Volume 4 of the continuing Naxos series "English String Miniatures" brings more excellent performances of music that's uniformly attractive and easy on the ear, most of it more familiar than in previous installments. The strings of the Northern Sinfonia under David Lloyd-Jones give every indication that they're enjoying themselves, with alert ensemble, flawless tuning, and the same persuasive care over fine detailing that's been a key attribute of earlier issues. The Delius Aquarelles, for instance, yield the fullest range of expressivity and dynamic contrasts, and there's superb playing in Holst's Moorside Suite, with a neat, witty scherzo and a briskly energetic march enclosing Lloyd-Jones' exquisitely managed account of the central Nocturne. The two Frank Bridge pieces, especially the Scherzo Phantastick, delineate the virtuosity and skill of the Northern Sinfonia, but the less well known pieces also receive sympathetic performances. Peter Hope's Momentum Suite, so-called for its accelerating finale, and the English Suite by Paul Lewis are highlights, but this is a finely played and agreeably recorded program throughout.--Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com

Set in mid-nineteenth-century Italy during a turbulent period of pre-Unification political unrest, The Gadfly drew from Shostakovich one of his most dazzling and popular film scores, heard hitherto on record only in a suite arranged and reorchestrated by Levon Atovmian. This recording presents the full, original score for the first time, as closely as possible to shostakovich’s original conception. Reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald from the original manuscript and the Russian film soundtrack, it calls for a large orchestra including church bells, an organ, two guitars and a mandolin, all excluded from the Atovmian suite. The excerpts from The Counterplan, which marked the fifteenth anniversary of the 1917 Revolution, include the infectious hit-tune The Song of the Counterplan.

As soon as the first track of this interesting compilation CD begins, it is clear that it will give much enjoyment. Carlo Martelli's five-minute long Persiflage has a dramatic opening gesture, and then maintains the interest it has created. The Naxos recording is bold and direct, and contributes fully to the effect created by the excellent strings of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.

The best known composers featured on this enterprising programme are Finzi and Holst. The two Finzi items both represent the more lyrical side of his style, whereas Holst's delightful Brook Green Suite has three short movements organised in the traditional fast-slow-fast design. David Lloyd-Jones plays the central Air very much at a flowing tempo, thereby missing some of its poetry, and his outer movements are on the fast side too. But this remains an engaging performance if it does not erase memories of Imogen Holst's recording for Lyrita with the English Chamber Orchestra.

Haydn Wood has enjoyed something of a resurgence with the greater interest in light music which has developed during the last ten years. And quite right too, for his infectiously rhythmic 18th Century Scherzo makes an immediate and pleasing impression. Equally enjoyable is another five-minute miniature, William Blezard's Duetto, which is in fact a tuneful canon introduced by a skilfully placed passage of pizzicato. This offers a particularly interesting balance between technique and inspiration.

The central Lento espressivo movement of Bruce Montgomery's charming Concertino is given the full treatment by Lloyd-Jones and his players, to winning effect, while the finale is appropriately energetic. For me, however, the highlight of the programme is the Sinfonia Concertante by Michael Hurd, in which Robert Gibbs is the accomplished violin soloist. Again there are three movements, and again there is a beautifully lyrical movement at the centre.

-- Terry Barfoot, MusicWeb International

And Rob Barnett writes

It's all over in just over an hour but in that time you are swept along from one compass point to another.

The spirited innocent intoxication of Martelli's Persiflage makes me all the more impatient for the release of the Dinemec CD of the Martelli Second Symphony. Persiflage (banter) gambols along in carefree fifties confidence - a touch of Wirén here and a splosh of Coates there: brilliant silvery playing. The two Finzi pieces have been done elsewhere with more inwardness and poise but you will be glad of the repose they offer. Holst's Brook Green is hurried along in the Prelude and Dance faster than Imogen Holst ever did in the Lyrita but the Air is very well spun. The Blezard with its escalator pizzicato and serenade jewellery is just as strong as the Martelli. This probes and strains at the boundaries of tonality.

Anything by Michael Hurd is worth you ear-time. I recently welcomed his glorious Oboe Concerto on ASV and this 10 minute pocket violin concerto in all but name spins that same skein of regret and grace that flows from the Atterburg Third Suite; the highest praise. The Haydn Wood is like a skilled and well-turned chip off the Prokofiev Classical block. Montgomery is a name usually unrecognised among the British music fraternity. Film music enthusiasts will know him for his music to the early salvos from the 'Carry On' crew. He also wrote detective fiction as Edmund Crispin. There is an excellent article on him by Phil Scowcroft. His Concertino for string orchestra is Bliss-like (Music for Strings - strong resemblances) with a modicum of Rawsthorne's severity thrown in and a touch of etiolated Delius in the lento espressivo. It is the single most substantial piece on the disc.

Hearing the whole recital I rather wish Naxos had gone the whole hog and given us more Martelli, Blezard, Montgomery and Hurd. These are the works which make this a thoroughly recommendable anthology. Roll on volumes 4 and 5.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

Albéniz’s distinctive musical vocabulary, with its sensual harmonies, rich melodic lines and characteristic rhythmic figures, has ensured lasting popularity, not least in his music for the piano. This album of four-hand piano music reveals the composer’s love of Spain’s regional music traditions, whether in the glittering sweep of the Suite española No. 1or in the Rapsodia Española where a hypnotic dreamscape meets dramatic outbursts. Two movements from Iberia – one of which is a rarely encountered arrangement by the great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha – reveal a daring modernity that aligns Albéniz with Debussy and Ravel.

David Popper was one of the most important cellists of the 19th century and is remembered for the etudes of his High School of Cello Playing. Popper premiered chamber works by Brahms and championed Schumann's Cello Concerto, and his own four concertos span an illustrious 50-year career. Each shares a lyrical Romantic spirit: the playful First Concerto, an enjoyable prelude to the more dramatic and virtuosic Second, and the single-movement Third, a masterpiece in melodic compactness. The Fourth Concerto was dedicated to 'my great colleague' Alfredo Piatti and is recorded here in it's version with piano.

The Belgian composer, Marcel Poot, was one of the most striking musical figures of his time, with a spicy compositional style that exemplified his zest for life. His cycle of seven symphonies, the earliest of which show the influence of Ravel, Stravinsky and jazz, reveal a clear preference for Classical balance and non-programmatic form. Predominantly tonal, the symphonies are notable for their rhythmic energy, colorful orchestration and lyricism. Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4-7 are first recordings.

Let me first express my gratitude to Bo Holten and his team for giving us what it says in the title.

What Holten has attempted is not so much a reconstruction of what Lassus’ music might have sounded like when sung in Munich in 1575 but rather what he thinks ‘might be a way of making Lassus’ wonderful music accessible to a modern audience, making its natural and reticent telling of the story easy and appealing to follow’.

Be aware that despite Holten’s presentation, Lassus’ St Matthew Passion is very different from Bach’s masterpiece. It’s closer to the near-plainsong style of the early renaissance settings such as Richard Davy’s St Matthew Passion, contained in the Eton Choirbook. What Holten has done, however, is to set Lassus’ beautiful polyphonic choral music within the plainchant setting. Sample, if you can, track 16, the inserted Good Friday motet Animam meam dilectam tradidi (I have betrayed my beloved soul into the hands of the wicked). He even includes an excerpt from Lassus’ Italian madrigal collection Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of Saint Peter) at the appropriate point midway through the narrative.

That may well set you in search of the complete Lagrime, also very well performed by Bo Holten, with Ars Nova, on an earlier Naxos release (8.553311). Another very fine recording from Philippe Herreweghe and the Ensemble Vocal Européen is also recommendable (Harmonia Mundi d’Abord HMA1951483).

A third very fine recording, from Gallicantus and Gabriel Crouch comes at full price (Signum SIGCD339) but can be downloaded from Hyperion, with pdf booklet. Any one of these would do very nicely but the availability of the Signum in very good 24/96 sound from Hyperion, at a reasonable price – less than other download suppliers and less than the CD – may well clinch the matter. Lassus’ last known work, Lagrime makes a fitting supplement to the Matthew Passion.

I must also include a reminder another recording which features Lassus’ music for Passiontide. If you missed my strong recommendation of Stile Antico’s Passion and Resurrection (Harmonia Mundi HMU807555) in 2013 or John Quinn’s review of the same – Recording of the Month – now is the time to catch up. Lassus’ setting of the responsory In Monte Oliveti is only one of the treasures there.

It’s not clear why Lassus’ passion settings are so sparse, but this recording insets into the rather austere chant polyphonic jewels of great beauty, all rounded off with a performance of Agnus Dei. Austere settings of Passiontide music can be very moving, as in the case of Schütz’s St Matthew Passion, almost a century later (1666), but I found the pairing of austerity and beauty on the new Naxos Lassus recording extremely effective.

It’s less clear why Holten has decided to divide the music after the excerpt from Lagrime di San Pietro between the events of Maundy Thursday and those of Good Friday. There is no liturgical reason to do so: the St Matthew Passion would have been recited on Palm Sunday and the St John on Good Friday. There was no Passion reading at Mass on Maundy Thursday, the gospel for that day referring to the blessing of the oils.

That’s a minor niggle when the performances and recording are so good. Having listened in very decent mp3 via Naxos Music Library, I was pleased that the CD-quality press preview sounded even better. The full text and translation are included but that seems to have reduced the space for Bo Holten’s notes to just one side; I would have liked more.

The supposedly inviolable 80-minute limit for CDs was breached some time ago, but I don’t remember one so long as this. It’s certainly not a question of ‘never mind the quality; feel the width’, but it’s good to have this austere but beautiful setting, enlivened with polyphony, in very fine performances and all contained on a CD running to over 88 minutes. Complement it with the Lagrime di San Pietro.

– MusicWeb International (Brian Wilson)

Blessed with a gift for musical invention and structural organization, Johann Stamitz was one of the pioneering figures in symphonic music before the emergence of Haydn. He drove the development of symphonic form via the assimilation of the new operatic overture style resulting in works of brilliance and skillful orchestration. His Op. 3 symphonies, though not composed as a set, showcase why Stamitz was held in such high regard and was so influential: outer movements fizz with energy, and contain virtuosic string writing with frequent dynamic contrasts, while slow movements are intricate and refined.

Carlo Domeniconi is a master of guitar composition. His fusion of Western and Eastern elements is a distinctive feature of his writing, and this album presents a body of work for the unusual combination of mandolin and guitar. The large-scale Durandarte charts a medieval knight’s wild journey through the countryside, which is accompanied by poignant love songs, elegies, and agitated cross-rhythms. In Tarantula precox he summons up a dervish-like dance; while in the kaleidoscopic moods of Zemrude the Orient and the Middle East merge dramatically. All but one of these works have been composed especially for the Mare Duo. The Mare Duo has inspired numerous composers to enrich the repertoire for their formation, including Carlo Domeniconi, Jaime Zenamon, Konstantin Vassiliev, Jürg Kindle, Frank Wallace, Thomas Allen LeVines, Lars Wüller, and many others. The Mare Duo is also interested in performing the classical repertoire for their formation as well as playing innovative transcriptions. Annika and Fabian have released several solo, duo and chamber music albums with labels such as Naxos, Schott Music and Gyre Records, and they have appeared on TV productions including MTV Unplugged.

Le Tombeau de Debussy: a fascinating compilation of works composed in 1920 by Bartók, Dukas, Falla, Goossens, Malipiero, Roussel, Satie and Schmitt as a tribute to Debussy who had died 2 years earlier, together with Ravel’s Duo for Violin and Cello and Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, each a memorial to Debussy in its own right.

REVIEWS:

The sound quality is ideal. It allows listeners to appreciate the subtle sonorities of each piece...[this is] an often beautiful and always interesting piece of musical archaeology.

This remarkable disc not only presents Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy but includes three spin-offs from that project...Debussy died on 25 March 1918. Two years later, Henry Prunières (1886-1942), the director of the French journal La Revue Musicale, commissioned a joint memorial volume for the composer. He approached the great and good of European music, and asked for a specially written contribution. Ten composers responded with short works that balanced a celebration of Debussy’s musical achievement with each contributor’s individual style. A glance at the track listings shows a wide range of age and aesthetic. Paul Dukas, 55 years old, was the senior contributor, whilst the Englishman Eugene Goossens, at 27, was the youngest. Most of them had made their names before the Great War; some were just about to become successful.

[Dukas'] La Plainte, au loin, du Faune (Lament from afar, of the faun) evokes Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. The music is dense and numinous, with some foretelling of his pupil Olivier Messiaen’s “harmonic complexities”. Here, the Faun truly does lament his creator, Debussy.

Manuel de Falla’s elegiac Homenaje was written for guitar. A lugubrious piece, it uses the habanera rhythm, and includes nods towards Debussy’s Iberia. It is a masterclass in subtle chords, scale, arpeggios and dynamics for this instrument. The composer subsequently made versions for piano solo and orchestra.

The longest work in Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy is Florent Schmitt’s À la mémoire de Claude Debussy: Et Pan, au fond des blés lunaires, s’accouda. The latter part of the title translates as “Pan leaned on his elbows deep in the Lunar wheat fields”. There is stylistic variety here; Romanticism, post-Wagnerism and Impressionism contribute to this memorable piece.

Gian Francesco Malipiero left Italy in 1913 to work in Paris. He was fascinated by Debussy’s music. His Hommage à Claude Debussy: Lento echoes the dead composer’s La Cathédrale engloutie (The Submerged Cathedral) with its archaic Gregorian chant “giving the impression of sovereign majesty and greatness”.

This is followed by the most modern-sounding piece in the collection. The Fragment from Symphonies of Wind Instruments is less than a 1½ minute long. This is a piano reduction of that work’s final choral. Naxos have included a complete recording of the orchestral version (23 woodwinds) [which] was derided at its premiere in London on 10 June 1921. We have learned a lot since then!

The only Englishman represented in the project was Eugene Goossens. His Hommage à Debussy, Op. 28 combines two sections: a dissonant Bergian prelude followed by a short impressionistic postlude. It is one of the loveliest pieces on this CD. Béla Bartók’s Sostenuto, rubato features a unison melody supported by shimmering chords which balances impressionism with an indigenous cradle song.

One of the recurring features of Claude Debussy’s music are references to Greek mythology. Albert Roussel’s L’accueil des muses (The Muses’ Welcome) is designed as a musical ascent of Mount Parnassus, the seat of Euterpe and her fellow goddesses. Much of this piece reflects grief, but towards the close there is a definite sense of optimism.

Compared to so much of his music, [Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello] is an acerbic piece that reflects his reaction to the First World War. The first movement was included in the memorial volume. The others were added in 1922. The liner notes explain: “the ultra-transparent writing for two melodic instruments corresponds with Debussy’s last works, and especially his late sonatas for violin and cello, where he gave up his trademark impressionistic multicoloured spectrum in favour of concentrated neo-Classical clarity.” The entire work is given a splendid performance here.

The pianist Tomer Lev was the driving force behind this realisation of Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy. He has provided exceptionally detailed liner notes: not only context but brief overviews of the composers, and an informed discussion about each piece. The usual biographies of the performers are included. The text is presented in English and French. Finally, it should be noted that Tomer Lev has rearranged the order of the pieces to that of the original score. In an essay for The Gramophone (December 2020), he wrote: “Le Tombeau is, to all practical purposes, well-nigh unperformable. Having not been given any precise criteria to write to, the composers had let their imaginations run free, and composed for a dizzying variety of instrumentations.” What has resulted from Lev’s realisation is an often beautiful and always interesting piece of musical archaeology. For me, the obvious diversity becomes a major strength rather than a dilemma.

-- MusicWeb International (John France)

As a pianist and cellist Georges Onslow had a particular affinity with chamber music, and his String Quartets are given an almost orchestral quality with their addition of the rich sonorities of a double bass. String Quintet No. 28, with an especially beautiful Adagio with more than a trace of the influence of Mendelssohn, combines Baroque poise with expressive Romantic writing, while String Quartet No. 29 is light-hearted and good-natured, with hints of Schubert in its melancholy lyricism and unexpected key changes. In praising the Elan Quintet’s first volume, a MusicWeb International reviewer declared, “I cannot fault their playing: their tonal quality is ravishing, their ensemble perfect.” The combination of string quartet with double bass has opened up a richness of tone and distinct soundscape that the Elan Quintet has dedicated itself to exploring, celebrating works by renowned composers such as Schubert, Dvorak, and Cambini, working with contemporary artists in creating new works for quintet, and rediscovering neglected masterpieces by composers including Onslow and Bridge.

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REVIEW:

The present two Quintets came from the latter part of Onslow's life, and, placing them in a time-frame, also after the death of Beethoven, yet were still in the style of Mozart. Forget that aspect and simply enjoy the geniality of uncomplicated music making. In both works Onslow calls for a degree of technical expertise, and we thankfully have the young Spanish quintet, Elan, as the hugely talented performers. Add to this a quite superb sound, the instruments perfectly balanced, and I do urge you to discover these ‘World Premiere Recordings’.

– David’s Review Corner (David Denton)

This programme has been nurtured from a selection of pieces inspired by English gardens, including Vaughan Williams’ lovely ‘Fantasia on Greensleeves,’ spreading out towards French and Italian repertoire that evokes pastoral settings of birdsong, fountains and springs, and topped with a light-hearted musical picnic dessert. Along the way we are treated to the exquisite melody of Elgar’s Chanson de matin and the nostalgic atmosphere of William Alwyn’s ‘Naiades.’ Nino Rota’s film music credits include The Godfather, and his sublime and festive Sonata adds a celebratory touch to the personal joy of these performers’ many years of musical friendship. The combination of flute and harp always creates an atmosphere of beauty, with contrasting but complementary sonorities that have been exploited by a multitude of composers over the years. The pastoral theme of this program has been carefully chosen to include music from the Baroque and Romantic eras right up to the contemporary.

This recording realizes Barthold Kuijken’s long-held desire to restore to Jean-Baptiste Lully, and to French Baroque orchestral works in general, the power and intensity that once held the musical world in thrall. To the grandeur, finesse and diversity of the genre he has brought original source material to inform specific bowing techniques and the use of ornamentation. The result, as with Telemann’s Suite in E minor, which stands firmly in the Lully tradition, and Rameau’s magnificent Suite from Dardanus, evokes the spectacle and splendor of Versailles. Barthold Kuijken is an eminent leader in the field of early music. A virtuoso traverse soloist, teacher and conductor, he has shaped the fields of historical flutes and historically informed performance over the last forty years. Kuijken has widely performed and recorded the repertoire for the Baroque flute and has collaborated with other early music specialists including his brothers Sigiswald and Wieland Kuijken, Frans Bruggen, Gustav Leonhardt, and Paul Dombrecht.

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REVIEW:

This album of Lully-inspired music is worth the full price of admission. The performances deliver both grandeur and finesse, and the recording does them full justice. Two fine sets of notes, from harpsichordist Thomas Gerber and Barthold Kuijken, crown the achievement.

– MusicWeb International

Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata has today become part of the cello repertoire but it was originally written for the arpeggione, a form of bowed guitar invented by the Viennese maker Johann Georg Staufer in 1823. With a unique ethereal sound, this instrument reveals the true beauty of Schubert’s initial conception. The Piano Trio No. 2 was performed at the Vienna Musikverein on the first anniversary of Beethoven’s death – its extremes of urgent drama and sublime bittersweet lyricism are characteristic of Schubert’s artistic surge during his final year.

Ferdinand Ries grew up in the same musical environment that nurtured Beethoven, both counting Ferdinand’s father Franz as one of their teachers and the two of them becoming the closest of friends. Ries was a gifted and prolific composer in every instrumental genre. His Violin Sonatas are based on the Viennese Classical style established by Mozart but with a freshness and originality that includes movements such as the Adagio of the Sonata, Op. 38, No. 3, one of Ries’s loveliest creations. The Sonatas Op. 38, Nos. 1 & 2 can be heard on the 2nd volume of this edition, which was “unreservedly recommended” by Fanfare magazine. Violinist Eric Grossman is a versatile performer hailed for his flawless technique, superb musicianship, and commitment to a wide range of repertoire. Grossman has performed across the US, Europe, Korea, Japan, and Cuba in recital and as soloist under such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and Michael Gielen.

Alessandro Scarlatti was largely responsible for developing early Neapolitan opera but his son Domenico Journeyed to Lisbon and then to Madrid where he entered the service of the royal family. It was primarily for the Infanta Maria Barbara, who became Queen of Spain in 1746, that Domenico Scarlatti wrote his celebrated single-movement sonatas, some of the greatest pieces in eighteenth-century keyboard repertoire. This volume reveals Scarlatti’s evocations of Spanish dance rhythms, vivid exploration of color, scintillating scales and arpeggios and striking echo effects. Goran Filipec was born in Rijeka in 1981 and showed considerable early musical talent. After completing his studies in Croatia at the Academy Ino Mirkovich he continued at the Cologne Musikhochschule, the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory and at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. His concert performances have led him to some of the most prestigious concert halls of Europe, including the Auditorium di Milano, The Mariinsky Theatre, the Budapest Bela Bartok National Concert Hall, and the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris. He is a laureate of several international piano competitions, including the Concorso Internzionale Franz Liszt- Premio Mario Zanfi (Italy), the Concurso de Piano Parnassos (Mexico), the Jose Iturbi International Music Competition (USA) and the Gabala International Piano Competition (Azerbaijan). His Naxos recording of Liszt’s Paganini Studies was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque of the Budapest Ferenc Liszt Society, previous winners of which have included Vladimir Horowitz, Gyorgy Cziffra, Alfred Brendel, Claudio Arrau, Zoltan Kocsis and Maurizio Pollini.

Franz Liszt had an overwhelming impact on the musical life of his time through revolutionary innovations in harmony, form and pianistic technique. Both Liszt and his brilliant musical heir Ferruccio Busoni regarded their compositions as living entities, always suitable for recycling and reshaping to create new works. This program is an illustration of this practice, with Goran Filipec freely extending and varying the cadenzas in the Hungarian Fantasy, while Busoni enhances the emotional states of horror, grotesque comedy and sublime serenity in the Totentanz. Goran Filipec is renowned for his exceptional interpretations of the works of Franz Liszt and the high virtuosity of his Classical and Romantic repertoire. A laureate of several international piano competitions, Filipec has appeared internationally as a recitalist and soloist with symphony orchestras across Europe, the Americas and Japan. He has been invited on multiple occasions to the Mariinsky Theatre Contemporary Piano Faces festival, Progetto Martha Argerich and Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Filipec is co-founder and president of the Société Franz Liszt de Genève, which is devoted to the appreciation and study of the Hungarian composer’s oeuvre.

Based on Oscar Wilde’s impassioned text Le Ballade de la Geôle de Reading, Jacques Ibert’s first symphonic work astonished and impressed audiences with its dark atmospheres of anguished madness and terror. The Trois Pièces de Ballet portray society guests with colorful music-hall wit, contrasting with the impressionistic symphonic poem Féerique and the horrors of war expressed in Chant de Folie, while the Suite Élisabéthaine introduces ancient styles to enhance Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

TURINA: Sinfonia sevillana / Danzas fantasticas / Ritmos

String Quartet Recital: Aviv Quartet

Leo Weiner's influence as a teacher in Budapest was exceptional and his pupils were some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. But it's only in recent years that his compositions, with their synthesis of German Romantic and Hungarian elements, have been brought to wider appreciation. Like Csongor and Tunde, the symphonic poem Toldi was inspired by a masterpiece of Hungarian literature. Cast in twelve sections, the music follows the epic poetry in a way that seems to notate the text musically, a unique achievement. Weiner considered Toldi one of his most significant compositions, and he also composed two suites from the work.

Includes mass(es) by Juan de Anchieta. Ensembles: Capilla Peñaflorida, Ministriles de Marsias. Conductor: Josep Cabré. Soloist: Loreto Fernández Imaz.

MUFFAT: Concerti Grossi Nos. 7 - 12

This new Naxos release provides a really fine cross-section of twentieth century Argentinean tango music...The Argentinean soloist Victor Villandangos is an inspired choice for these warm and colorful tango works from his fellow-countrymen and his marvelous playing is most spacious, descriptive and expressive. He makes light work of the virtuoso demands of even the most technically challenging works whilst still maintaining an exceptionally high degree of panache and inspirational spontaneity. Villandangos's tone is exceptionally attractive and is assisted by the real fine sound quality...Exceedingly appealing music exceptionally well played. Naxos has a sure-fire winner here. -- Michael Cookson, musicweb.uk.net

Includes work(s) by Claudio Monteverdi. Ensemble: Delitiae Musicae. Conductor: Marco Longhini.

Includes work(s) for gtr by Augustin Barrios Mangoré. Soloist: Enno Voorhorst.

PUCCINI: Messa di Gloria / Preludio Sinfonico

EVENING IN PARIS (AN)

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Puccini' fascination with exotic locations, doomed heroines, high drama and tragic romance are brought to centre stage in this immensely moving selection from his greatest operas.