Yeah, Naxos has some of the best recordings out there. I know, I remember, when Naxos started, they were the budget label with no-name orchestras and conductors, but times really have changed.
Some Naxos recordings are not just good but outstanding and can compete with the best.
Just a few examples:
The Barber Cycle with Marin Alsop and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is among the finest out there. If I could keep only one, it would be this one.
The Turangalila Symphony conducted by Antoni Wit is second to none I have ever heard, it is one of the best out there.
Antoni Wit is an outstanding conductor in other repertoire as well, he is one of the finest working conductors. His Penderecki recordings are also on a level with the best out there, his choral recordings of Penderecki are the reference recordings in this repertoire for me.
The Aaron Copland cycle with Leonard Slatkin is also exceptionally good.
It's true, when Naxos started, there was no need to pick up some of their middle of the road recordings of often covered repertoire, as the major labels had many superior recordings to offer. But by now, they can compete with the best. That does not mean all Naxos recordings are great (which is not suprising, considering the enormous vastness of their output), but neither are the recordings of any other major classical label. But Naxos is always worth a look. It used to be "this is a good recording for its price", but no longer. The recordings I mentioned up there can stand alongside the best from any other record label, and those are just from the top of my head.
Not familiar with any of the Ralph Vaughan Williams recordings on Naxos though, so I can't comment on those.
Unlike Hurwitz, I enjoy Haitink's Vaughan Williams recordings though.
The repertoire on Naxos is what they do best. But I'm just not a fan, sorry. I think Marin Alsop is okay and the Barber stuff is okay - not brilliant - okay, both performance and sound-wise. We all like what we like.
The Turangalila Symphony conducted by Antoni Wit is second to none I have ever heard, it is one of the best out there. Antoni Wit is an outstanding conductor in other repertoire as well, he is one of the finest working conductors...
I wholeheartedly agree - I have this Turangalîla recording for years. I've recently been listening to various samples again and again in order to buy another version of the symphony and I quickly realised there's no better recording than Wit's, perhaps one or two that are equally fine (or almost)!
(Oh, and very good Mahler 5th & 6th too!)
to add to the list above:
...Batiz's Respighi's Roman Trilogy...
This is indeed one of the best recordings of Respighi's Trilogy I've heard and in excellent sound.
Regarding the RVW Symphonies, the Naxos cycle with the Bournemouth SO conducted by Kees Bakels and Paul Daniel is a great bargain - all performances are very good to excellent. The 'Antartica' is a particular highlight, better than the much-praised Haitink recording.
P.S.: For those exploring RVW's symphonic world, try and get the Vernon Handley set of the Symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic!
The Turangalila Symphony conducted by Antoni Wit is second to none I have ever heard, it is one of the best out there. Antoni Wit is an outstanding conductor in other repertoire as well, he is one of the finest working conductors...
I wholeheartedly agree - I have this Turangalîla recording for years. I've recently been listening to various samples again and again in order to buy another version of the symphony and I quickly realised there's no better recording than Wit's, perhaps one or two that are equally fine (or almost)!
(Oh, and very good Mahler 5th & 6th too!)
to add to the list above:
...Batiz's Respighi's Roman Trilogy...
This is indeed one of the best recordings of Respighi's Trilogy I've heard and in excellent sound.
Regarding the RVW Symphonies, the Naxos cycle with the Bournemouth SO conducted by Kees Bakels and Paul Daniel is a great bargain - all performances are very good to excellent. The 'Antartica' is a particular highlight, better than the much-praised Haitink recording.
P.S.: For those exploring RVW's symphonic world, try and get the Vernon Handley set of the Symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic!
While the Handley performances are certainly decent, the sound is anything but - it's the worst of all of them, sound-wise.
I have been burned way too many times when people tell me how brilliant Naxos recordings are so I won't be bothering. For the past two nights I've been going through the Previn cycle and besides the Boult stereo, these are the best. I know Mr. YouTube loves the Slatkin, which I find humorous, since that's one of the least interesting to me. Previn is really good in this music and I completely disagree with Mr. YouTube that the sixth and eighth aren't as good - they are, in fact, fantastic and in great sound.
The Boults are amazing, but unfortunately, for a set that's been released over and over again, it still has its first ancient mastering for CD and it's not good. I'm praying that one of these days we get a new mastering of that set and other Boult EMI recordings that need it. But what performances those are. His mono set is interesting but the sound certainly is off-putting. I can't stand Haitink in anything so...
Discussing the music from the ghost scene in Hamlet (1964) - the Sovjet version directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Iosif Shapiro.
Music Chat: Three Musical Homonyms
Discussing and lauding among other pieces -- starting at 11:40 -- the score by Ernesto Halffter for Jacques Feyder's silent film version of Carmen (1926). -- It's on ... Naxos.
Here is the link to his Film Music Playlist (which isn't complete -- for that you'll need this thread):
I like Naxos - honest. I love those older Marco Polo albums, too, before their contents were re-issued onto Naxos.
However ... a well-seasoned soundtrack album collector (who owns discs from labels such as Saimel, Quartet, Music Box, Kronos, Digitmovies, Caldera, Alhambra, Beat Records, etc.) will likely not need any 20+ minutes-long YouTube videos chatting upon suites and musical highlights.
Younger/newer enthusiasts may benefit from these, but I'll pass.
The Boults are amazing, but unfortunately, for a set that's been released over and over again, it still has its first ancient mastering for CD and it's not good. I'm praying that one of these days we get a new mastering of that set and other Boult EMI recordings that need it. But what performances those are. His mono set is interesting but the sound certainly is off-putting. I can't stand Haitink in anything so...
Boult was certainly a great conductor in this repertoire, but the sound of the RVW recordings I've sampled let me never even consider with the sets.
Right now I listen to Haitink's version of the Antarctica, and the sound and atmosphere is terrific.
I just shot the Slatkin RVW set on eBay, so I'll give those a try once they are here.
Ironically, there used to be a time when I did not pay much attention to Haitink, finding him a rather dull interpreter, but I've come around. I saw him live a few years ago, conducting Mahler's 3rd, which was a stunning performance, truly great.
I like Naxos - honest. I love those older Marco Polo albums, too, before their contents were re-issued onto Naxos.
I'm not against them either, have a couple of them. But I don't think they are particularly good because so many of them have their issues, especially the early ones. I wonder if Hurwitz will ever discuss the Honegger film score recordings by Adriano - who also reconstructed those scores - as well as the other Adriano soundtrack stuff on Marco Polo/Naxos.
I like Naxos - honest. I love those older Marco Polo albums, too, before their contents were re-issued onto Naxos.
I'm not against them either, have a couple of them. But I don't think they are particularly good because so many of them have their issues, especially the early ones.
The thing is, even if Naxos recordings were 95% poor to middle-of-the-road, the 5% top gear would still be mighty impressive. It's just a vast catalogue, their output has to be taken into consideration on an individual basis.
He just posted a 10 minute talk on the Morgan/Stromberg recording of KING KONG and is very enthusiastic about it. I hope this inspires more of the classical crowd to get into classic film scores.
He just posted a 10 minute talk on the Morgan/Stromberg recording of KING KONG and is very enthusiastic about it. I hope this inspires more of the classical crowd to get into classic film scores.
Let's embed his King Kong talk:
The chosen sound bits could have been more varied. But Hurwitz obvioulsy prefers the pumping loud stuff here.
And here is another one Jane Eyre and the Lepers
Film Scores: Jane Eyre (Bernard Herrmann)
It's clear now that Hurwitz will mainly present rerecordings on Naxos and Chandos unless other labels will jump on the band wagon and allow him to play sound bits from their recordings as well. Otherweise they will be ignored completely.
His Jane Eyre talks is amusing, and he doesn't put down Adriano.
...and as I was just about posting this, he's just added Rebecca this minute:
It is a bit overkill, yes. I have no intention to watch any of these videos, but I was curious if there was any personal connection between Sehnsucht and this fella.
Sure Hurwitz pays more attention to labels that give him free promos, and I get how his persona in these YouTube videos can be off-putting for some. But I for one appreciated the reviews on his Classics Today website for years, and I'd also like to give a shout-out to a series of books he wrote on classical composers -- the volumes on Shostakovich, Mahler, Dvorak, and Sibelius in particular I found to be excellent and insightful, deepening my appreciation for those composers and helping me understand a little better just what I loved about each of their unique voices:
Everyone I've spoken with who read these books also likes them, and the Amazon reviews are uniformly positive for what that's worth. And his earliest volume on Mahler actually turns out to be OOP, with no copies even available second-hand! https://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphonies-Owners-Manual-CD/dp/1574670999/
So yeah...I guess I don't understand the hate. Disagree with him if you like but he's really just a big music geek like all of us here, and just happens to have a bigger platform to share his enthusiasm about things. I certainly don't begrudge him that and I think it's a waste of energy for other people to do so (but have at it if you feel so strongly, I guess).
It is a bit overkill, yes. I have no intention to watch any of these videos, but I was curious if there was any personal connection between Sehnsucht and this fella.
Just watched the Ifukube one. Say what you like about Naxos, they produced two of my favourite CDs ever, both under Dmitri Yablonsky’s baton; the Ifukube disc featured (especially Ritmica Ostinato, just wonderful) and Tishchenko’s absolutely bonkers 7th Symphony. Not only that, it who apart from Naxos is putting out new recordings of the Weinberg symphonies, which have overtaken in my affections Prokofiev, Nielsen, Sibelius - in fact every symphonist bar Shostakovich.
