Naxos Classical Spotlight

The Military Music Appreciation Society was founded in 2008 by Roger Kennedy so he could share his passion for this music with other like-minded individuals.  The Society now has more than 5000 members, with new people joining every day.  In this podcast, Roger talks with host Raymond Bisha about the society and about his love for this music. This podcast includes performances by the Royal Marine Band, the Royal Artillery Band, the US Army Band, the Black Dyke Mills Band and the Band of the Coldstream Guards …. The opening and closing music features the Canadian Scottish Regiment Pipes and Drums, together with The Third Marine Aircraft Wing Band of the United States Marine Corps.

“As soon as I started playing jazz, I understood it was something for me. I understood that I had to combine the two musics.” These were the words of composer Nikolai Kapustin, born in Ukraine in 1937 and a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, the “two musics” being classical and jazz. From Kapustin's pen came an impeccable fusion of the two genres, with no trace of shallow crossover. Raymond Bisha introduces the programme on a recent recording that includes Kapustin's Second and Sixth Piano Concertos, with soloist Frank Dupree accompanied variously by the SWR Big Band and the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

Raymond Bisha introduces a new album featuring Beethoven's final three cello sonatas that are full of unexpected shifts of harmony and mood, virtuoso flourishes and experimental surprises, all of which defy convention. The cellist is Gabriel Schwabe, one of the leading cellists of his generation and a laureate of several national and international competitions; the exceptionally sympathetic pianist is Nicholas Rimmer. The first of their two volumes of Beethoven's complete cello sonatas (8.574529) was released in September: “I was totally engrossed by the duo’s warm, keenly articulated playing.” (Gramophone)

Vahan Mardirossian grew up in Armenia surrounded by music, an upbringing that has given him a broad musical perspective and a desire to explore all kinds of music.  In this podcast he talks about everything from his musical roots to his new position with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Pardubice with whom he now has an ongoing recording program that guarantees we can look forward to many more recordings.

Renowned both as a distinguished soloist with some 1,800 concerts worldwide to her credit and as a member of the Amadeus Guitar Duo, Dale Kavanagh is one of the most prominent classical guitarists of her generation. Raymond Bisha discusses her latest Naxos album that features a programme of her own compositions, both solos and duos in which she is joined by an octet of acclaimed, award-winning colleagues and friends.

Raymond Bisha's latest podcast introduces the twenty-four strings and forty fingers of the Guitalian Quartet in a programme from a new album featuring music from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and beyond. Effortless guitar technique combines with folksy wit and lyrical introspection in performances that will have your feet tapping and your ears purring.

Knighted in 1950, Sir Arthur Bliss was Master of the Queen’s Music in Great Britain from 1953 until his death in 1975. Raymond Bisha introduces a new album comprising both original works for brass band and arrangements of others for the ensemble that represent the breadth of the composer's output, from pieces of royal association (Welcome the Queen) to music for the concert hall (Kenilworth), the ballet stage (Adam Zero and Checkmate) and the cinema (Things to Come). John Wilson conducts the famous Black Dyke Mills Band, a highly distinguished contributor to the rich heritage of British brass bands. Bliss himself readily acknowledged the astonishing virtuosity of such highly disciplined amateur players, noting that “their rules are nearly as rigid as those of football teams!”

Raymond Bisha introduces the world premiere recordings of remarkable orchestral works by Maria Herz. Born in Germany, a resident of England and, her final resting place, the United States, her life was beset not only by two World Wars and ravages of the Spanish Flu, but also the attendant anchors of being a female, Jewish composer. Only two of her works were published in her lifetime. Now that her estate of manuscripts has been replanted in the Zurich Central Library, the renaissance of her engaging music has begun.

Join Rebeca Omordia as she continues her exploration of African piano music with her new album African Pianism, volume 2.  It is a collection of music that combines European music with the traditional music of many different countries in Africa.  The results are by turns joyous, beautiful and challenging as this music shows how classical music can be enriched by embracing other cultures. This multicultural heritage is also part of Rebeca’s own background, raised in Romania by a Romanian mother and a Nigerian father.

Raymond Bisha's podcast spotlights two classic recordings in the Vox Audiophile Edition that were first released in the mid-1970s and feature two former music directors of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in their prime – Walter Susskind, who directs orchestral extracts from Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride, and Jerzy Semkow, who leads a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, one of the most popular suites in the entire orchestral canon.