FRANCIS POULENC
Poulenc: Piano Music Vol 1 (Incls '8 Nocturnes') Olivier Cazal (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Aug/2008 ] Francis Poulenc wrote music that is witty, satirical, whimsical, and sometimes, even, impudent. His musical structures are light and graceful, his textures are fragile, and his technical assurance is rock-solid. In everything he ever wrote, Poulenc... |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5 "Egyptian" Romain Descharmes (piano) / Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Marc Soustrot [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Apr/2018 ] Saint-Saëns's mature creative genius shines throughout these last two piano concertos, looking back over a glorious musical ancestry while at the same time opening the door to new worlds. The Fourth Piano Concerto is prescient of both his great Organ... |
YORITSUNE MATSUDAIRA
Matsudaira: Bugaku Dance Suite / Theme and Variations for Piano and Orchestra Osaka Century Orchestra, Ken Takaseki [ Naxos / CD - released 25/Sep/2006 ] Yoritsune Matsudaira is descended from the Shogun family who ruled over Japan from 1603 to 1867, based in Edo, later changed to Tokyo. |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Piano Music Vol. 1 Oxana Yablonskaya (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 4/Apr/1995 ] Piano works composed over a period of twenty-six years (1867-1893) comprise a by no means insignificant part of Tchaikovsky's chamber music. |
CARL CZERNY
Czerny: Romantic Piano Fantasies on Sir Walter Scott's Novels Pei-I Wang, Samuel Gingher (piano duet) [ Naxos / CD - released 24/Sep/2021 ] Carl Czerny's instructional exercises may be his lasting legacy but there remain numerous largely forgotten pieces that reveal important elements of his compositional range. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The Maiden's Prayer: Leaves from Grandmother's piano album Peter Nagy, Balazs Szokolay (pianos) [ Naxos / CD - released 19/Feb/2006 ] The nineteenth century was the age of the piano. The newly developed instrument, decorated in the domestic taste of the time and strengthened by the use of an iron frame, making maintenance much easier, proved an admirable centre of home entertainment. |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words Peter Nagy (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 10/May/2008 ] "He is a gifted player who shows considerable artistry" - Penguin Guide |
HANS WERNER HENZE
Hanze: Volin & Viola Works Peter Sheppard Skaerved (violin/viola), Roderick Chadwick (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 10/Sep/2018 ] "Hard to imagine a finer advocate for these alluring pieces by Henze than the remarkable Sheppard Skaerved." Sunday Times |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN / LENNOX BERKELEY
Auden Songs Philip Langridge (tenor) / Della Jones (mezzo-soprano) / Steuart Bedford (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 26/Oct/2005 ] "...Langridge and Jones sing them with admirable ardour, colour and clarity." - Jeremy Nicholas, Classic FM Magazine |
FRANCIS POULENC
Poulenc: Chamber Music Vol. 4 (Incls 'Le Bal masque') Pierre Laniau (Guitar) Alexandre Tharaud (Piano) Franck Leguerinel (Baritone) / Jean Delescluse [ Naxos / CD - released 15/May/2001 ] The continuing series of Poulenc's chamber music |
WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI
Lutoslawski: Orchestral Works Vol. 2 [(ncls Symphony No. 2] The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, with Piotr Paleczny (piano) [ Naxos / CD ] "An excellent disc at bargain price.": BBC Music |
WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI
Lutoslawski - Orchestral Works Vol 3: Symphony No. 3 / Paganini Variations Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; Antoni Wit, conductor, with Bernd Glemser, piano [ Naxos / CD - released 4/Sep/2003 ] "a series that is setting high standards in budget-price contemporary music....Wit conjures a fantastic range of tone colour from his well-drilled Polish orchestra ...the third symphony has never sounded more convincing" - Classic CD |
FRANZ LISZT / JOHANNES BRAHMS
Liszt/Brahms: Piano Variations Michael Ponti (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 7/Jul/1990 ] The name of Bach was to provide a theme for a number of subsequent composers, following the example of Johann Sebastian Bach himself, who had used his own name as a fugal subject in The Art of Fugue. |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Music for violin and piano Vol 1 (Incls Violin Sonata in F major) Qian Zhou (violin) / Edmund Battersby (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 3/Sep/2001 ] "A disc that has more than passing interest to recommend it, and promises similar pleasures from its successors in this series." - MusicWebUK, November 12, 2001 |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Piano Transcriptions, Vol. 1 (1925-1947) Walter Gieseking, Byron Janis, Alexander Kelberine, Wilheim Backhaus, Sergey Rachmaninov, Rae Robertson, Arthur Rubinstein, Olga Samaroff, etc [ Naxos Historial Great Pianists / CD - released 29/Jan/2001 ] "Naxos has produced here a most enjoyable record which can be fully recommended not only to piano specialists but also to the general music lover and to people who are only just beginning to enjoy Bach's music." MusicWeb |
JOHN ADAMS
Adams: Complete Piano Music Ralph van Raat (piano) with Maarten van Veen (piano) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 4/Mar/2007 ] The works on this disc span his entire career to date, and illustrate his many different styles of writing for the piano. Phrygian Gates and China Gates - "gate" here referring to a type of electronic switch - could be regarded as his first "minimal"... |
FREDERIC RZEWSKI
Rzewski: The People United will never be Defeated Ralph van Raat (piano) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 6/Apr/2008 ] "This is another excellent Naxos release, and should be snapped up by anyone with even the mildest interest in 20th century piano music, or just piano music in general." (MusicWeb April 2008) |
KENNETH LEIGHTON
Complete Chamber Works For Cello Raphael Wallfisch (cello), with Raphael Terroni (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2015 ] "Wallfisch gives eloquent performances of wors characterised by anguished restraint and reflection. Leighton's early Elegy affords a lyrical oasis in this programme of otherwise spare and sometimes jagged music." BBC Music |
MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG
Weinberg: Clarinet Music Robert Oberaigner (clarinet), Michael Schöch (piano), Dresden Chamber Soloists, Michail Jurowski [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Mar/2020 ] Mieczysaw Weinberg was familiar with the clarinet from his youth, given its prominent place in klezmer bands and theatre ensembles, and he wrote three works specifically for the instrument. In the Clarinet Concerto he draws a wide range of textures... |
JOHN IRELAND
Songs (Incls 'Five Poems by Thomas Hardy') Roderick Williams (Baritone) / Iain Burnside (Piano) [ Naxos English Song Series Vol 18 / CD - released 10/Oct/2011 ] "Roderick Williams is such a good singer he can make the voice part sound vocal and natural in a way not many have succeeded in doing. …the pianist, Iain Burnside, plays with a sureness of touch to match the highly skilled naturalness of Williams's... |