Updates from the world's leading classical music label
John Rutter is the most acclaimed composer of Christmas carols alive today, while the Black Dyke Band occupies the highest rank in the worldwide brass band community. Raymond Bisha introduces a new album that bridges these two pinnacles in arrangements for brass of Rutter’s celebrated seasonal works, together with three in their original choral versions, Read More …
American composer Kenneth Fuchs discusses the programmes of his two most recent albums in conversation with Raymond Bisha; both recordings feature the Sinfonia of London and soloists under conductor John Wilson. Fuchs describes the unusual conception of his Concerto for Bass Trombone (a commissioning consortium of 21 bass trombonists was involved!) and the formative inspiration Read More …
“As soon as I started playing jazz, I understood it was something for me. I understood that I had to combine the two musics.” These were the words of composer Nikolai Kapustin, born in Ukraine in 1937 and a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, the “two musics” being classical and jazz. From Kapustin’s pen came Read More …
Raymond Bisha introduces a new album featuring Beethoven’s final three cello sonatas that are full of unexpected shifts of harmony and mood, virtuoso flourishes and experimental surprises, all of which defy convention. The cellist is Gabriel Schwabe, one of the leading cellists of his generation and a laureate of several national and international competitions; the Read More …
Renowned both as a distinguished soloist with some 1,800 concerts worldwide to her credit and as a member of the Amadeus Guitar Duo, Dale Kavanagh is one of the most prominent classical guitarists of her generation. Raymond Bisha discusses her latest Naxos album that features a programme of her own compositions, both solos and duos, Read More …
Raymond Bisha’s latest podcast introduces the twenty-four strings and forty fingers of the Guitalian Quartet in a programme from a new album featuring music from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and beyond. Effortless guitar technique combines with folksy wit and lyrical introspection in performances that will have your feet tapping and your ears purring. View album Read More …
Knighted in 1950, Sir Arthur Bliss was Master of the Queen’s Music in Great Britain from 1953 until his death in 1975. Raymond Bisha introduces a new album comprising both original works for brass band and arrangements of others for the ensemble that represent the breadth of the composer’s output, from pieces of royal association Read More …
Raymond Bisha introduces the world premiere recordings of remarkable orchestral works by Maria Herz. Born in Germany, a resident of England and, her final resting place, the United States, her life was beset not only by two World Wars and ravages of the Spanish Flu, but also the attendant anchors of being a female, Jewish Read More …
Raymond Bisha’s podcast spotlights two classic recordings in the Vox Audiophile Edition that were first released in the mid-1970s and feature two former music directors of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in their prime – Walter Susskind, who directs orchestral extracts from Smetana’s opera The Bartered Bride, and Jerzy Semkow, who leads a performance of Read More …
Marking the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth, this is the final podcast in Raymond Bisha’s four-part survey of Naxos’ project to record all 18 versions of the composer’s 11 symphonies. With movements performed by the Bruckner Orchester Linz under conductor Markus Poschner, together with observations from Bruckner scholar Paul Hawkshaw, this instalment features movements from Read More …