Podcast: Manual overdrive. American organ concertos.

A recent new album of American organ concertos featuring multi-award-winning artists brought together the artistry of organist Paul Jacobs and the contemporary music pedigree of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Giancarlo Guerrero. The high expectations generated by such a rare programme were met with distinction and this podcast conversation between Raymond Bisha and Paul Read More …

Podcast: Orchestral works by Christopher Rouse. Intensely active. Wonderfully lyrical.

Raymond Bisha introduces a new release of orchestral music by American composer Christopher Rouse, who died in September 2019. It’s a fitting tribute to one who led the revitalisation of contemporary orchestral music with works that ranged from intensely active to wonderfully lyrical. As both a Pullitzer Prize and GRAMMY Award winner, his personal mission Read More …

Podcast: All in the family. 3 concertos. 1 orchestra.

Principal players from the Nashville Symphony Orchestra step up to the solo spotlight in world premiere recordings of 3 wind concertos. Frank Ticheli’s Clarinet Concerto pays homage to a different American composer in each of its three movements; Brad Warnaar’s Horn Concerto attests to the composer’s own professional mastery of the instrument; while Behzad Ranjbaran’s Read More …

Podcast: Terry Riley. A continuing spirit of exploration.

Terry Riley’s breakthrough work, In C, was written in 1964, but it wasn’t until 1991 that he produced his first orchestral piece. Over the years, Riley has come under the influence of a wide range of musicians, including John Cage, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Pandit Pran Nath, the master Indian classical singer. Raymond Bisha Read More …

Podcast: Richard Danielpour. Songs for Serious Subjects.

Three orchestral works by the contemporary American composer Richard Danielpour immerse the listener in both a world of conflict and the richly colourful palette with which the composer depicts his narrative. Songs of Solitude and War Songs respectively present a response to 9/11 and commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil Read More …