NEW ON NAXOS | NOVEMBER 2025
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858–1924) Messa di Gloria Capriccio sinfonico Alejandro Del Angel, Tenor • Massimo Cavalletti, Baritone Aalto Theatre Opera Chorus • Essen Philharmonic Choir • Essen Philharmonic Orchestra Andrea Sanguineti
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Giacomo Puccini achieved global renown as an opera composer, but the choral, vocal and orchestral works recorded here reveal little-known aspects of his output, including several rarities. Puccini’s early training was in church music, with the Messa di Gloria a clear indication of his great talent. The recently discovered Preludio a orchestra shows his wider ambitions, with the Germanic influences of the Capriccio sinfonico resulting in music destined to reappear in operas such as La Bohème . The elegiac and prescient aria Ad una morta contrasts with the celebratory Inno a Roma , a rousing occasional piece that features plenty of Puccini’s characteristic melodic flourishes. A digital EP of the Preludio sinfonico and the Requiem is also available for download and streaming (9.70398). Key features: •
This recording marks Puccini Year 2024, with this programme from the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra dedicated to this composer in his least known works. The album offers a rare opportunity to experience almost all of the composer’s works for (chorus and) orchestra outside the operatic repertoire, many of which are now considered rarities and have almost completely disappeared from the concert stage. • German-Italian conductor Andrea Sanguineti is music director of the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Aalto Theatre in Essen, also being in great demand as an opera conductor at major European opera houses. In addition to his success in the opera world, Sanguineti has become renowned for a series of critically acclaimed performances on the podium of the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra with masterpieces by composers such as Mahler, Bruckner, Strauss and Tchaikovsky. Reinforced with the Aalto Theatre Opera Chorus and the Essen Philharmonic Choir as well as stellar soloists Alejandro Del Angel and Massimo Cavalletti , this is not only a fascinating and desirable programme of rarely heard Puccini, but a glorious showcase for one of Western Germany’s finest sources of musical expression. Click to listen to Messa a quattro voci con orchestra ‘Messa di Gloria’, SC 6: Credo: Crucifixus etiam pro nobis LISTEN
8.574685 Release date: 12 Dec 2025
Andrea Sanguineti
Alejandro Del Angel
Massimo Cavalletti
Companion titles – Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Aalto Theatre Opera Chorus
8.660253-54 8.573501
8.660078-79 8.660089-90
Essen Philharmonic Choir
Giacomo PUCCINI Preludio sinfonico Requiem * Only available for download and streaming
Essen Philharmonic Orchestra
9.70398 * Playing time: 14:57 Release date: 14 Nov 2025
Claudio SANTORO (1919–1989) Symphonies Nos. 13 and 14 Viola Concerto * • Concerto for Chamber Orchestra Gabriel Marin, Viola * • Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra • Neil Thomson
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Claudio Santoro’s late works are marked by great concision and considerable emotional density. The music on this album was written in the last months of his life. The Viola Concerto and the Concerto for Chamber Orchestra juxtapose restless energy and expansive – if at times desolate – lyricism. The powerful Symphony No. 13 shows Santoro’s mastery of orchestration and form at its peak, and the compact Symphony No. 14 was to be the last in a cycle widely acclaimed as the most significant of its kind ever composed in Brazil. Key features: •
This release is part of an ongoing project to record all of Claudio Santoro’s symphonies, launched with Vol. 1 (Naxos 8.574402) acclaimed in Gramophone : ‘The performances by the Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra under its principal conductor Neil Thomson are first- class, as is the quality of the recording.’ Vol. 2 (8.574406) ‘unquestionably reveals [Claudio Santoro’s] real stature as
8.574641 Release date: 12 Dec 2025
Companion titles – Claudio Santoro, Composer
a symphonist’ ( MusicWeb International ). These have been joined by Vol. 3 (8.574410), which contains ‘powerful and strongly articulated pieces’ ( MusicWeb International ), and Vol. 4 (8.574572), which was much admired in Ritmo : ‘As usual, the perfect sound quality enhances convincing performances by… the Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Neil Thomson…’. • Our recording of Claudio Santoro’s complete piano sonatas is also available in this edition (8.574486), considered by the American Record Guide as ‘a significant release of works by a composer who should be better known’. A further album with the Fantasias Sul América (8.574407) received support from Gramophone : ‘It would be truly wonderful if these works could become more widely known as a consequence of such fine recordings’. Click to listen to Viola Concerto: I. Allegro LISTEN
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