Moscow-born Nikita Koshkin won international fame for his 1980 score The Prince’s Toys and has since established himself as one of the greatest creative composers for the contemporary guitar. His 24 Preludes and Fugues for Solo Guitar, of which this is the first volume, is a compendium of musical styles, colors and effects. It is both a virtuosic tour de force and an expressively complex undertaking that demands unremitting technical command and absolute interpretative clarity from the performer. Asya Selyutina represents the new generation of the Russian classical guitarists. She appears regularly as a soloist, in chamber music ensembles, with orchestras and as a juror at prestigious competitions.

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REVIEW:

You enjoy the guitar, you want to hear something new, but not some off-the-wall, out-there experiment in how much abuse a guitar string (or the guitar itself) can take (attention-getting but not usually pleasant listening). Nor are you looking for yet another go at Recuerdos de la Alhambra or Asturias. What do you do? Well, I suggest you look no further than this extraordinary recital from Russian guitarist Asya Selyutina, performing a set of pieces that you’ve probably never heard of–it’s a world-premiere recording–but that I promise you will play over and over, in the background, the foreground, and whenever you just want to hear guitar music (and playing) that’s always engaging, never harsh, that’s clever, not cute, that’s expertly crafted and both easy on the ear and stimulating to the musical mind.

Bach’s monumental tribute to tonality, the Well-Tempered Clavier, inspired numerous imitations and re-imaginings, among the most notable and perhaps the closest to the master’s in ingenuity and pure keyboard craft, is Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes & Fugues–and although not nearly as extensive or complex in invention and development, fellow Russian Nikita Koshkin’s creations for guitar are equally varied, while stylistically sophisticated, and–absolutely essential–unfailingly idiomatic to the guitar, comfortably inhabiting the instrument’s (non-gimmicky) expressive realm yet consistently challenging the player’s virtuosic technique.

And the Moscow-based guitarist Asya Selyutina is a superb soloist, displaying an enviably smooth legato while delineating contrapuntal lines with uncanny, and uncommon, clarity. She seems to relish the rare moments of “special effects” (rapping on the guitar body; harmonics), and charges into rapid passages without inhibition. She’s not only a renowned teacher in her home city, but also has a successful performing career mostly in Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East (she even created the painting featured on the disc cover). Perhaps following this project, Selyutina will be deservedly better-known around the world.

Oh, and never heard of Nikita Koshkin, you say? The 64-year-old composer is well-known to guitar fans for his suite The Prince’s Toys and Usher-Waltz (after Edgar Allan Poe) from the 1980s; he’s an accomplished guitarist himself, which explains his master’s grasp of what’s possible in creating these terrific pieces; his artistic inventor’s mind takes care of the rest, making it all interesting and musically satisfying. And we can happily look forward to another 12 preludes and fugues in Volume 2. Don’t miss this.

– ClassicsToday (David Vernier)

The Ukrainian composer Alexander Shchetynsky writes music of haunting luminosity and sublime spirituality.

A beautiful selection of the best-known operetta arias, duets & orchestral music from Vienna' golden age of operetta, including Die Fledermaus, the Merry Widow, the Land of Smiles, the Gypsy Princess, the Gypsy Baron and Countess Maritza.

Enjoy this full-flavored selection of music whilst sipping on a coffee from your favorite cup. Let our blended brew of aural aromas bring you down to earth from the day’s highs, and experience how our choice of works gives grounds for escape from the grind of the day, filtering out downbeat moments before stirring yourself back into the daily routine. This release, part of the Naxos Lifestyle Series, features works from famous classical composers like Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms, as well as more modern composers like Bernstein and Scriabin. Only the finest musicians have been chosen to perform these works, including Idil Biret, the Bas que National Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Maria Kliegel, and more.

Includes well-known favorites the Blue Danube and Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz (the latter made famous in Disney's Fantasia).

Leonard Bernstein was without question the greatest musician America ever produced. As an inspirational teacher and renowned conductor he was the nation’s musical ambassador to the world, and his work as a composer bridged gaps and broke down barriers, reaching audiences way beyond the normal boundaries of classical music. This celebration of Bernstein’s centenary brings together all of the acclaimed Naxos recordings of his music conducted by his protégée Marin Alsop as well as new and world premiere recordings, and an insightful documentary DVD in which colleagues and family sum up this boundlessly brilliant and charismatic musical giant of the 20th century.

This inventive album presents Tchaikovsky's occasionally heard songs in arrangements for violin and orchestra by Peter Breiner. Although the songs may not often be performed today by singers, these irresistible melodies provide justification enough to be heard in this almost equally satisfying form: "Why?", "Not a word, O my friend", and "The fearful minute" are among the composer's most inspired creations and should be heard more often. A few, however, such as the ever-popular "None But the Lonely Heart", need the soulful evocation of the human voice to make their full effect. Ljuba Kazarnovskaya's vocal recital (also on Naxos) demonstrates what a great singer can bring to this impassioned music.

But overall Takako Nishizaki's beautiful singing tone and sweetly-wrought phrasing, partnered with Breiner's affectionate conducting, make these transcriptions pleasing and satisfying musical experiences, even without the love poems that were Tchaikovsky's main impetus. My only caveat concerns the disc's tracking order: placing so many slow and similar-key selections together unavoidably engenders feelings of monotony. But since this easily can be remedied with the CD's programmability, there's no reason for you to hesitate about obtaining this serene, relaxing disc. Naxos' atmospheric recording balances Nishizaki's violin significantly forward relative to the orchestra.

--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Boris Lyatoshynsky was the foremost Ukrainian composer of the twentieth century and his five symphonies are the cornerstone of the symphonic music of his country. The Fourth Symphony of 1963 met with immediate acclaim for its imaginative orchestration, while the Fifth Symphony is memorable for its use of Ukrainian folkloric material. This is the third of three discs comprising the complete Lyatoshynsky symphonies.

The concertos and chamber works on this album show Villa-Lobos’s unceasing enthusiasm for new colors and sonorities in his music. The Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra was his last work for the instrument and written for Segovia. A cornerstone of the repertoire, it contains soaring melodies and rhythmic vitality couched in virtuosic writing. Exploring the instrument’s full harmonic and chromatic possibilities, the Concerto for Harmonica is also deftly orchestrated. New and daring sonic combinations are to be heard in the two chamber works demonstrating the composer’s extraordinary gift for seductive lyricism.

REVIEW:

The more you listen to Villa-Lobos, the more it seems as though he had a giant block of characteristic music that allowed him to cut off chunks of different shapes and sizes that he called “Guitar Concerto”, “Harmonica Concerto”, “Sexteto Místico”, etc. It’s not that it all sounds the same–it’s just so much the product of a single, unique personality. This splendid program consists of chunks featuring unusual instruments, or combinations of instruments. The best known work here is the Guitar Concerto, an almost impossible piece as regards balance of forces that’s marvelously played by Manuel Barrueco. The problems of audibility are easily solved on recordings, as here, by placing the soloist well out in front of the orchestra, but I’m happy to report that performance noises are still minimal.

The Harmonica Concerto is a rarity, and sounds atrociously difficult to perform. If you don’t know the instrument well, you would never imagine its wide range of pitch and expression, and surprisingly pleasant basic timbre. José Staneck must have lips of steel just to get through the piece, but he does much more than that, offering moments of real sensitivity and grace. The Sexteto Místico is a brief work in one movement scored for–get this–flute, oboe, alto saxophone, guitar, harp, and celesta. There’s nothing like it anywhere else, and the sheer sound of it is so captivating that it almost doesn’t matter what notes the musicians are playing. Fortunately, it seems that they offer the right ones.

The most “normal” piece here is the Quinteto Instrumental for flute, harp, and string trio, a substantial work in three movements as long as any of the concertos (about 17 minutes). Villa-Lobos revels in the music’s exotic sounds and luscious textures, and you will too. The uniformly first-rate performances by members of the São Paulo Symphony under the vital and sensitive direction of Giancarlo Guerrero are excellently engineered, making the whole disc a joy from start to finish–a true voyage of discovery and delight.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic have made previous Respighi discs for Naxos, but none as fine as this. In fact, this is as impressive a recording of the composer’s Roman Trilogy as any in the catalogue. Everything about the program, from the order of the works (Festivals, Fountains, Pines), to the quality of the playing, to the bright and punchy sonics, bespeaks an effort to do it right. Falletta and team give the music the respect that it deserves. Given how many mediocre versions of this repertoire there are, that’s saying a lot.

Roman Festivals is the noisiest of the three works, and some would say the least musically interesting. Falletta tears into the piece with unashamed glee. The opening crowd scene, with its roaring lions and violent climaxes is cataclysmic, while the closing “La Befana” has color and chaos without degenerating into total cacophony. The Fountains of Rome nearly always comes off well. The only risk is in taking its outer sections too slowly, which Falletta does not. It’s a beautifully flowing performance. The Pines of Rome’s first three sections are all well characterized and sensitively done, but let’s face it: no one cares if the final march doesn’t come off. Here, it does, with pulverizing force. A terrific disc.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

Carl Czerny penned an astonishing amount of music, including the numerous potpourris, fantasies, teaching pieces and studies for which he became known. This recording features the delightfully entertaining Concertino in C major, Op. 210/213, as well as the highly enjoyable Rondino, a work based on an enchanting theme taken from Daniel Auber’s opera comique Le Macon. A pupil and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Czerny was just 21 when he wrote the pastoral Second Grand Concerto in E flat major. Begun only twelve days after he had given the Viennese premiere of his mentor’s Emperor Concerto, the same choice of key seems a fitting homage to the grand master he so revered.

RAFF: Symphony No. 1, 'To the Fatherland'

Domenico Scarlatti, like his father Alessandro, wrote music in various genres, but he is best known for his 555 keyboard Sonatas. These remarkable single-movement works were mainly composed for his pupil in Madrid, the Infanta Maria Barbara, who became Queen of Spain in 1746. Maria must have been a talented performer as Scarlatti was able to pour endless variety into his creations, from sparkling virtuoso showpieces with sometimes audacious harmonic clashes to sonatas of serene beauty; all demonstrating his originality and genius within the frameworks of his chosen form. First prize winner of the Naumburg International Piano Competition and the Concert Artist Guild International Competition, Korean-American pianist Soyeon Kate Lee has been rapturously received as guest soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as many symphony orchestras across the US. She is a Yamaha artist and an associate professor of music in piano at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Laszlo Lajtha is recognized, along with Bartok, Kodaly and Dohnanyi, as one of the great Hungarian composers of the first half of the twentieth century. He established his reputation as his country’s foremost symphnist but also showed a strong affinity for the stage, writing his one-act ballet Capriccio in 1944. Despite the darkness of the times the ballet is filled with light and set in the period around 1700, the age of Watteau. Taking commedia dell’arte as his model, Lajtha’s characterization brims with wit and elegance.

László Lajtha's passionate Third Symphony emerged from a fruitful period when the composer was based in London. Its origin was a film score for T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, the author grateful for a soundtrack to "elevate his words and thoughts". Lajtha's Fourth Symphony uses Hungarian musical idioms with wit and charm to bewitch the listener from the outset, its escapist joie de vivre belying the dark circumstances that surrounded its creation, while the Second Suite is based on a satirical ballet that uses Classical mythology to poke fun at fascist dictators.

This programme by Andrea Gonzalez Caballero, winner of the 2016 Alhambra International Guitar Competition in Spain, has been carefully chosen for comparison and contrast. Containing a wide range of compositional styles from the romantic 19th century to the present, it includes characteristic Spanish music by Tarrega and Albeniz, freshly minted works by some of today’s most important composers from Cuba, Spain and Brazil, as well as one of the most significant mid-20th century works for guitar, the Nocturnal by Benjamin Britten.

Johann Joachim Quantz was the most innovative performer and composer for the flute in the eighteenth century. He was also the teacher, composer and flute-maker to Frederick II, ‘The Great’, King of Prussia. Royal concerts were the principal venue for Quantz’s concertos where their constant invention and brilliance were intensified by his specially designed flutes. The A minor Concerto has only recently been retrieved from the Russian National Library in St Petersburg, whilst the G major’s cadenzas have been preserved, fully written-out, providing a valuable direct link to performance practices in Quantz’s time. Poignantly, Frederick himself completed the C minor Concerto after Quantz’s death.

The sound of unaccompanied chant moves and inspires those seeking the sublime. In our increasingly busy and secularized world, people return to chant, regardless of their religious beliefs, for the peace and calm that this eternal music offers.

RAFF: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 10

There have been a couple of recordings of El amor brujo in its original, two-act chamber version of 1915, but this one is as fine as any and just might be the best around. Conductor Angel Gil-Ordóñez chooses ideal tempos, the members of the Perspectives Ensemble play beautifully, and everyone seems genuinely involved in projecting Falla’s characterful instrumental parts with just the right combination of precision and warmth. Cantaora (singer) Esperanza Fernández sings with fervor and her voice, while raw and “popular,” at least remains in tune. She lacks the artistry and sensitivity of more professionally trained singers such as the incomparable Nati Mistrál on Decca, but in these surroundings it hardly matters.

The original version really is a different work: longer, with a slightly different plot that need not concern us, and despite using much of the same music often quite different in sound and texture. You can compare the two in the sound clips below. The revised version for full orchestra sounds more mysterious, more “impressionistic” if you will, while the original is leaner in outline but also definitely more rhythmically persistent and sinister. The only disadvantage to the original, in my opinion, is the generous amount of spoken dialog, which must be irritating even to native speakers when the music is so beautiful. You wish Fernández would offer less talk and more music.

Speaking of talk, Master Peter’s Puppet Show has a plot straight from Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and consists of wonderful musical bits connected by long stretches of recitative narration. The scoring is extremely imaginative, with the chamber ensemble featuring a harpsichord (played by Wanda Landowska at the premiere), and colorful parts for brass and percussion. What singing there is comes off quite well, with Jennifer Zetlan doing her best with the ungrateful part of the narrator. The plot, in case you don’t already know the original, is simplicity itself. At a roadside inn Master Peter puts on a puppet show set in the time of Charlemagne about the rescue of a damsel in distress. Don Quixote becomes thoroughly confused and takes the whole thing rather too seriously. Chaos ensues. That’s it.

Once again the performance is excellent from all concerned, and both pieces are very well recorded. Provided you have time to sit down and follow both not-terribly-long works booklet in hand, in this case thoughtfully containing texts and English translations, this release earns an easy and well-deserved recommendation.

– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

Gabriel Fauré’s musical language bridges a gap between the romanticism of the 19th century and the new worlds of music which appeared in the 20th, employing subtle harmonic changes and a gift for melody to combine innovation with an entirely personal idiom. His First Piano Quartet is filled with characteristic French colour and lyricism, and the Piano Trio in D minor is a late work whose musical language is familiar from his songs. Both the Pavane and the popular Sicilienne express nostalgia for earlier times, and the short Pièce has great simplicity and charm.

REVIEW:

These three violin concertos appear at a time when the music of the wider Classical Period--composers aside from Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven--is garnering more attention than ever before. Labels like Naxos and its publishing affiliate, Artaria, are digging up, printing and recording large swaths of repertoire and proving just how high the standard of quality was during this epoch. Joseph Boulogne, a.k.a. the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, has always had a certain following, as much owing to his colorful life as warrior, statesman, and violin virtuoso of mixed-race parentage as to his gifts as a composer. These violin concertos may not be terribly adventurous formally, but they reveal an extremely cultured mind with a genuine gift for melody. They flow beautifully.

Each concerto has essentially the same form: a quick first movement, a central Andante or Largo, and a Rondeau finale in moderate tempo with a racy minor-key episode in the middle. While full of effective display for the solo instrument, they are not "virtuoso" works in the sense that the finales offer the most show-stopping moments. As in classical symphonies, the first movements are the most highly developed, and consequently the most difficult for the soloist, while those following offer a steady relaxation. Rapid figurations and wild bouts of frantic passagework are less important than a fine, singing tone and a cultivated sense of style.

In this last respect, the works find an ideal advocate in Takako Nishizaki. She plays each work with an elegance and fastidiousness that never becomes merely fussy or precludes a natural simplicity of expression. She masters the music's more virtuosic passages with ease, but makes the strongest impression at moments such as those in the opening movement of the Op. 5, No. 2 concerto where the composer expects absolute purity of intonation in very high-lying, exposed passages. Here, and at other similar moments, Nishizaki's sweet tone, tastefully controlled vibrato, and accuracy of pitch pay generous dividends. Of course, there's more to this music than mere cuteness, and Nishizaki certainly enjoys those special excursions, such as the "minore" sections of all three finales (Op. 8 in particular), which call for some serious fiddling in a more rugged, folk-style.

Still, it's the lovely slow movements that may linger most in your memory, particularly that of the C major concerto, with its Mozartean divided violas. Nishizaki adds her own entirely apt, brief cadenzas towards the end of each--the only places in these works that clearly encourage improvisation. Helmut Müller-Brühl and the Cologne Chamber Orchestra offer vigorous support, though for my taste the harpsichord continuo sounds too prominent (the music doesn't really require it at all), and Naxos' recording, though richly sonorous and very well-balanced between soloist and orchestra, puts a slight glare on Nishizaki's upper register. Still, this isn't serious enough to preclude a strong recommendation for the Chevalier's finely crafted music, especially when it's played with such obvious care and affection.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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.

Florent Schmitt life spanned both the late Romantic and 20th century eras and he counted Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel among his close friends. For most of his career he worked as a music critic and early on perceptively predicted the influence jazz would have on the future of serious music. His compositional output was comprised of a mish-mash potpourri of styles which included scores for theatre, including ballet and stage plays, including this collection of incidental music for Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra featuring the Buffalo Philharmonic conducted by JoAnn Falletta.

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Review:

The performances are admirably stylish, while the Buffalo Philharmonic boast nicely dexterous strings and woodwind.

– Gramophone

Listen to the Naxos Podcast to learn more about this release

Shostakovich’s two Piano Concertos span a period of almost thirty years. The youthful First Piano Concerto is a masterful example of eclecticism, its inscrutable humour and seriousness allied to virtuoso writing enhanced by the rôle for solo trumpet. Written as a birthday present for his son Maxim, the Second Piano Concerto is light-spirited with a hauntingly beautiful slow movement. With the permission of the composer’s family, Boris Giltburg has arranged the exceptionally dark, deeply personal and powerful String Quartet No. 8, thereby establishing a major Shostakovich solo piano composition.



REVIEWS:


We have no shortage of excellent versions of the two Shostakovich piano concertos, including Igoshina’s on CPO and Marc-André Hamelin’s on Hyperion. Here is another. These are big, bold, in-your-face performances that find a wider range of expression in both works than you might have believed possible. Much of the credit for this belongs to Vasily Petrenko as well, who continues his series of top-notch Shostakovich recordings for Naxos.

In the First Concerto, particularly the outer movements, Giltburg attacks the zany, theater music themes with unbridled ferocity, finding a bitter edge of desperation for all the music’s wackiness. The bright, up-front sonics and Rhys Owens’ piercing trumpet complement the approach, and there is also some remarkably precise ensemble playing from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic strings. It’s an exhausting cliff-hanger of a performance.

Giltburg and Petrenko’s vision of the theoretically light and easy Second Piano Concerto is even more striking. From the dry, perky winds at the start to the positively cataclysmic first movement development section, this is clearly a performance that has tremendous character–one which finds plenty of menace beneath the music’s breezy, sometimes comical, sometimes sweetly romantic exterior. It makes you sit up and listen with fresh ears, truly.

The two concertos really are two short for a single disc, and finding appropriate couplings is always an issue. This is where things get really interesting. Giltburg has made transcriptions of some of Shostakovich’s music for string quartet, the Waltz third movement from the Second Quartet, and the entire Eighth Quartet. He evidently had permission from Shostakovich’s family, which means nothing, as family members are usually terrible guardians of their illustrious ancestral legacies.

The Waltz works well enough, but the Eighth Quartet is an impossible piece to transcribe for the keyboard. This is string music, plain and simple. The sustained notes in the fourth movement simply cannot be reproduced on the piano, although with clever pedaling and a sensible tempo Giltburg almost pulls it off. The savage second movement sounds positively tame here: evidently it’s much easier to push a string quartet to its limits than it is a Fazioli.

Curiously, however, it’s impossible to call the performance as such a failure. It’s quite moving in its way, and if you know the original, either as a quartet or in its chamber symphony version, you can’t help but come away with a renewed appreciation of Shostakovich’s genius for matching the music to the (original) medium. But please, let’s not have any more of these experiments. One is more than enough. A great disc.

– ClassicsToday(David Hurwitz; 10/10)

Giltburg has all the agility, power and expressive intensity Shostakovich’s piano concertos demand, plus the temperament to negotiate their mercurial shifts of mood. Every phrase is imaginatively colored or nuanced, and never out of gimmicky point making, always because he has something worth saying. And he has found like-minded partners in the RLPO and Petrenko, who not only follow and support him superbly but also respond and provoke where appropriate.

– Gramophone

What is so appealing about this record is that the Boris Giltburg has rethought the works through the prism of the composer’s experiences. The first concerto is wonderfully skittish, a series of melodic in-jokes and exchanges with the orchestra. The second concerto, determinedly frisky, is played with a reckless to-hell-with-it abandon. With devastating precision, Giltburg has interpolated between the concertos his own piano reductions of one movement of the second string quartet and the entirety of the eight quartet, contemporaneous with the two piano concertos, exposing the composer’s seditious inner thoughts. This is a constantly illuminating, almost faultless project.

– Norman Lebrecht

It’s remarkable that The Diary of Anne Frank has not been the subject for a major choral work until this thoughtful and often moving setting of selected texts (the original version premiered in London in 2005, conducted by Leonard Slatkin) by English composer James Whitbourn and librettist Melanie Challenger. Material from the ultra-famous diary has been used for an oft-performed opera/mono-drama (by Grigori Frid), a song cycle, numerous individual songs, and of course as the basis for a famous play and movie, but never for a vocal work of this form (a kind of choral-song cycle/cantata/tone poem) or scope (14 musical sections lasting a total of 70 minutes).

A convincing argument could be made that Anne Frank’s diary doesn’t need musical treatment; it works just fine on its own. Its prose (translated from Dutch to English) does not readily fall into musical phrases; neither do those phrases, beautiful as they often are, suggest handy poetic rhythms. Rather, the power of Anne Frank’s writing lies in the fact of its unadorned simplicity and heartfelt expression, which needs no embellishment or commentary. That said, Whitbourn, who is a first-rate composer for voices, has seen fit (been inspired) to attempt to enliven and enrich some of those revered words with music, and Annelies (Anne Frank’s full, original name was Annelies Marie Frank) is the result.

Whitbourn states that Annelies is “a commemorative work” both for Anne and for “those voiceless millions who shared her fate.” The intent of the librettist was to focus on Anne’s keen observations of people, of events in her immediate environment and of the world beyond, and of her own situation and longed-for destiny. The order of presentation of the text selections is not chronological (the first one is from April, 1944, only a few months before the inhabitants of the Annexe were found by the Nazis and taken away); rather the selections are organized to capture the essence of Anne’s thoughts, feelings, and character independent of time, which at some point ceased to have the same relevance for her as for those not confined as she was, separated from the normal measurements of life and progress.

Setting English prose, especially of the un-self-conscious variety, to music is not easy—it usually comes off sounding unnatural, contrived, forced. Melodies go off in weird directions, misled by irregular rhythms and jagged inflections. Britten and Menotti got it absolutely right; Whitbourn, while very often successful, doesn’t always join them. When you have to set words such as, “I started packing my important belongings. The first thing was my diary…”, or, “We arrived at the Prinsengracht, led through the long passage and up the wooden staircase to the Annexe…”, you need to think of the realization as speech, not as some remote, detached musical expression. But here, passages like this seem contrived to “fit” rather than to illuminate the thought or idea of the speaker.

One problem for me was the choice of soprano for the solo passages. Arianna Zukerman unquestionably has a beautiful voice, but her big sound and operatic style, especially in this chamber version of the work, and her somewhat detached delivery of the texts seemed at odds with the sincere, uninhibited voice of the teenage Anne. In fact, for me the best parts of the work were those featuring the chorus.

There also are some misleading contextual issues that at least on the surface seem unnecessary. One is the point in the score titled “Passing of time”, a quote from a diary entry in January, 1944. Here, the text simply says “The years went by. There’s a saying: ‘Time heals all wounds,’ that’s how it was for me.” From this we have no way of knowing that in her diary, what Anne was actually referring to was her experience of love for a boy, before the war, but in this context we’re led to believe that it was some vague reference to her endless days spent in the confined, oppressive world hiding in the Annexe. Later in the work, in lines quoted from February, 1944, we hear of Anne’s desire to “fulfill my longing at last…” But the important lines telling us what this longing is are omitted. We’re led to believe that it refers to something about spring, but actually she is talking about how she is “longing—really longing—for everything: conversation, freedom, friends, being alone.” She even longs—”to cry!”

Apart from these pointed reservations, I have to say that Whitbourn does a wonderful job finding musical contexts and expressive techniques to realize them. He uses his chamber instruments (violin, cello, piano, clarinet) well, sometimes calling them to create the sounds of traditional Jewish music, at others to paint a mood, whether of gloom or levity, contemplation or exuberance or apprehension. And his writing for unaccompanied voices, which constitutes a large part of the score, is superb; there are so many moments of happy inspiration throughout that you easily glide past the less shining sections.

Some of the more affecting sections come near the end of the work: the beautiful hymn-like tune on “Ich danke dir für all das Gute…” (Anne included this German text, which she said at the conclusion of her prayers each night, in the diary on March 7, 1944); the eerily captivating choral/instrumental evocation of the scene of the Annexe residents’ discovery, capture, and rude departure for Westerbork and the concentration camps (“The capture and the concentration camp”); the following a cappella chorale based on verses from the Psalms and from Lamentations.

I actually wished that the work had ended there—by now it had effectively made its point, shining its light on several of this remarkable teenage girl’s all-too-briefly lived moments of insight, despair, longing, eloquence, and most of all, of hope, doomed yet more desirable, more sustaining than the alternative. At this point, it just seemed fitting to leave us to ponder the true, harsh end, enhanced by the open, bitter chords of this chorale and the final words (“The young and the old lie on the ground; the maids and young men are fallen”, from Lamentations). However, it’s also easy to understand Whitbourn and Challenger’s decision to instead leave us with the words and image of the more positive, optimistic Anne, whose spirit rose above and outlived all the evil that surrounded her: “As long as you can look fearlessly at the sky, you’ll know you’re pure within.” These words understandably may inspire us and make us feel better (nothing wrong with that), but, as Anne’s observations should vividly remind us, we still cannot escape from who we are as humans, what we’ve done, and why these things that happened to Anne and millions of others, in one form or another, keep happening.

-- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Simple catchy exuberance and patriotic aggression.

Here is an inexpensive collection of three works by Kabalevsky and one by Rimsky-Korsakov. The Kabalevsky Third Piano Concerto, dedicated to Soviet Youth, is well enough known. It is carefree, catchy, neatly romantic and wonderfully memorable. Hsin-Ni Liu despatches its 18:45 in machine-gun exuberance in the outer movements and in delicate pastels in the central Andante. From a dozen years after the Third Concerto comes Kabalevsky's Rhapsody on the theme of the song School Years. It is dedicated to the Young Musicians of the Volga region. Like the much recorded Third Concerto it makes clever, sparkling and playful use of the woodwind.

The short Rimsky-Korsakov Concerto in one movement is pearly and has the tang of Borodin. The recording allows us to hear the key-click mechanisms of the woodwind soloists’ instruments. The performances are spot-on and seem well prepared yet not drilled to death.

Moving away from the concerto aspect of the disc the sequence ends with a final patriotic and dramatic gesture. Kabalevsky's Poem of Struggle takes us back all the way to the 1930s; it is in fact his first major work. The text which appears in the last segment is bloodcurdlingly acquisitive with the international Revolution being taken to Berlin, Dresden, Paris and Warsaw … and then the Far East. It's a fascinating novelty which speaks with the burning, fearsome and ruthless ardour of its Soviet times. The rushing militaristic writing is directly redolent of Myaskovsky's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies: the Red Flag whips in the wind of violent change. The piece is alive with the concatenating strenuous uproar of trumpet fanfares and tramping militia. The choir exude the fervour of the words which are printed in English but not in transliterated Russian.

Short playing time for which you have the compensation of three works for piano and orchestra. Add to this a very rare early Kabalevsky piece from the youthfully aggressive first maturity of the Soviet Union.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Charming music, charmingly played. Kabalevksy’s Third Piano Concerto, dedicated to “Soviet Youth” (Oy!) is what you might expect: tuneful, cheerful, short, and rather fun. It offers no special challenges to the performers, and Hsin-Ni Liu has no problem turning in a deft, light, attractive performance. The same holds true for Rimsky’s less than quarter-hour, single-movement concerto—another odd work that is virtually unprogrammable in real life, but very pleasant to hear once in a while on disc. Kabalevksy’s Rhapsody is cut from the same cloth as the concerto, while the Poem of Struggle lays on the Socialist Realist triteness rather heavily. It’s the kind of stuff that Shostakovich was punished for not writing. Thank God. But the disc as a whole is worth considering.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Ralph Vaughan Williams composed in a wide variety of genres, and film music became a significant part of his output in the latter decades of a long and distinguished career. He viewed film scores as more than just ephemera, seeking to "intensify" the spirit of the whole" in wartime productions such as the defiantly anti-Nazi 49th Parallel and Coastal Command, in which the graceful romance of sea-planes sends the spirits soaring. The haunting and evocative atmosphere of The Flemish Farm contrasts with Three Portraits that evoke the first Elizabethan age and announce the springtime of the second.

Like so many composers, Sir Arnold Bax is known by only a fragment of his large output of music. Chief among the neglected areas of his achievement is the chamber music, which is certainly less frequently performed and recorded than his richly romantic orchestral scores.

Therefore it is good to find these viola pieces coupled in an appealing budget release from Naxos, pleasingly recorded by a particular talented player and his colleagues. Bax enjoyed an enduring friendship with the great Lionel Tertis (subject of a recently published biography by John White), and the substantial Sonata of 1922 is one of his finest compositions in any genre. The opening makes an arresting impression, at once atmospheric and expressive, while the scherzo is particularly exciting rhythmically. Martin Outram plays with warm expressiveness and a suitably rich tone, while Julian Rolton on the piano is recorded in just the right balance of perspective.

There is no question that the Viola Sonata ranks as the most significant composition among those collected here, and it is worth the price of the disc on its own. Alternative recordings are not numerous, and the most interesting is probably from Biddulph (LAB 148, mono) by the legendary William Primrose, accompanied by Harriet Cohen, famous for her relationship with the composer. However, the historical interest needs to be offset against the distinct lack of bloom of the pre-war recording. Earlier still, the composer and Lionel Tertis recorded the piece in 1929, though their version has remained out of the catalogue for several years.

That same year of 1929 Bax composed the Legend for viola and piano, music of serious and nostalgic character which finds him at his most darkly expressive. The other items, the Concert Piece for viola and piano, and the Trio for violin, viola and piano, are both early works, written well before the First World War. The latter is the more substantial of the two, and must rate as one of the strongest compositions from this phase of Bax’s creative life.

-- Terry Barfoot, MusicWeb International

Listen to the Naxos Podcast to learn more about this release

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.