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Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

Gramophone

Weekly conversations about classical music with leading musicians and writers

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31 episodes
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Avg 34 min
English

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Yesterday · 47 min
Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2026: The Winners
In this special edition of the Gramophone Podcast, we explore the full list of winners from this year's Gramophone Classical Music Awards. Editor Martin Cullingford, Deputy Editor Tim Parry, Reviews Editor Gavin Dixon and Editor of Opera Now and Choir & Organ Hattie Butterworth talk through the Category Winners, the Special Awards, and of course the new Recording of the Year – complete with excerpts of every album. Explore the awards issue available now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 2 · 32 min
Apollo 5 on their new album 'Crossings'
Gus and Lily from Apollo 5 join Hattie in the Gramophone studio to discuss their new album, Crossings, out now on the Voces8 label. Mapping a musical journey across the centuries and ancient pilgrimage trail the Via Francigena, the album takes us from Morley's English madrigals to Italian Renaissance polyphony and new commissions from Francis Pott and Apollo 5 soprano, Penelope Appleyard. This week's podcast is sponsored by Concerto Budapest. On 11 October at 19.30, you can watch Concerto Budapest live on Gramophone.co.uk from Budapest’s historic Liszt Academy, in a special concert celebrating György Kurtág in his centenary year. Conducted by András Keller, a former student and close musical collaborator of Kurtág, the concert pays tribute to one of Hungary’s greatest living composers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 30 · 51 min
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
In a special edition of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford travelled to Bergen to spend time with our current Orchestra of the Year, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, as they come to end of their year as holder of that title. He talks to Chief Executive and Managing Director Sigurd Sverdrup Sandmo about the orchestra’s history and its place in regional and national life, and then meets its newly named Chief Conductor Designate, Tabita Berglund. Throughout you can enjoy music taken from the Orchestra’s acclaimed recordings on the Chandos and Lawo labels, as well as from their opening concert of the new season. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 25 · 20 min
Lukáš Vasilek on Honegger's Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher
For this week's Gramophone Podcast, conductor Lukáš Vasilek joins Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about his fascinating new recording with the Czech Philharmonic of Honegger's Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher - Joan of Arc at the Stake – newly released on the Animal Music label. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 18 · 28 min
Cellist Ben Michaels on commissioning music for cello
Cellist Ben Michaels speaks to Hattie Butterworth about his new album on Delphian, 'for cello, by cellists'. Michaels speaks about commissioning cellist-composers, carving out a less typical career as a musician and the versatile identity of the cello. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 11 · 31 min
Roxanna Panufnik on 'Love Songs & Lullabies'
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.
September 4 · 33 min
Conductor Philipp von Steinaecker on historically informed Mahler performance
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.
August 28 · 53 min
The Gramophone Listening Room – Episode 4, with Freddie De Tommaso & Charlie Lovell-Jones
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.
August 21 · 41 min
Joby Talbot and Craig Hella Johnson on setting Octavio Paz’s poem ‘Piedra de sol’
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.
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August 14 · 1 hr 3 min
From the Archive: Charles Villiers Stanford – Exploring the composer's music with Jeremy Dibble
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.
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August 7 · 23 min
Pianist Bruce Liu on his moon-themes recital 'Lunaris'
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.
July 31 · 31 min
Gavin Higgins and Grace-Evangeline Mason on the Three Choirs Festival
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.
July 24 · 56 min
The Gramophone Listening Room – Episode 3, with Thomas Dunford & Lucine Musaelian
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.
July 17 · 28 min
Conductor Dalia Stasevska on her Ukrainian mixtape and the First Night of the Proms
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.
July 10 · 32 min
George Fu on Schubert and grief
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.
July 3 · 29 min
Peter Jablonski and Bomsori Kim on the Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz
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.
June 26 · 31 min
Conductor Teddy Abrams on championing new music in Louisville
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.
June 19 · 37 min
Matilda Lloyd and Timothy Ridout: The Gramophone Listening Room, Episode 2
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.
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June 12 · 27 min
Mahan Esfahani on Bach's Keyboard Concertos
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.
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June 5 · 33 min
Klaus Tennstedt at 100: Edward Seckerson recalls a great conductor
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.

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