The Joy of Classical Music

In Part 2 of the Best Classical Albums of 2025 we will be hearing music from albums recommended by Gramophone, Substack writer Leah Broad, The Boston Globe, Apple Classical, and I Care If YouListen. Among the selections is an evocative album by pianist Julia Hamos called Ellis Island and the wondrous Yanga from YANGA: an album of Orchestral Works by Gabriela Ortiz. Countertenor Hugh Cutting performs Herbert Howells - Come Sing and Dance from Refound Pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra perform Elena Kats-Chernin: Ancient Letters: Movement 1 - Tiger Club from Ancient Letters Julia Hamos performs Meredith Monk - Ellis Island from Ellis Island Here’s Chris Thile performs Ciaccona, the fifth movement from Bach’s Partita No 2 in D-Minor from Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2 Sarah Alice Ott performs John Field: Nocturne No. 15 in D Minor, H. 59 Song Without Words from John Field: Complete Nocturnes Sphinx Virtuosi perform Quenton Blache - Habari Gani from American Mirror Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble perform Gabriela Ortiz - Yanga from YANGA: an album of Orchestral Works by Gabriela Ortiz.

Over the next 4 weeks, I’ll be playing a wide selection of music drawn from numerous Best Classical Music of 2025 lists. In this episode we’ll be hearing music from albums recommended by NPR, The Guardian, Gramophone, The New York Times and Bandcamp. Among the selections is a personal favourite - Hallelujah Junction, an album by pianists Lukas Geniušas and Anna Geniushene ROSALÍA - Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti from Lux ROSALÍA - Reliquia from Lux The Hermes Experiment perform Islands from Tree Lawrence Brownlee and Erin Morley with the Munich Radio Orchestra perform Giuseppe Verdi - Rigoletto: Gualtier Maldè! ... Caro nome from Golden Age Lukas Geniušas and Anna Geniushene perform John Adams - Hallelujah Junction: Movement 1 From Hallelujah Junction Les Kapsber’ Girls perform Barbara Strozzi - Che si può fare? from Vox Feminae Exaudi Vocal Ensemble performs Jürg Frey - Polyphonie der Wörter from Voices Lukas Geniušas and Anna Geniushene perform George Gershwin - Cuban Overture (Arr. for 2 Pianos by Gregory Stone) from Hallelujah Junction

Episode 135 of The Joy of Classical concludes our four part journey through the little known classical music genre of Music Inspired by Science Fiction. Following on from episodes 118, 119 and 122, this episode features music by composer Michael Daugherty and a little nostalgia as I examine my own love of science-fiction and the qualities it has brought to my life. Cincinnati Pops Orchestra performs John Williams - Lost in Space Theme - Season 1 and 2 Original Theme and the Revised Season 3 Theme John Williams - The Time Tunnel Theme The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra performs Michael Daugherty’s Time Machine: Movement 2. Future Percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra perform Michael Daugherty UFO: Movement 5 - Objects The Baltimore Symphony performs Michael Daugherty — Metropolis Symphony: Movement 2 - Krypton Theremin specialist Katica Illényi and the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra perform Alexander Courage - Original Star Trek Theme The Danish National Symphony Orchestra perform Richard Strauss - Thus Spoke Zarathustra! from 2001: A Space Odyssey The Danish National Symphony Orchestra performs Jerry Goldsmith - No Escape from The Planet Of The Apes The London Theatre Orchestra perform Ron Grainer - Dr Who Theme The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra perform Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek: The Next Generation Theme Christina Johnston and the Dvořák Hall Film Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra perform Star Trek: The Original Series theme

This episode of the Joy of Classical Music is all about Paramusicology, an obscure and niche discipline of musicology that examines the spiritual, non-rational, intuitive and metaphysical aspects of music. In this episode we will be listening to music by dead composers channeled via a spiritualist medium, music from the transcendental realm, music from the otherworld and music inspired by arcane belief systems. Rosemary Brown - Jesus Walking to the Water Vladimir Horowitz performs Alexander Scriabin - Toward the Flame Irma Glen - Quiet Waters Pianist Claude Lavoix and Soprano Francoise Masset perform Louis Aubert - The Nameless Country Jonas Salk talks about Intuition Tui St. George Tucker - Indian Summer: Three Microtonal Antiphons on Psalm Texts The Carnegie Mellon Repertory Chorus and the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic Orchestra perform Giacinto Scelsi - Konx-Om-Pax: First Movement Alan Hovhaness conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing his 1968 work Fra Angelico, A Fantasy for Orchestra

This brief 2 Part series about Aotearoa’s greatest composer is not in anyway meant to be a comprehensive account of his life and work, just a sketch that shows something of his evolution as a composer. In Part 2, Lilburn reinvents himself twice, first introducing something of the contemporary and avant-garde into his work before giving himself over to the new medium of electronica. Lilburn: “Music is not something to be bottled and stoppered and stored away. It’s a living flow...” James Judd and the NZSO perform Douglas Lilburn - Processional Fanfare, for 3 trumpets and small orchestra Ashley Heenan and the NZSO perform the Prelude from Douglas Lilburn’s Symphony No. 2 John Hopkins and the NZSO perform Douglas Lilburn - A Birthday Offering, for orchestra John Hopkins and the NZSO perform Douglas Lilburn - Symphony No 3 Michael Houston performs Douglas Lilburn - Sonatina No. 2: Douglas Lilburn - Soundscape with Lake and River