The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra centers a 20th century Welsh composer whose distinctive voice was influenced by both Vaughan Williams and the Second Viennese School. Four of Grace Williams’s orchestral gems, spanning three decades of her illustrious career, are performed on this program conducted by John Andrews. Four Illustrations of the Legend of Rhiannon (1939) is a suite that brings the …

Recent guests on Live from WFMT, violinist Paul Huang and pianist Helen Huang (no relation) present their second album as a duo. Following the critical praise for Kaleidoscope, the duo’s 2023 release featuring sumptuous Romantic Era works by Respighi and Saint-Saëns, Mirrors centers two violin sonatas composed during the Second World War. Paul Huang explains that both the Prokofiev Violin …

For their third installment of orchestral works by Ruth Gipps, Rumon Gamba and the BBC Philharmonic center the 20th century composer’s Symphony No. 1 and Horn Concerto with soloist Martin Owen. Dated September 1942, the First Symphony is a direct reflection of the horrors of war. The work demonstrates Gipps’s personal voice and features some wonderful writing for winds. Gipps …

Tenor Ian Koziara and pianist Bradley Moore spotlight art songs by Franz Schreker, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Viktor Ullmann, and Alexander von Zemlinsky, whose musical achievements were overshadowed by the oppression of the Third Reich. This album marks the first tenor-voice recording for almost all of these rare songs. The musical language of these early 20th century works is more Late Romantic …

Austin based Grammy-nominated baritone, trumpeter, and pianist, Michael Hawes (former Chicagoan and former member of Axiom Brass) has devoted his first solo album to the music of Florence Price. Hawes sings most of the selections with pianist Eugenia Jeong. Four of the songs are performed on the trumpet. A brass ensemble, which includes the distinguished trombonist Randall Hawes, Michael’s father, …

Lara Downes’s latest album is a deeply personal collection of American music she is subtitling as “A Path to Hope.” An artist renowned for her musical explorations off the beaten path, Downes celebrates the beauty of the American experiment while offering an unflinching acknowledgement of its flaws and failings, ultimately embracing the power of hope and humanity. The centerpiece work …

These performances are CSO music director designate Klaus Mäkelä’s first Shostakovich on record and shows off the Oslo Philharmonic’s pedigree in the music of Shostakovich, one it learned with former chief conductor Mariss Jansons. Jansons studied with Yevgeny Mravinsky, the Principal Conductor of the Leningrad (now St Petersburg) Philharmonic, the man who premiered no fewer than five of Shostakovich’s symphonies. …