The Joy of Classical Music

For the next two episodes I’m going to be taking a closer look at some new favourites and this week it’s music from pianists Julia Hamos and Jeremy Denk, songwriter and composer Marc Blitzstein, soprano Isabel Schicketanz and Sweden’s Gavle Symphony Orchestra.

Julia Hamos performs Charles Mingus - Myself When I Am Real

William Sharp and Steven Blier perform Marc Blitzstein - The New Suit

Isabel Schicketanz performs Adam Krieger - Der Liebe Macht herrscht Tag und Nacht

Jeremy Denk performs Claude Debussy - Images, Book 1, L. 110: No. 1, Reflets dans l’eau

Avi Avital, Between Worlds Ensemble and Marina Heredia perform García Lorca, Solinís: Canciones españolas antiguas: No. 10, Zorongo

Julia Hamos performs György Ligeti - Etudes, Book 1: No. 4, Fanfares

Gavle Symphony Orchestra performs Max Reger - Romantic Suite, Op. 125

Last week's episode opened with Theory of Flight, the first part of the the first movement of Marc Blitzstein’s Airborne Symphony, a work I enjoyed so much that this week I’m doing something I have never done before, devoting an entire episode to one piece of music.

Leonard Bernstein, The New York Philharmonic, The Choral Arts Society and Orson Welles perform Marc Blitzstein: The Airborne Symphony

FIRST MOVEMENT
Theory of Flight
Ballad of History and Mythology
Kittyhawk
The Airborne

SECOND MOVEMENT
The Enemy
Threat and Approach
Ballad of the Cities
Morning Poem

THIRD MOVEMENT
Ballad of Hurry-Up
Night Music/Ballad of the Bombarder
Recitative: Chorus of the Rendezvous
The Open Sky


The Joy of Classical Music
Episode 143 - Part 1: New Favourites and Recent Discoveries

For the next two episodes I’m going to be taking a closer look at some new favourites and this week it’s music from pianists Julia Hamos and Jeremy Denk, songwriter and composer Marc Blitzstein, soprano Isabel Schicketanz and Sweden’s Gavle Symphony Orchestra.

Julia Hamos performs Charles Mingus - Myself When I Am Real

William Sharp and Steven Blier perform Marc Blitzstein - The New Suit

Isabel Schicketanz performs Adam Krieger - Der Liebe Macht herrscht Tag und Nacht

Jeremy Denk performs Claude Debussy - Images, Book 1, L. 110: No. 1, Reflets dans l’eau

Avi Avital, Between Worlds Ensemble and Marina Heredia perform García Lorca, Solinís: Canciones españolas antiguas: No. 10, Zorongo

Julia Hamos performs György Ligeti - Etudes, Book 1: No. 4, Fanfares

Gavle Symphony Orchestra performs Max Reger - Romantic Suite, Op. 125

Beginning around the 1920s, composers in American and elsewhere began imagining a new kind of musical theatre, a fusion of styles that borrowed from established operatic traditions, Broadway and popular music and culture, but whatever it was going to be, it wasn’t going to happen overnight, it would be something that evolved over time. Over the next few weeks I’ll be exploring the new musical theatre and some of the composers that brought it to life.

Leonard Bernstein, Choral Art Society and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Orson Welles perform Marc Blitzstein - Airborne Symphony: I. Theory of Flight

Steven Blier and William Sharp perform Marc Blitzstein - Stay In My Arms

Marc Blitzstein - The Cradle Will Rock: Scene 1 - Streetcorner: I'm Checkin' Home Now

Marc Blitzstein - The Cradle Will Rock: Scene 2 - Nightcourt
Marc Blitzstein - The Cradle Will Rock:Scene 3 - Mission Scene

Sheri Greenawald and the Scottish Opera Orchestra perform Marc Blitzstein - Regina: Act 1: Lionett

Gregory Mercer performs Marc Blitzstein - Sacco’s The Whole Shoe from Sacco and Vanzetti

Magdalena: A Musical Adventure Studio Cast Recording: Villa-Lobos - Magdalena: Festival of the River

Magdalena: A Musical Adventure Studio Cast Recording: Villa-Lobos - Magdalena: Finale: The Seed of God

The Hague Philharmonic perform Shostakovich - Mosow-Cheryomushki: Prologue - Meeting You Here We Do Not Want Superfluous Words.

The Hague Philharmonic perform Shostakovich - Mosow-Cheryomushki: Tyoplui Lane

The Hague Philharmonic perform Shostakovich - Mosow-Cheryomushki: Lidochka's Song

The Hague Philharmonic perform Shostakovich - Mosow-Cheryomushki: When I am Wondering Along the Streets of Moscow

Beginning around the 1920s, composers in American and elsewhere began imagining a new kind of musical theatre, a fusion of styles that borrowed from established operatic traditions, Broadway and popular music and culture, but whatever it was going to be, it wasn’t going to happen overnight, it would be something that evolved over time. Over the next few weeks I’ll be exploring the new musical theatre and some of the composers that brought it to life, people like Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein and Marc Blitzstein, but kicking it off, it’s the music of the incomparable George Gershwin.

Fred and Adele Astaire perform George and ira Gershwin - Fascinating Rhythm

Al Jolson performs George Gershwin and Irving Cesar - Swanee

The Juilliard String Quartet performs George Gershwin – Lullaby

Frances Lucey performs George Gershwin and Buddy DeSilva - Blue Monday: Has Anyone Seen My Joe?

Leonard Bernstein and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra perform George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue

Judy Garland performs George and Ira Gershwin - I Got Rhythm

Adele Addison performs Summertime from 1959 film Porgy and Bess, Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin

Robert McFerrin performs I Got Plenty O’ Nutting from 1959 film Porgy and Bess, Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs George Gershwin - Catfish Row

The final episode of the Best Classical Albums of 2025 includes recommendations from Gramophone, Classical Radio Boston 99.5FM, The New York Times and NPR. Among the selections is composer Arthur Bliss’s joyous and lyrical Cello Concerto and Seelentrost, an album from soprano Isabel Schicketanz that explores early Baroque music about the soul.

Avi Avital with Between Worlds perform Manuel de Falla: El amor brujo: Danza del juego del amor from The Song of Birds

Alessia Tondo, Avi Avital and Between Worlds perform Bella ci dormi from The Song of Birds

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra perform Arthur Bliss - Cello Concerto from Arthur Bliss: Cello Concerto

Isabel Schicketanz performs Johann Theile - Gott hilf mir, denn das Wasser gehet mir bis an die Seele from Seelentrost

Lukas Geniušas and Anna Geniushene perform Igor Stravinsky - Dumbarton Oaks Concerto: Movement II from Hallelujah Junction

The London Philharmonic performs Tania Leon - Pasajes from Tania Leon - Orchestral Works