Stripping The Score

This week Joanna and Stephen are joined by a very special guest, Stephen's personal piano tuner, David Widdicombe. From concert grands, upright 'domestics' and honkytonks, David has tuned them all. Having worked with the world's most prestigious piano maker, Steinway, for 3 decad ... Show More

This week we’re diving into two bohemian heroes of classical music, Bohuslav Martinů and Leoš Janáček. Stephen remembers encountering the music of Martinů at Cambridge, and being confronted by the "pure simple joy" of it. From the lyricism of Martinů, we work back towards Janáček ... Show More

Which note could the Maestro not live without? Where are all the female composers? And is there a better quintet going than Franz Schubert's Trout? In this mini episode Joanna puts your questions to the Maestro. 

The soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen has just released an album of Richard Strauss, two late works – the Four Last Songs and the Closing scene from the opera Capriccio. On this new Sony Classical release she's joined by the Gewandhausorchester and Andris Nelsons. James Jolly caught ... Show More

How Mozart's Requiem, written when he was dying, has touched and changed people's lives. Crime writer Val McDermid recalls how this music helped her after the loss of her father. Hypnotist Athanasios Komianos recounts how the piece took him to the darker side of the spirit world. ... Show More

Escuchamos la ópera de uno de los compositores más grandes de todos los tiempos: Puccini. Con esta pieza pasó de un día para otro a convertirse en el sucesor de Verdi. Massenet ya había puesto música a esta historia pero Puccini la llevó a la italiana. Un relato que trata los ato ... Show More

Feeling tired? Need to unwind? Then how about some gentle, soothing piano music? Welcome to the Episode 9 of the third Series of Relaxing Piano Playlist! In this themed episode, I perform for you a number of piano arrangements from original works by composers including Bach, Moza ... Show More

The Bach Chaconne is one of the great masterpieces of Western Classical Music, and today we're going to be diving straight into this monumental work. We'll talk about the legends behind its composition, the work itself, different interpretations of the piece, and its many many ar ... Show More

Synopsis On today’s date in 1926, Giacomo Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, had its belated premiere at the La Scala Opera House in Milan, with Arturo Toscanini conducting. The originally scheduled 1925 premiere had to be postponed, as Puccini had died in November 1924, leaving Tur ... Show More

The cycle is complete! Would it surprise you to find out that Beethoven’s 9th Symphony wasn’t his last piece? Would it surprise you that he was actually considering an all instrumental movement for the last movement? Or how about that the second performance of the piece was given ... Show More

Imagine writing a concerto that prompted Beethoven to remark to a friend: “we’ll never be able to write anything like that.  Or a piece that prompted Brahms to call it: “a masterpiece of art, full of inspiration and ideas.”  Or had scholars and musicologists raving, saying things ... Show More