Vienna Mandolin Stories, an interview with Alon Sariel
Release Date: 06/10/2025
Halleluja Junction. American Music for Two Piano
Naxos Classical Spotlight
The musical partnership of pianists Anna Geniushene and Lukas Geniušas, both esteemed prize-winners of major international competitions, is not just a testament to their flourishing solo careers and a shared musical heritage and philosophy. It is a profound expression of their deep emotional connection, a bond that resonates in their performances and captivates audiences world-wide. With their unique synergy, this husband-and-wife duo brings a fresh and thrilling perspective to the world of piano duos, setting them apart from their peers.
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The Winter's Tale. Joby Talbot's music for Christopher Wheeldon's ballet.
Naxos Classical Spotlight
Joby Talbot has written music for several of Christopher Wheeldon's ballets including The Winter's Tale, the focus of this podcast, as well as Like Water for Chocolate and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In this podcast Joby talks about how he goes about composing music for a ballet and his ongoing collaboration with Christopher Wheeldon. The Opus Arte label has released all three of these ballets in a box set on both DVD and BluRay; they can also be streamed by going to the Royal Ballet and Opera website.
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From expressive intimacy to rhythmic incision. Music for guitar trio.
Naxos Classical Spotlight
This podcast introduces a recently released, diverse programme of works for guitar trio bound by the common thread of music inspired by stories from literature, stage or screen. Performed by the Volterra Project Trio, the album's seventeen tracks take us from the rhythmic exuberance and tragic beauty of Bernstein’s West Side Story to the evocative poetry of childhood in Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. The presenter is Raymond Bisha.
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Behzod Abduraimov plays Prokkofiev and Shor
Naxos Classical Spotlight
In his album liner notes Behzod Abduraimov writes: "I see this pairing as an opportunity to present two vastly different emotional and philosophical worlds within the same album. I want to offer listeners a striking contrast: the depth and complexity of Prokofiev’s world against Shor’s more lyrical and accessible approach. Each piece reflects different facets of the human experience, and I believe there is value in sharing this diversity of sentiment, texture, and mood. I hope this pairing brings something refreshing and thought-provoking to listeners.
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Transcription addiction. Liszt refashions Mozart and Donizetti.
Naxos Classical Spotlight
In his later years, Liszt increasingly pursued his favoured causes by using piano transcriptions of other composers' works; and his own symphonic poems appeared as transcriptions from the 1850s. In 1865 Liszt famously complained to Hans von Bülow that “I have better things to do with my time than transcribe, paraphrase, and illustrate, and from now on I will be more discriminating in this recreation.” This declaration, however, was not rigorously pursued, and the lucrative activity continued to support Liszt and his causes all his life. Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of Mozart and...
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Vienna Mandolin Stories, an interview with Alon Sariel
Naxos Classical Spotlight
This project by Alon Sariel and the Kölner Akademie celebrates the versatility of the mandolin on the cusp of the classical period. However, the (hi)story of the mandolin in Vienna is surprisingly different from elsewhere in Europe, and in some cases we are still discovering new astonishing aspects. In contrast to the rest of Europe, Vienna seems to have almost completely ignored the popularity of the new Neapolitan mandolin type (four courses of strings over a movable bridge, tuned as the violin) in the 1760s and 1770s. When this popularity in the rest of Europe started to decline in the...
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Weigl's Third Symphony. A long overdue premiere.
Naxos Classical Spotlight
This podcast introduces two works by Karl Weigl (1881-1949), his Symphony No. 3 and the Symphonic Prelude to a Tragedy. Both were written at the beginning of the 1930s but then suffered from decades of neglect. Weigl drew on the sound world of late Romanticism, never abandoning this aesthetic in favour of more progressive contemporary trends. Happily, his distinctive style can now be savoured in these long-awaited world premiere recordings. Raymond Bisha presents.
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Peter Jablonski Plays Ronald Stevenson
Naxos Classical Spotlight
Ronald Stevenson was a virtuoso pianist as well as being a prolific composer and arranger whose music is featured on a new album with pianist Peter Jablonski. In this podcast Peter Jablonski talks about his recent album of some of Stevenson's works, especially his arrangements for the piano of music by composers such as Britten, Purcell, Paderewski, Mozart and Wagner. As Jablonski says in his interview, Ronald Stevenson was an extraordinary musician who also understood the capabilities of the piano as few composers do.
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Florence Price. The concertos.
Naxos Classical Spotlight
Conductor John Jeter has been central to the rediscovery and representation of Florence Price's orchestral works. In this podcast, he discusses with Raymond Bisha his latest recording of her piano concerto and her two violin concertos, the only works she composed in the genre. The early First Violin Concerto, with shades of Tchaikovsky and undertones of the blues, stands in contrast to the Second, written shortly before her death, more dramatic, contemporary and compact. The Piano Concerto in One Movement, which Price herself performed, contains some of her most beautiful music set alongside...
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Lepo Sumera. At the forefront of Estonian music
Naxos Classical Spotlight
Lepo Sumera (1950–2000) was one of the most important figures in Estonian music following World War Two. He might also be considered one of the most important European symphonists during the last quarter of the 20th century, when he wrote his impressive series of six symphonies that embody imaginative orchestral colour and a skilful sense of structure. Raymond Bisha introduces a new album of Sumera's music performed by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra under their music director and chief conductor Olari Elts. This first in a series of recordings of all Sumera's symphonies ...
info_outlineThis project by Alon Sariel and the Kölner Akademie celebrates the versatility of the mandolin on the cusp of the classical period. However, the (hi)story of the mandolin in Vienna is surprisingly different from elsewhere in Europe, and in some cases we are still discovering new astonishing aspects. In contrast to the rest of Europe, Vienna seems to have almost completely ignored the popularity of the new Neapolitan mandolin type (four courses of strings over a movable bridge, tuned as the violin) in the 1760s and 1770s. When this popularity in the rest of Europe started to decline in the 1780s, Vienna suddenly joined the ranks of mandolin-loving audiences.