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Naxos – A World of Classical Music

Naxos was founded in 1987 and has developed from being known primarily as a budget label focusing on standard repertoire into a virtual encyclopaedia of classical music with a catalogue of unparalleled depth and breadth. Innovative strategies for recording exciting new repertoire with exceptional talent have enabled the Naxos label to develop one of the largest and fastest-growing catalogues of unduplicated repertoire. Over 10,000 titles are currently available at affordable prices, recorded in state-of-the-art sound, both in hard format and on digital platforms. Naxos works with artists of the highest calibre and its recordings have been recognised with numerous Grammy® awards, Penguin Guide 3-star recommendations, Gramophone Editor’s Choice Awards and many other international honours.

The company has also transformed into a global enterprise that owns, administers and/or distributes a large number of independent record labels. Some of these labels are listed in this catalogue.

Independent labels included in this catalogue:

The Naxos name is synonymous not only with classical music recordings, but also with other products and services, from DVDs to books, e-books, audio books, apps and musical scores, as well as a wide range of online resources and services, for both general and professional consumption.

The 2018 Catalogue offers something for everyone – newcomers and collectors alike – be they early msuci fans, opera buffs or connoisseurs of historical performances.

The Naxos label’s 2017 musical milestones

The Naxos label is famous for its many projects to record either a composer's complete oeuvre, or complete cycles of works from within that output. Cycles completed in 2016 include a new critical edition of Villa-Lobos' symphonies, performed by Isaac Karabtchevsky and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop's survey of Prokofiev's symphonies, again featuring the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra; and Devienne's twelve flute concertos, with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra directed by soloist Patrick Gallois.

Ongoing projects include Wagner's Ring Cycle, with the release of Siegfried performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic and a star-studded cast of singers, conducted by Jaap van Zweden; Leonard Slatkin's survey of orchestral works by Ravel (with the Orchestre National de Lyon) and by Copland (with the Detroit Symphony); Jun Märkl’s recordings of Saint-Saëns’ symphonic poems; and Monteverdi's complete madrigals performed by Delitiæ Musicæ, directed by Marco Longhini (with just one volume pending). Our long-term plan to record all Rossini's operas gradually nears completion, while the Franz Liszt complete piano music edition has reached Vol. 47, and that for Soler's keyboard sonatas, performed on piano, now has seven volumes completed.

We began a number of new projects in 2017, including an edition of Saint-Saëns' concertos and other works for solo instrument and orchestra, accompanied by Marc Soustrot and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. The recordings feature several of our outstanding young Naxos artists, including violinist Tianwa Yang, pianist Romain Descharmes and cellist Gabriel Schwabe.

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Romain Descharmes

Tianwa Yang

Gabriel Schwabe

Marc Soustrot

We continued to add some truly outstanding releases throughout the year. Among the highlights were Berg's Wozzeck, with a cast headed by Anne Schwanewilms and Roman Trekel; the world premiere commercial recording of Halvorsen's Violin Concerto, featuring soloist Henning Kraggerud; and Boris Giltburg's performances of Shostakovich's two piano concertos under Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Other standouts included Bernstein's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 from Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin’s recording of Copland’s Symphony No. 3 in its original form; and a compendium of choral music by Ēriks Ešenvalds. Our 30-disc collection marking the 30th anniversary of Naxos Records was received with particular enthusiasm.

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Once more, world premiere recordings were regular events that featured on 63 releases. Among these were the first recordings of operas by Bernard Rands (Vincent) and Johann Simon Mayr (Telemaco); viola concertos by contemporary American composers Amanda Harberg and Max Wolpert; George Dyson's Choral Symphony; string quartets by Peter Racine Fricker; Terry Riley's The Palmian Chord Ryydle and At the Royal Majestic; and choral works by Bob Chilcott.

In addition to the stage works already mentioned, opera lovers will appreciate the addition of three American operas – Carlisle Floyd's Susannah (on DVD), Lori Laitman's The Scarlet Letter and Robert Aldrige's Sister Carrie; four operas by Rossini – Bianca e Falliero, Adelaide di Borgogna, Demetrio e Polibio and Sigismondo; and the world premiere recording of the original version of Bellini's Bianca e Gernando.

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Our ever-expanding American Classics series grew with 17 new entries. Notable among them were Jennifer Higdon's All Things Majestic and the world premiere recordings of her concertos for viola and for oboe; Lou Harrison's Violin Concerto; chamber music by Mark Nowakowski; harpsichord sonatas by Vincent Persichetti; three concertos by George Tsontakis; orchestral works by Claude Baker; and works for piano by William Bolcom.

Guitar music was particularly well represented in the list of 2017 releases, including Vol. 2 of Torroba's guitar concertos; the second volume of Gunter Herbig's exploration of New Zealand's guitar culture; the third of four volumes in Adam Levin's survey of 21st-century Spanish guitar music; and three recitals in the Guitar Laureate Series by Xavier Jara, Andrea Gonzalez Caballero and Xianji Liu.

The Naxos label offers something for everyone, newcomers and collectors alike. Whether you are an early music fan, guitar enthusiast, opera buff or connoisseur of historical performances, you will find a host of new discoveries that will both surprise and delight.

Our educational platforms – the Naxos Music Library, the Naxos Jazz Library, the Naxos Music Library World, the Naxos Video Library and the Naxos Spoken Word Library – all continue to develop and to provide access to an incredible wealth of music, spoken word content, data and other information.

In 2017, a further seventy labels joined our various libraries, thereby enhancing the rich content of these unmatched resources.

All this, together with the development of a range of apps and e-books, demonstrates the Naxos commitment to providing the best possible access to recorded classical music in the world.

For more information on Naxos’ products and services, please visit www.naxosmusicgroup.com

Klaus Heymann,
Founding Chairman, Naxos Music Group