Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

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 Leipzig – the City of Music.

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, where in June and July 2022 the Leipzig Opera Festival will focus on the music of Wagner.

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 of Music, where in June and July 2022 the Leipzig Opera Festival will focus on the music of Wagner. For full information at visit wagner22.de

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

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 Mozart.

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 the album and to learn what Żal is, and to hear how Debargue and Gidon Kremer collaborated n this new album.

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 association with Tomplay Sheet Music.

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.

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 playlist on Apple Music in lossless audio. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.

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 2021for the list of the ten nominated orchestras and to vote. But before you do, listen to the ensembles on ten specially curated playlists on Gramophone on Apple Music in lossless audio. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.

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.

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 Cullingford about all these projects, as well what it feels like to return to live performance.

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 year, the venue's doors are once again open.

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.

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 week's Gramophone Podcast.

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 it part of his busy schedule as one of the world's most sought-after conductors. This solo album follows a recent recording of Schubert's Winterreise with the mezzo Joyce DiDonato (who also spoke to us about the project for another Gramophone Podcast). The Philadelphia Orchestra is currently Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year.

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 Dutilleux's 1953 ballet, written for Roland Petit, Le Loup.

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.

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 Metropolitan Opera and her first role before an audience as the Staatsoper in Vienna recently re-opened its doors to the public was as Nero in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. James Jolly spoke to Kate Lindsey the day before L'incoronazione di Poppea opened and they discussed the new album and its themes of power and corruption, her experience of playing Nero and her plans for the future. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.

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 Podcasts are published in association with Wigmore Hall.

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 Hall.

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 Ein Heldenleben and the Burleske (with the pianist Bertrand Chamayou). James Jolly caught up with the conductor by video call at his house in Rome to talk about the two new releases, but also to discuss how he has been making music in these unusual and troubling times. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.

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 of French music for wind ensemble. Gramophone podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.

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 phone to develop her 'new voice'.

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 when concerts have ceased to explore new repertoire. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall.

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 Watkin on Resonus; the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Rachel Podger on Channel Classics; the Goldberg Variations by Beatrice Rana on Warner Classics; and the St Matthew Passion conducted by Masaaki Suzuki on BIS.

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 engaging, beguiling and moving. Highly recommended.' Conversation ranged from her studies at London's Royal Academy of Music to her passion – handed on by her parents – for the music of Queen which resulted in the inclusion of Freddie Mercury's 'You take my breath away' on the new album. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall, where the music continues despite lockdown with 40 streamed concerts every weekday from Monday, February 22 until April 3.

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 Libertango and shorter pieces, but Ksenija has added new works, many written for her, to show off her instrument's range and communicative power. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall, where the music continues despite lockdown with 40 streamed concerts every weekday from Monday, February 22 until April 3, 2021.

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 music and the different works on this new album. Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall, where the music continues despite lockdown with 40 streamed concerts every weekday from Monday, February 22 until April 3, 2021.

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 centenary of the author and composer Anthony Burgess.

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. Listen to all the discussed performances on an Apple Music playlist.

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 featuring Carolyn Sampson, James Newby, Samuel Hasselhorn and Ashley Riches.

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 Conductor of Gramophone's 2020 Orchestra of the Year, the Philadelphia Orchestra.

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 recorded for Philips with whom he remained until the label was merged with Decca. His repertoire for Philips focused on the Austro-German repertoire and his recordings embraced the complete Mozart piano concertos, the Beethoven piano sonatas and concertos twice, as well as concertos and solos works by Schumann, Brahms and Liszt, and many of Schubert's piano sonatas.

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 awaiting us in 2021.

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 Romaniw and many more ...

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 imaginative concept album.

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.

On this week's Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford spoke to Anna Lapwood, Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge. They discuss what life is like for the college's choirs - both the Chapel Choir, and the Girls' Choir which Lapwood founded in 2018 - and explore their beautiful new album released on Signum Classics, 'All Things Are Quite Silent'.