Naxos Classical Spotlight

Mar 21 2025 100 ep. 24 mins 207

Naxos Classical Spotlight Podcast artwork

Naxos Classical Spotlight explores the world of classical music. Along the way host Raymond Bisha shares the stories about the music, and the musicians who make it.

Copy RSS

Subscribe on Podcast Addict

“The Earth is going to be fine without us.” Jake Runestad unpacks his Earth Symphony.

Mar 21 2025 26 mins

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 mes

Notker Balbulus, a mediaeval marvel.

Mar 14 2025 27 mins

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 elabo

Karabtchevsky on Villa-Lobos.

Mar 07 2025 20 mins

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. Ext

Weaving intellect with emotion: Daron Hagen's cantata Everyone, Everywhere.

Feb 28 2025 22 mins

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

The Queene’s Masque, a courtly collection for lute.

Feb 25 2025 19 mins

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 co

Pade, Krek, Batič. Denmark meets Slovenia to inspirational effect.

Feb 21 2025 26 mins

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

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

Feb 14 2025 29 mins

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

Sir Simon Rattle looks at Haydn’s Oratorio The Creation

Feb 12 2025 22 mins

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 (

Bach to Notre-Dame, Olivier Latry plays Bach

Feb 07 2025 37 mins

When Notre-Dame de Paris caught fire in 2015 the organ was not damaged - some would call it a miracle. In this podcast I talk to Olivier Latry, organist at Notre-Dame, about his album Bach to Notre-Dame which was the last album recorded at Notre-Dame before the fire. Latry was also organist when Notre-Dame reopened in 2024.

Giovanni Sollima explores the Bach Cellos Suites

Jan 28 2025 38 mins

Giovanni Sollima has been exploring Bach for as long as he has been playing the cello, and the journey continues with his new album dedicated to the Bach cello suites and pieces by other composers who were inspired by Bach. In this podcast Sollima talks about the Bach Suites, and his ongoing investigation of Bach’s music