The World of Classical Music NAXOS NEW ON FEBRUARY 2025
This Month’s Other Highlights
© 2025 Naxos Rights US, Inc.
NEW ON NAXOS | FEBRUARY 2025
8.574601 Release date: 14 Feb 2025
BUY NOW!
Sergey RACHMANINOV (1873–1943) Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 The Isle of the Dead Boris Giltburg, Piano Symphonic in scale and with great dramatic power, Rachmaninov’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor is an underappreciated masterpiece, depicting a tremendous range of human emotions. The turbulent and brilliant Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor is heard in the 1931 revised version which clarifies textures and streamlines the work, heightening its emotional impact. The Isle of the Dead employs Georgy Kirkor’s 1957 transcription which Boris Giltburg has revised significantly. Giltburg’s authority in Rachmaninov has been universally acknowledged, with his performances termed ‘characterful, sensitive and technically dazzling’ by BBC Music Magazine (Naxos 8.574528). Key features: • Boris Giltburg has been exclusive to Naxos since 2015, winning the Opus Klassik Award for Best Soloist Recording for his Rachmaninov concertos and Études-tableaux ; a Diapason d’Or for his Shostakovich concertos and his own arrangement of Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet . • Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 4 and the Paganini Rhapsody are on 8.574528: ‘Throughout this superb disc, Giltburg is a joy to hear, lightly pedalled, consistently on the qui vive, weaving and darting, with a delicious leggiero touch and crystal-clear articulation’ ( Gramophone ). • Piano Concerto No. 2 is on 8.573629: ‘Giltburg brings atmosphere and drama to the Études-tableaux , always serving Rachmaninov’s storytelling. The range of his playing – from colour to pacing to emotional shading and sheer heady propulsion – makes for compulsive listening’ ( BBC Music Magazine ). DIGITAL PRE-RELEASE SINGLE
Boris Giltburg © Sasha Gusov
Click to listen to Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28: III. Allegro molto LISTEN About Boris Giltburg, Piano Pianist Boris Giltburg is lauded across the globe as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter. He regularly plays recitals in the world’s most prestigious halls, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, London’s Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Giltburg is widely recognised as a leading interpreter of Rachmaninov, and to celebrate the composer’s 150th anniversary in 2023, he released the last album in his acclaimed Rachmaninov concerto cycle, which received a Choc de Classica award and a five-star review in The Times . In recent years, Giltburg has engaged in a series of in- depth explorations of other major composers, most recently Chopin, including three recitals at the Wigmore Hall.
Sergey RACHMANINOV Piano Sonata No. 2 II. Non allegro – Lento * Only available for download and streaming
9.40573 * Release date: 11 Jan 2025
2
NEW ON NAXOS | FEBRUARY 2025
Christoph Poppen © Matthias Baus
8.574637 Release date: 28 Feb 2025
BUY NOW!
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756–1791) Complete Masses, Vol. 4 Mass in C major ‘Dominicus’ Missa brevis in G major Missa brevis in F major Carolina Ullrich, Katharina Ruckgaber, Katharina Konradi, Sopranos Elvira Bill, Sarah Romberger, Altos Patrick Grahl, Paul Schweinester, Martin Mitterrutzner, Tenors Dominik Köninger, Jonas Müller, Mikhail Timoschenko, Basses Cologne Cathedral Vocal Ensemble Cologne Chamber Orchestra • Christoph Poppen Flanked on this recording by the Missa brevis in G major , the only example of a ‘Pastoral’ Mass by Mozart, and the emotive Missa brevis in F major , the precocious Mass in C major was composed at the age of only 13. It is a dramatic setting of sizeable proportions, with the Gloria and Credo themselves the length of a Missa brevis setting. The ‘Dominicus’ Mass shows a deepening of Mozart’s contrapuntal and harmonic language, with more adventurous and memorable melodies for the soloists. About Christoph Poppen, Conductor From the outset of his career as a conductor, Christoph Poppen ’s name has been synonymous with innovative programming and a wide-ranging commitment to contemporary music. Numerous guest conducting engagements have taken him to orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberger Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Detroit and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras, Wiener Symphoniker, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, New Japan Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg. Poppen is chief conductor of the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, the newly appointed music director of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and principal guest conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra.
Click to listen to Missa brevis in F major, K. 192: Kyrie LISTEN
Key features: •
MusicWeb International praised Vol. 2 of the series (8.574417): ‘Christoph Poppen leads a fine team of soloists, as well as the Cologne Radio Choir and the Cologne Chamber Orchestra … Lively tempi, light textures, and reserve characterise these small-scale, modern-instrument performances’. •
Meanwhile Gramophone wrote that ‘the soloists… impress throughout… pure-voiced Katharina Konradi is a worthy challenger in the ecstatic Christe and Et incarnatus est , the creamier mezzo of Sarah Romberger agile in the Laudamus te , and they combine well in the Domine and Quoniam ’. ‘Under Poppen, K.262 ’s Kyrie bowls along at quite a lick, its counterpoint muscular and surprisingly bouncy given the character of the text… soprano Carolina Ullrich is given space to float the ‘Figaro-anticipating’ Agnus Dei with serene eloquence’ ( BBC Music Magazine on Vol. 1, 8.574270).
•
Companion titles – Previous releases in the series
8.574270
8.574417
8.574514
Cologne Chamber Orchestra
3
NEW ON NAXOS | FEBRUARY 2025
Elena Tsallagova as Zdenka and Robert Watson as Matteo © Thomas Aurin
2.110774 Filming date: 18 and 23 March 2023 Filming venue: Deutsche Oper Berlin, Germany Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: Dolby Digital 2.0 and DTS-Surround 5.1 Language: German Subtitles: German, English, French, Japanese, Korean Region code: 0 (worldwide) No. of disc/s: 1 (DVD 9) Release date: 14 Feb 2025
BUY NOW!
Richard STRAUSS (1864–1949) Arabella Lyric comedy in three acts, Op. 79, TrV 263 (1930–32) Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal Part I of Tobias Kratzer’s Strauss triptych at the Deutsche Oper Berlin Sara Jakubiak, Elena Tsallagova, Sopranos Doris Soffel, Mezzo-soprano Robert Watson, Tenor • Russell Braun, Baritone Albert Pesendorfer, Bass Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Sir Donald Runnicles, Conductor Tobias Kratzer, Stage director
Key features: •
Tobias Kratzer won a number of special prizes in 2008 including First Prize at the International Ring Award Competition in Graz. Since then, he has directed numerous productions including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Götterdämmerung (Bremen, Weimar and
Karlsruhe) nominated for Best Production of the Year on several occasions, and his production of The Csárdás Princess (Kálmán) received a nomination for The Austrian prize for musical theatre. In 2018, Die Deutsche Bühne named him Director of the Year and he also won the Faust Prize for Best Opera Director for his production of Götterdämmerung in Karlsruhe. In 2020, the international magazine Opernwelt named him Director of the Year, and his production of Tannhäuser Production of the Year. • Conductor Sir Donald Runnicles is the General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival (Jackson, Wyoming), as well as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He was recently named Conductor Emeritus of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, having served as its Chief Conductor from 2009 to 2016. Maestro Runnicles enjoys close and enduring relationships with several of the most significant opera companies and orchestras, and is especially celebrated for his interpretations of Romantic and post-Romantic symphonic and opera repertoire which are core to his musical identity.
Richard Strauss’s Arabella is a lyric comedy that portrays hardships and obsessions in a society whose late-bourgeois values are crumbling. An addiction to gambling has driven the family of cavalry officer Waldner into financial ruin, and their only hope for salvation lies in marrying off their daughter Arabella into a wealthy family. Strauss’s orchestral opulence coupled with its period Viennese setting has seen Arabella perceived as a light-hearted comedy of errors, but Tobias Kratzer’s multi-faceted production also explores the disunity between its characters, spotlighting tensions that connect 19th-century Vienna to the present day.
Also available on Blu-ray video: NBD0182V Filming date: 18 and 23 March 2023 Filming venue: Deutsche Oper Berlin, Germany Picture format: HD 16:9 Sound format: PCM stereo 2.0 and DTS-MA Surround 5.1 Language: German Subtitles: German, English, French, Japanese, Korean Region: A, B, C (worldwide) No. of disc/s: 1 (BD 50) Release date: 14 Feb 2025
BUY NOW!
4
NEW ON NAXOS | FEBRUARY 2025
Anastasia Bartoli as Gloria , Alessandro Abis as Il Vescovo and Carlo Ventre as Lionetto de’ Ricci © Priamo Tolu Francesco CILEA (1866–1950) Gloria Dramma lirico in three acts (1907, revised version 1932) Libretto by Arturo Colautti (1851–1914), revised by Ettore Moschino (1867–1941) based on the play La Haine (1874) by Victorien Sardou (1831–1908) Anastasia Bartoli, Elena Schirru, Sopranos Carlo Ventre, Tenor • Franco Vassallo, Baritone Alessandro Abis, Ramaz Chikviladze, Alessandro Frabotta, Basses Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari Francesco Cilluffo Francesco Cilea is best remembered for his operas L’Arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur , but his final opera Gloria is a genuine rarity. Set in medieval Siena against the backdrop of conflicts between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, Gloria is a tragic tale of love and revenge that can be seen as a variation on the story of Romeo and Juliet. Filled with beautiful melodies accompanied by rich and refined orchestral sonorities, Gloria reveals itself after years of neglect as a precious masterpiece in this acclaimed production from the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. Key features: • Performing Gloria for the first time in Sardinia, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari are led in this production by maestro Francesco Cilluffo, a conductor and composer who is most admired by critics among his generation of young Italian musicians, and who is something of a Cilea expert, having already recorded a fine production of L’arlesiana (Dynamic CDS7688) released in 2015. •
8.660568 Release date: 14 Feb 2025
BUY NOW!
Click to listen to Act I: Or si rinnovi il bando dell’indulto! LISTEN
‘Cilluffo is an expert advocate. He’s an old hand in this repertoire, and it shows, with vibrant, responsive sounds from the Sardinian orchestra and chorus… It’s hard, too, to imagine a more persuasive Gloria than Anastasia Bartoli – a commanding, ardent stage presence with a rich Rioja of a voice’ ( Gramophone ).
About Francesco Cilluffo, Conductor Principal conductor of the Wexford Festival Opera, Francesco Cilluffo was born in Turin, where he graduated in conducting and composition from the conservatory, and music history from the university (DAMS). He holds a Master’s degree from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and a PhD from
• ‘Francesco Cilluffo… leads this attractively staged performance from the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, bringing Gloria to video for the first time… Anastasia Bartoli (Gloria) is a beautiful woman with an even and velvety soprano…’ ( American Record Guid e).
King’s College London. He later collaborated as an assistant with Michael Tilson Thomas, John Eliot Gardiner, Asher Fisch, John Mauceri and Lothar Zagrosek. Performances include L’Arlesiana in Jesi (recorded for Dynamic); the world premieres of Marco Tutino’s operas Le braci in Florence and Martina Franca and Miseria e nobiltà in Genoa; Tosca in Tulsa; Macbeth , Falstaff , Verdi’s Requiem and Manon Lescaut at The Grange Festival with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, among others.
Companion titles – Other Italian opera releases
2.110670 (NBD0117V)
8.660518-20 8.660531-33 8.660386-87
5
NEW ON NAXOS | FEBRUARY 2025
INCLUDES A WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING
8.579140 Release date: 28 Feb 2025
BUY NOW!
Massimiliano Caldi
Dmitry Yablonsky © Lusi Sargsyan
Alexey SHOR (b. 1970) Composer’s Notebook, Vol. 2 From My Bookshelf, Suite for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 * Flute Concerto No. 1 ** Behzod Abduraimov, Piano * • Jasmine Choi, Flute ** Kyiv Virtuosi Massimiliano Caldi * • Dmitry Yablonsky **
Click to listen to From My Bookshelf, Suite for Piano and Orchestra No. 2: II. Don Quixote LISTEN About Dmitry Yablonsky, Conductor Born in Moscow, GRAMMY Award-nominated cellist and conductor Dmitry Yablonsky ’s career has taken him to Carnegie Hall, Teatro alla Scala and Théâtre Mogador, among other such celebrated venues. As a conductor he has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, Mexico, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2010 he received the Diploma of Honorary Academician at the Independent Academy of Liberal Arts at the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has transcribed and edited works for cello which have been published by the International Music Company and Dover Publications.
A native of Ukraine, Alexey Shor now lives and works in New York. His music has received prestigious performances and recordings in collaboration with leading international musicians. Joining a long tradition of music inspired by literary sources, From My Bookshelf is a series of musical character portraits that range from the tortured soul of Quasimodo to the dashing D’Artagnan, with plenty of fantasy and romance in between. The engaging and virtuoso Flute Concerto No. 1 combines traditional Classical forms with unexpected harmonic language and intricate rhythmic vitality.
Key features: •
Award-winning pianist Behzod Abduraimov has performed with renowned orchestras worldwide, and his performances combine an immense depth of musicality with phenomenal technique and breath-taking delicacy, while Jasmine Choi has been lauded as the ‘goddess of the flute’ by The Korea Times and is one of the most celebrated flautists of our time, known for her virtuosity and refined interpretations and for several acclaimed solo albums.
Kyiv Virtuosi
Companion titles – Other contemporary Ukrainian music
• Based in the capital of Ukraine, the Kiev Virtuosi has gained national and international recognition from listeners and critics as one of the country’s leading orchestras. The Orchestra has built its reputation by bringing Western music to Ukrainian audiences and has also become known for its collaborations with outstanding contemporary composers and with many internationally acclaimed soloists and conductors. In this recording they are also conducted by Massimiliano Caldi , winner of the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in 1999 as well as the 2018 Gazzetta Italia Prize for the cross-promotion of Italian and Polish music within both countries.
8.579139
8.579061
8.574413
8.579098
8.579146
6
RETURN HOME
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
A Parisian in Paris Contemporary Works for Guitar BEFFA • KALAMPALIKIS • MATTON • OURKOUZOUNOV
BUY NOW!
PÉPIN • STEFANELLI • VILOTEAU Gabriel Bianco, Guitar • Quatuor Éclisses
This album presents a diverse selection of world premieres commissioned by the award-winning guitarist, Gabriel Bianco, from composers who have lived and worked in his native Paris. These range from the swirling Spanish motifs in Matthieu Stefanelli’s Ellipsis for four guitars, featuring the Quatuor Éclisses, to Camille Pépin’s hypnotic Autumn Rhythm and Thomas Viloteau’s festive A Night in Bastille – just a few of the highlights in this programme of new guitar music from the City of Light.
Click to listen to PÉPIN, C.: Autumn Rhythm
LISTEN
DIGITAL PRE-RELEASE SINGLE Thomas VILOTEAU (b. 1985) A Night in Bastille * Only available for download and streaming
8.579161 Release date: 28 Feb 2025
Companion titles – Other recommended recordings for guitar 8.572306 | 8.551485 | 8.574457 | 8.559948
9.50332 * Release date: 31 Jan 2025
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685–1750) Cello Suites, Vol. 1 Nos. 1, 4 and 5 Yasunori Imamura, Theorbo
BUY NOW!
Yasunori Imamura, whose recording of Bach’s complete lute works has been described as a ‘magnificent interpretation’ (Naxos 8.573936-37), turns his attention to the Cello Suites . Imamura has chosen to perform these iconic suites on the theorbo, the most important plucked instrument in the lute family, with a range very similar to the cello. Certain technical elements, such as the playing of arpeggios are, in fact, easier on the theorbo whose unique timbres and resonances bring a new sonic quality to these much-loved works. Key features: • Yasunori Imamura has recorded Bach’s complete lute works on 8.573936-37: ‘Magnificent interpretation of Yasunori Imamura’ wrote Ritmo , while Record Geijutsu wrote that it was ‘a new era’s masterpiece album!’ • Imamura is recognised as one of the prominent figures of the lute, both as a soloist and as a continuo player. His solo recordings have been awarded numerous accolades, including a Diapason d’Or for Weiss’s Lute Sonatas, Vol. 1 on the Claves label. He received the Cultural Achievement Award from the Canton of Solothurn (Switzerland) in 2010. Imamura has collaborated as a continuo player with artists including Cecilia Bartoli, Teresa Berganza, Marc Minkowski and many others.
8.574617 Release date: 28 Feb 2025
Companion titles – Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer 8.573936-37 | 8.557280-81 8.573625 | 8.573626
Click to listen to Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude
LISTEN
Daron Aric HAGEN (b. 1961) Everyone, Everywhere * An Irish Airman Foresees his Death ** • The Bixby Letter ** Gabrielle Barkidjija, Mezzo-soprano * Shavon Lloyd **, Bryan Murray *, Baritones • Amir Farid, Piano **
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
BUY NOW!
Every Voice Generations Choir * • The Cecilia Chorus of New York with Orchestra * • Mark Shapiro * Daron Hagen is a multi-award-winning composer with a lifelong commitment to emotionally accessible and heartfelt music-making. Everyone, Everywhere is a sweeping cantata composed to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Taking a variety of texts, it charts the articles of the Declaration, opening in fanfare optimism and ending in tenderness, to form a passionate cry for justice and peace. The other settings, utilising texts by W.B. Yeats and President Abraham Lincoln, are both ardent Daron Hagen inspired Opera News to declare, ‘to say that he is a remarkable musician is to underrate him. Hagen is music.’ Composer of 14 operas and three internationally laurelled composer-directed opera-films, 6 symphonies (major works for ASCAP’s 75th Anniversary, the New York Philharmonic’s 150th, the Curtis Institute’s 75th, Yaddo’s 100th, and the Seattle Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra), 14 concertos, chamber music and over 300 widely performed art songs, he is also a stage and auteur film director, librettist, conductor, collaborative pianist, and the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Duet With the Past. and intimate. Key feature:
8.579180 Release date: 14 Feb 2025
Companion titles – Daron Hagen, Composer 8.559914 | 8.559919 | 8.669049 8.559714 | 8.559657 | 8.669020-21
Click to listen to Everyone, Everywhere: I. Rude Awakening
LISTEN
7
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker