Includes World Première Recordings. These mainly world premiere recordings of five of Malipiero’s most characteristic works fill an important gap in the catalogue. The Impressioni dal vero (Impressions from Life) express the composer’s feelings amid nature and Italian rural life, from three particularly beautiful evocations of birds, to the wild tarantella danced on the island of Capri. The first of the two highly contrasted pieces with the typically enigmatic title Pause del silenzio (Breaks in Silence) is widely regarded as the greatest orchestral work Malipiero ever wrote.

Includes World Premiere Recording. Arvo Part’s piano works range from his first public statement as a composer, the Zwei Sonatinen, to his latest, the life affirming miniature Fur Anna Maria. Moving away from his 1960s atonal language, Part found an essence of truth in music embodied in the simple lines of Fur Alina. Lamentate is a vast monument which the composer has described as a lament ‘not for the dead, but for the living’. Multi award-winning pianist Ralph van Raat has been praised by MusicWeb International for his ‘sensitive and technically refined’ playing of Hans Otte’s Book of Sounds (Naxos 8572444).

Penderecki’s concertos are amongst the most communicative, emotionally charged, and important works of the second half of the twentieth century. The Second Cello Concerto was written for Rostropovich and its exploration of Romantic intensity reflected a change in Penderecki’s musical language. Its rich harmonies and dramatic power ensure unflagging interest. Opening with an expressive soliloquy for the soloist, the brooding and complex Viola Concerto incorporates a broad range of techniques from the composer’s maturity into a taut and compact time-span. Grigori Zhislin has long been associated with this work, whilst Antoni Wit is one of the composer’s greatest champions, whose ‘authoritative insight’ (American Record Guide) has been acknowledged in the Symphony No 3 and Threnody on Naxos 8554491.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful Capriccio espagnol reflects a Russian fascination with distant lands, evoking sunny climes and exotic dancing in one of the composer’s most popular and uplifting scores. Steeped in the cultural nationalism of the ‘Mighty Handful’, the Overtures are linked to deeply Russian themes and tales, portraying dramatic life amongst the Tsars with brilliant orchestration and inspired use of folk or liturgical melodies. This release follows the multi-Grammy®-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Seattle Symphony ‘spectacular’ (MusicWeb International) recording of Sheherazade (Naxos 8572693).

World Premiere Recordings. Pierre Rode was one of the giants of the violin world. He was a performer of superb technique – he premiered Beethoven’s last Violin Sonata in Vienna – and wrote a large amount of music for his instrument, most prominently 13 concertos. They exhibit the highest qualities of the French School; grace, lyricism, fleetness and fluency. The Third is grandiose and brilliant, the Fourth is tauter and gloriously agile, whilst the Sixth is one of his greatest, most famous and complete statements in the concerto form. The first release in this series, (Concertos Nos. 7, 10 & 13 - Naxos 8570469), earned Friedemann Eichhorn the highest plaudits: 'sweetness of phrasing…with the delicacy of a caress – while skirting the technical minefields as if they didn’t exist' (Fanfare).

With this fourth volume, Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen completes his cycle of Sibelius’s numbered symphonies, of which the Symphonies Nos 1 & 3 (Naxos 8572305) were acclaimed as ‘warm and poignant’ (Classical Music Sentinel), Symphonies Nos 4 & 5 (Naxos 8572227) as having ‘raw intensity’ (Guardian) and Symphony No 2 (Naxos 8572704) as ‘entrancing…highly recommended’ (Allmusic.com). The tranquil and sunny poetry of Symphony No 6 joins the majestic single-movement Symphony No 7, coupled with Finlandia, the work which established Sibelius’s fame and became a symbol of Finnish freedom.

A Musical Tour of Baroque Churches in Bavaria
The Places The tour visits four notable baroque churches in Bavaria, the Monastic Church of the Assumption at Rohr, the Benedictine Abbey Church of Ottobeuren, the Alte Kapelle in Regensburg and the Monastic Church of St George and St Martin at Weltenburg, near Kelheim.
The Music Music for the tour is by Johann Sebastian Bach and is taken from the works Bach wrote for the organ. He had been familiar with the instrument from childhood, and apart from a short period from 1717 to 1723 as Court Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, remained a respected performer on the instrument, a composer of organ music and an expert on the construction of the instrument.

A Musical Tour of the Southern Tyrol
The Places The Southern Tyrol was in earlier times part of the Habsburg Empire, governed from Vienna, and ceded to Italy in 1919. The region remains largely German-speaking and enjoys a considerable degree of autonomy. Of particular interest are the rock-formations of the Dolomites and the many castles and fortified houses of the province. The tour shows two historic buildings, Schloss Velthurns and Schloss Runkelstein.
The Music Music for the tour is by Mozart, born in Salzburg in 1756. With his father, Leopold Mozart, Vice-Kapellmeister in Salzburg, he made three notable visits to Italy, and on various occasions broke his journey at Bozen (Bolzano) and visited Brixen (Bressanone). The music heard here is the Posthorn Serenade, written in Salzburg in 1779, and the Notturno, another serenade, written there in the winter of 1776-77.

A Musical Tour of the Lienz Dolomites
The Places In the peace treaty of 1919 the Tyrol was divided into three regions, Southern Tyrol being ceded to Italy. The Eastern Tyrol, Austrian territory, is bounded to the south by the Lienz Dolomites, with the town of Lienz the regional capital. The region is popular with summer visitors, its climate relatively mild, in spite of its height above sea level. There is also a glimpse of the Earth Pyramids at Ritten (Renon) in the Italian
Southern Tyrol.
The Music Music for the tour is by Franz Schubert, the son of a schoolmaster who had settled in Vienna. Although his life was chiefly spent in Vienna, he was, nevertheless, able to enjoy the Austrian countryside, during country holidays spent with friends. The beauty of the landscape is reflected in his music and, in particular, in his songs. The tour of the Lienz Dolomites is accompanied by music by Schubert for piano trio, written towards the end of his short life.