Classical Recording Dead? Don’t Tell Naxos.

At a time when many big record labels are shedding their classical divisions and many smaller niche labels are going dark altogether, Naxos is an unusual and telling success story. “Ten years ago, some people were more than a little sniffy about the Naxos phenomenon… [but] these days, Naxos is picking up awards, with two mentions in the New York Times last year for adventurous recordings of William Bolcom and Peter Maxwell Davies. The British Gramophone and Penguin Guide magazines regularly hand out praise.” The label has released some 3,000 albums since its inception in 1987, and has made nearly its entire catalogue available online.