The Georgian-born pianist and composer – and a former Gramophone ‘One to Watch’ and Editor’s Choice recipient – Nicolas Namoradze has signed a recording contract with the Finnish Ondine label. The first fruit of the agreement is an album of solo Beethoven that includes two of the composer’s greatest fugues, the Grosse Fuge (the original last movement of the Op 130 String Quartet) which Namoradze has arranged for piano, and the Hammerklavier Sonata, Op 106, whose finale finds Beethoven writing one of his most dazzling examples of the form. The third work on the album is the earlier F major Piano Sonata, Op 54, which though not a fugue reveals the composer’s mastery of contrapuntal writing. James Jolly spoke to Nicolas Namoradze about the new album and explored Beethoven’s use of the fugue in these great works, and how the pianist, as composer, transformed the Grosse Fuge from music for four string instruments to a towering work for solo pianist.

This episode is sponsored by Concerto Budapest, and earlier this month Concerto Budapest and its Music Director András Keller celebrated the centenary of the legendary Hungarian composer György Kurtág with a special concert live from the Grand Hall of Budapest’s Liszt Academy which you can watch here on Gramophone’s website and also read an interview with András Keller about Concerto Budapest.

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In this week's episode of The Gramophone Listening Room, presented in partnership with dCS Audio, host Charlotte Gardner welcomes cellist Laura van der Heijden and horn player Ben Goldscheider to the studio to share two of their personal favourite recordings.

A video version of this podcast is available on the Gramophone website and YouTube channel

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In this special edition of the Gramophone Podcast, we explore the full list of winners from this year's Gramophone Classical Music Awards. Editor Martin Cullingford, Deputy Editor Tim Parry, Reviews Editor Gavin Dixon and Editor of Opera Now and Choir & Organ Hattie Butterworth talk through the Category Winners, the Special Awards, and of course the new Recording of the Year – complete with excerpts of every album.

Explore the awards issue available now.

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Gus and Lily from Apollo 5 join Hattie in the Gramophone studio to discuss their new album, Crossings, out now on the Voces8 label. Mapping a musical journey across the centuries and ancient pilgrimage trail the Via Francigena, the album takes us from Morley's English madrigals to Italian Renaissance polyphony and new commissions from Francis Pott and Apollo 5 soprano, Penelope Appleyard.

This week's podcast is sponsored by Concerto Budapest. On 11 October at 19.30, you can watch Concerto Budapest live on Gramophone.co.uk from Budapest’s historic Liszt Academy, in a special concert celebrating György Kurtág in his centenary year. Conducted by András Keller, a former student and close musical collaborator of Kurtág, the concert pays tribute to one of Hungary’s greatest living composers.

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In a special edition of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford travelled to Bergen to spend time with our current Orchestra of the Year, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, as they come to end of their year as holder of that title. He talks to Chief Executive and Managing Director Sigurd Sverdrup Sandmo about the orchestra’s history and its place in regional and national life, and then meets its newly named Chief Conductor Designate, Tabita Berglund. Throughout you can enjoy music taken from the Orchestra’s acclaimed recordings on the Chandos and Lawo labels, as well as from their opening concert of the new season.

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For this week's Gramophone Podcast, conductor Lukáš Vasilek joins Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about his fascinating new recording with the Czech Philharmonic of Honegger's Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher - Joan of Arc at the Stake – newly released on the Animal Music label. 

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Cellist Ben Michaels speaks to Hattie Butterworth about his new album on Delphian, 'for cello, by cellists'. Michaels speaks about commissioning cellist-composers, carving out a less typical career as a musician and the versatile identity of the cello.

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Roxanna Panufnik talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about her fascinating and moving new album of Love Songs and Lullabies, released on the Signum label, as well as about her approach to composing and creativity more widely. 

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The conductor Philipp von Steinaecker and the Mahler Academy Orchestra recorded Mahler’s Ninth Symphony in 2024 for Alpha Classics using instruments contemporary with the composer and employing historically informed performance practices. The recording attracted much attention and engaged a lot of music lovers’ imaginations. Now, the same performers have turned to the Fifth Symphony.

Gramophone’s James Jolly talked to Philipp von Steinaecker about his history with Mahler’s music and how the Mahler Academy Orchestra created its ‘Mahler sound’ both from its instruments and its pursuit of a performance practice that the composer might have recognised. (Conductor and orchestra are bringing Mahler’s Ninth Symphony to the BBC Proms on September 11.)

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In this week's episode of The Gramophone Listening Room, presented in partnership with dCS Audio, host Charlotte Gardner welcomes tenor Freddie De Tommaso and violinist Charlie Lovell-Jones to the studio to share two of their personal favourite recordings.

Freddie De Tommaso is a familiar presence on the world's opera stages, not least London's Covent Garden. Known for his verismo roles, he is an exclusive recording artist with Decca Classics. Charlie Lovell-Jones is a violinist who, beyond his soloist career, is concertmaster of John Wilson's Sinfonia of London. 

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In the latest edition of the Gramophone Podcast, composer Joby Talbot and the conductor of vocal ensemble Conspirare Craig Hella Johnson join Editor Martin Cullingford to talk about their fascinating collaboration: a setting of Mexican poet Octavio Paz's epic work, Piedra de sol, newly released on the Divine Art label.

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