NEWS FROM THE NAXOS MUSIC GROUP

When “Jazzparaden” is performed live, the musicians of the Bohuslän Big Band enter a school playground or a concert venue and surprise the audience. Through swinging New Orleans music, the audience gets to learn about the different instruments in a brass band. The repertoire can accommodate everything, from festival melodies to children's songs and well-known jazz classics; the full complement of a brass band performs in a completely different way from usual. The album contains a selection of these popular songs in arrangements by the musicians of the Bohuslän Big Band.

After 20 years apart, Anna Lundqvist (vocals) and Jonas André (piano) reunited to try and revive their musical partnership. On Reunion, the duo displays a mix of original compositions especially written for the album, alongside personal interpretations of some hidden gems from the world of pop and jazz. The result is an album steeped in Nordic melancholy that tells lyrical and bittersweet stories of love and lust, life and longing.

Simon Westman grew up in Sundsvall, in northern Sweden. In 2000 he entered the Gothenburg University of Music and began his jazz piano studies with Anders Persson, among others. After graduating in 2005, Simon continued his jazz piano studies at the Cologne University of Music in Germany, where he was privileged to have the British jazz pianist John Taylor as his teacher. In 2010 Simon began playing in a piano trio with bassist Magnus Bergström and drummer Magnus Gran. They played mostly at jazz clubs in Gothenburg and were praised for their sound. The music they performed was a mixture of Swedish folk music, European contemporary music and American jazz standards. In the spring of 2019, Simon began to compose original music for the trio, and in January 2020 they recorded their debut album Stay a while, at Nilento Studio in Kållered, Gothenburg.

‘Franck Leguérinel’s consummate performance as a comic singer-actor, pop-eyed and mustachioed like Groucho Mark, leading the action forward throughout the evening, was outstanding. But it was soon clear that Michael Spyres is also an excellent comedian, and his vocal virtuosity is such that he can afford to play with it almost self-mockingly, throwing in extra Ds (or higher?) with a wink and a grin.’ – Classical Voice North American

Adolphe ADAM (1803–1856)
Le Postillon de Lonjumeau

CAST

Accentus / Opéra de Rouen Normandie
Orchestre de L’Opéra de Rouen Normandie

Filmed on 5 and 7 April 2019 at the Opéra Comique, Paris, France
A co-production by the Opéra Comique and François Roussillon et Associés

My First Classical Music Book is a colourful introduction to classical music, designed to fire the imagination of children aged 5–7 years. Readers are asked to think about the different places in which we might hear music. Then, each of the major composers and musical instrument families are introduced and brought to life in a vivid and enchanting way.

My First Orchestra Book features a special guide – a little green creature called Tormod. He is a troll who has come all the way from the top of a mountain in Norway to discover music. As he searches for the music that will help him to find his way home, readers learn about the different instruments.

My First Piano Book opens a door to loving the sound of the piano and becoming a pianist: it connects the discovery of brilliant piano playing (Part 1) with that very first go at pressing the keys (Part 2, which contains practical guidance). The joys of the piano are for everybody!

The fifth Naxos recording of works by Kenneth Fuchs with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta (8.559824), won the GRAMMY Award in 2018 for Best Classical Compendium. This new album reveals his mastery of the band medium and features the exceptional United States Coast Guard Band, in definitive performances of seven works for symphonic winds by one of America’s leading composers.

Kenneth Fuchs has written music for orchestra, band, voice, chorus, and various chamber ensembles. This is the first Naxos disc that features Fuchs’ works for wind band, which also includes the alto saxophone concerto Rush in a new version for band (world premiere recording).

The composer Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a controversial figure: his original and innovative works are cloaked in spiritualism and mysticism, and inspired by a synaesthetic concept of art. Although it is not yet fully recognised, the Russian musician made a crucial contribution to the evolution of 20th-century musical language; his ten piano sonatas are noteworthy both for their aesthetic value and historical importance.

‘Music represents for me a journey to the core of my own self, a journey that will only end with my last day. Music strips us of our pettiness, leaving us bare and clean. It is our primary duty to leave behind any vanity or showing-off when we approach it. Only then can we hope to be worthy of it. Because music should not be exploited, indeed, we must become its heralds.’

This declaration of poetic, spiritual and existential intent is how the pianist Nuccio Trotta approaches music, which is for him a source of life. His repertoire ranges from the earliest piano music to that of the 1900s. He obtained a diploma from the Conservatory of Bari, since when his artistry has met with universal acclaim both in public competitions and in concert performances; throughout, he has been guided by internationally renowned musicians such as the late Aldo Ciccolini.