THE WORLD OF CLASSICAL MUSIC NAXOS NEW ON JANUARY 2026
Naxos Music UK Ltd North Suite, 3rd Floor, Forum House, 41-51 Brighton Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 6YS Tel: 01737 645600 Email: info@naxosmusic.co.uk © 2026 Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd
Linda Hedlund © Mari Lehtisalo
NEW ON NAXOS | JANUARY 2026
8.579185 Release date: 30 Jan 2026
BUY NOW!
Linda Hedlund © Mari Lehtisalo
Finnish Works for Violin and Orchestra ENGLUND • FOUGSTEDT • HAAPALAINEN MERIKANTO • PALMGREN • RAITIO Linda Hedlund, Violin La Tempesta Orchestra • József Hárs This recording explores the emotional depth, colour and inventiveness of Finnish concertante works for violin and orchestra. The pieces range across the transitional landscape of the country’s national music during the 20th century, where mysticism, modernism, folklore and experimentation co-exist. Major figures such as Selim Palmgren and Aarre Merikanto are represented, as is charming film music by Einar Englund, writing under a pseudonym. Distinctive works by Väinö Haapalainen, Väinö Raitio and Nils-Eric Fougstedt complete the programme. About Linda Hedlund, Violin Linda Hedlund studied violin at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and Baroque violin performance at the Novia University of Applied Sciences. Performing internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, Hedlund has appeared with, among others, La Tempesta, Les Solistes de Monte Carlo and the Lohja City Orchestra, as well as at many prestigious festivals across Europe, and in Carnegie Hall, New York. Her performances have been broadcast internationally on radio and television. In addition to her career as a performing artist, she is also active as teacher, and has given masterclasses at institutions around the world. In 2006 she founded the annual Emäsalo Music Festival.
Click to listen to ENGLUND, E.: Romance LISTEN
Key features: •
Violinist Linda Hedlund has recorded Evening Dusk Serenade – lighter Finnish concertante works dating from the 1930s–1960s on 8.579095, again with the La Tempesta Orchestra conducted by Jyri Nissilä. ‘This [disc] is well- worth investigating, especially if, like me, you have a soft-spot for the genre, and occasionally want some nostalgic easy-listening music, while relaxing with an afternoon cup of tea or coffee, and perhaps an over-indulgent chocolate biscuit – or two’ ( MusicWeb International ).
József Hárs
• She has performed successfully as soloist and chamber musician at many prestigious festivals including Helsinki Festival, Turku Music Festival, Jyväskylän kesä festival (Finland), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Grafenegg Festival (Austria), Nancyphonies (France), Honart Festival Konzerthaus Wien, Teatro Bibiena, Mantova (Italy) and in Carnegie Hall, New York.
Companion titles – Other Finnish works
La Tempesta Orchestra
8.579095
8.553758
8.570069
8.574419
2
NEW ON NAXOS | JANUARY 2026
8.579182 Release date: 16 Jan 2026
BUY NOW!
Key features: • Christophe Dejour’s arrangements of music by Albéniz (8.557064) and Granados (8.557709) performed by Trio Campanella have won much acclaim, and his album The Art of the Classical Guitar (8.574259) presented his outstanding technique in world premiere arrangements of music by J.S. Bach, Gesualdo, Berg and Bartók. • Dejour has invested much time in research and investigative work to locate the manuscripts that have made Tales of Fate possible, and his practicality in modifying and revising some aspects of these scores to make them more playable will hopefully see these pieces taking on a more prominent role among the guitar’s standard repertoire in the future. Acclaimed guitarist Christophe Dejour brings together four works that were premiered many years after they were composed, due to unpredictable and, in some cases, fateful circumstances. Both Óscar Esplá’s ground-breaking Tempo di Sonata and Ignace Strasfogel’s monumental Prelude , Elegie and Rondo were written for Andrés Segovia but remained hidden for decades, while Alois Hába’s neglected Guitar Sonata is a fantastic work of the highest musical quality. Antonio José’s music was banned under the Franco regime in Spain, yet his extraordinary Guitar Sonata , composed in 1933 and only rediscovered in the late 1980s, is revealed as a true masterpiece. Tales of Fate 20th Century Rarities for Solo Guitar ESPLÁ • HÁBA • JOSÉ • STRASFOGEL Christophe Dejour, Guitar
Christophe Dejour © Poul Bergstrøm Hansen
Click to listen to HÁBA, A.: Guitar Sonata, Op. 52: III. Scherzando LISTEN
About Christophe Dejour, Guitar Christophe Dejour was born in Copenhagen in 1968 and educated at The Royal Danish Academy of Music as well as the École Normale de Musique in Paris where he studied with Alberto Ponce. Dejour has premiered works by Danish composers both in Denmark and abroad. He has appeared on radio and television, as well as on recordings of new Danish music. He has also worked as a concert organiser on several occasions and arranged music for the theatre. In 1997 Dejour founded the guitar ensemble Trio Campanella, which received international acclaim.
Companion titles – Christophe Dejour, Guitar
8.557064
8.557709
8.574259
3
NEW ON NAXOS | JANUARY 2026
Leó WEINER (1885–1960) Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 1 and 2 2 Romanze, Op. 14 3 • Ballade, Op. 8 4 Csaba Klenyán, Clarinet 4 • Júlia Pusker, Violin 1, 2 Ditta Rohmann, Cello 3 • István Kassai, Piano
BUY NOW!
Leó Weiner’s legacy as an educator influenced generations of Hungarian musicians for a half century. His early work as a composer was internationally acclaimed for its new engaging sound, resulting from a unique synthesis of German and French Romanticism allied to a Hungarian musical language. These chamber works with piano are some of the best of his early opuses, from the ‘classical nobility and deep poetic substance’ of the Ballade , to the dramatic and stunningly beautiful Violin Sonata No. 2 – two pieces that were popular and widely performed in their day. Key features: • This recording is an excellent reflection of Leó Weiner’s remarkable early success as a composer, with each work premiered by notable musicians and sometimes received to a stampede of acclaim. On its premiere the Ballade, Op. 8 was ‘rewarded with a thunderous ovation, and they had to play the whole ballad again’, which is a rare reaction both in 1912 and now. Weiner’s essentially conservative nature as a composer saw him overtaken in the 20th century by more progressive names, but this need not prevent us from appreciating his remarkably fine music today. • This release follows on from our album of Leó Weiner’s First Violin Concerto (Naxos 8.574707) that appeared in November 2025, also with violinist Júlia Pusker . Our catalogue also has Weiner’s complete orchestral music on 3 discs and his great symphonic poem Toldi (Naxos 8.573847).
8.574731 Release date: 16 Jan 2026
Companion titles – Leó Weiner, Composer
8.573847
8.574125
NEW
Click to listen to Romanze, Op. 14
LISTEN
8.573491
8.574707
Georges ONSLOW (1784–1853) String Quintets, Vol. 5 Nos. 14 and 24 Ensemble Telos
BUY NOW!
Georges Onslow’s reputation as the ‘French Beethoven’ was earned in the field of chamber music. His 34 string quintets build on a form perfected by Mozart, and are enhanced through Onslow’s suggested use of a double bass instead of a second cello, as heard in this recording. The String Quintet No. 14 in F major has an attractively genial quality, with distinctive themes contrasting with warmly emotive lyricism; String Quintet No. 24 in D major shows the influence of Beethoven in its theatrically dramatic moods. Key features: •
Previous volumes of our recordings of Onslow’s String Quintets have been a great success and were warmly received by the critics. Vol. 1 (8.573600): ‘Onslow is a composer of imagination and beauty, and these are highly interesting and worthwhile works’ ( American Record Guide ); Fanfare commented on Vol. 4 (8.574187), ‘This is music you don’t want to miss, in splendid sound’. • Ensemble Telos appears here in its Naxos debut, bringing a fresh perspective to the Romantic string quintets of George Onslow in this fifth volume of our complete edition, and uniting five distinguished musicians from leading international institutions. These include double bassist Matthew Baker, whose work on Georges Onslow’s quintets with Naxos Records is a core focus, bringing both performance and scholarship to the forefront of the quintet’s mission to illuminate this composer’s unique voice.
8.574709 Release date: 30 Jan 2026
Companion titles – Previous releases in the series
Natalie Lin Douglas , Patrick Yim , Matthew Baker , Jamie Clark and Eric Wong
8.573600
8.573689
Click to listen to String Quintet No. 14 in F major, Op. 37: I. Allegro moderato
LISTEN
8.573887
8.574187
4
NEW ON NAXOS | JANUARY 2026
Henrique Alves de MESQUITA (1830–1906) Piano Works Tangos, Polkas and Quadrilles Maria Teresa Madeira, Piano
BUY NOW!
Henrique Alves de Mesquita was a prolific composer who defied Brazilian society’s systemic exclusion of Black people to achieve prominence as one of the leading figures in the local musical scene of the 19th century. He was highly regarded for his sacred music and operas, which are rarely heard today. After study years in Paris, Mesquita turned his versatility and sophistication towards fashionable music theatre styles such as polkas, tangos and waltzes, conveying emotions ranging from contagious joy to gentle melancholy. It is these lighter pieces that are now considered by many scholars to be one of the main origins of modern Brazilian popular music. Key features: • Henrique Alves de Mesquita was renowned as a trumpeter, organist, conductor, teacher and composer in his day but his works are now virtually unknown, with no commercial recordings to be found in any of the current mainstream catalogues. With recent moves towards greater appreciation of Black composers, Mesquita is a prime example of a musician whose pieces demand to be rediscovered, and this highly entertaining and vibrant selection of dances and music-hall numbers could hardly be a better introduction to this undeservedly neglected composer. • Brazilian pianist Maria Teresa Madeira has appeared internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, including at the XVII Bienal de M úsica Brasileira Contempor â nea. Her discography encompasses over 30 solo and chamber albums, and in 2016 she released the boxed set Obra integral de Ernesto Nazareth , which won Best Classical Music Album at both the Premio da M úsica Brasileira and the Pr ê mio Bravo! de Cultura.
8.574571 Release date: 30 Jan 2026
Companion titles – The Music of Brazil
8.574118
8.574486
Click to listen to Quebra, quebra minha gente, Polka cateretê
LISTEN
8.574593
8.574595
Anton URSPRUCH (1850–1907) Romantic Piano, Vol. 6 Piano Works 5 Morceaux • Cavatine und Arabeske Variationen über ein eigenes Thema María Linares, Piano
BUY NOW!
A native of Frankfurt, Anton Urspruch was a student of Joachim Raff, later becoming one of Liszt’s favourite protégés. Urspruch’s style was more aligned with Mendelssohn and Beethoven, however, and he proclaimed that ‘you can’t understand modern music if you don’t understand Bach’. The Cavatine und Arabeske are delightful salon pieces, while the Variationen form an extensive canvas that revels in contrasting moods and constructional ingenuity. The short but emotionally packed Cinq Morceaux stand at the apex and final flowering of purely Romantic pianism in Europe. Key features: • We launched our Romantic Piano series in September 2025 with works by Julius Benedict on Naxos 8.574586. With numerous world premiere recordings, this series explores and promotes little-known composers and unusual repertoire. Further volumes present rarely heard music by Charles Gounod, works by Friedrich Kiel, and piano sonatas by Wilhelm Taubert and Józef Wieniawski. • Appearing here in her Naxos debut, María Linares has performed across Europe and as a soloist with numerous orchestras. She has been named Music Ambassador for Spain by the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and, alongside a burgeoning concert career, is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma with Norma Fisher and Danny Driver at the Royal College of Music as a Constant & Kit Lambert Junior Fellow under a full scholarship.
8.574702 Release date: 30 Jan 2026
Companion titles – Previous volumes in the series
8.574586
8.574585
8.574534
NEW
Click to listen to Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 10: Variations 15–17
LISTEN
8.574583
8.574703
5
RETURN HOME
Antonio VIVALDI (1678–1741) Il Bajazet
BUY NOW!
Valeria La Grotta, Soprano • Loriana Castellano, Lucia Cirillo, Mezzo-sopranos Sonia Prina, Contralto • Raffaele Pe, Countertenor • Renato Dolcini, Baritone Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia Federico Maria Sardelli, Conductor
Il Bajazet was commissioned in 1735 to open Verona’s carnival season. Vivaldi chose a libretto by Agostino Piovene drawn from the well-known story of the defeated Ottoman sultan, King Bajazet, captured by Tamerlane who duly falls in love with Bajazet’s proud daughter, Asteria. Vivaldi was in his late maturity when he completed the opera, modifying his music to suit contemporary taste, and using the pasticcio form, incorporating some arias written by other, mostly Neapolitan, composers. Repurposing of this kind was wholly acceptable at the time and such works enjoyed great popularity. The conductor and Vivaldi specialist, Federico Maria Sardelli, has integrated lost arias, clarified the use of historically appropriate orchestration, and brought the opera to rich theatrical life. Key features: • This is a recording first issued on Dynamic DVD (DYN-38056) and Blu-ray (DYN-58056). •
8.660616-18 Release date: 16 Jan 2026
Companion titles – Other Italian opera recordings
Renato Dolcini sings the title role, and Italian opera of the 17th and 18th centuries is central to his repertoire. He has sung major roles at the Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne, Amsterdam, etc., and works with some of the world’s most sought-after directors:
Renato Dolcini
Graham Vick, Robert Carsen, Moshe Leiser et Patrice Caurier, Barrie Kosky, Pierre Audi. The New York Times wrote, ‘Renato Dolcini fully embodies Orlando’s mad scene, and would certainly have burned up the stage – if there had been one’. • Of this production, Gramophone wrote that ‘ Raffaele Pe sings wonderfully as Andronico’ and that Sonia Prina is ‘a magnetic performer’ and Loriana Castellano ‘sings with coppery mezzo tone’ and Lucia Cirillo ‘ignites the vocal fireworks’.
8.660536-37
8.660603
Raffaele Pe
Sonia Prina
8.660582-83
8.660580-81
Click to listen to Sinfonia: Allegro – Andante molto – Allegro
Loriana Castellano
Lucia Cirillo
LISTEN
Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879–1936) Maria Egiziaca Francesca Dotto, Soprano • Vincenzo Costanzo, Tenor Simone Alberghini, Baritone Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia Manlio Benzi, Conductor
BUY NOW!
Ottorino Respighi’s Maria Egiziaca , described by the composer as a ‘mystery in three episodes’, narrates the life of Saint Mary of Egypt in a profoundly moving and deeply sensuous musical representation of Christian faith as seen through its various characters. This work, depicting Maria’s journey from prostitution to sainthood through sin, conversion and atonement, started out as a concert triptych and sits somewhere between an oratorio and an opera. The intensely dramatic and at times symphonic qualities of Maria Egiziaca are imbued with ancient Italian musical traditions, with two beautiful symphonic interludes separating the
three episodes. Key features: • This recording is a disc edition from Dynamic label (DYN-38050 [DVD] and DYN-58050 [Blu-ray]). • ‘This is a fine performance…under conductor Manlio Benzi , with the outstanding soprano Francesca Dotto in the title role and resonant bass Simone Alberghini .’ – BBC Music Magazine. • ‘The entire cast is good. The opera opens with the Sailor’s song (‘Giammai non mi conforto’), sung with ingratiating vibrancy by tenor Vincenzo Costanzo , who later appears as a leper. Simone Alberghini is compelling as the Pilgrim and the Abbot Zosimo… and Ilaria Vanacore brings solid tones to the Voice of an Angel and the Blind Woman’ (American Record Guide) .
8.660591 Release date: 30 Jan 2026
Companion titles – Ottorino Respighi, Composer
Manlio Benzi
Francesca Dotto
2.110571 (NBD0072V)
2.110655 (NBD0106V)
Simone Alberghini
Vincenzo Costanzo
Click to listen to Primo episodo: Intermedio I
LISTEN
8.574160
8.574013
6
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker