Episodes
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Rachel Podger and Lucie Horsch on recording 'Duologues'
In this week's episode of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford joined violinist Rachel Podger and recorder player Lucie Horsch ahead of a concert they were giving together at St Martin-in-the-Field, London, to talk about their wonderful new album, Duologues. Featuring music by...
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Soprano Ermonela Jaho on Puccini's La Rondine
For this week's episode of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford sat down for an in-depth conversation with the wonderful soprano Ermonela Jaho, to talk about Opera Rara's new release of the final version of Puccini's La Rondine, as well as to talk about her path to the artist she has...
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Anthony Roth Costanzo on his new album and book, 'Countertenor'
Anthony Roth Constanzo has not only released a new recording for Nonesuch, but he has written a book, also called Countertenor, which is published next week, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The album’s astoundingly eclectic programme embraces a world premiere recording of a new song by Osvaldo...
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Pianist-composer Nicolas Namoradze on his new Beethoven album
The Georgian-born pianist and composer – and a former Gramophone ‘One to Watch’ and Editor’s Choice recipient – Nicolas Namoradze has signed a recording contract with the Finnish Ondine label. The first fruit of the agreement is an album of solo Beethoven that includes two of the composer’s...
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The Gramophone Listening Room – Episode 5, with Laura van der Heijden & Ben Goldscheider
In this week's episode of The Gramophone Listening Room, presented in partnership with dCS Audio, host Charlotte Gardner welcomes cellist Laura van der Heijden and horn player Ben Goldscheider to the studio to share two of their personal favourite recordings. A video version of this podcast is...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,...
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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...
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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...
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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?...
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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...
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Colin Matthews on his new album, 'Sea Scapes'
In this week's episode of the Gramophone podcast, the composer Colin Matthews joins Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about his new album of works for voice and ensemble, Sea Scapes, release on the Onyx label. They discuss the challenge of setting poetry, as well as the joy of working with such...
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Violinist Hugo Ticciati on O/Modernt's 'Milestones'
In this week's Gramophone Podcast, Hugo Ticciati talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about the fascinating new album from his ensemble O/Modernt, released on the Signum label. Called Milestones, it marks 500 years since the death of Josquin, 50 since the death of Stravinsky, and 30 since that of...
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Celebrating Wigmore Hall at 125 with Director John Gilhooly and author Julia Boyd
On May 31, 1901 London's Wigmore Hall (originally Bechstein Hall) opened its doors, and hosted its first concert. Among the performers were the great Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe and the Italian pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni. Mrs Helen Trust, a much-admired English soprano,...
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Helen Charlston on 'A Poet's Love'
In this episode of the Gramophone Podcast, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston speaks to Hattie Butterworht in Amsterdam during the run of Michel van der Aa's new opera Theory of Flames to discuss her latest album, A Poet's Love. Centred on Schumann's Dichterliebe, the recording places the celebrated...
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The Gramophone Listening Room, with Plínio Fernandes and Anastasia Kobekina
Today we launch a new edition to the Gramophone Podcasts, The Gramophone Listening Room, in which Charlotte Gardner invites two of today's finest young artists into the studio to explore some of the treasures of the recording archive, both recent and historic. Each chooses two recordings to share...
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Barnabás Kelemen on celebrating the legacy of the Hungarian Violin School
Jack Pepper meets Festival Academy Budapest co-founder and Artistic Director Barnabás Kelemen to explore his upcoming concerto marathon, the gypsy violin tradition and a packed 2026 Summerfest This podcast has been produced in association with the Festival Academy Budapest. The World Should…
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Conductor Kirill Karabits on Thomas de Hartmann's opera Esther
Kirill Karabits and the orchestra whose Principal Conductor he was for 15 years, the Bournemouth Symphony, have recorded the opera Esther by Thomas de Hartmann (1885-1956). Written in Paris during the last years of the Second World War, and completed in 1946, Esther is based on the play by Racine...
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Composer Rachel Portman on 30 years of 'Emma'
In this week's episode of the Gramophone podcast, Georgia Keeley speaks with composer Rachel Portman, marking 30 years since her Oscar-winning soundtrack for Emma (1996), and discussing her approach to writing music for film. Today's podcast is sponsored by Kirker Holidays, creators of short…
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Jordi Savall on Bach's St John Passion
In this week's episode of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by one of the most acclaimed figures of today's musical world, Jordi Savall, to talk about his new recording of Bach's St John Passion, recorded with La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert Des Nations, and...
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Soprano Elsa Dreisig on her opera and song recital 'Invocation'
The soprano, Elsa Dreisig, has just released a new Erato album, 'Invocation'. Joined by the Orchestra e Coro dell'Opera Carlo Felice Genova conducted by Massimo Zanetti, it gathers together arias by Dvořák, Janáček, Puccini, Verdi, Gounod, Wagner, Rossini, Flotow, Peter Heise, and Carolina…
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Peter Whelan on Handel's Messiah
Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by Peter Whelan, the Artistic Director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, to talk about his new recording on the Linn label of one of the great masterpieces of all choral music - Handel's Messiah. The world-famous oratorio was premiered in Dublin, where the…
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Nico Muhly and Peter Phillips on their new album 'No Resting Place'
For this week's episode, the composer Nico Muhly and the founder of the Tallis Scholars Peter Phillips join the Gramophone Podcast to talk to Editor Martin Cullingford about their beautiful new release 'No Resting Place', released on Linn Records and an Editor's Choice in the April edition of...
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Sir Mark Elder and Huw Watkins on their new Hallé recording
In this week's edition of the Gramophone Podcast Editor Martin Cullingford was joined by conductor Sir Mark Elder and composer Huw Watkins to talk about the Hallé's new recording of Watkins's orchestral music, featuring his Symphony No 2, Concerto for Orchestra and Fanfare, all written specially...
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Elektra: Edward Gardner on Strauss's opera
For this episode, we're joined by conductor Edward Gardner, who talks to Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford about his new recording of Richard Strauss's opera Elektra, which is newly released on the Chandos label. Recorded by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and with an impressive...
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Pianist Alexander Malofeev on his debut solo album, 'Forgotten Melodies'
The young Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev has just released his first album for Sony Classical. 'Forgotten Melodies' takes its name from the work by Nikolai Medtner which appears on the recording, alongside pieces by Glinka, Rachmaninov and Glazunov. The theme that links all four composers is...
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Martin James Bartlett on his new album of Bach, Mozart and Britten
In this week's episode of the Gramophone Podcast, editor Martin Cullingford is joined by pianist Martin James Bartlett to discuss his new recording of the music of Bach, Britten and Mozart, available on the Warner Classics label from February the 27th. Bartlett reflects on the artistic ideas that...
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Pianist Imogen Cooper looks back on her recording career
The celebrated pianist Dame Imogen Cooper recently announced that the coming year will be her last of public performances. To mark the occasion - and the release of her new album of late Beethoven sonatas on the Chandos label - Editor Martin Cullingford welcomed her on to the Gramophone Podcast,...
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Joyce DiDonato and Time for Three on Emily: No Prisoner Be
Kevin Puts' newest song cycle sets Emily Dickinson's poetry for mezzo and three instrumentalists. Hattie Butterworth speaks to Joyce DiDonato and ensemble Time for Three about this unique collaboration and recording, 'Emily: No Prisoner Be'
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Soprano Adriana González on her album 'Rondos for Adriana'
The soprano Adriana González has just released a new Audax album, 'Rondos for Adriana', inspired by her namesake, the Italian 18th-century diva Adriana Ferrarese del Bene. Ferrarese was Mozart's first Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and she sang Susanna in the Viennese revival of Le nozze di Figaro…
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ARC Ensemble's Simon Wynberg on their Music in Exile series for Chandos
Toronto's ARC Ensemble have been exploring the music of composers forced to flee their homeland by the Nazis. The most recent release in Chandos's Music in Exile series – of music by Ernest Kanitz (1894-1978) – drew an enthusiastic welcome by Gramophone's critic Richard Bratby, a review that…
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William Vann on Elgar's choral music
This month's Gramophone Podcast sees Editor Martin Cullingford joined by William Vann, Director of the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, to talk about his new album of choral music by Elgar: Light out of Darkness, released on Somm Recordings. The wonderfully-chosen selection of music...
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Marina Rebeka and Edgardo Vertanessian on their record label, Prima Classic
The soprano Marina Rebeka and her husband, the sound engineer Edgardo Vertanessian, founded their record label, Prima Classic in 2018, and in the years since have built up an impressive catalogue. To coincide with the release of their latest project, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, recorded live in...
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Exploring Beethoven
In this week's Gramophone Podcast, the last of 2025, we explore the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). Editor Emeritus James Jolly talks to Richard Wigmore – a long-standing contributor to our pages, and an expert on the music of the classical and early romantic periods – about...
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Critics Choice 2025
As another year of preparing and publishing many hundreds of reviews draws to a close, the three team members most involved - Reviews Editor Gavin Dixon, Deputy Editor Tim Parry, and Editor and Publisher Martin Cullingford - take time out to discuss what lies behind the process, and how we decide...
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Remembering Alfred Brendel, with his son Adrian Brendel
In this week's Gramophone Podcast we remember Alfred Brendel, one of the most significant and much-loved musical figures of age, in the company of his son, the cellist Adrian Brendel, who takes Editor Martin Cullingford around the pianist's library and studio and reflects on what his books, art…
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