Two historic box sets were recently released on the Eloquence label, dedicated to recordings the Hungarian conductor Antal Doráti made in London in the late 1950s and 1960s for the Mercury lable. Primarily focussed on his tenure with the London Symphony Orchestra, volume 2 also features the Bath Festival Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and New Philharmonia Orchestra. 

To discuss Doráti's time in London, I was delighted to be joined once again by Thomas Fine, son of Robert and Wilma Cozart Fine, the husband-and-wife production team who originally recorded these sessions. Thomas is the executive producer of these new editions, and personally remastered them for Eloquence. 

Together, we pick through many of the highlights included in the sets and learn how Thomas's mother became Doráti's trusted assistant—all thanks to a fateful sandwich! 

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Matthew Ash enjoyed a wide-ranging and free-wheeling conversation with pianist James Rhodes, coinciding with the release of new album, MANíA. In a coming together of two people passionate about piano music, they discuss everything from romance in Bach to a shared dislike of music as wallpaper. Think of it as eavesdropping on a conversation, and just be aware there are a few expletives here and there.

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Matthew Ash chats with Rufus Wainwright about the premiere recording of his Dream Requiem, the recordings of Verdi's Requiem that captured his attention from an early age, and some of the other inspirations behind his diverse musical explorations. He even mentions his dog, called Puccini. 

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Amid the plethora of Bruckner recordings released to mark the composer’s bicentenary this year, Manfred Honeck’s account of Symphony No. 7 with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (coupled with a new commission by Mason Bates) stands out for what BBC Music Magazine described as the ‘high levels of synergy and mutual comprehension’ between conductor and orchestra as well as the sheer beauty of sound from each section.

Our guest contributor Rob Cowan spoke to Maestro Honeck last month about his long-standing relationship with Bruckner’s music, how his previous life as a viola-player informed his approach to the string sound, the influence of the countryside and religion on Bruckner’s musical imagination and much more…

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Pianist Rebeca Omordia recently released her second album of African piano music, African Pianism Volume 2, bringing the classical music of native composers the attention it deserves. I had the pleasure of chatting with her to find out more about the music, its background, the qualities that make it uniquely African, and common ground with Western, and particularly English, music. I also enjoyed hearing more about this award-winning pianist’s career and her fruitful relationship with SOMM Recordings.

A new release with soprano Omo Bello, due on 18th October 2024, moves the focus to African Art Song.

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To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the London Symphony Orchestra's own label, Head of LSO Live Becky Lees, first violinist Maxine Kwok, and principal percussionist Neil Percy talk to James about how the label came to exist, the process of capturing live concerts for release, and their memories of some favourite recordings through the years.

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Another second-album episode! A follow-up not to a trailblazingly exploratory recording (as when we spoke to Heloïse Werner last episode) but to a quietly uplifting one, filled with spirituality and peace. 

The Poor Clares of Arundel appeared on many people's musical radar back in 2020, when their album Light For The World was released into the midst of uncertain and difficult times. Inspired by the daily life of the community of the Poor Clares, and mixing contemporary compositions with ancient plainchant, it was a huge hit - offering reassurance and comfort to listeners in a situation that could hardly have been imagined when the recording was made.

Earlier this year, the Poor Clares' second album was released - My Peace I Give You, drawing particularly on the Canticle of Creation written by St Francis of Assisi, the medieval saint whose lifestyle of deliberate poverty and rejection of worldly goods and activities was the direct inspiration for the formation of the order itself.

We talk to Sister Aelred and Sister Graca of the Poor Clares about the unlikely formation of a relationship between a cloistered convent and a major record label, the role of music in the daily life of their community, and how the releasing of commercial recordings fits in with their calling to a life of seclusion and prayer.

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Hot on the heels of 2022's Phases comes a second album from acclaimed young singer-composer Heloïse Werner, Close-Ups. Drawing together works by Bingen, Strozzi, the French Baroque composer Julie Pinel, and Errollyn Wallen, it also features compositions by Werner herself - including Les Leçons du Mardi, an acerbic, witty piece biting back against centuries of medical misogyny, and the title-track close-ups, a selection of wordless character-sketches that push the boundaries of song itself. 

We talk about how some of these works came to be, how Heloïse assembled her dream team of top-notch musicians and improvisers, what it's like to be a bilingual composer, and more. 

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This year the Berliner Philharmoniker celebrates two anniversaries, with the online Digital Concert Hall turning 15, and the Berliner Philharmoniker label marking its first decade. Rob Cowan spoke to Olaf Maninger, who alongside a busy schedule as principal cellist with the orchestra, is General Manager of Berlin Phil Media GmbH, and has been one of the key figures driving these innovative projects. 

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