Music to my ears
What the classical world has been listening to this month
Celine Byrne Soprano
I’ve been listening a lot to the soundtrack of Les Misérables, which I’m going to see with my daughter in Dublin. I hate the phrase ‘rollercoaster of emotions’, but that is exactly what it is! I was into musicals long before I even knew what opera was and went to see Les Mis both in the West End and on Broadway, drawn at first by the fact that it had an Irish star – the amazing Colm Wilkinson, who played the original Jean Valjean and then the priest in the 2012 movie.
The day after Les Misérables, I’m going to a concert that includes
Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, which my son has been studying at school. It’s wonderful for children to be able to feel the music come alive on stage and conjure up in their own minds the depiction of the landscape that the composer intended. The concert is being conducted by Sergio Alapont, who is wonderful. He conducted me in La bohème, and I’ll be fascinated to see him conducting a symphony.
‘It’s wonderful for children to be able to feel the music come alive on stage’
I adore The Smashing Pumpkins. I fell in love with their Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness when I was younger and it is still my go-to album – I have it on both CD and vinyl! Just as, when I sing Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème and I identify completely with her, everything on this album is so relatable to me. It has everything from gentle ballads to heavy metal, but my favourite song is ‘Tonight Tonight’ which has an orchestral arrangement that always gives me such a buzz.
And also…
I’m one of those people who fell into baking during the pandemic, as I had so much time on my hands. What I love about it is that, unlike normal cooking, when people are eating a cake they always get so enthusiastic about it and are so grateful. I almost feel like I should get a medal or something! I don’t do banana bread as it’s a bit boring, but would say that, above all, I am especially good at carrot cake.
Celine Byrne sings Mimì on Irish National Opera’s new recording of Puccini’s La bohème, released by Signum this month
Johan Dalene Violinist
I’ve always admired the sound of the Dover Quartet and was really pleased to meet them a few years ago and discover they’re lovely people as well as being an extraordinary ensemble. Their recording of Barber’s Adagio for Strings is a classic. I’ve played his Violin Concerto a lot but I’ve not really dug into the rest of his repertoire enough.
Because classical music is what I am all about, I tend to think and analyse it a lot when I’m listening to it for pleasure. It’s easier for me to relax when I’m listening to a style or genre I know very little about. Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly is something I often turn to when
I’m running or walking. It’s very different to other rap albums – he’s a poet and this sense of poetry runs through the whole album. It’s really refreshing and imaginative.
I’ve learnt from my violin teacher Per Enoksson since I was about ten and have always looked up to him. He’s now a concertmaster of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, but there’s an old recording of
him playing the Brahms sonatas which is utterly captivating. His musicianship is something I always strive for, and you can really hear it in these recordings. And also…
I go through condensed periods of reading, but then won’t pick up a book for ages. At the moment, I’m really enjoying Barack Obama’s memoir, A Promised Land, which is all about his life, his time in office and the difficult decisions he had to make along the way. I don’t know much about politics, but he’s such a good storyteller. Plus, he’s just a really cool person.
Johan Delane’s recording of Sibelius and Nielsen’s violin concertos with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is out on BIS this month
Jonathan Radford Saxophonist The violinist James Ehnes is a musician who I really respect. I just love listening to his playing. I always feel like there’s so much class in what he does; he has everything. There’s power and intimacy, it’s full of musical integrity, so virtuosic, intensely expressive and lyrical, and it always seems so fresh and spontaneous. I’ve been listening to his Korngold recording a lot lately, and the way that he plays his music is incredible.
I didn’t know about the composer Ruth Gipps before her centenary last year, and I listen to her music more and more. I started with a recording of chamber works and then I listened to more of her orchestral pieces – there’s a great recording by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Rumon Gamba on Chandos. She said at one point, ‘I’ll be famous after I’m dead,’ and I think we’re seeing that; she’s becoming something amazing.
Rudy Wiedoeft was known as ‘the Kreisler of the saxophone’ and was hugely virtuosic and prolific. He was a composer, teacher and performer, played everywhere and made lots of recordings. One was by the Frisco ‘Jass’ Band, and it was one of the very first records marketed as being jazz. But he wasn’t really a jazz musician, and that’s maybe one of the reasons why he was forgotten, because we couldn’t pigeonhole him. He’s been a massive inspiration to me.
And also…
I grew up up in the countryside in a small village in Suffolk, and I have since lived in Manchester, Paris and now London. I’ve always got this memory of being surrounded by space and the outdoors, so that’s something I enjoy rediscovering from time to time. The most recent visit to somewhere far from the city was to Durdle Door, the limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast, which was amazing. When you show the photos to people they can’t believe it’s in England. It’s such a magical place.
Jonathan Radford’s debut album ‘The Saxophone Craze: Homage to Rudy Wiedoeft’ is out on Champs Hill on 8 April