CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

.

Prokofiev: Peter And The Wolf

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
by: Dame Edna Everage

Release Date September 29, 1997
I'm 37 years old and this is on my iPod. I love it.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

.

A Carol Symphony

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
by: City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Release Date November 04, 2002
If you’re seeking a quieter, more restful and (dare I say) traditional form of Christmas Spirit than you’re getting from Slade, Wizzard and Phil Spector, then here’s something very beautiful: a collection of classical, orchestral pieces all themed around the Yuletide season.
Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s splendid Carol Symphony (the third movement of which achieved greater fame in the 1980s as the creepy-but-festive theme to the BBC series “The Box Of Delights”) appears here in one of perhaps only two recent (and available) recordings and is beautifully played/ recorded. This alone justifies Naxos’ bargain price!

But let’s not ignore the remaining tracks. Each one is a miniature gem that ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

.

Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
by: Vasily Petrenko

Release Date September 29, 2008
Until this CD appeared recently I didn't know that the Liverpool Phil had a new conductor, but on the strength of this very good `Manfred' they must be very glad to have him on board. Getting the biggest negative out of the way; the sound has a slightly veiled and grainy aspect which colours the timbre of the instruments to a degree that is a bit distracting. I wouldn't want to make a big thing about it as your ears will probably adjust. Maybe the mikes were sited a bit too far away in an attempt to make the hall sound bigger than it is. Having said that, other important aspects of the sound are very good; there's plenty of space and depth, and instrumental perspectives are kept pretty realistic. The performance though is very good. The first movement, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

.

Tavener: Ex Maria Virgine

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
by: John Tavener, Cambridge Choir of Clare College, Timothy Brown

Release Date October 27, 2008
Until this CD appeared recently I didn't know that the Liverpool Phil had a new conductor, but on the strength of this very good `Manfred' they must be very glad to have him on board. Getting the biggest negative out of the way; the sound has a slightly veiled and grainy aspect which colours the timbre of the instruments to a degree that is a bit distracting. I wouldn't want to make a big thing about it as your ears will probably adjust. Maybe the mikes were sited a bit too far away in an attempt to make the hall sound bigger than it is. Having said that, other important aspects of the sound are very good; there's plenty of space and depth, and instrumental perspectives are kept pretty realistic. The performance though is very good. The first movement, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

.

Glass: Violin Concerto

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
from: Naxos

Release Date April 03, 2000
Glass's violin concerto is pleasant and immediately accessible. But, Glass's music is all very similar; its as if there is a number of ideas which get continously re-cycled. To my mind, Adams' concerto is stronger

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

.

Vaughan Williams - Hodie; Fantasia on Christmas Carols

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
by: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Stephen Gadd

Release Date October 29, 2007
This is a great CD. I had always thought that Hodie, despite great moments of inspiration (such as the marvellously inspiriting conclusion)was a rather inferior score to earlier choral scores like Sancta Civitas and Dona Nobis Pacem, but Hilary Davan Wetton's new Naxos (super-budget) version has forced me to revise my earlier view. I still believe that the beautiful Sancta Civitas is Vaughan Williams's choral masterpiece ( although Dona Nobis Pacem and the late, neglected Epithalamion are, respectively, works of great power and beauty) but Hodie comes across as a much greater score in this recording. The main reason for this, I think, is because the conductor takes many crucial sections at a considerably slower tempo than David Willcocks in his fine EMI recording ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

.

Shostakovich - Jazz Suites Nos 1 and 2

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
from: Naxos

Release Date April 02, 2002
There are two sides to Shostakovich's music and most listeners tend to know only the darker side. There is wit in Shostakovich's music although usually in acidic or sardonic way. There was a time before the Stalinist purges and the Second World War when the wit really flourished and Yablonsky and the Russian State Symphony Orchestra (formerly the U.S.S.R Symphony Orchestra) give us some very fine examples of it.
The plot of "The Bolt" (evil capitalist industrialists brought low by rightous socialism) so embarassed the composer that he rarely spoke of it and never pushed for a revival after its initial run. He did realize that he wrote some very good music for it and from it he made this nearly half hour suite. The Jazz Suites are really works with jazz influences ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

.

Carnival Of The Animals - Narrated by Johnny Morris

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
by: Johnny Morris

Release Date October 05, 1998
I wish that I had read BNW's review before I bought this (not through Amazon). I though I would be able to skip the narration, but this is impossible because it goes on over the music. It is so bad, I didn't bother to listen to the whole CD. I am not going to give it to my 6 year old neice. I do not want to hinder her growing appreciation of music. I will not give it to a charity shop. It would be unfair to unload my dissapointment onto someone else. The disk is in the bin.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

.

Howells : Requiem

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
from: Naxos

Release Date October 04, 1999
This is surely the finest recording of Howells' beautiful Requiem, which was originally written for Kings' College Cambridge, and not in memory of his son, Michael, as previously thought (Michael's memorial is that other great Howells work, "Hymnus Paridisi"). Like Brahms, Howells exchanged the text of the traditional Latin "Missa Defunctis" for a sequence of Psalms and other sacred texts, including the "Salvator Mundi" in English, the 23rd psalm, and the Introit from the Requiem Mass, amongst others.

Alongside the Requiem features the beautiful St Paul's Service, two glorious organ pieces (the pedal reeds make the speakers shake!), and the motet "Take him, earth, for cherishing" - one of the most moving and perfect of choral motets to have been written in ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

.

Nutcracker & Christmas Eve

CD-Charts > Music > NAXOS
from: Naxos

Release Date October 01, 1999
It's true that the narration style of Prunella Scales is cool and restrained, but that is entirely in keeping with the tone of her script. The music sparkles, and The Nutcracker is full of memorable tunes that children warm to. Can it hold up against all the competition for kids' attention at Christmas? I think it probably can.