United States
The ‘American Classics’ series has been central to Naxos in America and now contains more than 360 recordings, many of which cover the leading symphonic composers of the twentieth century. Recording such a list for release on a budget label has been a risk and would not have been possible without support from many organisations, including The Copland Trust, which has helped with funds for musicians and composers. The giant figure of Charles Ives was crucial in releasing American music from European dependence, and when Naxos embarked upon his orchestral works (the symphonies and the Orchestral Sets) it was with the new critical editions. The liner notes explain the musical choices made by editor and conductor, and show the tremendous care taken with these recordings. This is why Symphony No. 4 has not been recorded yet: Heymann is waiting for the new approved edition to be finished. The complete songs appear on seven CDs and also use new editions. Then there are the musical surveys of William Schuman, Samuel Barber, Roy Harris and Leonard Bernstein (from chamber works such as the Clarinet Sonata to major choral works – Chichester Psalms and the Mass – to his most flamboyant musical signature, West Side Story).
A deeper look reveals a much wider and more challenging spread. There are the five string quartets of Elliott Carter, one of the major figures of twentieth-century American avantgarde, played by the Pacifica Quartet; and his Symphony No. 1, coupled with the Piano Concerto. Nine discs are devoted to works by George Rochberg and six discs to the music of Ned Rorem. Rorem is another key figure in twentieth-century American music; these recordings begin with a collection of his songs (sung by Carole Farley, accompanied by the composer) and include the three symphonies as well as a variety of concertos and chamber music. There are also two useful discs of George Crumb, another figure who used experimental techniques and pushed music on through the second half of the twentieth century, developing a distinctive American voice.
Then come the succeeding generations, who dominate the scene today. William Bolcom, John Corigliano and Joan Tower were all born in 1938 and their different musical paths have been reflected on Naxos. The label has even issued a recording called The Class of ’38, featuring music by Bolcom, Gloria Coates (who also has two full discs, one of string quartets and one of symphonies), Corigliano, John Harbison, Frederic Rzewski, José Serebrier, Joan Tower and Charles Wuorinen (who has five full discs of varied music).
William Bolcom
William Bolcom’s first appearance on Naxos was as a pianist rather than a composer: he recorded piano pieces by his teacher George Frederick McKay as a form of tribute. His wife, the soprano Joan Morris, also performed on the CD. It opened a Naxos connection, which led to a volume of his songs (on which he accompanies Carole Farley), his complete cello music and his four violin sonatas. But it was the premiere recording of his massive song cycle Songs of Innocence and of Experience, scored for soloists, choruses and orchestra, that won four GRAMMY Awards and made an unforgettable impact.
Ever since the first performance in Stuttgart in 1984 there had been discussions about recording Songs of Innocence and of Experience, but the practicalities proved to be beyond any record company. The University of Michigan, where Bolcom had taught since 1973, had mounted a performance of the work shortly after the Stuttgart premiere, and it was the composer Michael Daugherty, also on the teaching staff, who suggested another performance to mark the twentieth anniversary of that occasion. The university raised considerable funds to realise the idea, involving its top-class music students, local choirs and the university orchestra, with professional soloists, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin. It was at this point that Slatkin and Bolcom approached Heymann and suggested recording the concert, with some patching afterwards. Although momentarily daunted by the size of the project, Heymann agreed.
Bolcom was there throughout the preparations, the concert and the recording, and even years later his memory of the event is clear. ‘It was an amazing thing. The whole of the school had turned its energies to the piece for two months to prepare. Leonard had conducted it twice already, and some of the soloists, like my wife, had also done it before; but many were coming to it for the first time. I had worked with the Naxos producer Tim Handley before and he was one of the most informed and best-prepared producers I have ever had to deal with – an amazing, interesting character with a fantastic pair of ears. And David Lau, the engineer, was excellent too. But to use the concert would have required too much equalisation, so we recorded it again. I am amazed at how it happened. We didn’t do it in order: we did all the chorus sections together, then all the soloists together, so once you set up the mikes you didn’t worry about changing them all the time. That was the most practical way of handling it. But for some reason the energy had been so positive that it felt like a live performance – to the point that when Leonard got to the first dub he wondered where the applause was at the end! Of the twenty or so performances of the work I have heard over the years, this was one of the very best.’
More music by Bolcom has been recorded for Naxos, including all his Gospel Preludes for organ, played by Gregory Hand.
John Corigliano
John Corigliano has developed a close relationship with Naxos in recent years and has a growing discography on the label, his music featuring on ten CDs to date. ‘I am at every session that I can get to. I was a record producer at Columbia Masterworks in the 1970s and I know what I want, and my being there makes a big difference. In fact I co-produced the Naxos recording of Mr. Tambourine Man and we received two GRAMMYs for it in 2009 – one for the piece and the other for the best classical vocal performance. Being there means everything to me.’
One of the most widely recognised American composers, Corigliano works in many genres – from opera to concert music to film scores – and this is illustrated by his recordings. The music that originated as the film score for The Red Violin emerges in four different recordings, one in the form of a violin concerto played by Michael Ludwig with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta (coupled with Phantasmagoria, incorporating music from his opera The Ghosts of Versailles); the hauntingly beautiful Chaconne and the technically challenging Caprices each appear in two versions.
In Mr. Tambourine Man Corigliano set himself a tough challenge: to take Bob Dylan’s poetry, which already had a musical existence, and give it a totally new musical life. Just how well he succeeded can be heard in the recording with the amplified soprano Hila Plitmann. The inclusion of a work like this indicates the boldness of the ‘American Classics’ series. It was preceded by the recording of another work in which Corigliano set famous words: A Dylan Thomas Trilogy (incorporating Fern Hill, Poem in October and Poem on His Birthday). This was given a bravura performance by the baritone Sir Thomas Allen with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
The most recent recording shows another side of Corigliano, involving adventurous writing for a large concert band. Circus Maximus was composed with a special production in mind that involved a stage band, a surround band and a marching band. The dramatic conception is realised by The University of Texas Wind Ensemble conducted by Jerry Junkin, and the CD was given a suitably striking 3D slipcase by Naxos. It is another recording for which the composer participated closely in the sessions, and it was eventually re-released as the first Naxos Blu-ray audio disc (BD-Audio).
Corigliano himself writes the liner notes for almost every Naxos recording of his music, often outlining the personal background to the works. It indicates the close relationship he has with the label, and with Heymann. Corigliano explains: ‘I was a big fan of Naxos before being recorded by them. I loved their combination of unusual repertoire and savvy marketing: for example, there was always a huge display of Naxos recordings in every record store – no other company did this. So I asked my publisher [G. Schirmer] if I could have a meeting with the head of this company if he ever came to New York. It happened that Klaus was making a New York trip, and Schirmer asked him if he would meet with me.
He not only agreed but came over to my apartment to talk. I told him of my experiences with other major labels: how they would spend a fortune producing a record and then fail to promote it; how you couldn’t find my new releases in record stores because of distribution fiascos. I knew Klaus was aware of these things, but I wanted him to understand why I wanted to be on Naxos. We shared a fine white wine I brought back from Mendoza (Klaus ordered a case the next day), and I began to think that Naxos could be my next recording company.’
Corigliano’s works are recorded by many labels, but he himself takes an active role in creating a link with Naxos. ‘There is a partnership now, between orchestras and record labels, and I try to steer any orchestra interested in my work to the Naxos label.’
Joan Tower
Joan Tower, though born in New Rochelle, New York, spent her early years in South America and has always felt that this has influenced her music. Overcoming prejudice as one of the relatively few female composers, she held positions as resident composer with the St. Louis Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra which helped to establish her reputation. In 2001 a consortium of regional American orchestras received sponsorship from the Ford Motor Company Fund to commission a new work from a composer to be played by orchestras in each of the fifty states in America. The scheme was called ‘Made in America’. Tower was commissioned by the consortium and wrote a fifteen-minute work that she called Made in America; it was played, as planned, throughout the country by no fewer than sixty-five community orchestras. Then it was recorded for Naxos by the Nashville Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin (coupled with Tambor and Concerto for Orchestra) and won three GRAMMY Awards, including Best Classical Contemporary Composition, in 2008.
From composition to recording, Made in America was one of the most unforgettable experiences for Tower. The first big step was the work itself. ‘I began to think about these sixty-five orchestras – different communities, different sizes and different cultural interests. I wanted them to connect and I thought: “What do they all know? They know America the Beautiful”, which is one of my favourite tunes (I think it should be our national anthem). “I am going to take this tune and weave it in and out of my music so that people will have an immediate reference in this new piece” – because a lot of these people hadn’t heard anything by a living composer so I didn’t want to frighten them off. It turned out to be a really good choice on my part. I had to write the piece so that a community orchestra could play it, and I am very pleased to say that all the orchestras did play it. I conducted some of the performances.’
When it came to the recording, the Nashville Symphony was asked to play, partly because of its reputation for American music and partly because of its affiliation with Naxos. The new Laura Turner Concert Hall in Nashville was nearing completion, and Alan Valentine, the enterprising CEO of the orchestra, decided to record in the hall even though it wasn’t quite finished. He even held a concert of the three Tower compositions for all the construction workers, architects and others who had worked on the hall: 2,000 people, all with hard hats, filled the seats.
John Adams and Philip Glass
Minimalism has proved one of the most pervasive styles in contemporary music, and two of the leading American exponents (though their works venture into other areas as well) are represented on Naxos: John Adams (born 1947) and Philip Glass (born 1937), both especially well cared for by Marin Alsop. She conducts Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 4 by Glass, though it is the Violin Concerto played by Adele Anthony with the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Takuo Yuasa that tops the sales figures: this has sold more than 100,000 copies.
Many aspects of John Adams are represented on five discs. Nixon in China, arguably his operatic masterpiece, appears as a live recording conducted by Alsop; and his more recent opera I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky is conducted by Klaus Simon. Alsop also conducts a collection of his best-known shorter pieces, including Shaker Loops and Short Ride in a Fast Machine; and Ralph van Raat plays his complete piano music. Unfortunately Adams has been less than gracious about the Naxos contribution to his discography. In an interview with Newsweek he was asked about the Naxos recordings and commented, ‘Yeah, they do [all right], but their product is so mediocre. They must have made … seven or eight CDs of my work. They’re poorly produced. In some cases the performances are ok, and in some cases the performances are disgraceful. It’s like going to Costco and buying toilet paper with no brand on it.’ The Newsweek reporter asked, ‘Which recordings would you steer people away from?’ Adams replied, ‘Well, I wouldn’t say it for the record.’ His publisher later apologised to Klaus for his outburst.
Michael Daugherty
In 2011 the Nashville Symphony’s recording of Deus ex Machina by Michael Daugherty won a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. The Metropolis Symphony, Daugherty’s lively homage to the American love of Superman and the comic genre, headlined the disc; but the award went to the more searching Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra.
Daugherty (born in 1954) was co-chair with William Bolcom of the University of Michigan’s music faculty until Bolcom retired in 2005; he then became chair. He has always combined the popular with the esoteric, a trait that was nurtured by his varied musical education. His family background was in popular music – including drum and bugle corps and, later, rock bands – and he has always retained a strong sense of his American roots; but his extremely varied range of studies included time at the IRCAM in Paris (Pierre Boulez’s highly influential centre primarily dedicated to electro-acoustic music) and he became involved in the European avant-garde scene. Both these threads are evident in Deus ex Machina, vibrantly realised for Naxos by pianist Terrence Wilson and the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero.
Daugherty comments: ‘I grew up in the 1960s, which was about integration. The races had been segregated and the music was segregated, but in the time I grew up in, things were being integrated. So it has always seemed a natural thing in my music to integrate things – integrate art forms, integrate different aesthetics. In the twenty-first century it is natural to look at everything the world can offer, and that includes music. We have all different kinds of music. I have played rock and jazz and classical, jammed with ethnic music, and done electronic music and all those things. If you look at art and cinema it is very eclectic. Painters use different styles – it is wide open. Music tends to be the most conservative, ironically, but I am from a generation where it is not a big deal to mix things together, and that is what I have been doing.’
Speaking about the GRAMMY Award-winning disc, he says, ‘The Nashville Symphony commissioned Deus ex Machina and they performed and recorded it with the incredible pianist Terrence Wilson. Then they decided to make a complete CD of my music and that is what we have now. The performances are amazing and I hope everyone will be very excited to hear it.’
Naxos has three other major Daugherty recordings in its catalogue. Contained on one disc are Fire and Blood, MotorCity Triptych and Raise the Roof – the three key works to emerge from his position as composer in residence with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (2000–03). These are played by the DSO conducted by Neeme Järvi, with violinist Ida Kavafian as the soloist in Fire and Blood. The first Daugherty disc released on Naxos has the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop playing UFO (written for percussion soloist Evelyn Glennie, who plays it on this recording) and Philadelphia Stories. Alsop conducts her European orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, on a third disc of Daugherty’s works. His standing as a composer is attested by his discography on various labels; Naxos’s recording of Metropolis is not the only one, but the disc earned him his first GRAMMY Award.
Eric Whitacre
Eric Whitacre (born in 1970) is one of the most performed contemporary choral composers in the United States. He writes in a wholly approachable and graceful style, making the most of his melodic gifts. Although his music had already appeared on v
arious Naxos collections, the first dedicated Whitacre disc was released on the label in 2010: choral music performed by the Elora Festival Singers, conducted by Noel Edison. In their accessibility the works lend themselves to performance by groups of all standards and thus demonstrate an important, participatory aspect of music-making in the US.
Poland
The Naxos commitment to Polish music emerged from a combination of Heymann’s personal interest in the music of Szymanowski (which initially appeared on Marco Polo) and Antoni Wit’s championing of particular composers. It was certainly fortunate that Wit knew personally the outstanding twentieth-century Polish composers, having studied with Penderecki and worked closely with both Lutoslawski and Górecki as well as figures less well known such as Wojciech Kilar. So the musical picture of Poland in the twentieth and early twenty-first century presented by Naxos has a particular air of authority.
Karol Szymanowski
In the first years of Marco Polo, Heymann identified Karol Szymanowski as one of the composers whose orchestral music he wanted to feature. He recorded the symphonies, ballet, choral–orchestral and chamber music, and eventually even added the opera King Roger. The rich, bold orchestral palette was just right for Marco Polo and naturally Heymann turned to Polish musicians for its performance, beginning with the Polish State Philharmonic Orchestra (Katowice). This laid the foundations for developing a Polish theme, in terms of performers as well as composers. History describes a clear lineage.
The Story of Naxos Page 24