Although the music of Polish composer Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909) is less well known than that of his teacher (Stanisław Moniuszko) and his students (Karol Szymanowski and Mieczysław Karłowicz), Noskowski was nonetheless the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland for most of the 19th century; he also introduced the idea of the symphonic poem to colleagues who would follow in his footsteps. Raymond Bisha introduces a programme of his Third Symphony and the symphonic poem The Steppe, Op. 66, which blends sweeping Romanticism with Polish folk spirit. The symphony is a journey through the seasons, while The Steppe evokes Poland’s vast landscapes with colourful hints of Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia.

In this podcast, Raymond Bisha unearths captivating performances of horn concertos by Rosetti, Vivaldi and Telemann. Did the latter have a few Steins of Alsterwasser to hand when depicting concertising frogs and crows? Listen on...

Valentin Silvestrov was forced to leave his native Ukraine after the Russian invasion of 2022. His music has a prescient quality that unerringly seems to express the fate of his homeland. Raymond Bisha introduces the world premiere recordings of his intimate Violin Concerto and the heartfelt, single-span Eighth Symphony. Notable for their economy of expression and emphasis on beauty, depth and harmony, these are works that hover on the edge of silence in an uplifting homage to love and humanity, hope and renewal.