Naxos classical CDs

[bertrand]

I just got my mother a CD player, and she wants to start building a classical collection without spending too much.

We picked up a Naxos CD tonight of Brahms' Four Hand Piano Music (8.557056) and I must say, it's very nice.

Admittedly, I know nothing about classical music, so my impression of the quality of a performance is based purely on whether it sounds good to me or not.

So, my question is, why is this series so low-budget? Are the performances supposed to be sub-par as a general rule? My guess is that it's hit or miss - some are gems, some are disasters.

Are there any titles you guys would recommend highly? Are there any to be avoided at all costs?

Thanks in advance,

Bertrand.

[Rooster_Ties]

Very few (if any) are disasters. They are a low-budget outfit, employing less than "name" artists, and lesser known orchestras (often non-union orchestras - with more room to negotiate favorable "recording" rates, etc...).

I own about 150 Naxos discs, and I've never heard one that was substandard.

Sure, in some cases there are better performances to be heard. But, frankly, in most cases - these are nearly as good as anything else out there, and are usually only half the price.

Also, Naxos "American Composers" series is worth it's weight in gold (seriously). Most of the recordings are the only CD issue of those particular works, and in many cases - are world premier recordings.

As far as specific titles to suggest --- all three volumes of Arthur Foote's Chamber Music are really wonderful. The works aren't very well known, but they should be (at least among chamber music fans). Foote was an American composer (from Boston) during the late 1800's and very early 1900's - and his music is a bit like Brahms, in a general sense.

Vols 1 & 2, in particular, are really outstanding. (We were so taken with much of Foote's music, that my wife and I even had some of it performed (live) as a part of our wedding a couple years ago. We hired top-notch local string quartet.)

Anyway, buy all the Naxos discs you care to, at least in my book.

Edited April 20, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[EKE BBB]

Very few (if any) are disasters. They are a low-budget outfit, employing less than "name" artists, and lesser known orchestras (often non-union orchestras - with more room to negotiate favorable "recording" rates, etc...).

...

Sure, in some cases there are better performances to be heard. But, frankly, in most cases - these are nearly as good as anything else out there, and are usually only half the price.

Also, Naxos "American Composers" series is worth it's weight in gold (seriously). Most of the recordings are the only CD issue of those particular works, and in many cases - are world premier recordings.

...

Ditto

[Claude]

I also think the artistic and technical level of Naxos recordings as now similar to the "big" classical labels (in fact Naxos is now the biggest one, with the largest in-print repertoire). Many solo artists which have been dropped by the majors now record for Naxos, and some musicians and orchestras, like Jeno Jando, Idil Biret or Antoni Wit have become famous with their excellent Naxos recordings.

The recording quality is less consistent, because Naxos often works with local engineers, whereas the majors have one team. But the majors now frequently record live concerts (which is much cheaper than studio productions), and their recording quality varies a lot too. The last dozen Naxos CDs I've bought all sounded very good. I think it's the early Naxos productions from the 90's that were more problematic in this respect.

At only 5 Euro, Naxos CDs are risk-free purchases.

Edited April 16, 2004 by Claude

[A Lark Ascending]

I'd recommend Naxos too.

If you're a classical expert you might be able to find plenty to criticise in some of the recordings. But I doubt that most of us would spot what was supposedly wrong.

I like them because they explore some less visited areas of music - their ongoing British and American series have some marvellous music. And I've recently got interested in the Spanish series.

Above all if you get a dud you've hardly paid a fortune. With some of the multiple offers (5 for £20) available in the shops you're paying the same price as a fast-food meal. Without the grease!

Edited April 16, 2004 by Bev Stapleton

[jazzbo]

I've never been disappointed with any Naxos purchase.

A wonderful label!

[sidewinder]

The 'British' series is excellent and there's some particularly good stuff by Bax, Delius and Holst. I've picked some of these up for £1-£2 and they are exceptional value for money.

[Stefan Wood]

Bertrand,

You can go to www.naxos.com to look at their catalog. They include reviews by third party reviewers (which do contain good and bad) of most of their discs. Especially within the past five years, they have been issuing some top quality and award winning cds. The Bax symphonies and tone poems, the American Classics program (especially Barber and Gloria Coates), Spanish Classics (Turina and Rodrigo), are all great.

[Geoff]

Naxos is an excellent label.

My absolute favourite is the Leo Ornstein recording they released

A seriously under-rated composer!

[A Lark Ascending]

They've recently released a CD of orchestral music by Genesis (possibly ex-) keyboard player, Tony Banks!

The certainly have a broad brief.

[BeBop]

Thoughts on the Naxos jazz releases? Seems like the clientele here may hold these to a somewhat higher standard.

[Pete C]

A seriously under-rated composer!

You betcha.

I wasn't aware of the Naxos recording of Ornstein. I'll have to look that up.

Ornstein's "Arabesques" is one of my favorite piano suites. I have it on an album called "Past Futurists" by Marthanne Verbit.

[Pete C]

Thoughts on the Naxos jazz releases? Seems like the clientele here may hold these to a somewhat higher standard.

I only have one, a Mike Nock trio, and it's excellent. The Mike Nock/Marty Ehrlich one looks mighty tempting too.

[Joe G]

Sam Yahel has a good organ trio date on Naxos jazz.

[randyhersom]

The Haydn String Quartets by the Kodaly Quartet are excellent. Op 76 is a fine place to start.

[Claude]

I have this Naxos Jazz CD by the New York Jazz Collective and I agree with the AMG review. Nothing exceptional, but very well played and similar to the albums the same musicians individually released on Enja and other full price labels.

I Don't Know This World Without Don Cherry

Another great thing from Naxos are their historical classical releases. I like the Rachmaninov piano concertos recorded by the composer between 1934 and 1941. Those recordings were previously only available in much more expensive editions, although they are in the public domain.

[jazzbo]

I like the two UMO Jazz Orchestra cds I have, and a few others too. . . .

[medjuck]

I just got a Naxos release of excerpts from Kurt Weil's music for The Eternal Road. I believe that none of this music has ever been recorded before. And as i rmember it, it cost less than $10 Canadian.

[BruceH]

Admittedly, I know nothing about classical music, so my impression of the quality of a performance is based purely on whether it sounds good to me or not.

That's the way to do it.

I've always found Naxos to deliver good value for the money. Excellent label, hard to go wrong.

[jones]

I can second the Haydn quartets from the Kodaly Quartet. Speaking of Kodaly, the Kodaly Cello works (solos mostly) in two volumes are very nice on Naxos. In fact, I think it's hard to find Kodaly on other labels. (I saw Alban Berg, an incredible cellist, perform a Kodaly piece, which is what turned me on to him.)

[vibes]

I picked up Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphonies nos. 7 & 8 on Naxos today, my first Naxos purchase. The quality of the sound and the performance are much better than I expected. Looking around naxos.com, I see they have both DVD-A and SACD's available. Does anyone have any experience with these? How are they?

[Peter Johnson]

This is so weird--I was just looking at this thread today, after I bought _my_ first Naxos CD--the Davies "Naxos" quartets nos. 1 and 2. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet--I think they're a bit of an acquired taste.

But the production is excellent, and this thread led me to Naxos' amazing website--$19.99 to listen to EVERYTHING they've got in print! Unbelievable!

Has anyone signed up yet? I've been listening to the 25% samples (there's a lot of great music on the site) but haven't pulled the trigger to listen to things in their entirety. Can you listen to, say, an entire album with a click of the mouse?

[Victor Christensen]

You can't go wrong with the Naxos label, they give great value for the money.

I have several of them, all the Shostakovich, all the Alban Berg, all Webern and all

Shoenberg, there you see guys I like 12tone music.

Vic

[Brad]

I've seen several of them advertised in the british journal, Jazz Review. I may give serious thought to picking some of them up.

[Д.Д.]

Recordings of John Cage's works for piano / prepared piano on Naxos are outstanding (forgot the pianost's name - either Boris Berman or Eteri Anjaparidze - both excellent musicians).