Dvorák: Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"

The next Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra seems to push the limits of his interpretations just to the brink without distorting the composer's vision. Get a glimpse of Boston's musical future in this recording from one of the great orchestra of Europe.

Hear Andris Nelsons's first concert as Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Designate

Kaufmann Sings Wagner

Kaufmann has been at the forefront of operatic stars of his generation for  a number of years. This celebration of the bicentennial of Richard Wagner's birth seals that status with a voice of extreme intimacy and cosmic power - precisely the combination necessary for music by the German composer.

Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1

The recent MacArthur Award recipient tests himself and his instrument in some of the most daunting music for a solo performer. The fact that Bach originally wrote these works for solo violin will be quickly forgotten when you hear Thile's ruminative slow movements and pyrotechnic fugues.
 

Hear Chris Thile perform and talk about Bach on The Bach Hour

Hear the extended Bach Hour interview with Chris Thile

Brahms: Violin Concerto

The Greek violinist emphasizes the fascination Brahms had with Hungarian folk music in this performance of one of the pillars of the violin repertoire, pairing it with a selection of Hungarian Dances by the German composer and two short works by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók.
 

Hear Leonidas Kavakos as both soloist and conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Peterhouse Partbooks, Vol. 3: Ludford and Mason

One of Boston's many local groups to have attained international stature, Blue Heron have gradually been  recording near-forgotten music from the English Renaissance. Metcalfe's emphasis on using the text of this choral music as his a guide to interpretation lends an immediacy that transcends the simple, glowing beauty music from this period often elicits.

Download WCRB's Classical Performance Podcast with Blue Heron

The Soviet Experience, Vol. 4: Shostakovich and Schnittke

The fall of the Iron Curtain has, in the minds of some, led to the relegation of much of Shostakovich's music to a category defined by its time. But the hyper-capable Pacifica Quartet shows that the composer's string quartets, along with many of those by his peers, speak to our own time and society in continually powerful ways.

Hear the Pacifica Quartet perform in WCRB's Fraser Performance Studio

Autograph

With a calendar based primarily in Europe, this French pianist may not be well-known in the US ... yet. In this survey of 23 short works, he exposes a soulfulness in music that might otherwise be consigned to light-weight encore status.

Bartók: Violin Concertos

Faust has an ability to inhabit the particular cultural and personal context of each work she performs. In Bartók's Second Concerto, we hear the composer's fusion of folk music source material and advanced 20th-century concert language through a sound that's at times dark and rich, and at others a steel wire. But in the First, which Bartok wrote before fully incorporating those folk influences, and in a time of intense personal turmoil, Faust's sound is plush, reminiscent of an older, pre-Great War universe of unchecked passion.

Hear Isabelle Faust perform Mozart with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood

Mysterious Boundaries

The title of this recording could have just as easily been "No Boundaries." McManus, born in Scotland and a resident of Canada, pivots from his well-deserved reputation for enlivening Celtic music into works by Bach, Monteverdi, Couperin, and Satie, making us wonder why anything has to be categorized as "classical" at all.

Song of a Czech: Dvorák and Janácek for Men's Voices

Antonín Dvorák and Leos Janácek are each popularly known for particular kinds of works. Dvorák for his hefty, rustic symphonies and folk-infused chamber works, and Janácek for blazing orchestral works and biting operas that point to a modernist world. A rarely heard and touching intimacy from these Czech composers of two different generations is delivered by the Minnesota-based men's choir in this recording.

Strauss Tone Poems

Strauss's tone poems no longer test the capabilities of orchestral players to the same degree they did when new. That in no way, however, diminishes the virtuosity of great orchestras who perform them. When combined with insightful interpretations that take the performances beyond the virtuosic, the results are thrilling. Honeck and Pittsburgh deliver on all counts.

Eisler: Lieder with Piano

Born of a time of unprecedented turmoil, Hanns Eisler's songs speak to the pain and despair of Europe's condition in the 1930's, all while maintaining a glimmer of hope. Goerne's rich baritone voice humanizes these rarely heard works.

Hear Matthias Goerne perform Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Adagio: A Consideration of a Serious Matter

In a compilation of works spanning the Renaissance to modern times, the early music ensemble opens with a "Miserere" by Bohemian baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka and turns to Satie, Chopin, Pärt, and others before concluding with Charles Ives's "Unanswered Question." It all happens with such ease and fluency that you forget about the separation of time and space among the composers, transforming perception into an experience of pure music.

Download WCRB's Classical Performance Podcast with Ensemble Caprice

Bach tells teh story of the birth of Jesus through six cantatas for the days between Christmas and Epiphany.

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We ring out the old year by revisiting one of the highlights of the 2013 Tanglewood season: Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, with mezzo-soprano Ann-Sophie von Otter, the PALS Children's Chorus and the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

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Harry Christophers conducts Handel's iconic oratorio in concert at Symphony Hall. Join Brian McCreath and Harvard scholar Thomas Forrest Kelly, author of First Nights: Five Musical Premieres.

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We mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the renowned British composer Benjamin Britten through his Ceremony of Carols and other holiday works, as well as traditional carols arranged by Sir David Willcocks, all performed by the NEC Chamber Chorus, led by Erica Washburn.

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Boston Ballet conductor Jonathan McPhee joins James David Jacobs for a guided tour through Tchaikovsky’s magical ballet score, with an extra helping of sugar-plum fairies.

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For their 25th anniversary tour of the US, the globally-revered vocal ensemble, directed by Peter Phillips, presents a sublime holiday concert at St. Paul’s Church in Harvard Square, presented by the Boston Early Music Festival and hosted by Cathy Fuller.

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Handel's Messiah with Boston Baroque

Martin Pearlman conducts Handel's oratorio in concert at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, with soprano Mary Wilson, mezzo-soprano Ann McMahon, tenor John McVeigh, and baritone Andrew Garland.

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Keith Lockhart, the Boston Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus take the stage for one of Boston's most cherished traditions. Tune in for your favorite carols, a few surprises and a visit from a certain red-suited fellow, direct from Symphony Hall!

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Join Alan McLellan for music and performances that make the season a unique experience around New England.

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Artistic Director Harry Christophers and singers from the Handel & Haydn Society explore a fascinating and eclectic selection of festive music, including carols by the “father of American choral music,” William Billings.

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Enchanting music and the eternally powerful story of the Nativity come together in magnificent medieval song and poetry from France, England and Germany, directed by Anne Azéma.

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Artistic director Anthony Trecek-King selects and leads a program of holiday favorites and unique arrangements.

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The award-winning choir from London pays a visit to St. Paul's Church in Harvard Square for a concert of radiant sacred music for the Christmas season.

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Boston Pops maestro Keith Lockhart joins morning host Laura Carlo to share some of his personal favorites of the season, many of which are contained on the brand-new CD, "A Boston Pops Christmas Live from Symphony Hall."

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Eternal Echoes for Hanukkah

The New England Conservatory's Hankus Netsky joins James David Jacobs for Jewish sacred music from diverse cultures.

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