NEW ON NAXOS | NOVEMBER 2024
FERRUCCIO BUSONI 100 YEARS
Ferruccio BUSONI (1866–1924) Doktor Faust Olga Bezsmertna, Soprano • Daniel Brenna, Joseph Dahdah, Tenors Dietrich Henschel, Baritone • Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Bass Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Cornelius Meister
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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 summary of his entire career. The opera was completed by Philipp Jarnach in 1925. As the librettist, Busoni managed to avoid comparison to Goethe, and in favouring an open, discontinuous form ‘in panels’, he developed a unique structure cast in two preludes, an orchestral intermezzo and three scenes to investigate poetic questions of operatic artifice. Key features: • This was previously released by Dynamic on Blu-ray (57998) and DVD (37998) in March 2024. Of the production Gramophone wrote that ‘[conductor] Cornelius Meister [acquits himself well], conducting by turns with sensitivity and vigour, and capturing effectively the haunting, mysterious sound world of the piece.’ ‘The credit goes to the director Cornelius Meister: his is an accurate reading, which untangles Busoni’s score with clarity and continuous tension’ ( Corriere Fiorentino ). • The New York Times wrote that ‘Meister was most impressive with the orchestra offering a compelling performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony.’ The Washington Post called him ‘a real conductor working hard to convey a stream of musical ideas’, whilst the Financial Times said that ’Meister proved himself a master of conducting’. • Gramophone has written of Dietrich Henschel (baritone) that he is ‘at the peak of his career, this vastly experienced (in both opera and Lieder) German baritone encompasses the reflective songs with as much aplomb as he brings to the dramatic pieces.’
8.660531-33 Release date: 8 Nov 2024
Companion titles – Recent opera releases
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8.660563-64 8.660552-53 DYN-37998 (DYN-57998)
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Click to listen to Euerer Magnifizenz Verzeihung
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Claudio SANTORO (1919–1989) Complete Piano Sonatas Alessandro Santoro, Piano
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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 with expressive lyricism at their heart, the early sonatas explore twelve- note technique as a unifying element, transitioning to a distinctive Brazilian nationalist character by the Third and Fourth sonatas. The Fifth Sonata , from the end of Santoro’s life, is a synthesis of the various idioms he had used over the decades. This is the first complete recording of Santoro’s piano sonatas, performed by the composer’s son, Alessandro Santoro. Key features: • This release joins three volumes of Claudio Santoro’s symphonies in this series, volume three of which (8.574410) contains ‘powerful and strongly articulated pieces’ ( MusicWeb International ), while 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’. • Born in Rio de Janeiro, Alessandro Santoro has performed across Europe as a member of ensembles La Petite Bande and Orchestra of the 18th Century, and was founder of Den Haag Baroque Orchestra. His discography comprises 22 albums, with his release of works by Leclair, alongside Luís Otávio Santos and Ricardo Rodríguez Miranda, receiving a Diapason d’Or.
8.574486 Release date: 22 Nov 2024 Companion titles – The Music of Brazil series
Click to listen to Piano Sonata No. 2: I. Allegro
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