Record Review Podcast

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Music
**Record Review Podcast**

Building a Library: a guide to the best recordings of the greatest classical music. Each week an expert and enthusiast brings along a wide range of recordings of a well-known piece. They explore the music and the different ways of performing it, ending with a recommendation for your library

Latest Episodes:

Sibelius's Symphony No. 6 May 15, 2023

Show notes

Mark Lowther nominates the best recording of Sibelius's sixth symphony

Handel's Coronation Anthems May 02, 2023

Show notes

Simon Heighes chooses his favourite recording of Handel's Coronation Anthems

Schubert's Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D. 485 Apr 24, 2023

Show notes

Sarah Devonald chooses her favourite recording of Schubert Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D. 485.

When he wrote his fifth symphony at the age of 19, Schubert was working unhappily as an assistant teacher in his father's school. But he was nevertheless on a compositional roll with songs, chamber music and four other symphonies to his name, all of which were performed by amateur and professional musicians made up from family and friends.

This genial, small-scale group gave the 1816 premiere of the symphony in the home of Otto Hatwig, violinist in Vienna's Burgtheater orchestra. And the jolly music seems to echo that cheerful ensemble, Schubert picking up from the classical models of 25 years earlier, seemingly oblivious to Beethoven's decade-plus of ground-breaking musical developments that were soon to become so influential.

Janáček's String Quartet No 1, 'Kreutzer Sonata' Apr 17, 2023

Show notes

Erik Levi chooses his favourite recording of Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No 1 'Kreutzer Sonata'

Composed in only nine days in 1923, Janáček's compact, emotionally supercharged String Quartet No 1 takes its title from Leo Tolstoy’s 1889 novella where a wife and her violinist lover play Beethoven’s 'Kreutzer' Sonata together before the jealous husband murders his adulterous wife. Janáček's music roils with the conflicted passions of tormented love, desire and jealously of Tolstoy's story. But there was emotional turmoil in Janáček's life, too. Long-fed up with his wife, in 1915 Janáček had fallen deeply in love with Kamila Stösslová who, happily married and 40 years his junior, made sure that Janáček's love remained unrequited. And if that was unfortunate for Janáček, it was surely lucky for us as he poured his feelings for Stösslová into music which blazes with a truly exceptional emotional intensity.

Britten's Peter Grimes Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

Kate Kennedy chooses her favourite recording of Britten's Peter Grimes

The opera Peter Grimes is set in a fictional small town that bears some resemblance to Britten's home of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, on England's east coast. It is a drama about outsiders and oppression. As Britten himself said, it was "a subject very close to my heart – the struggle of the individual against the masses. The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual". The score is full of great orchestral descriptions of the Suffolk coast and highly dramatic confrontations.

Handel's Water Music Apr 05, 2023

Show notes

Hannah French has been listening to recordings - old and new - of Handel's Water Music, whittling them down until she can herald the ultimate version to buy, download or stream.

Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances Apr 03, 2023

Show notes

Marina Frolova-Walker chooses her favourite recording of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances.

Chopin's Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor Mar 20, 2023

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Building a Library: Kenneth Hamilton chooses his favourite recording of Chopin's Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor.

Frédéric Chopin composed this glorious concerto in 1829 when he was 20 and before he had finished his formal education. It was first performed in Warsaw, with the composer as soloist. It was actually the first of his two piano concertos to be written. Like all Chopin's works, it is full of haunting melodies and thrilling piano writing. The nocturnal middle movement in particular is a golden moment, inspired by Chopin's romantic idolization of Konstancja Gładkowska.

Walton's Viola Concerto Mar 06, 2023

Show notes

David Owen Norris chooses his favourite recording of William Walton's Viola Concerto.

It was conductor Sir Thomas Beecham's suggestion that Walton should write a viola concerto for the virtuoso Lionel Tertis. But things did not go according to plan when Tertis sent back the music by return of post saying it was 'too modern'. So the 1929 premiere was given by Paul Hindemith (who had been sent the concerto by the BBC's Edward Clark) at the Queen's Hall, just around the corner from Broadcasting House. It was a success and Tertis, in the audience, relented. But although he subsequently played the concerto, Tertis continued to disparage it and was heard to say that Walton had 'murdered' the viola.

Despite its inauspicious beginning, Walton's Viola Concerto has long been recognised as one of his most important early works and is well established a cornerstone of an albeit limited repertoire. Perhaps the root of its appeal is to be found in its dedication 'to Christabel', the lyrical melancholy and poetic longing at the concerto's heart reflecting Walton's unrequited passion for Christabel, Lady Aberconway.

Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony Feb 27, 2023

Show notes

Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony with Gillian Moore

Olivier Messiaen's only symphony was written for an orchestra of enormous forces. The title comes from two Sanskrit words. "Lîla" means play in the sense of the divine action upon the cosmos. It also means love. "Turanga" is the time that runs, like a galloping horse and that flows, like sand in an hourglass; it's both movement and rhythm. The meaning of "Turangalîla" was best summed up by Messian himself as "a love song; a hymn to joy." He described the joy of Turangalîla as "superhuman, overflowing, blinding, unlimited".

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