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background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
Entering Music
Entering Music 2026
Stratton Rawson
Stratton Rawson grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York State midway between the Hudson River and the Appalachian Trail in the shadow of some the oldest mountains on earth.
See stories by Stratton Rawson
Richie English
Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Richie English has worked extensively as a pianist, teacher, and composer since childhood. He began studying piano at ten years old with Frieda Manes, and within a year was the youngest piano teacher registered with Denton, Cottier & Daniels in state history.
See stories by Richie English
Latest Episodes
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Safe Space
    In this episode of Entering Music, we posit the notion that the invention of music began humanity’s cultural evolution.
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Dmitri Shostakovich
    When Shostakovich found himself in besieged Leningrad during WW II, he started to write his 7th Symphony. He wasn’t terrified because he had already written his 5th symphony with Stalin’s gun pointed at his head.
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Liking Classical
    The truth is that the number of people who regularly listen to classical music is very small. If we could get people to listen, they would make a place for classical music in their lives.
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Gottschalk & Granados
    Touring could be dangerous, as both Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Enrique Granados found out when they were forced to make untimely departures from the United States.
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Instrumental Monsters
    There came a day not too long ago when Richie asked Stratton if he would listen to one of the greatest Rock albums ever recorded. How could Stratton refuse? The album turned out to be “Loveless” by the band, My Bloody Valentine. After Stratton had listened to “Loveless” Richie asked Stratton what he thought. Stratton replied, “I now know what it was like for listeners who were used to hearing Haydn’s Symphonies when they first heard Beethoven’s Third Symphony, the 'Eroica'. Nothing would ever sound the same again.”
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Oscar Levant at the piano
    Stratton didn’t think he had heard Richie right. Richie had dropped the name of a long-forgotten pianist who was once the best-known and highest-paid pianist in the United States. Radio made him a star. His name was Oscar Levant. So, Stratton said, let’s talk about him.
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Verdi vs. Wagner
    Stratton has often been asked if he and Richie ever disagree. His answer has been that, in musical matters, he can’t think of any disagreement, putting the emphasis on the adjective “musical”. Well, that was true enough until they decided to talk about opera by discussing the two greatest opera composers of the 19th century, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner.
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    In Their Own Words | Ray Davies & Hector Berlioz
    Composers are rarely happy people. How do we know this? Because a few composers have told us this in their memoirs. Two of the best are the Memoirs of Hector Berlioz and X-Ray.
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Neo Romantics
    Stratton often tells Richie how lucky they are because they have available to their ears over one thousand years of music. That’s why Stratton encourages Richie to introduce him to the popular music he pointedly refused to take notice of.
  • background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
    Frank Zappa & Van Dyke Parks
    Richie can’t really believe that Stratton has spent so much of his time listening to classical music that he has no notion of who Frank Zappa is or who Van Dyke Parks might be. But Richie knows that Stratton, who has a soft spot for Olivier Messiaen and Michael Tippett, is just the kind of guy who’d like the wild music-making of Zappa and Parks.