Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford interviews the Dunedin Consort's music director John Butt about his new recording of Handel's Ode for St Cecilia's Day, a celebration and exploration of the art of music itself, on Linn.

The pianist Charles Owen has recently released a two-CD set of Brahms's late piano music (the Opp 76 and 79, as well as Opp 116-9 pieces) on Avie, also available to stream and download. James Jolly caught up with Charles recently for a Gramophone Podcast to talk about Brahms and these miniatures of his later life.

Violinist Nikolaj Znaider talks to Gramophone's James Jolly about recording Mozart for LSO Live, and about the Carl Nielsen International Competition.

Clarinettist Julian Bliss talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about his new recording of the Mozart and Weber clarinet quintets with the Carducci String Quartet on Signum Classics. He also discusses his love of jazz, and about helping design a new clarinet.

The centenary of the birth of the great Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson fell in May and the Birgit Nilsson Foundation has overseen various commemorative projects including a DVD and a 31-CD set of Nilsson's greatest roles recorded live and issued by Sony Classical. And 2018 also saw another musician honoured with the Birgit Nilsson Prize, the soprano Nina Stemme. James Jolly caught up with Rutbert Reisch, the President of the Birgit Nilsson Foundation, in Stockholm and talked to him about the singer and her extraordinary career as documented on the live recordings.

Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford and Editor in Chief James Jolly pay tribute to the great soprano Montserrat Caballé, discuss the music of Bach, and enjoy some of the best new classical releases - including a remarkable recording of Rachmaninov playing his own music.

Acclaimed baritone Sir Thomas Allen talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about his latest album, September Songs, of music from the 'Great American Songbook'. Featuring excerpts from the album, which is available now on Champs Hill Records.

Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford and Editor-in-Chief James Jolly explore some of the winners from the 2018 Gramophone Awards including the Recording of the Year, and discuss the Recording of the Month from the latest issue of the magazine.

Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford and Editor-in-Chief James Jolly discuss some of the topics and releases covered in the latest issue, including our cover artist Viktoria Mullova's new recording of the music of Arvo Pärt on Onyx, the New York Philharmonic's new music director Jaap Van Zweden, and this month's best recordings, including our Recording of the Month, Bernstein symphonies conducted by Antonio Pappano on Warner Classics.

Sir Antonio Pappano has recorded Leonard Bernstein's three symphonies - Jeremiah (No 1), The Age of Anxiety (No 2) and Kaddish (No 3) – with his Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the ensemble of which Leonard Bernstein was Honorary President. Recorded live this February at orchestra's home in the Parco della Musica, the symphonies set is released by Warner Classics on Friday, August 10. James Jolly went to Rome to report on the sessions and talk to conductor, soloists Beatrice Rana and Marie-Nicole Lemieux, and Bernstein's Personal Assistant Craig Urquhart, about these three major scores.

One of today's foremost pianists, Stephen Hough talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford about his fascinating and very personal new recording. From Mompou and Liszt to Sibelius, via 14 transcriptions and several pieces by Hough himself, the release - called Stephen Hough's Dream Album, and available on Hyperion Records - is a beautiful journey through the art of the piano miniature.

Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford and Editor-in-Chief James Jolly discuss some of the topics and releases covered in the latest issue of the magazine, including the legacy of Leonard Bernstein, and Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, a fabulous new recording of which is our August issue's Recording of the Month.

Benjamin Zander's latest recording is of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus on Brattle Media, and it's one in which the conductor has sought to perform the work exactly as he believes the composer original intended. Zander talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about the recording, and also about the importance of reaching new audiences for classical music.

In the latest Gramophone Podcast, guitarist Miloš Karadaglić talks to Editor in Chief James Jolly, telling him about the new concerto by Joby Talbot that he's premiering at the Proms on August 2, and his new book 'Play Guitar with Miloš', which is available now from Schott.

Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford and Editor-in-Chief James Jolly discuss some of the topics and releases covered in the latest issue of Gramophone, including: the world of percussion, Mozart in London, DG's latest Chinese signing, and how to vote for our orchestra of the year.

The clarinettist Michael Collins talks to Gramophone's James Jolly about Bernhard Crusell's groundbreaking impact on the instrument, his three concertos, and recording and conducting at the same time. His new Chandos recording is Gramophone's June Recording of the Month.

Leading pianist Angela Hewitt talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford about the importance of Bach in her life, recording Beethoven Sonatas, and performing Messiaen at the Proms.

Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford and Editor-in-Chief James Jolly discuss some of the main features and most significant releases covered in the latest issue of Gramophone. Topics include: composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the legacy of Parry, this month's best releases - including our Recording of the Month, Crusell's clarinet concertos - and an introduction to some new features in the magazine.

Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford and Editor-in-Chief James Jolly discuss some of the main features and most significant releases covered in the latest issue of Gramophone. Topics include: the legacy of the great soprano Birgit Nilsson, Schubert lieder in translation, St John's College Cambridge, highlights from this month's Editor's Choices - including Christian Tetzlaff's new recording of Bartók's violin concertos and Julien Brocal's release of Mompou and Ravel - and an insight into Karl Böhm's opera recordings.

The 2018 BBC Proms has been announced. Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford caught up with David Pickard, Director of the BBC Proms, and Francesca Kemp, Director of Proms on Television, to talk through some of the season's highlights.

The young Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński - a recent Gramophone 'One to Watch' - is something of an internet sensation, his performances on YouTube of the Vivaldi aria 'Vedro, con mio diletto' having been watched tens of thousands of times. March 30 sees a studio recording with Il Pomo d'Oro being released by Erato as a digital single. You can hear it in in this week's episode of Gramophone's The Listening Room.

James Jolly talks to the Principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Prof Julian Lloyd Webber about his aspirations for the new building, what a conservatoire education means and how important classical music is for us all.

Soprano Ruby Hughes and conductor Laurence Cummings talk to Editor-in-Chief James Jolly about music written for the Italian soprano Giulia Frasi, Handel's last prima donna, which they've recorded for a new disc on Chandos.

The choir of Westminster Abbey's new recording for the Hyperion label features the music of 16th-century English composer Nicholas Ludford. Organist and Master of the Choristers James O'Donnell talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford about Ludford, as well as about the role of the choir in the life of the Abbey today.

Leading virtuoso pianist Krill Gerstein talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about Gershwin, someone whose ability to weave together many soundworlds makes him, Gerstein argues, truly a composer for today's world. His album, featuring Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F and from which the musical excerpts are taken, is released on Myrios Classics on February 16.

Lisa Batiashvili talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford about her new recording on the Deutsche Grammophon label devoted to the music of Prokofiev, including both violin concertos and some shorter works from throughout the composer's life.

The director of the Marian Consort tells Editor Martin Cullingford about Music for the Queen of Heaven, the ensemble's disc of modern Marian motets, released by Delphian.

The latest release from Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra features Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and Water, a new work by composer and member of Radiohead, Jonny Greenwood. Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford spoke to the conductor and violinist about the album, which is released by ABC Classics on vinyl in Australia, and digitally worldwide.

Gramophone's James Jolly visited Bruges to talk to some of the movers and shakers of the city's music scene and experience a handful of concerts in some striking settings. As well as meeting Tomas Bisschop, Director of the MA Festival and the Early Music Programme Coordinator at Bruges's Concertgebouw, Albert Edelman, James talked to the keyboard-player and conductor Jos van Immerseel and the city's Carillonneur, Frank Deleu.

The German tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, has just released a new French aria collection, 'L'Opéra' on Sony Classical. He was in London earlier this year to sing his first Otello, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Gramophone's James Jolly went to talk to him about the recording.

Chandos, in association with RTS and Palazetto Bru Zane, has launched a new series exploring the keyboard music of Antoine Reicha, born the same year as Beethoven and a close friend of the German composer. It's played by Ivan Ilić. He was in London recently and Gramophone's Editor in Chief, James Jolly, went to talk to him about the project.

British composer Brian Elias has just had his Cello Concerto premiered at the Proms, is enjoying positive reviews of his retrospective album 'Electra Mourns' on NMC, and is looking forward to a revival of The Judas Tree – Kenneth MacMillan's last ballet, for which Elias composed a specially commissioned score – at the Royal Opera House this October. Gramophone's Deputy Editor Sarah Kirkup meets with him to reflect on a lifetime of composing, and to find out what it was like to collaborate with one of the finest choreographers Britain has ever produced.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is one of the most admired sopranos - indeed classical artists - of our age. Gramophone celebrates her enormous contribution to music over an extraordinary career by giving her our 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Presto Classical. To mark the occasion, Editor-in-Chief James Jolly met with her to reflect on repertoire, recording and performance.

As Benjamin Appl draws to the end of his year as Gramophone's Young Artist of the Year - and of touring his Sony Classical debut disc Heimat - he talks to Editor-in-Chief James Jolly about programming and plans

For their latest album on Delphian, called 'Set upon the rood', the Choir of Gonville and Caius, Cambridge invited contemporary composers to write works for ancient instruments. The college's music director Geoffrey Webber tells Editor Martin Cullingford about the project.

Sean Shibe, a real rising star of the guitar world, has just released his first disc, called 'Dreams and Fancies' on the Delphian label - and we've named it an Editor's Choice recording in the September 2017 issue of Gramophone. In this Gramophone podcast he talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about English music for guitar, about Julian Bream, and about the unique appeal of the instrument and its repertoire.

On his new album Late Night Lute, Matthew Wadsworth pairs pieces from the instrument's history - including by John Dowland and Alessandro Piccinini among other composers - with a premiere recording of a new suite for theorbo by Stephen Goss. In the latest Gramophone podcast, he talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about the programme, and about the unique sound-world of the theorbo.

The tenor Bryan Register is singing the role of Siegmund in the current Grange Park Opera production of Wagner's Die Walküre (a 'sensation' according to the Financial Times). He talked to Gramophone's James Jolly about the role and some of his favourite recorded interpreters of the part.

Leading Ondes Martenot player Cynthia Millar talks about her extraordinary electronic instrument and its repertoire, from Messiaen to Adés

Dejan Lazic's new disc for Onyx explores the genius of Liszt: he discuses the composer and virtuoso with Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford

Conductor Ian Page discusses the composer and his contemporaries with Gramophone's James Jolly

The acclaimed tenor Juan Diego Flórez talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford, ahead of a recital at London's Royal Albert Hall on June 2

Proms Director David Pickard discusses the key themes behind this year's season with Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford

Tenebrae conductor Nigel Short tells Gramophone why the music written for Holy Week has such extraordinary power

The conductor talks Takemitsu, Strauss and music in Japan

Mark Bebbington reflects on the composer's works for piano - including a remarkable premiere recording - featured on his new Somm release

Tasmin Little and Roxanna Panufnik talk about Vivaldi's Four Seasons and a new piece exploring seasons throughout the world

James Jolly talks to the pianist about song, and about curating a new season of Temple Music concerts

Highlights of the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2016 at London's St John's Smith Square on September 15, with performances by Benjamin Appl, Daniil Trifonov and Record of the Year winner Igor Levit. Filmed by medici.tv

James Jolly speaks to pianist Malcolm Martineau about Fauré and 19th-century song