Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

Roxanna Panufnik talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about her fascinating and moving new album of Love Songs and Lullabies, released on the Signum label, as well as about her approach to composing and creativity more widely. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The conductor Philipp von Steinaecker and the Mahler Academy Orchestra recorded Mahler’s Ninth Symphony in 2024 for Alpha Classics using instruments contemporary with the composer and employing historically informed performance practices. The recording attracted much attention and engaged a lot of music lovers’ imaginations. Now, the same performers have turned to the Fifth Symphony. Gramophone ’s James Jolly talked to Philipp von Steinaecker about his history with Mahler’s music and how the Mahler Academy Orchestra created its ‘Mahler sound’ both from its instruments and its pursuit of a performance practice that the composer might have recognised. (Conductor and orchestra are bringing Mahler’s Ninth Symphony to the BBC Proms on September 11.) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode of The Gramophone Listening Room, presented in partnership with dCS Audio, host Charlotte Gardner welcomes tenor Freddie De Tommaso and violinist Charlie Lovell-Jones to the studio to share two of their personal favourite recordings. Freddie De Tommaso is a familiar presence on the world's opera stages, not least London's Covent Garden. Known for his verismo roles, he is an exclusive recording artist with Decca Classics. Charlie Lovell-Jones is a violinist who, beyond his soloist career, is concertmaster of John Wilson's Sinfonia of London. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the latest edition of the Gramophone Podcast, composer Joby Talbot and the conductor of vocal ensemble Conspirare Craig Hella Johnson join Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about their fascinating collaboration: a setting of Mexican poet Octavio Paz's epic work, Piedra de sol, newly released on the Divine Art label. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this week’s Gramophone Podcast we dip into the archives and offer you another opportunity to hear a fascinating conversation about Sir Charles Villiers Stanford , the Anglo-Irish composer, teacher and conductor, the centenary of whose death fell in 2024. The leading expert on the composer, Jeremy Dibble , joins Editor Martin Cullingford to mark the centenary year of Stanford's death. Though arguably still best known today for his church music, we discuss the full breadth of Stanford's works, including his symphonies, songs, chamber music and his operas – the latter a genre he was devoted to throughout his life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pianist Bruce Liu ’s new album ‘Lunaris’ is just out from Deutsche Grammophon – it explores the cosmos, the moon and the stars through music, taking in music by Chopin, Beethoven, Scriabin, Mompou, Agnes Obel and others. Gramophone ’s James Jolly caught up with Bruce Liu in Canada earlier this year and, as well as talking about ‘Lunaris’, they discussed the aftermath of Bruce’s Chopin Competition win, and which of the Tchaikovsky piano concertos is his favourite. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hattie Butterworth is joined by composers Gavin Higgins and Grace-Evangeline Mason to discuss the Three Choirs Associate Composer programme, the realities to life as a composer and writing choral music. Explore the Three Choirs Festival here . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode of The Gramophone Listening Room, presented in partnership with dCS Audio, host Charlotte Gardner welcomes lutenist Thomas Dunford and viola da gamba player, singer and composer Lucine Musaelian to the studio to share two of their personal favourite recordings. Thomas Dunford can only be described as prolific in the recording studio, whether it's with Les Arts Florissants or his own Jupiter ensemble, and Lucine Musaelian is a member of the Bellot Ensemble and Intesa duo, her debut album with the Bellot Ensemble, 'Cupid's Ground Bass', was described by William Yeoman in Gramophone as: 'an intimate theatre where all the colour and splendour of the Venetian opera is played out in microcosm.' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s guest is the Finnish-Ukrainian conductor Dalia Stasevska . Her new ‘Ukrainian Mixtape’, just out from Platoon, showcases four Ukrainian composers – Levko Kolodub, Borys Liatoshynsky, Fedir Yakymenko and Mykola Lysenko – for which she’s joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, of which she’s Principal Guest Conductor. James Jolly spoke to her last week by Zoom from her home in Finland about the new album, but also about the First Night of the BBC Proms which finds her and the BBC Symphony Orchestra on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall. You can catch Dalia Stasevska, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, at the First Night of the Proms in all the usual places – live at the Royal Albert Hall, and also on BBC Radio 3, BBC 2 TV and on the BBC iPlayer at 7pm on July 17. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pianist George Fu joins Hattie Butterworth to speak about his new album of Schubert and how the composer helped him through the loss of his father. They speak about the late sonatas and their complexities, as well as the emotions around recording well-known works. Elsewhere, Fu speaks about his collaboration with the soprano Lotte Betts Dean and the rewarding experience of coming together to record Einsamkeit . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The music of the Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz is undergoing a long-overdue renaissance. Her output was extensive and extraordinarily rich, as both the pianist Peter Jablonski and the violinist Bomsori Kim have proved in their explorations of her work. To celebrate not only Bacewicz’s music but Polish music in general, Gramophone ’s James Jolly spoke to Jablonski and Kim about their individual journeys through Poland's music. The podcast episode it presented in association with the Polish Cultural Institute and PWM Edition , since 1945 Poland’s leading music publisher whose catalogue includes the complete works of Fryderyk Chopin, Mieczysław Karłowicz, Stanisław Moniuszko and Karol Szymanowski. It’s the house that published the first works of prominent Polish composers, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski and Henryk Górecki, and it’s home to many scores by Grażyna Bacewicz, Tadeusz Baird, Wojciech Kilar, and many composers of a younger generation. Peter Jablonski, who records for Ondine, and Bomsori Kim, a DG artist, are PWM ambassadors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back in 2012 Gramophone gave an award to a wonderful documentary called Music makes a City which tells the story of the Louisville Orchestra, its creation, and its early philosophy. This week’s guest, the conductor Teddy Abrams has been Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra since 2014 and has continued this fabled ensemble’s commitment to championing new music. To coincide with the release of new Pentatone album of music by Andrew Norman and Christopher Cerrone, Gramophone ’s James Jolly spoke to Teddy Abrams about the orchestra and its unique history. The new album contains Split , a piano concerto by Andrew Norman, for which the soloist is Jeffrey Kahane for whom the work was written and which he premiered with the New York Philharmonic back in 2015. Its partner, which also gives its name to the album is The Year of Silence by Christopher Cerrone, recorded here with Dashon Burton as narrator. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode of The Gramophone Listening Room, presented in partnership with dCS, host Charlotte Gardner welcomes trumpeter Matilda Lloyd and viola player Timothy Ridout to the studio to share two of their personal favourite recordings. Timothy Ridout is a multiple Gramophone Award-winner whose recent album 'Alto Appassionato' (with pianist Jonathan Ware) was an Editor's Choice in the June issue of Gramophone . Matilda Lloyd is the Royal Philharmonic Society's Young Artist of the Year for 2026. This podcast was made in partnership with dCS Audio Explore the featured recordings on our website See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's edition of the Gramophone Podcast, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani talks about his new recording of Bach's Complete Keyboard Concertos, newly released on the Hyperion label. Why were these pivotal works in the instrument's development written, and how might they have been performed? Esfahani explores these questions, along with many other fascinating topics surrounding the instrument, its repertoire and his own career, in the company of Editor Martin Cullingford. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The conductor Klaus Tennstedt was born on June 6, 1926. After his arrival from East Germany to the West, he held chief conductor posts with the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg (1979-81), and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1983-87), with whom he recorded extensively, including a Mahler symphony cycle (of which No 8 won a Gramophone Award back in 1987). To mark the anniversary Warner Classics has issued a 41-CD set of all of the conductor's EMI recordings. Additionally, there is a substantial Tennstedt catalogue on the LPO's own label as well as numerous off-air performances on YouTube and various other record labels. A century on, we celebrate Tennstedt's artistry with a special Gramophone podcast in which the critic and broadcaster Edward Seckerson – who interviewed the conductor, attended recording sessions and heard him live many time – talks to James Jolly about what made him such an admired musician. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode of the Gramophone podcast, the composer Colin Matthews joins Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about his new album of works for voice and ensemble, Sea Scapes, release on the Onyx label. They discuss the challenge of setting poetry, as well as the joy of working with such collaborators as soprano Claire Booth and conductor Jessica Cottis. This podcast is in association with Wigmore Hall. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's Gramophone Podcast, Hugo Ticciati talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about the fascinating new album from his ensemble O/Modernt, released on the Signum label. Called Milestones, it marks 500 years since the death of Josquin, 50 since the death of Stravinsky, and 30 since that of Miles Davis, by exploring music from all three towering musical figures. Hugo Ticciati talks about the project, and about the unique Gramophone Award-winning group that has recorded it. This podcast is in association with Wigmore Hall. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On May 31, 1901 London's Wigmore Hall (originally Bechstein Hall) opened its doors, and hosted its first concert. Among the performers were the great Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe and the Italian pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni. Mrs Helen Trust, a much-admired English soprano, performed as did the baritone Raimund von Zur-Mühlen. Supporting the singers were Hamilton Harty and Victor Biegel. To mark this auspicious anniversary, Wigmore Hall is holding a two-week festival from May 25 and, over 24 concerts, welcoming some of today's greatest musicians to perform, including Gramophone Award winners, singers Lise Davidsen, Asmik Grigorian, Carolyn Sampson, Ian Bostridge, Christian Gerhaher, pianists Thomas Adès, Yunchan Lim, Igor Levit, Alexandre Kantorow and Angela Hewitt, violinists Alina Ibragimova and Christian Tetzlaff, as well as numerous quartets and ensembles. A new book also marks the anniversary, There is Sweet Music Here, The World of Wigmore Hall (Elliott & Thompson; £25) by Julia Boyd. James Jolly sat down with Wigmore Hall's Director John Gilhooly and Julia Boyd to reflect on the hall's 125 years but also to look to the future. All the music in the podcast comes from the Wigmore Hall Live catalogue and includes performances by the Elias Quartet, Iestyn Davies with Richard Egarr and friends, Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson with Julius Drake, and Sir Thomas Allen with Malcolm Martineau. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Gramophone Podcast, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston speaks to Hattie Butterworht in Amsterdam during the run of Michel van der Aa's new opera Theory of Flames to discuss her latest album, A Poet's Love . Centred on Schumann's Dichterliebe , the recording places the celebrated song cycle alongside other works. Charlston reflects on recording such an iconic work, the shifting nature of interpretation, and the powerful interplay between poetry and musical storytelling. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we launch a new edition to the Gramophone Podcasts, The Gramophone Listening Room, in which Charlotte Gardner invites two of today's finest young artists into the studio to explore some of the treasures of the recording archive, both recent and historic. Each chooses two recordings to share and discuss, after which Charlotte suggests a choice of her own for them to discover. Her inaugural guests are guitarist Plínio Fernandes and cellist Anastasia Kobekina, and after listening you can visit Gramophone's website to hear all the featured recordings for yourself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.