The 2003 catalogue of the Naxos bargain CD label is an extraordinary document. In it, founder Klaus Heymann mocks his top-price competitors as focusing on "crossover programs, theme compilations and a handful of marketable stars." And it's hard not to agree with him. Naxos, he claims, offers, by contrast, an enormous range of recordings -- almost 2,500 by the end of this year -- at an astonishingly low price, around NT$150 here in Taiwan.
Naxos was founded in Hong Kong in 1987 with the aim of marketing classical CDs at a price comparable to the LPs of that time. It has more or less kept its prices the same since those days, and is now, for instance, the UK's biggest-selling classical label in terms of numbers of CDs sold.
Now Naxos has expanded into DVDs alongside Opus Arte and Arthaus Musik (an animated Cunning Little Vixen with Kent Nagano, for instance, and Cecilia Bartoli in concert), plus audio books and a very energetic series of educational projects. Heymann puts it all down to his initial love of music -- he's been "passionate about classical music," he reports, all his life.
What are the distinctive strengths and weaknesses of, what is by any account, an extraordinary commercial venture?
Naxos has always had an eye for where their main chance lay. It knew, for instance, there was no possibility it could compete with a big label's star-studded opera recording. Large-scale ventures with Western European or American artists were also beyond its means. So it has concentrated on three things -- Eastern European artists, the lesser-known repertoire, and small-scale works. They'll record almost anything, it sometimes appears, but these are nevertheless the areas where they've garnered most acclaim. Because Naxos adorn their catalogue with indications of high ratings given by review magazines, it's easy to see where recordings have won praise, and where the critics have passed them over in silence.
Opera, as we've said, is not a Naxos strength, and only their Flying Dutchman has aroused a degree of interest. Even this is unsatisfactory in the final analysis.
Where Naxos does score, though, is with lesser-known 20th century composers. Their recordings of works by people like Malcolm Arnold, Leonardo Balada, Arnold Bax, Witold Lutoslawski, Anthony Payne, Walter Piston, William Schuman, Karol Szymanowski and William Walton have won plaudits from a generous range of specialist review publications.
Medieval and Renaissance music -- "Stone-age music" to its detractors -- has also proved a profitable area for Naxos. Discs of music by pre-19th century composers such as Thomas Tomkins, Francesco Manfredini, and Johannes Ockeghem -- virtually unknown names -- have won lavish praise from surprised reviewers.
With both the 20th century and the Middle Ages, the comparative lack of interest has proved an asset for the label. The big companies consider this music commercially unprofitable, so Naxos has been able to slip in and fill the niche.
Certain isolated discs stand out. The CD most studded with symbols indicating critical enthusiasm is that of Vaughan Williams's Phantasy Quintet and String Quartets Nos: 1 & 2, played by the Maggini Quartet, plus Garfield Jackson in the first item (8.555300). This CD, readily available in Taipei at FNAC, could be considered the prestigious flagship of the entire Naxos enterprise.
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