Jess Gillam chats to conductor Jack Bazalgette, co-founder of ‘through the noise’ which aims to innovate and revolutionise live classical music. Their musical journey takes them to Zimbabwe with the music of mbira player Chiwoniso, a forest in Sweden with the Danish String Quartet plus we have the sounds of Barbara Moore, Mahler and Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders. Playlist: Franz Ignaz Beck - Symphony in C major, Op. 1, No 6, I. Allegro [New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, Donald Armstrong] Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders – Movement 1 (Promises) Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen - Waltz After Lasse ..read more

Jess is joined by the cellist Laura van der Heijden to share some of their favourite musical discoveries, including JS Bach interpreted by the Lodestar Trio, music from Philip Glass’s Book of Longing, a track from the trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and Elena Urioste playing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor ..read more

Cellist and composer Peter Gregson joins Jess from LA. They share some of their favourite tracks and new discoveries, including Steve Reich's Different Trains, a special recording of Schubert's String Quintet, Bach's Mass in B minor, and songs by Eva Cassidy and Bon Iver ..read more

Jess Gillam and fellow saxophonist Laura Misch share the music they love, including tracks by Bjork, Hildegard von Bingen and Bob Marley. Playlist: Sibelius - Impromptu V (Leif Ove Andnes) Bendik Giske - Cruising Sarah Vaughan - Just One of Those Things Hildegard von Bingen - O vis eternitatis (Sequentia) Bob Marley & The Wailers - Three Little Birds Saint-Saens - Carnival of the Animals: The Swan (Sheku, Jeneba, and Isata Kanneh-Mason) Strozzi - Che si puo fare? (Simone Kermes, Enrico Casazza) Bjork - The Anchor Song ..read more

Jess Gillam is joined by the Mumbai-born pianist Shivank Menon, to talk about the records that they love. Their playlist includes Rostropovich playing Bach, Sviatoslav Richter playing Chopin, songs by Ravel, Fanny Mendelssohn and Donny Hathaway, and a recording of Bill Evans duetting with himself. Playlist: MORELENBAUM2 & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: Sabia J S BACH ARR. KODALY: Vater unser im Himmelrich, BWV 762 (Mstislav Rostropovich, cello; Herbert Tachezi (organ) CHOPIN: Polonaise No 7 in A flat, Op 61 (Sviatoslav Richter, piano) ROBERT DE VISÉE: Sarabande from Suite No 7 in D minor (Thomas Dunfor ..read more

Jess Gillam swaps favourite music with singer, rock sitarist and composer Bishi. Together they journey through evocations of space from Meredith Monk, Holst and Roger Webb back home to different shades of the human voice in music - from sacred vocal music from the 15th century, via a Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass collaboration, the unique voice of Beverly Glenn-Copeland and singer Cosmo Sheldrake's wake-up call from the cuckoo. Playlist: RAVI SHANKAR/PHILIP GLASS: Prashanti TOMAS LUIS de VICTORIA: O Magnum Mysterium [Voces8] STRAVINSKY – Petrushka – Tableau 1 Fete Populaire de la semaine grass ..read more

Jess is joined by violinist Ionel Manciu to chat about some of their favourite records and share their lives in music. Including a revelation of Ionel's past life as a Moldovan pop star, John Adams conjuring raindrops from the piano, a classic by Amy Winehouse and a piece by Arno Babadjanian that stopped Jess in her tracks. Playlist: GEORGY SVIRIDOV: The Bells of Dawn [Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone), The Grand Choir ‘Masters of Choral Singing’/Lev Kontorovich (cond)] AMY WINEHOUSE: Love is a Losing Game ARNO BABADJANIAN: Piano Trio in F sharp – 2nd mvt ‘Allegro’ [David Oïstrakh (violin), Sviat ..read more

Jess is joined this week by the Jordanian-Palestinian pianist Iyad Sughayer. They're in the studio to share some of their favourite tracks with each other, and some new musical discoveries - including a joyful piano concerto by Haydn, terrifying music by Bartok, a mesmerising song by Caroline Shaw and classic Bob Dylan. Playlist: Joseph Haydn - Piano Concerto in D major, Hob. XVIII:11 (Alexandre Tharaud, Violons du Roy) David Bowie & Gail Ann Dorsey - Under Pressure (from the album A Reality Tour) Ibrahim Maalouf - Will Soon be a Woman Bela Bartok - The Miraculous Mandarin: Introduction (P ..read more

Jess Gillam and Scottish composer C Duncan share the tracks they love, with music by Charles Ives, Broadcast, Lili Boulanger Messiaen and Mahler. Playlist: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Symphony in E-flat Major Wq. 179 - 1. Prestissimo [Akademie für Alte Ausik Berlin] Broadcast - Colour Me In Lili Boulanger - D’Un Jardin Clair [Émile Naoumoff - piano] Charles Ives - 3 Places in New England - The Housatonic at Stockbridge [Aurora Orchestra, Nicholas Collon] Harry Nilsson - Everybody’s Talkin Olivier Messiaen - O Sacrum Comvivium [Choir of New College, Oxford, Edward Higginbottom] Matt Maltese - A ..read more

Jess Gillam is joined by violinist Ellie Consta to share some of the music they love the most. Ellie is the founder of Her Ensemble which champions the work of female composers and strives to present classical music in new diverse ways, and her music choices reflect that - from Florence Price's dreamy Clouds to Little Simz Mercury-winning homage to women everywhere, Woman. Jess brings along the majesty of Mozart's Requiem, some lunar insanity on the theremin and a cracker of a song by Bettye Swann. Playlist: FLORENCE PRICE: Clouds [Lara Downes (piano)] HARRY REVEL: Lunar Rhapsody (from Music O ..read more