C L ASSIC AL A UDI O TOCCATA CLASSICS JOSÉ COMELLAS WILLOWHAYNE RECORDS MARK SWINTON PIANO MUSIC THE ORD-TEMPERED HARPSICHORD TOCC0347 | 5060113443472 1 CD | SRP US $18.99 CA $22.99 COMPOSER: José Comellas • With the political opening-up of Cuba comes a project aiming to throw light on Cuba’s forgotten musical legacy. Cuba’s heritage of classical music is composed largely of three strands - the inheritance of colonial times and the subsequent influence of African and European musicians - but even after three hundred years of development, most Cuban composers remain unknown to international audiences. • Most of the pieces on this release are salon works that blend Chopin and Gottschalk to charm the listener, but Comella’s ambitions also went further, with the first sonata published by any Cuban composer. • This album creates a unique opportunity to hear the rare 1785 Longman & Broderip Venetian Swell harpsichord in ap rogram of music that explores all the tonal colors of the instrument. • The harpsichord used for this album came into the possession of the Alexander Mackenzie of Ord in 1965. After a considerable period of thought, the owner finally decided to restore it to it’s original single-manual state, handcrafting the new keyboard and Machine Stop mechanism. • Mark Swinton took it upon himself to restore this rare instrument’s sound to it’s original glory. WHR040 | 739340481292 1 CD | SRP US $18.99 CA $22.99 COMPOSER: Johann Christian Bach • Domenico Cimarosa • Giles Farnaby • George Frederic Handel • Domenico Scarlatti • John Stanley • William Tisdall ARTIST: Mark Swinton (harpsichord) ARTIST: Jose Raul Lopez (piano) TOCCATA CLASSICS STEPHEN DODGSON WILLOWHAYNE RECORDS ALEXANDER EADON COMPLETE MUSIC FOR CELLO & PIANO ARUNDEL EXPERIENCE TOCC0353 | 5060113443533 1 CD | SRP US $18.99 CA $22.99 COMPOSER: Stephen Dodgson • The cello works of the London-born Stephen Dodgson present the musical personality of this much-loved composer in a nutshell. Dodgson’s style is direct but rich in allusion with a lively, sometimes brittle, sense of humor, adding a Shostakovich-like irony. • The remarkable clarity of the instrumental textures underline a strong sense of narrative, with the cello almost as a human voice, unfolding it’s story with understated passion. • Evva Mizerska is a cello lecturer at Morley College and Emma Abbate, a professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, formed in 2003, the Evva*Emma Duo has performed in many European countries. • This is the fourth album in Willowhayne’s Experience series. WHR043 | 739340481308 1 CD | SRP US $18.99 CA $22.99 COMPOSER: Johann Sebastian Bach • Herbert Howells • Robert Jones • Robert Leach • Richard Wagner, trans. Edwin Lemare • Felix Mendelssohn • Richard Pantcheff • Christopher Tambling • Louis Vierne • Charles-Marie Widor ARTIST: Alexander Eadon (organ) ARTIST: Evva Mizerska (cello) • Emma Abbate (piano) • Restored in 2006, Alexander Eadon explored all the tonal colors of this unjustly rarely recorded instrument by way of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. • “There are many organ albums being released at the moment but I can wholeheartedly endorse this fine recording of player and instrument. Once again, Alexander Eadon gives virtuosic performances of such a high standard, he is to be commended. This is an exceptional tribute to a wonderful instrument.” - Sebastian Thomson 106 NAXOS OF AMERICA | NAXOS OF CANADA | NEW RELEASE GUIDE