Opening Notes: December 2017 - New Release Playlist

We've sifted through all the new releases for this month, and we're highlighting our favorites. Some of these are obscure works that may be unknown to you, while others are fresh takes on standard repertoire. If you're like us and are constantly craving something new to enjoy, take a spin through these tracks to get a taste of what is now available to you in NML. And if you hear something you love, click on the cover art in the player window to be taken directly to the full album!

To hear the playlist, access NML as usual, go to the Playlists section, and select the Opening Notes folder under the Themed Playlists tab. If you are on your institution's premises, you may also be able to access it if you CLICK HERE.

Terry Riley

The Palmian Chord Ryddle: III. Slow Drag
T. Silverman; Nashville Symphony; G. Guerrero
Naxos - 8.559739

Dmitry Kabalevsky
String Quartet No. 1: IV. Allegro assai

Stenhammar Quartet

CPO - 555006-2

Ernesto Lecuona

Andalucia, "Suite Espagnole": VI. Malaguena

Yamile Cruz Montero

Grand Piano - GP758

Javier Farias

Andean Suite: III. Diablada

Apollo Chamber Players

Navona - NV6130

Heitor Villa-Lobos

Symphony No. 1: I. Allegro assai moderato

Sao Paulo Symphony; Isaac Karabtchevsky

Naxos - 8.573829

Bono / The Edge / Adam Clayton / Larry Mullen
MLK (arr. B. Chilcott)

The King's Singers

Signum - SIGCD500

Dobrinka Tabakova
Nocturne
Andrew Matthews-Owen
Nimbus - NI6354

Kalevi Aho
Saxophone Concerto: III. Allegretto marcato

A. Paulsson; Lapland Chamber Orch.; J. Storgards

Naxos - 8.573723

Bela Bartok
Concerto for Orchestra: II. Giuoco delle coppie
Bergen Philharmonic; Edward Gardner
Chandos - CHSA5189

Dmitry Shostakovich
The Gadfly: Bazar

Rheinland-Pfalz State Phil; Mark Fitz-Gerald

Naxos - 8.573747

Carl Nielsen
Symphony No. 3: III. Allegretto un poco

Seattle Symphony Orchestra; Thomas Dausgaard

Seattle Symphony Media - SSM1017

Camille Saint-Saëns

Romance in C Major

Tianwa Yang; Malmo Symphony; Marc Soustrot

Naxos - 8.573411

Charles Tomlinson Griffes
3 Tone-Pictures: No. 3. The Night Winds
Cecile Licad
Danacord - DACOCD783-784

Richard Rodney Bennett

Summer Music: III. Games

BBC Scottish Symphony; John Wilson

Chandos - CHSA5202

Iarla O Lionaird / Dan Trueman

Olagon, Part I: Being Only A Dame

Gallicantus; Dan Trueman; eighth blackbird
Cedille - CDR90000-174

Lalo Schifrin

Jazz Piano Sonata: III. Molto vivace

Mirian Conti

Grand Piano - GP776

Anton Urspruch

5 Fantasiestucke: No. 2 in C-Sharp Minor

Ana-Marija Markovina

Haenssler Classic - HC16015

Daron Hagen
After Words: No. 3. Widgeon

Justine Aronson; Joseph Gaines; Laura Ward

Naxos - 8.559714

Richard Wagner

Siegfried, Act II: Nun sing! Ich lausche dem Gesang

Hong Kong Philharmonic; Jaap van Zweden

Naxos - 8.660413-16

Giuseppe Verdi

Rigoletto, Act II: No, vecchio t'inganni

Dmitri Hvorostovsky; Kaunas City Symphony

Delos - DE3522

Georg Schumann

Symphony in F Minor: IV. Allegro molto maestoso

Deutsches Symphonie-Orch. Berlin; J. Feddeck

CPO - 555110-2

J.S. Bach

Musical Offering: Fuga canonica in Epidiapente

M. Suzuki; K. Suga; R. Terakado; Y. Yamaguchi

BIS - BIS-2151

Gabriel Faure

Automne

Septura

Naxos - 8.573619

Cesar Franck

Violin Sonata in A: I. Allegretto ben moderato

Sharon Bezaly; Vladimir Ashkenazy

BIS - BIS-2259

Each month, Naxos Music Library presents a new release playlist for our subscribers to enjoy. We know that a database of over 2 million tracks can be a bit daunting, so we'd like to highlight some of the amazing music that has become available to you just this month. Let it kickstart discovery!

2017 - NML Team Picks: Our Favorite Albums of the Year

We know that the sheer size of Naxos Music Library can feel a little overwhelming, and that with so many amazing new releases joining the database it can be easy to miss out on an album that would have become a favorite. Even those of us on staff, who spend our weeks in the site, can find it hard to keep up with every new title.

Nevertheless, we have found quite a few favorite releases over the course of 2017, and we would like to share them with you. This is of course no exhaustive list of what we've loved, but these were the albums we found ourselves returning to time and time again. Some of these will be Grammy nominees, or critical favorites you'll see on many year-end lists. Others will be those hidden gems we dug up ourselves and really want you to hear and love as much as we do. Either way, we encourage you to not let these slip by unconsidered.

We've created a playlist of some of the highlights of these favorite albums, which you can find by clicking the appropriate banner in NML. If you are within your institution's wifi network, you might also be able to go directly to the playlist by clicking HERE.

Full albums can be reached by clicking one of that album's tracks in the playlist, by clicking the album cover image in the player, or by copying and pasting any of the catalog IDs below into the keyword search in NML.

We know that 2017 has been a weird year for most of us, but it has not been short on excellent music. Enjoy!

1.

Bjarnason / Thorvaldsdottir / Jonsdottir / Vilmarsson / Sigfusdottir
Recurrence
Iceland Symphony Orchestra; Daniel Bjarnasson
Sono Luminus - DSL-92213

2. 

Vincent Ho
The Shaman / Arctic Symphony

Evelyn Glennie, percussion; Winnipeg Symphony; Alexander Mickelthwate

Centrediscs - CMCCD24317

3.

Jane Antonia Cornish
Into Silence

Anna Elashvili, Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, Caitlin Sullivan, Claire Bryant, Hamilton Berry, Vicky Chow

Innova - INNOVA976

4.
Christian Lindberg / Osvaldo Golijov
Clarinet Concerto / The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind

Emil Jonason, clarinet; Norrkoping Symphony; Christian Lindberg

BIS - BIS-2188

5. 
Eriks Esenvalds
The Doors of Heaven
Portland State University Chamber Choir; Ethan Sperry
Naxos - 8.579008

6. 
Georgy Sviridov
Russia Cast Adrift

Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone; St Petersburg State Symphony; Constantine Orbelian

Delos - DE1631

7. 
Sergey Prokofiev
Symphony No. 7 / Suites
Sao Paulo Symphony; Marin Alsop
Naxos - 8.573620

8.
George Antheil

Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

BBC Philharmonic; John Storgards
Chandos - CHAN10941

9. 

Dmitry Shostakovich

Piano concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Boris Giltburg, piano; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Vasily Petrenko

Naxos - 8.573666

10. 
Zenamon / Faure / Bach / Piazzolla / de Falla / Part

Boyd Meets Girl

Boyd Meets Girl

Sono Luminus - DSL-92217

11. 
Gregory Spears

Fellow Travelers

Soloists; Cincinnati Symphony; Mark Gibson

Fanfare Cincinnati - FC-011

12. 
Adams / Ballard / Chee / Daugherty / Garland / Higdon
Walk in Beauty
Emanuele Arciuli, piano
Innova - INNOVA255

13.
Abdimomyn / Qazangapuly / Sagyrbayuly / Zhubanova

Kazakh Classical Music

Kazakh State String Quartet
Divox - CDX-21501-6

14. 

Jaan Raats

Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1

Nicolas Horvath, piano

Grand Piano - GP765

15. 
David Kirkland Garner

Dark Holler

Ensemble; Verena Mosenbichler-Bryant

New Focus - FCR191

16. 
J.S. Bach
Sonatas and Partitas

Christian Tetzlaff, violin

Ondine - ODE1299-2D

Happy Holidays! New for Christmas 2017

We've sifted through all the new releases for this Christmas, and we thought we'd share them with you. Some of these are new works that may be unknown to you, while others are fresh takes on classic carols. If you're like us and are constantly craving something new to enjoy, take a spin through these tracks to get a taste of what is now available to you in NML. And if you hear something you love, click on the cover art in the player window to be taken directly to the full album!

To hear the playlist, access NML as usual, go to the Playlists section, and select the Opening Notes folder under the Themed Playlists tab. If you are on your institution's premises, you may also be able to access it if you CLICK HERE.

Imagine Christmas

American Contemporary Music Ensemble; Jasper String Quartet; Skylark Vocal Ensemble; and more
Sono Luminus - DSL-92216

Christmas Presence

The King's Singers

Signum - SIGCD497

Jake Heggie

It's A Wonderful Life

Houston Grand Opera; Patrick Summers

Pentatone - PTC5186631

A Merry Little Christmas

U.S. Air Force Concert Band and Singing Sergeants

Klavier - KCD-77048

Christmas Around the World

Burning River Brass

Azica - Azica71317

O Holy Night - A Merton Christmas

Choir of Merton College; Oxford Philharmonic

Delphian - DCD34192

Choral Music for Christmas
Athesinus Consort Berlin; Calmus Ensemble; Stuttgart Chamber Choir; Dresden Chamber Choir
Carus - Carus83.486

Rejoice - Christmas with the DSO Brass, Percussion, and the Lay Family Concert Organ

Mary Preston, organ; Dallas Symphony; L. Loh

DSO Live - DSOLive009

Christmas with the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus
Cincinnati May Festival Chorus; Heather MacPhail, organ; Robert Porco
Fanfare Cincinnati - FC012

John Turner
Christmas Card Carols

Intimate Voices; Christopher Stokes

Divine Art - DDA25161

The Night of Saint Nicholas

La Reverdie; Roberto Spremulli; Fulvio Rampi

Arcana - A442

G.F. Handel

Messiah

Concert Spirituel Chorus and Orchestra

Alpha - ALPHA362

Carl Heinrich Graun
Christmas Oratorio
Arcis-Cocalisten Munich; L'arpa Festante
Oehms Classics - OC1876

Carols for a Victorian Christmas

Fine Arts Brass Ensemble; Harrogate Choral Society; Bill Ives; Magdalen College Choir

The Gift of Music - CCLCDG1292

Joyeux Noel - French Christmas Music

Aradia Ensemble; Kevin Mallon; La Fantasia; Rien Voskuilen; Christian Lambour, piano
Brilliant - BC95569

Songs of the Stable

Halifax Camerata Singers; Gayle H. Martin, organ; Jeff Joudrey

Leaf Music - HCS0106

German Advent Songs

Schwesterhochfunf

Rondeau - ROP6128

In Dulci Jubilo - Music for the Christmas Season by Buxtehude and Friends

Theatre of Voices; Paul Hillier

Dacapo - 6.220661

O Sanctissima - O Du Frohliche: Christmas Songs from Around the World, Vol. 2

Leipzig MDR Radio Choir; Philipp Ahmann

Genuin - GEN17484

Each month, Naxos Music Library presents a new release playlist for our subscribers to enjoy. We know that a database of over 2 million tracks can be a bit daunting, so we'd like to highlight some of the amazing music that has become available to you just this month. Let it kickstart discovery!