This podcast from the Sounds Interesting series spotlights music expressed through the prism of madness in a range of contexts, from the world of fantasy to the theatre of war.

So, taking a cue from Naxos’ release this month of a new album of Howell’s piano music, I thought my blog could assemble a selection of works by these three characteristically ‘English’ composers – Howells, Sumsion and Finzi – in a sort of musical Friends Reunited.

The Fine Arts Quartet has just completed its 21st production for the Naxos label. The all-Dvořák programme has as its centrepiece one of his rarely performed, complex and wild early string quartets, No. 2 in B Flat major (B.17) from 1868–69.

There can be few pieces to rival the popularity of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, be it performed from the ‘original score’ (it was itself an arrangement of an earlier string quartet movement) or in one of the plentiful arrangements of the piece for other forces.

Quite by accident, I came across the fact that November 25, the date of this posting, also marks the 1955 premiere of American composer Walter Piston’s Sixth Symphony. Taking the lead from that touch of serendipity, I thought this edition might give a sketch of the composer and his output. Within my own sphere of experience, his name is better known than his music.

When Naxos asked the Buffalo Philharmonic to record the orchestral works of Zoltán Kodály, I had no idea of how deeply the orchestra and I were going to love the brilliant Hungarian world of this extraordinary composer.

The previous edition of our Naxos blog focused on two symphonies that Brazilian composer Cláudio Santoro (1919–89) composed in the 1950s – the Fourth and Fifth – the latter written to mark the founding of the country’s new capital, Brasilia.

The Fine Arts Quartet, along with pianists Fabio and Gisele Witkowski and bassist Alexander Bickard, just recorded rare, early chamber music by the celebrated Romanian composer George Enescu.

Cláudio Santoro features significantly in the Naxos Music of Brazil series, which is a joint undertaking with Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote music by Brazilian composers in an extensive series of new albums.

The Naxos Music Group expresses its condolences at the news of the passing of pianist Michael Ponti, a week before what would have been his 85th birthday.

Pater seraphicus is how the 19th-century pianist/organist/teacher/composer César Franck was known to his pupils.

If you’ve already made your will, maybe you’ve also stipulated the music you would like to be played at the assembly for your funeral service.

When a composer’s work is marked as his or her Opus 100, it surely marks a milestone in their development.

All at the Naxos Music Group were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of pianist/conductor Lars Vogt at the age of 51.

This podcast features Peter Hall in conversation with JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, about her latest release on the Naxos label — a recording of William Walton’s Façades 1 and 2, together with four additional movements.

Labelling Beethoven’s Für Elise a mere trifle might appear insulting to such a household name and piano solo favourite.

Pianist Alon Goldstein, the Fine Arts Quartet and bassist Lizzie Burns recently recorded rare 19th-century chamber versions of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 19 and 25.

Here’s a small selection of works celebrating August, not as an evocative month approaching Autumn, but as a dedicatee (August Bournonville), a composer’s name (August Baeyens, Friedrich August Belcke), a source of literary inspiration (August von Platen-Hallermünde, August Strindberg), and an arranger (August Eberhard Müller).

This podcast from the Sounds Interesting series takes rats as its theme, a topic that, perhaps surprisingly, has caught the attention of composers across the world and down the ages.

It’s maybe too convenient to restrict references to war to big anniversary dates, so this blog presents a small selection of musical works that paint the subject of conflict in tuneful reminders of how wearisome and worthless the daily pursuit is.

All at Naxos were saddened to hear of the passing of American pianist, teacher and author Joseph Banowetz on 3 July, aged 87.

With so many world events defying logic right now, I thought we might escape briefly into a space where words make no attempt to stack up, but merely divert for a while and lighten the spirit. Welcome to the literary worlds of Lewis Carroll, William Brighty Rands, Hilaire Belloc and someone called Mr Traditional.

While most people tend to seek visions of the future—especially where lottery tickets are concerned—this blog cites four works featuring musical visions from the past.

The Violin Channel had the privilege of chatting with Naxos Founder and head, Klaus Heymann.

Although they have their detractors, national and international music competitions continue to stand the test of time.

The oft-adopted adage “pressure makes diamonds” stems from massive pressure and ferocious temperatures combining beneath the Earth’s crust to produce precious stones of enduring value from the single element of carbon: chemistry and physics ultimately give way to craftsmanship and art in achieving the final product.

King Louis XIV of France, the legendary ‘Sun King’ and victim of the awful play on words in the title of this blog, was born in 1638; he ascended to the throne in 1643, four months before his fifth birthday, and died in 1715.

This podcast from the Sounds Interesting series examines how a musical composition can be pampered by alternative wardrobes, when an original is dressed in different presentations of style and instrumentation while retaining its core character.

In 1980, I sat in the Kyiv Opera House enjoying a performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore as one of a handful of British music teachers permitted entry into the USSR under an educational exchange scheme.

Living in the northern hemisphere, we’re at that bubbly time of year when I can look out of the window and gorge my eyes on the colourful spectrum of flowers that the month of April brings.

After a recording hiatus of two years, the Buffalo Philharmonic was very happy to return to the studio to record again for Naxos.

Leading German composer Wolfgang Rihm celebrated his 70th birthday on 13 March.

Raymond Bisha introduces us to the eclectic and exuberant imagination of the American composer Aaron Jay Kernis, whose works are inhabited by a host of influences — musical, historical and personal.

The American composer George Crumb died on 6 February, aged 92.

Raymond Bisha’s podcast focuses on two works by William Bolcom recorded for the Naxos American Classics Series.

Definitions of the word ‘fairy’ as perceived down the ages are wide-ranging, with notions of diminutive enchantresses contrasting with images of grotesque goblins.

Raymond Bisha dips into a Naxos recording of works by Jean Sibelius that have been obscured by the popularity of his symphonies and the violin concerto, including many pieces he wrote to complement stage works. 

One of the items on my bucket list that I’d like to tick off before the great light-switch of life gets flicked is to experience the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis.

Once in a while you hear such incredibly beautiful music for the first time that you just can’t understand why it has remained under wraps for so long.

Naxos artist and internationally renowned conductor Marin Alsop features in The Conductor, an engaging new documentary directed by Bernadette Wegenstein that is currently being screened in cinemas across the US and in Canada.

I live in the city of Canterbury, in the south east of England.

All at Naxos send their congratulations to American composer Kenneth Fuchs on receiving the 3rd Annual Composer Award from the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation.

Fantasy, fairy tales and Maurice Ravel’s flair for orchestral colour are all to the fore in this album featuring two examples of the composer’s music for the stage — the scores for his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges and his ballet Ma mère l’oye.

The beginning of a new calendar year also marks the Christian Feast of the Epiphany as embodied in the journey of the Three Wise Men seeking the new-born Jesus, led by a star.