naxos – the First 25 Years - Ducale Music

naxos – the First 25 Years
FoReWoRD BY KLAUs HeYMAnn, Founder and Chairman of nAXos
Welcome to the Naxos 25th anniversary catalogue.
When I began Naxos in 1987 the music industry
was very different from today. The compact disc
was in its infancy and the internet as we know it
today didn’t exist, difficult though that may be to
imagine. Despite the many challenges faced during
the online era, there are three key principles to
which Naxos remains committed: repertoire, value
and innovation.
From the very beginning as a humble ‘budget’ label
Naxos set out to record the widest possible range of
repertoire . The catalogue always had something to offer
everyone, whether a newcomer to the world of classical
music or a lifelong music lover and collector . The same
sense of musical exploration is just as important to
Naxos today as it was when I started the label .
With over 20 new titles issued each month the Naxos
catalogue now comprises over 6,000 recordings .
Amongst the past year’s releases alone there have
been so many highlights it is impossible to list them
all here . Of particular note, however, is the recording
of Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, a work
I had long wanted in the Naxos catalogue . There
were also further volumes in our series of works
by virtuoso violinist/composers such as Sarasate,
Sauret, Kreutzer and Rode . Other key projects
included our acclaimed Sibelius and Shostakovich
symphony cycles and our continuing exploration of
the music of Polish composer, Krzysztof Penderecki .
Another major project of the last year is the release of
our Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition . The collection
covers Schubert’s complete Lieder – more than 700
songs, grouped according to the 115 poets from whom
Schubert derived his inspiration . The Edition is available
as a 38 CD boxed set and it is important to note that all
the featured singers are native German speakers .
Since its inception Naxos has made a point of
rediscovering composers whose music has been unjustly
neglected . Sometimes there are particular historical
reasons for this neglect, but often composers are
forgotten for no better reason than simply falling out
of fashion . A good example of this is Ferdinand Ries, a
contemporary of Beethoven, who was a fine composer
in his own right . Yet only now is his wonderful music
for piano is being rediscovered, largely through our
recordings of the sonatas and concertos . The same holds
true for lesser-known composers such as Malipiero,
Ghedini and Casella, whose delightful works collectors
are finally able to discover through our 20th Century
Italian Composers series .
The first recordings on the Naxos American Classics
series were released over a decade ago and the series
continues apace with dozens of new releases each year .
Further ‘national‘ series now include Spanish Classics,
Greek Classics, Japanese Classics and, most recently,
Canadian Classics .
Going forward Naxos will continue as a leader and
innovator with particular emphasis on education .
Current projects include a programme of e-books,
i-books and integrated media products all of which
will build on our past efforts to introduce new listeners
to the world of classical music . Naxos is committed
to making full use of the new possibilities afforded
by technology and media in its mission to broaden
the reach of classical music . Investment in a broad
range of new educational projects is ongoing and
alongside the creation of new content we will continue
to develop new ways of delivering that content to
consumers . Above all Naxos remains committed to
making classical music accessible to the widest possible
audience, not only through affordable recordings, but
also through new and creative methods of delivery and
consumption .
Of all of Naxos’s initiatives in the digital arena, our
online streaming libraries have had the greatest impact
on building future classical audiences . Naxos Music
Library (www.naxosmusiclibrary.com) is now used
by thousands of schools and colleges around the world
and has become the listening source of choice for a
whole generation of music students and professionals .
Naxos Video Library (www.naxosvideolibrary.com)
was launched in 2010 to provide a similar platform
for video content . Based on the Naxos Audiobooks
catalogue, comprising highly acclaimed recordings
of literary classics, we created Naxos Spoken Word
Library (www.naxosspokenwordlibrary.com) .
In the world of digital downloads Naxos has also
created its own online store www.classicsonline.com .
ClassicsOnline is a one-stop shop for lovers of classical
music with over 60,000 albums (860,000+ tracks)
from more than 300 different labels – including Naxos
of course .
Naxos was founded and created by people who love
classical music . The label continues to thrive because
its people believe in the importance of this music,
both now and in the future . The three principles of
repertoire, value and innovation will remain at the
heart of what we do . We invite you to join us on this
journey as it unfolds over the next 25 years .
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Klaus Heymann