NEWS FROM THE NAXOS MUSIC GROUP
June 2022
Label of the Month – Naxos AudioVisual
Based in Berlin, the Naxos AudioVisual division coordinates new recordings and release schedules of DVDs and Blu-rays, as well as digital releases on iTunes and other digital platforms, with a commitment to maintaining a high profile in artistic and `lity.
Naxos AudioVisual titles rank among the finest recordings and have received awards and critical acclaim. They include an Opus Klassik Winner award for Das Wunder der Heliane from Deutsche Opera Berlin; Limelight and Opera Now Choice commendations for the production of Dido and Aeneas by Opéra Comique Paris; MusicWeb International's Recording of the Year nomination (2021) and Opera News Editor’s Choice for Theater an der Wien's production of Mathis der Maler, and many more.
The division is also proud of its collaboration with renowned opera houses and other venues:
Ever since 1961, the Deutsche Oper Berlin has been Berlin’s largest and Germany’s second largest music theatre, seating over 1,800 people and featuring among the most modern institutions in Europe. The orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, under its general music director Sir Donald Runnicles, ranks among the most outstanding musical ensembles in the country. The renowned chorus has been named Chorus of the Year multiple times in the past for its superlative achievements.
Naxos has produced and released recordings of Das Wunder der Heliane, Heart Chamber and, most recently, Francesca da Rimini that were staged at this venue. The 2021 production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen will be released as DVD and Blu-ray box sets later this year.
![ZANDONAI, R.: Francesca da Rimini [Opera] (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2021) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110711.jpg "ZANDONAI, R.: Francesca da Rimini [Opera] (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2021) (NTSC)")
– Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
![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)")
– Opera News
![CZERNOWIN, C.: Heart Chamber [Opera] (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2019) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110673.jpg "CZERNOWIN, C.: Heart Chamber [Opera] (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2019) (NTSC)")
– Opera Now
Nestled on a remote square away from the crowded Boulevard des Italiens, the Opéra Comique is one of the best kept secrets in Paris. Founded during the reign of Louis XIV in 1714, the Opéra Comique is one of the oldest theatres and music halls in France. The venue is iconic for having witnessed the creation of internationally renowned masterpieces such as Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust, Delibes’ Lakmé, Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, Pelléas et Mélisande by Debussy, L’heure Espagnole by Ravel and, more importantly, the creation of Bizet’s Carmen and Massenet's Manon. In 2005 the Opéra Comique was finally registered as one of the country's five National Theatres, and in 2015 it celebrated its 300th anniversary.
In cooperation with François Roussillon et Associés, Naxos has released the finest examples of French and international opera repertoire such as Carmen, Atys, Ciboulette, La Nonne sanglante, Orphée et Eurydice, Le postillon de Longjumeau, Fortunio, Ercole Amante, Dido and Aeneas, Hamlet, Hippolyte et Aricie, and Titon et l’Aurore. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, staged at the Opéra Comique, is set for release in the autumn.
![BIZET, G.: Carmen [Opera] (Opéra Comique, 2009) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110685-86.jpg "BIZET, G.: Carmen [Opera] (Opéra Comique, 2009) (NTSC)")
– Opera News
![MONDONVILLE, J.-J.C. de: Titon et l'Aurore [Opera] (Opéra Comique, 2021) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110693.jpg "MONDONVILLE, J.-J.C. de: Titon et l'Aurore [Opera] (Opéra Comique, 2021) (NTSC)")
– Gramophone
![PURCELL, H.: Dido and Aeneas [Opera] (Opéra Comique, 2008) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110709.jpg "PURCELL, H.: Dido and Aeneas [Opera] (Opéra Comique, 2008) (NTSC)")
– Limelight
Dutch National Opera (DNO) creates and performs dramatic musical art, focusing on quality, diversity and innovation.
The DNO was established shortly after the Second World War as a repertory company, and toured extensively in the Netherlands. In 1986 it moved to the Stopera building, alongside the Dutch National Ballet, creating the company as it is known today. It produces an average of eleven productions annually. The DNO has also lent its productions to foreign companies, such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Lincoln Center Festival in New York, as well as the Adelaide Festival in Australia.
Productions in the Naxos catalogue included the classic pairing of Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana, La morte d’Orfeo, L’étoile, the GRAMMY-nominated Wozzeck, and Opus Klassik-nominee Benvenuto Cellini. An upcoming project will feature a grandiose production of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Aus Licht.
![LEONCAVALLO, R.: Pagliacci / MASCAGNI, P.: Cavalleria rusticana [Operas] (DNO, 2019) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110670.jpg "LEONCAVALLO, R.: Pagliacci / MASCAGNI, P.: Cavalleria rusticana [Operas] (DNO, 2019) (NTSC)")
– Musical Opinion ★★★★★
![CHABRIER, E.: Étoile (L') [Operetta] (DNO, 2014) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110595.jpg "CHABRIER, E.: Étoile (L') [Operetta] (DNO, 2014) (NTSC)")
– Opéra (France)
![BERG, A.: Wozzeck [Opera] (DNO, 2017) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110582.jpg "BERG, A.: Wozzeck [Opera] (DNO, 2017) (NTSC)")
– Gramophone
Completed in 1801, the historic Theater an der Wien has hosted premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera and symphonic music. In particular, it was a favourite venue of Ludwig van Beethoven, who actually lived in rooms inside the theatre while composing his opera Fidelio; it also staged his December 1808 concert that saw premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, Choral Fantasy and Piano Concerto No. 4.
Popular operettas such as Die Fledermaus, The Merry Widow and Gräfin Mariza, among many others, were also premiered at Theater an der Wien.
There have been DVD and Blu-ray releases of Der fliegende Hollander, Agrippina and Mathis der Maler staged at Theater an der Wien. Newly appointed director Stefan Herheim has also directed Naxos AudioVisual releases of La Bohème (Norwegian National Theatre) and the upcoming Ring cycle (Deutsche Oper Berlin).
![HINDEMITH, P.: Mathis der Maler [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2012) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110691-92.jpg "HINDEMITH, P.: Mathis der Maler [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2012) (NTSC)")
– The New York Times
![WAGNER, R.: Fliegende Holländer (Der) [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2015) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110637.jpg "WAGNER, R.: Fliegende Holländer (Der) [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2015) (NTSC)")
– The WholeNote
![HANDEL, G.F.: Agrippina [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2016) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110579-80.jpg "HANDEL, G.F.: Agrippina [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2016) (NTSC)")
– Limelight ★★★★
Artist of the Month – Stefan Herheim, Director
Stefan Herheim was born in Oslo in 1970. He began directing operas with his own puppet theatre at the age of six. He studied cello while working as a production assistant at the Norwegian National Opera, where his father played in the orchestra. He established an opera puppet company that toured Norway, and went on to study stage direction with Götz Friedrich at Hamburg University of Music and the Performing Arts.
His productions include Parsifal (Bayreuth Festival), La forza del destino and Lohengrin (Berlin State Opera), Rusalka (La Monnaie, Brussels), Eugene Onegin (Nederlandse Opera), Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Salome and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Salzburg Festival), Don Giovanni (Essen), Der Rosenkavalier (Stuttgart), Carmen and Manon Lescaut (Graz), Giulio Cesare in Egitto and Tannhäuser (Norwegian National Opera), Xerxes (Komische Oper Berlin), Lulu (Royal Danish Opera) and Le nozze di Figaro (Hamburg State Opera).
Herheim’s many awards include the 2003 Götz Friedrich Foundation Prize for Opera Production for his I puritani (Essen). He was named stage director of the year by Opernwelt in 2006, 2008 and 2010. He was recently appointed director of Theater and der Wien, and his Deutsche Oper Berlin Ring cycle will be released later this year by Naxos.
![PUCCINI, G.: Bohème (La) [Opera] (Norwegian National Opera, 2012) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110728.jpg "PUCCINI, G.: Bohème (La) [Opera] (Norwegian National Opera, 2012) (NTSC)")
Set in the artistic but impoverished milieu of early 19th-century Paris, the tragic love of the poet Rodolfo and seamstress Mimì is one of the most affecting in all opera. La Bohème’s arias are also some of the most intensely passionate Puccini ever wrote, making it is one of the best-loved of all his works. In what Opera News called a ‘thorough rethinking and brilliant re-creation’ this exceptional Oslo production, strongly cast and conducted, and staged by internationally acclaimed director Stefan Herheim, explores the work as never before to create what The New York Times called a ‘surreal, moving experience: sometimes mystifying but ultimately haunting.’
Stefan Herheim deconstructs the traditional sets of the company’s previous production, creating a mixture of old and new with a sober twist: Mimi (Marita Sølberg) dies of cancer at the start, and the opera is reconfigured as Rodolfo’s (Diego Torre) refusal to admit it.
John Philip Sousa Complete Music for Wind Band
An all-new Naxos.com is coming soon!
DVD and Blu-ray sale on PrestoMusic!
Dynamic is today the leading Italian recording company for classical music; it has also become one of the foremost European producers of operatic DVDs. Known all over the world as the first recording company to have reappraised Nicolò Paganini, the label has in the last few years extended its range of interest to opera through highly fruitful partnerships with Italian festivals and opera houses, and has produced recordings of lesser-known titles by Verdi, Donizetti, Pacini, Massenet, Meyerbeer and Tchaikovsky. Outstanding productions in this field include recordings of operas staged at the famous La Fenice theatre in Venice, at the Valle d’Itria Festival in Martina Franca and at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari. Its catalogue boasts over 350 titles, with around 30 new titles being added every year.
![DONIZETTI, G.: Linda di Chamounix [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2021) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-37911.jpg "DONIZETTI, G.: Linda di Chamounix [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2021) (NTSC)")
– Pizzicato ★★★★
![GIORDANO, U.: Siberia [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2021) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-37928.jpg "GIORDANO, U.: Siberia [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2021) (NTSC)")
– Gramophone
![MONTEVERDI, C.: Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (Il) [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2021) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-37927.jpg "MONTEVERDI, C.: Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (Il) [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2021) (NTSC)")
– Gramophone
![VERDI, G.: Rigoletto [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2021) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-37921.jpg "VERDI, G.: Rigoletto [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2021) (NTSC)")
– Opera Now
![WAGNER, R.: Ring des Nibelungen (Der): Götterdämmerung [Opera] (reduced orchestra version by G.E. Lessing) (Sofia National Opera, 2013) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-37900.jpg "WAGNER, R.: Ring des Nibelungen (Der): Götterdämmerung [Opera] (reduced orchestra version by G.E. Lessing) (Sofia National Opera, 2013) (NTSC)")
– British Theatre Guide
Naxos Group artists to adjudicate at Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition 2022
With the objective of supporting young and very talented classical artists, Naxos is one of the principal sponsors of this year’s Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition, the first prize for which will include a CD recording on the Naxos label. The competition jury members will include top Naxos artists Takako Nishizaki and Tianwa Yang, as well as OehmsClassics artist Benjamin Schmid.
Fanny Clamagirand won First Prize in 2005. She’s considered to be an artist and violinist of great distinction, performing at prestigious venues and festivals internationally, also as soloist with leading orchestras, including the Orchestre National de France, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. The elegance, sensitivity and authority of her performances have been warmly received by critics, particularly for her Naxos recordings of Saint-Saëns’ violin music.
– Strings Magazine
– The Strad
– American Record Guide
– AllMusic.com ★★★★★
Other Kreisler competition laureates that have recorded for Naxos include Maria Bachmann (First Prize, 1983), who performed the world premiere of Moravec’s Violin Concerto, and Ekaterina Frolova (Second Prize, 2010) who recorded Bruno Walter's Violin Sonata.
– Percorsi Musicali
– AllMusic.com
BONUS: The Violin Channel chats with Naxos founder Klaus Heymann about the label and its partnership with the Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition. Read here.
Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale re-imagined for the screen
King Leontes rips his family apart, but grief opens his heart. Will he find the child he abandoned before it is too late?
This production of Shakespeare’s play is staged for the screen by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Directed by Erica Whyman, the play is set across a 16-year span, from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II to the moon landings.
‘Engaging and high-spirited.’
‘Autolycus can be a touchstone for personal taste and Anne Odeke was delicious here across the whole gamut, from singing voice through to cream-cake comedy.’
‘The first ever televised Royal Shakespeare Company world premiere is solid.’
– The Independent
| Dorcas / First Lady | Alice Blundell |
| Camillo | Ben Caplan |
| Archidamus / Jailer | Alfred Clay |
| Polixenes | Andrew French |
| Antigonus | Colm Gormley |
| Young Shepherd | William Grint |
| Paulina | Amanda Hadingue |
| Mopsa | Vicky Hall |
| Hermione | Kemi-Bo Jacobs |
| Cleomenes | Avita Jay |
| Leontes | Joseph Kloska |
| Shepherdess | Zoe Lambert |
| Perdita | Georgia Landers |
| Dion | Mogali Masuku |
| Lord / Mariner | Dyfrig Morris |
| Lord | Baker Mukasa |
| Autolycus | Anne Odeke |
| Emilia / Beatrice | Bea Webster |
| Florizel | Assad Zaman |
| Mamillius | Ihsan Ahmed |
| Mamillius understudy | Dan Adams |
| Stage Director | Erica Whyman |
| Set Designer | Tom Piper |
| Costume Designer | Madeleine Girling |
| Lighting Designer | Prema Mehta |
| Composer | Isobel Waller-Bridge |
| Sound Designer | Jeremy Dunn |
| Movement Director | Anna Morrissey |
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!
A ‘multiverse of madness’ featuring Doctor Strange and J.S. Bach
Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.
Along the way, you’ll hear J.S. Bach’s setting of the chorale Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, arranged for organ and performed by Wolfgang Rübsam (Naxos 8.553859).
Need to license some music for a project and don’t know where to start? Visit Naxos Licensing to find out how!
David Lloyd-Jones (1934–2022)
We were saddened to learn of the passing of renowned British conductor David Lloyd-Jones from complications following an illness.
David Lloyd-Jones began his conducting career in 1959 on the music staff of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This was followed by conducting engagements for orchestral and choral concerts, opera broadcasts and television studio opera productions. He appeared at the Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, and at the Wexford, Cheltenham, Edinburgh and Leeds Festivals, and he conducted most of the major British orchestras.
In 1972 he was appointed assistant music director at English National Opera, where he conducted an extensive repertory which included the first British stage performance of Prokofiev’s epic War and Peace. In 1978 he founded a new opera company in Leeds with its new orchestra, the English Northern Philharmonia (since renamed The Orchestra of Opera North), of which he became artistic director and principal conductor. During his twelve seasons with Opera North he conducted 50 new productions as well as numerous orchestral concerts, including festival appearances.
He enjoyed an active career in the concert hall and opera house that took him to leading music centres around the world. His 2003 Naxos recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra of the seven symphonies and assorted tone poems of Arnold Bax won a Gramophone Award. Also for Naxos he recorded works by William Alwyn and Alan Rawsthorne and the seven symphonies of Charles Villiers Stanford. In 2007 he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society. He was also Chairman of The Berners Trust.
– The Penguin Guide
– Gramophone
– Pizzicato ★★★★
– Classic FM
– Art for Art’s Sake
– International Record Review
– The Penguin Guide
– ClassicsToday.com
– The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
A rare talent: Samuel Mariño, male soprano
Samuel Mariño has already appeared as a soloist on European stages. In 2017/18, he won the interpretation award at the Opéra de Marseille International Singing Competition and the audience prize at the Neue Stimmen competition in Gütersloh. In 2018, he made his opera debut at the Handel Festival in Halle in the opera Berenice, singing the role of Alessandro. His sensational performance led to several nominations for Best New Artist by the magazine Opernwelt. He also appeared at the 2020 Händel Festspiele in the title role of Teseo.
His debut album on ORFEO includes first recordings of works of Christoph Willibald Gluck that are sensationally beautiful and have never been heard before, accompanied by the Händelfestspielorchester Halle under Michael Hofstetter.
‘Samuel Mariño’s beautiful soprano voice and superb technical skill really floored me. A distinguished debut disc.’
– MusicWeb International
‘Mariño shows himself here, lively accompanied by the Halle Handel Festival Orchestra under Michael Hofstetter, as a virtuoso full of character. Effortless coloratura passages, radiant high notes and a timbre that combines purity, bite and expressiveness give an idea of how the undisputed stars of Baroque opera may have once sounded.’
– Audio (Germany)
– Opera News
– MusicWeb International
– American Record Guide
– ClassicsToday.com
– The Buffalo News
– American Record Guide
Counter-tenorism. Check out this entry on The Naxos Blog.
Naxos AudioBooks artists named AudioFile’s 2022 Golden Voice Narrators
In celebration of Audiobook Month every June, AudioFile Magazine has named its newest recipients of the Audiobooks Narration Lifetime Achievement Honour, the Golden Voices Award, that include Rupert Degas and Juliet Stevenson of Naxos Audiobooks.
Rupert Degas is an award-winning voice actor with more than 25 years’ experience spanning advertising, animation, audiobooks, commercials, promos, cartoons, film, TV and corporate content. He has narrated over 150 audiobooks, including titles by Haruki Murakami, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle, Mervyn Peake, Bram Stoker, Cormac McCarthy and many more. He has received particular critical acclaim for his performances of Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon and Flanagan’s Run by Tom McNab. He has won over ten Earphones Awards and has been nominated for several Audies.
Listen to AudioFile’s ‘Behind the Mic’ podcast featuring Rupert Degas.
– AudioFile
– AudioFile
– AudioFile
– AudioFile
Juliet Stevenson was awarded the CBE for her work in drama and received the Olivier Award for her role in Death and the Maiden at the Royal Court, together with a number of other awards for her work in the film Truly, Madly, Deeply. Other film credits include The Trial, Drowning by Numbers and Emma. For Naxos Audiobooks she has recorded Lady Windermere’s Fan, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Stories from Shakespeare, To the Lighthouse, Bliss and Other Stories, The Road Home, Middlemarch and many more.
Listen to AudioFile’s ‘Behind the Mic’ podcast with Juliet Stevenson.
– Audible
– RUSA (A Division of the American Library Association)
– AudioFile
– AudioFile
Visit AudioFile to learn more about the Golden Voices narrators.
Marin Alsop guides a new generation of female conductors via AT&T’s She’s Connected
One of the foremost conductors of our time, Marin Alsop represents a powerful and inspiring voice. Convinced that music has the power to change lives, she is internationally recognised for her innovative approach to programming and audience development, deep commitment to education, and advocacy for music’s importance in the world. The first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria and Great Britain, she is not only ‘a formidable musician and a powerful communicator’ but also ‘a conductor with a vision.’ (The New York Times)
To promote and nurture the careers of her fellow female conductors, in 2002 she founded the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship, which was renamed in her honour as the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship in 2020. With AT&T’s She’s Connected programme Marin gets to catch up with her protégé Brazilian conductor Alexandra Arrieche, music director of the Henderson Symphony Orchestra (Nevada) since 2016. Arrieche conducted the European Emmy-winning Night of the Proms, and now also mentors female conductors in Brazil and the US.
– Gramophone
– MusicWeb International
– AllMusic.com
– Pizzicato ★★★★★
– Crescendo
– American Record Guide
– The Penguin Guide
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★
Playlists for June
Looking for new music? Naxos' selection of curated playlists has you covered with music to complement the season, moment, or activity! Relax with the Classical Guitar Chill playlist and stream iconic music from the big screen with the Classical at the Movies playlist. Discover music written by LGBTQ+ composers with unCLASSIFIED’s Classical Pride playlist and explore the musical poetry of legendary pianist-composers with the Golden Age of Pianist-Composers playlist from Grand Piano. Happy listening!
Naxos Moods is an ecosystem of playlists curated by experts and musicologists to complement the wide range of feelings and activities people experience every day, with an emphasis on stress alleviation, relaxation, and inspiration. These playlists aim to create an exceptionally diverse listening experience, leveraging not only the Naxos classical catalogue, but also world and jazz music. Exciting developments in the Naxos Moods initiative are coming soon – stay tuned for more!
A personal milestone – new orchestral works by Peter Boyer
This album presents eight of the most recent works by Peter Boyer, one of the leading American orchestral composers of his generation. Balance of Power was commissioned for the 95th birthday of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, while Fanfare for Tomorrow was composed for the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021. Each of these pieces displays Boyer’s vivid soundscapes and tuneful American sensibilities, from the cinematic sweep of Rolling River to Radiance, composed especially for this album. Boyer’s GRAMMY-nominated Ellis Island: The Dream of America has received over 250 performances and was televised by PBS.
– American Record Guide
– Cinemusical ★★★★
Capriccio and Ondine titles on Gramophone’s Best Classical Music Albums of 2022 (so far) list
Gramophone has selected some of its best reviewed albums from the first half of 2022, which include titles from the Capriccio and Ondine labels.
This sixth Capriccio volume of Dohnányi's late romantic, sensual music that is deeply rooted in the Austro-German classical tradition features three of his concertos. Apart from two piano concertos and two violin concertos, Dohnányi wrote three more, which are concertos in all but name: Variations on a Nursey Song (for piano and orchestra), Concertino (for harp and chamber orchestra), and Konzertstück (for cello and orchestra), the titles subtly hinting at their specific character. The album was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice in March:
‘A superbly performed selection of Dohnányi works from players entirely immersed in his musical voice, led by a conductor who inspires them all the way.’
In recent years the music of Grazyna Bacewicz has been enjoying an ever-increasing popularity in concert hall programmes. Bacewicz was a major Polish composer and a versatile musician. A child prodigy violinist, she was also an accomplished pianist. As a composer, she is known for her inventive, complex and original musical language, and many of her works for violin are particularly well known. On this album Peter Jablonski presents Bacewicz’s dazzling piano etudes and sonatas which are hardly known outside of her native Poland. The magazine praised Jablonski’s performance (Editor’s Choice, March 2022):
‘The twofold pleasure of this release is experiencing the interesting if unfamiliar music of an important woman composer, played by a pianist in the full flower of his mature, imaginative artistry.’
Browse the full list on Gramophone’s website.
Raphael Wallfisch appointed Trinity Laban Conservatoire’s international head of violoncello and chamber music
With a discography of over 70 discs Raphael Wallfisch is one of the most recorded classical artists in the world. A BBC survey named Wallfisch’s recording of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto the best recording of the work in the past 25 years. With concert appearances around the world, Wallfisch is at the height of his powers with a masterful technique and a soaring, singing sound that evokes a tradition continued from his teacher, Piatigorsky. Raphael Wallfisch has been at the forefront of playing and commissioning new works by contemporary composers, working with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Kenneth Leighton, James MacMillan, Rodion Schedrin, John Tavener and many others.
Teaching is one of Raphael’s passions and he is in demand as a teacher all over the world. A former professor of cello in Switzerland at the Zürich Hochschule der Kunst, he is currently professor of cello at the Royal College of Music alongside his role as international chair of violoncello and chamber music at Trinity Laban.
Raphael Wallfisch is one of the key artists in Naxos’ British Music Society series and has recorded works by Sir Malcolm Arnold, John Ireland, Kenneth Leighton, and others.
– Classic FM ★★★★★
– MusicWeb International
– Fanfare
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★
– Gramophone
– Fanfare
– The Classical Reviewer
– WTJU
The Winter’s Tale
re-imagined for the screen
Visions of the past.
Visions of the past.
