News from the Naxos Music Group

Naxos was among the winners of this year’s International Classical Music Awards (ICMA), announced on 30 April. Ondine, one of Naxos’ affiliated labels, was also the recipient of an award.

Of the nineteen citations in the audio and video categories, Naxos received two awards, both of which went to its box set of Beethoven’s complete symphonies, featuring the Danish Chamber Orchestra under Adam Fischer. The collection won the Symphonic Music category and was also named ICMA Recording of the Year.

The jury considered the edition a ‘…very convincing, coherent and meaningful set of Beethoven’s symphonies whose main characteristic is the rhetorical diversity showing all Beethoven’s various facets. This eloquence is achieved with a consistently slender, low-vibrato music-making and a wide range of tempi, rhythm and dynamics. Exciting contrasts, powerful accents and expressive rubato let Beethoven ‘speak’ in a most persuasive way.’

Ondine won the Choral Music category for its recording of Tchaikovsky’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and Nine Sacred Pieces, performed by the Latvian Chamber Choir under Sigvards Kļava. The jury praised the choir’s ‘…angelic purity and brightness that emphasise the universality of the music. The harmonies seem to glow and the melodies create a long, intense arc that combines beauty, spirituality and passion.’

The winners of the 15th annual BBC Music Magazine Awards have been announced. DVD of the Year went to Glyndebourne’s staging of Barber’s Vanessa (Opus Arte), directed by Keith Warner. The awards ceremony was due to take place this month at Kings Place in London but was cancelled as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Enjoy this clip which includes a few words from the magazine editor Oliver Condy, and an acceptance speech from soprano Emma Bell, who plays the title role.

See the complete list of winners on BBC Music Magazine’s website

‘The audience paid a tribute of ten minutes applause to all the artists, with a triumph for Stoyanov.’ – The Opera Critic

‘The baritone Vladimir Stoyanov gave an absorbing portrayal of Francesco… Stefan Pop sang with ringing tone and strongly projected Jacopo’s volatile emotions… Paolo Arrivabeni’s conducting was a mixed blessing. He showed affection for the work in the way he brought out details.’ – The New Criterion

GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813–1901)
I DUE FOSCARI
Tragedia lirica in three acts

Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
based on the play The two Foscari by Lord Byron

At the time of his death in 2010, José Antônio Rezende de Almeida Prado was one of Brazil’s most internationally admired composers, one who created music of unique sonority and colour, rooted in his native country. In Aurora (‘Dawn’) he employs his newly developed ‘transtonality’ to radiant effect, while the Concerto Fribourgeois features a collage technique. In his Piano Concerto No. 1 Almeida Prado explores a cogent structure in which the soloist opens up, rips apart or transforms the theme and variations, in a work that is both grandiose and luminous.

‘Almeida Prado is one of Brazil’s greatest composers. His works project an individual voice, full of life, light and extreme emotions. His musical language was built from deep national roots, enriched by his experiences with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen, carrying the aesthetic traditions before him, and expanding them into a unique sound that defines this still relatively unknown artist.’ – Fabio Mechetti, conductor

‘I am honoured to bring my participation to the ‘Music of Brazil’ series with these monumental, and yet unknown concerti of the piano repertoire. I feel particularly close to these pieces, as well as to Almeida Prado, who was a lifelong friend and who dedicated many of his works to me. I am happy to bring these pieces to life with the invaluable collaboration of Fábio Mechetti and the Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra, in order to honour the memory of this great composer.’ – Sonia Rubinsky, piano

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth

In celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birth year, we have curated a special Celebrate Beethoven playlist which is refreshed monthly according to various interesting themes based on his life, compositional periods, genre, and more. The tracks are sourced from the Naxos Complete Beethoven Edition, a new 90-disc boxed set also released to mark the anniversary year, hailed by the critics or being the most comprehensive set available.

This month we focus on his music for KEYBOARD.

Beethoven’s music for solo piano contains some of his most visionary, groundbreaking and memorable works. Drawn from the Complete Edition boxed set (Naxos 8.500250), the selected movements from Beethoven’s most well-known piano sonatas illustrate his dynamism as a composer and pianist, as well as his gift for flowing melodic beauty, with a wide range of variation and emotion. The smaller pieces highlight the composer’s command of variation form and, in the case of the Rondo a capriccio in G major (‘Rage over a Lost Penny'), his scintillating powers of bravura wit.

Follow the Celebrate Beethoven playlist on your favourite streaming platform to discover a wide range of works from one of the most influential composers in the history of classical music.

Themed Digital Album

Each month, we also have corresponding digital albums that you may download and enjoy again and again. Please click on the cover image to your left to download this month's release and remember to come back and visit our mini‑site each month for more amazing music!

Beethoven’s monumental contribution to Western classical music is celebrated here in this definitive collection marking the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Surveying the totality of his career and achievement, the Complete Edition spans orchestral, concerto, keyboard, chamber, music for the stage, choral and vocal works, encompassing his most familiar and iconic masterpieces, alongside rarities and recently reconstructed fragments and sketches in world premiere recordings.

Visit and bookmark the mini-site for this release, which will be regularly updated.

Check out DeepDiscount.com’s unboxing video of the Naxos Beethoven Complete Edition:

Take the world of jazz wherever you go with mobile applications for Apple devices.  Login the NML Jazz app with your member playlist account and listen to the playlists that you have created.  Scroll through the categories list to find the style you want to listen to.  Play on a Bluetooth speaker while practicing, relaxing, exercising, or eating dinner.

Available on the App Store for iOS devices (iOS 9.0 or later).