The Naxos Blog

Former horn player Raymond Bisha takes you on a personal tour of this new CD set from Profil celebrating the French Horn, and some of it's finest players including Wilhelm Bruns, Hermann Baumann, Peter Damm and the legendary Erich Penzel play music by Handel, Telemann, Mozart, Schumann and Strauss. Album details... Catalogue No.: Profil PH08075  

Andy Teirstein is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in New York. His strong roots in classical music, folk music and dance have helped him create a musical language that crosses all boundaries. Most of the pieces on this CD are chamber pieces, ranging from "3 Movements for String Quartet and Folk Musician" to the chamber melodrama "The Shooting of Dan McGrew". In this interview, Teirstein talks about composing music for theater, working in a Mexican circus, the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, and his dream of writing a companion piece to "What is Left of Us". Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.559617

Leonard Bernstein wrote his Mass at the request of Jacqueline Onassis, for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington. It is a huge work, almost an hour and three-quarters long, that with bewildering range of musical styles. In this recording, Bernstein's protege Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, shows convincingly that she may be the best interpreter of his music alive today. This recording also features Jubilant Sykes, the Morgan State University Choir and the Peabody Children's Chorus. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.559622-23

Composer Michael Daugherty was the composer-in-residence for four years at the Detroit Symphony, and composed all of the music on this CD for that orchestra. The title work was inspired by the giant murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts by Diego Rivera. Rivera was commissioned by Edsel Ford to create a mural celelbrating the Detroit automobile industry. This CD features the Detoit Symphony, conducted by Neeme Jarvi, with soloists Ida Kavafian on violin, and Brian Jones on Timpani. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.559372 Subscribe to Podcast: Enhanced* | Regular | iTunes Store Download this Episode: AAC* | MP3 * enhanced version of the podcast contains chapter markers and cover art. About Raymond Bisha

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry had his first serious music training as a student at Eton College, that icon of British education. He went on to be Principal of the Royal College of Music, a Professor at Oxford, wrote music for Royal Coronations, and was knighted for his efforts. This podcast looks at some of his finest choral compositions - music fit for a king in performances by the Manchester Cathedral Choir. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.572104 Subscribe to Podcast: Enhanced* | Regular | iTunes Store Download this Episode: AAC* | MP3 * enhanced version of the podcast contains chapter markers and cover art. About Raymond Bisha

Trendsetters may be the perfect introduction to 20th-century wind band music. It introduces four different composers, each with their own unique style. Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy, Gustav Holst's First Suite in E flat for Military Band, Paul Hindemith's Symphony in B flat, and Joseph Schwantner's ... and the mountains rising nowhere each offer a unique take on what the wind band can be. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.572242

Richard Strauss wrote his Alpine Symphony in 1915, inspired by the death of his friend Gustav Mahler. This is a huge work, requiring an orchestra of 125 people, and is monumentally difficult as well. This podcast looks at a new recording of the piece with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marek Janowski. Album details... Catalogue No.: Pentatone PTC5186339 Subscribe to Podcast: Enhanced* | Regular | iTunes Store Download this Episode: AAC* | MP3 * enhanced version of the podcast contains chapter markers and cover art. About Raymond Bisha

Deems Taylor was a music critic, composer, broadcaster, and an important person in the development of classical music in the first half of the 20th century. This podcast looks at his opera Peter Ibbetson, composed for the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This performance features the Seattle Symphony and Chorus, conducted by Gerard Schwarz, plus soloists Charles Robert Austin, Anthony Dean Griffey, Lauren Flanigan, Richard Zeller, and Lori Summers. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.669016-17 Subscribe to Podcast: Enhanced* | Regular | iTunes Store Download this Episode: AAC* | MP3 * enhanced version of the podcast contains chapter markers and cover art. About Raymond Bisha

An introduction to KZ Musik: Encyclopedia of Music Composed in Concentration Camps 1933-1945. When completed, this 24 CD project will be the most comprehensive collection ever made of music composed in World War II concentration camps. Music by Gideon Klein, Robert Dauber, Rudolf Karel, Erwin Schulhoff, Ilse Weber, Viktor Ullmann, Hugo Lowenthal, David Grunfeld. Album details... Catalogue No.: KZ Musik 231694, KZ Musik 231785-89

A podcast introduction to the string quartets of Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera, and a new recording with the Enso Quartet and soprano Lucy Shelton. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.570780 Subscribe to Podcast: Enhanced* | Regular | iTunes Store Download this Episode: AAC* | MP3 * enhanced version of the podcast contains chapter markers and cover art. About Raymond Bisha

Heitor Villa-Lobos was one of the most prolific composers of all time. Along the way he wrote 17 string quartets. This podcast is an introduction to these quartets, and to a Dorian box set featuring the complete string quartets with Cuarteto Latinoamericano. Album details... Catalogue No.: Dorian Sono Luminus DSL-90904  

Zhou Long and Chen Yi studied together at the Beijing Conservatory of Music, and at Columbia University in New York. They are now both on the composition faculty at University of Missouri, Kansas City. This podcast looks at a new CD of their chamber music with the Beijing New Music Ensemble Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.570604  

Ge Gan-ru was the first avant garde composer in China, and now lives in the United States. In this podcast, he discusses his journey - from China to America, and from traditional Chinese music to being at the forefront of modern music while talking about the new recording of his String Quartets with ModernWorks. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.570603  

Many people, from Bach on, have turned their hand at arranging Vivaldi's music. This podcast looks at his Four Seasons and Mandolin and Lute Concertos arranged for solo piano by Jeffrey Biegel and Andrew Gentile. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.570031

Erich Korngold was described as a genius at the age of 9, went on to become one of the finest young composers in Vienna, then had to leave Europe. He ended up in Hollywood, and became one of the finest film composers of his generation. Album details... Catalogue No.: Naxos 8.570791