While a valiant endeavor, the Metropolitan Opera's new series of steaming concerts can't seem to shake off opera's fusty, aristocratic traditions.
The beloved pianist was a young lion of his generation until a hand injury forced him to rethink his relationship to music.
Composer Max Richter's new album drew inspiration from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document spearheaded by Eleanor Roosevelt which he calls "a blueprint for a better world."
Pianist Yuja Wang, violinist Leonidas Kavakos and several prominent academics have been accused this week of making anti-Black comments. Ensuing debates have been playing out on Twitter and Instagram.
Researchers are still digging into the question and sharing their findings decades after the Nazis sacked the homes of Jews during World War II.
After collaborating with David Bowie in 2014, the multiple Grammy-winning composer found her artistic process had been recombobulated a bit — much like our ever-more digital world.
Women rarely received credit for their creative work in Colonial America. But with a new album, one scholar is reviving the works of the women who lived and composed at the Ephrata Cloister.
July 21 marks the centennial of the birth of violinist Isaac Stern. He was not only an acclaimed musician and advocate for the arts, but a devoted teacher who was a mentor to generations of musicians.
Raymond Bisha introduces a selection from the rich and varied catalogue of chamber works that Beethoven wrote throughout his life. It includes the ‘Archduke’ piano trio, examples of his violin and cello sonatas, and extracts from both his Octet for Wind Instruments and the Septet in E flat major, Op. 20, a work so popular Read More ...
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 ...
Raymond Bisha introduces Johan Smith, winner of the 2019 Guitar Foundation of America Competition, in a recital that the Swiss artist has described as his dream programme: “It’s an exceptional album in many ways: the music is engaging, the playing is outstanding, and the recorded sound is first-rate. And the artist himself is uniquely intriguing, Read More ...
Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of Beethoven’s music for solo piano that contains some of his most visionary, groundbreaking and memorable works. Drawn from the Complete Edition boxed set (Naxos 8.500250), the selected movements from Beethoven’s best-known piano sonatas illustrate his dynamism as a composer/pianist, his gift for flowing melodic beauty, and the range of Read More ...
Raymond Bisha introduces a new release from Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat of French piano rarities by Boulez, Debussy, Messiaen and Ravel: “I heard Ralph play this same repertoire at a concert in Carnegie Hall a couple of years ago, and it was amazing. Ralph says his aim is to convince people of the ‘immense Read More ...
Raymond Bisha introduces Michael Daugherty’s This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie. The work celebrates The Dust Bowl Troubadour’s folk songs of love, wandering and social justice through Daugherty’s own original songs and instrumental music. These were composed after he drove for several weeks along the desolate, barren and dusty Read More ...
Raymond Bisha introduces the latest release in the Naxos Beethoven anniversary digital album series. Ranging from a solo piano to the huge resources required for his final symphony, the programme comprises ten works that define the last ten years of Beethoven’s creative life, exemplifying his ever more technically challenging pieces, their novel structures, and the Read More ...
Join Raymond Bisha in a podcast of artistic discovery as he unveils yet another American classic—Randall Thompson’s Requiem. Reckoned by many to be his most ambitious work, the composer himself considered it to be his masterpiece, yet it has languished for decades on the periphery of the choral performance repertoire. This world première recording from Read More ...
Beethoven’s concertos enjoy the spotlight in this podcast from Raymond Bisha. It serves as a companion resource to the latest digital album in our series marking the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The technical and musical demands Beethoven makes of his concerto soloists shine centre-stage in this compilation of wonderful performances of movements from Read More ...
Raymond Bisha introduces Richard Danielpour’s oratorio The Passion of Yeshua, a 105-minute work for large chorus, six soloists and orchestra that takes the listener back to Jesus’ final day on earth, removing as much as possible the accretions of history since that moment in an attempt to provide a fuller understanding of the connection of Read More ...
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley So Tatest Do…Wotan’s Response Schorr and Traubel Frantz and Flagstad Hotter Hotter and Nilsson Varnay and Hotter London and Nilsson Adam Stewart and Crespin In Festen Schlaf Bockelmann and Flagstad Janssen and Traubel Frantz and Flagstad Hotter and Varnay Hotter and Nilsson London and Nilsson Stewart and Nilsson Adam and […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Sieglinde and Brunnhilde Flagstad and Lawrence Varnay and Traubel Konetzni and Flagstad Varnay and Flagstad Resnick and Modl pt. 1 pt. 2 Varnay and Mananiuk Varnay and Nilsson Wo ist Brunnhild Schorr Janssen Frantz Hofmann Hotter Hines London Stewart Adam War es so schmählich Schorr and Leider pt. 1 pt. […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Wotan’s Narrative Schorr, Leider Schorr, Lawrence, pt. 1 pt. 2 Hotter 1938 Hotter 1952 Hotter 1957 Janssen Frantz pt. 1 pt. 2 Hoffmann Hines, Varnay Adams, Nilsson Adams, Nilsson Stewart, Crespin Annunciation of Death Leider, Widdop, pt. 1 pt. 2 Fuchs, Melchior Flagstad, Melchior, pt. 1 pt. 2 Traubel, Melchior […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Hojotoho Leider Gottlieb Flagstad Fuchs Varnay Lawrence Traubel Braun Grob-Prandl Modl Harshaw Nilsson Crespin Valkii Kniplova Fricka’s Complaint Leisner Klose Thorborg Branzell Thebom Von Milinkovic Malaniuk Gorr Ludwig Burmeister
With Lew Smoley, and Hee-Young Lim
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Ein Schwert Kirchhoff Melchior Svanholm Vinay Windgassen Vickers Del Monaco Der Männer Sippe Steinemeyer Lehmann Varnay Teschemacher Traubel Konetzni Nilsson Schech Flagstad Winterstrürme Melchior Treptow and Konetzni pt. 1 pt. 2 Svanholm and Nilsson Suthaus and Rysanek Windgassen Vinay Del Monaco Vickers pt. 1 pt. 2 Du bist der Lenz […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Dies Haus und dies Weib sing Hundings Eigen Lehmann and Melchior Teschmacher and Lorenz Flagstad and Svanholm Watson and Vickers Janowitz and Vickers Friedmund darf ich nicht heißen Volker and Muller Teschmacher, Lorenz, and Bohme Treptow, Alsen, and Konetzni pt. 1 pt. 2 Ralf, Werth, and Alsen Svanholm, Nilsson, and […]
With Lew Smoley
Get a free MP3 of Traditional - The Young Man Has Flown Like a Bird. Can you guess this week's theme? Let us know for a chance to win more free music. And don't forget to sign up for the Daily Download newsletter so you never miss a free classical track!
Jason Vieaux's 2017 recital as part of Matinee Musicale features works by Albeniz, Bach, and more. Listen to the full program and read program notes.
Get a free MP3 of Jean-Philippe Rameau - The Hen. Can you guess this week's theme? Let us know for a chance to win more free music. And don't forget to sign up for the Daily Download newsletter so you never miss a free classical track!
The Disney+ documentary Howard features the life and work of Howard Ashman, a lyricist known for Little Shop of Horrors and one half of the duo that brought the music for three classic films to life.
Helen Jones Woods, a trailblazing Black musician who played trombone with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, a history-making all-female big band that toured widely during World War II, has died of COVID-19 at 96.
What happens when a composer gets a variety of great ideas and wants to put them all once piece of music? Find out in the latest episode of Classical Kids Corner, hosted by Melissa Dundis.
Listen to how a theater company in Philadelphia is reacting to the existential threat posed by the coronavirus, from Planet Money's podcast The Indicator.