The Joy of Classical Music

Jaksot

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  Ep 172 - Louise Farrenc - A Woman Beyond Her Time 14.09.2026 1t 12min

  Born in an age when women were largely excluded from the world of classical music, Louise Farrenc was an anomaly. Though her talent was considerable, talent alone was not enough to penetrate the male dominated institutions of the 19th century - and here luck was her side. Unusually for the time, her parents supported her in every way they could, as did her husband. Then there was her indomitable spirit. When she ran up against the common sexism the age, she stood up to it and beat it down. Sharon Su performs Louise Farrenc: Étude, Op. 26: No. 10 in F-Sharp Minor. Joanne Polk performs Louise Farrenc - Air russe varié. Linda Di Carlo, Amedeo Cicchese and Sergey Galaktionov perform Louise Farrenc -Cello Sonata in B-Flat Major, Op. 46. The North German Radio Symphony, Hannover performs Louise Farrenc - Symphony No. 3 in G Minor, Op. 36. Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  Ep 171 - New Adventures in Music 10 07.09.2026 1t 17min

  New Adventures in Music is a series within a series about the thrill of musical discovery and the joy of listening. This week I’m playing selections from new albums by composers Cecelia McDowall, Gao Ping and David Sisco, the Santa Fe Chorale and guitarist Sean Shibe. The Santa Fe Desert Chorale perform Shawn Kirchner - Sweet Rivers. The Rudolfus Choir perform Cecilia McDowall - A Tree is A Song. The Rudolfus Choir perform Cellia McDowell - Here Hum the Bees. Michael Houston performs Gao Ping - Wanderings. David Sisco, Laura Strickling and David Fung perform David Sisko - The Wrong Kind of Fountain Enthusiast. Santa Fe Desert Chorale performs Reena Esmail - The Tipping Point. Sean Shibe performs Thomas Ades - Forgotten Dances. Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  The Joy of Classical Music Ep 170 - Nothing but Nicolai Kapustin 31.08.2026 1t 14min

  Last week’s episode featured two Jazz influenced classical works by Ukrainian Soviet composer Nicolai Kapustin. Energised by the joy and verve of his style, this week I’ve decided to dig a little deeper into his repertoire and devote a whole episode to his music. Nikolai Kapustin performs Kapustin – Impromptu No.2. Ludmil Angelov and Daniel Del Pino perform Nicolai Kapustin – Paraphrase on Dizzy Gillespie's Manteca. Frank Dupree and Adrian Brendle perform Nicolai Kapustin – Sinfonietta for 4-Hand Piano. Yuja Wang and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra perform Nicolai Kapustin – Piano Concerto No. 4. Frank Dupree and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn perform Nikolai Kapustin – Chamber Symphony. Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 169 - The Intersection of Classical and Jazz 24.08.2026 1t 25min

  This week I’m broadcasting from the intersection of Classical and Jazz and on the menu is a selection of jazz influenced classical works and and a classically influenced jazz work - that would be the featured work, Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige. And then there’s something else altogether, a modern classical-jazz fusion reimagining of Miles Davis’s 1971 jazz- rock fusion work Sivad courtesy of composer, violinist Hugo Ticciati and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra. Frank Dupree and the SWR Big Band perform Nikolai Kapustin - Toccata. Benny Goodman and The Columbia Jazz Ensemble perform Igor Stravinsky - Ebony Concerto. Marc-André Hamelin performs Nikolai Kapustin - Kapustin: 8 Concert Etudes. Hugo Ticciati and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra perform Miles Davis - Sivad (Arr. for chamber orchestra by Gwilym Simcock). Duke Ellington and his Orchestra perform Duke Ellington - Black, Brown And Beige. Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  Ep 168 - An Hour (or so) with Composer Andrew March 17.08.2026 1t 12min

  This week I’m talking with English composer Andrew March. Winner of the inaugural Masterprize International Composing Competition in 1998, we’ll be listening a selection of works from his extensive compositional catalogue as well as that Masterprize winning work: Marine – à travers les arbres. How Long Oh Lord. Marine – à travers les arbres. Amoration. Elegy on Sudden Loss. Eagle Wood. Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  Ep 167 - New Adventures in Music 9 10.08.2026 53min

  New Adventures in Music is a series within a series about the thrill of musical discovery and the joy of listening. This weeks new and releases include 2 songs from French tenor Cyrille Dubois new album So Poétique !, 3 selections from Doulas Moore’s opera Giants in the Earth, a track from the London Sinfonia’s new album Eden: The Music of Edward Picton-Turbervill and 3 tracks from a recent album by Australian pianist Stephen Hough called Postcards. There are 2 choral works by English composer Andrew March and the featured composition is David Sisco’s Patterns, a long form art-song about the often silent grief endured woman who had lost their loved ones to the First World War. Cyrille Dubois and the Brussels Philharmonic perform Gabriel Fauré - 4 Mélodies, Op. 39: No. 4, Les roses d’Ispahan Cyrille Dubois and the Brussels Philharmonic perform Charles Gounod - Ma belle amie est morte, CG 404 South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform Douglas Moore - Giants in the Earth, Act I: No. 1, Prelude, Act I: No. 2, Not a thing in sight yet, far as I can see, Act I: No. 3, Good morning, good morning! The Chapel Choir of Corpus Christi College perform Andrew March - Marian Antiphon No. 3 The Chapel Choir of Corpus Christi College perform Andrew March - Be Still and Know London Choral Sinfonia and Katie Bray perform Edward Picton-Turbervill - Spell of Sleep Stephen Hough performs Yu-Hsien - Spring Breeze Prelude Stephen Hough performs Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman - Mary Poppins Suite: I. Chim chim cher-ee, 2. Feed the Birds and 3. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Pianist David Fung, Mezzo-Soprano Elizabeth Mondragon, and Baritone David Sisco perform David Sisco and Amy Lowell - Patterns. Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  Ep 166 - Indigenous 03.08.2026 1t 4min

  This week, it’s a hour of music bridging Indigenous and Western musical traditions. There’s music from Brazil, Aotearoa, Australia and the United States and the featured work was inspired by the composers Wisconsin childhood in an Indigenous American community: Gloria Coates Indian Sounds - Symphony Number 5. São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Choir perform Heitor Villa-Lobos: Chôros No. 3 Hannah Darroch performs Helen Fisher - Te Tangi a te Matui Aunty Delmae Barton and William Barton perform Dreamtime Duet The Fort Smith Symphony performs Louis W. Ballard - Devil’s Promenade Du Yun and Raven Chacon - Sweet Land: Scene 1 - Introduction featuring Raven Chacon and Du Yan. Musica-viva-ensemble Dresden perform Gloria Coates - Indian Sounds (Symphony No.8) Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  Ep 165 - New Adventures in Music 8 27.07.2026 1t 6min

  New Adventures in music is a series within a series about the thrill of musical discovery and the joy of listening and among the new albums featured in episode 8 is Infrastructure: The Songs of David Sisco, 55 from pianists Katia and Marielle Labeque and Milestones from Hugoi Ticiatti and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra. The featured work, a 3-movement choral work called Cycle of Peace, is from Tenebrae’s new album In between: Choral Works by Jessica Ulusoy-Horsley. Pianist David Fung and Tenor David Sisco perform David Sisko - Where Memories Go to Die. Burnt Reeds perform Amber Ferenz - From The Mountains to The Sea: A musical journey across North Carolina. Katia Labèque performs Lili Boulanger - Trois Morceaux: I. D’un vieux jardin. Marielle Labeque performs Lili Boulanger - Trois Morceaux: II. D’un jardin clair. Katia and Marielle Labèque perform Fanny Mendelssohn - Vier Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 8: I. Allegro moderato Hugo Ticciati and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra perform Igor Stravinsky - Suite de L’Histoire Du Soldat. Tenebrae Choir perform Jessica Ulusoy-Horsley - Cycle of Peace. Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  The Joy of Classical Music Ep 164 - Three Works by Herbert Howells 20.07.2026 1t 25min

  This week it’s three works by English composer Herbert Howells - Here is the Little Door, String Quartet No. 3 "In Gloucestershire”, and the episodes focus - Hymnus Paradisi. Music journalist Simon Heffer described Hymnus Paradisi as “one of the great works of the whole musical canon, and one that stakes a claim to be the finest piece ever written in the English choral tradition.” Choir of King's College, Cambridge perform Herbert Howell - Here Is The Little Door Divertimenti perform Herbert Howells - String Quartet No. 3 "In Gloucestershire”. Heather Harper (soprano), Robert Tear (tenor), the Bach Choir with the King's College Chapel Choir and the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir David Willcocks perform Herbert Howells - Hymnus Paradisi.
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  The Joy of Classical Music Ep 163 - A Taste of India 13.07.2026 1t 9min

  A Taste of India This weeks the music bridges the musical traditions of the Indian Sub-Continent and the West. There’s music from a 2023 album called You’ve Stolen My Heart: Songs From R D Burman’s Bollywood, 2 tracks from the pianist composer Michael Harrison’s recent Evening Light: Raga Cycles 1 album, and two works from Indian American composer Reena Esmail. The 100,000 selling TaReKiTa and an epic 2023 choral work called This Love Between Us “Prayers for Unity”. Asha Bhosle and the Kronos Quartet perform R D Burman - Dum Maro Dum (Take Another Toke) The Oxford Choir perform Reena Esmail - TaReKiTa Michael Harrison and Ina Filip perform Water Jhala (Raga Yaman) Michael Harrison and Ina Filip perform Mahadev (Raga Bhupali) Asha Bhosle and the Kronos Quartet perform R D Burman - Nodir Paare Uttchhe Dhnoa (Smoke Rises Across The River) Juilliard415 and the Yale Schola Cantorum perform Rena Esmail - This Love Between Us "Prayers for Unity"
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  Ep 162 - New Adventures in Music 7 06.07.2026 55min

  New Adventures in music is mostly about new and recent releases and this weeks selections include two tracks from a 2023 album called Songs & Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog, 3 tracks from superstar pianist Hayato Sumino’s new album Chopin Orbit and a 4 movement work from Homegrown Melodies, the brand new album from reed quintet Burnt Reeds. From 2023 Sylvan Wind album Resonant Worlds, the featured work is a modern reimagining of the Cinderella story called Xenia and the Bishop by Serbian-American composer Aleksandra Vrebalov. Ghost Train Orchestra and the Kronos Quartet perform Moondog - All Is Loneliness Burnt Reeds perform Madison D. Bush - The Drive There and Back Hayato Sumino - Larghetto Hayato Sumino - Lydian Harp Hayato Sumino - Raindrop Postlude Ghost Train Orchestra and the Kronos Quartet perform Moondog - Coffee Beans Mary Beth Peil and the Sylvan Winds perform Aleksandra Vrebalov - Xenia and the Bishop. Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  The Joy of Classical Music Ep 161 - The Outsiders 29.06.2026 54min

  The Joy of Classical Music - Episode 161: The Outsiders. What is an outsider composer? Generally outsider composers occupy the fringes of the classical tradition. Creating music on their own terms, they are unconcerned with accepted rules, prevailing fashions or institutional approval. Some build entirely new physical instruments to reproduce the sounds they hear in their heads and they often create their own notation systems, scales, or tuning structures. That’s Moondog and Harry Partch, but Julius Eastman was a different kind of outsider, one made by conviction, circumstance and temperament. Moondog - All Is Loneliness The Partch Ensemble perform Harry Partch - The Letter Wild Up performs Julius Eastman - Stay On It London Brass and London Saxophonic and Moondog perform Moondog - Invocation The Partch Ensemble performs Harry Partch - U.S. Highball
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  The Joy of Classical Music Ep 160 – Nothing but Rachmaninoff 23.06.2026 1t 15min

  Nothing but Rachmaninoff The 1954 edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians said Rachmaninoff’s popular appeal was based on "uncomfortable" emotionalism and that his works lacked structural innovation. They predicted that he would soon be forgotten. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa performs Rachmaninoff: Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14 Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff: Siren: Lilacs, Op. 21, No. 5 Jussi Björling and the Stockholm Concert Society Orchestra perform Rachmaninoff - 12 Romances, Op. 21: No. 5, Lilacs Huberman Piano Trio perform Rachmaninoff - 5 Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3: No. 1, Elégie (Arr. for Piano Trio) Soprano Elisabeth Söderström and Pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy perform Rachmaninoff - Do Not Sing, My Fair Maiden The New Philharmonia Orchestra, Baritone John Shaw and The Cathedral Choir of St. Ambrose perform Rachmaninoff - Three Russian Folk Songs Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and pianist Kevin Murphy perform Sergei Rachmaninoff - Au! (A-oo (The Quest) , Op. 38, No. 6 Vladimir Ashkenazy with André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra perform Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
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  The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 159 - Big In Japan 15.06.2026 1t 9min

  This weeks it’s an hour of music by Japanese composers. There’s two choral works by Makiko Kinoshita, some Buddhist cosmology from Toshiro Mayuzumi, two avant-garde pieces by Michiko Toyama, one of Japans most beloved pieces of music, a tribute to the Ainu people of Northern Japan, the first Western style work by a Japanese composer and we close with Tōru Takemitsu’s November Steps. Hokkaido University Mixed Chorus perform Makiko Kinoshita - The Things I Dreamed Of Fumiaki Miyamoto performs Michiru Ōshima - Wind Plays the Flute (Theme from Asuka) The NHK Symphony Orchestra perform Toshirō Mayuzumi - Mandala Symphony New Symphony Orchestra perform Kiyoshige Koyama - Song of Ainu for Strings Yoko Greeney and Emily Cole perform Nobu Kōda - Violin Sonata in D Minor Michiko Toyama - Waka (Parts 1&2) The Heinrich Schutz Choir of Osaka perform Makiko Kinoshita - Seagull Saito Kinen Orchestra perform Takemitsu - November Steps
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  Ep 158 - New Adventures in Music 6 08.06.2026 1t

  We open with guitarist Sara Reichert and close with Forward into Light, the title track from composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s new album, Forward into Light. In between, we traverse a universe of new music by women. Sara d'Ippolito Reichert performs Ida Presti - Danse Rythmique Anne Vanschothorst - A Harp Note to Emily Dickinson Barbara Hannigan performs Hildegard von Bingen - O virga mediatrix (Arr. for Soprano, Pianos and Electronic by David Chalmin) The Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Esther Abrami perform Ina Boyle - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (To the memory of my mother) Anne Vanschothorst - I Haven't Told My Garden Yet Metropolis Ensemble perform Sarah Kirkland Snider - Forward Into Light
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  The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 157 - Strange Dreams Part 2 01.06.2026 58min

  This week, it’s more from the strange realms of unreality and the featured work is electronic pioneer Delia Derbyshire’s Invention for Radio No. 1: The Dreams, a work that sets recorded interviews of people describing their dreams against an electronic soundscape. Stephen Drury performs John Cage - Dream The Eric Whitacre Singers perform Eric Whitacre - Sleep Delia Derbyshire - Invention for Radio No.1: The Dreams
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  The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 156 - Strange Dreams Part 1 27.05.2026 1t 5min

  Strange Dreams Part 1 Dreams have long provided fertile inspiration for composers and over the next two episode I’ll be playing music inspired by those strange dimensions of unreality where the fortunate might find a truer sense of themselves. Ann Crumb performs George Crumb - The Sleeper. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales performs Toru Takemitsu - Dreamtime. Chen Yao - The Moon over the West River: The World Is But a Great Dream. New England Conservatory Philharmonia performs Gunther Schuller - Dreamscape. Lahti Symphony Orchestra performs Einojuhani Rautavaara - Piano Concerto No. 3: Gift of Dreams.
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  Ep 155 - Ukraine's Glory Has Not Perished 18.05.2026 1t 3min

  This episode of the Joy of Classical Music speaks to the resilience of the Ukrainian people in the face of 250 years of Russian aggression and oppression. The featured composition is Valentyn Bibik’s Cry and Prayer, a work of memory dedicated to the victims of the Holodomor. The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra perform Mykhailo Verbytsky - Ukraine’s glory has not perished. The Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra perform Myroslav Skoryk - The High Pass: Melody Violinist Solomia Soroka and Pianist Arthur Greene perform Yevhen Stankovych - Ukrainian Poem The Crimean Chamber Choir Perform Mykola Leontovych - Shchedryk The National Choir of Ukraine perform Yevhen Stankovych — Prophet from Passions for Taras National Academic Ukrainian Folk Choir perform Taras Shevchenko - My Thoughts Lviv National Opera performs Yevhen Stankovych - Earth, Give your Blessing from Folk Opera When The Fern Blooms. Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus perform Mykola Lysenko - Prayer for Ukraine The Academic Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine perform Valentyn Bibik — Cry and Prayer
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  The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 154 - New Adventures in Music 5 11.05.2026 1t 3min

  New Adventures in Music is a series within a series devoted to the thrill of musical discovery and the joy of listening. This week, there’s two new releases from Harmonia Mundi - Zachary Wilder’s Brooklyn Suite and The Toronto Symphony Orchestra: Béla Bartók and from that album, we’re featuring The Miraculous Mandarin, a controversial work that banned for decades across much of Europe. There’s also a song about Ruth Bader Ginsberg and composer Francis Poulenc’s amazing Concerto for Clarinet and Piano, a work that was commissioned by big band leader and clarinetist Beeny Goodman in 1962. Zachary Wilder performs Franz Schubert - Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795, Op. 25: No. 4, Danksagung an den Bach. Zachary Wilder performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492: Giunse alfin il momento — La clemenza di tito, K. 621: Ah, grazie si rendono. David Shifrin and Robert Blocker perform Francis Poulenc - Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. Patrice Michaels performs Dissenter of de Universe. 5 Opinions and a Comment. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra performs Bella Bartok - The Miraculous Mandarin.
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  Ep 153 - Henryk Gorecki Symphony No.3 04.05.2026 1t 5min

  This week I am doing something I have only ever done once before, devoting a whole episode to one piece of music - Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No.3. I’ll be playing the 1992 Nonesuch recording, which Robin Hilton, host of NPR’s All Songs Considered, described as revealing the "soul of the universe" in a "wondrous way”. Nonesuch Selects: Flea talking about Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No.3. Robert Greenberg - Music as a Mirror of History - Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 Nonesuch Selects: Sarah Kirkland Snider talks about Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No.3 The London Sinfonietta, conducted by David Zinman with soprano Dawn Upshaw perform Henryk Górecki - Symphony No. 3.