8.557491 Canteloube Chants d’Auvergne

“Naxos’s new one-disc selection invites perseverance. For the singer is that fine soprano Véronique Gens. Gens’s clear voice cuts a refreshingly straight path through the material. The Orchestra National de Lille, conducted by their founder, Jean-Claude Casadesus, offer fizz, refinement, and warmth.”
- Geoff Brown, The Times, 28/01/05

8.557570 Tippett A Child of Our Time

“An outstanding Naxos reissue of the recording Tippett himself made with a distinguished team of soloists and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in 1991.”

8.557272 Rodrigo Piano Music Vol. 1

“But few people realise he [Joaquin Rodrigo] was a virtuoso pianist who composed a mass of attractive keyboard music, a good selection of which now appears on a Naxos CD brilliantly played by the 1990 Leeds Piano Competition winner, Artur Pizarro.”   - David Mellor, The Mail on Sunday, 9/01/05

8.557471 The Art of the Vienna Horn

“In this richly enjoyable collection, Wolfgang Tomboeck – first horn in the Vienna Philharmonic since 1980 – shows off the distinctively fruity sound of the Vienna horn, a notoriously tricky instrument. His playing is fearless in its easy bravura, with the most difficult passages delivered with flair and panache. The early Beethoven sonata is crisp in attack yet warm, too, with the brief central adagio given the gravity of a funeral march.”
- Edward Greenfield, The Guardian, 14/01/05

8.557492 Donizetti Double Concerto

“This selection of largely unknown instrumental concertos and sinfonias is an unexpected delight.”
- Jeremy Nicholas, Classic FM Magazine, February 2005 (Instrumental Best Buy)

8.557357 Dvořák String Quartets Vol. 7

“Jarmil Burghauser’s arrangement of the material makes sense. So do the lively and appealing performances.”
- Malcolm Hayes, Classic FM Magazine, February 2005

8.557673 Schumann Symphonic Etudes


“Glemser demonstrates thrilling piano dominance in these giants of the repertoire.”   - Rick Jones, Classic FM Magazine, February 2005

“The German pianist Bernd Glemser brings some very pleasing qualities to these two Schumann masterpieces. Most notably of all is his beautiful tone quality – deep, rich and clear – enhancing the Lieder-like elements of the Fantasy, especially its final love song, which is the high point of the disc, and also enabling melodies to shine out luminously through even the busiest textures. Couple that with Glemser’s strong architectural awareness, warm, lyrical phrasing and perceptive voicing and articulation and there is much to admire. The recording quality is warm and sympathetic, too.”
- Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine, February 2005

8.557394 Bliss Clarinet Quintet/String Quartet No. 2

“This new Naxos release is a useful coupling of two admirable works, and its budget price should attract them new admirers. David Campbell’s warm and silky tones perfectly bring out the sonorous qualities of the Quintet. The Maggini Quartet, which is constantly widening its repertoire of British music for Naxos, produces thoughtful, richly textured performances, rising to a peak of bravura in the Quartet’s fleet-footed scherzo.”
- Calum MacDonald, BBC Music Magazine, February 2005

8.557206 Britten Les Illuminations

“Felicity Lott sings the Quatre chansons with typical seductive beauty of tone and expression; as interpretation this is the outstanding item on the disc.”
- Stephen Johnson, BBC Music Magazine, February 2005

8.557382 Sculthorpe Earth Cry

“Memento More (1993) is the most conventional and least effective piece on a disc that provides a useful introduction to Sculthorpe’s highly personal world.”
- Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 7/01/05

“It’s a well-planned programme, and it’s hard to imagine it much better played than by James Judd’s increasingly impressive New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, or by the two soloists, both Sculthorpe adepts. A vivid recording enhances the music’s striking impact.”
- Anthony Burton, BBC Music Magazine, February 2005

“These discs will help the cause of defining his orchestral works as modern classics, with the Naxos disc especially welcome as a super-budget price introduction to the Australian’s output. James Judd’s Naxos programme is well-chosen, featuring Earth Cry and the Piano Concerto; the Queensland Orchestra under Michael Christie have an equally persuasive sequence, centred on a new version of Songs of Sea and Sky, originally for clarinet and piano.”
- Ivan Moody, The Gramophone, February 2005

8.557268 Bach Goldberg Variations

“In this account of the Goldberg the unfussiness and clarity of Jando’s playing are admirable.”
- Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 21/01/05

8.557520 Schoenberg Concerto for String Quartet

“But here the solo parts are played with total aplomb by the Fred Sherry Quartet, which vaults over the difficulties the way an athlete vaults over a pommel horse. The Song of the Woodbird is sung and played with ravishing beauty, as is the song cycle Book of the Hanging Garden.”
- Ivan Hewett, The Times (Eye), 1/01/05

“This is a fascinating disc, not only because it provides a rare chance to hear one of Schoenberg’s most invigorating works, but also because it lets you hear his actual voice.”
- Paul Driver, The Sunday Times, 16/01/05

8.557714 Wagner Opera Choruses

“This really is full frontal singing from an opera house that still finds the music wonderfully stimulating and alive.”
-David Denton, Yorkshire Post, 14/01/05

8.559408 Achron Violin Concerto No. 1

“Elmar Oliveira shines in this energised, richly romantic concerto, recorded for the new Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. With fine sound from Naxos, all of this comes over admirably and crisply.”
- Roderic Dunnett, The Strad, January 2005

8.554842 Scarlatti Complete Keyboard Sonatas


“His [Scherbakov’s] sound is clean, though never dry, his fingerwork and phrasing meticulously gauged but not clinical, and he relishes Scarlatti’s innate lyrical qualities and predilection for the arresting gesture. The sympathetic, natural-sounding recording makes this a bargain.”
- Stephen Pettitt, Evening Standard, 7/01/05

8.555882 Matsudaira Bugaku Dance Suite

“With its convincing, suitably ceremonial performances and atmospheric recorded ambience, this is yet another fascinating release to add to Naxos’s roll of honour.”
- Barry Witherden, The Gramophone, February 2005

8.555787 Beethoven Cello Sonatas


“Both Kliegel and Tabea Zimmermann obviously revel in the timbral richness of this combination and deliver the occasionally challenging passages of virtuosity with tremendous panache.”
- Joanne Talbot, The Strad, January 2005

8.557581 Bethlehem Down


“It’s comparatively rare to find a carol recording by a children’s choir – but what a children’s choir this is. Their unison and part singing is assured, animated and accomplished.”
- Jim Love, Inverness Courier, 31/12/05

8.557386-87 Penderecki A Polish Requiem


“One can only be awed by the conception and respectful of its realisation here.”
- Robert Beale, Manchester Evening News, 14/01/05

8.557266 Sibelius/Sinding Violin Concertos


“Kraggerud’s elegant, sweet-toned performance reflects the music’s simplicity and in the first ever recording of the lovely Romance, he embraces its sentimental vein with exquisite taste. The orchestra is prominent in this programme and Engeset draws some majestic playing, judiciously balanced whether in accompaniment or in the tutti sections, captured in a spacious but natural light by the excellent recording.”
- Nathaniel Vallois, The Strad, January 2005

8.557486 Honegger Les Misérables

“Now, over 70 years later, the entire soundtrack has been newly recorded in all its glory by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and the distinguished conductor Adriano. Beautifully structured in the classical style, this is a remarkable piece of work, more than worthy of the acclaim heaped upon it.”
- Howard Maxford, Film Review, 1/02/05

8.559031 Adams Shaker Loops

“Adams’s compelling representation of religious frenzy is a tour de force by the Bournemouth strings.”
- Jim Love, Inverness Courier, 31/12/05

8.660105-06 Kálmán The Gypsy Princess

“Naxos presents us with a lively, sympathetic account of Emmerich Kálmán’s 1915 classic. Here’s a work crammed with infectious gypsy rhythms, heart-tugging duets and melodies that, once you let them, sneak into your heart forever. And with Richard Bonynge conducting Slovak forces we’re safe in the hands of musicians with an instinctive feel for the score’s lilt, snap and champagne.”
- Geoff Brown, The Times, 21/01/05

“Richard Bonynge and his Slovak forces (with Yvonne Kenny irresistible in the lead role) revel in this brilliant mix of Viennese froth and Hungarian spice.”
- Andrew Clarke, The Independent, 29/01/05

8.110897-98 Humperdinck Hansel und Gretel

“Avie was unlucky to release its new recording of Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera – to mark the 150^th anniversary of the composer’s birth – at the same time as this magical 1953 reissue starring two great sopranos at the height of their powers, and a conductor with a rare feeling for the work. …it is hard to imagine a partnership of our time which could match Grümmer and Schwarzkopf in the title roles, with Karajan intent on revealing the work’s darker side as well as it folklorique candyfloss charms.”
- Anthony Holden, The Observer, 9/01/05

“This much-loved recording was a historical landmark.”
- Barry Millington, BBC Music Magazine, February 2005

“The Karajan version remains a lasting joy, and it is good to have it on Naxos at super-budget price.”
- Alan Blyth, The Gramophone, February 2005

8.110325-27 Bellini Norma

“Now that Callas’s legendary 1954 recording of Norma has entered the public domain, Naxos has come up with a bargain basement winner in its re-mastering of one of the diva’s signature roles. Transfer engineer Mark Obert-Thorn offers a clean, full-blooded and highly musical version of the recording, taken from British EMI LP pressings from the 1950s.”
- Andrew Stewart, Music Week, 29/01/05

8.110287-88 Gershwin Porgy and Bess


“Camilla Williams … has a clear, even, ringing sound that instantly engages our attention. Comparable qualities of focus and rich vocal delivery are hear in Lawrence Winters’ Porgy. And this recording has many other stars, such as Avon Long’s delightful Sporting Life.”
- Opera Now, 1/01/05

8.110777 Ferruccio Busoni and his pupils


“Naxos offers very smooth transfers and fills the remainder of the disc with performances of Busoni arrangements and original compositions played by some of his leading students.”
- David Breckbill, BBC Music Magazine, February 2005

8.110776 Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 5 (Moiseiwitsch)

“Benno Moiseiwitsch, one of Theodor Leschitizky’s many renowned students, plays with uncommon suppleness in these recordings of the Fifth (1938) and Third (1950); this effect is perhaps enhanced by the piano’s recessed balance in relation to the orchestra.”
- David Breckbill, BBC Music Magazine, February 2005