Classical Conversations

In his new album "The Golden Age" for Decca Classics, violinist Ray Chen pays tribute to the great violinists of the past while looking to the future. Ray joins us to preview the disc, which includes classic arrangements of standards by Gershwin, Kreisler, and Debussy alongside energetic new arrangements of well-known works, created for Ray's virtuoso string quartet Made in Berlin.

Soprano Patrice Michaels, along with her husband James Ginsberg, founder of Cedille Records in Chicago, join us for a conversation about their ambitious musical project which profiles James's mother, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (a.k.a. "Notorious RBG"). The album, Notorious RBG in Song, includes musical settings of various texts, ranging from personal, intimate letters to hilarious recipes and scathing dissents, all sung by Patrice Michaels with pianist Kuang-Hao Huang. In addition to Patrice Michaels' own song cycle "The Long View: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsberg in Nine Songs," the disc includes songs by Lori Laitman, Vivian Fung, Stacy Garrop, and an aria from Derrick Wang's 2013 opera "Scalia/Ginsberg."

Cellist Amit Peled carries on the formidable legacy of the great Pablo Casals, both as the custodian of Casals' own cello and through his long-running project of recreating Casals' concerts. In his latest album, Peled and pianist Noreen Polera take on the two cello sonatas of Johannes Brahms – who also had a connection to Casals.

Opera luminary Joyce DiDonato joins us for a conversation about the star-studded album Hopes and Dreams: The Lullaby Project. An outgrowth of Carnegie Hall's Lullaby Project – which pairs pregnant women and new mothers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies – the recording includes contributions from Fiona Apple, the Brentano String Quartet, Lawrence Brownlee, Rosanne Cash, Joyce DiDonato, Janice Freeman, Rhiannon Giddens, Angélique Kidjo, Patti LuPone, Natalie Merchant, Dianne Reeves, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Pretty Yende, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Violin superstar Joshua Bell joins us to preview his new album, which features his first recording ever of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch. Also on the disc, a thrilling new take on Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor – a piece Joshua first recorded over thirty years ago with the orchestra that joins him for this recording, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein's latest recording from the Orange Mountain Music label is called Circles, and features the Boston-based, Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra A Far Cry. It also features two piano treasures, one old and one new: J.S. Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 7 in G Minor, BWV 1058, and a brand new concerto by Philip Glass (Piano Concerto No. 3), written especially for her. Simone joins WGTE's Brad Cresswell for a discussion about her new album and to preview some of the music on the disc. (photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco)

The young and dynamic American conductor Kazem Abdullah joins us for a conversation about his new recording of Maurice Ravel's masterful ballet Daphnis & Chloe.

Pianist Robert Prester has received wide acclaim for his jazz recordings over the years. Now he turns his attention to the classical genre with a new album called Rapsodya, which includes works by Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin, and Bach – as well as his own composition, the Sonata in F Minor.

Pianist Norman Krieger talks Johannes Brahms and samples his new album, which features both Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 (with the London Symphony Orchestra) and the Piano Sonata No.1.

Formed in Israel nearly twenty years ago, the Ariel Quartet is currently Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. We're joined by three members of the group to preview their debut album, which essays the String Quartet No. 2 of Johannes Brahms alongside Bela Bartok's String Quartet No. 1.