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Rob Cowan
Born in London 14th April, 1948. 19-year stint with Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishing (including 11 years as music archivist); a broadcaster for BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM (1992-2020); Contributing Editor, Gramophone Magazine; Member of the Royal Society Musicians; Grammy Award winner 1995 (notes written for ‘Best Historical Album’, The Heifetz Collection); Author of Guinness Classical 1000; Marries Georgina Gilmore in 1971. Two daughters, Francesca (45) and Victoria (42); granddaughter Elizabeth (5). Hobbies include reading (John Ruskin, Wallace Stevens and Emily Dickinson are particular loves).
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Episode 58: Antal Doráti in London, with producer Thomas Fine
14th Jun 2025
Two new box sets celebrate Antal Doráti’s London recordings for Mercury in the 1950s and ’60s. Rob Cowan is joined by producer and remastering engineer Thomas Fine, whose parents recorded the original sessions, to discuss some of the many highlights in the sets.
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Eugene Ormandy in Stereo
27th Mar 2025
Our guest-contributor Rob Cowan delves into a mammoth collection of Columbia Masterworks recordings which the Hungarian-born American conductor made in Philadelphia between the early 1960s and early 1980s.
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Play It Again, Steve - Minimalism and more from Steve Reich
11th Mar 2025
Our guest-contributor Rob Cowan explores a new collection on Nonesuch (released this coming Friday), representing six decades of Reich’s compositions and celebrating his forty-year relationship with the label.
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John Suchet on Beethoven
15th Nov 2024
The celebrated writer and broadcaster speaks to Rob Cowan about his eighth (!) book on the composer (published by Elliott & Thompson Limited last month), reflecting on why he finds the man and his music so endlessly fascinating and the solace which he has drawn from it during troubled times.
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Episode 55: John Suchet on Beethoven
14th Nov 2024
The celebrated writer and broadcaster speaks to Rob Cowan about his eighth (!) book on the composer (published by Elliott & Thompson Limited last month), reflecting on why he finds the man and his music so endlessly fascinating and the solace which he has drawn from it during troubled times.
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Episode 54: Manfred Honeck on Bruckner
15th Oct 2024
Our guest contributor Rob Cowan speaks to the Austrian conductor about his recent recording of Symphony No. 7 with the Pittsburgh Symphony, his long-standing relationship with Bruckner’s music, and the influence of the countryside & religion on the composer's musical imagination.
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Smetana's Complete Operas on Supraphon
16th Sep 2024
Our guest-contributor Rob Cowan explores Supraphon's complete edition of the Czech composer's eight finished operas plus the fragment Viola - made in Prague and Brno between 1960 and 1983, the recordings were reissued in July to mark the bicentenary of Smetana's birth.
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Carl Nielsen’s Brave New World
14th Aug 2024
Our guest-contributor Rob Cowan explores a new set of the complete symphonies from the Royal Danish Orchestra on Naxos, conducted by Thomas Søndergård, Alexander Vedernikov, Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle, Michael Boder, Paavo Berglund, Michael Schønwandt.
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Carl Nielsen: The Symphonies
The Royal Danish Orchestra, Michael Boder, Ruth Guldbæk (soprano), Niels Møller (tenor), John Kruse (clarinet), Royal Danish Orchestra, Thomas Søndergård, Alexander Vedernikov, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Simon Rattle, Paavo Berglund, Michael Schønwandt
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Episode 49: Berliner Philharmoniker's Olaf Maninger talks to Rob Cowan about this year's double anniversary
30th May 2024
Olaf Maninger talks to Rob Cowan about the 10th anniversary of the Berliner Philharmoniker label, and the 15th of Digital Concert Hall.
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Vienna Octet Old and New
19th Mar 2024
Our guest-contributor Rob Cowan explores two anthologies of chamber music which 'will bless your listening hours with countless joys'.
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Rob Cowan on Victoria de los Ángeles
15th Feb 2024
Our regular guest-contributor explores the Catalan soprano's collected recordings on Warner Classics, released at the end of last year to mark the centenary of her birth.
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Episode 46: La Divina - Rob Cowan and Alain Lanceron on the centenary of Maria Callas's birth
31st Dec 2023
Host Rob Cowan is joined by the President of Warner Classics & Erato, Alain Lanceron, to discuss La Divina’s legacy on record – picking out some highlights from her vast discography on his label along the way…
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La Divina - Maria Callas in all her roles
Maria Callas (soprano)
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Rob Cowan on Artur Rodziński
14th Nov 2023
Our new guest-contributor explores the Polish-American conductor's complete Columbia recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra - including a 'driven and impassioned' Shostakovich Five, and the world premiere recording of the Berg Violin Concerto.
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Rob Cowan on Robert Craft
9th Aug 2023
Our new guest-contributor explores the American conductor's complete recordings for Columbia, including music by Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Schoenberg and Webern...
