NEWS FROM THE NAXOS MUSIC GROUP
August 2020
Label of the Month – Musiques Suisses
Musiques Suisses is a record label that promotes the diversity of Swiss musical life. Its imprint Grammont Portrait of the Association for the Promotion of Swiss Music focuses on Swiss composers and performers. Titles under Musiques Suisses’ second imprint Neue Volksmusik comprise recordings of Swiss folk music and alpine instruments.
This new release features live recordings from the 2019 Alpentöne, a three-day biannual international music festival promoting music associated with the alpine tradition. Alpentöne has no stylistic limitations: contemporary classical music, jazz, folk, pop and miscellaneous forms all form part this unique festival. Performers on this release include Pino Minafra, Alpentone Blasorchester, Ensemble Building Bridge, Andreas Gabriel Ensemble, and more. The artists perform traditional tunes, as well as modern compositions and improvisations.
Composer of the Month – Beat Furrer
Beat Furrer was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in 1954 and received his first musical training on piano at the Schaffhausen Music School. After moving to Vienna in 1975, he studied conducting with Otmar Suitner and composition with Roman Haubenstock Ramati at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. In 1985 he founded the Klangforum Wien, which he directed until 1992, and with which he is still associated as conductor. Commissioned by the Vienna State Opera, he composed his first opera Die Blinden in 1989. His second opera Narcissus was premiered in 1994 as part of the Festival “steirischer herbst” at the Graz Opera. In 1996 he was the composer-in-residence at the Lucerne Festival. His music theatre work Begehren was premiered in Graz in 2001, the opera invocation in Zürich in 2003 and the sound theatre piece FAMA in Donaueschingen in 2005.
Since 1991, Furrer has served as professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. He has been guest professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz and was guest professor in composition at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts between 2006 and 2009. Together with violinist Ernst Kovacic he founded "impuls", an International Ensemble and Composers Academy for Contemporary Music.
Furrer has received a number of important awards, including the Music Prize of the City of Vienna in 2004, the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2006 for his work FAMA, and in 2014 the Great Austrian State Prize. He was awarded the Ernst-von-Siemens music prize in recognition of his lifetime's compositional output in 2018. In January 2019 his new opera Violetter Schnee (Violet Snow) with a libretto by Händl Klaus based on a libretto by Vladimir Sorokin premiered at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden. Since the 1980s Beat Furrer has composed a wide range of works, from solo and ensemble music to orchestral and choral works and opera. He is well known for his nuanced exploration of the human voice and its relationship to instrumental sound.
![FURRER, B.: Blinden (Die) [Opera]](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/MGB-6150.jpg "FURRER, B.: Blinden (Die) [Opera]")
![FURRER, B.: Narcissus [Opera]](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/MGB-6143.jpg "FURRER, B.: Narcissus [Opera]")
2020 OPUS Klassik Awards – nominees announced
Recordings from the Naxos label and its affiliated labels are among the recently announced nominations for the 2020 OPUS Klassik Awards, Germany’s most prestigious awards body for classical music. The Naxos Music Group received 56 nominations appearing in sixteen categories.
Celebrating Beethoven’s 250th anniversary this year, three releases have received nominations for a special Beethoven 250 award:
The collection of Beethoven’s complete symphonies, featuring the Danish Chamber Orchestra under Adam Fischer, received the nominations for Best Conductor, Best Ensemble/Orchestra and Best Symphonic Recording (19th century).
Pianist Boris Giltburg received the nominations for Best Instrumentalist and Best Concert Recording for the recording of Beethoven’s First and Second Piano Concertos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. This album also brought conductor Vasily Petrenko a nomination for Best Conductor.
Painist Sophie-Mayuko Vetter’s release of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 0, 2 and 6 was nominated for Best Instrumentalist, Best Concert Recording, Best Ensemble/Orchestra and Best Conductor with Hamburger Symphoniker under Peter Ruzicka. The recording also received the nomination for Best World Premiere Recording.
Under the direction of Rotislav Krimer, the East-West Chamber Orchestra’s recording of Weinberg’s Chamber Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 earned it nominations in the categories of Best Ensemble/Orchestra, Best Chamber Music (Mixed Ensemble), Best Symphonic Recording (20th and 21st Century) and Best Conductor.
Cellist Daniel Müller-Schott and clarinettist Sharon Kam received the nominations for Best Instrumentalist for their recordings on the Orfeo label. Müller-Schott’s recording #CelloUnlimited (C984191) was also nominated for Best Instrumental Solo Performance. Sharon Kam’s recording Contrasts (C983191), which she recorded with violist Ori Kam and pianist Matan Porat, also received a nomination for Best Chamber Music (Trio).
Lars Vog’s recording of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Four Ballades with Northern Sinfonia received the nominations for Best Instrumentalist, Best Instrumental Solo Performance and Best Concert Recording.
Jamina Gerl’s recording of works by Ferdinand Pfohl on the Grand Piano label received nominations in three categories: Best Young Artist, Best Instrumental Solo Performance and Best World Premiere Recording.
![GLANERT, D.: Oceane [Opera]](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/OC985.jpg "GLANERT, D.: Oceane [Opera]")
![WEBER, C.M. von: Euryanthe [Opera]](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/C5373.jpg "WEBER, C.M. von: Euryanthe [Opera]")
Two recordings received a nomination for Best Opera Recording (19th century): Detlev Glanert’s Oceane performed by Deutsche Oper Berlin under Donnald Runnicles (OC985) and Carl Maria von Weber’s Euryanthe, performed by the Vienna ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra under Constantin Trinks (C5373).
The former release was also nominated for Best Composer, Best Conductor, Best Solo Recording (Opera) and Best World Premiere Recording. The latter recording also received nominations in the categories of Best Conductor and Best Ensemble/Orchestra.
The recording of Hanns Eisler’s orchestral works, performed by MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Kammersymphonie Berlin and Jürgen Bruns, received nominations in four categories: Best Conductor, Best Ensembler/Orchestra, Best Symphonic Recording (20th and 21st century) and Best World Premiere Recording. The album features Eisler’s Leipzig Symphony, Funeral Pieces and Night and Fog.
Two Audiovisual recordings on Naxos (Das Wunder der Heliane, Korngold, 2.110584-85) and Opus Arte (La Traviata, Verdi, OA1292D) were nominated for Best Opera Recording (19th century) and Audiovisual Production of the Year. They have also received nominations in several categories:
![KORNGOLD, E.W.: Wunder der Heliane (Das) [Opera] (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2018) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110584-85.jpg "KORNGOLD, E.W.: Wunder der Heliane (Das) [Opera] (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2018) (NTSC)")
- Best Female Singer (Sara Jakubiak)
- Best Male Singer (Brian Jagde, Josef Wagner)
- Best Conductor (Marc Albrecht)
- Best Ensembe/Orchesta (Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin)
![VERDI, G.: Traviata (La) [Opera] (Royal Opera House, 2019) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/OA1292D.jpg "VERDI, G.: Traviata (La) [Opera] (Royal Opera House, 2019) (NTSC)")
- Best Female Singer (Ermonela Jaho)
- Best Male Singer (Charles Castronovo)
- Best Conductor (Antonello Manacorda)
- Best Young Artist (Ermonela Jaho, Charles Castronovo)
- Best Ensemble/Orchestra (Orchestra of the Royal Opera House)
The awards will be announced and streamed on October 18th live from the Konzerthaus Berlin.
The new musical edutainment resource for children
If you’re aged between 4 and 12 and want to know more about classical music and instruments, then you should ask your parents, grandparents, godparents or teachers to sit down and discover what is on offer from MusicBox, the latest great product from Naxos. Explore MusicBox on your own or together with an adult.
‘A very fine resource, which will definitely be engaging for children, its target audience, but for adults as well.’ – MusicWeb International
Budding musicians could have no better gift than the opportunity to explore this brand new, fun, varied, colourful (and online!) gateway to a magical world of sound.
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Friendly texts and special playlists for:
Great composers
Instruments of the orchestra
Voice types and choirs
Film music
Ballet
Opera
Musicals - Listening questions and puzzles
- Themed playlists
- Audiobooks on classical music
- Music history shown graphically in scrolling timelines
- Dictionary
- 4,000+ varied audio tracks
- and coming soon: Music Around the World
There are so many activities on offer that the young, younger and youngest students will never hit a brick wall of boredom. MusicBox is to be continually updated and expanded, making it the best on‑screen resource for musical edutainment.
- Classical music presented in clear, logical and engaging ways
- Does not require adult assistance to understand and use
- Bright, colourful presentation
- Interactive listening questions and puzzles
- Access on desktop computers, tablets, or other mobile devices
- New content and featured to be continually added
Naxos MusicBox is available in two versions: one for individual subscribers in a home environment to explore on their own or with parents; and one more extensive site for teachers to use in the classroom. Many teachers in primary schools – whether music specialists or not – welcome resources to help them. In Naxos Musicbox they have lesson plans and imaginative, tailor-made activities to support their teaching. Interactive and classroom activities have been written by qualified music teachers. There are activities for younger children (4–6) based around songs, and for older children (6–12), based around the sections presented on the homepage. Children are often encouraged to listen our for particular details in pieces of music, which allows them them to connect more immediately with larger or more complicated classical works.
Additional features and benefits for teachers and schools:
- Multiple simultaneous access
- Tailor-made class activities for teachers to use
- Extra resources and printouts available for teachers
- Coming soon: Static URLs to musical works which can be placed in educational resources.
Subscriptions for schools:
For more information on subscriptions and pricing please contact your country representative here.
A bewitching, theatrical and powerful production of Dvořák’s Rusalka
Praised by critics as ‘magnificent’, ‘breathtakingly theatrical’ and full of ‘zestful imagination’, Melly Still’s ‘spine-tingling’ Rusalka is a Glyndebourne classic – a magical contemporary reimagining of a much-loved fairytale. Light and darkness, beauty and danger come together in this passionate tale of love against the odds. At once evocative and unsettling, this production collides two contrasting worlds in Rae Smith’s elegant designs made of ‘brilliant stage-pictures’. Rusalka’s forest home is a dappled space of sunshine and shadows, full of strange woodland creatures, while the Prince’s court is a world of sleek modernity and sophistication – a world of man. Two Glyndebourne favourites make their production debut here. Soprano Sally Matthews takes the title role of water-nymph Rusalka, with mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon as her nemesis, the witch Ježibaba, conducted by Glyndebourne’s own music director Robin Ticciati.
![DVOŘÁK, A.: Rusalka [Opera] (Glyndebourne, 2019) (NTSC)](images/OA1302D.png "DVOŘÁK, A.: Rusalka [Opera] (Glyndebourne, 2019) (NTSC)")
‘It is a glorious performance of an outstanding production of a powerful opera, and the final touch was provided by Robin Ticciati conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra with great subtlety to bring out the best of Dvořák's music to show what a real treat this can be.’ – The Daily Express
‘Still draws strong characterisations from an excellent cast. Sally Matthews identifies with each phase of Rusalka’s development and suffering, and her voice, with its distinctive raw-silk texture, is especially impressive in her climactic outburst in Act II...’ – The Stage
CAST
| Rusalka | Sally Matthews |
| Vodnik | Alexander Roslavets |
| Ježibaba | Patricia Bardon |
| Prince | Evan Leroy Johnson |
| Foreign Princess | Zoya Tsererina |
| First Nymph | Vuvu Mpofu |
| Second Nymph | Anna Pennisi |
| Third Nymph | Alyona Abramova |
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The Glyndebourne Chorus
| Conductor | Robin Ticciati |
| Director | Melly Still |
| Designer | Rae Smith |
| Lighting Designer | Paule Constable |
| Movement Director | Rick Nodine |
| Directed for the screen by | François Roussillon |
Extra Features: Rusalka – Flying through water; Cast Gallery
More full-length videos? NaxosVideoLibrary.com brings you an extensive streaming video library of classical music performances, opera, ballet, live concerts and documentaries. Watch the world's greatest opera houses, ballet companies, orchestras and artists perform on demand! NaxosVideoLibrary.com offers over 3,450 full-length videos, accessible anytime, anywhere.
Visit eClassical to get 50% off the entire Grand Piano catalogue
High-quality classical download store eClassical is offering all Grand Piano digital downloads, in both CD and Hi-Res audio quality, at 50% off! Visit the eClassical store to discover the rare keyboard gems. Dedicated to the exploration of undiscovered piano repertoire, the label specialises in multi-volume recordings and complete cycles of piano works by many lesser-known composers, whose output might otherwise have remained unknown and unrecorded.
Daniel Müller-Schott and Francesco Piemontesi play Brahms' Sonatas
Cellist Daniel Müller-Schott and pianist Francesco Piemontesi team up again for an all-Brahms programme after the great success of their recording of cello sonatas by 20th-century composers (C872151A).
Johannes Brahms’ two cello sonatas stand in stark contrast to each other. This is not solely due to the fact that more than twenty years separate the works. Brahms had a preference for pairs of works with the same instrumentation, which he frequently composed according to the principle of contrast. In the case of the cello sonatas, it is above all the character and mood of the respective pieces that supply the contrasts. In the version for cello, the Violin Sonata op. 78, one of Brahms’ finest chamber works, provides a charming supplement to the two original cello sonatas.
‘Müller-Schott’s rich singing tone and Piemontesi’s beautifully shaded playing provide some lovely moments.’
–The Classical Reviewer
– Pizzicato ★★★★★
– Classical Ear ★★★★★
– International Piano
First recording of Kapustin’s Cello Concerto No. 1
The jazz-classical-modern fusion of Ukrainian composer Nikolai Kapustin has recently become an exciting element of classical concert programmes. When the cellist Eckart Runge visited Kasputin in Moscow ten years ago, the composer entrusted him with the score of his Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 85, which, unlike his second, had neither been performed nor recorded. The work's energy uniquely combines colourful symphonic music with the groovy sound of the big band tradition, the virtuosity of a Charlie Parker with the chamber music intimacy of a Miles Davis, producing a vibrantly new musical language.
Cellist Eckart Runge, a founding member of the internationally renowned Artemis Quartet, bridges the gap between the great classical repertoire and popular music forms such as jazz, rock, pop, tango and film music in a way that is unique to the world of classical music. In his new album, the programme also features Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 by Alfred Schnittke, who is recognised as a 20th-century composer with his fascinating, poly-stylistic sound world that he made his own.
– Online Merker
– The Art Music Lounge
Playlists for August
Looking for new music? Our selection of curated playlists has you covered with music to complement the season, moment, or activity! First, treat yourself to a date night in with our Love & Romance playlist, celebrate the rich heritage of classical music with 50 of the Best, and get in the zone with unCLASSIFIED’s Classical Music for Productivity playlist. Then, while this summer may feel a little different than most, take time to chill out with Grand Piano’s curated selection of seasonally-inspired tracks. Happy listening!
Scottish Ballet presents Indoors, stunning performance during lockdown
Scottish Ballet present the world premiere of dance film Indoors, a playful new work created by resident choreographer Sophie Laplane in collaboration with in-house film-maker Eve McConnachie, and set to Mozart’s Papageno, Papagena from The Magic Flute, supplied by Naxos.
Indoors consists of 28 doors and 36 dancers; bringing the full company together, virtually, as they perform within their own homes via Zoom and recorded in lockdown.
Need to license some music for a project and don’t know where to start? Visit Naxos Licensing to find out how!
Celebrate Beethoven
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 CHORAL WORKS.
This collection of Beethoven’s choral music features some of the composer’s greatest moments alongside lesser-known works that deserve a wider currency. Drawing on several recordings made by the critically admired Leif Segerstam and his Turku Philharmonic forces – all facets of Beethoven’s masterful choral writing can be experienced and heard. There are examples from his incidental music, a chorus from his only oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives, his greatest choral-symphonic work the Missa solemnis, and the epochal ‘Ode to Joy’ finale to Symphony No. 9 in D minor.
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!
This CELEBRATE BEETHOVEN catalogue contains an impressive collection of works by this master composer across the Naxos Music Group labels.
Boris Giltburg has set out to learn and film all 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven by the end of 2020. The project started as a personal exploration, driven by curiosity and his strong love of the Beethoven sonatas, and the recordings presented in this initial volume display Giltburg’s customary spirit, technical finesse and convey the electric atmosphere of the live recording.
Beethoven’s lesser known output includes a series of conventional, tranquil works which followed the standards of the day. Written basically to make ends meet, such works throw light on the everyday activities in the career of revolutionary man, and help us better understand hidden aspects of his genius. The programme on this release offers a comparison between two Serenades that Beethoven wrote for two different groups of instruments: the Serenade Op. 25 for flute, violin and viola and the Serenade Op. 41, which is a later version for flute and piano. Formally these two works are almost identical, but they differ in colour, phrasing and the role that was ascribed to each instrument.
In 2020, the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Gielen’s importance as an interpreter of Beethoven’s symphonies deserves to be acknowledged by a separate box set within our edition. For a long time Gielen’s core competence was seen in connection with the Second Viennese School, though right from the start of his career as a conductor he had paid particular attention to the First Viennese School – Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
The edition also contains the C Major Mass which, until June 2007, was the only important work by Beethoven that Gielen had never performed. The invitation from the SWR ensembles to come to Koblenz for the opening of the 2007 RheinVokal festival was therefore a welcome opportunity to study the piece and give an advance performance in the Konzerthaus Freiburg. This penultimate volume of the Michael Gielen EDITION is as musically interesting as you could hope for.
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.
Review by ClassicsToday.com’s David Hurwitz:
