This week journalist and author Jessica Duchen joins Holly Baker to talk about her new book Myra Hess - National Treasure, which is out now on Kahn & Averill. 

Extracts of music on the podcast come from the album 'Myra Hess - The complete solo and concerto studio recordings' on APR Records

This week violinist James Ehnes joins the Gramophone Podcast to talk about his new recording of Bach's complete violin concertos, recorded with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra, and released on the Analeketa label.  

The two-time Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet has seen stratospheric success in recent years across new and popular music collaborations. Hattie Butterworth meets the group as their debut album with Platoon of Ravel's String Quartet is released.

Music clips:

Ravel String Quartet – Platoon PLAT26294

Entr'acte by Caroline Shaw from Orange – Nonesuch 7559792609

John Weldon, born in 1676, was an English composer and pupil of Henry Purcell. Keyboardist Julian Perkins and soprano Anna Dennis join Hattie Butterworth to discuss the world premiere recording of Weldon's opera 'The Judgment of Paris', recorded by the Academy of Ancient Music and Cambridge Handel Opera

Maurice Ravel was born 150 years ago, on March 7, 1875, and he is the subject of numerous tributes this season. Bertrand Chamayou recorded the complete piano works ten years ago for Erato ('No one who loves French music or exquisite piano-playing will want to miss this' wrote Patrick Rucker in Gramophone), a set that incidentally has just been released on LP. So, by way of a supplement, he has curated a programme that weaves a handful of Ravel transcriptions together with tributes and memorials by other composers.

James Jolly went to visit Bertrand at his home in Paris this week to talk about the new album, but also to discuss Ravel's place in the pianist's repertoire. 

This Gramophone Podcast is given in association with Wigmore Hall

Tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Saskia Georgini join Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford this week to talk about their new album of Schumann Songs, Twilight, released on the Pentatone label. 

For this edition of the Gramophone Podcast Editor Martin Cullingford was joined by three of the four members of the French ensemble Nevermind - flute player Anna Besson, viola da gamba player Robin Pharo and harpsichordist Jean Rondeau - to talk about the group's new creative exploration of Bach's Goldberg Variations, newly released on the Alpha label.

This Gramophone Podcast is given in association with Wigmore Hall 

The baritone Benjamin Appl has recorded an album for Alpha that combines the music of György Kurtág with that of Franz Schubert. 'Lines of Life: Schubert & Kurtág' is the result of a long process that started with Kurtág choosing the singer for this unique project and working with him on the music, and finally producing the recording - and even playing the piano for Appl in two songs that close the programme.

James Jolly met up with Benjamin Appl – a former Gramophone Young Artist of the Year – to talk about the album, but also about another recording that's on the horizon, his tribute to his teacher, and one of the great Lieder singers of the post-war period, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the 100th anniversary of whose birth falls in May.

This Gramophone Podcast is given in association with Wigmore Hall

For this week's Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford talked to violinist María Dueñas to talk about her wonderful new album of Paganini's 24 Caprices - as well as works by successors who were influenced by the style - which is available now on Deutsche Grammophon.

The pianist Samson Tsoy makes his solo debut on record with an album for Linn, 'Inmost Heart'. Built around Brahms's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, the programme explores Brahms's fascination with the Baroque, but also how his music was later transcribed by Reger and Busoni. 

This Gramophone Podcast is given in association with Wigmore Hall 

James Jolly visited Samson at his North London home to talk about the new album, his journey from Kazakhstan to London via Moscow, and how he plans to incorporate music from the album into his concert programmes.