SZYMANOWSKI Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra • Antoni Wit, conductor
Although Szymanowski later dubbed his Symphony No. 1 a “contrapuntal-harmonic-orchestral monster”
and disavowed the influence of Wagner, Reger and Richard Strauss, it is an astonishingly powerful work
by a composer only in his mid-20s and still enthralls listeners a century after its première with its sheer
opulence. The unusually structured Symphony No. 2 is a work of great impact and invention, with many
passionate and varied contrasts in its use of solo instruments, in particular the violin. On their CD release,
these thrilling interpretations of Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 1 (8.570722) earned 5 STARS from BBC
Music Magazine, while the Symphony No. 2 (8.570721) gained Gramophone Editor’s Choice and 5 STARS
for these “deliriously sensual scores” from ClassicFM.

ALFANO Cyrano de Bergerac
Plácido Domingo (Cyrano) • Sondra Radvanovsky (Roxane) • Arturo Chacón Cruz (Christian)
Rod Gilfry (De Guiche) • Corrado Carmelo Caruso (Ragueneau) • Roberto Accurso (De Valvert)
Javier Franco (Carbon) • Itxaro Mentxaka (La Duègne/Sister Marthe) • Nahuel di Pierro (Le Bret)
Silvia Vázquez (Lise/A Nun) • Miguel Sola (Lignière) • Juan José Navarro (The Musketeer)
Valencia Regional Government Choir (Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana)
Valencian Community Orchestra (Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana) • Patrick Fournillier, conductor
Michal Znaniecki, stage director and stage designer • Isabelle Comte, costume design

SCHUBERT Piano Sonatas Nos. 4 and 13, Fantasy in C Major
“Wanderer-Fantasie”
Eldar Nebolsin, piano
Acclaimed for his Naxos recordings of music by Chopin, Liszt, Dohnányi and Rachmaninov, Eldar Nebolsin
here fulfills a heartfelt ambition to record important piano works by another great Romantic composer,
Franz Schubert, for the label. The passion and pathos of the two sonatas, with their song-like melodies and
adventurous harmonies, set the scene for one of Schubert’s most powerful solo piano pieces, the Wanderer
Fantasy, a work so technically demanding that Schubert himself is reported to have exclaimed ‘the devil may
play it!’. Based on his popular song Der Wanderer, the Fantasy is virtually a four-movement sonata in its own
right and a path-breaking masterpiece of the piano literature.

DEBUSSY Orchestral Works Vol 6
Suite Bergamasque, Petite Suite, Printemps, En Blanc et Noir, Symphony in B minor
Orchestre National de Lyon • Jun Märkl, conductor
Jun Märkl’s exemplary interpretations of Debussy’s orchestral music have been praised for their ‘subtle and
sensitive readings’ (Gramophone). ‘This is bewitching music-making that should on no account be missed…
One of the finest discs Naxos has ever released’, declared Classic FM of Volume 1 (8.570759). Volume
6 in Naxos’s popular series presents five highly diverse works in gorgeous orchestrations by Debussy’s
contemporaries or later admirers. Indeed, pieces such as Clair de lune and Printemps may even be better
known in these seductive guises than in their original forms. Of particular interest is Debussy’s sole attempt
at composing a symphony, a youthful work imbued with the spirit of French Romanticism, only the first
movement of which he completed.

LENTZ Ingwe - from ‘Mysterium’ (“Caeli enarrant…” VII) for Electric Guitar
Zane Banks, solo electric guitar
Luxembourg-born Australian composer Georges Lentz’s 60-minute solo guitar work Ingwe (an Aboriginal
word meaning night) is a truly extraordinary achievement. Here, heavy metal meets musical metaphysics, as
shrieking amplified sound clashes with the spirituality of Indigenous Australian cultures. Conceived as part
of an open-ended cycle of compositions with the religiously inspired title Caeli enarrant... (The Heavens are
Telling, Psalm XIX), it is at once a nod to guitar heroes such as Jimi Hendrix, and a monumental meditation
on the human condition, the bleak vastness of the Australian desert and the awe-inspiring radiance of its
night skies.

GINASTERA Cello Concertos
Mark Kosower, cello • Bamberg Symphony Orchestra • Lothar Zagrosek, conductor
The career of Argentina’s most famous classical composer began inauspiciously: “One day [as a child] I went
into the kitchen and played on all the pots and pans and other things I could get to make a kitchen orchestra.
I was spanked”, he recalled. Decades later, and inspired by the renowned cellist Aurora Nátola (whom he
married), Ginastera would revise his first Cello Concerto: the provocative singing lines, Latin dance rhythms
and virtuosic feats of its solo part were ideally suited to her heroic talents, its intense orchestral colours and
abundant percussion perhaps recalling his childhood experiment. His second Cello Concerto, composed
as a 10th-wedding anniversary tribute “To my dear Aurora”, includes a brilliant depiction of the rising sun,
percussion instruments portraying jungle sounds, and a celebratory rustic finale.