The World of Classical Music NAXOS NEW ON
DECEMBER 2025 UK release date: 5 th
This Month’s Other Highlights
Naxos Music UK Ltd North Suite, 3rd Floor, Forum House, 41-51 Brighton Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 6YS Tel: 01737 645600 · Fax: 01737 644065 · Email: info@naxosmusic.co.uk © 2025 Naxos Rights US, Inc.
NEW ON NAXOS | DECEMBER 2025
Giancarlo Guerrero © Matthew Holler
Click to listen to COREA, C.: Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra: I. A Stroll LISTEN Brass Concertos COREA • HIGDON • WARNAAR José Sibaja, Cornet Joseph Alessi, Paul Jenkins, Derek W. Hawkes, Trombones Steven Brown, Bass trombone • Gilbert Long, Tuba Nashville Symphony • Giancarlo Guerrero This album represents part of Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony’s mission to expand the contemporary American concerto repertoire, with each of these three works spotlighting a different facet of the relatively underexplored brass instrument family. Brad Warnaar’s Cornet Concerto draws on a rich heritage of 19th-century band music with wit and heartfelt homage, while Chick Corea’s Trombone Concerto , his final completed composition, fuses lyricism, jazz spontaneity, and orchestral drama. Jennifer Higdon’s Low Brass Concerto honors the spirit of this orchestral section through a majestic single-movement work of clarity and resonance. All of these pieces expand the expressive possibilities of the brass concerto in ways that are both surprising and deeply engaging.
8.559895 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
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About Giancarlo Guerrero, Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero is a six-time GRAMMY Award-winning conductor known for his imaginative programming. As music director for the Nashville Symphony for 16 seasons, he championed contemporary American music through commissions, recordings and performances. Under his leadership, the Nashville Symphony premiered 24 works by composers including Béla Fleck, Ben Folds, Jennifer Higdon, Hannibal Lokumbe, Terry Riley, Wayne Shorter and Victor Wooten. He also helped launch the Composer Lab and Workshop with Aaron Jay Kernis, supporting emerging American composers. Currently serving as music director for Sarasota Orchestra and Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, Guerrero is also a sought-after guest conductor who has led numerous orchestras, including the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Sydney and Frankfurt Symphonies; The Philadelphia Orchestra; and the New York and London Philharmonics.
Key features: •
The soloists for this recording come straight out of the top drawer of brass players. José Sibaja (Warnaar) makes his Naxos debut here, and is one of the most versatile and highly acclaimed trumpet players of his generation with worldwide concerts and broadcasts in the classical, Latin, jazz and pop musical genres. Joseph Alessi (Corea) is trombonist with the New York Philharmonic with a distinguished solo and recording career, including his Naxos album Return to Sorrento (8.570232) and performance of Stephen Gryc’s trombone concerto Passagi (8.572109). Higdon’s Low Brass Concerto is expertly played by musicians from the Nashville Symphony’s renowned brass section.
Nashville Symphony
Companion titles – Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony
• Given their remarkable track record on the Naxos label, each new release of contemporary repertoire performed by the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero has now become something of an event. Their recording of Michael Daugherty’s Metropolis Symphony 8.559635) was a multiple GRAMMY Award winner and considered ‘terrifically entertaining’ by ClassicsToday.com , as well as a recording of Christopher Rouse’s Fifth Symphony and two other works (8.559852) on which MusicWeb International reported that ‘all three performances are excellent as Giancarlo Guerrero draws utterly splendid playing from the Nashville Symphony’.
8.559635
8.559852
8.559854
SEP 2025
8.559823
8.574267
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NEW ON NAXOS | DECEMBER 2025
8.574654 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
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Marek Štilec
Click to listen to Cyrano de Bergerac, Op. 55: III. Allegro – Tempo di Valse LISTEN
Josef Bohuslav FOERSTER (1859–1951) Symphony No. 2 Cyrano de Bergerac Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra Marek Štilec Josef Bohuslav Foerster was a pivotal figure in Czech musical history and a lifelong friend of fellow German-speaking Bohemian, Gustav Mahler. Foerster’s Symphony No. 2 , dedicated to the memory of his sister, Marie, achieves a satisfying unity, with its sombre qualities eloquently transformed into a fervent apotheosis. Cyrano de Bergerac was Foerster’s most successful orchestral piece and is a perfect example of his late-Romantic finesse. Conceived as an autonomous work not intended as incidental music, its ‘five symphonic images’ each relates to a specific place in the drama. Key features: • Vol. 1 is on 8.574336. It contains Symphony No. 1 and other orchestral works. Fanfare wrote, ‘The combination of Štilec conducting the Janáček Philharmonic in these works by Foerster is a winning one. …the performances strike a very fine pose, the recording is excellent, and the price is right’. • Foerster’s Symphony No. 4 can be heard on 8.557776 coupled with the Festive Overture, Op. 70 (which is also on the latest release) and My Youth, Op. 44 . This won a 3-star review in the Penguin Guide : ‘The American conductor Lance Friedel is obviously committed to this music and gets a very good response from the Slovak orchestra. Recommended with enthusiasm’.
About Marek Štilec, Conductor Czech conductor Marek Štilec is known as an interpreter of Classical orchestral repertoire and is a specialist in Czech Romantic and contemporary music. He has collaborated with orchestras the world over, including the New World Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, London Classical Soloists, Orchestra of the Swan, Berlin Camerata, Kammerphilharmonie Graz and Sinfonietta Bratislava. A prolific recording artist, he has made over 30 albums for labels including Naxos, ArcoDiva, cpo and Supraphon. In the field of historically informed performance Štilec has collaborated with ensembles including Czech Ensemble Baroque and Ensemble 18+.
Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra
Companion titles – Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Composer
Marek Štilec, Conductor
8.557776
8.574336
8.574120
8.574226
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NEW ON NAXOS | DECEMBER 2025
Noel Edison © Sophie Hogan
Click to listen to Immortality LISTEN
8.574629 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
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Timothy CORLIS (b. 1972) Immortality Choral Works The Edison Singers • Noel Edison
About The Edison Singers The Edison Singers is a Canadian all-professional chamber choir. The ensemble was founded in 2019 by Dr Noel Edison, and under his direction has quickly become known for its rich, warm sound, versatility, dexterity and clarity of texture. Annual auditions are held for current and aspiring choristers, which ensures the preservation and integrity of this trademark sound. At home in Elora and across Southwestern Ontario, The Edison Singers produce live performances, along with outreach and educational programmes which help promote and increase the public’s understanding, interest and appreciation of excellent choral music in senior citizens’ homes, churches, community centres and learning institutions. The Edison Singers, which has been praised as one of the finest chamber choirs in Canada, is committed to presenting Canadian repertoire and collaborating with other artists from across Canada and around the world.
Timothy Corlis is a JUNO-nominated composer hailed for his music’s depth, passion and colour. His Missa Pax , a major work, reinterprets the liturgical tradition giving it new expression and vitality. Corlis is also devoted to social change, with activism at the core of his creativity. In Loveliest of trees , a setting of A. E. Housman’s poem of the same name, he celebrates nature’s beauty and bounty. The place of the divine feminine in the birth of Christ is reflected upon in O magnum mysterium ; the dynamism of New York City is the inspiration behind Immortality ; and In paradisum reminds us that paradise is often experienced on earth. Noel Edison has produced over 26 recordings under the Naxos label with his various choirs. A number of these recordings have earned nominations for both GRAMMY and JUNO awards. • Edison has long been recognised as one of the leading choral conductors in Canada and is the recipient of numerous distinguished awards including the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. • The work O magnum mysterium is a short Responsory at Matins for Christmas Day and should be pitched for seasonal playlists. Key features: •
Companion titles – Noel Edison, Conductor
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8.573861
8.573720
8.572978
The Edison Singers
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NEW ON NAXOS | DECEMBER 2025
8.574485 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
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Margarita Gritskova and Maria Prinz © Michael Pöhn
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797–1848) Songs La ninna-nanna • Le petit montagnard Ah, rammenta, o bella Irene • La mère et l’enfant Margarita Gritskova, Mezzo-soprano Maria Prinz, Piano Known primarily as a prolific opera composer, Gaetano Donizetti also wrote nearly 300 songs, which were destined for intimate gatherings of friends, professionals and wealthy amateurs. Though Donizetti was seemingly blasé about his songs, they contain much of interest. Their melodic beauty and structural surety are invariably captivating, whether in ballades or canzonettas, theatrical ariettas, or poignant love laments. Setting poets from Pietro Metastasio to his contemporaries allowed Donizetti full rein to explore a wide variety of subject matter with wit, sentiment, long vocal lines, and quasi- orchestral piano accompaniment. A digital-only single of Lamento per la morte di V. Bellini is also available to stream and download (9.70399). Key features: • Mezzo-soprano Margarita Gritskova won the Luciano Pavarotti Singing Competition in Modena and the International Singing Competition Villa de Colmenar in Spain. She has recorded solo song albums for Naxos: her Shostakovich album is on 8.574031 – ‘As a follow-up to their outstanding disc of Prokofiev songs, mezzo Margarita Gritskova and her supportive, insightful pianist Maria Prinz offer a carefully curated collection of twenty short vocal pieces by Shostakovich… Gritskova and Prinz are ideal guides’, wrote Opera News . • Her Russian Songs album is on 8.573908, once again with accompanist Maria Prinz: ‘Gritskova shows wonderful vocal technique with even tone production at all dynamic levels across her range, gleaming top notes, and a smooth legato quality. Maria Prinz offers excellent pacing for the programme and brings out the dark textures of the piano writing’, wrote American Record Guide .
Click to listen to La lontananza LISTEN
About Margarita Gritskova, Mezzo-soprano Margarita Gritskova has appeared in all the principal mezzo- soprano roles in the Mozart and Rossini repertoires, and after appearing as Masha in Eötvös’s Three Sisters , the composer dedicated his romance Bitterness to her, based on the poem by Marina Tsvetaeva. Recent highlights include her celebrated debut as Eboli in Don Carlos at the 2023 Operklosterneuburg, and the same role at the Finnish National Opera Helsinki in 2025. She returned to the Operklosterneuburg in 2024 as Eboli, where she also appeared as Adalgisa in Norma . Her discography includes three critically acclaimed albums of songs by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich together with the pianist Maria Prinz for Naxos.
Gaetano DONIZETTI Lamento per la morte di V. Bellini * Only available for download and streaming
9.70399 * Release date: 5 Dec 2025
Companion titles – Recordings featuring Margarita Gritskova and Maria Prinz
8.574030
8.574031
8.573908
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NEW ON NAXOS | DECEMBER 2025
8.579166 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
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Pietro Locatto and Eugenio Della Chiara © Amati Bacciardi
Click to listen to 12 Danzas españolas: No. 5. Andaluza LISTEN
Enrique GRANADOS (1867–1916) 12 Danzas españolas Azulejos Guitar Duo – Eugenio Della Chiara • Pietro Locatto
About Eugenio Della Chiara, Guitar Between 2020 and 2023, Eugenio Della Chiara recorded three albums for Decca, and in 2024 released his first album on Naxos, which featured the guitar works of Gaspar Cassadó and Frederic Mompou (8.579103). He also collaborates with actor Alessio Boni, violinist Piercarlo Sacco, pianist Alberto Chines, guitarist Pietro Locatto and tenors Juan Francisco Gatell and Mert Süngü. Della Chiara has been artistic director of the chamber music series MUN – Music Notes in Pesaro since 2005. In 2024 he was appointed full professor of guitar at the Conservatorio di Musica Lucio Campiani in Mantua. About Pietro Locatto, Guitar A scholar of the De Sono Associazione per la Musica, Pietro Locatto has won several international competitions, including First Prize at the Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award in Lugano. Awarded the ‘young promise’ Golden Guitar at the Convegno Internazionale di Chitarra in Milan, he has collaborated with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma and the Orchestra Sinfonica d’Este in Ferrara, and has performed in festivals across Italy, Europe, Australia and Mexico. In recent years, he has focused on recording projects that have been praised by critics in Italy and abroad, ranging from original early-20th-century Spanish repertoire to Bach transcriptions and works by Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Barrios.
Enrique Granados was one of the leading figures of the late-19th- century Spanish nationalist and impressionist school of musicians. The much-loved Danzas españolas is a collection of piano pieces that represents Granados’s refined blend of Romantic lyricism and Spanish folk imagery. This charming and charismatic journey through Spain is presented here in a colourful transcription for two guitars. Fabio Rizza’s 2024 arrangement of the evocative Capricho español completes the programme. Key features: Enrique Granados’ Danzas españolas have long been highly popular as a collection of piano pieces, as well as in arrangements that range from full orchestra to guitar solo. The Azulejos Guitar Duo ’s new guitar duo transcription of this collection was inspired by guitarist Miquel Llobet’s 1924 duo arrangements of two of Granados’ Danzas , and these Italian guitarists build on this example with the widened expressive and dynamic range offered by this chamber-music setting to create a superb new complete guitar duo version of this much- loved classic of the Spanish repertoire.
Companion titles – Recommended guitar works
8.579103
8.574191
8.574004
8.579161
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NEW ON NAXOS | DECEMBER 2025
Alexey SHOR (b. 1970) Composer’s Notebook, Vol. 6 Cello Concertos Nos. 2 1 and 3 2
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Humoresque 3 • Two Songs for My Kids 4 Narek Hakhnazaryan 1,2 , Dmitry Yablonsky 3,4 , Cellos Kyiv Virtuosi Sergey Smbatyan 1,3,4 • Daniel Raiskin 2
The two cello concertos in this volume ( Cello Concerto No. 1 is on 8.579142) reveal both the lighter and darker sides of Alexey Shor’s musical imagination. Concerto No. 2 was composed during a Covid-19 lockdown, and for all its lushness and soaring melodies, displays a profoundly melancholic element rare in Shor’s oeuvre . The Cello Concerto No. 3 is a captivating, lyrical and harmonically rich addition to the repertoire. The charming Humoresque is an early work bridging Classical tradition with contemporary sensibility. Key features: • Dmitry Yablonsky is a GRAMMY Award-nominated cellist and conductor. He has transcribed and edited works for cello which have been published by the International Music Company and Dover Publications. • Narek Hakhnazaryan won the First Prize and Gold Medal at the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition at the age of 22. Hakhnazaryan has been awarded an honourable Movses Khorenatsi medal for outstanding achievements in the field of culture and the title of Honoured Artist of Armenia. • Alexey Shor ’s Composer’s Notebook, Vol. 4 is on 8.579142: ‘This concerto is interesting and pleasant to listen to, and it is played attractively here…Zia Hyunsu Shin plays brilliantly, and she is well accompanied by the Kyiv Virtuosi under Massimiliano Caldi’, wrote Pizzicato .
8.579144 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
Companion titles – Previous releases in the series
8.579139
8.579140
8.579141
Click to listen to Cello Concerto No. 3: III. Allegro
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8.579143
8.579142
Robert SCHUMANN (1810–1856) Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847) Violin Concertos Albrecht Menzel, Violin Leipziger Symphonieorchester • Robbert van Steijn
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Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor , composed over an extended period and in collaboration with its dedicatee Ferdinand David, was an instant success at its premiere. The concerto’s glorious melodic invention and innovative character have made it one of the most beloved works in the classical canon. Dramatic in mood and troubled in its history, Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto is regarded by soloist Albrecht Menzel as revealing the composer’s inner world, from the deepest anguish to the heights
of exhilaration. Key features: •
Violinist Albrecht Menzel has won Grand Prix and First Prize at the International Lipinski Violin Competition in Poland and was a top prize winner at the renowned Premio Paganini Competition in Genoa and the David Oistrakh Competition in Moscow. Menzel has performed widely as a soloist and chamber musician in prestigious venues and with internationally acclaimed orchestras and conductors throughout Europe, the US and beyond. • Robbert van Steijn has been chief conductor and general music director of the Leipzig Symphony Orchestra since September 2021, directing them in symphony concerts as well as operas, operettas and film music performances. The Leipzig Symphony Orchestra is Saxony’s cultural ambassador, and has a significant impact on the music scene through its subscription series in the Leipzig area and partnerships with the region’s major concert halls and festivals.
8.551489 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
Companion titles – Other violin concertos
8.559952
8.574107
8.574089
8.573734
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RETURN HOME
William SHIELD (1748–1829) Complete Chamber Works, Vol. 2 String Trios Nos. 1–9 The Dorrit Ensemble
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English composer William Shield was famous for his operas and pantomimes. He was admired by Haydn who was to prove a lasting influence, and rose to become Master of the King’s Music despite coming from a relatively poor background. His String Trios from 1791 were written in Rome and mark a striking new level of compositional attainment in the English chamber music repertory of the time. Shield’s scores are studded with an enlightened cosmopolitanism, encoding Spanish, Russian, Slavonic and Haydnesque elements, cast in his ingenious and lyrically attractive blend of styles. Key features: • The Dorrit Ensemble has been performing regularly throughout Australia and New Zealand since 2019. • Violinist Elizabeth Layton was winner of the UK Concert Artists Trust Competition and has performed as a soloist with major orchestras worldwide. Her recordings include the complete Beethoven piano trios (nominated for a Gramophone Award) and violin and piano works by Schubert ( Daily Telegraph CD Choice). She was Associate Leader of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and Concertmaster of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (1997–2010). • Violist Caroline Henbest was violist of the highly acclaimed Mistry String Quartet (resident at the University of York) and the Scottish Ensemble. Caroline Henbest , Elizabeth Layton and Edith Salzmann
8.574444 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
Companion titles – Other works for string trio
8.574446
8.551406
Click to listen to String Trio No. 7 in G major: III. Rondo: Allegro
LISTEN
8.557895
8.551417
Dušan BOGDANOVIĆ (b. 1955) Guitar Works Rossignol • Folia Variations • Big Band Suite • Winter Variations Sonatina ‘Homage to J. Haydn’ • Variaciones casi latinas Lux et umbra (Five Ricercars) • Sonata No. 1 Daniela Rossi, Guitar
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Dušan Bogdanović, an award-winning guitarist who gave his highly acclaimed debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 1977, has been described by Guitar Review Magazine as ‘a composer of masterful craft with a genuine clarity and purity of vision’. Bogdanović sees this recording as a ‘multidimensional diary’ of his works from 1977 to 2024, from the Balkan folk influences of the early Sonata No. 1 via the jazz and world music of his middle period, to the emotional and spiritual reconciliation of joy and sorrow in Lux et umbra , a work dedicated to guitarist Daniela Rossi. Key features: • Dušan Bogdanović ’s name is one that all classically trained guitarists will encounter at some point in their training and career, and the popularity of his music is reflected in concert programmes all over the world and a stunningly wide-ranging multitude of recordings. This new recital includes six world premieres, with recent works dedicated to the ‘brilliant co-author’ of his musical diary, guitarist Daniela Rossi . This is a recording inspired by the composer’s presence and stamped with an undeniable seal of authenticity. • Previous Naxos recordings with music by Dušan Bogdanović include ChromaDuo’s What I Saw in the Water (8.574578), ‘an exciting mix of new music both compositionally interesting and highly enjoyable to all audiences’ ( This is Classical Guitar ), and Dúo Villa-Lobos with Music for Cello and Guitar (8.573761) playing his Quatre Pièces intimes in a programme that is ‘appealing and digestible, replete with beautiful melodies and nods to earlier music styles within contemporary settings’ (Classical Guitar ).
8.579177 Release date: 5 Dec 2025
Companion titles – Recordings featuring works by Dušan Bogdanović
8.574578
8.573761
Click to listen to Big Band Suite: II. Swing, moderato
LISTEN
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