Future Releases

John Philip Sousa’s swift rise to fame and greatness came at a time when band concerts were the most important aspect of musical life in the U.S. The works on this recording range from the early Revival March of 1876 and the stirring Right Forward March from Sousa’s time as conductor of the U.S. Marine band, to the “up-to-date” 1920s fox-trot Peaches and Cream and the 1923 Leaves from My Notebook, dedicated to the Campfire Girls of America. Music from Sousa’s operetta Chris and the Wonderful Lamp can be found alongside his medley of tunes from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, which includes many of the hit tunes from this operetta, while The Honored Dead was performed at President Ulysses S. Grant’s funeral.

George Gershwin fired up the New York music scene with his mélange of alluring tunes and refinement of the jazz vibe. His Strike up the Band Overture opened a flashy Broadway hit and, inspired by a train ride, the composer heard his masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue as a “musical kaleidoscope of America”. Promenade was reconstructed from a 1937 film score, and Catfish Row was Gershwin’s concert suite from the opera Porgy and Bess. Acclaimed as a “bold, gutsy performance with plenty of pizzazz” and with “impressive brilliance and depth”, JoAnn Falletta’s previous Gershwin volume can be found on 8559705 or Blu-ray NBD0025.

This release follows JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic’s acclaimed recording of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto, which was a Grammy® nominee and described by Gramophone as having “snappy performances in well-balanced, clear recordings”. Soloist Orion Weiss has also frequently been singled out for praise, with MusicWeb International’s critic admiring his “special gift of making you listen to what he has to say.” With cracking performances, a spectacular recording and widespread promotion, we anticipate this title will be one of the hottest releases of this summer.

JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony in the United States and Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland.

While Copland’s hugely successful celebration of the American West, Rodeo, has become an American classic, Dance Panels is barely known despite working beautifully as a concert work. Based on popular Mexican melodies, the glittering, even exotic El Salón Mexico is one of Copland’s most frequently performed works. Of his rhythmically complex Danzón Cubano, inspired by a visit to a dance hall in Cuba, in which there were two orchestras playing at both ends, the composer himself wrote: “I did not attempt to reproduce an authentic Cuban sound but felt free to add my own touches of displaced accents and unexpected silent beats.” GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Leonard Slatkin’s recording of Copland’s Lincoln Portrait (8559373-74) received “the kind of performance that brought tears to my eyes” (Audiophile Audition).

Although Ernest Bloch’s exploration of the ‘Jewish Soul’ focused on a cycle of seven works written between 1911 and 1916, he returned to Jewish themes throughout his life. Baal Shem explores Eastern European Hasidic traditions in all their expressive intensity in this version for viola and orchestra transcribed by soloist Hong-Mei Xiao. Bloch’s 1918 Coolidge Prize-winning Suite for Viola and Orchestra remains one of the twentieth century’s enduringly important works for the instrument, whilst the Suite hébraïque, written in his last decade, absorbs Jewish elements ever more fluently and subtly.

Baal Shem is a staple of the violin repertoire but in a valuable move soloist Hong-Mei Xiao has transcribed it for viola. The Suite hébraïque is often coupled with Bloch’s First and Second Viola Sonatas or with orchestral works such as America or the Epic Rhapsody. The prize-winning Suite generally gets coupled with pieces by Bloch like Schelomo, or with Rebecca Clarke’s Sonata, which Bloch pipped at the post for the prize.

Selected from the 1578 Obras de Música published by blind keyboard master Antonio de Cabezón’s son Hernando, these glosas enrich the vast resource of Renaissance vocal music through variation and elaboration. Extra layers of polyphony and ornament crystallize the tradition of improvisation on pre-existing works, both in the splendour of the sacred, and in chansons and madrigals with more secular emotions. Antonio de Cabezón’s Tientos y Glosados can be heard on Naxos 8554836, and Glen Wilson’s acclaimed recording of his complete Tientos and Variations is on 8572475-76.

Felix Mendelssohn’s elder sister Fanny was for years just a footnote in music history, but is now recognized as a gifted composer in her own right. Possessing all of the fragile and intimate qualities of the German Romantic tradition, her songs are notable for their sensitive word-setting and deeply personal expressiveness. This second volume includes ten world première recordings and is a collection of mostly unknown and unpublished settings of German poets such as Heine, Goethe and Hölty, coupled with six songs in English to texts by Byron and Mary Alexander. Volume 1 can be found on Naxos 8570981.

Max Reger’s special position within organ repertoire places him for many as the greatest composer for the instrument since J. S. Bach. Drawing on Lutheran tradition, his Fantasia and Fugue, Op. 29 is in the spirit of Bach, though with a characteristic harmonic language which also infuses the varying complexity in the Monologues, Op. 63. The Sonata No. 1, Op. 33 reflects a connection with Liszt, concluding in an impressive Passacaglia. Award-winning German organist Christian Barthen performs on an instrument from Reger’s period, the 1911 Steinmeyer Organ in Mannheim which is one of the biggest in Germany.

Rodrigo’s music for solo guitar is not extensive but represents an important pillar of the repertoire, ranging from vignettes to sonatas over a six-decade period. The 1933 Toccata was rediscovered in 2005 and has since provided an ambitiously virtuosic vehicle for today’s guitarists. Rodrigo flecked his works with elements of fantasy, flamenco and bird song while Un tiempo fue Itálica famosa, one of his very greatest works in the genre, is superbly impassioned.

The tender Pastoral, originally for piano, is here transcribed for guitar by Jérémy Jouve whose first volume in this series (8570286) received a three-star review (“The young French guitarist plays brilliantly”) in the Penguin Guide.

Architetture (‘Architectures’), a concerto for orchestra in seven linked sections, was the piece that catapulted the Italian composer Giorgio Federico Ghedini to fame in his home country at the late age of 48. On this disc it is coupled with two more of his finest orchestral works. The powerful atmosphere and stunning orchestral effects of Marinaresca e baccanale (‘Sea Piece and Bacchanale’), written several years earlier, prove that Ghedini’s belated recognition was fully deserved. Contrappunti (‘Counterpoints’), which Ghedini composed much later in life, finds him responding to the inspiration of one of his lifelong musical heroes, Beethoven.

This is actually the first recording devoted in its entirety to Ghedini’s orchestral works. Those of the Contrappunti and the Marinaresca e baccanale are first studio recordings and first stereo recordings.