The whole stylistic world of Krysztof Penderecki in just over 70 minutes! Fear not, that’s not the length of our podcast today, it’s the time it takes to perform all his compositions involving string quartet and string trio.

If you know that sharks have teeth, dear, then that’s probably because Kurt Weill told you so in his song “Mack the Knife”.

Scottish father, Welsh mother, born in England, polyglot, highly intellectual, educator, composer, phenomenal pianist and a fantastically original musical mind.

Florence Price’s abiding interest in the literary arts helps explain the extraordinarily large number of vocal compositions in her catalogue…

Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet The Winter’s Tale (after Shakespeare) was first performed by Covent Garden’s Royal Ballet in 2014.

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.

Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of Noskowski’s Third Symphony and the symphonic poem The Steppe, Op. 66, which blends sweeping Romanticism with Polish folk spirit.

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…

Werner Ehrhardt sits down with Jens and Joe for a chat about his half century of recording rare and early music and how you discover music that’s yet to be discovered.

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.

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.”

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?

Composer/poet Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez 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.

“I feel that you will achieve your greatest triumphs in [the symphonic] genre for I consider you to have precisely the properties that make a great symphonic composer. This is my firm belief.” Thus wrote Jan Sibelius in 1914 to his former student Leevi Madetoja.

This podcast introduces a recently released, diverse programme of works for guitar trio bound by the common thread of music inspired by stories from literature, stage or screen.

In their latest #ClassicalDiscoveries episode, Jens and Joe explore Shostakovich’s symphonies – works of daring subversion masked as Soviet conformity.

Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of Mozart and Donizetti opera transcriptions by Liszt, performed by Swiss-Russian pianist Konstantin Scherbakov, one of today’s most versatile and accomplished artists.

This podcast introduces two works by Karl Weigl (1881–1949), his Symphony No. 3 and the Symphonic Prelude to a Tragedy.

In their latest episode of their #ClassicalDiscoveries podcast, Jens and Joe take a look at the scintillating music of Charles Koechlin, a fascinating composer and forgotten French symphonist who is impossible to pigeonhole.

Conductor John Jeter has been central to the rediscovery and representation of Florence Price’s orchestral works. In this podcast, he discusses with Raymond Bisha his latest recording of her piano concerto and her two violin concertos, the only works she composed in the genre.

Lepo Sumera (1950–2000) was one of the most important figures in Estonian music following World War Two.

In this podcast Raymond Bisha introduces an album of sacred choral music by Philip Stopford in which all the items were composed between 2013 and 2022 and are heard in their world premiere recordings.

Working amidst political and personal setbacks, Mieczysław Weinberg (1919–96) flourished as a composer, admired by Shostakovich and championed by the leading Soviet musicians of the day.

In this episode, Jens and Joe dive into the forgotten reels of Shostakovich’s film music.

This podcast presents pianist Giorgio Koukl in conversation with Raymond Bisha at the end of a five-year project to rehabilitate the complete works for piano solo and duo by Vittorio Rieti (1898–1994).

In this podcast, Raymond Bisha discusses the life and music of the composer, known as the ‘Brazilian Bartók’ on account of his ethnomusicological research, with conductor Neil Thomson.

Raymond Bisha introduces the latest instalment in the Capriccio label’s exploration of rarely performed or recorded symphonic works by Miklós Rózsa, outlining his maturation not only into one of the most successful film composers of all time, but also the creator of equally fine concert works.

Easter marks the high point of the Christian year. It cannot be surprising, then, that some of the greatest compositions in classical music have been written to mark this feast.

The GRAMMY Award-winning team of composer Michael Daugherty, conductor David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony returns with a new album comprising a set of remarkable works exploring associations with flight and space exploration, both tragic and triumphant.

Raymond Bisha delves into a new release of the first three of Petrassi’s concertos performed by the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma and conducted by Francesco La Vecchia.

Raymond Bisha introduces the latest instalment of a collectable series of seven albums showcasing Ukraine-born composer Alexey Shor’s appealing personal style and superb craftsmanship.

Notker Balbulus (c.840–912), also known as Notker of St Gall or Notker the Stammerer, was a renowned Benedictine monk at the Abbey of St Gall in Switzerland who made substantial contributions to both the music and literature of his time.

Franz Schmidt is not the most neglected composer among the 20th century grand romantics, but the discrepancy between the greatness of his music and his neglect in concert is staggering.

Since the 1970s, Brazilian conductor Isaac Karabtchevsky has steadfastly developed one of the most brilliant careers across the Brazilian and international music scenes, The Guardian in 2009 hailing him as one of Brazil’s living icons.

American composer Daron Hagen talks about his cantata Everyone, Everywhere in conversation with Raymond Bisha.

Raymond Bisha introduces the first of two albums of transcriptions of J. S. Bach’s cello suites performed by Yasunori Imamura, one of the world’s leading lutenists, both as a soloist and as a continuo player.

What to make of Norwegian composer Christian Sinding, who is chiefly remembered only by ambitious amateur pianists for his Rustle of Spring?

Developed in collaboration with the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Naxos’ Music of Brazil series is part of the Brasil em Concerto project, presenting around 100 orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works from the 19th and 20th centuries, many of which were previously unpublished or simply undiscovered.

A student of Haydn, a masonic brother of Mozart and a fine composer in his own right, Paul Wranitzky (1756–1808) left behind 45 symphonies that are at long last stepping out of the shadows thanks to ongoing recordings and increased access to published scores.

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.

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.

Raymond Bisha introduces the programme on a recent recording that includes Kapustin’s Second and Sixth Piano Concertos, with soloist Frank Dupree accompanied variously by the SWR Big Band and the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

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.

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’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.

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…

Raymond Bisha introduces the world premiere recordings of remarkable orchestral works by Maria Herz.

Raymond Bisha’s podcast spotlights two classic recordings in the Vox Audiophile Edition that were first released in the mid-1970s.

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.

Marking the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth, this is the third podcast in Raymond Bisha’s four-part survey of Naxos’ project to record all 18 versions of the composer’s 11 symphonies.

Marking the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth, this is the second podcast in Raymond Bisha’s four-part survey of Naxos’ project to record all 18 versions of the composer’s 11 symphonies.

Marking the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth, Raymond Bisha dips into the fruits of Naxos’ project to record all 18 versions of the composer’s 11 symphonies.

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.

In the first half of the 20th century, Catalan instrumental music was dominated by works for the piano and the cello. As a result, the importance of Catalan violin repertoire is often overlooked.

Conductor Adam Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra have already persuaded audiences to absorb the symphonies of Brahms and Beethoven through their distinctive lens. Now they’re midway through a series of recordings of Haydn’s great late symphonies.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, perhaps best known for his numerous film scores and works for guitar, also composed in a variety of other genres, from transcriptions for cello to violin concertos, piano works and orchestral music.

In this podcast, Raymond Bisha talks with American composer Margaret Brouwer about the inspiration and compositional approach behind the orchestral pieces on the programme of her new album.

Five years into the celebrated Naxos Music of Brazil series, we reach Vol. 21 and the music of Oscar Lorenzo Fernández (1897–1948), who was a key figure in the cultural life of Rio de Janeiro.

Smetana’s Má vlast is an unprecedented cycle of six related symphonic poems that evoke Czech legends and celebrate the beauty of the country’s landscapes.

Pianist Quynh Nguyen discusses her recording of the complete piano works of Paul Chihara, the distinguished American composer whose output includes the scores for over 100 motion pictures and television series.

JoAnn Falletta, conductor of the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, discusses a programme of orchestral works by composer/conductor Lukas Foss, who was both a predecessor of hers in Buffalo and a mentor to her.

Irish cellist Gerald Peregrine introduces his latest album of early 20th-century British works for cello and piano, interweaving the classical and folk-based music with a personal narrative of community engagement, in which his live music-making initiatives have achieved truly significant and touching results.

This podcast spotlights Israeli mandolinist Alon Sariel, who provides an entree into the engaging world of the mandolin, an instrument that perhaps enjoys a relatively low profile but commands a fascinating global reach.

Marin Alsop discusses her latest release – an album of orchestral works by John Adams – with Raymond Bisha, exploring just what it is about Adams’ music that makes him the leading nominee for the title of America’s greatest living composer, not least for scores that inhabit ‘the groove’ with conspicuous relish.

Louis Wayne Ballard (1931–2007) – also known as ‘Honganozhe’, which means ‘Stands with Eagles’ in the Quapaw language – was the first indigenous North American composer of art music, and his extensive knowledge of the music, dance and mythology of this culture informed his compositions. This podcast reviews a new album of his works that are eclectic in style, uniquely varied and thoroughly engaging.

Raymond Bisha’s conversation with Janne Valkeajoki delves into the various musical transformations and performance mechanics that were involved in the masterly transfer from harpsichord strings to accordion reeds.

Orfeo Vecchi was held in high regard by his contemporaries for the sacred music he produced towards the end of the 16th century. Raymond Bisha introduces a new recording of the twenty pieces that comprise his third book of Motets for Six Voices.

Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of works for string quartet by Florence Price and Leo Sowerby, who were both prominent members of the Chicago music community in the 1930s and 1940s.

Raymond Bisha’s latest podcast introduces the world premiere recording of Joseph Rheinberger’s arrangement for two pianos of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

George Gershwin’s ever popular Rhapsody in Blue was first performed in February 1924. To mark the centenary of that celebrated event, pianist Jeffrey Biegel commissioned composer Peter Boyer to write a work for piano and orchestra that would be a 21st-century partner to Gershwin’s original.

Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of works for piano and orchestra by Chopin, performed by legendary pianist Abbey Simon.

Raised in Medellín, Colombia, Billy Arcila has lived in the United States for over 40 years, where he teaches and performs as one of California’s foremost guitarists. In this podcast, Raymond Bisha presents the first  album to be made of his music.

Joseph Haydn was music director of the Esterházy Court at Eisenstadt for twenty-five years. It was where Prince Nikolaus commissioned him to write trios for the baryton, a bowed, stringed instrument similar to the viol but with extra plucked strings that enabled performers to accompany themselves.

Raymond Bisha introduces the fifteenth and final volume in Konstantin Scherbakov’s recordings of the complete piano works of Leopold Godowsky, in which the programme comprises a number of the arrangements Godowsky made of Chopin’s Études.

Stanisław Skrowaczewski spent 19 years as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, from 1960 to 1979, during which time he developed it into one of the finest orchestras in North America.

Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos was also an accomplished guitarist and cellist, and his wonderful music for the latter instrument takes full advantage of the lyrical and dramatic capabilities of the instrument.

This podcast features Raymond Bisha in conversation with conductor Kenneth Kiesler about the rediscovery, rescue and reconstruction of two operas by James P. Johnson (1894–1955).

Raymond Bisha’s second podcast featuring historic recordings on the VOX label explores those made of Tchaikovsky’s music by the Utah Symphony Orchestra under Maurice Abravanel, who was the ensemble’s music director for more than 30 years.

This podcast features broadcaster Peter Hall in a conversation with JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, about her October release on the Naxos label, which is the second of two albums featuring all of Zoltán Kodály’s works for orchestra.

This podcast features American composer Jennifer Higdon in a wide-ranging conversation with Raymond Bisha, during which she describes the long swathe of influences on her composing career.

Raymond Bisha presents the first in a series of podcasts that explore newly remastered recordings on the VOX label dating from the 1970s..

Brazilian composer Claudio Santoro (1919–1989) proved a dynamic force for his country’s classical music scene. His life was both intertwined with, and deeply influenced by, the political and social events playing out around him, from the building of the Berlin Wall in Europe to political upheavals in his homeland. Through it all, his compositions reflected a life of distinctive musical exploration.

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–1799) – a brilliant swordsman, athlete, violin virtuoso and gifted composer – might well lay claim to being the most talented figure in an age of remarkable individuals. Raymond Bisha gives an overview of this remarkable life, binding the disparate elements of his career with the constant beauty of his violin concertos.

Raymond Bisha introduces Naxos’ new album of the complete works for solo piano by leading American composer John Corigliano Jnr. During their conversation together, the composer gives insight into the creative genesis of all the works on the programme, which span a period of some fifty years…

Raymond Bisha introduces Naxos’ fifth album devoted to the music of leading American composer, Jonathan Leshnoff, who was GRAMMY-nominated for his album Violins of Hope (Naxos 8.559809) and is amongst the most frequently performed of living composers.

Conductor and Naxos artist Marin Alsop discusses Robert Schumann’s four symphonies in the wake of her recordings of the works as reorchestrated by Mahler.

This podcast features Peter Hall in conversation with JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, about her latest release on the Naxos label — a recording of William Walton’s Façades 1 and 2, together with four additional movements.

Raymond Bisha introduces us to the eclectic and exuberant imagination of the American composer Aaron Jay Kernis, whose works are inhabited by a host of influences — musical, historical and personal.

Raymond Bisha’s podcast focuses on two works by William Bolcom recorded for the Naxos American Classics Series.

Raymond Bisha dips into a Naxos recording of works by Jean Sibelius that have been obscured by the popularity of his symphonies and the violin concerto, including many pieces he wrote to complement stage works. 

Once in a while you hear such incredibly beautiful music for the first time that you just can’t understand why it has remained under wraps for so long.

Fantasy, fairy tales and Maurice Ravel’s flair for orchestral colour are all to the fore in this album featuring two examples of the composer’s music for the stage — the scores for his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges and his ballet Ma mère l’oye.

In this week’s podcast, Raymond Bisha introduces the 4-CD collection of the complete piano works of Mieczysław Weinberg — from teenage mazurkas written in his native Poland through to his last works for the instrument composed in Moscow.

This podcast features Marin Alsop in conversation with Raymond Bisha following the release of her first album for Naxos as chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Violinist Tianwa Yang marks her fifteenth year as one of Naxos’ leading artists with a new album featuring Prokofiev’s two violin concertos.

An introduction to the Symphonies and Dances of composer Malcolm Arnold featuring conductor Andrew Penny who recorded all these works for Naxos.

Raymond Bisha presents an overview of Boris Giltburg’s project to learn and record all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, which are now released in a 9-CD boxed set edition following their inception as critically acclaimed digital releases.

Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a brilliant swordsman, athlete, violin virtuoso and gifted composer, with a claim to being the most talented figure in an age of remarkable individuals.

Raymond Bisha introduces the second volume of string quartets by the Lithuanian composer Jurgis Karnavičius (1884–1941), recorded by the Vilnius String Quartet on the Ondine label.

Significantly influenced by his experience of playing in some of the earliest Soviet jazz bands, Nikolai Kapustin trained as a pianist at the Moscow Conservatory but subsequently devoted himself to composition.

Raymond Bisha prefaces his latest podcast with this introduction: “Heitor Villa-Lobos, the prolific Brazilian composer of some 2,000 works, conductor, cellist, guitarist and music educationalist, wrote his three violin sonatas between 1912 and 1920.

French composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) is remembered as someone who could spin melodies as easily as he breathed.

With multiple GRAMMY nominations and wide critical acclaim to her credit, Joan Tower’s latest album in the Naxos American Classics series demonstrates why she is so often performed, and why she is such a respected person among American composers.

Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy ran one of the finest salons in pre-revolution Paris.

From composer to transcriber to performer — less instantaneous than modern transmissions, but it’s how many works first came to be known by music lovers before the dawn of the age of technology.

Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871) was one of the most famous composers of the 19th century.

Raymond Bisha introduces Spanish guitarist Mabel Millán in her debut album for Naxos.

In this podcast, Raymond Bisha takes us on a journey across South America, making musical stops in the countries of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and Colombia.

Raymond Bisha’s latest podcast finds him in conversation with world-renowned guitarist and lutenist Richard Savino who introduces his debut recording for Naxos that also features his renowned ensemble El Mundo.

Described as having ‘natural genius’, John Abraham Fisher was a significant figure in London during the second half of the 18th century.

Aram Il’yich Khachaturian once described how he “grew up in an atmosphere rich in folk music, popular festivals, rites joyous and sad, events in the lives of people always accompanied by music… deeply engraved in my memory, that determined my musical thinking.”

Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of choral transcriptions by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) that forms part of Naxos’ Music of Brazil series.

Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of orchestral works by Žibouklé Martinaityté (b. 1973).

Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of 21st-century mallet percussion concertos performed by virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong under Jean Thorel.

Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of orchestral music by the Pulitzer and Erasmus Prize-winning American composer John Adams.

Choral music formed an important part of Anton Bruckner’s output throughout his career, even though the genre was widely underappreciated by a public more inclined to large-scale symphonic and operatic works.

Czech composer Vitězslav Novák (1870–1949), who was one of Dvořák’s composition students, rose to prominence with a series of increasingly ambitious orchestral works that fused elements of folk music, impressionism and late-Romanticism.

Raymond Bisha discusses a release of music by the American composer Bernard Herrmann with Joseph Horowitz, co-founder of PostClassical Ensemble, a group dedicated to stepping across normal repertoire boundaries.