Latest News: Classical, Interview
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Interview,
Eric Whitacre at... 30! 26th April 2023
Looking back over three decades of music, the world-renowned composer talks Whitman, musical hits and misses, and the correlation between a piece's length and the age of the composer's children...
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Interview,
David Skinner on Byrd's 'Songs of Sundrie Natures' 18th April 2023
The artistic director of Alamire talks about his new recording with Fretwork of Byrd's 1589 collection of church and domestic songs, complementing an album from two years ago in which they explored the previous volume from 1588.
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Interview,
Franco Fagioli on Anime Immortali 14th April 2023
The Argentinian countertenor discusses his new album of sacred and secular Mozart (out today on Pentatone) - and recounts how his love-affair with singing the composer's music was ignited when he was cast as First Boy in Die Zauberflöte aged 11...
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Interview,
Florian Deuter on Biber's sonatas "for altar and court" 13th April 2023
The violinist talks about his recent album of ensemble music by Biber - twelve sonatas for various combinations of instruments, interleaved with twelve duos for trumpets, all coming from Biber's time in the service of the Salzburg court.
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Interview,
Bracing Change - Helen Grime on contemporary string quartets 11th April 2023
Scottish composer Helen Grime discusses her second string quartet, which features on the second volume of Bracing Change string commissions from NMC and the Wigmore Hall.
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Interview,
Cyrille Dubois on So Romantique! 23rd March 2023
The French light lyric tenor explains how he found his operatic niche as a lover rather than a fighter - and discusses his new album on Alpha Classics, featuring rarities by Louis Clapisson, Charles Luce-Verlet and Théodore Dubois alongside one or two old favourites...
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Interview,
Simon Mayor on Carolan 22nd March 2023
The mandolinist talks about his new album of music by the eighteenth-century Irish harpist Turlough O'Carolan, featuring his own arrangements that meld together Baroque, folk and chamber styles.
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Interview,
Jean Rondeau on Gradus ad Parnassum 16th March 2023
The French harpsichordist discusses his new album on Erato, which takes its title from a 1725 treatise on counterpoint by Johann Joseph Fux and includes music by Palestrina, Haydn, Beethoven and even Debussy...
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Interview,
The Calidore String Quartet record late Beethoven 15th March 2023
Violinist Ryan Meehan talks about the quartet's new album, which builds on their earlier more exploratory releases with an all-Beethoven programme.
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Interview,
Michael Repper on New York Youth Symphony 14th March 2023
The American conductor discusses the orchestra's debut recording of music by Florence Price, Valerie Coleman and Jessie Montgomery, which won the Best Orchestral Performance prize at this year's Grammys.
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Interview,
The Dudok Quartet on Shostakovich and Bacewicz 8th March 2023
Cellist David Faber talks about the quartet's recent album of intense chamber music by two composers who grappled with Soviet oppression - Dmitri Shostakovich and Grażyna Bacewicz.
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Interview,
Johannes Moser on being Alone Together 6th March 2023
The cellist talks about his new album that blends the artistry of the solo cello with the technology of sequencing and spatial audio - conceived well before the pandemic, but brought into focus by the enforced isolation that characterised 2020 for so many people.
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Interview,
Mary Bevan on Visions Illuminées 28th February 2023
The British soprano discusses her new album with 12 Ensemble, the Ruisi Quartet and Joseph Middleton on Signum, featuring works by composers including Britten, Chausson, Holmès, and Ravel & Debussy (via Robin Holloway).
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Interview,
Mark Bebbington on Vaughan Williams's 'Fantasia on the Old 104th' 27th February 2023
The pianist talks about his recent recording of a striking, category-defying work by Vaughan Williams that is very rarely heard - and shares his thoughts on some other rarely-explored sides of Vaughan Williams's music.
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Interview,
Eric Lu on Schubert 23rd February 2023
The pianist talks about his recent album of Schubert sonatas, his empathy for the troubled composer, and his unique relationship with his music.
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Interview,
Rory McCleery on Vicente Lusitano 16th February 2023
The Marian Consort's director talks about the ensemble's recent album of choral polyphony by Vicente Lusitano, the earliest-known classical composer of African ancestry.
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Interview,
Simon Callaghan on Reinecke 15th February 2023
The British pianist and academic talks about his latest contribution to Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series, featuring three works by a German composer whose many illustrious students included Grieg, Albéniz and Janáček...
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Interview,
Véronique Gens on singing Poulenc's Elle 13th February 2023
The French soprano reflects on undertaking the biggest challenge of her career to date, and explains why La voix humaine is 'unique in the whole history of music'...
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Interview,
Julian Podger on the music of Dufay 9th February 2023
The director of Gothic Voices talks about the group's new album of choral works from Florentine collections, including two of Dufay's most famous motets - Nuper rosarum flores and O tres piteulx.
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Interview,
Beatrice Rana on Clara & Robert Schumann 8th February 2023
In the wake of her recording of the Schumanns' piano concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Italian pianist reflects on the 'powerful, open and beautiful' relationship between the couple.
