New on Naxos | September 2015
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NEW ON The World’s Leading ClassicalNAXOS Music Label SEPTEMBER 2015 This Month’s Other Highlights © 2015 Naxos Rights US, Inc. • Contact Us: [email protected] www.naxos.com • www.classicsonlinehd.com • www.naxosmusiclibrary.com • blog.naxos.com NEW ON NAXOS | SEPTEMBER 2015 8.559742 Playing Time 69:40 6 36943 97422 3 © Adriane White © Marin Alsop Leonard BERNSTEIN (1918–1990) Companion Titles Symphony No. 3 ‘Kaddish’1 Missa Brevis2 • The Lark3 Claire Bloom, Narrator1,3 Kelley Nassief, Soprano1 Paulo Mestre, Countertenor2,3 The Maryland State Boychoir1 The Washington Chorus1 The São Paulo Symphony Choir2,3 Members of The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra2,3 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra1 8.559177 8.559622-23 Marin Alsop Three examples of Leonard Bernstein’s vocal art can be heard in this recording. His Symphony No. 3 ‘Kaddish’ shuns traditional symphonic ideas in favor of an eclectic theatrical and oratorio-like form with a prominent rôle for speaker. For this recording Marin Alsop has returned to the work’s original narrative text, heard before the 1977 revision. The Lark – heard in a concert version with added narration – derives from Lillian Hellman’s adaptation of L’Alouette on the life of Joan of Arc, and it was this music that Bernstein reworked into his Missa Brevis many years later. 8.559245 8.572486 Key Features • Marin Alsop conducts the Baltimore Symphony in Marin Alsop is an inspiring and powerful voice in the international this recording. She is a Bernstein protégé, and has written fondly and music scene. She made history with her appointment as the 12th extensively about studying with him. He mentored her when he was music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO). With conductor of the New York Philharmonic and few conductors today her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became the first understand his music better. Kaddish is a much misunderstood work woman to head a major American orchestra. Her success as the but an interesting point to push is that it’s heard (largely – some of the BSO’s music director has garnered national and international attention original score is not heard) in its original narrative form. The points to for her innovative programming and artistry. Alsop took up the post of push here are therefore Bernstein the vocal composer performed in principal conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in 2012, largely original editions by one of his best contemporary interpreters. and became music director in July 2013. She also holds the title of Important also to note that the speaker in Kaddish is the great actress conductor emeritus at the Bournemouth Symphony in the United Claire Bloom. Kingdom, where she served as the principal conductor from 2002 to 2008. In September 2013, she made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms in London. 2 NEW ON NAXOS | SEPTEMBER 2015 Final Release 8.573140 Playing Time 67:25 7 47313 31407 2 © Christoffer Lomfors © Christoffer Marc Soustrot Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921) Companion Titles Symphonies, Vol. 3 Symphony in F major ‘Urbs Roma’ La jeunesse d’Hercule • Danse macabre* Marika Fältskogh, Violin solo* Malmö Symphony Orchestra Marc Soustrot Saint-Saëns’s Symphony in F major ‘Urbs Roma’ was his prize- winning entry to a competition organized by the Bordeaux Société Ste Cécile, but the work remained unpublished in the composer’s 8.573138 8.573139 lifetime. This early work is notable for a masterly final movement which, unusually, comprises a theme and variations. The symphonic poem La Jeunesse d’Hercule is a portrayal of the conflict between pleasure and duty, while the Danse macabre is amongst his most popular orchestral works. The first two volumes of this complete edition of Saint-Saëns’s symphonies can be heard on Naxos 8.573138 and 8.573139. Key Features • This third volume rounds off our new edition of Saint- Saëns’s complete Symphonies, the first two volumes of which having received wide critical acclaim. Volume 2 (8.573139) with the famous 8.553039 8.572037 ‘Organ’ Symphony (No. 3) is equal to the toughest competition, with MusicWeb International “immensely impressed by Soustrot’s reading… played beautifully by the Malmö orchestra. Soustrot creates a sense of expectancy that keeps you on the edge of your seat… excellent orchestral playing throughout.” ClassicsToday.com felt that the “second volume in Naxos’ ongoing Saint-Saëns symphony cycle is as good as the first” (8.573138). With some of the best recordings available of Saint-Saëns’s less frequently performed and recorded symphonies and orchestral works, this is now an assured market leader in a very popular field. Marc Soustrot is considered a specialist in French orchestral © Leif Johansson music. Formerly the principal conductor and artistic director of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra Orchestre Philharmonique des Pays de la Loire, the Beethoven Orchester, Bonn, and Het Brabants Orkest, Eindhoven, he is principal the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, the Filharmonie Antwerpen, conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and designated the Residentie Orkest Den Haag and the Philharmonic Orchestras principal conductor of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. Soustrot has of Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, Luxembourg, Barcelona conducted the Munich Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony, the and Tokyo. Marc Soustrot was honoured with the title Chevalier de la English Chamber Orchestra, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Légion d’Honneur in 2008. 3 NEW ON NAXOS | SEPTEMBER 2015 8.573340 Playing Time 72:50 7 47313 33407 0 © Seilo Ristimäki Leif Segerstam Jean SIBELIUS (1865–1957) Companion Titles Orchestral Works, Vol. 4 Jedermann Two Serious Melodies · In memoriam Pia Pajala, Soprano • Tuomas Katajala, Tenor Nicholas Söderland, Bass Cathedralis Aboensis Choir Mikaela Palmu, Violin Turku Philharmonic Orchestra Leif Segerstam 8.573299 8.573300 Rarely performed but recognized as a hidden masterpiece, Sibelius’s score for Jedermann is unusual in that the music closely follows the words and action of this morality play, intensifying Everyman’s hubris, penance, escape from the Devil’s clutches and ultimate salvation. The Two Serious Melodies reflect Sibelius’ dark mood during the difficult years of World War I, while In memoriam resonates with his preoccupation with death in 1909 following a life-saving throat operation, and was performed at his own funeral in 1957. Key Features • This is the fourth of a six volume set that explores 8.573301 8.570763 Jean Sibelius’s orchestral works beyond the higher profile symphonies, violin concerto and tone poems. Finnish conductor Leif Segerstam is an acclaimed Sibelius interpreter, having been awarded the annual Finnish State Prize for Music in 2004; and in 2005 the highly esteemed Sibelius Medal. His recordings for Naxos include a “skillfully and sweepingly paced” Tristan und Isolde (Classic FM on 8.660152-54) and a “deeply moving” Wozzeck (Penguin Guide on 8.660076-77). In this fourth volume, platinum record-making and award winning orchestra the Turku Philharmonic accompanies a world class team of vocal soloists in Pia Pajala, Nicholas Söderlund and Tuomas Katajala, as well as the Cathedralis Aboensis Choir, which has a close association with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. © Seilo Ristimäki Leif Segerstam is a conductor, composer, violinist and pianist with Turku Philharmonic Orchestra a prominent international career. Since 2012 he has been Chief Conductor of Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. From autumn 1997 to spring 2013 Leif Segerstam was Professor of Orchestra Conducting Prize for Music and in 2005 the highly esteemed Sibelius Medal. at the Sibelius Academy. He was awarded the 1999 Nordic Council He has gained wide acclaim for his many recordings with different Music Prize for his work “as a tireless champion of Scandinavian orchestras. While pursuing his conducting career, Segerstam has music” and the Swedish Cultural Foundation’s Prize for Music in also produced an extensive oeuvre as a composer. 2003. In 2004 Leif Segerstam was awarded the annual Finnish State 4 NEW ON NAXOS | SEPTEMBER 2015 8.660353 Playing Time 67:20 Ryan Brown 7 30099 03537 8 François-André Danican PHILIDOR (1726–1795) Les Femmes Vengées An opéra-comique in one act (1775) Companion Titles Claire Debono • Pascale Beaudin, Sopranos Blandine Staskiewicz, Mezzo-soprano Jeffrey Thompson • Antonio Figueroa, Tenors Alex Dobson, Baritone Opera Lafayette • Ryan Brown The first performances of Les Femmes Vengées (The Avenged Women) in 1775 restored the fortunes of Francois-André Danican Philidor, which had been wavering since the great success of Tom Jones a decade earlier. His opéra-comique, which foreshadows the plot of Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Mozart had been in Paris during the 8.660274 8.660209-10 first performances of Philidor’s work), offers delicious opportunities for mock-indignation and repartee in its arias and ensembles. This recording presents the complete music. Opera Lafayette and Ryan Brown’s recording of Philidor’s Sancho Pança [8.660274] was hailed as a ‘witty, authentic interpretation’ by the American Record Guide. Key Features • Is this the French Così fan tutte? No one knows for sure whether or not Mozart was present at the early performances of Philidor’s Les Femmes vengées but it’s a known fact that he was staying in Paris at the time and there are distinct mirror-reflections in his later work of this earlier comic work. All the music is here; 8.660224 8.660263-64 though there are cuts in the spoken dialogue (the complete text with spoken dialogue is available on Naxos’ website). This is high- class opéra-comique, essentially light-hearted, in the last quarter of the eighteenth-century. Important to note that Ryan Brown and his ensemble are world-leaders in the performance of Philidor’s music. Ryan Brown is the founder, conductor, and artistic director of Opera Lafayette, an American period-instrument ensemble that specializes in French repertoire, rediscovers masterpieces, and creates a recorded legacy of its work.