The Piano Music of Alois Hába

Florence Price’s abiding interest in the literary arts helps explain the extraordinarily large number of vocal compositions in her catalogue – well over one hundred – as well as the fact that she occasionally supplied texts of her own for these pieces. Conductor John Jeter discusses with Raymond Bisha his latest album of Price's music which comprises a dozen of these choral works, including Price's two significant cantatas – Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight and Song of Hope.

Collected for use in the chapel of Cambridge University's Peterhouse college in the 1630s and hidden during the Civil War, the Peterhouse Partbooks represent one of the most important manuscript collections of sacred choral music from the period. In this podcast, Raymond Bisha presents performances of those works by the Peterhouse choir, affording a snapshot of its chapel's distinctive musical heritage, with recently unearthed music heard alongside the foundations of a tradition still very much alive in today’s Anglican church.

Although the music of Polish composer Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909) is less well known than that of his teacher (Stanisław Moniuszko) and his students (Karol Szymanowski and Mieczysław Karłowicz), Noskowski was nonetheless the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland for most of the 19th century; he also introduced the idea of the symphonic poem to colleagues who would follow in his footsteps. Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of his Third Symphony and the symphonic poem The Steppe, Op. 66, which blends sweeping Romanticism with Polish folk spirit. The symphony is a journey through the seasons, while The Steppe evokes Poland’s vast landscapes with colourful hints of Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia.

In this podcast, Raymond Bisha unearths captivating performances of horn concertos by Rosetti, Vivaldi and Telemann. Did the latter have a few Steins of Alsterwasser to hand when depicting concertising frogs and crows? Listen on...

Valentin Silvestrov was forced to leave his native Ukraine after the Russian invasion of 2022. His music has a prescient quality that unerringly seems to express the fate of his homeland. Raymond Bisha introduces the world premiere recordings of his intimate Violin Concerto and the heartfelt, single-span Eighth Symphony. Notable for their economy of expression and emphasis on beauty, depth and harmony, these are works that hover on the edge of silence in an uplifting homage to love and humanity, hope and renewal.

This album with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra features music by Australian composer Liza Lim, with whom the orchestra has an ongoing relationship.  Over the past decade the orchestra has been involved in commissioning all three works on this album:  The Compass for orchestra with solo flute and digeridoo, A Sutured World for Cello and Orchestra, and Mary / Transcendence after Trauma.  

The music of Alan Hovhaness, one of America’s most prolific composers, enchants with his signature synthesis of East and West. Influenced by his Armenian heritage and a fascination with nature and spirituality, Hovhaness sought to create music “for all people, music which is beautiful and healing.” Raymond Bisha introduces the latest Naxos album of his works which features violinist Zina Schiff, a Heifetz protégée whose international career spans five decades on five continents.

There is a span of nearly six decades between the first and last of the compositions on this album of piano music by Czech composer Alois Hába, with works written during various creative periods and with differing intentions. As a whole, they document both the development of the composer’s musical thinking and goals and the diversity of approach to composing for the piano in the 20th century.

Vasari Singers, one of the UK's pre-eminent choirs, have titled their new album The Music Never Ends, referencing Michel Legrand and his celebrated song How do you Keep the Music Playing? And by the end of the album's twenty-one tracks, you'll wish it could be so. Raymond Bisha dips into the programme's multi-faceted offerings, while didgeridoo players should be on immediate standby to make a contribution. Listen up, and listen on.

Composer/poet Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1897. He went on to become a leading figure in the development of Brazil's classical music scene, as a composer, conductor, musicologist, and a professor of harmony in the National Music Institute in Rio de Janeiro, as well as other institutions. Along with Francisco Mignone and other prominent musicians, he was a founding member of the new Conservatório Brasileiro de Música, and together with Villa-Lobos he helped innovate music teaching in Brazil. His considerable musical legacy includes 48 songs, two symphonies, the orchestral suite Reisado do Pastoreio, the opera Malazarte, numerous chamber works, and around 80 piano pieces. A selection of the latter forms the basis of this podcast discussion between pianist Clélia Iruzun and Raymond Bisha.