Latest stories
David Smith
David writes as an early music specialist for Presto Music and Early Music America, and sings with the English vocal groups Ex Cathedra and Armonico Consort and as a lay clerk at St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham, UK.
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Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)
22nd Jul 2026
The life and works of the great English composer Gerald Finzi - born in London but profoundly associated with the countryside of Southern England, and known for his nostalgia-tinged vocal and choral music.
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Presto Presents... Edward Picton-Turbervill and Michael Waldron
21st Jul 2026
The conductor and composer talk about Edward's music and influences, and his new album Eden, released recently on Orchid Classics and featuring some of his compositions concerned with nature and the environment.
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The Brass Band Story
14th Jul 2026
Trombonist and academic Trevor Herbert combines pleasure and business in a new deep-dive into the history of British brass banding.
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The Brass Band Story
Trevor Herbert; Yale University Press; Hardback
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Marc Sabbah on Bach for the viola
7th Jul 2026
The violist talks about his new album, featuring his own transcriptions of JS Bach's iconic six suites for solo cello, BWV 1007-1012.
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(Half of) Quatuor Zaïde on Reich and Dessner
25th Jun 2026
The quartet's two violinists discuss their new EP of contemporary compositions for string quartet, by Minimalist titan Steve Reich and his sometime pupil Bryce Dessner (perhaps better-known for his work with rock band the National).
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Reich · Dessner
Quatuor Zaïde
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Christopher Churcher on Moonrise
22nd Jun 2026
The composer talks about his new album of works performed by Somerville College Choir, recently released on Resonus Classics, and in particular his three Pride Motets.
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The Isidore Quartet on 'Adorations'
17th Jun 2026
The quartet's members discuss the works that comprise their debut album, and the influence of earlier generations of quartets on their own musicmaking.
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Adorations
Isidore String Quartet
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Maja Bogdanović on Anna Clyne and Osvaldo Golijov
16th Jun 2026
The cellist talks about 'Perfectly Free', her new album of concertante works by Clyne and Golijov.
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New Release Round-Up - 12th June 2026
12th Jun 2026
Bach from Mahan Esfahani and the Britten Sinfonia, Rachmaninoff from Karina Canellakis and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, a 70th birthday celebration with Sally Beamish, and a return to CPE Bach from Arte Dei Suonatori and Marcin Świątkiewicz.
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Taylor Scott Davis on his Requiem and more...
10th Jun 2026
The composer talks about his new album of works performed by VOCES8 and friends.
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Presto Presents... Helen Charlston and Sholto Kynoch
27th May 2026
In the latest episode of Presto Presents, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and pianist Sholto Kynoch perform and discuss music from their new album A Poet's Love, inspired by Schumann's Dichterliebe.
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Nico Muhly's choral works from Magdalen College, Oxford
22nd May 2026
The trebles and adults of Magdalen College present a year's worth of anthems, motets and other sacred music written (mostly) for them by Nico Muhly.
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Early Music Round-Up - Spring 2026
21st May 2026
Soulfully penitent Couperin from Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet, Bach from Le Banquet Céleste with cellist Julien Barre, solo vocal favourites by Purcell, Handel and others from Jakub Józef Orliński and Michał Biel, Alon Sariel's third album of 'plucked Bach', and more.
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Anna Urpina on 'Le Chant des Muses'
18th May 2026
The violinist talks about her new album comprising works from highly successful, but subsequently neglected, female composers of the Baroque era.
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Madeleine Mitchell on String Quartets by Charles Wood
18th May 2026
The violinist shares some of her thoughts on a new album of chamber music by Charles Wood, released recently on SOMM to mark the centenary of the composer's death.
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Nico Muhly and Peter Phillips on No Resting Place
11th May 2026
The composer, and the conductor of The Tallis Scholars, talk about their latest collaboration on an album of Nico's choral works.
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Nico Muhly: No Resting Place
The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips
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Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins reflect on 'Reflection'
6th May 2026
The violinist and composer-pianist discuss their album of music by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, the late Oliver Knussen and Watkins himself, released in February on Signum Classics.
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New Release Round-Up - 24th April 2026
24th Apr 2026
Late nineteenth century viola works from Timothy Ridout, a French opera premiere from György Vashegyi and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Britten from Julie Roset, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and Lawrence Foster, and Vaughan Williams from Roderick Williams and friends.
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Joseph Nolan on the organ works of Alkan
23rd Apr 2026
The organist talks about the first instalment of his new project - recording the complete organ works of the French Romantic keyboard sorcerer Charles-Valentin Alkan, known as much for his epic-scale piano works as for his organ compositions.
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The Complete Alkan Organ Works: Volume 1
Joseph Nolan (organ)
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Arvo Pärt from Eva Ollikainen and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra
17th Apr 2026
Four very different symphonic works show Pärt's imaginative and harmonic languages changing over time - from the modernist and avant-garde early in his career through to more pensive and spiritual works.
