Naxos Classical Spotlight

Henning Kraggerud, the soloist on this new recording of works for violin and orchestra, is delighted to be able to introduce Halvorsen’s Violin Concerto to a patient public. It was long thought to have been lost: “Ever since I was a little boy I have lamented the tragic loss of Halvorsen’s Violin Concerto which I read about in music books. Halvorsen’s Passacaglia on a theme by Handel is one of the most internationally performed pieces by a Norwegian composer. So, one wondered, how did his concerto, premièred by Kathleen Parlow and the Berlin Philharmonic in 1909, sound? Then, more than 100 years after the première, it reappears out of the blue in a library in Toronto. Here, then, is the World Première CD recording, and you can finally hear the concerto I have dreamt about since I was a boy.” The podcast is presented by Raymond Bisha.

Shabbily treated at its première by Sergei Diaghilev, who commissioned the work for his dance company Ballets Russes, Daphnis et Chloé went on to be hailed by ensuing generations as Ravel’s masterpiece; by Ravel himself as “a vast musical fresco”; and by general opinion as the epitome of impressionism in music. Raymond Bisha delves into this peaceful musical story of pastoral simplicity, beautifully interpreted in Ravel’s passionate music, lush harmonies and subtle orchestration.

Time and again, Dmitri Shostakovich deftly managed to dodge the artistic bullet when it came to the expected political conformity of the day. His two piano concertos bear his distinctive musical voice, despite Soviet diktats. Cheeky banter and effervescence characterise the works, offset by a sublime movement in the second concerto that soloist Boris Giltburg describes as “a rare instance of Shostakovich without a mask.” Giltburg’s own transcription for piano of Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet adds a beautiful bonus to the programme.

Domenico Cimarosa was one of the last great exponents of the Neapolitan School of opera. In his time, he was one of the best known and most performed composers pre-Rossini. His operas were widely performed across Europe, and Cimarosa himself was transported to Russia following his appointment to the court of Catherine the Great. Living from 1749 to 1801, however, his significance and a deserved place in posterity were inevitably challenged by the towering figures of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Raymond Bisha presents Vol. 5 in the Naxos series of Cimarosa’s overtures to his operas and cantatas, bringing the composer once more front-of-stage.

Raymond Bisha introduces four world première recordings of orchestral music by Celso Garrido-Lecca, one of Peru’s foremost classical composers who celebrates his 90th birthday this year. Like Peruvian culture in general, Garrido-Lecca’s music harmoniously blends European and Amerindian traits, in three classically conceived works that are suffused with the popular music of his homeland. In complete contrast, Laudes II turns from a world of folk culture to the intriguing dimensions of Chinese philosophy.

Raymond Bisha introduces Carolae, a highly attractive Christmas choral work from the pen of GRAMMY®-nominated composer, James Whitbourn. Carolae is a fusion of two great English and American Christmas traditions—the occasions of readings and carols in the chapels at King’s College, Cambridge and Princeton University. Whitbourn’s love of medieval musical language is shown through his crafting of original melody and skilful arrangements of seasonal favourites.

First performed in 1784 in Paris, Grétry’s comic opera L’épreuve villageoise plays out merrily against the insouciant backcloth of a European society about to undergo an irreversible, violent upheaval, just five years later. Grétry was a master of the comic opera genre, and this particular stagework presents a lighthearted feast of flirting in a cosy village setting. The reach of the work, however, was far from parochial. It was among a dozen Grétry operas that received some 80 performances by two resident opera troupes in French-speaking New Orleans in North America between 1796 and 1811. Raymond Bisha gives context in his latest podcast.

Fantasy, fairy tales and Maurice Ravel’s flair for orchestral colour are all to the fore in this new release of two examples of the composer’s music for the stage—the scores for his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges and his ballet Ma mère l’Oye. This highly imaginative music, projected through a childlike lens, is instantly attractive to both the young and the young-at-heart. Simultaneously simple and complex, entrancing and seductive, music doesn’t come more magical than this.

Violinist and composer Joan Manén may be a relatively unknown figure today, but in his time (1883–1971) his popularity was in the same league as fellow Spaniard and cellist Pablo Casals. As a performer Manén gave more than 4,000 concerts, travelled around the world five times, and made the first recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Fortunately he also had time to compose. Raymond Bisha introduces his little-known but highly attractive Violin Concerto No. 1, Concerto espagñol. It’s paired on this new release with Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole that brims with attractive melodies and bristles with ingenious and virtuosic passagework reflecting the phenomenal technique of its dedicatee, Pablo de Sarasate.

Three orchestral works by the contemporary American composer Richard Danielpour immerse the listener in both a world of conflict and the richly colourful palette with which the composer depicts his narrative. Songs of Solitude and War Songs respectively present a response to 9/11 and commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War. The music sets texts by W B Yeats and Walt Whitman that carry an uncanny resonance with our current, troubled times, all beautifully articulated by the celebrated baritone, Thomas Hampson. Toward the Splendid City for orchestra alone expresses Danielpour’s own love-hate relationship with his hometown, New York City.