Rob Cowan on George Szell's Cleveland Orchestra Beethoven symphonies
George Szell took over the Cleveland Orchestra in 1946, and, once he had created the instrument he needed, he started an extensive series of recordings for CBS (American Columbia, now Sony Classical). The focus was on the great works of the Austro-German repertoire and, needless to say, the nine Beethoven symphonies and a selection of overtures were among them (recorded between 1957 and 1967). Sony Classical have just gathered together the symphonies and overtures from the large 'George Szell Complete Columbia Collection' set from 2018, and are releasing them on seven CDs on December 13 and also digitally (already available). James Jolly went to talk to Gramophone's long-serving contributor Rob Cowan about the recordings, and also about George Szell as a conductor in general.
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22:40
Benjamin Nicholas on Gabriel Jackson's The Christmas Story
Benjamin Nicholas, Music Director of Merton College, Oxford joins Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about his new recording of Gabriel Jackson's The Christmas Story. This major new commission by the college, available now on the Delphian label, has been recorded by the Choir and Girl Choristers of Merton College and the Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia, and is an Editor's Choice in the latest edition of Gramophone.
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33:10
Thélème's Director Jean-Christophe Groffe on pairing John Dowland and John Cage
Thélème won Gramophone’s Early Music Award in 2022 with their Aparté album of music by Josquin Desprez, ‘Baisiez-moi’. Now they return with a new programme, also for Aparté, ‘All we get is life’, that brings together the music of John Dowland and John Cage – with an extra track featuring Sting in his song ‘Shape of my Heart’ which he performs alongside Thélème. James Jolly caught up with Thélème’s Director and one of his vocalists, Jean-Christophe Groffe, to talk about what made him bring these two composers together on a single album.
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22:51
Pianist Charles Owen on 'The Young Schumann'
The British pianist Charles Owen has made some fine recordings, securing a quartet of Gramophone Editor's Choice accolades for albums of Poulenc, Jonathan Dove, Liszt and, with the violinist Augustin Hadelich, a collection of Czech music. Now, for Avie, he turns his attention to the music of Robert Schumann from the 1830s, including Carnaval, Papillons, the Intermezzi Op 4 and the Abegg Variations. James Jolly caught up with Charles recently in London to talk about the album, how Schumann's fascination with the duality of his character infuses these early works, and also about the luxury of recording in a beautiful restored barn deep in The Cotswolds without having to worry about the strict timetable of a commercial recording studio.
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25:35
Alec Frank-Gemmill on Mozart's horn concertos
In this week's Gramophone Podcast, the horn player Alec Frank-Gemmill joins Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about his beautiful new recording of Mozart's horn concertos, released today on the BIS label.
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