VITTORIO RIETI
Rieti: Piano Concertos Alessandro Marangoni (piano), Orazio Sciortino Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Giuseppe Grazioli [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Dedicated to Francis Poulenc, Vittorio Rieti's First Piano Concerto formed part of his early success in Paris during the 1920s, the work's high spirits reflecting Rieti's recent marriage and the birth of his son Fabio. The Second Piano Concerto... |
CLAUDIO SANTORO
Santoro: Complete Piano Sonatas Alessandro Santoro [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Nov/2024 ] Written over a 46-year period, Claudio Santoro's six piano sonatas document the evolution of his creative and formal skills - together they present a survey of the composer's entire aesthetic development. Always radiating a forceful inner power and... |
FERRUCCIO BUSONI
Busoni: Doktor Faust Davide Livermore (director), Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Dietrich Henschel (baritone), Martin Piskorski, Marian Pop, Łukasz Konieczny, Dominic Barberi, Dan [ Naxos / 3 CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Doktor Faust, which Busoni considered a personal creative drama and which occupied him for over twelve years, was left incomplete on his death at the age of 58. He had searched for a dramatic subject that he hoped would represent the apex and... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello and Piano, Vol. 2 Gabriel Schwabe (cello), Nicholas Rimmer (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] After establishing a new genre with his Sonatas for Piano and Cello, Op. 5, Beethoven returned to it a decade later, working on his Sonata in A major, Op. 69 in parallel with his Fifth and Sixth symphonies. With its unexpected shifts of harmony and... |
FERENCZ LISZT
Liszt: Piano Favourites Goran Filipec (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Franz Liszt was a unique personality in the musical world of the 19th century. He was a model and inspiration for many generations of musicians and was magnificently successful as a virtuoso pianist, educator, composer and conductor. |
ENRICH JAQUES WOLFF
Wolff: Complete Songs, Vol. 3 Hans Christoph Begemann Klaus Simon [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Regarded as a first-rate but tragically neglected composer of Lieder, Erich J. Wolff has, until recently, only been familiar to a small number of music enthusiasts. The beautiful 1909 song cycle Neun Gedichte, set to texts by the composer's close... |
DANIEL AUBER
Auber: Overtures, Vol. 7 Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Dario Salvi [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] This seventh volume of Auber's overtures features the 'fairy opera' Le Cheval de bronze (1835). The overture expresses the magical and mystical dynamism of the story, while the 1857 opéra-ballet version presents an interpolated dance sequence,... |
JULES EMILE FREDERIC MASSENET
Massenet: Hérodiade Marko Mimica (bass-baritone), Nicole Car (soprano), Étienne Dupuis (baritone), Matthew Polenzani (tenor) [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 22/Nov/2024 ] Many years before Richard Strauss composed his opera on the subject of Salome and John the Baptist, Jules Massenet had explored the same relationship in Hérodiade. |
CHARLES IVES / FRANZ SCHUBERT / ROBERT SHUMANN
Ives: Orchestral Works Orchestra New England, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, James Sinclair [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 1/Nov/2024 ] Charles Ives was a master of miniatures, and this program brings together a miscellanea of numerous shorter pieces that includes seven world premieres. Embracing ragtime before it became a craze at the end of the 19th century, Ives' Four Ragtime... |
GABRIEL URBAIN FAURE
Fauré: Orchestral Works Pierre Fouchenneret (violin), Martin Johnson, Catriona Ryan RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Jean-Luc Tingaud [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Gabriel Fauré is best known for his Requiem and Pavane, but these are not typical of an output that focused largely on solo piano pieces, songs and chamber music, many of which were orchestrated by others. His Violin Concerto was never completed... |
JOHN RUTTER
Rutter: Brass at Christmas Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Black Dyke Band, Darius Battiwalla, Nicholas Childs [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] John Rutter is probably the most acclaimed and successful composer of carols alive today. His large selection of popular sacred choral pieces in the genre reflect and celebrate the Christmas story. Rutter's unerring sense of melody combined with a... |
FRANZ XAVIER GRUBER
Gruber: Ukrainian Christmas Solomiya Ivakhiv Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Serhii Khorovets [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Ukraine has a long and vibrant tradition of Christmas carols, whose melodies and meaning - now, more than ever - hold an important place in the hearts of the country's people. Some carols date back centuries and cover a wide variety of themes, but... |
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH / LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN / FERRUCCIO BUSONIVEN
Busoni: Piano Music, Vol. 13 Wolf Harden [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] The final volume in this acclaimed series of Busoni's piano music focuses on beginnings and endings. Early works and transcriptions are featured, plus a substantial body of music that Busoni wrote for his multivolume Klavierübung ('Piano Exercise').... |