Classic Music Podcast

Little known in the West, behind the Iron Curtain Bulgaria created an operatic tradition. Companies had their star singers and productions that, in their own way, rivalled those in Europe and America. Laurence Lewis has chosen four Bulgarian Operatic Superstars, showcasing them in operas by Wagner, Rossinii, Puccini and the Bulgarian composer Parashkiev Hadjiev. Playing Time: 15.59mins.

A flirt, flirting and a bean jumping, invite you to join the musical world of composer Robert Farnon (1917 - 2005). A legendary figure in his time, it's surprising how many of his compositions and arrangements linger in the memory - even if you don't know their composer. An antique 10inch LP provides Laurence Lewis with an opportunity to catch the bean, chat to the flirt and tune into to Robert Farnon. Playing Time: 11.07 mins.

Guido Cantelli (1920 - 1956) died in an aircraft disaster. He is another of those musicians who lit-up the musical world, and were then snuffed out. We are fortunate that his art is preserved on a handful of commercial recordings, mainly with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Laurence Lewis features some of these, alongside a Tchaikovsky surprise! Playing Time: 14.33 mins. (Laurence Lewis is the author of - Guido Cantelli: Portrait of a Maestro)

A recreation of the long-running BBC series that commenced in 1940 to provide (initially) munitions workers with a bqckground of uplifting music over the sound of their machines. Laurence Lewis fills in the historical details, while the music is played from original recordings made in 1943. Playing Time: 13.29mins.

The precious first recordings - 1938 - 1939 - by violinist Ginette Neveu (1919 -1949), that shine a light on an early career, as the lights were dimming everywhere. Music by Kreisler, Suk and Chopin, presented by Laurence Lewis. Playing Time: 9.26 mins.

Interest in the music of Gustav Mahler continues to grow, The LP record and subsequent technologies have taken advantage of this. But did you know that during the 78rpm era an extensive back-catalogue of Mahler recordings existed? Laurence Lewis listens to Mahler recordings published between 1903 and 1929, finding some extraordinary performances. Total Playing Time: 15.29mins.

Some celebrated violin showpieces backgrounding the tragic story of Josef Hassid (1923 - 1950), recalled by Laurence Lewis. Playing Time: 14.23 mins.

Recorded on location in Argyle Street, Kings Cross, London, an episode celebrating the centenary of Peter Sellers, with some of his classic comic recordings, and the 70th anniversary of Ealing Studios comic masterpiece, The Ladykillers, (from the location of the famous rickety house) which gave Sellers his first major starring role. Hosted by Laurence Lewis. Playing Time: 13.12 mins.

Conductor Pierre Monteux (1875 - 1964) had an extraordinary musical life. In this episode, Laurence Lewis concentrates on the years he worked as conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Playing Time: 12.20 mins.

In which Laurence Lewis enters the drug filled world of Hector Berlioz to highlight five very different versions of his Symphonie Fantastique. NOTE: This is not a record review! Playing Time: 11.09 mins.

Soprano, Lucia Popp, lit up the operatic world with her performances as Mozart's Queen of the NIght. In 1993 she died aged 54. Laurence Lewis remembers her with recordings of Mozart, Dvorak, Puccini, Lehar and more. Playing Time: 15.15 mins.

Laurence Lewis explores the early years of legendary Classical recordings producer, John Culshaw. Featuring music by Grace Williams, Aaron Copland, Ernest Bloch, Verdi, and highlighting musicians Kathleen Ferrier and Georg Solti. Playing Time: 15.46 mins.

Laurence Lewis asks the question "Who Was Dinu Lipatti" the legendary pianist who died in 1950, and whose small recorded legacy has never been out of the record catalogues. Includes music by Chopin, Ravel and Bach. Playing Time: 20.17 mins.

In a conducting career spanning more than sixty years, Sir Adrian Boult not only conducted the premiere, but made at least five commercial recordings of Gustav Holst's suite The Planets. Laurence Lewis looks back at these, placing them in the context of Boult's recorded legacy. Playting Time: 15.02 mins.

From the dawn of the LP and Hi-Fi, Laurence Lewis revisits 1951 and two recordings of Ravel's orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition conducted by Rafael Kubelik and Guido Cantelli. Total P.laying Time: 17.18 mins.

Episode 1 of our new series continues an interrupted celebration of composer Bedrich Smetana's bi-centenary and his association with conductor Rafael Kubelik. Playing Time: 6.06 mins.

Ensemble Inegal directed by Adam Viktora, the Zelenka Experts, return, on Czech label Nibiru, with a new selection of his music that includes his magnificent Te Deum, ZWV 145. In our Historical stream, Laurence Lewis celebrates the bi-centenary of composer Bedrich Smetana and conductor Rafael Kubelik's unique association with his symphonic cycle Ma Vlast. Total Playing Time: 11.02 mins.

Laurence Lewis introduces Pavlik Records star violinist, Milan Pala, performing music by Lithuanian composer Bronius Kutavicius and Slovakian composer Roman Berger on two new releases. In our Historic stream, there's Mendelssohn and Widor played on spectacular organ recordings dating back to 1926! Playing Time: 9.30 mins.

Slovakian violinist, Milan Pala, plays impressionistic pieces by Szymanowski, Debussy and Enescu on a new Pavlik Records release. In our historic stream, Laurence Lewis features Sir Thomas Beecham conducting Mozart and Offenbach. Playing Time: 10.36 mins.

in January Laurence Lewis goes musically to Summer in Buenos Aires with Astor Piazzolla and his take on the Four Seasons from a selection of his music by Trio Patkolo on Pavlik Records. We remember composer Andrew Downes, who died one year ago in January 2023 with his Five Dramatic Pieces for Eight Wagner Tubas, now available to Stream or Download. Plus our new historical stream looks at conductor Erich Kleiber. Playing Time: 9.24 mins.

Highlighting Erno Dohnanyi's (1877 - 1960) two piano concertos played by Ladislav Fanzowitz with the Slovak State Philharmonic Kosice conducted by Zbynek Muller on Slovakian label Pavlik Records. Laurence Lewis also previews a new feature coming to the Classic Music Podcast in January. Playing Time: 9.30 mins.

Small scale sounds in this edition, as Laurence Lewis introduces the Talea Trio in trios for oboe, clarinet and piano and Dream Gardens a two disc set of magical chamber pieces by Robert Mueller. Two new releases by American label MSR Classics. Playing Time: 9.34 mins.

Corona Mundi and Sangha two tracks by Czech composer Vlastislav Matousek from a nine track selection, played by Gadrew Way on a new Arta release, reinvent the string quartet. On more familiar musical ground, an MSR Classics disc features Pam Goldberg playing Schubert. In between, Laurence Lewis hosts. Playing Time: 7.47 mins.

Laurence Lewis discovers violinist Qian Yin playing Brahms and Franck on her new MSR Classics release, and tenor Iliya Yossofov, the latest in the Gega New series, Famous Opera Voices of Bulgaria, singing Puccini and Smetana. Playing Time: 9.36 mins.

An all Bach edition. Laurence Lewis introduces selections from 3 Gamba Sonatas, BWV 1027 - 1209 and Clavier-Ubung III, BWV 552, BWV 669 - 689, BWV 802 - 805, a unique recording featuring organ and bayan! Playing Time; 9.16 mins.

Laurence Lewis presents an all Beethoven edition featuring moments from Piano Sonatas 13, 16, 30 and 32, marking the release of Volumes 7 and 8 by MSR Classics of James Brawn's Beethoven Odyssey through all Beethoven piano sonatas. Playing Time: 8.26 mins.

Laurence Lewis hosts an edition surrounded by bells - some real, others suggested by the music. Featured composers are - John Adams on MSR Classics, Yassen Vodenitcharov on Gega New, Peter Janku on Hev-Het Tune and Radek Rejsek on Arta. Playing Time: 9.23mins

A special "More Music" edition featuring Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Nadya Afeyan, another in the Gega New series Great Opera Voices of Bulgaria. Plus, Zelenka's Missa Charitatis, ZWV 10, with the Zelenka experts, Ensemble Inegal directed by Adam Viktora. Their Nibiru release has alongside, Zelenka's Litaniae Xaverianae, ZWV 154. Laurence Lewis introduces. Playing Time: 13.11mins.

Journey on the Victoria Line of the London Underground to Seven Sisters, for an edition live from Seven Sisters Road to discover the piano music of Emile Naoumoff. (There is a connection?) Around the traffic there's choral music by Josef Vejvoda, plus a delve into The Long Bright Dark. Laurence Lewis does the travelling! Playing Time: 11.40 mins.

A piano recital, an organ recital and music for brass quintet feature in our Classic Music Podcast for March. Composers include - Alban Berg, Milos Stedron and Kevin McKee. Laurence Lewis introduces - Katarina Palova, piano, 17 year old organist Adam Suk and Brassworks. Playing Time: 9.11 mins.

In our February selection Laurence Lewis introduces an eclectic range of music. Featured are Ukrainian composer Valentin Bibik's Sonatas for Viola. South Korean singer Minjin Seo (recorded in New York) offers a selection from the Great American Songbook. Czech soprano, Lucie Strejcova sings aphoristic songs by Thomas Campion. While the New England Conservatory Symphonic Winds unleash James Stephenson's It's About Time from their album, It's About Time. Playing Ti...

A special Digital edition with each title available from all the usual online musicstores. There's two extensive minimalist piano works by Lola Perrin, voice projections by Mirka Novak through her Hevhetia release, Malbum, and Blues Beats with Silvia Josifoska from her Hev-Het Tune album, Closer. Laurence Lewis controls the digits. Playing Time: 9.58mins.

Laurence Lewis and literary historian Goretta Bronte, go in search of the Bloomsbury Musician. Along their way they encounter writers and poets, a relative of Oliver Cromwell, Fanny and Stella, who caused a Victorian sex scandal that became a media sensation, and a comic legend. Playing Time: 23.08 mins.

Laurence Lewis introduces Martin Budinsky playing the Concerto in A for Cimbalom by Peter Jantosciak. An organ built in 1787 is showcased by Iveta Zatkova, with music by Claudio Merulo and Herbert Howells. From under the peak of Rozsutec there are carols, from two small villages, reimagined by Slovakian Folk band, Nebeska Muzika. Playing Time: 12.12mins.

November is discover a composer month? MSR Classics offer cello pieces by Georg Goltermann (1824 - 1898), and Early Music collected under the title of Fortuna Antiqua et Ultra with Concordia Dawn Ensemble for Early Music. For Pavlik Records, Ladislav Fanzowitz looks for some Saxophone Connections by Ernst-Lothar von Knorr and Nikolai Kapustin. Hosted by Laurence Lewis. Playing Time: 11.33 mins.

October and new releases by Pavlk Records and period instrument band, Il Cuore Barocco restoring French Baroque master Joseph Bodin De Boismortier. Hevhetia finds soprano Maria Taytakova's Impressions selects songs by Duparc, Faure, Debussy, Berg and Slovakian composers - Jan Zimmer, Ladislav Holoubek and Dezider Kardos. MSR Classics feature Grieg's Three Violin Sonatas reimagined for Flute and played by Kaleb Chesnic. A collection of music that crosses many paths, host...

In this edition, live from the Southbank Centre in London, Laurence Lewis introduces a selection of instrumental releases by American label MSR Classics featuring the cello, viola and piano duo. Music by Gaspar Cassado, Marcelle Soulage and Ravel. Playing Time: 9.45 mins.

In our August Classic Music Podcast Laurence Lewis invites you to discover the quirky Piano Sonatas by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach played by David Murray, on MSR Classics, the Missa in A by Bohemian Baroque Master - Antonin Jan Nepomuk Brossman, released by Czech label Arta and new orchestral music by Barbara Harbach played by the London Philhamonic Orhestra, on MSR Classics. Playing Time: 9.32 mins.

Solo instrumental releases featuring the violin of Marie Cantagrill, the cornetto of Richard Seda and the piano of Martha Marchena. She plays pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos, there's music from the 16th and 17th centuries for Richard Seda to explore and Marie Cantagrill is moving between Ombre and Lumiere on her new album. In Licentia Poetica, Elma Kais, with the latest in electronics and vocal sounds, attempts to see if Ovid's thoughts of 2,000 years ago can be recreated. ...

In this edition Laurence Lewis introduces two World Premiere recordings in the ongoing series by Ensemble Inegal directed by Adam Viktora of music by Jan Dismas Zelenka, there's 20th Century Music for Flute and the Rediscovered Romantic Testimony of Vaclav Jindrich Veit. Playing Time: 12.11 mins.

A two disc Pavlik Records set featuring bass-baritone Gustav Belacek, explores many different versions of Ave Maria down 405 years of musical history, Laurence Lewis also introduces the latest instalment, on Czech label Arta, of period instrument Musica Florea, conducted by Marek Strnycl, performing Dvorak's Symphony No. 6. Playing Time: 11.21 mins.

Brahms Op. 120 for Viola and Violin, a surprise Hungarian March, a Swan and a Slovakian Concertino that's a musical bargain? Hosted by Laurence Lewis. Playing Time: 12.29mins.

A Special Podcast Extra - Stream for Solidarity. https://player.believe.fr/v2/8588002496998 Under a White Tree, with Ukrainian singer Mariia Guraievska, from her Hevhetia album, Water Nymphs (2012). Playing Time: 3.29mins.

Laurence Lewis introduces lots of songs in this edition. Juan Carlos Mendoza sings Mexican Song cycles after 1920 on MSR Classics. Ida Zalewska sings nine classics from The Great American Song Book on Hevhetia. They bookend music remembering famous women through history by MSR Classics star composer, Barbara Harbach. Playing Time: 9.36 mins.

Laurence Lewis hosts our February edition featuring four new releases by Slovakian label Hevhetia. Playing Time: 10.18 mins.

New Year; New Composers as Laurence Lewis hosts our Podcast exploring Paul Wranitzky and Maddelena Lombardini Sirmen on MSR Classics with The Vivaldi Project, Valentin Bibik on Pavlik Records with violinist Milan Pala and collective improvisations with Anna Romanovska, Petr Tichy, Michal Hruby and Hana Blazikova on Hevhetia with their album, I Am One Of Us Forever. Playing Time: 11.10mins.

In this edition Laurence Lewis introduces the rarely heard Piano Sonata by Frank Bridge, played by Sally Pinkas on her latest MSR Classics release that is set against his pupil Benjamin Britten whose Young Apollo is played by Joshua Pierce on his MSR Classics disc that has music for piano and orchestra in which the piano is not a solo instrument but a part of the orchestra. There's also the complex Third Sonata for Violin and Piano by Alfred Schnittke, featuring, on his new Pavlik...

Previously heard in our discontinued Czech Music Radio Show, our interview with British composer Andrew Downes marked the release on Czech label Artesmon of his Four Symphonies played by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Playing Time: 39.47 mins.

Our November Classic Music Podcast opens with the sound of period instrument basset horns played by Lotz Trio, who have reconstructed Mozart's Terzetti into their correct sequences. Irina Feoktistova explores Chopin the Enchanter, while Slovakian band KOPA release pulsating beats. Laurence Lewis hosts this eclectic mix of new discs on labels by Pavlik Records, MSR Classics and Hev-Het Tune. Playing Time: 8.49 mins.

Laurence Lewis introduces music by Bela Keler, the composer who composed the celebrated 5th Hungarian Dance by Brahms. String Quartets are rebooted by Turkish-American composer Erberk Eryilmaz with his Dances of the Yogurt Maker. Percussionist Tommy Caggiani and his Therion Project are Watching Plants Grow. New releases by Hevhetia and MSR Classics. Playing Time: 11.19mins.

A special edition highlighting new releases by Slovakian label Pavlik Records - a reimagined version of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Images with Jordana Palovicova and Jan Cikker's Symphonic Triptych - On Life. Hosted by Laurence Lewis. Playing Time: 11.03 mins.

In which Michael O'Connor talks, on a Zoom line from Florida, to Laurence Lewis in London about, The Gilded Age, Late 19th Century American Wind Band music featured on his recent release on MSR Classics by Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band. Composers include - Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, Verdi, Bellini, Thomas Coates, August Damm and John Philip Sousa. Playing Time: 22.27 mins.

In our August edition, Laurence Lewis highlights new releases by MSR Classics and Hevhetia of three contrasting instruments - Piano, Cimbalom and Violin. Playing Time: 10.23 mins.

In this edition host Laurence Lewis, invites you to find the Illuminating music of Curt Cacioppo. There's a gift of French masterworks from Bulgarian violinist Zornitsa Ilarionova. While pianist Jerry Wong plays a selection of pieces describing Love and Longing by Franz Liszt. Playing Time: 8.27 mins.

Discover a universe of little known Cuban music, as Laurence Lewis talks to pianist Elena Casanova about her new MSR Classics release, Daydreams of Cuba. Playing Time: 24.46 mins.

On Czech label Arta, Marek Stryncl and his period instrument orchestra Musica Florea restore to currency neglected Bohemian Baroque master, Antonin Reichenauer's dramatic Requiem. Ether side, on MSR Classics, are personal selections for bassoon by Shannon Lowe and trumpet by James Tinsley. Hosted by Laurence Lewis. Playing Time: 9.14mins.

This edition features American label MSR Classics highlighting a two disc set celebrating string-quartets by Alabama based composers, the University of Massachusetts Wind Ensemble and the Japanese landscapes evoked in southeast Texas by composer Marty Regan and the shakuhachi. Its Bulgarian cousin, the kaval, visits Places with Zhivko Vasilev on a Gega New release. Presented by Laurence Lewis. Playing Time: 10.54 mins.

Jason Calloway, cellist with the Amernet String Quartet, discusses with Laurence Lewis their new two CD MSR Classics release highlighting composers who have connections to Alabama. Playing Time: 13.23 mins.

Milan Pala takes his violin and viola into uncharted musical territory with his two disc survey of Moravian solo string music. Bass, Gustav Belecek visits Fantastic Landscapes of Songs, while "Between Us" celebrates the meeting of Czech Jazz greats, pianist, Emil Viklicky and the bass clarinet of Pavel Hruby. Playing Time: 10.46 mins.

Bulgarian composer Yassen Vodenitcharov puts into music the antique and very obscure texts of The Voynich Manuscript, using an ensemble of viola da gamba's and a mezzo-soprano. Karel Bendl (1838 - 1897) goes into The Nature Realm with the Foerster Female Chamber Choir, and there's Shostakovich's First and Fifteenth Symphonies to complete the cycle conducted by Emil Tabakov. Laurence Lewis presents these new releases by Bulgarian label Gega New and Czech label Arta. Playing T...

Czech conductor, Zdenek Klauda, talks to Laurence Lewis about his latest Nibiru release, Concertos for Cello and French Horn by Jakub Jan Ryba, and his discovery of this composer previously known only by his celebrated Old Czech Christmas Mass. Playing Time: 23.04 mins.

Discover the extraordinary Cello Concerto by Jakub Jan Ryba - known for his Old Czech Christmas Mass - and listen to our interview with conductor Zdenek Klauda in our latest Classic Music Podcast Extra. There's String Quartets by Shostakovich and Goleminov and Contemporary sounds by Dust in the Groove. Laurence Lewis introduces these digital releases by Czech label, Nibiru, Bulgarian label Gega New and Slovakian label Hevhetia. Playing Time: 9.31 mins.

Our first edition of 2021, hosted by Laurence Lewis, features Unexpected Isolation, guitarist David Kollar and trumpeter Arve Henriksen's staggering electronic meditation, released by Hevhetia, on Covid-19, there's Scriabin's Sonata No. 8 from an MSR Classics disc of Russian Piano Sonatas with Euntaek Kim and Dvorak and Suk, on Artesmon, played by the Variace Ensemble Prague.

Laurence Lewis introduces the sound, on Pavlik Records, of the Saxophone Syncopators in Nuclear Sax by Evgeny Irshai, on Hevhetia, guitar and electronics master David Kollar tells of the Crime on the Bunny and on a second disc 10 Poems for Ronroco and in their ongoing series Famous Opera Voices of Bulgaria, Gega New present tenor Nikola Nikolov, the Pavarotti of a previous age. Playing time: 11.18 mins.

In our November episode Laurence Lewis introduces a moment, on Hev Het Tune, from Julo Fujak's sonic landscape, kaleidoSONICope! There's a first Slovakian recording of York Bowen's Viola Phantasy, on Pavlik Records, while MSR Classics release amazing American soprano Amy Johnson singing Janacek's Kat'a Kabanova and lusting over John the Baptist in the final astonishing moments of Salome by Richard Strauss, giving this podcast a positive finale! Playing Time: 9.46 mins.

Laurence Lewis highlights an important two disc set release by Slovakian label Pavlik Records, with Milan Pala playing the Six Violin Sonatas by Weinberg. Beginning in 1943, these reflect the times in which Weinberg lived, suffered and composed. The "live" recording brings a huge emotional impact to these performances. We discover the French inspired music of Danae Vlasse on her MSR Classics album, Poeme, and, on another Pavlik Records release composer Evgeny Irshai reveals ...

On a Zoom conversation, composer Luis Pine, in San Francisco, talks to Laurence Lewis in London about his recent MSR Classics album, Times of Day, where various combos of wind instruments alight at times of the day from Dybreak to Solar Midnight. Playing Time: 13.04 mins.

Laurence Lewis visits the Organ Theatre in St. Albans to explore their amazing collection of mechanical musical instruments. These include a mechanical violin, street organs, musical boxes and the "Mighty Wurlitzer." Recorded in HD FLAC format audio. Playing Time: 60 mins.

An instrumental edition, with viola sounds, released by Pavlik Records, composed by Rebecca Clarke, and played by Martin Ruman, bass player Robert Oppelt brings an Encore to MSR Classics - From Bach to Blues - while Ronald Sebesta plays clarinet solos that invite you to savour some Classic Malts, distilled by Pavlik Records. Laurence Lewis uncorks this particular bottle. Playing Time: 9.22 mins.

In 2018 Martin Kather restored an antique clavichord made by Johann Christoph Georg Schiedmayer in 1787. Czech keyboard wizard, Jaroslav Tuma, explores this amazing instrument on a two disc set released by Arta. From this recording, Laurence Lewis introduces pieces by Christoph Graupner (1683 - 1760), Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714 - 1788), Josef Antonin Stepan (1726 - 1797) and Herbert Howells (1892 - 1983). Playing Time: 8.06 mins.

Iveta Zatkova showcases the sound of Jan Pazicky's organ, built in 1768, in Saint Nicholas Church in Kovarce, Slovakia. From a new Arta recording, Laurence Lewis presents music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Adam Vaclav Michna, Orlando Gibbons and Johann Ulrich Steigleder.

On MSR Classics, Summerland, for summer listening, highlights music by American composers of African descent, Czech label Nibiru continue their Zelenka series with a World Premiere recording of his Missa Sanctae Caeciliae, while another MSR Classics release showcases trumpeter Andrew Stetson in recent concertos by American composers.

Cellist Benjamin Whitcomb explores solo sounds by Robert Muczynski and Ernest Bloch on his new MSR Classics release, while Czech label Arta find period instruments in choral and instrumental Marian Motets with Capella Ornamentata and conductor Marek Stryncl continues his Dvorak series with Symphony No. 4 played by Musica Florea,