Susan Platts, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Joann Falletta
Naxos · 8574735 · 79 minutes
Stravinsky’s so-called “fairy tale” works occupy this wonderfully strange corner of his output where Russian folklore meets brittle, modernist wit — think the dry puppet-theater of Petrushka meeting something far more intimate and strange. Falletta has always had a gift for finding the warmth inside music that can seem spiky on the surface, and here she draws playing from the Buffalo Philharmonic that feels genuinely alive rather than merely correct. Susan Platts anchors the vocal writing with real character, and at 79 minutes this is a seriously generous way to spend time with a side of Stravinsky that deserves far more attention.
“This is a generous, thoroughly recommendable collection… everything is unfailingly musical… JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic more than hold their own in such company, a tribute to…”
— Gramophone Magazine, June 2026
The Royal Swedish Navy Band, Alexander Hanson
Naxos · 8574610 · 75 minutes
Carl Teike had a gift for writing march themes that feel genuinely inevitable — like the tune couldn’t have gone any other way — and this third volume keeps finding fresh corners of that talent, from swaggering parade-ground numbers to moments of surprising lyrical warmth. The Royal Swedish Navy Band plays this stuff with real commitment, never treating it as lightweight filler, and Hanson keeps the ensemble tight without ironing out all the personality. Seventy-five minutes of Teike marches might sound like a lot, but the variety of mood across the program makes it fly by faster than you’d expect.
Gabriel Schwabe (cello), Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Christopher Ward
Naxos · 8574741 · 56 minutes
The Rococo Variations has a strange double life — it’s the piece Tchaikovsky wrote to sound like he wasn’t quite himself, all powdered-wig elegance and classical poise, yet underneath that courtly surface his melodic instinct keeps breaking through in the most disarming ways. Gabriel Schwabe clearly relishes that tension, and Gramophone’s note about his “lightning delivery of the delirious demisemiquaver passages” suggests he’s not letting the period decorum flatten the music’s pulse. Pair that with a program that digs into the broader orchestral cello repertoire Tchaikovsky touched, and this one earns serious attention from anyone who thinks they already know this piece.
“[Schwabe] certainly has the technical chops to make one gasp at his lightning delivery of the delirious demisemiquaver passages… All these are very well done and repertoire junkies will want…”
— Gramophone Magazine, July 2026
Danish Chamber Orchestra, Ádám Fischer
Naxos · 8574520 · 66 minutes
Haydn’s late symphonies have this incredible quality where they sound cheerful on the surface but keep pulling the rug out from under you — sudden silences, unexpected key shifts, jokes that land before you even see them coming. Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra have a real feel for that playfulness, letting the music breathe without ironing out its eccentricities. If you’ve been following this series, Volume 5 picks up exactly where the fun left off.
Philipp Jekal, Maria Bengtsson, Thomas Blondelle, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sir Donald Runnicles
Naxos · 8660584-85 · 2 hours 30 minutes
Richard Strauss wrote Intermezzo as a domestic comedy about his own marriage — petty arguments, misunderstandings, a wife who nearly files for divorce over a mislaid letter — and that autobiographical specificity gives the opera a warmth and wit that most composers couldn’t dream up. Runnicles and the Deutsche Oper orchestra find exactly the right tone: conversational, affectionate, never pushing the comedy harder than it needs to go. Bengtsson and Jekal sound genuinely like two people who’ve been irritating each other for years, which is exactly what the piece asks for.
“It’s difficult to account for the comedy’s neglect. Done as well as it is here, with the entire cast entering into the spirit of the material, it simply lifts into the air.”
— BBC Music Magazine, July 2026,4 out of 5 stars
Vladimir Aćimović
Naxos · 8574675 · 66 minutes
Felix Draeseke is one of those composers who got historically squeezed between Wagner’s gravitational pull and the Brahms camp’s defensive formations, and his piano music shows exactly what got lost in that shuffle — a genuinely distinctive harmonic language that’s warm and searching without owing too much to either side. Vladimir Aćimović brings a real sense of discovery to this program, treating Draeseke’s lyrical writing with the kind of patient attention it needs to reveal itself rather than just sit there looking 19th-century. If you’ve ever felt like the Romantic piano repertoire had more corners to explore, this 66-minute journey is quietly persuasive evidence that it absolutely does.
Markus Schäfer (tenor), Philipp Polhardt (tenor), Niklas Mallmann (bass), Simon Mayr Chorus, Concerto de Bassus, Franz Hauk
Naxos · 8574710 · 86 minutes
Johann Simon Mayr’s oratorio Giuseppe sits in that fascinating late-Classical sweet spot where Haydn’s influence is still warm in the room but something more dramatic and Italianate is already stirring. Hauk and the Concerto de Bassus have a real feel for that stylistic tension, letting the music breathe with period clarity while keeping the emotional stakes genuinely high. Markus Schäfer in the title role brings exactly the kind of lyrical intelligence this repertoire needs — expressive without overselling it.
Michael Kaykov (piano)
Naxos · 8574714 · 60 minutes
Liszt at his most introspective is a different animal from the showman everyone assumes he was, and volume 69 of this marathon series keeps landing in that quieter, more searching territory. Kaykov brings a real sense of interior life to the music here — you feel like he’s actually thinking through each phrase rather than just executing it. Sixty minutes of late Liszt and rarities handled with this much care makes for genuinely absorbing listening.
