Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

In this week's episode of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by one of the most acclaimed figures of today's musical world, Jordi Savall, to talk about his new recording of Bach's St John Passion, recorded with La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert Des Nations, and released on the Alia Vox label. Today's podcast is sponsored by Kirker Holidays, creators of short breaks and tailor-made holidays for curious, discerning travellers to cultural destinations throughout Europe and beyond. For more information or to speak to one of Kirker's expert human beings, call 020 7593 2283 or visit kirkerholidays.com. And Gramophone readers who book a Kirker holiday will receive a bottle of Pol Roger champagne with which to celebrate – make sure to mention Gramophone at the time of booking.

The soprano, Elsa Dreisig, has just released a new Erato album, 'Invocation'. Joined by the Orchestra e Coro dell'Opera Carlo Felice Genova conducted by Massimo Zanetti, it gathers together arias by Dvořák, Janáček, Puccini, Verdi, Gounod, Wagner, Rossini, Flotow, Peter Heise, and Carolina Uccelli, as well as songs by Grieg, Amy Beach and Bizet, all with a unifying theme. James Jolly talked to Elsa Dreisig in Naples, where she was in rehearsals for Puccini's La bohème in which she was singing the role of Mimì. Today's podcast is sponsored by Kirker Holidays, creators of short breaks and tailor-made holidays for curious, discerning travellers to cultural destinations throughout Europe and beyond. For more information or to speak to one of Kirker's expert human beings, call 020 7593 2283 or visit kirkerholidays.com.

Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by Peter Whelan, the Artistic Director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, to talk about his new recording on the Linn label of one of the great masterpieces of all choral music - Handel's Messiah. The world-famous oratorio was premiered in Dublin, where the ensemble is based, and so on this wonderful recording they've set out to recreate the atmosphere and experience of that very first occasion. Listen now to find out more about the story behind – and about Peter Whelan's lifelong relationship to – this remarkable work.

For this week's episode, the composer Nico Muhly and the founder of the Tallis Scholars Peter Phillips join the Gramophone Podcast to talk to Editor Martin Cullingford about their beautiful new release 'No Resting Place', released on Linn Records and an Editor's Choice in the April edition of Gramophone. Reflecting on more than a decade of collaboration, they talk about how they developed a remarkable understanding of each other's creativity, and also recount the story behind the album's powerful works. This podcast is in association with REMA/Early Music Day

In this week's edition of the Gramophone Podcast Editor Martin Cullingford was joined by conductor Sir Mark Elder and composer Huw Watkins to talk about the Hallé's new recording of Watkins's orchestral music, featuring his Symphony No 2, Concerto for Orchestra and Fanfare, all written specially for the Manchester ensemble. This podcast is in association with REMA/Early Music Day

For this episode, we're joined by conductor Edward Gardner, who talks to Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford about his new recording of Richard Strauss's opera Elektra, which is newly released on the Chandos label. Recorded by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and with an impressive cast led by Iréne Theorin in the title role, Gardner talks us through what it takes to bring this extraordinarily dramatic work to the stage - and to life. This podcast is in association with REMA/Early Music Day

The young Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev has just released his first album for Sony Classical. 'Forgotten Melodies' takes its name from the work by Nikolai Medtner which appears on the recording, alongside pieces by Glinka, Rachmaninov and Glazunov. The theme that links all four composers is that they were all born in Russia, but died far from their country of birth. As well as Medtner's substantial work, Malofeev also plays Rachmaninov's Second Piano Sonata in its 1931 revised version. James Jolly caught up with Alexander Malofeev in Paris when the pianist was there as part of short European solo tour to talk about the new album, his repertoire and jumping in to replace Martha Argerich on a tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. This podcast is in association with REMA/Early Music Day

In this week's episode of the Gramophone Podcast, editor Martin Cullingford is joined by pianist Martin James Bartlett to discuss his new recording of the music of Bach, Britten and Mozart, available on the Warner Classics label from February the 27th. Bartlett reflects on the artistic ideas that shaped this programming.

The celebrated pianist Dame Imogen Cooper recently announced that the coming year will be her last of public performances. To mark the occasion - and the release of her new album of late Beethoven sonatas on the Chandos label - Editor Martin Cullingford welcomed her on to the Gramophone Podcast, and invited her to select a number of her recordings that have meant the most to her. This podcast is in association with REMA/Early Music Day

Kevin Puts' newest song cycle sets Emily Dickinson's poetry for mezzo and three instrumentalists. Hattie Butterworth speaks to Joyce DiDonato and ensemble Time for Three about this unique collaboration and recording, 'Emily: No Prisoner Be'

The soprano Adriana González has just released a new Audax album, 'Rondos for Adriana', inspired by her namesake, the Italian 18th-century diva Adriana Ferrarese del Bene. Ferrarese was Mozart's first Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and she sang Susanna in the Viennese revival of Le nozze di Figaro in 1789. Joined by Ensemble Diderot (led by Johannes Pramsohler, who also plays a couple of rondos for violin and orchestra), conducted by Iñaki Encina Oyon, Adriana González performs arias and rondos by Vicente Martín y Soler, Angelo Tarchi, Ferdinando Gaspari Bertoni, Giuseppe Giordani, Pasquale Anfossi and Joseph Weigl. James Jolly caught up with Adriana González in Vienna while she was rehearsing for her debut at the Staatsoper as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro.

Toronto's ARC Ensemble have been exploring the music of composers forced to flee their homeland by the Nazis. The most recent release in Chandos's Music in Exile series – of music by Ernest Kanitz (1894-1978) – drew an enthusiastic welcome by Gramophone's critic Richard Bratby, a review that closed with the hope that 'there's more Kanitz to come'. James Jolly spoke by Zoom to the ARC Ensemble's Artistic Director Simon Wynberg about the musicians of the Ensemble and the music that animates this important recording project, bringing this often totally forgotten music back to life – and also about their forthcoming visit to London's Wigmore Hall for a day of concerts on February 1.

This month's Gramophone Podcast sees Editor Martin Cullingford joined by William Vann, Director of the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, to talk about his new album of choral music by Elgar: Light out of Darkness, released on Somm Recordings. The wonderfully-chosen selection of music spans the composer's career, and even includes five premiere recordings.

The soprano Marina Rebeka and her husband, the sound engineer Edgardo Vertanessian, founded their record label, Prima Classic in 2018, and in the years since have built up an impressive catalogue. To coincide with the release of their latest project, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, recorded live in Naples, they talk to Gramophone's James Jolly about what inspired them to create the label and how they approach developing their catalogue. This podcast was made in association with Prima Classic, and all the music included in the podcast comes fom the Prima Classic catalogue. The new recording of Simon Boccanegra features Ludovic Tézier in the title role, Marina Rebeka as Amelia Grimaldi, Francesco Melli as Gabriele Adorno, Michele Pertusi as Jacopo Fiesco, Mattia Olivieri as Paolo, and Andrea Pellegrini as Pietro with the Chorus and Orchestra of Naples's Teatro San Carlo conducted by Michele Spotti.

In this week's Gramophone Podcast, the last of 2025, we explore the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). Editor Emeritus James Jolly talks to Richard Wigmore – a long-standing contributor to our pages, and an expert on the music of the classical and early romantic periods – about this musical Titan. They discuss Beethoven's transformative role, through the three periods that have been applied to his creative life, in expanding the range, scale and ambition of pretty well every genre he tackled, from the symphonies and concertos, via his piano sonatas and chamber music, to his opera and choral works. All the music on this podcast comes from the Sony Classical catalogue, including the Gramophone Award-winning sets of the complete piano sonatas and the Diabelli Variations played by Igor Levit, as well as the symphonies from Antonello Manacorda and Kammerakademie Potsdam, Murray Perahia with members of the English Chamber Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Bernard Haitink, the Juilliard Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax, Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber, and, in Fidelio, Jeanine Altmeyer and Siegfried Jerusalem with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Kurt Masur. All Sony Classical recordings.