Podcast: Florence Price’s choral works. An introduction.

Florence Price’s abiding interest in the literary arts helps explain the extraordinarily large number of vocal compositions in her catalogue – well over one hundred – as well as the fact that she occasionally supplied texts of her own for these pieces. Conductor John Jeter discusses with Raymond Bisha his latest album of Price’s music Read More …

Podcast: Joby Talbot details the progression of his ballet score, The Winter’s Tale

Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet The Winter’s Tale (after Shakespeare) was first performed by Covent Garden’s Royal Ballet in 2014. In this podcast, the score’s creative unfolding is described by composer Joby Talbot, prior to a 2025 performance of the ballet in New York City. The presenter is Raymond Bisha.   View album catalogues: OACD9054D OA1159SE Read More …

Podcast: Assembled again. The Peterhouse Partbooks.

Collected for use in the chapel of Cambridge University’s Peterhouse college in the 1630s and hidden during the Civil War, the Peterhouse Partbooks represent one of the most important manuscript collections of sacred choral music from the period. In this podcast, Raymond Bisha presents performances of those works by the Peterhouse choir, affording a snapshot Read More …

Podcast: Sweeping Romanticism. Polish folk spirit. Orchestral music by Zygmunt Noskowski.

Although the music of Polish composer Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909) is less well known than that of his teacher (Stanisław Moniuszko) and his students (Karol Szymanowski and Mieczysław Karłowicz), Noskowski was nonetheless the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland for most of the 19th century; he also introduced the idea of the symphonic poem Read More …

Podcast: Bizarre and beautiful. Telemann, Vivaldi, Rosetti horn concertos.

In this podcast, Raymond Bisha unearths captivating performances of horn concertos by Rosetti, Vivaldi and Telemann. Did the latter have a few Steins of Alsterwasser to hand when depicting concertising frogs and crows? Listen on… This podcast is also available on YouTube.   View album catalogue Catalogue No.: VOX-NX-2689 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Podcast: Valentin Silvestrov. A powerful voice, defiant in exile.

Valentin Silvestrov was forced to leave his native Ukraine after the Russian invasion of 2022. His music has a prescient quality that unerringly seems to express the fate of his homeland. Raymond Bisha introduces the world premiere recordings of his intimate Violin Concerto and the heartfelt, single-span Eighth Symphony. Notable for their economy of expression Read More …

Podcast: Classical Discoveries – REDISCOVERING SALIERI – Werner Ehrhardt on raiding the archives

You may not have heard of him, but if you have had any exposure to early music, chances are you have heard him: In this first installment, Werner Ehrhardt, the founder and leader of the early music ensembles Concerto Köln and L’arte del mondo, sits down with Jens and Joe for a chat about his Read More …

Podcast: Alan Hovhaness. A prolific legacy of East-West synthesis.

The music of Alan Hovhaness, one of America’s most prolific composers, enchants with his signature synthesis of East and West. Influenced by his Armenian heritage and a fascination with nature and spirituality, Hovhaness sought to create music “for all people, music which is beautiful and healing.” Raymond Bisha introduces the latest Naxos album of his Read More …

Podcast: Vasari Singers. Close harmony. Open perfection.

Vasari Singers, one of the UK’s pre-eminent choirs, have titled their new album The Music Never Ends, referencing Michel Legrand and his celebrated song How do you Keep the Music Playing? And by the end of the album’s twenty-one tracks, you’ll wish it could be so. Raymond Bisha dips into the programme’s multi-faceted offerings, while Read More …

Podcast: Introducing piano works by Oscar Lorenzo Fernández.

Composer/poet Oscar Lorenzo Fernández was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1897. He went on to become a leading figure in the development of Brazil’s classical music scene, as a composer, conductor, musicologist, and a professor of harmony in the National Music Institute in Rio de Janeiro, as well as other institutions. Along with Francisco Read More …