Although temperamentally quite different and born a century apart, both Nicolò Paganini and Fritz Kreisler enjoyed stellar careers as violin virtuosos, touring widely and thrilling audiences with their astonishing virtuosity and innate showmanship. Kreisler’s arrangements of Paganini’s music, including two large-scale sets of variations based on themes from Rossini operas, the famous 'La Campanella' and several Caprices, brought these charming and demanding pieces to an enthusiastic public. Acclaimed Russian-born, American-based violinist Philippe Quint follows the path of his illustrious forebears with equal measures of stunning technique and immense sensitivity. 'Philippe Quint is a wonderfully accomplished soloist.' -Gramophone

Fantasia on Polish Airs Op 13

Chopin’s youthful Piano Concerto No. 1 is dominated by the brilliant piano part that the teenage performer-composer wrote to showcase his extraordinary virtuosity. Its ravishing Romanza (‘reviving in one’s soul beautiful memories’, as the composer described it) is framed by an opening movement rich in dramatic lyricism and a vivacious Rondo. The Fantasy on Polish Airs, Op. 13 and the Rondo à la Krakowiak are similarly vehicles for Romantic reverie and bravura which pay tribute to the music of his homeland. Eldar Nebolsin’s recording of Liszt’s piano concertos (8570517) was ranked 'among the finest' by Gramophone.

Nueve Double Bass Concerto, Tange en Azul, Casi un Tango, They Rode into the Sunset - Music for an Imaginary Film

‘When Naxos suggested making a new recording of my music, the idea was to give a full panoply and to emphasize the changes in style that occurred over time, from the very early first symphony, thorough the experimental years (while working with George Szell in Cleveland as the orchestra's Composer-in-Residence), the lighter side with two short concert tangos, and finally a score for a film that did not get made,’ notes acclaimed composer-conductor José Serebrier. ‘In my music, while the style changed in the 1960s and 1970s, the "message" remained the same. The lyrical line, the atmosphere, and a certain Slavic undertone are there in all these works.’ -José Serebrier

Missa in tempore belli 'Mass in the Time of War'

As Haydn scholar H.C. Landon explains, ‘it is clear that with this Missa Cellensis... he reached, and reached with panache and astonishing vigour, the popular style for which he had been so long and so diligently searching.’ For this reason, the Mariazellermesse ‘is both the precursor to Haydn’s late Masses as well as the culmination of his early efforts in the genre.’ Fourteen years elapsed before Haydn’s setting of the Mass in Time of War, also known as the Paukenmesse because of his evocative use of the timpani; the work demonstrates Haydn’s new approach to the Mass, including dramatic extremes and more frequent integration of solo and chorus.

Miacomet Dreaming Op 781, Nobadeer Dreaming Op 784, Bassoon Quintet Op 764, Madaket Dreaming Op 764, Shawkemo Dreaming Op 811, Lyric Trio Op 710, Sankaty Dreaming String Quartet No 4 Op 461, Flying Machine Op 775

These world première recordings bring together several works from American composer Carson Cooman’s Nantucket Dreaming cycle, a series of compositions inspired by the island’s landmarks and landscape. Spanning a seven-year creative period, these diverse works, with their blazes of instrumental colour, subtle atmospherics and lyrical evocations of wind, sky, land and sea, create an interconnected narrative of shared musical images and ideas. Fanfare magazine proclaimed that ‘Cooman has something to say, an engaging voice to do so, and real musical chops’, a testament to the talent of one of the most active American composers of his generation.

The son of Alessandro Scarlatti, who created a new school of opera in Naples, Domenico Scarlatti is particularly distinguished for his remarkable keyboard sonatas, of which some 555 are known. This significant addition to early 18th-century keyboard repertoire was written for performance on the various keyboard instruments of the Spanish court, where he was employed for many years, and in all their variety have long provided a valuable repertoire for pianists. Volumes 1–11 available.

Born in the same decade as his more famous contemporaries, Malipiero, Casella and Pizzetti, Carlo Giorgio Garofalo composed a considerable body of sacred and secular music. Until its 1994 Moscow revival conducted by Joel Spiegelman, Garofalo’s Romantic Symphony, admired by Toscanini and Nikisch, had been performed in full score only once. It is a dramatically gripping and uplifting work of unabashed Romanticism. Garofalo’s gift for sweeping melodies and well-rounded musical form is also evident in his Violin Concerto whose solo part gives ample opportunity for rapturously virtuosic display and poignant lyricism. 'Garofalo has a melodic gift and with a bit more experience might have given Respighi a run for his money.' -American Record Guide

Volume 5 of the Idil Biret Archive Concerto Edition presents two glorious Romantic works by Tchaikovsky, his Second Piano Concerto and Concert Fantasy in G Minor. Here Idil Biret performs the version of the transcendental Andante non troppo middle movement of the concerto that was slightly shortened by Tchaikovsky, not the even more heavily cut version prepared by Alexander Siloti. It is a serenade du chambre in which a solo violin and cello share the limelight with the piano. The Concert Fantasy, with its charming lightly textured themes, has been sadly neglected since its première in 1885.

Sonate Sentimentale, Polonaise, Sonata in G, Variations on a Portuguese Hymn

Like most of his contemporaries, Ferdinand Ries was a prolific composer of variations, polonaises and other small-scale works for piano or piano and solo instrument. Intended primarily for the cultivated amateur, these works were composed with the care one would expect from a former pupil of Beethoven and abound in attractive melodic ideas and brilliant instrumental writing. His works for flute and piano include sparkling gems such as the Variations on a Portuguese Hymn (Adeste fideles) and the impressive Sonate Sentimentale, Op. 169, one of the finest works for flute of its time.

Once attributed to the young Beethoven, the German composer and cellist Friedrich Witt’s Symphony in C Major is a splendid example of symphonic writing from a time when this form was achieving both prestige and popularity with a growing music-loving public. His delightful Symphony in A Major, with its deftlywritten opera buffa fi nale, and sparkling Flute Concerto likewise show the skills of a masterful composer whose career spanned the climax of the Classical and the birth of the Romantic eras. For Naxos, renowned flautist and conductor Patrick Gallois has also recorded C.P.E. Bach’s Complete Flute Concertos (855571516), Haydn’s Symphonies Nos. 1–5 (8557571) and Gounod’s Symphonies (8557463), among other works.

Composed by the 27-year-old Igor Markovitch when he was at the height of his creative powers, La Taille de l’Homme (The Measure of Man) is a virtuoso ensemble work which fully deserves to be in the repertoire despite its incomplete state (Part 2 was never written). The libretto was written by C. F. Ramuz, author of text of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. The score of this powerful evocation of life’s stages linked to the passage of the seasons was long believed lost until it was discovered among the papers of Markovitch’s teacher, Nadia Boulanger.

'Until the British conductor Christopher Lyndon-Gee began to record Markevitch's music for Marco Polo in 1995, most of us knew this music only by hearsay. So it was thrilling to discover that it really is as good as all those amazed early commentators suggested.' -Sunday Express

Alegoria A Turina, Schubertiana, Milonga, Concierto de Albayzin, Impromptu en el Generalife

Montsalvatge always composed unpretentious music of lyrical beauty and classical clarity. As Spanish composer Francesc Taverna has remarked: ‘In some way, the spirit and luminosity of Mediterranean Art crystalises, in the case of Montsalvatge, in the brightness and conciseness of his sonorous speech.’ This second volume of Jordi Masó’s survey of his piano music showcases the Catalan composer’s eclectic style, synthesis of neoclassicism, impressionism and free use of serial technique. By turns playful, almost improvisatory, and intimate in feeling, this music weaves a unique spell around the listener.

Piano Variations on Themes by Haibel, Wranitzky, Salleri and Sussmayr

The art of variation lies at the heart of much music, including that of Beethoven, who practiced this demanding technique as both performer and composer at many stages throughout his career. For his ‘Eroica’ Variations Beethoven used a theme originally written for his ballet music from The Creatures of Prometheus which he later incorporated into his Third Symphony. Other variations, whether based on the music of his contemporaries or of his own invention, such as the famous Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens, provide considerable insights to Beethoven’s much vaunted virtuosity and profound creativity.

Ricercari, Toccate, Canzoni

Playing instruments based on 16th-century Venetian models whose soft iron strings produce a more vocal sound than that usually associated with later types of Italian harpsichords, American-born, Dutch-educated and German-based Glen Wilson here explores the rarely-heard yet highly influential keyboard music of Andrea Gabrieli. Drawn from collections published by the composer’s nephew Giovanni Gabrieli between 1593 and 1605, the ricercars, toccatas, canzonas and other works on this disc reveal a different side to a Venetian Renaissance master composer better known for his vocal music.

Rescued from oblivion before his tragic death in Auschwitz in 1944, Marcel Tyberg’s Symphony No. 3 sets out on a poetic journey with shades of Schumann and Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, playful instrumental filigrees, colourful counterpoint and captivating harmonies. This sweeping work for large orchestra received its première performances by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta, finally giving voice to a composer who never heard his masterpiece performed.

Tyberg’s chamber music also demonstrates his deep respect for 19th-century musical modes and manners; imbued with the spirit of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, his Piano Trio brims with a richly Romantic esprit. JoAnn Falletta, who has established a reputation for conducting artistically important, but seldom-heard works, is embarking on a multi-year recording project of the lost works of the brilliant Austrian composer and Holocaust victim Marcel Tyberg. 'One of the finest conductors of her generation' -The New York Times

Sonata No 1 in A Major G13, Sonata No 2 in C Major G6, Sonata No 3 in G Major G5, Sonata No 4 in E Flat Major G10, Sonata No 5 in F Major G1, Sonata No 6 in A Major G4

Originally published in London in 1771, these six Sonatas for cello and basso continuo were arranged for cello and piano by the influential Italian virtuoso cellist Alfredo Piatti in the 1870s and are performed here on modern instruments by outstanding young musicians. The Russian cellist Fedor Amosov has taken first prize in several international competitions, including the 2007 Knushevitzky Competition. Boccherini’s blend of virtuosity and melancholy singing style remains to the fore in Piatti’s technically demanding adaptations which, at times, differ both in the cello and keyboard realisations from modern editions of the sonatas derived from other manuscript sources.

Clarinet Sonata, Oboe Sonata, Viola Sonatina, Suite for Oboe and Harp, String Trio, Conversations

Among British composer William Alwyn’s large body of work, including five symphonies, concertos for flute, oboe, violin, harp, piano, and many shorter orchestral works, there is a significant amount of chamber and instrumental music. This disc presents six works which were composed between 1934 and 1962. During this time, Alwyn’s style developed from the easy flowing melodies exemplified in the Oboe Sonata, Viola Sonatina (here receiving its world première recording), and Suite for Oboe and Harp to the more astringent and darker language of the Clarinet Sonata and String Trio. Conversations, originally named Music for Three Players, comprises eight short descriptive pieces. 'Naxos continues to champion Alwyn for a burgeoning band of devotees.' -Gramophone

Sonata for Flute, Violin and Piano H254, Sonata for flute and Piano H306, Sextet for Piano and Woodwinds H174, Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano H300

Martinů belonged to the lineage of Czech composers that began with Smetana and Dvořák and reached its most exuberant flowering in the late works of Janáček. The chamber music on this disc abounds with the mosaic-like patterns and infectious rhythmic vitality which give his works their kaleidoscopic quality. From the highly original Sextet of 1929, with its jazzy Parisian character, to the Flute Sonata of 1945, in which the much-travelled composer imitates the song of the whippoorwill of New England, this disc surveys a quarter-century of Martinů’s prolific and always inventive output.

John Ireland’s violin sonatas gained extraordinarily positive reviews when they were premiered. The Star praised the ‘delicacy, lucidity, and tonal charm’ of the First Violin Sonata, while Musical Times regarded the Second as ‘a brilliant specimen of his powers’. This disc presents new recordings by the critically-acclaimed and widely-travelled Gould Trio of these two unjustly neglected works, together with one of Ireland’s most profoundly expressive pieces, the Cello Sonata; three compositions which display the composer’s emotional intensity and passionate lyricism. 'Naxos really are doing John Ireland proud at the moment.' -Gramophone

Lane Suite Ancienne, Arnold Recorder Concertino, Pitfield Recorder Concerto, Gregson 3 Matisse Impressions, Lyon Recorder Concerto

Although the recorder boasts an immense repertoire from the Renaissance to the Baroque, to which Philip Lane pays tribute with his Suite Ancienne, this recording presents an exciting selection of 20th-century music for this popular instrument. It includes a version of Malcolm Arnold’s Concertino specially orchestrated with the composer’s agreement for this recording by Philip Lane. The recorder’s affiliation with folk and dance music is celebrated in works by Thomas Pitfield and Ian Parrott, while Edward Gregson illustrates the moods of three famous Matisse paintings. John Turner is one of the leading recorder players of today. He has played and broadcast as recorder soloist with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Chamber Orchestra and the English Baroque Soloists, amongst others. His recordings include no fewer than five sets of the Brandenburg Concertos, as well as acclaimed recordings of the recorder’s contemporary repertoire.

Bach Partita in E Major BWV 1006a, Britten Nocturnal after John Dowland Op 70, Duarte Variations on a Catalan Folk Song Op 25, Castelnueovo-Tedesco Sonata Op 77 'Omaggio a Boccherini'

Currently an assistant professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, András Csáki has given recitals throughout Europe, the United States, South America and Japan, and by 2009 had been awarded eighteen prizes, including first prize in the 42nd Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition in Alessandria, Italy. In this wide-ranging recital he interprets Bach’s most technically challenging ‘lute suites’, Britten’s groundbreaking tribute to John Dowland, Duarte’s bravura Variations and one of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s finest solo sonatas.

Read by one of Britain's most beloved singers, Aled Jones (who tours Australia in August/September 2010), this lively recording is a perfect way to introduce classical music to the entire family. It looks at the music through the lives of the great composers and their environment, from the churches and cathedrals that produced the familiar sound of Gregorian chant, to Johann Sebastian Bach, the family man composing for the glory of God, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the child prodigy, genius and prankster who wrote some of the finest music ever yet was buried in a pauper’s grave. The story will be taken to the composers of the 21st century. This unusual and special production by the two most important brand names in classical music includes more than 100 musical examples taken from the extensive Naxos catalogue. Includes a bonus CD-ROM which contains text, pictures of composers, glossary of terms and more. The story is enhanced with 156 musical extracts.

At a dinner party one night, a man known only as the Time Traveller attempts to demonstrate the workings of his time machine device to his incredulous friends. He embarks upon an epic voyage, careering forward 802,701 years into the future only to discover that the world’s population has split into an indolent race called the Eloi and a cantankerous, violent race called the Morlocks. This chillingly prescient novel offers a dystopian worldview and a scathing indictment of mankind’s incessant pursuit of progress. The novel was an instant sensation, which popularised the concept of time travel and inspired many more works on the same theme. A hugely influential novel that inspired a whole genre of science fiction, many television and film adaptations have been based on it, including the famous blockbuster The War of the Worlds.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s modern classic is one of the key novels of the 20th century. Jay Gatsby is one of the most famous residents of Long Island, New York. His sumptuous mansion, lavish parties and glamorous lifestyle are renowned throughout the neighbourhood. And yet, beyond the status symbols, noone seems to know anything about this elusive, ephemeral figure. Gatsby seems to have it all. However, it soon becomes clear that the thing that he craves beyond all else cannot be bought. The Great Gatsby captures the hotbed of vice and corruption underlying the glitz and the glamour of the roaring 20s in the most exquisite prose. An unabridged reading of one of the greatest American novels, ranked second in the Modern Library’s list of The 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century. Fitzgerald’s lyrical prose style is all the more captivating when heard aloud.

Barnaby Rudge, one of only two historical novels by Dickens, deals with the ‘Popery’ riots of 1780. Sean Barrett is one of Britain’s most popular readers. He recently produced a widely praised reading of Bleak House for the Naxos collection and he returns, now, to narrate another Dickens classic. The recording is part of the extensive Dickens collection offered in both abridged and unabridged form by Naxos AudioBooks, and the only available version of the novel on audiobook.

This year, a new film adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels brings Jonathan Swift’s classic novel back into focus. In Gulliver’s Travels we travel into the realms of the fantastical as Lemuel Gulliver, after being alternately shipwrecked, abandoned and then accosted, is compelled to dwell among a series of extraordinary civilizations. From being incarcerated by a diminutive race to being shunned by a clan of superior horses, Gulliver’s far-ranging adventures are at once deliciously absurd and pertinently revealing. The vulgarities and imbecilities of human nature are paraded before our eyes in this novel that remains as one of the most wonderful satires of all time. The forthcoming film adaptation stars Jack Black, Billy Connolly, Catherine Tate and Emily Blunt.

Unconventional, warm and witty, this Georgian romance by Georgette Heyer unusually begins with a marriage rather than ending with one. When Horatia Winwood steps in to marry the Earl of Rule, the disappointed suitor of her elegant sister, it is the luxuries of high society life that she becomes entranced with rather than her husband. And yet, despite the countless misunderstandings, spats and blunders, somewhere along the line, this marriage of convenience turns into the real thing. Georgette Heyer’s novels are among the most popular titles in the Naxos AudioBooks catalogue.

Thomas Hardy’s novels about the cruel twists of fate that blight our lives have a timeless power to move us. In The Mayor Casterbridge, a young Michael Henchard makes a rash, alcohol-fuelled decision to sell his wife. Despite abstaining from alcohol from this point forward and living an upstanding life, this lapse is a revenant that returns to plague him at the peak of his career. In his struggles to overcome his hot-headed, belligerent nature, Henchard is very recognisably human and sympathetic hero.

First performed at the Teatro Regio, Turin, on 5 March 1876, Lauro Rossi’s penultimate opera Cleopatra caught the public’s attention in the wake of Verdi’s Aïda (1871). Like that better-known work, it contains some wonderful arias and set pieces, including a marvellous Act 1 banquet scene, Cleopatra’s Act 2 aria, the thrilling ensemble that closes Act 3, and the confrontation between Cleopatra and Octavian in Act 4, all making for compelling viewing and listening. From the brooding opening scene in which Diomedes foretells the fall of Egypt to Cleopatra’s death scene, this gripping grand opera by one of Italy’s forgotten masters springs vividly to life in this revival filmed at the 2008 Macerata Sferisterio Festival.

Mozart Flute Concertos, Andante K315

Vivaldi Excerpts from concertos Il Cimento dell'Armonica e dell'Inventione (The Contest of Harmony and Invention), Piazza San Marco, Campanile, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Grand Canal, Winter scenes, Painters, Venice from the air, Churches of San Zac

Liszt , Piazzas, Fountains and the Remains of the Empire

Mozart Violin Concertos, Zurich, Regensberg, Lake Zurich, The Emmental, Lake Thun, Lauterbrunnen, St Gallen, Zermatt

Schubert Symphony No 8 'Unfinished', Symphony No 5, Grindelwald, Jungfraujoch, Trummelbach Waterfalls, Emmental, Lake Thun, Geneva, Aigle, The Alps, Ascona, Bosco Gurin, Santa Maria and Swiss National Park, Zernez

Brahms Symphony No 2, Joachim Overture In Memoriam Heinrich von Kleist

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1, Souvenir d'un lieu cher

Beethoven Eroica Symphony, Coriolanus Overture

Faure Requiem, Pavane, Sicilienne, Berceuse

Mozart Symphony No 41 'Jupiter', Symphony No 25, Mantua frescoes, Lago di Orta, Cremona, Workshop of the violin maker Stefano Conia, Milan Central Station, Piazza and Duomo, Etna, Noto, Agrigento, Taormina

Mozart Piano Concerto Nos 21 in C Major K467, 24 in C Minor K491

Tchaikovsky Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet, Ponte Pietra, House and Tomb of Juliet, Giusti Gardens, Piazza Delle Erbe, Florence, Tchaikovsky's House at Klin in Russia, Vesuvius, Castel Nuovo