Hosokawa and Saint-Saëns: two important recordings by the Basque National Orchestra on the world market
The Basque National Orchestra adds to its record library two new recordings of enormous relevance on the international market: Hosokawa, with the unpublished recording of works by one of the most important contemporary composers, and Saint-Saëns, with a compendium of orchestra works completing the composer’s catalogue on the Naxos label. The two albums have as their music director the former chief conductor Jun Märkl and have been recorded by the said label, a prestigious record company which distributes all over the world.
Together with the commitment to address and conserve Basque music production – which has its most outstanding example in the Basque Music Collection (15 volumes-CLAVES Label), the Basque National Orchestra has extended its recordings policy to include the international repertoire. It now brings this outstanding example which will enable the Orchestra to present itself to the most international market in singular fashion and thanks to distribution by NAXOS.
TOSHIO HOSOKAWA and the unpublished recording of orchestra works
This recording presents the Orchestra’s most contemporary aspect, combining different elements which make it enormously important and place it among the most distinguished recordings on NAXOS Records. On the one hand, it is the first world recording of all of the works compiled and includes performances by the soloists who first released it: Susanne Elmark and Ilse Eerens (sopranos), Mihoko Fujimura (mezzo soprano) and Tadashi Tajima (shakuhachi/Japanese flute). On the other hand, the recording is presented thanks to the coming together of a series of factors which made it possible: the Japanese roots of Jun Märkl, his friendship with Toshio Hosokawa and coincidence of the EU JAPAN FEST organisation’s sponsorship of the European Capital of Culture and therefore of San Sebastian 2016. All of this meant that the self-same Hosokawa, one of today’s most distinguished composers, was present at the recording in the Orchestra’s Miramon headquarters where he demonstrated his emotion at the carrying out of this project, which includes for example in ‘Meditation’ a tribute to the victims of the Japan tsunami of 2011. The album will be released onto the market in the coming days. It is already on sale in the United States and Canada via naxos.com.
See the record details and listen to the promotional audio here
The following video shows part of the process of recording ‘Orchestal Works 3’ by Toshio Hosokawa and the Basque National Orchestra:
Toshio Hosokawa / Basque National Orchestra: Orchestral Works 3 (EN) from EUSKADIKO ORKESTRA on Vimeo.
In the following images we can see Toshio Hosokawa working at the Miramon Orchestra Headquarters (click on the images to enlarge and download them):
SAINT-SAËNS and the French composer’s complete collection for the NAXOS label
With the recording of the orchestra works included in this copy the NAXOS label has covered the totality of the works by the French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns. This is a compendium of four works written by the composer at different times of his creative period. The cellist from Granada, Guillermo Pastrana, also joins the recording, lending voice to the ‘Suite Op16bis’ for cello and orchestra. Jun Märkl, a great specialist in the French repertoire, leads the conducting of this new and magnificent album. The CD is now on the market and available for purchase.
See the record details and listen to the promotional audio here
