NIGHT MUSIC VOL. 8

“Petrenko and the RLPO have achieved a triumph. The orchestral playing is ripe, detailed, lithe, concentrated and intense.” – The Telegraph on Symphony No. 10

“The final instalment of Petrenko’s remarkable Liverpool Shostakovich cycle is a world-class achievement.” – The Sunday Times on Symphony No. 13

“This is a model of clarity… yet another Petrenko performance to join the greats.” – BBC Music Magazine on Symphony No. 8

Featuring the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra and Choir conducted by Vasily Petrenko
Additional featured choirs:
The Huddersfield Choral Society; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, male section.
Vocal soloists: Gal James, soprano; Alexander Vinogradov, bass.

NIGHT MUSIC VOL. 18

MOZART : In Vienna

The Great Classics series from Naxos is the perfect introduction to myriad genres of classical music. Comprising both complete and compiled selections from the greatest works in the repertoire, the boxes are bursting with wonderful pieces of music, both recognizable and unfamiliar. The boxes take the listener on a thrilling tour of some of the world's most dramatic musical media, encompassing music from six centuries and featuring sensational performers. All boxes come with a fascinating booklet with detailed information on the genre itself, chronological placement of each work, and a comprehensive study of the music. A fitting celebration of 25 years of superb music from Naxos, the world's favourite classical label.

Max Reger (1873-1916) was the greatest German composer for organ after Johann Sebastian Bach. His extensive series of works for the instrument include the popular Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H, the Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue, which he called his most technically challenging, and the glorious sequence of Choral Preludes, a body of work of huge complexity and transparency that reveals an inexhaustible variety and invention. Recorded over a fifteen-year period in stunning digital sound, this critically acclaimed series, now available in one all-encompassing 16CD box, features Reger's complete organ music played by twelve internationally admired organists - Wolfgang Ru�bsam, Christian Barthen, Josef Still and Kirsten Sturm among them - on seven different organs.

Dieter Ammann has won numerous international awards and is now one of the most renowned Swiss composers of his generation. The multilayered unbalanced instability is a concerto for violin and chamber orchestra that seeks unpredictability and shifting perspectives between solo and orchestra. Ammann’s slowly developed orchestral triptych reflects his meticulous working methods. Core reshapes and transcends its improvised origins, while the slowly unfolding Turn serves as an adagio in the set. The irrepressible energy of Boost forms the kind of dramaturgy of tension and release that led Boulez to describe Ammann’s music as ‘artistic reflected spontaneity at the highest level’.

Schubert set the verse of more than 115 poets to music, producing around 650 songs. He selected biblical texts and poetry from classical Greece, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the early Romantic era, the poets including Goethe, Schiller, Shakespeare, Petrarca and Heine as well as his Austrian contemporaries and friends. The Complete Lieder includes all the solo songs and part songs with piano, grouped according to the poets who inspired him. Ulrich Eisenlohr, pianist and artistic director of the edition, selected native German singers and used Bärenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe as a basis for the recordings, producing a stirring cycle of particular integrity. All the sung texts are included online with English translations.

REGER: Mozart Variations Op. 132 / Hiller Variations Op. 100

SCHUMANN, R.: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 - The Year 1941

PROKOFIEV: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 / Dreams, Op. 6

Mozart: Violin Sonatas, Vol. 3

Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas

Shostakovich: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2