This new release from pianist Barry Douglas is the sixth and final volume in his exploration of Brahms’s output for solo piano. BBC Music writes of this series, “Douglas’s tone is a deep velvet cushion, the legatos full of affection and the rhythms galvanized with great energy.” This unique collection of works shows Brahms not only as a composer, but also an arranger, pedagogue, historian, virtuoso, and pianist. Barry Douglas hails from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has won numerous awards all over the globe, including an appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and the gold medal in the International Tchaikovsky Competition.

REVIEW:

Douglas’s hefty, full-bodied sound, built from the bottom up, befits the mellow power of Brahms’s sound world. In the dark E flat minor Op 118 Intermezzo, most pianists focus attention on the right-hand melody and treat the rumbling left-hand lines as muted filigree. Douglas, however, does almost the exact opposite, and the effect is revelatory.

– Gramophone

Classical Music

British pianist Imogen Cooper has studied with some of the finest in the piano world, including with Kathleen Long in London, with Jacques Fevrier and Yvonne Lefebure in Paris, and with Alfred Brendel, Jorg Demus and Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna. She is widely recognized for her interpretations of Schubert and Schumann. This release follows her three very successful recordings of Schumann. For this album, Cooper has chosen some of the greatest works of Chopin. The album programme makes up an outstanding recital. Coopers virtuosity and emotional wisdom creates a new lense through which to view this frequently performed repertoire. Following this release, Imogen Cooper will embark on a world tour, performing recitals that will include the repertoire included here, and visiting several of Europe’s most prestigious venues before venturing to other continents.

During the 2015/2016 season, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra celebrates their 125th birthday. This two disc set includes the very best compiled recordings over a three decade span, including works by Wagner, Nielsen, Webern, Holst, and more. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra was originally founded in 1891 under the name the Scottish Orchestra. They have worked with the very best conductors, composers, and soloists, Aaron Copland, Luciano Pavarotti, and Richard Strauss to name a few.

Former Spanish National Champion accorionist Enrique Ugarte, presents this new release, Classics on the Accordion. Ugarte displays perfect command of his instrument, as her performs classic and folk pieces that he has arranged. Works included are favorites like Ravel's Bolero, Mozart's Eine Kleine Nacht musik, and the Sabre Dance.

The great writer Stendahl wrote of Il viaggio a Reims that “this opera is a feast”. The plot is a contemporary farce tailor-made for a particular occasion – the coronation festivities of Charles X – though Rossini valued the music so highly that he preserved at least part of the score three years later in the opera Comte Ory. This sparkling work is heard complete for the first time and in accordance with the critical edition.

Review:

Wildbad’s Antonino Fogliani leads a staging that doesn’t hang fire for a moment. The piano-accompanied recitatives are vividly delivered; the performance has a vividness and theatrical ‘carry’ that confirm that Il viaggio is indeed ‘a feast’.

– Gramophone

Listen to the Naxos Podcast to learn more about this release

Mozart wrote his Violin Concertos in 1775 while still living in his home town of Salzburg and in service to Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. Mozart had already toured internationally and found his parochial environment restricting, but as ever he rose above circumstances to create sublime and thrillingly unconventional masterpieces filled with wit and elegant charm. The finely sustained melodic expression of each concerto’s slow center provides the perfect foil for inventive sparkle in outer movements that include a cheeky reference to the opera Il re pastore in K.216 to an exotic ‘Turkish’ moment in the finale of K. 219.

Reviews:

In the Fourth Concerto, there’s a lovely singing character to the central Andante, Kraggerud producing a variety of tone which matches the changing intensity of the line. Here, as in all the concertos, he plays his own cadenzas, which are stylish in the best sense, and show off his technique.

– BBC Music Magazine

The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra has something of a reputation for working harmoniously with guest soloist-directors, not least among them Leif Ove Andsnes in concertos by Mozart and Haydn. Their strength lies in the collaborative approach dictated by their modest dimensions and conductorless set-up. Those discs with Andsnes were conspicuously successful, both artistically and critically, and this new project with Henning Kraggerud is no less winning. While these are brisk, no-nonsense performances after the contemporary fashion, the thinking that underpins their shaping right from the very beginning makes these readings of the Third, Fourth and Fifth concertos worth returning to.

– Gramophone

This release is the first of three discs devoted to the piano music of George Enescu. The works chosen for this first album are three significant pieces - Nocturne in D-Flat Major "Hommage a la Princesse Marie Cantacuzene", Pieces impromptues, and Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor. Enescu’s Romanian influences show in these works, which feel strongly of Romanian folk music. Pianist Josu de Solaun performs these works.

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REVIEW:

His technique is excellent here. The concluding Sonata 1 is shot through with harmonic twists and driving rhythms, handled expertly.

– American Record Guide

Christmas, more than any other holiday, is deeply rooted in a nation’s culture. This is why Christmas carols from different cultures sound so vastly different from one another. This collection of songs includes music all the way from the Middle Ages to the present day. Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols is a notable track on this release, and is built on folk carols and considered by many to be one of the best Christmas cantatas. One of the world’s best choirs, the SWR Vokalensemble, performs these works.

One of Philip Glass’ most glorious themes, this release focuses on the subject of love. From his BAFTA award-winning music for The Hours to his iconic Music In Fifths, the genius of this composer is felt throughout the duration of this album. The Hours is featured here in its entirety, complete with three previously unpublished movements. The release also includes the breathtaking Modern Love Waltz and the world premiere recording of Notes On A Scandal. Performing these works is Nicolas Horvath.

Jean-Claude Henriot (b. 1949) was born into a family of musicians. As a child, Henriot fixated his conception of great music upon Beethoven. His first great musical experience was of listening to a recording of the ‘Emperor’ Concerto. For this album Henriot has opted to venture outside of the frequently performed piano sonatas by programming Beethoven’s Bagatelles, Fantasia in G minor, Andante Favori, and 32 Variations in C minor. All of the works on this release were composed between 1803 and 1825, during the composer’s late period when the fullness of his potential had been reached.

Johann Joachim Quantz, in his handbook for transverse flute written in 1752, wrote of the composer Georg Philipp Telemann: “I wish to especially recommend Telemann’s trios written in the French style, many of which he had already fashioned thirty or more years ago.” Georg Philipp Telemann not only gained the admiration of Quantz, but his pieces are still frequently performed and recorded today. For this album, his Concerto di camera in G minor, Double Concertos in A minor and E minor, and Suite in A minor have been recorded. Performing these timeless works are three outstanding period instrumentalists, Bolette Roed, Reiko Ichise, and Alexis Kossenko.

Tilting at windmills. The long-suffering Sancho Panza. Sighs of love for Dulcinea. The familiar and fanciful themes of the Don Quixote legend are brought to life by Apollo’s Fire in Telemann’s imaginative portrayal. The Don Quixote Suite sits alongside other suites and concertos by the composer that reveal his cosmopolitan air and whimsical nature.



REVIEW:

Avie deserves credit for spotting this 2002 Koch International label disc and putting it back into circulation once again, as it remains a sterling release. The Cleveland-based Baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire and conductor Jeannette Sorrell pick a program that shows exactly why Telemann was so popular in his own day. They apply just the right level of broad gesture to the two representational suites, which reflect their subjects but are in no way overdone. A wonderful release that holds up to repeated hearings.

– All Music Guide

Famous and controversial stage director Calixto Bieito presents this raw and evocative interpretation of Bizet’s classic opera, Carmen.; This live production at the Gran Teatre del Liceu emanates a sensual and convincing ambiance full of imagery.; The vocalists in this production are truly second-to-none, and include Beatrice Uria-Monzon as Carmen, Roberto Alagna as Don Jose, Erwin Schrott as Escamillo, and Marina Poplavskya as Micaela.

Classical Music

The compositions on this new release by The President’s Own Marine Band were all composed during the last century. They draw, however, on traditional American spirituals, ballads, folk tunes, and rags from the American Revolution to the present. The title of this release, “Be Glad Then, America,” is taken from New England Triptych by William Schuman, which is included on this album. Particularly notable are the three world premiere recordings: “For The President’s Own,” by John Williams, Aaron Copland’s “Third Symphony,” and a set of songs by Charles Ives set for this world class ensemble.

Schubert’s Schwanengesang here contains an extra song, Herbst D945. That song was not published as part of the posthumous compilation that Haslinger brought out and called “Swan Song”, but is another Rellstab setting from Schubert’s last year, as are the first seven songs of the original publication. Herbst was lost at that stage, as the only copy was written into a friend’s autograph album, and not rediscovered until the end of the 19th century. It might even have been a try-out for Aufenthalt which sits fifth in the published sequence, and which it resembles. Herbst follows that song on this disc, since as the baritone claims in the booklet “it is sometimes included in performance.” I don’t think it matters very much, but I have a slight preference for the cycle as it was first published. As Martin Chusid observes in his fine book on the cycle, “Whereas Herbst is a very good song, Aufenthalt is superb.”

That is not the only point of textual interest in this Schwanengesang. In preparing the work baritone James Rutherford and pianist Eugene Asti had to decide what keys to put these (originally high voice) songs in, and decided to put every song down a minor third, preserving the key relations at least. They even claim this might be the first time on disc this has been done (but one would need to listen to an awful lot of recordings to be quite sure). Of course this deepens and darkens the songs, which suits some more than others, the heavier songs like Der Atlas and Die Stadt tending to sound very imposing in these keys. And although BIS describe Rutherford as a baritone, he sounds more of a bass-baritone here. But then he has sung Hans Sachs at Bayreuth and Vienna, and the cast list in my score of Die Meistersinger says simply “Hans Sachs – Bass”.

The opening song Liebesbotschaft lacks a certain tripping lightness, but the next one Kreigers Ahnung suits Rutherford’s very fine voice perfectly, and one notices his impeccable German diction from the start. The third song, Frühlingssehnsucht shows that his large voice can deploy a lighter manner, and he really relishes the text. Ständchen, is the best known of all these songs and benefits here from a restrained but still ardent treatment. Following Aufenthalt with Herbst feels slightly like viewing a sketch after the finished painting, but both songs are so well done it seems churlish to complain. With the long (six minutes), slow and anguished In der Ferne the low voice makes its mark, as does the pianist in Abschied, with just the right tempo - a canter, not a gallop, that allows the singer to articulate the text. The performance of the Heine songs in the second part are if anything even more successful than the Rellstab ones, reaching a powerful climax with the rising hysteria of Der Dopplegänger. A properly charming account of the last song Schubert ever wrote, Die Taubenpost, closes a very satisfying version of Schwanengesang.

The four extra songs filling the disc are all favourites, and all are well sung and played. The SACD sound is excellent, and the useful booklet notes are by the distinguished American Schubert scholar Susan Youens, no less. But of course Schwanengesang is the main thing, and there are many fine accounts to choose from. If you want Herbst embedded in the cycle, and in a really fine performance, then it is included by Goerne in both of his splendid versions (Decca and Harmonia Mundi), and by Schreier (Decca), but Fischer-Dieskau (DG), Bostridge (Warner), and Gerhaher (Arte Nova) omit it. Of the few women to record the cycle, Fassbaender (DG) has it in but Stutzman (Erato) does not. The best solution might be that of Holzmair (Decca) and Pregardien (Challenge) who add it to the CD as an extra, but not within the cycle, which also happens on the last volume (No.37) of the Hyperion/Graham Johnson version. That has the two parts of the cycle shared between two tenors, John Mark Ainsley and Anthony Rolfe Johnson. There are now so many good recordings of this cycle – all of those mentioned above are worth hearing, and several are worth owning. Goerne on Decca (live, with Brendel) is still my choice of the lower voice options, and Bostridge among the tenors. Fassbaender’s disc is a quite exceptional performance. But the long list of those worth really hearing now includes this fine version too.

– MusicWeb International (Roy Westbrook)

Features Philippe Entremont (piano), L'orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Berj Zamkochian (organ), Bernard Zighera (piano), Leo Litwin (piano), The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Samuel Lipman (piano), Martin Hoherman (cello)

Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel Plasson, Charles Munch, Eugene Ormandy, Arthur Fiedler.

 Gabriel Fauré Centenary (1845 - 1924)

A collection of his solo piano, chamber music, and vocal works, most prominent among them the composer's favored Requiem.

This album of Mozart Sonatas is presented by pianist Diana Boyle. This two-disc set contains eight of the beloved composer’s piano sonatas, perfected by Boyle at her secluded hilltop home in Portugal. These works were recorded in England in 2014.

Works for solo piano and orchestra, including the ever popular pieces La Mer and Three Nocturnes, highlight this budget collection of music by this giant of French impressionism.

This three-disc set is part of the 25-disc box set Un siècle de musique fracaise, which explores French music from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. These discs profile French composer Maurice Ravel, and include his famous Concertos for piano, and orchestral works.

A budget-priced collection of highlights from among the composer's solo piano, chamber, vocal, and orchestral works, including his famous Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G minor.

These two discs profile French composer Erik Satie, and include his famous works Gymnopedies, gnossiennes et autres pieces pour piano.

This budget-priced set includes two of the popular 19th century composer's early and most recognized masterpieces, the Symphonie Fantastique and Romeo et Juliette, with Charles Munch and the BSO.