Johann Sebastian Bach meets the Theorbo, Lutenist Yasunori Imamura plays transcriptions of Bach

Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi’s reputation was established in 1932 when his Partita (8.572411) won critical acclaim. Three years later he premiered the first of his eight Concertos for Orchestra which secured his reputation outside of Italy. Raymond Bisha delves into a new release of the first three of those concertos performed by the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma and conducted by Francesco La Vecchia.

Raymond Bisha introduces the third instalment of a collectable series of seven albums showcasing Ukraine-born composer Alexey Shor’s appealing personal style and superb craftsmanship. The programme features vivid portraits of literary figures for piano (Behzod Abduraimov) and orchestra (Kyiv Virtuosi), similarly an homage to Glinka, and a dazzling concerto for flute (Jasmine Choi). The conductors are Dmitry Yablonsky and Massimiliano Caldi. Commenting on a previous album of Shor's music (8.579061), MusicWeb International noted how Shor's popularity “is easy to understand. His idiom is highly melodic, lively, varied, deftly orchestrated – and could have been written at almost any time in the last century. His gift seems to be for the miniature, and he invests his pieces with great variety.”

Born in 1986, Jake Runestad is a versatile and prolific young composer whose visceral music and charismatic personality have fostered a busy schedule of national and international commissions, residencies, workshops, and speaking engagements, enabling him to be one of the youngest full-time composers in the world. In this podcast he discusses with Raymond Bisha the profound message behind his Earth Symphony, as Mother Earth recounts mankind's evolution, to lust for power and progress, to the impact this has had on the planet, and how she will move on after all that we have managed to inflict on her.

Notker Balbulus (c.840-912), also known as Notker of St Gall or Notker the Stammerer, was a renowned Benedictine monk at the Abbey of St Gall in Switzerland who made substantial contributions to both the music and literature of his time. In this podcast Michael Alan Anderson, musical director of Schola Antiqua of Chicago, explains to Raymond Bisha the challenges of marrying elaborate melodies with threadbare musical notation to unravel the mediaeval mysteries behind plainsong performance.

Since the 1970s, Brazilian conductor Isaac Karabtchevsky has steadfastly developed one of the most brilliant careers across the Brazilian and international music scenes, The Guardian in 2009 hailing him as one of Brazil's living icons. He's heard in this podcast In conversation with Raymond Bisha, discussing the music of fellow Brazilian icon, the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Extracts from Karabtchevsky's recordings of Villa-Lobos' complete symphonies (8.506039) and cello concertos (8.574531) amplify the composer's attachment to his country's musical heritage and the conductor's assiduous scholarly approach to its performance.

American composer Daron Hagen talks about his cantata Everyone, Everywhere in conversation with Raymond Bisha. Composed In 2023 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Hagen found impetus in the contemporary political status of his own nation to recontextualise the declaration's dry language and enable him to convey its emotional essence (“as a citizen, a person and a father”). Also drawing on texts by a range of significant historical figures, this sweeping work for choir, vocal soloists and orchestra marries intellect and emotion in a passionate cry for justice and peace, and in a way that only music can.

A delightful collection of lute music from the courts of Queen  Elizabeth I and King James I, played by Italian lutenist Elisa La Marca.  This was a time of incredible cultural richness in England brought forth composers such as John Dowland and writers such as William Shakespeare.  Because the lute was one of the favoured instruments in court during this time, many of the best composers of the time either played the lute or wrote music for it.

In this podcast, Raymond Bisha discusses a new album from the Danish National Vocal Ensemble with their chief conductor, Slovenian Martina Batič. The programme similarly melds the two nations in a programme of choral music by Slovenian composer Uroš Krek (1922-2008) and Danish composer Else Marie Pade (1924-2016), the latter a pioneer in electronic music whose greatest religious work Maria is scored for coloratura soprano, bass baritone, speaking choir, 7 trombones and electronic sounds.

Yasunori Imamura, whose recording of Bach’s complete lute works has been described as a ‘magnificent interpretation’ (Naxos 8.573936–37), turns his attention to the Cello Suites. Imamura has chosen to perform these iconic suites on the theorbo, the most important plucked instrument in the lute family, with a range very similar to the cello. Certain technical elements, such as the playing of arpeggios are, in fact, easier on the theorbo whose unique timbres and resonances bring a new sonic quality to these much-loved works. This album includes cello suites 1, 4 and 5.

To mark his inauguration as Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle chose Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation. After two concerts on September 21 and 22, 2023 in Munich's Herkulessaal, the work was performed on September 24 in the historic basilica of Ottobeuren in Upper Swabia, together with the three outstanding soloists Lucy Crowe (soprano), Benjamin Bruns (tenor) and Christian Gerhaher (baritone). This album comes from these inaugural concerts.