Tine Thing Helseth's new album is a beautiful programme of works for trumpet and organ, some familiar, some bound to be new discoveries for many listeners. Recorded with organist Kåre Nordstoga and released on the Lawo label, it's the subject of this week's Podcast, for which the trumpeter joined Editor Martin Cullingford. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.
Ben Goldscheider's new album, 'Legacy', pays tribute to the great horn player Dennis Brain, whose centenary we mark this year. Featuring music by two composers Brain worked with – Benjamin Britten and Sir Malcolm Arnold – plus works by Francis Poulenc and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies written in his memory, and two new commissions by Huw Watkins and Roxanna Panufnik, the album is available today on Three Worlds Records. Editor Martin Cullingford talks to Ben Goldscheider about the release. Gramophone...
Jennifer Johnston has just appeared, as Waltraute, on the new BR-Klassik recording of Wagner's Die Walküre conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. She talks to James Jolly about her decade-long association with the Bavarian State Opera and its Generalmusikdirektor, Kirill Petrenko; about music in her home city of Liverpool; and memories of Christa Ludwig with whom she studied as a student. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.
In this week's Gramophone podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director of London's Barbican and author of a new book called The Life of Music: New Adventures in the Western Classical Tradition . As well as exploring the book's list of 100 recommended recordings, they also discuss five key turning points in the history of music. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall
In 2019, Joyce DiDonato and Yannick Nézet-Séguin performed Schubert's great song-cycle in concert at New York's Carnegie Hall, and Erato were on hand to record it. James Jolly caught up with the multi- Gramophone Award-winning mezzo to talk about her unique approach to the work. As one of a handful of women singers who have recorded Winterreise , Joyce needed to find her own way into the cycle, as she explains from her house in Spain. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore...
Sir Antonio Pappano has recently been named as the new Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (succeeding Sir Simon Rattle at the start of the 2024 season). With perfect timing, the orchestra releases a new recording of Vaughan Williams's Symphonies No 4 and 6, the latter recorded live the day before the first lockdown. Next month, finds Pappano in front of his Roman ensemble, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, for a new Warner Classics album of Richard Strauss's ...
This week's podcast sees acclaimed flautist Adam Walker join Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about his two new albums of French music, both released on Chandos Records. The first, 'French Works for Flute', sees him joined by pianist James Baillieu in music by Franck, Widor, Saint‑Saëns and Duruflé - that last work also featuring viola player Timothy Ridout. The second album, 'Belle Époque', features Walker's Orsino Ensemble joined by pianist Pavel Kolesnikov in an eclectic programme...
Anna Lucia Richter's second album for Pentatone, 'Il delirio della passione', is devoted to the music of Claudio Monteverdi, a programme she put together with Luca Pianca, who directs Ensemble Claudiana on the recording. James Jolly caught up with Anna Lucia by video call to talk about the project, but also hear about her decision to switch from singing soprano to mezzo-soprano. Making use of the 'down-time' afforded her by lockdown, she worked with Prof Tamar Rachum in Tel Aviv via Skype and ph...
The Swedish pianist Peter Jablonski has recently released an album for Ondine of piano music by the Russian composer Alexei Stanchinsky (1888-1914). James Jolly caught up with Jablonski at his home in Stockholm to talk about this all-but-forgotten musician and what drew him to his music. Jablonski, who was signed to Decca in his late teens, also reflects on how his career largely dictated his recorded repertoire – until quite recently – and how he has been using the fallow period of lockdown whe...
This week's podcast is devoted to exploring the music, life and legacy of the greatest genius of Baroque music – and arguably of all music – JS Bach. Editor Martin Cullingford invited Bach specialist and Gramophone reviewer, the Royal Academy of Music's Principal Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, to talk about the composer of some of the most profound masterpieces ever written. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall. Musical excerpts are taken from: the Cello Suites by David ...
For her new album on Chandos Records, Francesca Dego has recorded a fascinating programme which pays homage to Niccolò Paganini – recorded on Paganini's own (and rarely played) violin, 'Il Cannone'. She tells Editor Martin Cullingford about her experience of playing this historic instrument. Gramophone Podcasts are published in Association with Wigmore Hall.
Following her highly acclaimed debut album, a programme of Offenbach coloratura arias, for Alpha Classics – Gramophone 's current Label of the Year – Jodie Devos turns to the English language for 'And Love Said …'. James Jolly caught up with her by video call at her home in Paris to hear the story behind the album – an album which was selected as an Editor's Choice in Gramophone 's March issue and described by our critic Hugo Shirley as 'a recital that bristles with life and love, at once engagi...
This year is the centenary of the birth of the Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, an anniversary celebrated by the accordionist Ksenija Sidorova on her new Alpha Classics, 'Piazzolla Reflections'. Now based in Madrid, Ksenija talked by video call with Gramophone 's Editor in Chief, James Jolly about the album, her instrument and the other composers who appear on the programme. Running through the album are many Piazzolla gems including the Bandoneon Concerto, Aconcagua , the ever-popular Libe...
Benjamin Grosvenor's new Decca album focuses on one composer, Franz Liszt. The album includes the B minor Sonata as well as the Petrarch Sonnets , the Réminiscences de Norma and some shorter works. Gramophone 's Reviews Editor, Tim Parry, caught up with Benjamin for this new Gramophone Podcast. Grosvenor, a former Gramophone Young Artist of the Year and Instrumental Award winner, was introduced to the music of Liszt at an early age, and he talks about his experience of performing the composer's ...
Raymond Yiu's music is featured on a new Delphian album featuring performances by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under David Robertson, Sir Andrew Davis and Edward Gardner. In this Gramophone Podcast, James Jolly talks to him about the inspiration and evolution of the three works, The London Citizen Exceedingly Injured , which takes its title from an early 18th-century pamphlet; Yiu's Symphony, a 2015 BBC Proms commission, and The World Was Once All Miracle , commissioned to commemorate the centenar...
In the first episode of a brand new series for Gramophone , Editor-in-Chief James Jolly and critic and broadcaster Rob Cowan discuss Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and compare the various approaches that conductors have to taken to this most famous of masterpieces. They talk about how a professional critic should approach a new recording, how performance practices have changed over the decades, and how – no matter how many times you've heard this symphony – Beethoven's genius always shines through. ...
Daniel Hope, joined by Alexey Botvinov, has recorded an album for Deutsche Grammophon of music for violin and piano by Alfred Schnittke. James Jolly caught up with him to learn about his love for this music, how he met the composer and how he assembled this new recording. And after a 2020 like no other, Daniel Hope also talks about the life-changing series of 'Hope at Home' concerts, his work with his two chamber orchestras and his hopes and aspirations for the future.
Stephen Hough's new album 'Vida Breve' is a beautiful and thought-provoking meditation on death - and life - drawing on works by Busoni and Gounod (including their Bach arrangements), Chopin and Lizst - and even Hough himself. The pianist explores the programme with Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford, and you hear excerpts from the new album, which is released today on the Hyperion label.
The pianist Joseph Middleton has been busy in the studio and the past months have seen a number of albums released that find him alongside some great voices. It seemed a perfect opportunity for a chat, so James Jolly caught up with Joseph to talk about his role playing for singers, how he builds programmes, the changing landscape for song recitals and how the English have focused on the art of of the accompanist (a word they also discuss). The podcast contains excerpts from recent recordings fea...
Nathalie Stutzmann releases a new Erato recording of Baroque arias written for her voice-type: 'Contralto'. Conducting her orchestra, Orfeo 55, she explores arias written for some of the star contraltos of the day by Handel, Vivaldi, Porpora, Gasparini and Caldara (including five world-premiere recordings). James Jolly spoke to Nathalie Stutzmann during rehearsals with Norway's Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra of which she is Chief Conductor; she's also recently been appointed Principal Guest Con...
Dame Evelyn Glennie talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about her latest recordings of new works for percussion, by composers Alexis Alrich, Sir Karl Jenkins, Ned Rorem and Christian Linberg. The first three are released next week on a new album from Naxos called Concertos for Mallet Instruments, while Lindberg's new work - called Liverpool Lullabies , a concertante work for percussion and trombone - appears on a new album out today from BIS.
January 5 sees Alfred Brendel turn 90 and he graciously agreed to speak to us for a Gramophone podcast and answer a few questions ... Alfred Brendel had a long performing career – he gave his first recital in Graz, Austria when he was 17, in 1948, and his last concert 60 years later, in Vienna in December 2008. Early in his career he recorded for Vox, for whom he made many records of Beethoven's music including the sonatas and concertos, as well as much other solo piano music. Since 1970 he reco...
Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has carved out a considerable reputation for its championing of modern American music, and its latest release is one of its most ambitious, a recording of Charles Wuorinen's 2004 opera, based on Salman Rushdie's novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories , to a libretto by Jame Fenton. James Jolly spoke to Gil Rose, BMOP's Artistic Director about the orchestra and its label, but also about this latest project. And Gil also reveals some of the recording projects aw...
As Gramophone publishes its annual digital magazine round up of Editor's Choice releases – 130 recordings in all – the magazine's Editor, Reviews Editor and Editor-in-Chief each select three albums that have made a big impact on them over the past 12 months. From solo guitar to two major 20th-century operas, the selection is broad, and celebrates some of the finest music-making of today from the likes of Víkingur Ólafsson, Sean Shibe, Marc-André Hamelin, Paavo Järvi, Edward Gardner, Natalya Roma...
On this week's Gramophone podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by the founder and Music Director of the Crouch End Festival Chorus, David Temple, to explore the music of Benjamin Britten. His new album, released on the Signum Classics label, features Saint Nicolas and A Ceremony of Carols, both early works from the composer. What made Britten such an extraordinary composer for voices, and what role did his belief in community music play in his work?
Christian-Pierre La Marca releases the first of five albums for Naïve, and it focuses on the solo cello. 'Cello 360' brings together music by Marin Marais, Dowland and Purcell alongside modern masters like Thierry Escaich, György Ligeti and Henri Dutilleux, as well as lighter fare by Charlie Chaplin and The Beatles. Gramophone 's James Jolly caught up with Christian-Pierre by video call at his house in Paris to talk about the project and how he assembled such an eclectic programme for this imagi...
To mark the release of his new album on Orchid Classics, composer and clarinettist Mark Simpson joins the Gramophone podcast to explore its captivating - and interlinked - mixture of old and new repertoire. Opening with a wonderfully textured work by Simpson himself, Geysir , it then continues with Mozart's Gran Partita .
The Eloquence label issued its first 25 titles exactly 21 years ago, a project conceived, and looked after ever since, by Cyrus Meher-Homji. James Jolly spoke to him about the label, how it came about and how it has changed over its first two decades. And Cyrus also reveals some of the releases scheduled for the coming months, including box sets devoted to the pianist Ruth Slenczynska and the organist Gillian Weir.
Following his Gramophone Award short-listed recording of Charles Valentin Alkan's Symphony and Concerto for solo piano (BIS), Paul Wee takes on another challenging work of the piano literature, Sigismond Thalberg's L'Art du chant appliqué au piano . Gramophone 's Reviews Editor, Tim Parry – himself a pianophile – talked to Paul about the recording, Thalberg's piano music and how he balances his piano playing with his 'day job'.
'Mythologies', just out on Avie, contains five orchestral works by Anna Clyne covering a period of 10 years. James Jolly caught up with the New York-based composer at her home in New York to talk about the collection, her various roles as composer-in-residence, and where she looks for inspiration when responding to a commission.
