Naxos Classical Spotlight
Naxos of America
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Naxos Classical Spotlight explores the world of classical music. Along the way host Raymond Bisha shares the stories about the music, and the musicians who make it.
Available episodes
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May 25, 2023
Podcast: One genius through the eyes of another, an interview with Marin Alsop
Conductor and Naxos artist Marin Alsop discusses Robert Schumann’s four symphonies in the wake of her recordings of the works as reorchestrated by Mahler (8.574429 and 8.574430). Following observations about instrumental developments of the time, Mahler’s myriad tweaks to the score, and the somewhat bipolar flavour of the music (with counterpoint always at hand as a periodic stabiliser), she moves on to a detailed appreciation of each symphony, demonstrating Schumann’s distinctive contribution to the development of the genre “with one foot in the past, and one in the future.”
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May 15, 2023
John Corigliano's complete works for solo piano
Raymond Bisha introduces Naxos’ new album of the complete works for solo piano by leading American composer John Corigliano. During their conversation together, the composer gives insight into the creative genesis of all the works on the programme, which span a period of some fifty years: from the 1968 Piano Concerto (“The first piece I ever wrote for orchestra”) to Prelude for Paul, written in 2021 with an unusual conception. The solo pianist is Philip Edward Fisher, hailed by John Corigliano for his “consummate technique and great musical intelligence.”
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Nov 12, 2021
A forgotten treasure. Marin Alsop discusses Hindemith.
"A forgotten treasure. Marin Alsop discusses Hindemith.
This podcast features Marin Alsop in conversation with Raymond Bisha following the release of her first album for Naxos as chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. She assumed the post in 2019 and the programme reflects that of her first public appearance in the role. Marin's advocacy of Hindemith's music is rooted in her days as a violin student and her subsequent period of tutelage under Leonard Bernstein. The educational projects she initiated during her time with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra also feature in the broadcast."
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Oct 22, 2021
Paired to perfection. Tianwa Yang plays Prokofiev’s violin concertos.
Violinist Tianwa Yang marks her fifteenth year as one of Naxos’ leading artists with a new album featuring Prokofiev’s two violin concertos. The works’ stylistic contrasts reflect the fact that they were written some twenty years apart, but they receive the same scrupulous attention to technical and musical details that hallmark every one of Tianwa’s performances. Little wonder that they consistently attract accolades and awards. Fellow Naxos artist Jun Märkl conducts the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Raymond Bisha presents.
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Oct 7, 2021
Malcolm Arnold: Complete Symphonies and Symphonic Dances
An introduction to the Symphonies and Dances of composer Malcolm Arnold featuring conductor Andrew Penny who recorded all these works for Naxos. Arnolds orchestral works are a study in contrasts, from his optimistic and tuneful dance suites to his deeply personal symphonies.
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Sep 24, 2021
Mapping a musical monument. Giltburg’s Beethoven 32.
Raymond Bisha presents an overview of Boris Giltburg’s project to learn and record all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, which are now released in a 9-CD box set edition following their inception as critically acclaimed digital releases. The recordings reflect only one facet of Giltburg’s gem of an undertaking, in that performances were also filmed and subsequently fleshed out by his extended and informative notes that accompany the albums. Giltburg’s personal exploration and Beethoven’s panoply of expression unite in a cycle that runs the full gamut of human emotion.
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Sep 10, 2021
Versatilité sans frontières. Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint–Georges (1745–1799).
Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a brilliant swordsman, athlete, violin virtuoso and gifted composer, with a claim to being the most talented figure in an age of remarkable individuals. He was an early and important exponent of the hybrid symphonie concertante, a genre that draws on both the symphony and concerto traditions. In this podcast Raymond Bisha talks with Dr Allan Badley, co-founder of Artaria Editions, the music publishing house that has created performance editions for hundreds of previously unpublished 18th-century works, many of which have been recorded for Naxos.
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Aug 27, 2021
String Quartets from Jurgis Karnavicius
Lithuanian composer Jurgis Karnavičius was born in 1884, and became one of the early classical music leaders in his country. His 3rd and 4th string quartets were composed and first performed in the 1920's, and then ignored for decades. This podcast, and the new recording by the Vilnius String Quartet show why Karnavičius deserves to be remembered.
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Aug 13, 2021
Jazz idioms, classical structures. Symphonic works by Nikolai Kapustin (1937–2020).
Significantly influenced by his experience of playing in some of the earliest Soviet jazz bands, Nikolai Kapustin trained as a pianist at the Moscow Conservatory but subsequently devoted himself to composition. His output includes many works for piano, two of which are featured on this new album — the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra, along with his Chamber Symphony, Op. 57. Raymond Bisha introduces both the music and the propulsive energy of Frank Dupree who appears variously as piano soloist and conductor throughout the program.
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Jul 23, 2021
Music of Brazil. The Villa-Lobos violin sonatas.
Raymond Bisha prefaces his latest podcast with this introduction: “Heitor Villa-Lobos, the prolific Brazilian composer of some 2,000 works, conductor, cellist, guitarist and music educationalist, wrote his three violin sonatas between 1912 and 1920. When he wrote the first sonata, he was still a struggling young composer trying to make a name for himself, while playing all kinds of gigs to pay the bills. By the time he wrote the third sonata in 1920, he was a much more assured composer, and well on his way to international fame and success.”
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Jul 16, 2021
Camille Saint-Saëns. A symphonic collection.
French composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) is remembered as someone who could spin melodies as easily as he breathed. Naxos is marking the centenary of his death with a 3-CD box set that comprises all his symphonies and a sequence of atmospheric and dramatic symphonic poems, including Phaéton and the ever-popular Danse macabre. Raymond Bisha presents an overview of these recordings by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marc Soustrot, a noted French music specialist.
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Jul 9, 2021
The Power of Tower
With multiple GRAMMY nominations and wide critical acclaim to her credit, Joan Tower’s latest album in the Naxos American Classics series demonstrates why she is so often performed, and why she is such a respected person among American composers. Raymond Bisha presents the programme on her new release that comprises four world premiere recordings. Soloists Dame Evelyn Glennie (percussion) and Blair McMillen (piano) feature alongside David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony Orchestra.
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Jun 18, 2021
Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy (1744-1824). Piano sonata premieres.
Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy ran one of the finest salons in pre-revolution Paris. She was well educated and well connected, with a circle of friends that ran from Luigi Boccherini to Benjamin Franklin. She was also a fine composer. Because of the social norms of the day, however, her role within Parisian culture was restricted, and none of her music was published during her lifetime. Raymond Bisha presents the world premiere recordings of her piano sonatas by Nicolas Horvath.
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May 28, 2021
Dancing elegance, melodic flow. Overtures by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) was one of the most famous composers of the 19th century. Working with his lifelong collaborator, the renowned dramatist and librettist Eugéne Scribe, he gave definitive form to the uniquely French genres of grand historical opera (La Muette de Portici) and opéra-comique (Fra Diavolo). His overtures were famous all over the world, as much for their engaging titles (The Bronze Horse, The Black Domino, The Crown Diamonds) as for their dancing elegance and fluent melodies. Raymond Bisha introduces a new programme of overtures and entr’actes from Auber’s stage works conducted by Dario Salvi, a specialist in the restoration and performance of rare works, in particular those of Meyerbeer and Auber.
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May 14, 2021
Introducing guitarist Mabel Millán. From lyrical beauty to dramatic virtuosity.
Raymond Bisha introduces Spanish guitarist Mabel Millán in her debut album for Naxos. A fast-rising star in the guitar world, she has already appeared at international festivals and prestigious Spanish venues, and gained numerous awards at international competitions. Her combination of nuanced musicality and technical ease illuminate her programme, from the Andalusian rhythms and atmosphere of Turina and Malats and the Romantic expressiveness and national colours of Ponce and Mertz, to the lyrical beauty and dramatic virtuosity of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Capriccio diabolico.
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Apr 23, 2021
Music networking on the Inca Trails.
In this podcast, Raymond Bisha takes us on a journey across South America, making musical stops in the countries of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and Colombia. The Inca Trails that connected these lands and their people produced a sharing of ideas and cultures: ancient traditions of indigenous sounds and rhythms fused with cultural influences of European colonisers. The composers of the works on this new album — a number of which are receiving their first commercial recording — were all inspired by this musical legacy, by the people of their homeland, and by the land itself.
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Apr 9, 2021
Archivo de Guatemala. Where indigenous styles meet courtly life.
Raymond Bisha’s latest podcast finds him in conversation with world-renowned guitarist and lutenist Richard Savino who introduces his debut recording for Naxos that also features his renowned ensemble El Mundo. The focus of the album is a programme compiled from the remarkably fine music held in the archive of Guatemala City Cathedral, works that reflect the essence of Spanish colonies in Central and South America as wellsprings of cultural activity throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. While these recordings are founded on detailed research, El Mundo’s strong affinity with the stylistic features of this largely unknown repertoire ensures that their performances step well beyond any academic constraints to connect with the still living spirit of its original creators and audiences.
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Mar 26, 2021
Colour-contrast-surprise. The symphonies of John Abraham Fisher (1744-1806)
Described as having ‘natural genius’, John Abraham Fisher was a significant figure in London during the second half of the 18th century. A virtuoso violinist, he also wrote admired stage works for the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. His orchestral works are largely forgotten today, but his symphonies display a surprising awareness of contemporary continental trends in their use of dynamic variations, revealing the influence of the Mannheim School. Raymond Bisha introduces a selection of his symphonies that possess a richness of colour, contrast and surprise, typical of Fisher’s expanding Classical style.
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Mar 26, 2021
Colour-contrast-surprise. The symphonies of John Abraham Fisher (1744-1806)
Described as having ‘natural genius’, John Abraham Fisher was a significant figure in London during the second half of the 18th century. A virtuoso violinist, he also wrote admired stage works for the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. His orchestral works are largely forgotten today, but his symphonies display a surprising awareness of contemporary continental trends in their use of dynamic variations, revealing the influence of the Mannheim School. Raymond Bisha introduces a selection of his symphonies that possess a richness of colour, contrast and surprise, typical of Fisher’s expanding Classical style.
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Mar 12, 2021
Piano music by Aram Il’yich Khachaturian (1903-1978), ‘mouthpiece of the entire Soviet Orient’.
Aram Il’yich Khachaturian once described how he “grew up in an atmosphere rich in folk music, popular festivals, rites joyous and sad, events in the lives of people always accompanied by music… deeply engraved in my memory, that determined my musical thinking.” He remains the most renowned of 20th-century Armenian composers, whose unmistakable style came with an urge to invent new forms that reconciled Western practice with Eastern idiom. Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of his piano works performed by Maltese pianist Charlene Farrugia. Her programme comprises Khachaturian’s 2 Children’s Albums and the 7 Recitatives and Fugues.
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Feb 26, 2021
Villa-Lobos and the art of choral transcription.
Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of choral transcriptions by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) that forms part of Naxos’ Music of Brazil series. The programme represents part of Villa-Lobos’ efforts to create a body of music education resources, following his invitation in 1932 to set up an ambitious programme in the public school system in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The result was an amazing body of music for the benefit of both students and teachers, with choral music playing a central role. These choral transcriptions of classical favourites by composers that include J. S. Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Schubert and Mendelssohn enabled them to reach a far wider audience than in their original setting.
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Feb 12, 2021
Orchestral works by Žibouklé Martinaityté – a textural magician.
Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of orchestral works by Žibouklé Martinaityté (b. 1973). Born in Lithuania and now based in New York City, she was awarded both a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Lithuanian Government Award in 2020. The four works on the programme were written between 2013 and 2019 and employ a fascinating use of orchestral colour, leading New York’s classical music radio station WQXR to describe her as “a textural magician.”
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Jan 22, 2021
Hit and bliss. Dame Evelyn Glennie performs mallet percussion concertos.
Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of 21st-century mallet percussion concertos performed by virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong under Jean Thorel. The works by Alexis Alrich and Karl Jenkins put the marimba in the solo spotlight, while Ned Rorem’s 7-movement Mallet Concerto — written in 2003 and presented here in its world premiere recording — features Dame Evelyn in dynamic displays on both marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel and xylophone.
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Jan 8, 2021
The art and craft of John Adams.
Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of orchestral music by the Pulitzer and Erasmus Prize-winning American composer John Adams. The two works on this new album from the Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero demonstrate why Adams is one of today’s most widely performed and recorded composers. Adams describes My Father Knew Charles Ives as “an homage and encomium to a composer whose influence on me has been huge”, while Harmonielehre expands his trademark minimalist style, retaining its energetic pulse but embracing rich tonal resources of the past.
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Jan 1, 2021
Bruckner’s Latin motets. Devotions of distinction.
Choral music formed an important part of Anton Bruckner’s output throughout his career, even though the genre was widely underappreciated by a public more inclined to large-scale symphonic and operatic works. Although the big-boned structure of such music also made its presence felt in Church masses and oratorios, there was always a need for smaller sacred choral works, not only because of listeners’ preferences but also because of pragmatic performance considerations. Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of Bruckner’s Latin motets that were composed to meet these demands, performed by the renowned Latvian Radio Choir conducted by Sigvards Kļava.
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Dec 25, 2020
Vítězslav Novák. Orchestral Works Vol. 1
Czech composer Vitězslav Novák (1870-1949), who was one of Dvořák’s composition students, rose to prominence with a series of increasingly ambitious orchestral works that fused elements of folk music, impressionism and late-Romanticism. Raymond Bisha introduces Vol. 1 of his orchestral works performed by Marek Štilec and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. The programme pairs the heady intensity of Toman and the Wood Nymph with the subtle folk song undertones of the South Bohemian Suite.
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Dec 11, 2020
Bernard Herrmann in the round
Raymond Bisha discusses a release of music by the American composer Bernard Herrmann with Joseph Horowitz, co-founder of PostClassical Ensemble, a group dedicated to stepping across normal repertoire boundaries. The album’s programme showcases Herrmann’s talents not only as a composer of film scores, but also as a consummate provider of music for the forgotten genre of radio plays, and a composer of consequence in his legacy of concert works.
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Nov 23, 2020
Simply unmissable
Once in a while you hear such incredibly beautiful music for the first time that you just can’t understand why it has remained under wraps for so long. The Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 by the Italian-born composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco are a case in point. Originally championed in the 1920s and 30s by no less an artist that Jascha Heifetz, they now have a 21st-century advocate in the brilliant Beijing-born violinist Tianwa Yang. Raymond Bisha introduces us to these hugely attractive concertos that bear the colourful and lyrical hallmarks of a prolific composer and seasoned writer of film scores.
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Oct 23, 2020
From elegance to wild abandon. Corelli & Co.
Raymond Bisha introduces a new release of Baroque violin sonatas by 18th-century Italian violinists trained in the tradition of Arcangelo Corelli, spreading his elegant, expressive and virtuosic style on their travels throughout Europe. Giovanni Mossi’s sonatas retain Corelli’s dramatic contrasts and structure, while Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli also incorporates features found in music by Vivaldi. Both composers’ works combine formal elegance with wild abandon, lyrical charm and virtuosity alongside plenty of room for improvisation from acclaimed soloist Augusta McKay Lodge.
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Oct 9, 2020
New medium. Same magic. Bach’s cello suites transcribed.
Raymond Bisha introduces recordings of J. S. Bach’s cello suites, transcribed for guitar and performed by Jeffrey McFadden. Bach himself made arrangements of other composers’ works, as well his own, recycling them for new uses, a practice that continues with these two new volumes. Pablo Casals (1876–1973), the eminent cellist who was pivotal in resurrecting the practice of giving complete performances of the original suites, summed up their importance: “They are the very essence of Bach; and Bach is the very essence of music.”
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Oct 2, 2020
Found in Translation.
Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds (b. 1977) has demonstrated his versatility by writing in a variety of genres, from orchestral and film scores to electronic and multi-media works. Choral music, however, features in much of what he does. The richness of texture and variety of colour in his music for choirs reflects his practice of dividing the vocal parts into as many as sixteen parts. This complexity in construction is counterbalanced, however, by the simplicity and beauty of the music’s expressivity. Raymond Bisha introduces Translations, an album of Ešenvalds’ music released in March 2020 and performed by the Portland State Chamber Choir under their conductor Ethan Sperry.
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Sep 25, 2020
Music by Hans Rott (1858-1884). A legacy of powerful potential.
No lover of classical music from the Romantic period should miss an opportunity to become acquainted with the music of Hans Rott, a little known composer (even in his day), but one who made a significant impact before his untimely death at the age of 25. Improbable though it may seem, it’s likely that not a single one of Rott’s works was performed in public during his lifetime. When Gustav Mahler is on record as having said that “It simply cannot be gauged what music has lost with him”, people can be confident that there are treats in store with the Capriccio label’s new edition of his orchestral works, a welcome opportunity to help correct Rott’s neglect and experience exactly what Mahler was referring to. Raymond Bisha presents.
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Sep 11, 2020
Peter Breiner’s Slovak Dances, Naughty and Sad
Peter Breiner is one of the world’s most performed composer/arranger/conductors with record sales in the millions and over 200 CD titles to his credit. Slovak Dances, Naughty and Sad, the latest of his many releases for Naxos, consolidates his outstanding reputation as an arranger. It features Breiner’s typically colourful orchestrations that include a wide variety of tuned and untuned percussion. It’s also an extraordinary mix of world music, improvisation and symphonic composition, enhanced by the involvement of acclaimed specialist soloists such as multi-instrumentalist Marian Friedl and virtuoso accordionist Boris Lenko. This really is a hit not to be missed. Raymond Bisha is your host.
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Sep 4, 2020
Music for wind band by Kenneth Fuchs.
Considering the size of the wind band industry in the United States, the occasion of an established classical composer writing for the medium comes as a rare but highly welcome treat. Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of wind band music by Kenneth Fuchs, during which the American composer describes the progression of his experience and opportunities, from high school through college, and acknowledges the people who inspired and guided him along the way.
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Aug 28, 2020
Kastalsky’s Requiem for Fallen Brothers receives a poignant Resurrection.
Alexander Kastalsky’s Requiem for Fallen Brothers was written between 1914 and 1917, during World War I, a conflict that killed more than 20 million people and injured even more. Kastalsky achieved poignancy in his memorial by using melodies and texts from many of the countries involved in the war — Russia, Serbia, Italy, England, Japan, India and even the United States. By combining all these sources he created a beautiful, moving and truly global Requiem for those who lost their lives, and a postscript reminding us that suffering caused by war is universal. Raymond Bisha introduces a new recording of the work in which Leonard Slatkin directs an impressive line-up of mass choral and orchestral forces.
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Jul 24, 2020
Ludwig van Beethoven. Works for chamber ensemble.
Raymond Bisha introduces a selection from the rich and varied catalogue of chamber works that Beethoven wrote throughout his life. It includes the ‘Archduke’ piano trio, examples of his violin and cello sonatas, and extracts from both his Octet for Wind Instruments and the Septet in E flat major, Op. 20, a work so popular that Beethoven himself arranged it in a trio version, no doubt to make it more accessible to a wider public eager to perform it. Beethoven wrote 16 string quartets over a period of 25 years, one of his greatest contributions to music that continuously changed and challenged what was thought possible in the medium, including the Gross Fuge, an intensely powerful work that Stravinsky declared “will be contemporary for ever.”
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Jul 10, 2020
Orchestral works by Christopher Rouse. Intensely active. Wonderfully lyrical.
Raymond Bisha introduces a new release of orchestral music by American composer Christopher Rouse, who died in September 2019. It’s a fitting tribute to one who led the revitalisation of contemporary orchestral music with works that ranged from intensely active to wonderfully lyrical. As both a Pullitzer Prize and GRAMMY Award winner, his personal mission “to be of use: to sing you a song, to paint you a picture, to tell you a story” has resonated with audiences all over the world. The engaging programme on this release is brilliantly performed by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. Rouse’s Concerto for Orchestra is a ‘hyper-concerto’ that gives each player a chance to shine, while the mournful intimacy and passion of Supplica unfolds somewhat like the slow movement of a Bruckner or Mahler symphony. His Fifth Symphony blurs the lines between tradition and modernity and was described as “brilliant, exciting and at times hauntingly beautiful…
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Jun 12, 2020
Johan Smith performs his dream guitar recital program
Raymond Bisha introduces Johan Smith, winner of the 2019 Guitar Foundation of America Competition, in a recital that the Swiss artist has described as his dream programme: “It’s an exceptional album in many ways: the music is engaging, the playing is outstanding, and the recorded sound is first-rate. And the artist himself is uniquely intriguing, having some of his roots in the heavy metal band Stortregn, both as a founder member and its graphic designer.”
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May 29, 2020
Ludwig van Beethoven. Works for solo piano.
Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of Beethoven’s music for solo piano that contains some of his most visionary, groundbreaking and memorable works. Drawn from the Complete Edition boxed set (Naxos 8.500250), the selected movements from Beethoven’s best-known piano sonatas illustrate his dynamism as a composer/pianist, his gift for flowing melodic beauty, and the range of his emotional variance. The smaller pieces highlight the composer’s command of variation form and, in the case of the Rondo a capriccio in G major (Rage over a Lost Penny), his scintillating powers of bravura wit.
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May 22, 2020
Unpacking the unusual, unfamiliar and unknown. French piano rarities.
Raymond Bisha introduces a new release from Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat of French piano rarities by Boulez, Debussy, Messiaen and Ravel: “I heard Ralph play this same repertoire at a concert in Carnegie Hall a couple of years ago, and it was amazing. Ralph says his aim is to convince people of the ‘immense beauty and diversity of contemporary music’. Both on this album, and when you hear him live, the music simply springs to life.” The programme includes Boulez’s hitherto unknown student work, Prélude, Toccata et Scherzo. Exclusive permission to play and record the piece for Naxos was granted by the heirs of Pierre Boulez and the Sacher Foundation in Basel.
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May 8, 2020
A 20th-century troubadour. A 21st-century tribute.
Raymond Bisha introduces Michael Daugherty’s This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie. The work celebrates The Dust Bowl Troubadour’s folk songs of love, wandering and social justice through Daugherty’s own original songs and instrumental music. These were composed after he drove for several weeks along the desolate, barren and dusty back roads of Texas and Oklahoma, where Woody once roamed, while listening to everything that he recorded during his brief lifetime. Woody Guthrie was a folk movement figurehead, continuing as a major influence on numerous internationally successful artists with recordings that have been re-released innumerable times, generating an unflagging interest in anything attached to his name.
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Apr 24, 2020
Ludwig van Beethoven. Music from his late compositional period.
Raymond Bisha introduces the latest release in the Naxos Beethoven anniversary digital album series. Ranging from a solo piano to the huge resources required for his final symphony, the programme comprises ten works that define the last ten years of Beethoven’s creative life, exemplifying his ever more technically challenging pieces, their novel structures, and the frequent incorporation of contrapuntal music that had been a hallmark of giants of the Baroque period.
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Apr 10, 2020
The resurrection of a requiem. Randall Thompson’s choral masterpiece.
Join Raymond Bisha in a podcast of artistic discovery as he unveils yet another American classic—Randall Thompson’s Requiem. Reckoned by many to be his most ambitious work, the composer himself considered it to be his masterpiece, yet it has languished for decades on the periphery of the choral performance repertoire. This world premiere recording from Naxos serves notice that the work’s rehabilitation is overdue, with an outstanding performance by the Philadelphia Singers directed by David Hayes setting the bar high.
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Mar 27, 2020
Ludwig van Beethoven–the concertos
Beethoven’s concertos enjoy the spotlight in this podcast from Raymond Bisha. It serves as a companion resource to the latest digital album in our series marking the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The technical and musical demands Beethoven makes of his concerto soloists shine centre-stage in this compilation of wonderful performances of movements from his five piano concertos, his violin concerto, and the triple concerto for violin, cello and piano. The line-up of soloists is world-class; and there’s the bonus of several other Beethoven works written in concertante form that are generally less well-known.
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Mar 13, 2020
Richard Danielpour’s oratorio The Passion of Yeshua.
Raymond Bisha introduces Richard Danielpour’s oratorio The Passion of Yeshua, a 105-minute work for large chorus, six soloists and orchestra that takes the listener back to Jesus’ final day on earth, removing as much as possible the accretions of history since that moment in an attempt to provide a fuller understanding of the connection of Jesus of Nazareth to the Jewish tradition. It does this through both the Hebrew and English languages. Danielpour’s gift for vocal writing and astonishing orchestral colour makes this a highly significant work in the enduring oratorio tradition, described as “a classic for all time” by conductor JoAnn Falletta.
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Feb 28, 2020
Ludwig van Beethoven. Works from his middle years.
Raymond Bisha presents an overview of works written by Beethoven during his middle years period. It’s a companion resource to the latest release in Naxos’ monthly digital album series featuring the music of Beethoven in this 250th anniversary year of his birth. February’s compilation album (9.30206) presents a programme of works written between 1802 and 1815, those dates marked respectively by performances of his ‘Kreutzer’ Violin Sonata and his Fourth Cello Sonata by major Naxos artists violinist Takako Nishizaki and cellist Maria Kliegel. Fine examples of his choral, chamber, concerto and symphonic works make up the rest of this attractive compilation.
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Feb 14, 2020
Black History Month. Some musical notes.
The guest host of this podcast is Ashley Jackson. She is an accomplished musician, who has studied the music of both Margaret Bonds and Florence Price, who composed and worked during the civil rights movement in the United States. In this podcast, Dr. Jackson gives us both an historical and a personal perspective on how the struggles of these composers, and those of her grandmother, helped make possible what she does today.
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Feb 13, 2020
The symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven.
Raymond Bisha presents an overview of Beethoven’s nine symphonies as a companion resource to the first of Naxos’ monthly digital albums presenting the music of Beethoven in this 250th anniversary year of his birth. January’s compilation album (9.30209) spotlights the symphonic journey and stylistic progression from Beethoven’s Second Symphony to his Ninth Symphony, ‘Choral’. The majority of the works were written during Beethoven’s 40s and are interspersed with engaging examples of his other accomplishments in orchestral writing.
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Jan 17, 2020
Nino Rota’s works for solo piano. A magical melting pot.
Raymond Bisha introduces this new release from the Grand Piano label. It’s the opening volume in what is to be the first complete series of recordings of Nino Rota’s works for solo piano, performed by Eleanor Hodgkinson. Nino Rota embraced neo-Classical, neo-Romantic and even neo-Baroque affiliations. His music prized melodic directness and communicative generosity, so it’s not surprising that he should be best-known for his 150-plus film scores, pre-eminently the music for The Godfather. The programme on this new release comprises three works: the 15 Preludes, Fantasia in G and 7 Pezzi Difficil per Bambini (7 Difficult Pieces for Children).
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Jan 9, 2020
Write It - Reflections on Sanctuary Road
On January 10, 2020, Naxos releases Sanctuary Road, the world-premiere recording of composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell’s incisive, deeply moving tribute to the men and women of the Underground Railroad and to one heroic man in particular, conductor William Still, a chronicler of the inspiring stories of its “passengers” and their valiant flights north from slavery to freedom. Naxos Classical Spotlight presents a 20-minute audio documentary featuring interviews with the oratorio’s two Pulitzer Prize–winning creators, its conductor, and its five solo singers by popular WQXR radio host Terrance McKnight.
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Dec 20, 2019
A merry, musical Christmas buffet.
You’ll find it hard to resist joining in with the magical performances of popular Christmas repertoire on the latest release from the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and Chamber Orchestra. From eternal classics to cracking new carols, this is an irresistible seasonal spread presented in a tempting tasting menu by your host Raymond Bisha.
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Dec 6, 2019
Cherished Christmas Classics
Raymond Bisha summons the seasonal spirit with a comprehensive 5-CD collection of music for Christmas on the Capriccio label. He makes his selection from the release’s one hundred classical Christmas titles, many featuring world-renowned choirs and orchestras from musical centres located throughout Europe, and notably Germany, including Dresden, Cologne, Vienna, Leipzig, Berlin and Regensburg. From Christmas oratorios by J. S. Bach and Camille Saint-Saëns to traditional favourites and all stops in between, this is a rare programme of both familiar and not so familiar works that represents a Christmas collection that will last for many years ahead.
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Nov 15, 2019
The Music of Brazil Vol. 3. Villa-Lobos in full color.
This latest release in Naxos’ ongoing series The Music of Brazil features chamber works and concertos by Heitor Villa-Lobos, one of Brazil’s best known and most prolific composers. He wrote more than two thousand pieces and was a major figure in the development of classical music in Brazil. Raymond Bisha introduces a colorful program that includes two works for chamber ensemble, in which new and daring sonic combinations enhance the composer’s seductive lyricism. Two larger-scale works provide musical contrast: the Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra, premiered by the legendary soloist Segovia, was Villa-Lobos’ last work for the instrument; and the Concerto for Harmonica explores the instrument’s full harmonic and chromatic possibilities.
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Nov 1, 2019
Beethoven’s Harmoniemusik
Beethoven certainly has the wind in his sails with this tremendous release of music for wind ensemble, a genre that formed a regular part of entertainment in the composer’s day. Included on the recording, for example, is his Sextet for winds in E flat major that was well received by a critic at the time for its “splendid melodies, leisurely harmonic flow, and wealth of new and surprising ideas.” The works on the programme have never before been recorded by such a distinguished line-up of players. With professorships at leading institutions such as the Yale and Manhattan Schools of Music, the Juilliard School, Adelphi University and others, this is as influential a team of wind players as you could imagine. The recording, of course, forms part of the Naxos 90-CD box set of Beethoven’s complete output (8.500250) that marks next year’s 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
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Oct 18, 2019
Magna Sequentia II. A quick step through J. S. Bach’s keyboard dances.
If playlists had been available in the 18th century, Magna Sequentia IIwould undoubtedly have enjoyed an enthusiastic reception, with its varied track list embodying a theme of music by association. In her second of three Magna Sequentias, pianist Sonia Rubinsky leads with J. S. Bach’s Overture in the French Style and follows by building around it a grand suite of Bach’s dances for keyboard. The programme of 17 movements illustrates the different styles and expressive moods of Bach’s dance writing. Taken together, the collection is an international potpourri that blends the ornate and sophisticated French style, the more straightforward and virtuosic Italian style, and the stricter contrapuntal writing of the German style, with a touch of England thrown in for good measure. Raymond Bisha presents the introduction to this release.
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Oct 4, 2019
Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2
The internationally respected artists on this release are well known to Naxos followers: pianist Boris Giltburg (whose recordings of Beethoven, Liszt, Schumann and Rachmaninov have been universally acclaimed); and conductor Vasily Petrenko (whose edition of the complete Shostakovich symphonies has been recognised as a historic recording milestone). They come together now in Beethoven’s first two piano concertos with their exuberant energy and abundance of lyric and virtuosic qualities. Raymond Bisha presents.
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Sep 20, 2019
From movie house to concert hall. Music by Hanns Eisler.
Raymond Bisha introduces a new recording of music by Austrian composer Hanns Eisler who, in his late years, concentrated increasingly on adapting his film scores for the concert hall. He also began his Leipzig Symphony during this period, but it was left unfinished at the time of his death. Thilo Medek, a young composer at the time, stepped in to complete the symphony with a number of extracts from Eisler’s film scores. The compilation of Funeral Pieces of Motion Picture Scores was realised by Tobias Faßhauer and Jürgen Bruns in 2015. The scores use film music from the 1947/48 Hollywood movie So Well Remembered. Eisler wrote the music for the KZ Documentary Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog) in 1955 for the French movie director Alain Resnais (1922–2014). After many successful concert performances (with and without the moving images), this album now represents the world premiere recording of the score.
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Sep 4, 2019
Brazilian Violin Sonatas
Leopoldo Miguez and Glauco Velásquez were both leading figures in Brazil’s classical music scene at the turn of the 20th century, bringing back influences from Europe to a homeland in a state of enormous social upheaval. The lyrical character of Miguez’s ambitious Violin Sonata, Op. 14 is developed in a far more sophisticated and contrapuntal manner to anything previously experienced in Brazil, while Velásquez’s two sonatas are even richer in nuance. The tropical Romanticism of these three works marked an important change in Brazil’s chamber music. The music is presented here by host Raymond Bisha.
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Aug 23, 2019
Beethoven’s piano solo version of his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus.
The Creatures of Prometheus was Beethoven’s only full-length ballet score. The work premiered in March 1801 and the composer’s own version for piano solo was published later the same year. The work relates the story from Greek mythology of Prometheus, a lofty spirit who endeavoured to lift human beings from a state of ignorance into ways of right conduct; correspondingly, two statues in the ballet are brought to life through a state of harmony. Raymond Bisha presents pianist Warren Lee’s new release of the piano solo version of the original orchestral score.
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Aug 9, 2019
Migration through a musical prism.
Raymond Bisha and composer Derek Bermel discuss the latter’s Migrations, a 3-work programme that observes the universal phenomenon of human transit through an eclectic mix of styles: Migration series depicts the movement of African Americans from the south to the north of the United States in search of a better life during the first half of the 20th century; Mar de Setembrounites the composer’s experiences of Brazil and Portugal through settings of melancholy poems reflecting the countries’ sea cultures; and A Shout, a Whisper, and a Trace is an orchestral work that embodies Béla Bartók’s experience of New York, his place of refuge during World War II, presenting an alternative view of the city through the eyes of an immigrant.
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Jul 22, 2019
Marching in true step: Sousa sounds through expert ears.
As Naxos reaches Vol. 19 of its 23-volume edition of the music of John Philip Sousa, Raymond Bisha talks with the musical director of the project, Keith Brion, a world authority on Sousa’s music, who conducts throughout.
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Jul 12, 2019
Myaskovsky’s 27 symphonies: An introduction.
For those unfamiliar with the name of Nikolay Yakovlevich Myaskovsky, Raymond Bisha’s podcast presents the composer’s calling card as the ‘father of the Soviet symphony’. Having lived from 1881 to 1950, Myaskovsky spent all his life under the restrictive influence of Joseph Stalin, yet managed to produce 27 symphonies that preserved his individual voice. This release contrasts the Symphony No. 1 (1908), that earned Myaskovsky the Glazunov Scholarship at the St Petersburg Conservatory, with his Symphony No. 13, written 25 years later with darker tones reflecting the troubled world in which he lived.
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Jul 5, 2019
The notation is not the music.
Raymond Bisha talks with Barthold Kuijken about the historical perspective and informed interpretation behind a new release of Baroque flute concertos that feature Kuijken as soloist, accompanied by the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra.
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Jun 21, 2019
A foundation for finesse.
Raphaël Feuillâtre, winner of the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America’s 2018 International Concert Artist Competition, shares his success with the public through this attractively varied programme; a recording contract with Naxos forms part of the winner’s bundle of opportunities each year. Raymond Bisha presents his selection of intimate compositions.
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Jun 7, 2019
Kabalevsky. A Soviet sparkler.
There are scintillating sounds aplenty in our new release of orchestral works by Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987). Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of two overtures and a pair of symphonies by the Russian composer who endeavoured to position himself as both a progressive and a conservative during his country’s difficult Soviet era. The performances are by familiar Naxos artists: the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and conductor Darrell Ang already have some 40 highly successful recordings for the label in the catalogue.
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May 17, 2019
A fervent expression of hope. Jonathan Leshnoff’s Fourth Symphony.
Complementing the artist line-up of Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony on this recording are the Violins of Hope, a poignant collection of restored instruments that survived the Holocaust. Jonathan Leshnoff wrote his Symphony No. 4 with this unique set of orchestral voices in mind; Raymond Bisha introduces the performance and the background to its conception. Leshnoff is one of America’s most frequently performed living composers and the programme on this new recording also includes Starburst, his most frequently performed work, and his Guitar Concerto, which Guerrero considers “one of the greatest additions to guitar and orchestra repertoire in recent years.” The soloist is Jason Vieaux.
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May 3, 2019
The musical alchemy of Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla is renowned as the greatest Spanish composer of the early 20th century, whose genius rested in part on his ability to meld diverse stylistic, folk or literary influences into distinctive new musical languages, forging masterworks that would ultimately become cultural emblems of his homeland. Raymond Bisha presents a new release of a 2-work programme that embodies this principle of synthesis: Falla’s heartfelt representation of Gitano or Roma (the preferred term for people commonly referred to as ‘gypsy’) culture in the original 1915 version of El amor brujo (Love, the Magician), and his 1923 puppet opera based on scenes from Miguel de Cervantes’ classic Don Quixote, in El retablo de Maese Pedro (Master Peter’s Puppet Show).
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Apr 26, 2019
From soundtrack to centre stage. Björk’s Vespertine.
The Icelandic singer/composer Björk released her concept album Vespertinein 2001. Raymond Bisha introduces a new audio recording of an opera that was born of that release. The inherent theatricality of Björk’s original was the inspiration for an expert creative team to effect the transition from studio to stage, from sound tracks to symphonic support. Scored for four soloists and two choirs, and with all the original electronic sounds re-imagined on an array of acoustic instruments, Vespertine the opera is a stunning new creation, not merely an adaptation.
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Apr 12, 2019
Tangos for Yvar
Yvar-Emilian Mikhashoff (1941–1993) was an American pianist who collaborated with the publishing house Quadrivium Press to commission composers from all over the world to write piano pieces based on the tango dance form. An intriguing selection of those 100-plus commissions are performed on this Grand Piano release by Hanna Shybayeva, the works’ eclecticism reflected in some dangerous cheese, Japanese fathers flying kites with their sons, and an appearance by Janet Jackson. Raymond Bisha takes the steps to explain.Yvar-Emilian Mikhashoff (1941–1993) was an American pianist who collaborated with the publishing house Quadrivium Press to commission composers from all over the world to write piano pieces based on the tango dance form. An intriguing selection of those 100-plus commissions are performed on this Grand Piano release by Hanna Shybayeva, the works’ eclecticism reflected in some dangerous cheese, Japanese fathers flying kites with their sons, and an appearance by Janet Ja…
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Apr 5, 2019
Berlioz and the Shakespeare effect.
Berlioz left us a number of Shakespeare-inspired works, chief among them his masterpiece Roméo et Juliette. The work took a decade to complete and is cast in an innovative form, a kind of ‘super-symphony’ that incorporates elements of symphony, opera and oratorio. Raymond Bisha introduces this new recording by Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestre National de Lyon, an impeccable pairing for Berlioz’s music as demonstrated by their two previous, highly acclaimed recordings of his works. Also on the programme are the overtures to Béatrice et Bénédict and Le roi Lear.
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Mar 15, 2019
Copland's Grohg and other strange things...
Aaron Copland did as much as anyone in establishing American concert music on the world stage, and his ballet scores proved to be among his most important and influential works. Grohg is the most ambitious example of his Parisian years, a precociously brilliant one-act ballet scored for full orchestra, inspired by the silent film expressionist film Nosferatu. The first example of Copland’s new ‘Americanized’ music of the 1930s was Billy the Kid, based on the life of the 19th-century outlaw and heard here in its full version. This was the first fully fledged American ballet in style and content: brassy, syncopated, filmic and richly folk-flavored. Host Raymond Bisha introduces this release in the latest episode of Naxos Classical Spotlight.
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Feb 8, 2019
Respighi’s Roman Trilogy: A musical prism. Featuring JoAnn Falletta
Conductor JoAnn Falletta talks with radio host Peter Hall about her recording of Respighi’s Roman Trilogy, her 24th release for Naxos with the Buffalo Philharmonic. Respighi’s tone poems employ a large symphony orchestra and use a myriad of effects to take the listener through time, space and musical styles. The resultant portraits of Roman festivals, fountains and pine trees are both brilliant and unprecedented. Colour and imagination are central to the cinematic vibrancy that underpins Respighi’s magnificent orchestral kaleidoscope of aspects of Rome, both ancient and modern.
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Feb 1, 2019
Alberto Nepomuceno - A herald of Brazilian musical nationalism
Alberto Nepomuceno was a herald of Brazilian musical nationalism. He was one of the first composers in his country to employ elements of folklore in his compositions, he encouraged younger composers such as VillaLobos, and his music was conducted by Richard Strauss. The Prelude to O Garatuja, an incomplete opera, is one of his best-known works and an example of a truly Brazilian lyric comedy. Série Brasileira is a vivacious suite that employs maxixe rhythms and ends with the feverish batuque dance, while the Symphony in G minor is one of the earliest such examples by a Brazilian, a heroic and lyric structure revealing the influence of Brahms.
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Jan 18, 2019
Introducing the music of Florence Beatrice Price.
Born in 1887, Florence Beatrice Price went on to become one of the first prominent African-American composers. Following a move to Chicago in 1927, her career as a composer took off, not least following the award of several prizes intended to support black composers. This success brought her to the attention of the director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who agreed to give the premiere of her First Symphony in 1933. This represented the first time a major American orchestra had ever performed a piece by an African-American composer. Raymond Bisha introduces a new recording of Price’s First and Fourth Symphonies.
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Jan 4, 2019
Liszt’s Transcendental Studies.
Franz Liszt was one of music history’s first superstars, whose stunning technique and charismatic stage presence facilitated his development of the solo piano concert format. This release puts his 12 Transcendental Studies centre stage, where they share the spotlight with award-winning pianist Boris Giltburg, an emerging superstar in his own right whose pianism clothes Liszt’s music with impeccable artistry. While many series of studies succeed in developing technique, they are rarely very exciting musically. Liszt’s works, however, embody rich, alluring worlds that can be accessed only by a performer with outstanding technical expertise and penetrating musical vision. Raymond Bisha presents Boris Giltburg’s latest Naxos release.
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Dec 21, 2018
Romuald Twardowski. A masterly blend of tradition and modernity.
Romuald Twardowski was born in Lithuania in 1930. He pursued post-graduate studies in Poland before becoming a student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris. The works on this new release, for violin and orchestra, cover a fascinating spectrum of styles. From his Spanish Fantasy, to music written for young performers (not that you’d guess it from the impact it makes), the ‘new simplicity’ (Twardowski’s words) of his Violin Concerto, Niggunim with its roots in Poland’s ancient Jewish music, and Capriccio in Blue, a cross-pollinating tribute to George Gershwin, the ear remains captivated throughout.
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Dec 7, 2018
Four centuries of music for guitar ensemble.
Guitar Gala Night comprises performances by the Amadeus Guitar Duo and the Duo Gruber & Maklar in a programme that’s a veritable variety show, combining original compositions with arrangements for one, two and four guitars. Ranging from the abstract to the descriptive, the earliest piece (1612) represents dance music by Michael Praetorius, while the most recent (1998) is a portrait of performer Dale Kavanagh’s own daughter, Melissa. Music by Boccherini, Borodin, de Falla and Giuliani make up the rest of this irresistible programme, presented here by Raymond Bisha.
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Nov 30, 2018
Rossini’s Sins of Old Age.
Raymond Bisha introduces us to the flip-side of Rossini the opera composer, who spent the last 40 years of his life in operatic retirement, instead composing some 200 vocal and solo piano pieces (his Sins of Old Age) whilst also indulging in the pleasantries of life as a gourmand and amateur chef. The final release in Naxos’ 11-volume edition of the Sins of Old Age again presents the mastermind of the project, pianist Alessandro Marangoni. He features solo on the lion’s share of the series’ recordings, but is joined for this final instalment by seven vocal soloists.
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Nov 16, 2018
Chamber music by Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968). World premiere recordings.
The three newly published pieces on this recording were written in the decade following Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s flight to the United States in 1939 in the wake of the proclamation of anti-Jewish laws by Italy’s fascist regime. The programme includes his Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Piano (1939–40), written for no less a figure than Jascha Heifetz; the String Trio for violin, viola and cello (1950); and the Sonata for Violin and Cello (1950) with its “diabolically difficult” finale, considered by the composer to be his best piece of chamber music. Raymond Bisha presents.
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Oct 26, 2018
Relishing the realism. Orchestral music by Alfred Bruneau.
Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of orchestral music by Alfred Bruneau (1857-1934), a composition student of Jules Massenet and one of the most important yet overlooked figures in turn-of-the-century French musical life. Bruneau’s desire for theatrical realism in his operas mirrored the literary aspirations of his friend Émile Zola. Conductor Darrell Ang and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra perform music drawn from two of Bruneau’s operas, Messidor and Naïs Micoulin, and his ‘drame lyrique’ L’Attaque du moulin(The Attack on the Mill).
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Oct 5, 2018
3 orchestral works by Franz Schreker (1878-1934)
The last decade in the life of Austrian composer Frank Schreker (1878-1934) proved a tragic conclusion to his hitherto highly successful career as a teacher, conductor, administrator and composer. In the mid-1920s critics were bearing down on him for failing to step in line with developing compositional styles; by the 1930s his work had come to the attention of the Nazis who arranged his removal from teaching duties at the Berlin Hochschule; two strokes followed, with death coming shortly after. Prior to this dark chapter, Schreker had enjoyed a fine reputation as a composer, particularly of opera, his output rivalling that of Richard Strauss. Raymond Bisha presents a programme featuring three of his less well-known, highly approachable orchestral works, composed in those earlier and happier times.
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Sep 14, 2018
Discover Tanya Ekanayaka's Piano Prisms
Host Raymond Bisha presents a exclusive first look at Sri Lankan-British pianist Tanya Ekanayaka's Piano Prisms, featuring music influenced by classical traditions, as well as music from her Sri Lankan homeland. The resulting music and performances are full of imagination and beauty.
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Sep 7, 2018
The Lully effect. Going to the heart of the French Baroque orchestra.
Raymond Bisha introduces a new release of music by three Baroque titans: Lully, Telemann and Rameau. The latter two were hugely influenced by the music of Lully, who was powerfully positioned as the chief musician of King Louis XIV of France. Lully left a rich legacy of dramatic music scored for orchestra. It left an indelible impression on all who heard it, with its masterly balance of grandeur and finesse. Yet, unlike the manuscripts of solo and chamber works of the time, Lully left us little clarity regarding the intricate ornamentation that would have been used spontaneously by the performers. Conductor Barthold Kuijken’s painstaking research now restores that beating heart to the music.
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Aug 17, 2018
Contemporary Danish works for accordion.
Invented during the early part of the nineteenth century, the accordion’s popularity soon soared and has been sustained ever since by its adaptability to many styles of music, from folk to heavy metal. Virtuoso performer Hanzhi Wang presents an intriguing compilation of classical works from Denmark, where numerous composers have followed the example of Per Nørgård in creating some of their most personal expressions for this instrument. Raymond Bisha takes us through a unique programme that exploits the full range of the instrument’s textural and tonal possibilities.
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Aug 3, 2018
A quartet of world premieres. Falletta conducts Fuchs.
Kenneth Fuchs celebrates a 15-year association with conductor JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony Orchestra upon the release of these world premiere recordings of three concertos (respectively for piano, electric guitar and alto saxophone) and a song cycle for countertenor and orchestra. Variety is the hallmark of the works’ scoring, while an easy-sounding mastery is the hallmark of Fuchs, one of the finest composers in the United States today. Raymond Bisha samples this brilliant buffet of a line-up that features an outstanding assembly of soloists, conductor and orchestra.
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Jul 20, 2018
Orchestral music by Eugene Zádor (1894-1977)
Born in Hungary in 1894, Eugene Zádor moved to the USA in 1939 and remained there as a naturalised citizen until his death. He left a sizeable catalogue of works that includes more than 120 film scores, 13 operas and a wide variety of concert music. Zádor has been described as a classicist, a romantic and a modernist all rolled into one, demonstrated by Naxos’ ongoing series of his orchestral music. This now reaches Volume 5 with a programme of works that were all written later in the composer’s life, yet all reflect his Hungarian roots. The new release is introduced by Raymond Bisha.
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Jul 6, 2018
Lindpaintner’s 4-act opera Il vespro siciliano (1843) enjoys a revival.
Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner (1791–1856) was a much admired figure in his day, referred to glowingly by such distinguished musicians as Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn, who acknowledged respectively his gift for composing operas and his skill as an orchestral conductor. Like the 21 operas he wrote, Lindpaintner himself has since been virtually forgotten, which makes this month’s release of the world premiere recording of one of his operas particularly notable. Raymond Bisha introduces us to the 4-act Il vespro siciliano (The Sicilian Vespers), modeled on the Parisian grand operas popular at the time, and set in Sicily in the year 1282.
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Jun 15, 2018
Three American Classics
Raymond Bisha introduces a new release of three American orchestral triumphs in stunning performances by the youthful ranks of the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic under GRAMMY Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller. Carl Ruggles’ Sun-treader, Steven Stucky’s Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 and John Harbison’s Symphony No. 4 constitute the programme’s towering trio of symphonic masterpieces.
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Jun 1, 2018
Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Cello Concerto. A radiant rediscovery.
The composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco moved from Italy to the US during the turmoil of the Second World War. That he should have been immediately befriended by such musical giants as violinist Jascha Heifetz and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky speaks reams about the respect the Italian engendered. His Cello Concerto was commissioned by Piatigorsky, who premiered the work in 1935. This recording captures the first ever performance since that occasion. The programme is completed by transcriptions that Castelnuovo-Tedesco made especially for Heifetz and Piatigorsky, including the work that gained the distinction of being the last piece that Heifetz performed in public. Raymond Bisha introduces soloist Brinton Averil Smith in this long overdue affirmation of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s legacy for the cello.
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May 18, 2018
‘Rach 3’. The Mount Everest of piano concertos.
Raymond Bisha helps turn the pages of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, following the release of Boris Giltburg’s fine performance of the work with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto. Noted for its length and technical difficulty, ‘Rach 3’ (its popular moniker) is reckoned to have more notes than all of Mozart’s piano concertos put together. Boris Giltburg shows how Rachmaninov’s gift as a story-teller in music reaches a high point in the work, unfolding a narrative tapestry equal to that of a great novel.
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May 4, 2018
Robert Schumann’s works for cello
Although storm clouds were starting to gather over Robert Schumann’s mental health in the years 1849–50, it proved a remarkably fertile period for his musical output, not least as reflected in works featuring the cello. The majority of the pieces on this new release were composed during that period, some with the instrumentation as originally conceived, others in arrangements by the soloist and Naxos artist Gabriel Schwabe, who comments: “Each piece develops its own unmistakable character, giving us a fascinating insight into the incredibly prolific and imaginative phase towards the end of Schumann’s life.” Raymond Bisha takes us through the programme that opens with the most substantial work, the Cello Concerto in A minor.
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Apr 20, 2018
Airs of authority. Concertos for guitar duo.
The combined gifts of the extraordinary Brasil Guitar Duo and two eminent Latin American composers produce a depth of experience and rare musical beauty in two concertos for guitar duo. Cuban composer Leo Brouwer has written ten concertos for guitar, but The Book of Signs is his first for guitar duo. Paulo Bellinati’s Concerto Caboclo pays specific tribute to the music of São Paulo State in Brazil. The work was commissioned by the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra specifically for the Brasil Guitar Duo, João Luiz and Douglas Lora.
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Apr 6, 2018
A final flourish.
The new Naxos edition of Saint-Saëns’ works for piano and orchestra reaches its final volume with a recording of the composer’s Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5, works described by soloist Romain Descharmes as “brilliant music that opens doors to a new world”. The Fourth Concerto showcases virtuosic music written by one of history’s most amazing keyboard prodigies. The Fifth was written when Saint-Saëns was aged 60 for his own jubilee concert marking the 50th anniversary of his debut appearance in Paris. It exudes a suitably youthful effervescence and houses a middle movement bursting with contrasting moods. Raymond Bisha introduces this sparkling new release.
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Mar 18, 2018
Every step of the play. Prokofiev’s score for the ballet Romeo and Juliet.
As was often the case, bringing performances of classical music to fruition in Russia’s Soviet era was more challenging than the actual composition. Responding to a commission from the Bolshoi Ballet in 1935, Prokofiev quickly completed the task of writing a score for Romeo and Juliet, but the first performance had to be postponed owing to dark political moves (many staff at the Bolshoi were removed from their posts; some were shot); the public subsequently had to make do with suites from the score; and it wasn’t until 1938 that the premiere took place, in Brno (now in the Czech Republic), which Prokofiev was unable to attend because of travel restrictions imposed on him. Despite such a tangle of knots, Prokofiev managed to produce a score that conductor Marin Alsop has long admired for “his ingenious thematic invention and his passionate portrayal of this profoundly timeless story that make this score stand out in the firmament.” Raymond Bisha introduces her recent recording o…
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Mar 2, 2018
3 new concertos. 1 original composer. Michael Daugherty.
Michael Daugherty is one of today’s leading American composers. Previous Naxos recordings of his works have received no fewer than seven GRAMMY® awards. His latest release features three recently completed concertos, respectively for flute, tuba and percussion. The programme boasts a rare line-up of female soloists and a release date that coincides with Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (March 8). Trail of Tears describes the five-month forced march of the Cherokee in 1838-39 with flautist Amy Porter as soloist; Dreamachine pays tribute to the imagination of inventors and their real or surreal machines and features world-renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie; while Reflections on the Mississippi evokes memories of family excursions and presents soloist Carol Jantch, principal tuba of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the first female to hold such a prestigious orchestral position.
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