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. View album details Catalogue No.: 8.559935 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST The post Podcast: Alsop + Adams + The Groove appeared first on The Naxos Blog ..read more

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. The presenter is Raymond Bisha. The guests are conductor John Jeter and Jerod Impichchāachaaha’ Tate, who was a student, friend and colleague of the composer. View album details Catalogue No.: 8.5 ..read more

This podcast from the Sounds Interesting series takes a musical week, a day at a time.     Links to the music featured in this podcast: George Bogatko In a Monday Mood (8.572835) Richard Danielpour Mardi Gras (8.559669) Edmund Rubbra Judas mercator pessimus (8.555255) Kenneth Fuchs Holy Thursday (8.559753) Benjamin Britten Fishing song (8.553183) Aaron Copland Saturday Night Waltz (8.571202) Peter Breiner Sunday Morning on Sunday (8.574257) LISTEN TO THE PODCAST The post <em>Sounds Interesting:</em> Day in, day out. appeared first on The Naxos Blog ..read more

In January 2024, Finnish accordionist/conductor Janne Valkeajoki released a captivating album of music by French Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau, which Valkeajoki himself arranged for his instrument. Raymond Bisha’s conversation with the performer delves into the various musical transformations and performance mechanics that were involved in the masterly transfer from harpsichord strings to accordion reeds. View album details Catalogue No.: ORC100281 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST The post Podcast: Rameau meets the accordion. appeared first on The Naxos Blog ..read more

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. Most of Florence Price’s compositions remained unpublished at her death, and her String Quartet in A minor was not performed in her lifetime. Her Five Folksongs in Counterpoint entwine and enrich the famous melodies with African American vernacular idioms and colourful harmony, while Sowerby’s String Quartet in G minor reveals music undeserving of its decades of obscurity in the Avalon Quartet’s world premier ..read more

Raymond Bisha’s latest podcast introduces the world premiere recording of Joseph Rheinberger’s arrangement for two pianos of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Composed by Bach in 1741, the work fell into oblivion before re-emerging as part of a movement of discovery generations later. In order to breathe new life into them, such masterpieces might undergo arrangements, transcriptions and other manipulations. In this case, Rheinberger’s 1883 version adds new parts to Bach’s original score.   View album details Catalogue No.: CDS8002     ..read more

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 talks to both composer and soloist about the gestation of this celebratory new work that captures a similar propulsive energy, while interweaving allusions to blues influences and lyrical evocations of American vistas. View album details Catalogue No.: 9.70359 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ..read more

Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of works for piano and orchestra by Chopin, performed by legendary pianist Abbey Simon. Once hailed by renowned critic Harold C. Schonberg of The New York Times as a “supervirtuoso”, Simon was a great American pianist in the great Romantic tradition, who imbued his effortless virtuoso technique with a uniformly clear sound. Having passed away in 2019 at the age of ninety-nine, most of his recorded output was for the VOX label. View album details Catalogue No.: VOX-NX-3032CD LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ..read more

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. Performed by the composer himself, it contains works written across Ancila’s entire compositional life, from his first published work to his most recent. Interspersed with the music of other admired composers, Arcila’s autobiographical guitar music embraces the nostalgic, the verdant and the vibrant.   View album details Catalogue No.: 8 ..read more

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. Haydn wrote string trios (baryton, viola, cello) of elegance, refinement and poise that encapsulate a rich variety of moods, a selection of which is introduced on this podcast by Raymond Bisha. Seldom performed or recorded, the baryton trios attest to Haydn’s limitless powers of invention in every m ..read more