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Edward Elgar felt his dramatic depiction of a man on his deathbed followed by the soul in the afterlife was his greatest music up to that point. It was controversial for being explicitly Catholic in England which still looked with suspicion on the religion in 1900. A new recording features the Huddersfield Choral Society which first recorded the complete piece in 1945 and whose story has parallels with the recent film "The Choral," in which a fictional amateur choir produces Elgar's masterpiece during WWI. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with the conductor of the album, Martyn Brabbins.
KBACH's First Take
Harpsichordist Gabriel Smallwood has recorded pieces by the young J.S. Bach alongside less famous composers found in manuscripts that Bach would have known while growing up. The album "Juvenilia" gives a seldom-seen picture of how Bach developed his own musical voice. Michael Keelan talked with Smallwood on First Take.
For more details, visit https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/juvenilia
Eugène Ysaÿe was one of the most prominent violinists in Europe during the Impressionist era of the late 19th to early 20th century. His original music is in that style but also uses the demanding techniques of virtuoso showpieces.
A new album from violinist and Royal College of Music professor Natalia Lomeiko features the accompanied works of Ysaÿe, just as dramatic and impressive as his familiar solo sonatas. Michael Keelan talked with her on First Take.
Cellist Michelle Kesler is from Gilbert and attended ASU; she is now associate professor of cello at Brigham Young University.
Conductor Kevin Sherwin has arranged excerpts of Karl Goldmark's 1875 grand opera
The Chicago-based ATLYS Quartet recently released a recording of the Sonnenberg Suite by Ari Fisher, music inspired by the Sonnenberg Gardens in upstate New York. Greg Kostraba chatted with two of the quartet's members, violinist Jinty McTavish and cellist Genevieve Tabby, about the release, the genesis of the ensemble, and their innovative process of remote recording.
Pianist Nathalia Milstein looks at the relationship between two of the most popular Romantic era composers, Tchaikovsky and Schumann, on her new solo recording. She plays Schumann's daunting Fantasie, Op.17 and Tchaikovsky's eclectic Six Pieces, Op.19, alongside her own transcription of a Schumann chorus.
Michael Keelan talked with her about the album, Alla Schumann.
2025 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an Afro-British composer and conductor celebrated in the early twentieth century. Conductor Charles Peebles talked with KBACH's Michael Keelan about this album with the Ulster Orchestra featuring some of Coleridge-Taylor's virtually forgotten works which show the wide range of cultural references the composer adopted.
Cellist and Arizona native Michael G. Ronstadt, a member of the multi-generational Ronstadt musical dynasty, shows off his classical chops on a new release of works for cello by the lifelong Ohioan Rick Sowash. Greg Kostraba talked with Ronstadt about the new release, his career, and how he was influenced by his Aunt Linda.
https://kickshawrecords.com/product/rsp-15-ronstadt-plays-sowash-vol-1/
Soprano Elsa Dreisig is featured in Mozart's Idomeneo under the baton of Simon Rattle in a new complete recording made from concert performances in Munich, the city of the opera's premiere.
Michael Keelan talked with her during her run as Mozart's Fiordiligi at Milan's La Scala, discussing her choices and approach for Mozart's dramatic roles.