NEW ON NAXOS | OCTOBER 2023
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
Heinrich August MARSCHNER (1795–1861) Overtures and Stage Music, Vol. 2 Prinz Friedrich von Homburg • Klänge aus Osten Kaiser Adolph von Nassau • Austin Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra • Dario Salvi
Heinrich Marschner developed his own distinctive operatic style that enabled him to become the leading German opera composer between Weber and the rise of Wagner. The works in this second volume of overtures and stage music (Volume 1 is on 8.574449) span much of his compositional life, from the early commission for Prinz Friedrich von Homburg , a work that explores ethical philosophy, to the sumptuous and varied excerpts from Austin . The stirring overture from his dramatic cantata Klänge aus Osten reinforces his orchestral mastery and sense of colour. Key Features: • Vol. 1 can be heard on Naxos 8.574449 with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice under Dario Salvi . ‘These performances are fine, and the [orchestra] plays its heart out. Dario Salvi seems to be making the rounds with music of this type, and he does a good job here. The sound is good too’, wrote American Record Guide. • Salvi has also recorded Bronsart’s Jery und Bätely ; ‘it may qualify as an important work by virtue of its being, allegedly, the first opera by a German female composer. That may be enough of an incentive for committed opera mavens to acquire this release’ ( Fanfare ). • Humperdinck’s music for the stage is available on Naxos 8.574177: ‘The performances are uniformly skilled and spirited. The singing from both the soloists and the chorus is excellent – lively in expression and accurate in pitch and phrasing. Salvi conducts with a flexibility most effective for theater music’ ( American Record Guide ).
8.574482 Release Date: 27 Oct 2023
Companion Titles – Dario Salvi, Conductor
8.574449
8.574478
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8.574335
Click to listen to Prinz Friedrich von Homburg: Act I: Entr’acte
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INCLUDES WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
Ivor GURNEY (1890–1937) Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3 Piano Sonata No. 2 – II. Adagio • Five Preludes • Autumn George Rowley, Piano
Ivor Gurney’s songs (Naxos 8.572151) have long earned him renown but his works for piano, composed over the period of a decade, are hardly known. The lyrically beautiful Five Preludes reflect influences as wide as Schumann and Scriabin but preserve Gurney’s expressive freshness. The Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3 inhabit very different sound worlds from each other, and only one movement of Sonata No. 2 has survived, a deeply poignant elegy – all of which are heard here in world premiere recordings. His poem for piano, Autumn , offers further opportunity to discover this rarely heard music by a composer for whom the pursuit of beauty was of the utmost importance. Key Features: • Gurney is best known for his songs and Naxos has a song recital available on 8.572151: ‘[There are] many favourites, and many discoveries here: none of them to be missed’ ( BBC Music Magazine ). His arrangement of The Trumpet can be heard on Naxos 8.573426 , coupled with works by Butterworth, Finzi and Vaughan Williams. Played by Philip Lancaster, BBC Music Magazine wrote that it is a ‘high point of this disc’. • Pianist George Rowley has performed throughout the UK and abroad, including appearances at the Winchester Festival, Holywell Music Room and the Liddell Concert Series. He has reached the final stages of many competitions including the Brighton and Hove Concerto Competition, the Intercollegiate Piano Competition (Beethoven Piano Society of Europe) and the Sir Ian Stoutzker Prize.
8.574479 Release Date: 27 Oct 2023
Companion Titles – English Piano Music
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8.557842
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Click to listen to Piano Sonata No. 3 in D minor: I. Moderato
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