News from the Naxos Music Group
August 2018
Label of the Month – Naxos Audiovisual Division
Established in 2016, the Naxos Audiovisual Division is one of the most recent areas of development within the Naxos Music Group. Based in Berlin, the Naxos Audiovisual team coordinates new recordings and rolls out a release schedule of DVD and Blu-rays, with a commitment to maintaining a high profile in artistic and editorial quality.
Naxos Audiovisual releases recordings of great opera performances, including many rarities such as Ottorino Respighi’s La Campana Sommersa; highly aesthetical dance programmes, typified by Mourad Merzouki’s PIXEL; great concert performances - Joseph Haydn’s The Creation, for example, staged by La Fura dels Baus; and milestone documentaries, including the film Rostropovich – The Indomitable Bow by legendary director Bruno Monsaingeon.
Naxos Audiovisual partners with renowned venues such as Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Stuttgart Opera, Malmö Opera, Freiburg Opera and Theater an der Wien. Watch for many more exciting releases to come!
RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS
(Recordings available on both DVD and Blu-ray formats)
![MASSENET, J.: Cendrillon [Opera] (Theater Freiburg, 2017) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/images/feature/aug18/2.110563.png "MASSENET, J.: Cendrillon [Opera] (Theater Freiburg, 2017) (NTSC)")
Jules Massenet’s fairy-tale opera Cendrillon (‘Cinderella’) was an immediate success at its premiere in 1899 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. Massenet, then at the height of his powers, creates a magical sound-world full of wit, enchantment and perfumed elegance to match librettist Henri Cain’s coming-of-age adaptation of this classic fairy tale. The colourful fantasy world created by the acclaimed stage director Barbrara Mundel and set designer Olga Motta features the British-Swiss soprano, Kim-Lillian Strebel, in her critically acclaimed title role.
![JOMMELLLI, N.: Vologeso [Opera] (Staatsoper Stuttgart, 2015) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/images/feature/may18/2.110395-96.png "JOMMELLLI, N.: Vologeso [Opera] (Staatsoper Stuttgart, 2015) (NTSC)")
With its intense story of love, life and death, Jommelli’s Il Vologeso sets one of the most powerful libretti written for the European opera stage. This critically acclaimed production is considered to be its first staged performance for over two centuries, and the highly successful opera directors Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito have revived a Baroque gem with their exciting, present-day staging.
The introduction of sound to cinema in the 1930s turned great tenors such as Beniamino Gigli, Richard Tauber and Lauritz Melchior into movie stars. Countless “singer movies” were made, but great vocal performances were also captured in numerous documentaries and privately-made movies. Using a wealth of rare and restored material the award-winning Belcanto presents the great tenors from Enrico Caruso to Jussi Björling, and includes interviews with their contemporaries and descendants. Updated and freshly remastered to 16/9 HD format, this acclaimed collection offers comprehensive insights into the art of bel canto that were regarded as “black-and-white jewels from the golden era of singing – fascinating!” by El Pais.
The three unique productions were the fruit of Andrea Andermann’s vision to perform and film Verdi's La Traviata and Rigoletto, and Puccini's Tosca at the actual places and hours of the day specified in the libretti, namely in Paris, Mantua and Rome respectively. The star cast includes Plácido Domingo, Julia Novikova, Vittorio Grigolo, Ruggero Raimondi, Catherine Malfitano, José Cura, and Eteri Gvazava.
UPCOMING RELEASES
![BRITTEN, B.: Death in Venice [Opera] (Teatro Real, 2014) (NTSC)](images/2.110577.jpg "BRITTEN, B.: Death in Venice [Opera] (Teatro Real, 2014) (NTSC)")
in Blu-ray (NBD0076V)
![VERDI, G.: Macbeth [Opera] (Teatro Massimo, 2017) (NTSC)](images/2.110578.jpg "VERDI, G.: Macbeth [Opera] (Teatro Massimo, 2017) (NTSC)")
in Blu-ray (NBD0077V)
in Blu-ray (NBD0080V)
in Blu-ray (NBD0081V)
in Blu-ray (NBD0082V)
in Blu-ray (NBD0084V)
According to an Accordion – Andersen’s tales transformed
With this unique programme Hanzhi Wang takes us into the ‘fairy-tale world of the accordion’ in works by Danish composers that explore both the darkness and luminosity of Hans Christian Andersen’s famous stories. Poignant reflection and tragic depiction infuse Martin Lohse’s Menuetto and The Little Match Girl (dedicated to Hanzhi Wang), while his post-minimalist Passing series forms adventurous ‘mobiles’ of dancing light. From Jesper Koch’s quixotic Jabberwocky to Svend Aaquist’s evocative Saga Night, this new repertoire for a relatively recent concert instrument is both dramatic and uplifting.
Hanzhi Wang was named “New Artist of the Month” by Musical America last month. Click here to read the exclusive interview.
Nominations for Ondine
Three Gramophone Awards Nominations for Ondine
Gramophone recently announced the list of nominees for its 2018 Classical Music Awards. Naxos’ affiliated label Ondine has received three nominations among 60 shortlisted recordings from 10 categories.
The Concerto category sees the nomination of Bartók’s First and Second Violin Concertos, performed by GRAMMY®-nominated violinist Christian Tetzlaff, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Hannu Lintu.
“From the fierce rhythms to the moments of great fragility, Christian Tetzlaff, a supreme soloist, and Hannu Lintu take us on a thrilling journey through Bartók’s two violin concertos.” – Gramophone
Conductor Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra also received another nomination in the Orchestral category, with the recording of Sibelius’ Songs and Tone Poems, featuring mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter.
“There are no blockbusters among the selection but they work beautifully together, from the elusive to the guardedly grand and the mildly enchanted. Von Otter’s voice may have lost some brightness but it has gained storytelling capabilities with age… One of the most striking Sibelius discs for years.” – Gramophone
Also in the orchestral category is the second Ondine recording by an impressive cast of artists performing the late works by Elliott Carter. The album includes five premiere recordings, including Carter’s final work Epigrams (2012) for piano trio, featuring Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Isabelle Faust and Jean-Guihen Queyras. The album also features percussionist Colin Currie together with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Oliver Knussen.
“Finely recorded, this new disc is sure to occupy no less significant a place. There are unlikely to be any better discs of contemporary music this year.” – Gramophone
The Gramophone Classical Music Awards ceremony will be held on September 13 and will be streamed live via medici.tv. You can read the full, original Gramophone reviews of all nominated albums in the Gramophone free digital magazine. Click here read the digital magazine.
Leonard Bernstein!
Happy 100th Birthday, Leonard Bernstein!
The summer months are witnessing increased numbers of festivities for Leonard Bernstein’s centenary, with his birthday falling on August 25. International summer festivals are placing Bernstein as their focus, with a series of prestigious events taking place around the birth date itself.
Bernstein’s protégée Marin Alsop has been invited to several festivals to celebrate Bernstein’s centenary. At the Ravinia Festival, Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra presented a full production of Bernstein's Mass with nearly 300 performers, and two concerts featuring his First Symphony “Jeremiah” and Slava!.
In Europe, Marin Alsop will be bringing the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival. These UK events mark the orchestra’s first overseas tour in 13 years and its debut at both these festivals. Alsop and the orchestra will be joined by two world-class soloists on the tour: Nicola Benedetti and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, both of whom have performed with the orchestra previously. Benedetti performs Bernstein’s Serenade with Alsop and the Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival on August 25, the centenary of Bernstein’s birth, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet performs Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in Edinburgh on August 24 and Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 at the BBC Proms on August 27. The BBC Proms performance will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 in addition to being recorded for future broadcast on BBC 4 on August 31.
MARIN ALSOP’S COMPLETE BERNSTEIN RECORDINGS ON NAXOS
This celebration of Bernstein’s centenary brings together all of the acclaimed Naxos recordings of his music conducted by Marin Alsop as well as new and world première recordings, and an insightful documentary DVD in which colleagues and family sum up this boundlessly brilliant and charismatic musical giant of the 20th century.
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Check out more of Bernstein’s music and add the “Celebrate Bernstein” playlist to your library!
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2018 Emmy Nominations
The Naxos and Source/Q team is very excited to be a part of 12 Emmy-nominated productions this year! The 70th Emmy Awards show will be held on September 17 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles to reveal who takes home an Emmy.
Need to license some music for a project and don’t know where to start? Visit Naxos Licensing to find out how!
to celebrate Dynamic’s
40th Anniversary
Paganini’s Complete Edition to celebrate Dynamic’s 40th Anniversary
Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Italian independent record label Dynamic is releasing the most important entry of its entire catalogue. All of Paganini's works are collected for the first time in one single box-set that features all the best interpreters of the composer's music, including Salvatore Accardo, Ruggiero Ricci, Massimo Quarta, Leonidas Kavakos, Luigi A. Bianchi, Stefan Milenkovich, Franco Mezzena, the Quartetto Paganini, Bin Huang, Luca Fanfoni, Mario Hossen and many others.
It is practically impossible to speak of the violin without mentioning Paganini. He represented a veritable milestone in the history of the instrument, in that what came before him is without doubt different from what came after him. Paganini was also a composer, yet the public at large has long had only a partial knowledge of his works: several of his manuscripts belonged to a private collector who prevented scholars and publishers from having access to them, while existing editions of the published works were often unreliable and misleading.
When Paganini’s manuscripts returned to Italy in 1970, things finally changed, and Dynamic can now offer, for the first time in a single 40-CD box set, all of Paganini's works that are currently known and available. The endeavour of recording and publishing them all on CD has been considerable and has required several years' commitment, but now anyone wanting to know the true Paganini can find in this release the legacy of a man and a composer whose performances and compositions represented a crucial turning point in the history of music, and not just for the violin.
Watch the trailer below to see what’s included in this special box set.
The latest recording of violinist Mario Hossen is also included in the box set. The following video features Paganini’s Maestosa Suonata Sentimentale M.S. 51, performed by Mario Hossen and Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra under Nayden Todorov.
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Don’t forget to add the “Paganini: The Virtuoso” playlist to your library!
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dream comes true
Joel Lyssarides’ dream comes true
Joel Lyssarides, one of the most important figures of contemporary Nordic jazz, is releasing his debut album on Prophone this summer. The album features him performing in a piano trio format alongside Niklas Fernqvist on upright bass and Rasmus Svesson Blixt on drums. The music is a reflection of Lyssarides’s background in classical music, jazz and Swedish folk music.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm in 2013, Joel Lyssarides has been a sought-after pianist, session musician and arranger. He has toured and collaborated with artists such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Dirty Loops, Benny Andersson, Nils Landgren and Silvana Imam; he has also worked as an arranger for Benny Andersson (ABBA), various big bands, choirs and string quartets.
Over the years, Lyssarides has received a number of prominent awards. At the age of 21 he won the Jan Wallander award, which gave him a Steinway grand piano and access to a studio in central Stockholm. Lyssarides has also received an award from the Swedish Composers Association, as well as a nomination for the “Newcomer of The Year” award by Radio Sweden in 2016.
Joel Lyssarides’ debut album Dreamer features music inspired by flamenco and Americana, but also reflects Lyssarides’ interest in romantic classical music, mainly drawing inspiration from the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin and the Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla. Available on CD and vinyl, you can watch the trailer on the following video:
world premieres.
Falletta conducts Fuchs.
Henri Dutilleux: French Flair, Poetic Perfection
A fiercely independent composer, Henri Dutilleux wrote music that is refined, colourful 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. Métaboles 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.
This recording is performed by the Orchestre National de Lille, under the composer’s good friend, conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus.
MORE RECORDINGS OF HENRI DUTILLEUX’S MUSIC
for August
Playlists for August
This month, we encourage you to take some time to unwind and we have chosen some wonderful playlists to help you do so! First, crack open a book and tune out the outside world with Classical Music for Reading in celebration of Book Lovers Day, which is August 9th! Perhaps you would like to take some time to yourself to quiet down and look inward with our beautiful Reflection & Meditation playlist? Finally, celebrate the life of the amazing and influential American composer Leonard Bernstein who would have celebrated his 100th Birthday on August 25th! unClassified has curated a fantastic playlist filled with classic tunes we all know and love from shows like West Side Story, On The Town and Candide and iconic musical works like the Bernstein Mass. These playlists are not only for August, so add them to your library today to enjoy any time.
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the Month
François Roussillon
Artist of the Month – François Roussillon, video director
When you're caught up in the excitement of watching an opera on DVD or Blu-ray, on television or at the cinema, it's not only the artistic work of the great singers, orchestras, conductors and stage directors that underpins this emotion. When you're moved by a performance on screen, a large part of the experience is created by someone who hardly gets a spotlight – the video director. He or she is the one who translates an opera plot and a particular staging to screen, and gives us, the audience, the opportunity to follow the story or discover facets of a work we wouldn’t notice if sitting in an opera house. The video director recreates the dramaturgy for screen through judicious camera angles, close-ups, pannings, and so on.
Our Artist of the Month is someone who occupies a well deserved place amongst the masters of this behind-the-scenes profession: François Roussillon.
In 1988 François Roussillon founded the company François Roussillon et Associés (FRA), which produces musical programmes. Since the late 1990s, FRA Productions has produced and directed for television, home video and cinema, recordings of opera and ballet performances in co-productions with the greatest French and international venues, including the Opéra National de Paris, the Opéra Comique, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Opéra National de Lyon, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, the Royal Opera House, Madrid Teatro Real, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Dutch National Opera, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Theater and der Wien, and the Glyndebourne Festival. The exceptional catalogue of musical programmes assembled by FRA Productions over the last twenty years is distributed by FRA Distribution.
In 2009 François Roussillon founded FRA Musica to edit the operatic repertoire on DVD and Blu-ray and, three years later, FRA Cinéma to distribute worldwide opera and ballet recordings in cinemas, especially live transmissions from the Opéra National de Paris. As film director, he has collaborated with several stage directors and ballet directors including Robert Carsen, David McVicar, Laurent Pelly, Claus Guth, Krzysztof Warlikowski, José Martinez and Manuel Legris, among others. As producer and distributor, he has built a trusting relationship with national broadcasters, labels, musical television channels and digital platforms, such as France Télévisions, ARTE, TF1, NHK, BBC, NRK, SVT, ZDF, Naxos, Mezzo, Medici. Among the latest recordings he has produced and directed are La Bohème (Opéra National de Paris, 2017), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, 2017), Orfeo ed Euridice (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, 2018), Madama Butterfly (Glyndebourne, 2018), La nonne sanglante (Opéra Comique, 2018) and Vanessa (Glyndebourne, 2018).
VIDEO RELEASES DIRECTED BY FRANÇOIS ROUSSILLON
(Recordings available in both DVD and Blu-ray formats)
![BERLIOZ, H.: Benvenuto Cellini [Opera] (DNO, 2015) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/images/feature/may18/2.110575-76.png "BERLIOZ, H.: Benvenuto Cellini [Opera] (DNO, 2015) (NTSC)")
With his affinity for the 16th-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini’s advocacy of artistic and personal freedom, Hector Berlioz went straight for the grand gesture with his first completed opera. Returning to it years after initial production debacles, Berlioz stated that he would ‘never again find such verve and Cellinian impetuosity, nor such a variety of ideas’. The plot revolves around Cellini’s wooing of Teresa, a match frustrated at every opportunity by his rival, the cowardly Fieramosca. Benvenuto Cellini is a pithy work combining romance, excitement, violence, comedy and spectacle; the perfect stage for Terry Gilliam’s stylishly colourful and larger-than-life directing.
“Exuberance, indeed, is the main characteristic of this production….As you might expect from an ex-Python, Terry Gilliam’s production of the Carnival scene is vibrant, energetic and eccentric.” – MusicWeb International
![HANDEL, G.F.: Agrippina [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2016) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/images/feature/aug18/2.110579-80.png "HANDEL, G.F.: Agrippina [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2016) (NTSC)")
During his years in Italy, Handel absorbed the music of his contemporaries and mastered new stylistic trends. Though the staging of La resurrezione was a memorable event in the Roman musical world, it was the production of Agrippina that marked Handel’s definitive investiture as an operatic composer. It met with enormous success and an unprecedented number of performances followed. Its melodic power is overwhelming and in his creation of credible and vivid characters, the alternation of recitative and arias, and sheer theatrical power, Handel established the template that was to last for the remainder of his operatic career.
Adapted from Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella, Death in Venice was Benjamin Britten’s last opera, the composer insisting on its completion while delaying badly needed heart surgery. The starkly simple narrative of a famous but failing novelist travelling to Venice to seek inspiration only to find unhealthy infatuation and deadly cholera, is given a chamber-like precision and clarity through Britten’s score, becoming a haunting drama filled with musical symbols, disquieting mystery and richly evocative atmospheres of Venice and its strange characters. Willy Decker’s Teatro Real production was described as ‘one of his most brilliant stage works… a remarkable technical feat.’ (Bachtrack.com)
Based on real events and drawing on Georg Büchner’s revolutionary play, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck turns a grimly tragic narrative of violence and murder into one of the most powerful and original operas of the 20th century. Berg’s uncompromising portrayal of brutality and madness generated much controversy, but the significance of Wozzeck was soon recognized; its compelling lyrical expansiveness, large-scale dramatic gestures and remarkable musical structures producing music of overwhelming emotional intensity. The Financial Times declared this to be“a beautiful, moving, engrossing production… this is a consummate Wozzeck, blending clarity, lyricism, compassion and crushing force.”
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