Naxos catalogue 2013: Encyclopedic and Affordable, by Klaus Heymann
PDFNaxos Music Group – A World of Classical Music
Naxos was founded 26 years ago and has been created and built by people who love classical music – many are musicians themselves. From its early beginning, the label’s vision was to make classical music accessible for everyone and to record the widest possible range of repertoire. Accessible meant affordable, and the budget price which made Naxos so famous in the early days is still valid a quarter century later, even though the artists are among the world’s finest, and our recordings win the industry’s highest accolades.
Despite the general decline in the music market, we here at Naxos are busier than ever. Since we published the last catalogue a year ago, Naxos has released over 320 recordings and we keep investing in new music. Every month we release over 20 new recordings, in addition to DVDs, audiobooks, and multimedia products with classical music. The Naxos catalogue now covers well over 7,000 titles, and about 7,000 composers. We have something for everyone, whether you are new to classical music or a lifelong music lover or collector. Whether you are an early music fan, a brass enthusiast, historical performance.
So what has happened since the last catalogue?
All things British was a strong theme with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and Olympics, and also for our catalogue. Delius’ masterwork A Mass of Life was one of the year’s most acclaimed recordings, as was Holst’s Cotswolds Symphony. Prog-rocker Tony Banks’ second classical album on Naxos was a bestseller, as was Julian Lloyd Webber’s cello transcriptions of songs by Delius and Ireland. The King’s Singers had their Naxos debut with Pater Noster, and other stunning British choral recordings include Gabriel Jackson’s Requiem and A Winter’s Night: A Christmas Collection, both featuring the Vasari Singers, and Margaret Rizza’s haunting Mysterium Amoris.
We recently completed some of our more ambitious cycles, including the acclaimed series of Roussel’s symphonies and orchestral works by the Scottish National Orchestra and Stéphane Denève, and our series of Casella’s orchestral music. Jun Märkl and the Orchestre National de Lyon finished the most complete set of Debussy’s orchestral works available, nicely presented in a 9-disc box. There are also new beginnings – we started recording new cycles of Prokofiev’s symphonies with the São Paulo Symphony and Marin Alsop; the Complete Rossini Overtures, Brahms complete choral and orchestral works, and Weinberg’s symphonies, just to name a few. There is much to look forward to!
The urge for musical exploration is just as important to Naxos today as it was when I started the label, and we are constantly searching for unjustly neglected composers and repertoire, and for new talents. More than 20 world premiere recordings were released last year, spanning from Grétry’s magnificent 18th century opera Le Magnifique and Waghalter’s inspiring Violin Concerto, to exciting new works by living composers such as Gabriel Jackson, Krzysztof Penderecki, Tomás Marco, Kenneth Fuchs, Tan Dun, and many more. Our special series featuring the top prize winners from many international competitions is still going strong, so check out tomorrow’s star pianists, violinists, cellists, and guitarists in our Laureate series.
We are also continuing our national repertoire collections. The Naxos American Classics now covers more than 400 discs and it has dozens of new releases each year. Further series include Canadian Classics, Spanish Classics, Greek Classics, Japanese Classics, and more.
But perhaps our most exciting news in the last year was our foray into apps and ebooks enhanced with music, which opens up new opportunities in discovering and enjoying classical music. Our new, fun children’s apps for iPad, iPhone and Android devices are loved by children, parents and the press alike. Naxos is committed to making full use of the new possibilities afforded by technology and media in its mission to broaden the reach of classical music. We are working on a broad range of new educational projects, both in terms of content and developing new ways of delivering that content to music lovers.
The economy will always be subject to fluctuations and advances in technology will always challenge the status quo, but in our view, people will always want to listen to good music. For the record industry, it is a matter of adapting to the changes and giving people easy and convenient ways to discover and acquire music. It is part of the Naxos DNA to pick up the challenge and make it work. So no matter what happens in the economy or in technology, Naxos will always strive to make classical music accessible to the widest possible audience, and stay committed to its three guiding principles of repertoire, value and innovation.
Founding Chairman, Naxos Music Group