasn't orchestrated by Chabrier in any case, is omitted, but in exchange we get an extremely rare and very beautiful Lamento for English horn and orchestra. Conductor Hervé Niquet and his Monte Carlo orchestra know this music well and play it with real affection, style, and sparkle. Right from the opening bars of España, you can tell that this is going to be a delightful recording: perfect tempo, excellent orchestral balances (the all-important harp clearly audible yet not artificially close), and the kind of rhythmic swagger that spells confidence without a hint of bombast. Next to Niquet and Co., Gardiner's Vienna recording for Deutsche Grammophon, highly praised in some quarters, sounds tight-fisted and grim. Chabrier is a much more important composer than many people realize. Mahler, who was a big fan, called España "the origin of modern music." This inexpensive disc offers a perfect opportunity to discover what he meant. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Over the last decade the music of the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra has become internationally admired, and this has led to prestigious commissions and performances around the world. Fandangos was heard at the BBC Proms in London and employs a harpsichord work attributed to Antonio Soler as a departure for a richly inventive orchestral fantasy. The dramatic Sinfonia No. 4 was described by ArtsNowNashville as 'a textbook example of how this composer breathes new life into old forms. The piece is basically a classic Germanic symphony imbued with Spanish sensibilities and reinvigorated with new harmonies and rhythms.' Robert Schumann is subtly evoked in Carnaval, five character pieces that explore mythical creatures, both menacing and serene.

Between the Bliss and Me is a wonderful collection of musical settings of poems by the great American poet, Emily Dickinson. The CD gathers compositions which might be familiar to some listeners, particularly the settings composed by Aaron Copland, but there are also works by lesser known composers such as Ernst Bacon, John Duke, Arthur Farwell, Scott Gendel, Lori Laitman and Richard Pearson-Thomas which add an extra dimension to Dickinson's genius. Unlike most modern art song, the songs on this CD have a refreshing melodic quality.

Polish Heart (The)