The leading exponent in his time of the French Violin School and the violinist who premièred Beethoven’s last Violin Sonata, Pierre Rode composed exclusively for his own instrument, thirteen concertos and the Caprices being his greatest compositional legacy. The contrast between virtuosic challenges and lyrical interludes is the notable feature of the Violin Concerto No. 2, whilst the long-breathed melodies and dramatic flourishes of Concerto No. 8 mark this work as one of his most beautiful. This is the fourth of five volumes containing the thirteen Rode Violin Concertos.

Joaquín Rodrigo, composer of the renowned Concierto de Aranjuez(Naxos 8.579053), is acknowledged as one of the great Spanish composers of the 20th century. His music extends the Romantic Impressionist tradition of Albéniz, Granados and Falla, and is inspired by the French style and color Rodrigo experienced during his studies in Paris. From the thrilling and virtuosic Elogio de la guitarra to his swan song in the Dos pequeñas fantasías, Rodrigos guitar music explores the Spanish nature of the instrument and blends tradition with innovation. Always filled with variety, contrast and compelling atmosphere, his oeuvre is now appreciated as one of the central pillars of the entire guitar repertoire. Since his concert debut at the age of six, Turkish American guitarist and composer Celil Refik Kaya has received many high accolades. He was the youngest contestant to win First Prize in the 2012 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition, and is a prizewinner of international guitar competitions across Europe and the US. In 2017 he was named Rising Young Musician of the Year by the Donizetti Classical Music Awards in Istanbul and awarded a prestigious fellowship from Harvard Universitys Dumbarton Oaks. Kayas first recording, Jorge Morels Guitar Music was critically acclaimed by American Record Guide.

This much lauded series continues with a sequence of four premiere recordings played by the elite Illinois State University Wind Symphony. Roy Magnuson's House Plants in Terracotta Pots is described by the composer 'as a simple statement of something simply thought.' Sydney Hodkinson's expressive Duae Cantatae Breves explores the slow and meditative potential of the wind band. Jayce John Ogren's richly imagined and poetic Evening Music is followed by Francesco José Martínez Gallego's exciting, monumental Sinfonía No. 1 'Kaprekar'.

Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982) is known today for billions of little guitar pieces that dot just about every Spanish guitar collection. You might assume from this that he was either a composer of little consequence, or one of those guys who lived forever but wrote only a tiny amount of music. He was neither. In Spain he is best known as the composer of Luisa Fernanda (1932), one of the greatest and most popular of Zarzuelas. You might call it the “West Side Story” of Spain. He also wrote operas and concert works, including ten concerted pieces for guitar and orchestra, all of which Naxos proposes to record in this new series.

Now I have to confess, the very thought of more guitar music CDs makes me want to scream. We get solicited to review at least a dozen new ones every month, but this is different. Torroba was a major composer, a far more interesting creative personality than, say, the better known Rodrigo, and it’s not as though we suffer from a glut of good modern guitar concertos (other than those of Leo Brouwer). So the prospect of three discs devoted to the Torroba guitar concertos is an exciting one, and this disc marks an auspicious beginning.

You would expect Pepe Romero to excel at the Concierto en Flamenco–he knew the composer and he is fully at home in both classical and Flamenco guitar. The piece is gorgeous, the performance vibrant and passionate. Here and in the following Diálogos entre guitarra y orquesta, it’s great to be able to forget about classical forms (each piece has four movements instead of the usual three) and simply revel in the bold contrasts and captivating melodies with which Torroba festoons both works. Writing for guitar and orchestra isn’t easy–the two really have no business together–but Torroba’s scoring masterfully supports the soloist while never denying the orchestra the opportunity to assert itself boldly and colorfully.

The soloist in Diálogos is Romero’s gifted pupil, Vicente Coves, who plays as well as his mentor, and whose brother leads the orchestra vividly and sympathetically. Both guitarists also offer a solo piece. Romero presents Aires de La Mancha, and Coves the Suite Castellana, which dates from around 1920 and contains the composer’s first essay for solo guitar (Danza). The engineering, happily, is uniformly excellent, with particularly well-judged balances between solos and the orchestra. Even if you think you’ve heard it all when it comes to guitar music, you will want this disc and, I suspect, the whole series.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This is a highly realistic-sounding recording of a piano four-hands recital from the position of the players. In other words the keyboard is spread in front of the listener with the top end distinctly to the right. One can hear the pedalling and even the breathing of these two. I do slightly question the decision to record from this perspective in that no audience member is able to sit like this. However such a view is not unique in the recording world and they can be forgiven because it sounds so good. The engineering is not 100% perfect - there is a clear editing error in track 4 at 3.08, as if the digital scissors slipped. A reminder that modern recordings are made up of often hundreds of edits, considering which it is well disguised the rest of the time.

What of the music? Most collectors will have a substantial amount of Debussy's delicious piano music, but this collector discovered that most of this CD was new to him, a pleasure in itself. The early Petite Suite is the most famous music present. The even earlier Première Suite d'orchestre was only published in 2008 in this four-hand version. It is a lovelypiece throughout its full 26 minutes and does not sound like anyone except Debussy. The Six Épigraphes antiques are late Debussy and display his extraordinary command of advanced harmony. The ear is constantly tickled by the most strange sounds. The recital is completed by the rare 1st version of the Marche écossaise sur un thème populaire.

The two pianists are new to me and display a high degree of togetherness, if not the pin-sharp unity of, say, Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky. Given such unusual fare this is a fine set of performances and mostly very well recorded indeed. The notes by Gérald Hugon are detailed and well structured - and translated into elegant English by Susannah Howe. Hugon tells the purchaser everything he is likely to want to know about the discovery of the early compositions and their complex history, and then goes on to discuss each piece thoroughly. We have grown to expect such quality from Naxos, another star to them.

– Dave Billinge, MusicWeb International

Among Liszt's operatic paraphrases and transcriptions, those based on Verdi operas constitute some of the composer/pianist's most effective and satisfying efforts in the genre. Since Claudio Arrau's reference recording of all seven can be had only as part of a boxed set, Naxos' excellent single-disc edition featuring Alexandre Dossin is all the more welcome. Like Arrau, Dossin is a big virtuoso who obtains huge sonorities without banging, and is not averse to underlining Liszt's expressive directives in red ink, with broad, rhetorical strokes.

At times Dossin's melodic pushing and pulling is a bit much (the Rigoletto Paraphrase's exposition), yet more than enough moments reveal the work of a caring keyboard master. For example, Dossin coaxes great tonal variety and emotional impact from the murky low-register passages in the Miserere from Il Trovatore. Also note the I Lombardi paraphrase's beautifully gilded arpeggios, Dossin's sense of long-lined control throughout the taxing left-hand octaves in Reminiscences De Boccanegra, or the way he conveys both power and luminosity in the Ernani paraphrase's bushels of chords. No doubt that Naxos' ample, detailed sonics enhance my observations. I hope that the label has further projects in store for this talented pianist.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

“The Glière Symphony No 3 has always been a piece that shimmered on my horizon—a cult piece, in a way, renowned as the composer’s towering masterpiece but rarely played in concert. As long as a Mahler symphony and enormous in its instrumental requirements, it was a work that people spoke about reverently but almost never heard live. The recording was an adventure that changed our orchestra, strengthened us, and became an artistic benchmark for our musicians. We revelled in the gorgeous landscape of the Symphony—from mysterious bass murmurings to crushing walls of brass fortissimo to breathtaking impressionistic renderings of forests and birds. We performed and recorded this massive work uncut to preserve Glière’s extraordinary architecture. This work is a cathedral in sound that unfolds in breathtaking swashes of colour, poetry and monumental climaxes.” – JoAnn Falletta

Magic on a budget: Szymanowski's fantasy world is beautifully caught

Naxos offers an exceptionally clear recording of these three concertante works by Szymanowski, not just the two Violin Concertos but an orchestrated version of the Nocturne and Tarantella. Ilya Kaler, as on his other Naxos discs, gives pure, clear readings with flawless intonation and careful use of vibrato. Having a Polish conductor and orchestra as his accompanists adds to the idiomatic feel of each, with the magical orchestral sounds beautifully conjured up, particularly in No 1, the more radical of the two works.

Like Kaler, Thomas Zehetmair plays with flawlesss intonation in a wonderfully pure reading, using minimal vibrato. Kaler is a degree warmer with a shade more vibrato, and the Naxos recording brings out the fantasy of the composer’s orchestration, particularly in No 1, with wonderful clarity. Lydia Mordkovitch is warmer still, playing with hushed intensity in the gentle passages and relishing the pure beauty of the passages of writing above the stave. In the more openly lyrical Second Concerto, Mordkovitch makes the Andantino deeply reflective at a very measured pace, while the others adopt more flowing speeds with lighter results.

Kaler then plays the relatively brief Nocturne and Tarantella just as sympathetically, with the Tarantella a flamboyant virtuoso vehicle making a splendid climax to an excellent disc. The point which trumps all competition inevitably is that the Naxos issue, beautifully and idiomatically played and brilliantly recorded, comes at such a reasonable price.

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [7/2007]

Ira Hearshen is one of America's most popular and successful orchestrators and arrangers. He has written for many Hollywood films, such as Toy Story and The Scorpion King. He has also written for the concert stage, especially wind band, notably his Pulitzer Prize-nominated Symphony on Themes of John Philip Sousa, which is adventurously constructed, richly melodic and colorfully scored. His unique takes on Strike Up The Band and There's No Business Like Show Business provide moments of rich humor whilst the Divertimento for Band mines the American Jazz vernacular with true rhythmic verve.

PERFECT WEDDING

IBERIAN AND AFRICAN-BRAZILIAN MUSIC OF THE 17TH CENTURY

Regino Sáinz de la Maza was a leading guitarist, composer and teacher who earned a place in history as the first soloist to perform Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. His compositions are deeply rooted in his Spanish identity, drawing heavily on Castillian and Andalusian folksong. Award-winning guitarist Franz Halász has selected the finest examples of Sáinz de la Maza’s creativity, including the admired Zapateado, atmospheric pieces from the film La Frontera de Dios (tracks 2, 8, 10 and 12), and the profoundly evocative Seguidilla-Sevillana.

Sleep, Holy Babe is a collection of Christmas lullabies which reflect the old traditions and restful, contemplative nature of the nativity story.

This recording of Amèriques is unique in that it uses the original version for 155 players. Following the piece with the revised score in hand turns out to be quite a trip as Varèse made a great many changes, too many to go into here. Listeners familiar with the revised version will notice many new colors in the original, including the frequent presence of offstage brass, major shifts in dynamics, lots of altered percussion, and a totally different ending. The music leading up to that exotic "belly dance" in the woodwinds has been completely recomposed in spots, and the piece generally is less continuous, more kaleidoscopic. Varèse left us so little music that I hesitate to come down strongly in favor of one version over the other--it's great to have both--though if forced to choose it seems to me that the revised ending is even more exciting, its overall impression more powerful despite the slightly smaller forces required.

Certainly it would be difficult to find a more effective champion of this juggernaut of a piece than Christopher Lyndon-Gee. In his Rochberg recordings, also for Naxos, he has demonstrated am impressive ability to control large forces and shape complex textures in a way that always sounds purposeful and expressive. So it is here, not just in Amèriques, but also in Ecuatorial, Nocturnal, and above all Ionisation, which sounds amazingly nuanced, even dance-like in this interpretation. No matter how freaky Varèse gets (and in Ecuatorial especially the answer is "very"), Lyndon-Gee never seems to be trading expressivity and naturalness for mere precision; accuracy is a given, not an end in itself. The remaining works on the disc include Varèse's earliest surviving piece, the song Un grand sommeil noir, very nicely sung by Elizabeth Watts, as well as a notably pure, limpid version of Density 21.5, one of the 20th-century's masterpieces for solo flute.

As with many other Naxos releases from Poland (including Antoni Wit's largely excellent series of recordings), the engineering is warmly vivid within an ample acoustic that perhaps diffuses the impact of the brass and percussion just a bit, if never troublingly. Certainly it gives a good idea of the huge forces required for Amèriques. The men's voices of the Camerata Silesia also come off as just a bit tame and "choir-like" for the primal music of Ecuatorial, but in all ways that matter significantly, this is an outstanding release, and one of self-evident importance to Varèse admirers.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The expressive range and versatility of the wind ensemble is exemplified in this program from one of the world's leading ensembles of it's kind, which presents classics of the genre alongside new works. Wayne Oquin's Tower Ascending pulsates with urban power whilst Richard Lorenz explores a web of Latin American music. Michael Tilson Thomas distils old and new perspectives and James Mobberely offers affecting Words of Love. We also hear Copland's indelible Fanfare for the Common Man, Vaughan Williams's intricate Toccata Marziale and Stravinsky's brilliantly virtuosic Concerto.

Joseph Martin Kraus was one of the most talented and progressive composers of the 18th c., and regarded by Haydn as one of the only two geniuses he knew, alongside Mozart. Following the successful audition of his opera Proserpin, Kraus became closely associated with the court of Gustav III in Stockholm. The highly dramatic Begrafnings-kantat overture was the composer’s emotional response to the assassination of his sovereign. The vocal pieces include works performed for the first time in over two centuries, ranging from Italian concert arias to rare survivals from the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

"Here is a beautiful young pianist with a superb Scriabin recital... Her performances are warm and intuitive and logical and completely non-rhetorical. The result is an extraordinary disclong journey into Scriabin’s increasingly sulfurous and mad world." -- Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News

"Wang manages to cut a diagonal path across Scriabin's output, largely drawing from lesser known pieces, including the waltzes, poems, and pieces in genres he visited no more than once or a couple of times. These are often treated as afterthoughts by pianists in the course recording of comprehensive Scriabin packages, in several cases that's all you'll ever find of such works on disc. However, Wang treats each as a distinct and separate case, and she spins the neglected Polonaise in B flat minor, Op. 21, into gold, relating it to the Russian tradition of the polonaise with its darker hues and more lumbering, rhythmic profile. She finds what's truly "satanic" about the Poème satanique, Op. 36, a work that often doesn't get very good performances because its uncharacteristically bright, major-key sound seems at odds with the title; however, in Wang's version it is clear that this piece comes from the dark side of Scriabin's musical universe. Speaking of which, her rendition of Vers la flamme — a piece Wang often plays in recital and is included on her debut — is everything one would want it to be: muted and gradually emergent at the start, white hot and ecstatic at the end." -- Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

"The booklet notes that Xiayin Wang provides for her Naxos Scriabin recital are as intelligent and insightful as her interpretations. The pianist's urbane, witty treatment of such Chopin-influenced fare as the D-flat and F minor Waltzes and the B-flat minor Polonaise convincingly transforms the younger composer into the ironist he never was and never would be. It makes me wonder how she'd enliven Scriabin's Mazurkas. Her taut, harmonically aware renditions of the Op. 32, Op. 34, Op. 36, and Op. 52 Poèmes fall agreeably on the ear, notwithstanding more drawn out, subjective, and sexy accounts to be savored (Pascal Amoyel on Calliope, for example). Appropriately fiery climaxes rivet attention in Flammes sombres and Vers la flamme, although much of the diffuse B minor Fantasie grows too loud too soon when compared to Alexander Melnikov's more diverse pacing and wider dynamic range. Overall, a fine disc that bodes well for future releases from this talented pianist." --Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

"Having listened to this new release from pianist Xiayin Wang, I simply cannot imagine how or why I have managed to avoid Scriabin’s solo piano œuvre for so long. The music here, and Wang’s playing of it are of an exquisite beauty beyond description...Xiayin Wang seems to have a very special affinity for Scriabin’s music....A beautiful recital by an up-and-coming young artist, captured in excellent sound by Naxos’s recording team. Highly recommended." -- Jerry Dubins, Fanfare

Drawing on the romantic spirit in music, Schubert’s moving setting is of a poem by Goethe which compares a rushing waterfall to the soul of man, while Strauss’s gorgeous Mittagsruhe depicts the peace of a summer noontide. Narrative vocal traditions are heard in Sibelius’s nationalist Vapautettu kuningatar, Bruckner’s heroic Helgoland, and Grieg’s Landkjenning, which tells of the 10th-century Norwegian king Oleg Tryggvason. Das Liebesmahl der Apostel anticipates the religious ecstasies of Wagner’s Parsifal, while Debussy’s early cantata Invocation resonates with Gallic sparkle.

Qunihico Hashimoto was one of the leading Japanese composers in the first half of the twentieth century. His synthesis of Japanese and European musical forms was founded on two years of study and travel in the West. Symphony No. 2 was commissioned to celebrate Japan's new postwar Constitution, but combines jubilation with an introspective nostalgia. Three Wasan sets Buddhist texts which describe the beauty of 'pure land' or heaven, merging traditional chant with bel canto expressiveness. Innovative for it's time, the early Scherzo con sentimental melds Japanese music with Western neo-classicism. Hashimoto's Symphony No. 1 can be heard on 8.555881. Takuo Yuasa regularly performs throughout Europe and the Far East. In Japan he has held the position of Principal Conductor with the Gumma Symphony Orchestra and in the United Kingdom he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and of the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland.

If the career of the Bohemian composer Florian Leopold Gassmann, had not been cut cruelly short by his death resulting from a fall from a carriage, his name might be a good deal better known today for he was an accomplished composer.

As revered as Vaughan Williams is among choral music fans, it's remarkable that none of his original Christmas pieces has achieved the kind of popularity or concert-ubiquitousness you might expect (on the scale of, say, Darke's In the bleak midwinter, or on a larger scale, Britten's A Ceremony of Carols), especially considering the significant number of Christmas-themed works he wrote and his expertise as a composer for voices. The Fantasia on Christmas Carols might have been such a work, and it's certainly attractive enough, full of wonderful tunes, scored to maximize a festive mood. Perhaps it is that very scoring--for orchestra and requiring a baritone soloist--that prevents more frequent programming; or perhaps it's the style, which is formulaic (especially for the chorus) and, especially in the big, recurring climaxes, seems too heavily orchestrated, losing both the choir and--except for the opening "The truth sent from above"--the essentially simple character of the carols.

That's not to say the Fantasia isn't a good piece or that it doesn't accomplish its purpose--to reflect and celebrate the wonder, mystery, and joyful spirit of Christmas; but its success depends largely on a strong baritone soloist and a first-rate orchestra, as well as achieving good balances among the three performing components. And that's mostly what we have here, save for baritone Stephen Gadd's tendency toward a wide vibrato that obscures pitch, and balances that invariably favor the orchestra in louder sections. The chorus certainly conveys the "joyful spirit" mentioned above, and the orchestra is undeniably "first-rate". However, there are better overall renditions of the Fantasia on disc, namely the Corydon Singers on Hyperion and Cambridge Singers on Collegium, both of which accomplish the festive mood with better sound, more judicious balances, and better soloists.

For many listeners, however, the reason to own this recording is the Hodie, which is virtually non-existent in the catalog (apparently only one other version--the one from King's College on EMI, recorded in 1965--is currently available). This nearly hour-long work follows the essential parts of the Christmas story, using choruses, vocal solos, and a periodic "narration", sung in unison chant by a children's choir accompanied by organ, which lends a "church-y" aspect to this "Christmas Cantata". The choruses represent some of Vaughan Williams' more engaging efforts in the genre, and a few of these--particularly the a cappella The blessed Son of God--are often sung separately as concert pieces.

Several of the solo songs show why Vaughan Williams is justly famed for his skill in the genre--It was the winter cold; The shepherds sing; Bright portals of the sky--and these are expertly sung (respectively) by soprano Janice Watson, baritone Stephen Gadd, and tenor Peter Hoare. Again, the choruses and orchestra are top-notch, and if the orchestration can be more than a little Hollywood-ish at times and the narrations somewhat meandering, overall this is a very satisfying work that truly fills the concert hall with the sense of occasion that the real Christmas story deserves.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by Sir Lennox Berkeley. Ensemble: Maggini String Quartet.

One of the leading English composers of his generation, Vaughan Williams went some way towards creating a specifically English musical idiom, influenced by his interest in folk-song yet underpinned by a personal vision and language.

BAROQUE TRUMPET (THE ART OF THE), Vol. 3

Now in his creative maturity, the Catalan composer Benet Casablanca's has a growing interest in the sensuality of sound. Seven Scenes from Hamlet, one of his best-known works, is a theatrical mosaic of images inspired by Shakespeare' play. The Epigram.

The Codex Faenza (Faenza, Biblioteca Comunale 117) abbreviated as "(I-FZc 117)", and sometimes known as Codex Bonadies, is a late 15th-century musical manuscript containing some of the oldest preserved keyboard music along with additional vocal pieces. The manuscript is still held at the Biblioteca Comunale de Faenza, near Ravenna, but facsimiles are held in other libraries in Italy and overseas.

Britten: The Turn of the Screw

Includes fanfare(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Vienna Art of Trumpet. Conductor: Leonhard Leeb.
Includes work(s) by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Salieri. Ensemble: Vienna Art of Trumpet. Conductor: Leonhard Leeb.

Although the whole performance is top-notch, the main reason for owning this Cenerentola is the warm, delightfully human, and stunningly sung Cinderella of Joyce DiDonato. There is no paucity of fine, recorded Cenerentolas (Bartoli, Larmore, Baltsa), but DiDonato, an under-recorded American mezzo, catches precisely the right tone of vulnerability and goodness in the character while never stinting on the coloratura fireworks we expect from the role. She's always in character--modest and kind; it's a beautiful, understated portrayal.


The rest of the cast is excellent as well. José Manuel Zapata's slim tenor may not have the ping of a Vargas or the brilliance of Florez, but he's got all the "little notes" needed for the Prince and is unafraid of heights. Paolo Bordogna's Dandini is well sung, but the voice has a fast vibrato that may not agree with everyone, and Bruno Pratico's Don Magnifico articulates every single note and refrains from mugging--a good combination. The sisters are nicely characterized by Patrizia Cigna and Martina Borst, and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni delivers Alidoro's music, including the aria Rossini added for him in 1820, with a good tonal center and dignity.


Conductor Alberto Zedda includes a brief chorus penned by another composer at the start of Act 2, and he leads with suavity if just a bit less flair and energy than this opera seems to want. The orchestra and chorus are good enough. The first CD ends at an awkward spot, but had the offending few minutes been added to the second CD it would have reached a dangerously long 80 minutes and three seconds. (It would have been easier if the extra chorus had been cut!) Bicker, bicker--this is an excellent performance, at a great bargain price.
--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by various composers.