Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

For this week's episode of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford sat down for an in-depth conversation with the wonderful soprano Ermonela Jaho, to talk about Opera Rara's new release of the final version of Puccini's La Rondine, as well as to talk about her path to the artist she has today.
This week's podcast is brought to you in association with the Pehlivanian International Conducting Competition, which takes place in Bled, Slovenia from November 7-14, and which Gramophone is proud to be the official media partner of. For more details, visit pehlivaniancompetition.com
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Anthony Roth Constanzo has not only released a new recording for Nonesuch, but he has written a book, also called Countertenor, which is published next week, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The album’s astoundingly eclectic programme embraces a world premiere recording of a new song by Osvaldo Golijov; arias by Philip Glass, Mozart, Vivaldi and Monteverdi; a traditional Hawaiian song; John Dowland and Thomas Morley lute songs; a Klaus Nomi-inspired interpretation of John Madara and David White’s ‘You Don’t Own Me’; and the classic Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ number, ‘Walk Like a Man’.
As well as being a highly acclaimed singer and opera director, with a remarkably broad repertoire, Anthony Roth Costanzo has, since June 2024, been General Director of Opera Philadelphia. James Jolly caught up with him by Zoom during rehearsals for a new Missy Mazzoli opera, Lincoln in the Bardo, which has just opened at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
They talked about the castrato, how the countertenor re-emerged from obscurity in the middle of the last century, how his own voice has led him in many unexpected directions and how his experience in, among other things, Baroque and modern opera, shapes the way he approaches his role at the helm of Opera Philadelphia.
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The Georgian-born pianist and composer – and a former Gramophone ‘One to Watch’ and Editor’s Choice recipient – Nicolas Namoradze has signed a recording contract with the Finnish Ondine label. The first fruit of the agreement is an album of solo Beethoven that includes two of the composer’s greatest fugues, the Grosse Fuge (the original last movement of the Op 130 String Quartet) which Namoradze has arranged for piano, and the Hammerklavier Sonata, Op 106, whose finale finds Beethoven writing one of his most dazzling examples of the form. The third work on the album is the earlier F major Piano Sonata, Op 54, which though not a fugue reveals the composer’s mastery of contrapuntal writing. James Jolly spoke to Nicolas Namoradze about the new album and explored Beethoven’s use of the fugue in these great works, and how the pianist, as composer, transformed the Grosse Fuge from music for four string instruments to a towering work for solo pianist.
This episode is sponsored by Concerto Budapest, and earlier this month Concerto Budapest and its Music Director András Keller celebrated the centenary of the legendary Hungarian composer György Kurtág with a special concert live from the Grand Hall of Budapest’s Liszt Academy which you can watch here on Gramophone’s website and also read an interview with András Keller about Concerto Budapest.
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In this week's episode of The Gramophone Listening Room, presented in partnership with dCS Audio, host Charlotte Gardner welcomes cellist Laura van der Heijden and horn player Ben Goldscheider to the studio to share two of their personal favourite recordings.
A video version of this podcast is available on the Gramophone website and YouTube channel
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In this special edition of the Gramophone Podcast, we explore the full list of winners from this year's Gramophone Classical Music Awards. Editor Martin Cullingford, Deputy Editor Tim Parry, Reviews Editor Gavin Dixon and Editor of Opera Now and Choir & Organ Hattie Butterworth talk through the Category Winners, the Special Awards, and of course the new Recording of the Year – complete with excerpts of every album.

Explore the awards issue available now.
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