SCHOENBERG
Chamber Symphony No. 2 / Die gluckliche Hand / Wind Quintet Mark Beesley (bass) / Simon Joly Chorale / New York Woodwind Quintet / Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos Schoenberg Edition Vol 8 / CD - released 1/May/2008 ] The little-known Second Chamber Symphony ought to be the most popular of Schoenberg's later masterpieces. Neither "atonal" nor "twelve-tone", it contrasts a lush, melodious, dramatic first movement with a rapid and richly polyphonic second movement.... |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: Jeu de cartes (The Card Game) / Danses concertantes / Capriccio Mark Wait (piano) / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Philharmonia Orchestra / St. Luke's Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos Stravinsky Edition Vol 9 / CD - released 4/Jan/2008 ] "This compilation of material previously issued on Koch International Classics...continues Robert Craft's highly regarded series of Stravinsky works for Naxos. If you didn't purchase these earlier at full price, now is the time to take advantage of... |
Martin Craft
Silver and Fire [ Inertia Music / 2 CD - released 14/Aug/2007 ] This Australasian version of ‘Silver and Fire’ features newly designed artwork and a 9-track bonus disc, which features tracks from Craft’s debut EP plus B-sides to the UK singles. "...perfectly self-contained worlds that defy categorisation... |
STRAVINSKY
The Rite of Spring / The Nightingale Olga Trifonova (soprano) / Robert Tear (tenor) / Paul Whelan (bass-baritone) / London Symphony Orchestra / Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos Stravinsky Edition Vol 3 / CD - released 9/Nov/2005 ] “Composing The Rite, I had only my ear to help me. I heard and I wrote what I heard.” — Igor Stravinsky |
SCHOENBERG
Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5 / Erwartung, Op. 17 Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos Schoenberg Edition Vol 9 / CD - released 1/Sep/2008 ] Schoenberg's polyphonic tone poem Pelleas und Melisande is often compared to Debussy's opera based on the same text by Maurice Maeterlinck. According to the composer, "The first performance, 1905, in Vienna, under my own direction, provoked riots... |
STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky - Firebird (The) / Petrushka (Complete ballets) Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Craft, conductor [ Naxos SACD / SACD - released 17/Apr/2005 ] "This is a fine performance, keeping a rhythmic forward motion while expressing the sensual textural richness of the orchestral writing." (MusicWeb Sept 2005) |
Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Craft, conductor
Stravinsky-The Firebird (complete original version) / Petrushka (1947 version) [ Naxos / CD - released 10/May/2005 ] One of the many differences between the present recording and its predecessors is the restoration of two long, valveless trumpets on stage, each playing a single note. The clarion sonority of these instruments standing out above the entire orchestra,... |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: Mass / Cantata / Symphony of Psalms Gregg Smith Singers / Philharmonia Orchestra / St. Luke's Orchestra / Robert Craft (Conductor) [ Naxos Stravinsky Edition Vol 6 / CD - released 25/Nov/2006 ] This disc of sacred choral music features the masterly Symphony of Psalms, which Stravinsky dedicated "to the glory of God". The composer himself wrote "It is not a symphony in which I have included Psalms to be sung ... it is the singing of Psalms... |
SCHOENBERG
A Survivor from Warsaw / Concerto for Violin and Orchestra / etc Rolf Schulte (violin) David Wilson-Johnson (narrator) Jeremy Denk (piano) / Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos Schoenberg Edition Vol 10 / CD - released 1/Dec/2008 ] This volume of Robert Craft's acclaimed Schoenberg series presents the composer's favourite of his own orchestral works, the Violin Concerto. |
STRAVINSKY
Histoire du Soldat Suite / Renard Rolf Schulte (violin) CharlesNeidich (clarinet) / Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble / Philharmonia Orchestra / St. Luke's Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos Stravinsky Edition Vol 7 / CD - released 6/Feb/2007 ] This is a unique collection of mostly short works that Stravinsky re-worked in different arrangements to suit the occasion. Pastorale, transcribed here for a quartet of oboe, clarinet, English horn, and bassoon, is one of Stravinsky's most popular... |
ANTON WEBERN
Webern: Vocal and Orchestral Works - 5 Pieces / 5 Sacred Songs / Variations / Bach-Musical Offering: Ricercar Tony Arnold / Claire Booth / David Wilson-Johnson / Simon Joly Chorale / Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble / Philharmonia Orchestra, Robert Craft [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Aug/2009 ] "Many of the performances are by the Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble, a group of veteran New York new-music players who could just as well call themselves the Robert Craft All-Stars…their interpretations reflect Mr. Craft's half century of... |
SCHOENBERG
Serenade / Variations for Orchestra / Bach Orchestrations Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble, Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Craft (Conductor) [ Naxos Schoenberg Edition Vol 4 / CD - released 9/May/2006 ] In an interview in Berlin, 6 October 1928, Schoenberg introduces his greatest orchestra piece, Variations, Op. 31, with a denigration of American sensibilities |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: Symphony in C / Symphony in 3 Movements / Octet / Dumbarton Oaks Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble / Philharmonia Orchestra / St. Luke's Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos Stravinsky Edition Vol 10 / CD - released 2/Feb/2009 ] "Some fine performances ..if you want these four pieces on a single disc - perhaps as a taster - this is an obvious and rewarding choice. Even the normally erudite Craft liner-notes are more relaxed than usual, making this issue even more attractive... |
STRAVINSKY
Duo concertant / Sonata for Two Pianos / Requiem Canticles / Abraham & Isaac / Élégie per viola sola Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble / Robert Craft [ Naxos / CD - released 30/Jun/2011 ] "It's the performances of the two late serial works [the Requiem Canticles and Abraham and Isaac] that make this disc worthwhile. Craft brings real urgency to these masterpieces, and a dramatic clarity in particular to Abraham and Isaac." (The Guardian) |
SCHOENBERG
String Trio / 4 Pieces for Mixed Chorus / 3 Satires / Suite Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble / Simon Joly Chorale / London Sinfonietta / London Symphony Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Apr/2010 ] "The performance has the right idea in not attempting to gloss over the discontinuities [of the String Trio]...[these players] give a good sense of the way angry expression dissolves into wistful lyricism at the end...Schoenberg's voice...is heard to... |
ANTON WEBERN
Webern: Symphony, Op. 21 / Six Pieces, Op. 6 / Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24 Various Artists including, Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble with Robert Craft, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 6/Mar/2005 ] Anton von Webern was born in Vienna on 3rd December, 1883, and died at Mittersill on 15th September, 1945. He was Arnold Schoenberg's most devoted pupil from 1904, and the closest friend of his fellow pupil, Alban Berg. |