Classical Interviews
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CRD at 50
30th Jun 2025
Siblings Tom and Emma Pauncefort join Presto to talk about taking the reins of the family label started by their father Graham, which is currently celebrating a half century of releasing music.
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Zlatomir Fung on Fantasies
25th Jun 2025
The young American cellist discusses his debut solo album on Signum, featuring virtuosic fantasies on operas by Donizetti, Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Bizet - plus his own astute paraphrase on Janáček's Jenůfa.
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Fantasies
Zlatomir Fung (cello), Richard Fu (piano)
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Christopher Gray on Lament and Liberation
23rd Jun 2025
The Music Director of St John's College Cambridge talks about his first album with the choir - built around James MacMillan's Cantos Sagrados and Joanna Marsh's Echoes in Time.
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Edward Gardner on the LPO, Tippett, and Britten
17th Jun 2025
The British conductor talks about his memories of conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the very first time, why he chose an opera by Tippett for his first concert as their Principal Conductor back in 2021, and his new album of works by Benjamin Britten.
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Leif Ove Andsnes on Via Crucis
16th Jun 2025
The Norwegian pianist talks to Matthew Ash about the challenges and unique beauty of Via Crucis, his long relationship with it and the pieces he chose to complete the programme.
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Ophélie Gaillard on Cello Tango
10th Jun 2025
The French cellist discusses her new album of music by Piazzolla, Ginastera, Gardel and others (released on Aparté in April), falling in love with tango during a tour to Buenos Aires, and why the milonga is the perfect place to let off steam after a concert...
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Magdalena Kožená on L'extase
5th Jun 2025
Ahead of the release of her new album with Mitsuko Uchida on Pentatone tomorrow, the Czech mezzo discusses their shared passion for Debussy - and how she fell in love with French song behind the Iron Curtain as a teenager.
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Martin Iddon on Hesperides
4th Jun 2025
The composer talks about his recent album of delicate, mysterious compositions, performed by the aptly-named Quiet Music Ensemble, released in April on NMC Recordings.
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Martin Iddon: Hesperides
Jack Adler-McKean, Quiet Music Ensemble
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Alexandre Dratwicki on Bizet and Bru Zane
3rd Jun 2025
On the 150th anniversary of Bizet's death, Bru Zane's Artistic Director discusses a new anthology exploring the French composer's lesser-known works - and outlines the label's plans to shine a light on some of his near-forgotten compatriots from the early twentieth century...
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Esther Abrami on WOMEN
22nd May 2025
The French violinist discusses her new album of music by female composers (released on Sony last month), featuring the world premiere of Ina Boyle's Violin Concerto and works by Chiquinha Gonzaga, Ethel Smyth and Holocaust victim Ilse Weber.
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Mariam Batsashvili on Influences
21st May 2025
Mariam Batsashvili's new album, Influences, is a chronological journey through sonatas that she holds close, spiritually and musically. Ahead of her BBC Proms appearance, playing Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on 27th July, she spoke with Matthew Ash about the new album and her connection with the music.
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Influences
Mariam Batsashvili (piano)
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Alon Sariel on Vienna Mandolin Stories
19th May 2025
The Israeli mandolinist talks about his new album with the Kölner Akademie, in which he takes us on a tour of the Vienna of Haydn and Mozart - making some new discoveries along the way.
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Dr Susan Lim on Cosmic Rhapsody
14th May 2025
The surgeon and scientist discusses the second instalment of the ALAN Trilogy (created with composer Manu Martin and librettist Christina Teenz Tan), which was premiered at the Barbican last month and recently released on Decca with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist.
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Germán Enrique Alcántara on Simon Boccanegra
7th May 2025
The rising Argentinian baritone discusses his recent recording debut on Opera Rara (which saw him stepping in to sing Verdi's troubled Doge at very short notice), his two transformative years on the Jette Parker Artists Programme at Covent Garden, and why it 'takes a village' to raise an opera-singer...
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James Ehnes on Bach
6th May 2025
The violinist discusses his new recording of a selection of Bach concertos with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra - an organisation which 'played a pivotal part' in his early life through tours, radio broadcasts and competitions for young artists.
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Aulis Sallinen at 90
30th Apr 2025
In the wake of his ninetieth birthday earlier this month, the Finnish composer talks to Ben Hogwood about how his style has changed over the decades - and why he's enjoying life at ‘tempo molto sostenuto’ in semi-retirement.
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Holy Week with The Bevan Family Consort
17th Apr 2025
Four members of the British choir of cousins and siblings discuss their new album of music for Lent and Passiontide Attende Domine, released on Signum Classics earlier this month and featuring works by composers including Alfonso Ferrabosco, Girolamo Giacobbi, Mel Bonis and family friend Neil Wright.
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Rosa Feola on Niccolò Piccinni
16th Apr 2025
The Italian soprano discusses her new album of opera arias by the Bari-born composer (1728-1800), who enjoyed enormous early success in Rome before relocating to Paris at the invitation of Marie Antoinette.
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Sean Hickey on Sapiens
14th Apr 2025
The American composer (and Managing Director of Netherlands-based label PENTATONE) discusses his dual career and the genesis of his new solo piano work Sapiens, released on Dorian Sono Luminus earlier this month.
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Jeannette Sorrell on Le Tre Soprano
10th Apr 2025
The founder and music director of Apollo's Fire talks about the group's new album, placing the spotlight on the all-female 'concerto delle donne' that arose in Ferrara towards the end of the 16th century.
