This month brings you another bumper crop of great reviews from the leading music magazines, quality dailies and online review sites. There’s no doubt about it: Naxos releases and distributes some of the best music and audiovisual albums!
‘Fabrice Bollon infuses jazz, electro and pop in high symphonic form… Recognised as a talented and versatile conductor, Fabrice Bollon also devotes himself with singular originality to composition.’
– Classica
‘This superb collection of large-scale works by Messiaen, including Poèmes pour Mi and a remarkable La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ, is brilliantly recorded.’
– Gramophone
‘Compelling performances from Messiaen master, Kent Nagano.’
– Limelight ★★★★★
‘Leonard Slatkin understands Anderson’s style perfectly, and elicits consistently superb playing from the BBC Concert Orchestra.’
– ClassicsToday.com
‘Performances are superbly rounded, full of swagger and consistently fresh and spirited.’
– Classical Music Daily
‘The Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra plays with esprit. The music sounds airy, light, natural, the melodies sparkling and brimming with musical wit.’
– Pizzicato ★★★★
‘A splendid performance’
– Cultuurpakt.be
‘Nine CDs of the very best.’
– Hörzu
‘Balanced interpretation, transparent texture. Germans may call such an interpretation sauber. In addition, Giltburg has deep felt passion and refined aesthetic.’
– Record Geijutsu
‘This is a thoroughly delightful recording, one that is highly recommended.’
– Journal of Singing
‘Splendidly intense and involving.’
– Gramophone
‘The performance by the Dakota String Quartet is detailed and convincing.’
– AllMusic.com ★★★★★
‘An extraordinarily multi-layered, highly ambitious music, conducted by one of the most empathetic specialists of the period.’
– kulturradio vom rbb ★★★★★
‘Grim and grisly, but with a sumptuous score, Franck’s operatic tragedy is a real find.’
– Limelight ★★★★★
‘Stein’s playing here, and throughout the recording, is beautifully shaped and sensitive’
– Pan (British Flute Society Journal)
‘The whole program is mesmerising and the performances are exquisite’
– American Record Guide
‘Marin Alsop proves herself to be a top-flight interpreter of Hindemith’s music, showing Sancta Susanna to be a masterpiece.’
– MusicWeb International
‘Marin Alsop conducts the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, which interprets the three scores beautifully and powerfully’
– Pizzicato ★★★★★
‘The sound is beautiful—so beautiful that I liked the Rimsky-Korsakoff piece better than I ever have before.’
– American Record Guide
‘There is so much sparkling power of spraying water in these waterworks, and such a communicative force from the performer, that one listens with fascination.’
– Pizzicato ★★★★★
‘Anne-Sophie Bertrand’s Jeux de Création is a captivating delight from start to finish, one that I recommend with the utmost enthusiasm.’
– Fanfare
‘The performances are splendid and the recording resonant and full.’
– Gramophone
‘The combinations of voice with flute or viola da gamba are splendid.’
– American Record Guide
‘An exciting adventure into the world of Persichetti’s own instrument.’
– Brutal New Music Reviews
‘A hugely valuable addition to the discography, and a triumph all round.’
– Gramophone
‘At once thrilling and profoundly moving.’
– Presto Classical
‘Rossini’s melodiously delightful Péchés de vieillesse are invaluable’
– Klassik begeistert
‘Clamagirand has a total affinity for the fun and theatricality of this music; listen to the violin’s rise to the stratosphere of the Havanaise in E major, Op. 83’
– AllMusic.com ★★★★★
‘It’d be hard to imagine a better introduction to Schmitt’s music than this. The performances are outstanding.’
– American Record Guide
‘Piekut hits the sweet spot between technical accuracy and off-the-cuff brilliance.’
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★
‘Beautiful and exciting, superbly played and recorded’
– Fanfare
‘An exceptionally delicate performance of the quintet.’
– AllMusic.com
‘These are marvellous performances of inventive and engaging folk song arrangements. Enthusiastically recommended.’
– Fanfare
‘The two musicians create something artistically special and pull it off with aplomb.’
– Roots Music Report
‘By turns haunting, emotionally intense and serene.’
– MusicWeb International
ClassicsToday.com’s 2021 Keep on Listening Award: Disc of the Year
‘Whoever listens to the recording by Frank Dupree and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester is immediately convinced: this is no exaggeration.’
– ICMA
‘Both of these pieces are discoveries, and that is always welcome.’
– American Record Guide
‘Superbly played and recorded.’
– ClassicsToday.com
‘The Lincoln Trio plays magnificently, with a remarkable combination of delicate interplay and robust tone. They are fine champions for this unduly neglected music.’
– Fanfare
‘The performance of the Lincoln Trio surpassed my most optimistic expectations!’
– MusicWeb International
‘Piano trios by Ernst Bacon and Leo Sowerby mightn’t be at the heart of the repertoire. But maybe they should be, especially when they’re played as grippingly as by the Lincoln Trio here.’
– The Arts Fuse
‘What a delightful discovery this is’
– American Record Guide
‘Volkova [is] the real deal, full of intelligence, passion, nuance and chutzpah.’
– Opera News
‘Hats off to Marco Rogliano, true heir to the great Ruggiero Ricci, for this prodigious display of fireworks.’
– Diapason
‘Thoroughly professional and artistically convincing.’
– American Record Guide
‘Past editions surprised and delighted in equal measure; this latest album on the Grand Piano label extends the streak.’
– The New York Times
‘This is another super release. I must now find the other volumes in the series.’
– Lark Reviews
‘This was a very enjoyable surprise.’
– American Record Guide
‘Hansjörg Albrecht succeeds in a fabulously powerful interpretation of a substantially accurate organ transcription of the first Bruckner symphony.’
– www.klassik.com ★★★★
‘Vogt, like the great Ivan Moravec before him, is a singer at the piano, combining tension with naturalness, and turns accents into nuanced, music-inherent developments, unobtrusive throughout in the character of an improvisational reflection.’
– ICMA
‘Baiba Skride performs these early works with a freshness and a sense of fun that never loses its natural charm.’
– Classica ★★★★★
‘With Baiba Skride’s opening solo there’s engaging character and bite, a blend of intensity yet also grace and a vivid feeling of all enjoying making music together.’
– MusicWeb International
‘Striking on a number of levels. A visceral debut.’
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★
‘Harris is an exceptional narrator in full command of the instrument’s potential.’
– Gramophone
‘An imaginative showcase for contemporary piano music but also for a sumptuous pianistic talent.’
– MusicWeb International
‘Last Song is the finest, most entertaining, thoughtfully assembled, artfully performed, and skilfully engineered recording of music for violin and piano that I have heard in many years.’
– Classical Candor
‘Liliana Bernardi does an excellent job with both composers and is especially affecting in the Matteis fantasias.’
– American Record Guide
‘Jonason sports a strikingly clear and resonant tone, ardent and sincere phrasing, and outstanding fingers and articulation.’
– American Record Guide
‘What a gift this release is!’
– Edison Klassiek Award
‘Anna Caterina Antonacci’s Carmen, finally on DVD, is legendary, a detailed artist at her most nuanced.’
– Opera News
‘Performed with gusto, delectable refinement, and a whole lot of invention’
– American Record Guide
Record Academy Award (Japan): Winner – Video Disc (Performing Genre)
‘Approaches love from an almost scientific angle, letting all the hackneyed commonplaces burn off.’
– Opera News
‘A superb production, long unavailable, returns to the catalogue.’
– MusicWeb International
‘His [Kaufmann] brilliant performance is the major highlight of this album. Kirill Petrenko’s commitment to the Bayerische Staatsorchester is evident, and the vital breath of his conducting is always in harmony with the sensual score.’
– ICMA
‘It’s hugely enjoyable and the vocal side of things is top notch.’
– MusicWeb International
‘A stylish production and a superb lead in soprano Asmik Grigorian makes for a highly recommendable Rusalka on DVD.’
– Gramophone
‘The all-Italian cast is superb, each singer projecting an individual personality that delineates his role.’
– American Record Guide
‘This spirited performance, with good video direction by Jonathan Haswell, will give a great deal of pleasure.’
– Gramophone