Naxos Classical Spotlight

The combined gifts of the extraordinary Brasil Guitar Duo and two eminent Latin American composers produce a depth of experience and rare musical beauty in two concertos for guitar duo. Cuban composer Leo Brouwer has written ten concertos for guitar, but The Book of Signs is his first for guitar duo. Paulo Bellinati’s Concerto Caboclo pays specific tribute to the music of São Paulo State in Brazil. The work was commissioned by the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra specifically for the Brasil Guitar Duo, João Luiz and Douglas Lora.

The new Naxos edition of Saint-Saëns’ works for piano and orchestra reaches its final volume with a recording of the composer’s Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5, works described by soloist Romain Descharmes as “brilliant music that opens doors to a new world”. The Fourth Concerto showcases virtuosic music written by one of history’s most amazing keyboard prodigies. The Fifth was written when Saint-Saëns was aged 60 for his own jubilee concert marking the 50th anniversary of his debut appearance in Paris. It exudes a suitably youthful effervescence and houses a middle movement bursting with contrasting moods. Raymond Bisha introduces this sparkling new release.

As was often the case, bringing performances of classical music to fruition in Russia’s Soviet era was more challenging than the actual composition. Responding to a commission from the Bolshoi Ballet in 1935, Prokofiev quickly completed the task of writing a score for Romeo and Juliet, but the first performance had to be postponed owing to dark political moves (many staff at the Bolshoi were removed from their posts; some were shot); the public subsequently had to make do with suites from the score; and it wasn’t until 1938 that the premiere took place, in Brno (now in the Czech Republic), which Prokofiev was unable to attend because of travel restrictions imposed on him. Despite such a tangle of knots, Prokofiev managed to produce a score that conductor Marin Alsop has long admired for “his ingenious thematic invention and his passionate portrayal of this profoundly timeless story that make this score stand out in the firmament.” Raymond Bisha introduces her recent recording of the work.

Michael Daugherty is one of today’s leading American composers. Previous Naxos recordings of his works have received no fewer than seven GRAMMY® awards. His latest release features three recently completed concertos, respectively for flute, tuba and percussion. The programme boasts a rare line-up of female soloists and a release date that coincides with Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (March 8). Trail of Tears describes the five-month forced march of the Cherokee in 1838-39 with flautist Amy Porter as soloist; Dreamachine pays tribute to the imagination of inventors and their real or surreal machines and features world-renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie; while Reflections on the Mississippi evokes memories of family excursions and presents soloist Carol Jantch, principal tuba of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the first female to hold such a prestigious orchestral position.

Anthony Burgess wrote The Bad-Tempered Electronic Keyboard in 1985 to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of J. S. Bach. It was also the year he took receipt of a new electronic synthesiser that offered Piano, Organ, Frog and Funny among its pre-set sounds. The musical homage that resulted sports an intriguing mix of styles that oscillate between Bach’s classicism and the modernity of Shostakovich, with splashes of romanticism and elements of music hall. And if you’re thinking the composer couldn’t be the same Anthony Burgess who had written A Clockwork Orange more than twenty years earlier, think again! Raymond Bisha guides us through Burgess’ eclectic collection of 24 preludes and fugues.

Principal players from the Nashville Symphony Orchestra step up to the solo spotlight in world premiere recordings of 3 wind concertos. Frank Ticheli’s Clarinet Concerto pays homage to a different American composer in each of its three movements; Brad Warnaar’s Horn Concerto attests to the composer’s own professional mastery of the instrument; while Behzad Ranjbaran’s Flute Concerto is imbued with the rhythms, melodies and instrumental colours of his native Iran. Raymond Bisha introduces this latest release in the American Classics series.

Ralph van Raat performs fiendishly difficult transcriptions for solo piano of two of the most important orchestral works of the early 20th century: Debussy’s symphonic sketches La mer, and Stravinsky’s score for the ballet The Rite of Spring. Raymond Bisha guides us through the transformation of these works from orchestral complexity to pianistic élan.

Conductor JoAnn Falletta discusses the Buffalo Philharmonic’s latest recording of Hungarian music with broadcaster Peter Hall. Zoltán Kodály wrote major orchestral scores that were deeply enriched by his researches into Hungarian folk music, not least the heritage of gypsy music. The recording’s programme comprises Dances of Galánta and Dances of Marosszék, both full of swagger and vitality; the lush and sparkling Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony for its 50th anniversary; and Variations on a Hungarian Folk Song ‘The Peacock’, a virtuoso showcase of sizzling effects.

Onutė Narbutaitė came of age as a composer in the 1980s in Soviet-occupied Lithuania where, along with other artists, she strove to maintain a cultural environment of silent resistance behind a stifling iron curtain. This artistic, political stance was to produce haunting, mesmerising music crowned by Narbutaitė’s unique stamp of a truly arresting listening experience. Raymond Bisha introduces three of her works, two in world premiere recordings. 

Born in Argentina in 1932, Lalo Schifrin journeyed from his early classical training to study with Messiaen in Paris, before transforming into a jazz pianist, composer and arranger whose services were sought after by no less a luminary than Dizzy Gillespie. The composer of more than a hundred scores for film and television, in addition to over sixty classical works, Schifrin is the recipient of 5 GRAMMY® awards and 22 nominations. Raymond Bisha introduces a new recording of his stylistically intriguing piano works that encompass a jazz sonata, tango, Argentine folk dance, and a Lullaby for Jack.