NAXOS CD OF THE MONTH | 8570398 | CD | 747313039876
Bottesini Concertino in C minor, Duo Concertante
Thomas Martin, Franco Petracchi (double bass), Moray Welsh (cello), London Symphony Orchestra, Matthew Gibson (conductor)
Known to his contemporaries as the Paganini of the double bass, Giovanni Bottesini significantly extended the technical possibilities of the instrument both as a composer and virtuoso soloist. After the Prelude to Ero e Leandro, Bottesini's greatest operatic masterpiece, this disc continues with the most popular of his compositions for the instrument among bassists today, the Concertino in C minor. In this work virtuosity is always at the service of musical ends. The rarely performed Duo Concertante for Cello and Double Bass on Themes from Bellini’s I Puritani makes considerable technical demands of the soloists. ALSO AVAILABLE Bottesini Grand Concerto (Naxos 8570397).

NAXOS PRIORITY | 8570906 | CD | 747313090679
Vivaldi for Meditation
Various Performers
The greatest music is both a communication from the upper levels of human consciousness and also a way of helping us to ascend to such levels ourselves. Listening to Vivaldi's beautiful music is both extremely pleasurable and deeply satisfying. Renowned during his life as an amazing performer, his masterpieces remain among the most popular music ever written. The works in this collection were chosen to help transport you from the cares of the everyday world into an 'inner space' of calm and refreshment.

NAXOS PRIORITY | 8570907 | CD | 747313090778
Handel for Meditation
Various Performers
The meditative experience is one that comes naturally to us when we are fully at ease with the world, and fortunately music can help to bring our scattered energies together when the demands of daily life have taken their toll. Handel's instrumental and orchestral works have remained popular for more than two hundred years for their melodious beauty. This collection has been prepared to help you achieve a pleasurable state of 'alert relaxation' that will both enliven and sooth.

NAXOS | 8503192 | CD3 | 747313319237
Time of the Templars
CD 1: Music for a Knight, CD 2: Music of the Church, CD 3: Music of the Mediterranean
Various Performers
This 3-CD set takes the listener on a marvellous medieval adventure across Europe to the Holy Land in the footsteps of the Knights Templar. This order of 'God's warriors' emerged shortly after the First Crusade in 1099, when nine knights swore to devote themselves to protecting Christian pilgrims visiting Jerusalem and other holy places in the Levant. Religious fervour and military prowess, two great passions of the Middle Ages, contributed to the incredible success of the Knights Templar for more than 200 years until one fateful day, 13 October 1307, when their dramatic story suddenly ended. Sacred and secular works recreate the musical world of the most famous warrior order the Western world has ever known, while informative annotations tell their gripping and ultimately tragic tale.

NAXOS | 8557527 | CD | 747313252725
Schoenberg Pelleas et Melisande, Erwartung
Anja Silja (soprano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Robert Craft (conductor)
Schoenberg’s polyphonic tone poem Pelleas und Melisande is often compared to Debussy’s opera based on the same text by Maurice Maeterlinck. According to the composer, 'The first performance, 1905, in Vienna, under my own direction, provoked riots among the audience and even the critics. Reviews were unusually violent and one of the critics suggested putting me in an asylum and keeping music paper out of my reach. Only six years later, under Oscar Fried’s direction, it became a great success, and since that time has not caused the anger of the audience'. The most innovative features of Erwartung, a 'monodrama for soprano and large orchestra', are the continual variation of orchestral textures, and the constantly changing tempi. Not only are the instrumental combinations new, but the instruments themselves are required to produce new sounds.

NAXOS | 8559271 | CD | 636943927120
Ives Songs Vol 3
Various Performers
Volume 3 of Naxos' edition of the songs of Charles Ives presents 33 songs performed by 13 singers, accompanied variously by piano, glockenspiel and organ. Ives wrote almost 200 songs, and this edition will include all those that he completed. The expressive variety encountered is accordingly vast: indeed, the gradual evolution of Ives’s songwriting - from those drawing overtly on the Austro-German Lieder and English parlour-song tradition to those brimming with anarchic humour or presenting profound vision - is analogous to the evolution of American music over the last quarter of the nineteenth and first quarter of the twentieth centuries. ALSO AVAILABLE Vol 1 (8559269, Vol 2 8559270).

NAXOS | 8559344 | CD | 636943934425
Jamestown Concerto - Works for Cello and Orchestra
Music by Perry, Schuman, Thomson
Yehuda Hanani (cello), RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland), William Eddins (conductor)
This recording presents three important yet infrequently heard American cello works. It is the first modern recording of William Schuman’s A Song of Orpheus; the Virgil Thomson Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in its original full orchestration, which has not been recorded since the 1950s; and William Perry’s Jamestown Concerto, which receives its world premiere recording. All three composers worked extensively in art song, opera or musical theatre, and their concertos, while technically demanding, emphasise the lyrical qualities of the cello, the instrument that most closely identifies with the human voice. The music is distinctly American, optimistic and outgoing, while touching on the roots of the American experience.

NAXOS | 8559355 | CD | 636943935521
Walden Maquettes for Two Pianos, Sh'mah, Five Similies
Spectrum Concerts Berlin
A native of Brooklyn, New York, the composer, clarinetist, conductor, actor, film director and educator Stanley Walden has written orchestral, chamber and solo works, as well as operas and musicals including 'Oh! Calcutta!'. This disc of chamber and instrumental works features Maquettes or 'models' for two pianos, the five miniatures for solo piano Similes, Sh’mah for violin and cello, developed from sources of traditional Jewish music, and the Horn Trio, written 'out of a controlled sadness and rage at the events of Sept. 11, 2001'. Walden’s affiliation with Spectrum Concerts Berlin began in 1997.

NAXOS | 8570435 | CD | 747313043576
Schwarz-Schilling Sinfonia Diatonica, Symphony in C
Staatskapelle Weimar, Jose Serebrier (conductor)
Inspired by the vast potential of the tonal foundation of music, at a time when many of his contemporaries were embracing the twelve-tone ideology, the eminent German composer Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling produced a rich, varied and highly personal body of work. The 1956 Sinfonia diatonica for small orchestra, which here receives its world premiere recording, is characterised by filigree craftsmanship and a lithe classicism that are very refreshing in the context of the German post-war symphony. The 1963 Symphony in C, scored for a much larger orchestra, including triple woodwind and brass, is notable for its inventive structure, increased harmonic and tonal freedom, and a restless yet organic contrast of dynamism and lyricism.

NAXOS | 8570452 | CD | 747313045273
Karlowicz Vol 1 - Symphonic Poems
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit (conductor)
Although he left the merest handful of compositions at his seemingly accidental death in an avalanche while skiing, Mieczyslaw Karlowicz (1876-1909) ranks among the most important Polish composers of his generation. The final years of his brief career were taken up by a series of six symphonic poems, the third, fourth and sixth of which are included on this first disc of these works. Alternating between fervent affirmation and brooding melancholy, these impressive late-romantic works are notable for their colourful and imaginative orchestration and fresh and original harmony.

NAXOS | 8570459 | CD | 747313045976
Graupner Partitas for Harpsichord
Naoko Akutagawa (harpsichord)
A contemporary of JS Bach and Telemann, Johann Christoph Graupner (1683-1760) was held in great esteem during his lifetime both as a prolific composer of large vocal and orchestral works and virtuoso harpsichordist, although he is now largely forgotten. With their considerable requirements of virtuosity Graupner’s harpsichord suites surpass Handel’s in grandeur of conception, and sometimes even match the younger man in musical substance. His immense and flamboyant Chaconne in A major is perhaps the most superb of all the many keyboard works of the genre.

NAXOS | 8570474 | CD | 747313047475
JC Bach, JCF Bach Keyboard Concertos
The Music Collection - Susan Alexander-Max (fortepiano, director), Simon Standage (violin), Nicolette Moonen (violin), Trevor Jones (viola), Jennifer Ward Clarke (cello)
Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian, made his career first in Italy and then, from 1762, in London, where he was a pioneer in the use of the fortepiano. His elegant, forward-looking concertos, written in the galant style, make a contrast with the more straightforward yet entertaining concertos by his older brother Johann Christoph Friedrich, who spent the greater part of his life at the court of Buckeburg in Lower Saxony.

NAXOS | 8570511 | CD | 747313051175
Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas Vol 10
Colleen Lee (piano)
The son of Alessandro Scarlatti, who created a new school of opera in Naples, Domenico Scarlatti is particularly distinguished for his remarkable series of 555 surviving keyboard sonatas, written while employed at the Spanish court in Madrid largely as exercises for his pupil the Infanta Maria Barbara, who became Queen of Spain in 1746. This significant addition to early 18th century keyboard repertoire has in all its variety long provided a valuable repertoire for pianists. Colleen Lee was a Finalist in the 2005 International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition.

NAXOS | 8570543 | CD | 747313054374
Busoni Piano Music Vol 4
Wolf Harden (piano)
Performance occupied much of Busoni's attention until the turn of the 20th century, when composition began to assume a new importance in his career. Busoni regarded his Elegien as the point where he discovered his true identity as a composer. Even at his most radical, however, Busoni never rejected what had gone before; the Elegien alternate between new works and transcriptions of older pieces. Drawing on Bach organ pieces, Fantasia after J.S. Bach may sound backward looking in context, but its concept points determinedly towards the future. Toccata was completed while Busoni was engaged in earnest on his crowning achievement, the music-drama Doktor Faust, whose essence pervades this most virtuosic yet also aggressive of the composer's later piano works.

NAXOS | 8570713 | CD | 747313071371
Breton Four Spanish Pieces, Piano Trio in E major
LOM Piano Trio
Tomas Breton (1850-1923), a native of Salamanca, rose from relatively humble circumstances to become a leading figure in Spanish music, director of the Madrid Conservatory and an important conductor. Although Breton is now remembered chiefly for his zarzuelas and operas, his chamber music has been unaccountably neglected. The brilliant Four Spanish Pieces, which enjoyed widespread popularity at the beginning of the 20th century, convey the distinctive Spanish character present throughout the composer’s work. By contrast, the Trio for piano, violin and cello is a more serious and original work in which Spanish melodies are introduced with considerable subtlety.

NAXOS | 8570785 | CD | 747313078578
Reger Complete String Trios and Piano Quartets Vol 1
Aperto Piano Quartet
The first of two discs containing the complete piano quartets and string trios of Max Reger, this release features the String Trio in A minor of 1904, a work of almost Mozartian clarity, and the 1910 Piano Quartet in D minor. Modelled on Brahms' C minor Piano Quartet, Reger's Quartet is a deeply expressive and intense work, with an often grotesque sense of humour. The composer himself described the Vivace second movement as a 'crazy Scherzo'.

NAXOS | 8570796 | CD | 747313079674
Ries Piano Sonatas and Sonatinas Vol 1
Susan Kagen (piano)
Beethoven’s friend and pupil Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838) was an exceptionally gifted composer in whose strangely prophetic piano sonatas one encounters Schubert's poignant harmonic language, Mendelssohn's expressive, sweet melodies and Chopin's brilliant figuration. This recording features the magisterial Sonatas Op 11 (Paris 1807-08) and the lovely Sonatina in A minor Op 45, which was composed during Ries' eventful concert tour in Russia during 1811-12.

NAXOS | 8570873 | CD | 747313087372
Pilati Concerto for Orchestra, Suite for Strings and Piano
Tomas Nemec (piano), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Adriano (conductor)
Born in Naples in 1903, Mario Pilati belonged to the generation which included such disparate personalities as Petrassi, Dallapiccola, Salviucci, Rieti, Mortari, Scelsi and Rota. Pilati was a prolific composer of chamber, vocal and orchestral music. Like many of his contemporaries, he was drawn to the instrumental music of the past, especially that of his own country. An example of this is the Suite for Strings and Piano of 1925, which is neo-classical in style. His other love, that of folk music, is also evident in later works, such as the Concerto for Orchestra, with its ebullient finale 'alla tirolese'. The attractive lullaby Alla culla comes from the very end of his short life.

NAXOS | 8572060 | CD | 747313206070
Guitar Recital
Rodrigo Junto al Generalife, Tansman Variations on a Theme of Scriabin, Maw Music of Memory, Ponce Sonata romantica 'Hommage to Franz Schubert'
Marcin Dylla (guitar)
Marcin Dylla, First Prize Winner in the 2007 Guitar Foundation of America Competition, is considered one of the most outstanding classical guitar players of the younger generation. Between 1996 and 2007 he won first prize nineteen times at the most prestigious international guitar competitions. This selection brings together guitar works from composers of four nationalities - Spanish, Mexican, Polish and British - covering a span of some sixty years of the instrument's development.

NAXOS | 8572064 | CD | 747313206476
Guitar Recital
Sor Fantaisie Op 16, Ibert 3 Ariette & Francaise, Poulenc Sarabande, Ohana Tiento, Rautavaara Partita, Villa-Lobos Etudes Nos 7 & 12, Clerch Sentimiento, Yemaya, Estudio de escalas, Tarrega Variations on 'Carnival of Venice'
Rafael Aguirre Minarro (guitar)
Rafael Aguirre Minarro, First Prize Winner in the 2007 International Francisco Tarrega Guitar Competition, has studied with Teresa Garcia de Candido, Manuel Jesus Perez Vela, Miguel Tojar and Javier Chamizo, and since 2004 with Joaquin Clerch. The scope of the pieces he plays in this recital is truly cosmopolitan, covering music from the early nineteenth century up to the present time, from the simplicity of Poulenc's Sarabande to the exuberant virtuosity of Villa-Lobos and Tarrega.

NAXOS | 866022223 | CD2 | 730099022279
Donizetti Roberto Devereux
Dimitra Theodossiou, Andrew Schroeder, Federica Bragaglia, Massimiliano Pisapia, Luigi Albani, Giorgio Valerio, Tommaso Norelli, Orchestra and Chorus of the Bergamo Musica Festival, Marcello Rota (conductor)
One of Donizetti’s most emotionally raw operas, Roberto Devereux was also the third to be loosely based on episodes in the life of Queen Elizabeth I. It deals with the love of Elizabeth and her favourite, the Earl of Essex, perhaps most tellingly expressed in the Act I duet, Nascondi frena i palpiti o misero mio core (Hide, hold back your palpitation, oh my wretched heart!). Elizabeth’s subsequent abdication is, however, a matter of dramatic licence, yet provides a memorable operatic conclusion to this tragedy of love and jealousy as she despairs at the death of her lover – Quel sangue versato al ciel s’innalza (The blood that is spilt rises up to Heaven). This inaugural production of the Bergamo Music Festival 2006 features the Greek soprano and leading Donizetti specialist, Dimitra Theodossiou, and the young American baritone Andrew Schroeder, both in superb voice. ALSO AVAILABLE ON Naxos DVD 2110232.

NAXOS FEATURED AUDIOBOOK | 688112 | CD6 | 9789626348819
Candide, Zadig
by Voltaire
read by Neville Jason
Voltaire’s razor-sharp satire on philosophical optimism, Candide, is coupled here with another of the famous author’s most celebrated works, Zadig. Both challenge the moral and philosophical orthodoxies of his day with humour and sly wit, whilst parodying the cliched formulas of so many contemporary novels. Candide traces the fortunes of its eponymous character, a staunch optimist who eventually becomes disillusioned by a series of hardships and misfortunes. Zadig likewise follows its main character Zadig, a Babylonian philosopher, as he is subjected to the whims of Fate and the machinations of those around him. This, the only recording of Zadig on audiobook, is read magnificently by Neville Jason, who has produced many acclaimed recordings for Naxos AudioBooks.

NAXOS AUDIOBOOK | 690312 | CD6 | 9789626349038
Villette
by Charlotte Bronte
read by Mandy Weston
Written by the author of the ever-popular Jane Eyre, Villette is widely admired as Charlotte Bronte’s finest work. The story follows the fortunes of a young teacher at a girls’ school in the French town of Villette, and is superbly told by Mandy Weston. It is an adventure story, a romance and a French lesson all in one! Mandy Weston has received much praise for her unabridged recording of Villette for Naxos AudioBooks (46812, 15 CDs). This new release presents Villette abridged to 6 CDs.

NAXOS AUDIOBOOK | 91812 | CD13 | 9789626349182
Our Island Story (unabridged)
by HE Marshall
read by Anna Bentinck and Daniel Philpott
HE Marshall’s classic children’s chronicle of Britain Our Island Story includes all the best-loved (and most infamous!) stories from British history: King Alfred and the cakes; King John and the Magna Carta; Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar; Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada; and many others. This box set contains the complete and unabridged text, released previously in separate volumes (Vol 1 439512, Vol 2 541012, Vol 3 441112). Compelling listening for families, Our Island Story has remained popular with adults and children alike since it was first published. It is read with aplomb by Anna Bentinck and Daniel Philpott. 'Our Island Story…is cutting edge. With its brave mix of truth and myth, it is impeccably postmodern, (The Economist)

NAXOS AUDIOBOOK | 287912 | CD2 | 9789626348796
Narrow Road to the Interior and Hojoki
by Matsuo Basho, Kamo no Chomei
read by Togo Igawa
Japanese poetry is well-known for its clarity and concision, and The Narrow Road to the Interior and Hojoki are two of the best-loved, and most intensely Japanese, works of their kind; famous for their beautiful, delicate verse and subtle insight into the human condition. It has been said of The Narrow Road that ‘it was as if the very soul of Japan had itself written it’. It takes the form of a travel diary, and traces the poet’s journey from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to the northern interior. Hojoki, a much earlier work written by Chomei, a Buddhist hermit, is essentially a meditation on the transience of the world. Read by the famous classical Japanese actor Togo Igawa, the full beauty of its ancient cadences and rhythms is drawn out. This is the only audiobook recording available.

NAXOS AUDIOBOOK | 339012 | CD3 | 9789626343906
The Wings Of The Dove
by Henry James
read by William Hope
Milly Theale is a young, beautiful, and fabulously wealthy American. When she arrives in London and meets the equally beautiful, but impoverished Kate Croy, they form an intimate friendship. But nothing is at it seems; materialism, romance, self-delusion, and ultimately fatal illness, insidiously contaminate the glamorous social whirl. 'William Hope is a brilliantly lucid, patient, intelligent reader whose characterisations of some of those domineering English matrons is a treat. From now on, whenever he’s reading I’ll be listening.' (The Guardian)

NAXOS AUDIOBOOK | 888512 | CD8 | 9789626348857
The Essential John Milton
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Shorter Poems, Biography
read by Anton Lesser, Samantha Bond, Derek Jacobi
2008 marks the 400th anniversary of Milton’s birth in 1608. This thoughtful collection of John Milton’s finest poetry is read by several of Britain’s foremost classical actors, including Anton Lesser, Samantha Bond and Derek Jacobi. During the English Civil War, Milton’s religious and political views set him firmly on the side of Cromwell, putting his life in danger when the Stuart monarchy was restored. But he is now remembered for Paradise Lost and a strong collection of other poetry which influenced successive generations, and remain potent reading today. This collection offers an ideal overview, including the complete Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, excerpts from other major works, including Comus and Samson Agonistes, as well as sonnets and famous shorter poems such as On His Blindness, plus a new biography of Milton specially written for Naxos AudioBooks.