Saint-Saëns: Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28

British violinist Nicola Benedetti presents her fourth album, Fantasie, a selection of well-loved violin pieces that form a stunning violin showcase. The repertoire is varied, ultimately all popular pieces and greatly different to the repertoire on her most recent discs. The combination of virtuosic, gipsy-influenced show stoppers with introspective meditations and songs represents the two aspects of violin-playing that particularly interest Benedetti, as well as showing her musical and technical development.

Upon winning the prestigious BBC Young Musician of the Year competition at the age of 16, Benedetti signed to Deutsche Grammophon and recorded the winning Szymanowski Concerto no. 1, gaining critical acclaim. The albums that followed contained world premiere works written especially for Benedetti by the pre-eminent British composers, James MacMillan and Sir John Tavener. She has established a fantastic career performing with major orchestras across the UK, US and Japan, garnering praise for her bold interpretations of concertos such as Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Glazunov and Szymanowski.

For Fantasie Benedetti has put aside the concerti to explore some of the recital greats, including Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’, one of the greatest works for violin which, for the last three years, has been voted Classic FM’s favourite piece of classical music in their Hall of Fame.

Kondrashin was an outstanding conductor of the 20th century. He has performed with many famous soloists including Richter, Gilels, Oistrakh and van Cliburn.

Two of the greatest interpreters of the roamantic era join forces to present a priogramme of French Masterpieces by Debussy, Chausson, Faure and Franck. Recordings made between 1927 and 1953.

Among the many artists who returned to Europe after the Second World War and chose the Salzburg Festival as the place to resume their European careers was the violinist Zino Francescatti. In 1958 he returned to Salzburg to perform Brahms's Violin Concerto under Mitropoulos (Orfeo C534001B) and to give a recital with the pianist Eugenio Bagnoli as his accompanist.As was to be expected, the programme was extremely virtuosic, but it also placed the most varied stylistic demands on both its performers, encompassing, as it did, three centuries of music.Two encores rounded off the evening, Francescatti's own arrangement for piano and violin of Chopin's Mazurka Op. 68 No. 4 and Sarasate's Zapatera. This recording from the Salzburg archives provides us with an impressive cross-section of the wide-ranging repertory of this important violinist.

Pulitzer Prize winning composer Michael Colgrass’s Urban Requiem headlines this recording. This nearly half hour work explores the technical and expressive qualities of the saxophone quartet, as well as providing an aural experience that vividly describes life in the Big Apple. Scott Lindroth’s exciting Spin Cycle explores a variety of timbral and rhythmic aesthetics and is reflective of many of the technically exhilarating works currently being written for wind band. October demonstrates Eric Whitacre’s exceptional melodic gift as well as his use of the sonorities of wind and percussion instruments. Finally, the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine by the American March King, John Philip Sousa, reminds us of the magic of his exceptional compositional talents and of the tradition of the wind band in the 21st century American music scene.

“Bravo to Naxos for starting Wind Band Classics series! It is a much needed resource for wind band aficionados, and it is wonderful that the major classical music label is developing a series devoted to the wind band. Now people from all over the world can have access to the finest wind band music available in one location.” Director of Bands, Peabody Conservatory of Music