While we take a pause for Christmas, we offer four podcasts which Gramophone 's Martin Cullingford and James Jolly have chosen as particularly enjoyable and memorable conversations. We start with one of Martin's ... In this archive Gramophone Podcast from October 2018, the baritone Sir Thomas Allen talks about his Champs Hill album, September Songs . Drawing on personal favourites from the 'Great American Songbook', it sees the acclaimed singer step from the opera stage and lieder recital hall f...
Dec 17, 2021•20 min
This week's episode is a little different. Instead of interviewing an artist about their new album, Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford, Editor-in-Chief James Jolly, and Reviews Editor Tim Parry, each choose their favourite three recordings of 2021, and explain why they were so impressed by them. Listen to the discussion - and excerpts from each album - in this week's special edition of the Gramophone Podcast.
Dec 10, 2021•35 min
Aleksandra Kurzak joined Vienna's Morphing Chamber Orchestra for a new album for Aparté - 'Mozart - Concertante'. The programme culminates in a performance of the great Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola, K364, but before that she sings a selection of arias that present many of the orchestra's players in solo roles. James Jolly caught up with the soprano by Zoom in Wrocław.
Dec 03, 2021•25 min
After leading orchestras in Bournemouth, Baltimore and São Paulo, Marin Alsop became Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2019. Her inaugural concert in Vienna's Konzerthaus featured music by Paul Hindemith, Christopher Rouse and Lera Auerbach, making a strong statement about where her musical sympathies lay. From that opening concert, recorded live, comes a new album from Naxos of Hindemith's Mathis der Maler Symphony and one-act opera Sancta Susanna , supplemented by a...
Nov 26, 2021•22 min
For this week's Gramophone podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by Andrew Nethsingha, Director of the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge to discuss their new album on Signum, 'The Tree' - as well as the recent announcement that the choir will soon welcome female voices for the first time in its history. This week's Gramophone Podcast is produced in Association with Leipzig, the City of Music.
Nov 19, 2021•33 min
The soprano Jeanine De Bique has released her first solo album, 'Mirrors', with Concerto Köln, for Berlin Classics. Gramophone 's James Jolly caught up with her to talk about the recording, as well as Rameau's Platée , also just out from Harmonia Mundi, as she start rehearsals in Paris for Handel's Alcina at the Salle Garner. This Gramophone Podcast is given in association with Leipzig – the City of Music.
Nov 12, 2021•23 min
In this week's podcast we welcome countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, to talk about his new album À sa guitare, recorded with Thibaut Garcia. A beautiful album that takes us on a journey from the Renaissance to the modern age, it's available on the Erato label. The Gramophone Podcast is produced in association with Leipzig - the city of music.
Nov 05, 2021•27 min
The great Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink died on October 21 at the age of 92. During his 65 years career he conducted many of the world's great orchestras, holding posts with Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra for 27 years, as well as the London Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera, and regularly guest conducting the Boston Symphony, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Bavarian RSO, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and numerous o...
Oct 29, 2021•39 min
For this week's Gramophone Podcast Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by the acclaimed violinist and conductor Fabio Biondi to talk about the complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by JS Bach, which he has just recorded for the Naïve label. This week's Gramophone Podcast is in association with Leipzig – the City of Music.
Oct 22, 2021•33 min
Bach's cello suites are among the most extraordinary works - both joyful and profound - written for the instrument. In his new book, 'The Bach Cello Suites: A Companion', published by Faber, Steven Isserlis draws on decades of reflection on this music, sharing his views and encouraging us to listen in even greater depth. He joins Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about his book and the music. Excerpts throughout are taken from his recording of the suites, available on the Hyperion lab...
Oct 14, 2021•27 min
The winners of the 2021 Gramophone Classical Music Awards have been revealed. To hear more about what lay behind the decisions to honour this year's winners, and to hear excerpts from all the winning artists and recordings, listen to this special second edition of our Awards Podcast, featuring Editor-in-Chief James Jolly, Editor Martin Cullingford and Reviews Editor Tim Parry. This week's Gramophone Podcast is in association with Leipzig – the City of Music.
Oct 05, 2021•30 min
This weekend marks the 90th anniversary of the death of Carl Nielsen, and one of the most prominent flag-bearers for his legacy today is the Carl Nielsen International Competition. In this week's Gramophone podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford talked to the competition's President, the violinist and conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, about some innovative changes to next year's edition – and about the music of the composer it's named after. This week's Podcast is presented in association with Leipzi...
Oct 01, 2021•26 min
Today, we revealed the 11 albums to have won the recording categories at this year's Gramophone Classical Music Awards, and which will now go on to compete to be named Recording of the Year on October 5. In this special edition of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor-in-Chief James Jolly, Editor Martin Cullingford and Reviews Editor Tim Parry discuss these extraordinary recordings - and play excerpts from all 11 of them. This week's Gramophone Podcast is in association with Leipzig – the City of Music...
Sep 22, 2021•34 min
Charles Owen's latest recording for Avie is of the First Book, Switzerland from Franz Liszt's Années de pèlerinage ('Years of wandering). Charles talks to James Jolly about how he took the opportunity to return to the work during the long, quiet months of lockdown, how he performed the work in his first concerts with an audience and how he became drawn into Liszt's world as the composer-pianist travelled throughout Europe. This week's Gramophone Podcast is in association with Leipzig – the City ...
Sep 17, 2021•23 min
To celebrate his 60th birthday – and his first album for Decca in a decade – Jean-Yves Thibaudet has programmed a beautiful solo recital full of works with strong personal connections for him. Called 'Carte blanche', it ranges from Couperin to a Charles Trenet transcription, and is out today. Editor Martin Cullingford caught up with the pianist for this week's Gramophone Podcast
Sep 10, 2021•34 min
Gramophone 's Artist of the Year for 2019, Víkingur Ólafsson, has recorded three critically acclaimed albums for DG, and now he adds a fourth entitled 'Mozart & Contemporaries' which gathers music by CPE Bach, Galuppi, Cimarosa and Haydn around the great Wolfgang Amadeus. James Jolly caught up by video call with the pianist at his home in Iceland just a few days after Ólafsson's triumphant debut at the BBC Proms where he joined the Philharmonia and Paavo Järvi in concertos by JS Bach and Moz...
Sep 02, 2021•29 min
Lucas Debargue, who shot to fame during the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition where he took fourth prize, but totally stole the audience's hearts, and shortly after was signed by Sony Classical. 'Żal' is Debargue's sixth album for the label and, joined by the violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica, he explores the music of the Polish composer and pianist Miłosz Magin (1929-99) who, like Chopin, settled in Paris. James Jolly caught up with Debargue by video call to talk about t...
Aug 27, 2021•24 min
Sean Shibe has just released a new album, 'Camino', an exploration of the cross-fertilisation of French and Spanish music, and built around the gentle sound world of Federico Mompou. He talks to James Jolly about the stop-start music-making experience of the pandemic and how it focused his mind on exploring Spanish music for the first time on record. A passionate advocate for new music, Shibe also reveals what he's been up to on the contemporary music front. This Gramophone Podcast is given in a...
Aug 20, 2021•22 min
Jan Lisiecki, a former Gramophone Young Artist of the Year, has recorded his eighth album for Deutsche Grammophon, the complete Chopin Nocturnes (his third Chopin recording for the DG). James Jolly caught up with him by video call in Poland where he's spent a long period during the pandemic and from where he has maintained a busy schedule. Gramophone Podcasts are given in association with Tomplay Sheet Music .
Aug 12, 2021•25 min
With the voting open for the 2021 Orchestra of the Year Award, music journalist and broadcaster Rob Cowan joins Gramophone 's Editor in Chief, James Jolly, to talk about ensembles from Germany, the USA, Singapore and Switzerland. This is the only award chosen by our readers and an international audience of music-lovers. Visit our Awards pages for the list of the ten nominated orchestras and to vote. But before you do, listen to the ensembles on ten specially curated playlists and our dynamic pla...
Aug 06, 2021•29 min
With the voting open for the 2021 Orchestra of the Year Award, Copenhagen-based music journalist and broadcaster Andrew Mellor joins Gramophone 's Editor in Chief, James Jolly, to talk about ensembles from the UK, Italy, Germany and Canada. This is the only award chosen by our readers and an international audience of music-lovers. Visit our Gramophone Awards 2021 for the list of the ten nominated orchestras and to vote. But before you do, listen to the ensembles on ten specially curated playlist...
Jul 30, 2021•29 min
The BBC Proms opens this time next week - July 30 - with a packed six-week schedule of concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, as well as chamber concerts in Cadogan Hall and broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, online and on television. Editor Martin Cullingford met with the Proms' Director David Pickard to talk about some of the themes and highlights, and about the challenges of planning and staging a season in a time of Covid. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.
Jul 23, 2021•24 min
Nicola Benedetti's new album is out today on Decca Classics focussing on two composers of the Italian Baroque, Francesco Geminiani, and Antonio Vivaldi, and accompanied by eight live performances at Battersea Arts Centre and an online education project, the Baroque Virtual Sessions. Then on August 14 the violinist begins a residency at this year's Edinburgh International Festival, featuring music spanning the breadth of her instrument's repertoire and history. She talks to Editor Martin Cullingf...
Jul 16, 2021•27 min
Kit Armstrong has recorded an album for DG of keyboard music by William Byrd and John Bull, under the title 'The Visionaries of Piano Music'. James Jolly caught up with him to talk about what drew him to a repertoire from over 100 years before Bach, playing music written for virginals on a modern piano and the distinct musical personalities of these two great composers. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall, where having streamed more than 200 concerts over the past ...
Jul 09, 2021•33 min
This week's guest is pianist Angela Hewitt, who tells Editor Martin Cullingford about her beautiful new album 'Love Songs', transcriptions of songs by composers including Schumann, Schubert, Richard Strauss, Gluck, Grieg and De Falla - with arrangements by pianists and composers including Liszt, Godowsky, Grainger and Hewitt herself. The album is out today on the Hyperion label. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.
Jul 02, 2021•23 min
When Randall Goosby signed to Decca Classics, his forthcoming first album was described as being a 'journey across more than a century of African-American music for violin, tracing its roots in the spiritual through to the present day'. That fascinating and personal project - called Roots - is released today, and to explore its themes - as well as the music of composers including William Grant Still, Florence Price and Xavier Foley - the young virtuoso joined Editor Martin Cullingford in this we...
Jun 25, 2021•35 min
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director of New York's Metropolitan Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Montreal's Orchestre Métropolitain, makes his solo piano debut on record for DG with an album entitled 'Introspection'. Recorded during lockdown near his home in Montreal, the album is dedicated to his late piano teacher Anisia Campos. James Jolly spoke to Yannick Nézet-Séguin about 'Introspection' but also about his relationship with the piano from his early years studying it to how he can keep...
Jun 18, 2021•30 min
For the next album in his universally acclaimed series for Chandos with the Sinfonia of London, John Wilson turns to the music of Henri Dutilleux. He talks to Gramophone 's James Jolly about his love of the French composer's music, the art of orchestration and gives a sneak preview of some of the recording projects in the pipeline. His new album couples Kenneth Hesketh's orchestration of three works for solo instrument and piano – the Flute Sonatine, Oboe Sonata and Sarabande et cortège – with D...
Jun 11, 2021•20 min
Taking its name from George Gershwin's When do we dance? , the latest album for Naïve from Lise de la Salle finds her taking to the dance floor as she travels from her native France to Eastern Europe, Spain, Latin America and finally the USA. James Jolly caught up with her to talk about the concept behind the album, playing the music of Maurice Ravel whose Valses nobles et sentimentales take centre stage in the programme, and how she tackled playing jazz.
Jun 04, 2021•22 min
For her third album for Gramophone 's current Label of the Year, Alpha Classics, the mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey re-visits the Baroque for 'Tiranno'. She offers five works by four composers – Alessandro Scarlatti, George Frederick Handel, Claudio Monteverdi and Bartolomeo Monari – that put Nero, his mother Agrippina and second wife Poppea centre stage. Lindsey's last stage role before the pandemic was as Nero in Sir David McVicar's acclaimed production of Handel's Agrippina at New York's Metropol...
May 28, 2021•30 min
