Complete Incidental Music for William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with narration in English

In 1826 Felix Mendelssohn, aged only seventeen, composed his famous overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He wrote incidental music for the same play sixteen years later, and effortlessly recaptured the world of his youthful imagination. It sparkles and shimmers with its fairy magic even now. In this recording, the haunting Nocturne, the lively Scherzo and the famous Wedding March are interspersed with ‘melodramas’ accompanying spoken text from Shakespeare’s much-loved play.

Domenico Cimarosa’s abilities as an operatic composer are evident in his large-scale Requiem. In this mournful work the soloists and chorus range from the mournful supplication of the opening movements, through vivid evocations of the ‘day of wrath’ and the praises uttered by the heavenly hosts in the Sanctus, to the prayers for mercy, peace and eternal light which conclude the work. Composed to commemorate the death in 1787 of the wife of the French ambassador in St Petersburg, its overall character is one of classical restraint. 'The Capella Istropolitana is an excellent group.' -The Penguin Guide

From the very first notes, with their tolling bells, Casella’s Symphony No. 2 is deeply indebted to its model, Mahler’s own Symphony No. 2, whose Parisian première was championed by Casella during his years in the French capital. A notte alta (‘In deepest night’), which Casella described as ‘the only piece of programme music I have ever composed… inspired by emotional events in my personal life’ (Casella’s love for his Parisian student Yvonne Müller), is a work of intimate self-revelation and sombre meditation on ‘the utter indifference of Nature to human passions’.

Persichetti, Schuman, Bolcom, Fine, Foss

American choral music has many faces and, while aware of tradition, often looks resolutely towards the future. Vincent Persichetti’s Mass envelops an original cantus firmus in a shimmering silken garment of ever-shifting harmonies, while Lukas Foss provides a lyre-like accompaniment for his lean, sometimes athletic, settings of three Psalms. Irving Fine sets poems by Shakespeare’s contemporary Ben Jonson (The Hour-Glass), William Schuman draws on texts by Walt Whitman for his Carols of Death, while William Bolcom uses African- American poems as the basis for a wide-ranging song cycle, The Mask.

Five Pieces, East Coast Groove, Scenes from Sedona, Montage

James Lentini’s compositions have been described as'some of the most alluring contemporary music you’re apt to find' by veteran music critic John Guinn.

Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American composer George Walker has assimilated serialism, neo-classicism and African-American music into a personal style, gaining him recognition as a true elder statesman of contemporary classical music.

Aaron Copland’s popular Clarinet Concerto, with its tender and poignant opening, highly virtuosic central cadenza and brilliantly jazzy final movement, is preceded by Robert L. Aldridge’s Clarinet Concerto, which has been described as the direct descendant of the Copland. Classical, folk, jazz and klezmer influences are brought together in a work which is infectious in its driving rhythms and soaring melodies, and it is here presented in a world premiere recording. Aldridge’s Samba for clarinet and string quartet is an attempt to make this instrumentation sound like a Latin big-band. David Singer, the acclaimed longtime principal clarinetist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, is joined on this recording by the internationally renowned Shanghai Quartet and A Far Cry Orchestra, a Boston-based collective of young professional string players who perform without a conductor and with rotating leadership.

'To describe his playing would be to enumerate a catalogue of virtues.' -New York Times on David Singer

Ildebrando Pizzetti was hailed in 1921 by The Musical Times as 'doubtless the greatest musician in Italy today.' Composed in 1918-19, the powerful Violin Sonata opens with a turbulent evocation of war and continues with a prayer for the innocent before concluding in a hopeful mood. The radiant Piano Trio (1925) was inspired by Pizzetti’s experience of meeting and courting his second wife, Irene, known as Rirì. Tre Canti (Three Songs, 1924), originally for cello and piano and arranged by the composer for violin, are relatively unadorned, touching miniatures dedicated to his daughter, Maria Teresa.

Souvenir de Dresde, Akrostichon No 1, Serenade russe in B Minor, Two Melodies Op 3, Romance and Impromptu Op 26

On this second volume of Anton Rubinstein’s piano music, GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Joseph Banowetz interprets works spanning the composer’s long career, from the famous Melody in F, written by the 23-year-old Rubinstein to the nostalgic Souvenir of Dresden composed in the year of his death. Russian Serenade is a charming vision of the composer’s homeland, the Romance and Impromptu a pair contrasting the lyrical and virtuosic, while Akrostichon No. 1 is a gently understated love poem. Volume 1 (8570941) is also available.

Havergal Brian was never a conventional composer, but the three later works on this disc rank among his most unconventional approaches to the symphonic form. The highly virtuosic Doctor Merryheart portrays an imaginary astronomer’s musical obsessions. The artless spontaneity of Symphony No. 11, whose Adagio is one of Brian’s most profound inspirations, and the extrovert character of Symphony No. 15, are firmly grounded in Brian’s resourceful technical mastery. The martial vigour of the early overture For Valour drew inspiration from the Walt Whitman poem 'Drum Taps' (also used by Vaughan Williams in Dona nobis pacem, Naxos 8572424).

Hans Christian Anderson - Songs from the 1952 film

Franz Schmidt’s Third Symphony was composed in 1927-28, dedicated to and premièred by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, winning a first prize from the Columbia Graphophone Company of New York for the best symphony in the spirit of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony as part of the centenary commemorations of Schubert’s birth. Schmidt’s symphony is lyrical, includes a set of variations, a Ländler-like Scherzo and finale rich in thematic invention. In 1931 Schmidt added wind and percussion instruments and a large body of strings to his monumental Chaconne for organ, in which form it too was premièred by the Vienna Philharmonic.

Konzertstuck in C Minor, Hora Mystica, Hora Gaudiosa

Shortly before he undertook his last concert tour to America, the freelance concert organist Marco Enrico Bossi received encouragement from his friend Puccini: ‘They will get to hear how the organ really should be played!’ This disc presents a selection of Bossi’s remarkable organ music, from intimate character pieces to thrilling works in the grand manner, which show his debt to César Franck, the great German symphonic tradition and Claude Debussy’s exotic tone colourings, all filtered through Bossi’s unique artistic sensibility.

A virtuoso pianist, Ferdinand Ries began composing piano sonatas at a time when the genre was undergoing significant changes from the models of Haydn and Mozart to new developments by Clementi, Beethoven and Hummel. Ries also pre-figures Schubert’s poignant harmonic language, Mendelssohn’s expressive sweetness and Chopin’s brilliant figurations, notably in The Dream.Opening with a stately polonaise in rondo form, Ries’s C major Sonata concludes with a thrilling perpetuum mobile finale. In his only named sonata, The Unfortunate, the influence of Beethoven’s Pathétique is apparent.

Pieces Op 53, Etudes Op 41, 74, Esquisses By The Sea

Anton Arensky’s suite-like 6 Pieces reveal his wide-ranging appreciation of musical styles, while both sets of Etudes showcase his melodic gifts and inventiveness, sometimes echoing Chopin’s elevation of mere technical challenge with lyricism and daring harmonies. If the unquiet spirits of Liszt and Schumann can occasionally be heard in the 6 Exercises titled ‘By the Sea’, Arensky’s own musical personality is nonetheless pervasive. A pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov and teacher of Rachmaninov and Scriabin, Arensky’s star swiftly set following his early death only to rise again in recent times.

Sonata Melodica

Works for violin and piano are an important part of Cyril Scott’s chamber music.This disc presents three sonatas which span his output. The capricious and ruminative First Violin Sonata ranks among the most convincing and successful of his earlier large-scale compositions. Sonata Melodica is a more relaxed yet equally quixotic work, while the Third Violin Sonata is one of the most inventive from his later years.

Viaje Imaginario - Imaginary Journey

This recording presents the definitive version of Jesús Rueda’s Third Symphony, a journey towards the light in which the composer revels in the dazzling textures filled with colour and dynamism that he loves. Traversing the four elements, Fire, Water, Earth and Air, the symphony culminates in an intense musical flood of light before subsiding into a mystical abyss. Viaje imaginario embarks on a very different imaginary journey, inspired by the composer’s night-time walks and dedicated to the memory of his much-loved teacher Francisco Guerrero.

Songs from a Shropshire Lad, Folk Songs from Sussex

One of England’s most distinctive composers, George Butterworth belonged to the generation of young men decimated in the Great War of 1914-1918. His sensitive and melancholic settings of poems from A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad, with their subject matter of the futility and arbitrariness of war, are small-scale masterpieces. Of particular note are the ‘Loveliest of Trees’, describing the passing of the seasons, and the ghostly and elegiac ‘Is my team ploughing?’ The Folk Songs from Sussex and settings of poems by R. L. Stevenson, Shelley and Wilde, whose subject matter revolves around flirtation, love, courtship, marriage and desertion, are no less notable for their attention to detail, linguistic nuance and delicate, economical piano writing.

Lysight, Farr, Andonian, Abe, Janssens, Devreese, Mertens

‘As a follow-up to the success of the first volume of Music for Flute and Percussion (Naxos 8557782), and the immense pleasure I have experienced in my concerts for flute and percussion, I have urged a number of composers to write for this marvellous combination,’ notes Belgian virtuoso flautist Marc Grauwels. ‘He deserves high praise for introducing us to great music, and he always plays with passion and precision’ (American Record Guide). Grauwels and his accomplished colleagues continue their foray into new sonic realms with this second volume.

Three Epigrams, Postlude, Love Poem

Expressive power, meticulous virtuosity and a refined musical language combining the traditional and the avant garde have made Benet Casablancas one of today’s most widely recognised Spanish composers. The Dark Backward of Time is a richly-scored symphonic meditation, by turns tumultuous and tranquil. Among Casablancas’s best-known pieces, Three Epigrams concentrates exultant, nocturnal and jocular writing into a miniature triptych. Postlude and Love Poem are ambitious works in which compositional complexity turns towards greater formal and harmonic refinement. His tribute to compatriot Salvador Dalí evokes the lyricism and vibrant contrasts characteristic of the Spanish Surrealist painter’s works.

Since Victorian propriety forbids Oxford undergraduates Jack and Charley from being alone with their girlfriends Kitty and Amy, they enlist the aid of Charley’s aunt as a chaperone. But there’s a hitch: she can’t be found, so Charley takes on the role of an elderly matron himself. When Lord Spettigue and Jack’s father start pursuing the bogus relative, and Charley’s real aunt makes an untimely appearance, things go from bad to worse. Based on the classic comedy Charley’s Aunt, this elegant musical farce opened on Broadway in October 1948 and ran for 792 performances. In 1952 it was fi lmed by Warner Brothers.

Why meditate? To let go of stress? To become more focused? To fathom life’s mysteries? Buddhism is well-known for its meditation practices which are non-theistic, practical but profound. Whatever our purpose, Jinananda is a clear, experienced and friendly guide who can help us start meditating - right now. Find everything you need to begin your exploration of meditation: how to sit and simple instructions for two traditional practices that develop clarity, peace of mind and positive emotions. This guide also includes troubleshooting tips and ideas on how to take practice further. Jinananda is an English-born, London-based Buddhist teacher with 30 years of personal meditation practice. This set includes detailed guidelines to two practices, the Mindfulness of Breathing and the Development of Loving Kindness; the fourth CD provides guided sessions for both these practices – the meditator just puts it on and follows instructions, starting with a relaxing body scan.

One abandoned, one unfinished, these short works show Austen equally at home with romance (a widowed clergyman with four daughters must needs be in search of a husband or two in The Watsons)and with social change (a new, commercial seaside resort in Sanditon). Typically touching, funny, charming and sharp. This edition includes the first ever recording of Sanditon on audiobook. These lesser-known novels provide illuminating insights into Jane Austen’s work and are a must for any collector. Anna Bentinck has made over 800 broadcasts for BBC radio and is a smart and humorous audiobook reader.

This captivating tale of betrayal, scheming and revenge is one of Alexandre Dumas’s most popular novels. Thrown in prison for a crime he did not commit, the young Edmond Dantès has a lot of time to contemplate fitting revenge plans for the aristocratic villains that jealously ruined his glittering future. When he finally emerges prison 14 years later, he is a man transformed beyond all recognition. But, lurking behind the charismatic and engaging face that Dantès shows to society is a dangerous conspirator, hell-bent on revenge. With the ability to seamlessly shift between multiple personas, Dantès menaces his enemies and drives them to distraction using his devilish cunning. The pace, intrigue and high drama of this thrilling adventure story is masterfully portrayed in our new unabridged audiobook. Bill Homeward’s thrilling reading captures the palpable sense of adventure and propels the listener forward.

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Philosopher, spiritualist, social activist, and free spirit – Henry David Thoreau was one of the most significant thinkers of 19th-century America. Walden and Civil Disobedience are two of Thoreau’s most influential works and are presented here alongside each other on audiobook. In Walden,Thoreau urges us to renegotiate our relationship with society, to reject its inhibitive conventions and expectations and to reconnect with nature in order to live a more vital and purposeful life.  Civil Disobedience berates the ‘machine’ of 19th-century American government that sanctions evil policies such as slavery and argues that the public should refuse to cooperate by not paying taxes. Thoreau’s exposé of his society’s misguided dogmas is uncompromising and is presented with startling clarity and conviction. Today, Thoreau’s ideas are still as bold, refreshing and inspiring as they ever were and call on us to live a life less ordinary.

From ancient times, wolves have been mythologised as ferocious and predatory beasts. In Never Cry Wolf conservationist Farley Mowat sets out to correct the stereotypes. Using his observations of a Canadian wolf pack, Mowat paints a sensitive picture of the wolf as a mild-tempered and graceful animal with strong familial bonds and a taste for small prey rather than livestock. Whilst the scientific basis of some of Mowat’s conclusions has been contested, this affectionate and humorous account provides an intimate understanding of wolf behaviour, and has provoked readers to fight for the preservation of these majestic creatures. This fascinating study marked a watershed in attitudes, proving that the wolf bears little resemblance to the gluttonous villain of children’s fairy tales or to the gothic werewolf. The popularity of this study and the vast amount of public sympathy it awakened led it to be adapted into a successful film.

Sherlock Holmes is clear proof of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s talent for creating memorable characters and there are many more to be found in the rest of his body of work. The hero of The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard is one of his most ingenious inventions, brought to life, here, with wicked humour and a glorious French accent by Rupert Degas. Preposterously vain and yet endearing, Brigadier Gerard makes for a tremendously fun companion as he relives the exploits of his military career fighting in the Napoleonic campaigns. Crediting himself with unparalleled military prowess and irresistible powers of seduction, Gerard goes as far as to suggest that his absence from the Battle of Waterloo was the reason for Napoleon’s defeat!