naxos music recommendations

[PerfectWagnerite]

I do listen to opera but not all composers. I have 2 operas on Naxos (Wagner & Puccini)
Naxos operas get always bad reviews. That's how I know.

Always?  Hardly. A quick search at classicstoday.com will show that many Naxos opera recordings get 8 or 9 for performance. So I am not sure where the bad reviews you are refer to come from. I don't own too many Naxos operas but the ones I own: Britten's Albert Herring and Turn of the Screw, are as good as anything.

[knight66]

Magic Flute, Flying Dutchman, Tancredi, Fidelio. Off the top of my head these were all very well thought of indeed.

Mike

[Steve]

Does Naxos have a Ring Cycle?

[PerfectWagnerite]

Does Naxos have a Ring Cycle?

Of course:

[mahlertitan]

if you have naxosmusiclibrary, you might as well listen to the rare stuff, light music of Ziehrer, Suppe, Lehar, Komzak

[Robert]

if you have naxosmusiclibrary, you might as well listen to the rare stuff, light music of Ziehrer, Suppe, Lehar, Komzak

Doesn't that cost about 150.00 a year???

[Don]

Doesn't that cost about 150.00 a year???

Whatever the cost, I had a terrible experience trying to subscribe to the Naxos music library.  My credit card company didn't like the Hong Kong source and promptly discontinued my card.  Not knowing this, I went to my auto mechanic to use the card for over $1000 of repairs.  The card bounced and I had to use my checking account card.  That left me with nothing.

Yes, I changed credit card companies.  Maybe the whole thing was god's way of telling me to keep my music purchases restricted to REAL PLASTIC.

[Brian]

I do listen to opera but not all composers. I have 2 operas on Naxos (Wagner & Puccini)
Naxos operas get always bad reviews. That's how I know.

Magic Flute and Flying Dutchman are excellent.   

By the way naxos.com is only $20 a year, but you don't get to hear CPO, Vox, Chandos, etc.

[mahlertitan]

Doesn't that cost about 150.00 a year???

maybe, but i get it for free.

[Harry]

shostakovich cello concertos /kliegel

Young master Mark would at least love the Kliegel!

[Scott]

Has anyone mentioned the excellent series, now completed, of all of Hugo Alfvén's symphonies, with Niklas Willén conducting various orchestras. The most recent, of the stunning Fifth Symphony (and the beautiful Andante religioso), is reviewed here:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfv%C3%A9n-Symphony-No-Andante-religioso/dp/B000M2DNS2/

[Harry]

Has anyone mentioned the excellent series, now completed, of all of Hugo Alfvén's symphonies, with Niklas Willén conducting various orchestras. The most recent, of the stunning Fifth Symphony (and the beautiful Andante religioso), is reviewed here:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfv%C3%A9n-Symphony-No-Andante-religioso/dp/B000M2DNS2/

Yes I have, also in the Scandinavian and Finnish composers thread.
The fifth I reviewed also, and can recommend it, for it is very fine, as all the Naxos recordings are with Alfven.

[Harry]

Has anyone mentioned the excellent series, now completed, of all of Hugo Alfvén's symphonies, with Niklas Willén conducting various orchestras. The most recent, of the stunning Fifth Symphony (and the beautiful Andante religioso), is reviewed here:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfv%C3%A9n-Symphony-No-Andante-religioso/dp/B000M2DNS2/

And by the way you should write these fine reviews on the board too!

[Hector]

Magic Flute, Flying Dutchman, Tancredi, Fidelio. Off the top of my head these were all very well thought of indeed.

Mike

They were as was the Humburg conducted Barber of Seville.

Last year I found myself buying a Naxos, at least, a month. Mainly the British series under Lloyd-Jones but there is some great stuff under Sakari, Willen, Samuel Wong and Tintner's much admired Bruckner cycle.

[knight66]

I don't recall whether we have this time round praised Wit and his Mahler 8, which is really first class or his version of Alpine Symphony.

I wrote a long review of the Mahler, but cannot find it. Never mind. They are both worthwhile recordings.

Mike

[71 dB]

Always?  Hardly. A quick search at classicstoday.com will show that many Naxos opera recordings get 8 or 9 for performance. So I am not sure where the bad reviews you are refer to come from. I don't own too many Naxos operas but the ones I own: Britten's Albert Herring and Turn of the Screw, are as good as anything.

BALADA - Hangman! Hangman! 7/8
BERG - Wozzeck 7/5
DONIZETTI - La figlia del reggimento 5/7
GLUCK - Orfeo ed Euridice 5/7
MASSENET - Werther 6/8
MEYERBEER - Semiramide 6/7
PUCCINI - Turandot 3/8 "so poorly sung that there should be a skull-and-crossbones on the cover."
ROSSINI - La pietra del paragone 5/6
ROSSINI - Maometto II (1822 Venice version) 7/7
VERDI - Don Carlos 6/8
WAGNER - Scenes from Tristan und Isolde and Götterdämmerung 7/8
WAGNER - Tristan und Isolde 6/7
WEBER - Die drei Pintos 7/7

I mean if only some of the releases are good Naxos can hardly be called a significant opera label. Naxos' strengths are elsewhere.

[knight66]

You won't leave it alone, will you....poor point you are trying to make. A lot of those are perfectly respectable ratings. Also you have omitted all the ones people have specified as being good. If you took the operatic output of EMI or Phillips, you might come to a similar spread of scorings. People get the chance to experiment without a large outlay. I have been very expensively stung now and again by the majors.

I don't know of anyone who suggests that Naxos specialise in Opera....they have a wider range of issues than any other label at the moment.

Mike

[PerfectWagnerite]

BALADA - Hangman! Hangman! 7/8
BERG - Wozzeck 7/5
DONIZETTI - La figlia del reggimento 5/7
GLUCK - Orfeo ed Euridice 5/7
MASSENET - Werther 6/8
MEYERBEER - Semiramide 6/7
PUCCINI - Turandot 3/8 "so poorly sung that there should be a skull-and-crossbones on the cover."
ROSSINI - La pietra del paragone 5/6
ROSSINI - Maometto II (1822 Venice version) 7/7
VERDI - Don Carlos 6/8
WAGNER - Scenes from Tristan und Isolde and Götterdämmerung 7/8
WAGNER - Tristan und Isolde 6/7
WEBER - Die drei Pintos 7/7

I mean if only some of the releases are good Naxos can hardly be called a significant opera label. Naxos' strengths are elsewhere.

C'mon ! Do the same search for ANY OTHER RECORD LABEL you will get the same results. BTW a 7 is a good recording already.

[Don]

C'mon ! Do the same search for ANY OTHER RECORD LABEL you will get the same results. BTW a 7 is a good recording already.

I have to disagree.  ClassicsToday is very generous in its ratings; a (7) is not good at all.  But 71dB has "selected" those ratings that further his argument.  Therefore, his argument is not advanced.

[71 dB]

C'mon ! Do the same search for ANY OTHER RECORD LABEL you will get the same results. BTW a 7 is a good recording already.

Why choose a 6/7 Tristan und Isolde when Pappano's version on EMI is 9/9? In operas the competition is hard. Naxos rules in less recorded repertoire were 'the old giants' do not have anything to offer.