MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG
Weinberg - Complete Music for Cello and Orchestra Nikolay Shugaev (cello), Tyumen Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Medianik [ Naxos / CD - due 23/May/2025 ] Mieczysław Weinberg flourished as a composer despite working amidst political and personal setbacks. He gained the admiration of Shostakovich, and was championed by the leading Soviet musicians of the day. |
JIA DAQUN
Jia - Impressions of Liyuan: Symphonic Concerto Cycle Zhang Jiajing (Chinese percussion), Wang Junkan (dizi), Lu Yiwen (erhu), Liu Wenwen (suona), Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Lin Daye [ Naxos / CD - due 23/May/2025 ] Jia Daqun, one of China's most prolific and respected composers, has written in many forms, including symphonies, concertos, chamber music and song cycles. |
CHARLES IVES
Ives: Emerson Concerto / Symphony No. 1 Alan Feinberg (Piano) / National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland / James Sinclair [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 22/Sep/2007 ] "Alan Feinberg is an ideal exponent of Ives's truculent and tender realism. The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland partners him well... a very strong recommendation" International Record Review |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Best Of Mendelssohn (Incls 'The Hebrides' Overture & Violin Concerto in E minor: II. Andante) Benjamin Frith (piano) Peter Nagy (piano) Takako Nishizaki (violin) / Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra / [ Naxos / CD - released 14/Oct/2007 ] Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the distinguished Jewish thinker Moses Mendelssohn, the additional surname Bartholdy adopted on his conversion to Christianity, was born in Hamburg, the son of a banker. The family moved to Berlin, where Mendelssohn was... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Rondo, WoO 6 Boris Giltburg (piano) / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] "Here's a very promising start to what I assume will be a new Beethoven piano concerto cycle...Fine playing, fine conducting, fine engineering-in short, a really fine release generally." ClassicsToday |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos 3 & 4 Boris Giltburg (piano) / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko [ Naxos / CD - released 10/Feb/2023 ] For 19th-century audiences Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 was the most loved of all his piano concertos, a work in which the balancing of high drama, tenderness, lyricism and humour is most pronounced and in which a coda resolves inner tensions... |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 / Variations on a theme of Corelli Boris Giltburg (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Carlos Miguel Prieto [ Naxos / CD - released 15/May/2018 ] Rachmaninov's 'Piano Concerto No. 3' is a complex, epic narrative that moves from a simple opening melody to the triumphant apotheosis at its conclusion. The composer ingeniously links motifs, melodies and at times whole sections between the... |
FERDINAND RIES
Ries: Piano Concertos Vol. 2 (Incls Piano Concerto No 3) Christopher Hinterhuber (piano) / Gavle Symphony Orchestra / Uwe Grodd [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Oct/2007 ] "The Austrian pianist Christopher Hinterhuber plays with commitment and is a fine advocate for these works, just as able to command attention with flashes of fire as he is to lead the ear through the most delicate figurations. Grodd and the Gävle... |
EDWARD ELGAR / FRANK BRIDGE
Elgar: Cello Concerto / Bridge: Oration Gabriel Schwabe (cello) / ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Ward [ Naxos / CD - released 19/Nov/2021 ] "..That plaintive quality is much in evidence in the Elgar, and I admire so much Schwabe's approach to this work, surely one of the most recorded concertos in the catalogue." MusicWeb Recommended Jan 2022 |
JENNY McLEOD
McLeod: The Emperor and the Nightingale / Rock Concerto / etc Helen Medlyn (narrator) & Eugene Albulescu (piano) / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra / Uwe Grodd [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Oct/2011 ] New Zealand-born composer Jenny McLeod's wide musical background is here distilled into three works of highly enjoyable directness. The Emperor and the Nightingale is a colourful score which accompanies the narration of a Hans Christian Andersen... |
ROSS HARRIS
Harris: Violin Concerto / Symphony No 5 Ilya Gringolts (violin), Sally-Anne Russell (mezzo-soprano) / Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Eckehard Stier & Garry Walker [ Naxos / CD - released 15/Jul/2016 ] "orchestral tone and clarity is smooth and clean" (MusicWeb) |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Warsaw Concerto and Other Piano Concertos from the Movies Philip Fowke (piano) RTE Concert Orchestra. Proinnsias O Duinn, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 30/May/2009 ] "Philip Fowke plays all the pieces with affection and panache" - Gramophone |
ALAN RAWSTHORNE
Rawsthorne: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 / Fantasy Overture: Corteges Rebecca Hirsch (violin) / BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Lionel Friend [ Naxos / CD - released 22/Dec/2000 ] "The performances bring out the best in this intense and very engaging music" Fanfare |
JACOB WEINBERG
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Weinberg: Piano Concerto 2 / String Quartet Op. 55 / etc Jorge Federico Osorio (piano), Patrick Mason (baritone) / Bingham String Quartet, Barcelona Symphony, National Orchestra of Catalonia [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 3/Apr/2006 ] This compact disc features world premiere recordings of three works by JACOB WEINBERG (1879-1956), who was born in the Ukraine to a cultured, assimilated family and studied first at the Moscow conservatory and then in Vienna. |
GERALD FINZI
Finzi: Clarinet Concerto / Five Bagatelles / Three Soliloquies, etc Robert Plane (clarinet) / Northern Sinfonia / Howard Griffiths [ Naxos / CD - released 3/Jul/1999 ] "A highly accomplished, indeed commanding performance of Finzi's gorgeous Clarinet Concerto....another remarkable British music bargain from Naxos" - Gramophone |
CARL CZERNY
Czerny: Second Grand Concerto in E Flat major / Concertino, Rondino Rosemary Tuck (piano) / English Chamber Orchestra, Richard Bonynge [ Naxos / CD - released 5/Dec/2019 ] Carl Czerny penned an astonishing amount of music, including the numerous potpourris, fantasies, teaching pieces and studies for which he became known. This recording features the delightfully entertaining Concertino in C major, Op. 210/213, as well... |
EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA
Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus / Piano Concerto / Symphony No. 3 Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Hannu Lintu [ Naxos / CD - released 13/Oct/2002 ] "performances are fully as fine as any available.. unobtrusively excellent." - David Hurwitz, Classicstoday.com |
RODION KONSTANTINOVICH SHCHEDRIN
Shchedrin: Carmen Suite / Concerto For Orchestra, "Naughty Limericks" Ukranian State Symphony Orchestra, Theodore Kuchar [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Oct/1994 ] "The experience is even more exciting with this impressive Naxos release. In fact this may very well be the best version of this suite currently available...this record will certainly win Shchedrin more than a few new friends" American Record Guide |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
The Best Of Handel Johann Aratore (organ), Jozef Cejka (oboe), Miroslav Kejmar (trumpet) Cappella Istropolitana, Budapest Strings, Handel Festival Chamber Orchestra [ Naxos / CD - released 7/May/1997 ] Handel was successful in developing a new form, the English oratorio, which combined the musical felicities of the Italian operatic style with an increased role for the chorus, relative economy of production, and the satisfaction of an English text. |
JOSEPH HAYDN
The Best of Haydn Capella Istropolitana, Kodaly Quartet, Camerata Cassovia, Jeno Jando (piano), and many more [ Naxos Best Of / CD - released 18/Feb/2008 ] The very best of Haydn drawn from the vast Naxos catalogue. |