Entering Music
"Entering Music" is a weekly BTPM Classical radio program and podcast that celebrates the joy of musical discovery across generations, genres, and lived experience.
Co-hosted by beloved BTPM Classical hosts Stratton Rawson and Richie English — respectively, a 76-year-old lifelong music enthusiast and a 36-year-old working musician. The program bridges two distinct perspectives united by their deep love of music and the desire to share it with their listeners.
Each episode invites listeners to explore classical music and beyond through thoughtful conversation, storytelling, and carefully curated pieces. New episodes air Fridays at 10 am on BTPM Classical, with many full-length episodes available on-demand wherever you get your podcasts.
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Latest Episodes
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The tale of the careers of two of the most famous women in the 19thcentury is now portrayed as a narrative of suppression and even oppression. -
Richie invites Stratton to listen to something he has actively avoided for 50 years – PUNK. There’s no telling how he’ll react…
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Stratton and Richie become aware that even sweet, joyful music-making can hide a suspicious, even outraged, personality.
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The Oxford Dictionary of Music claims that the term "virtuoso " is from Italian and means “exceptional performer.” By the late 18th century, it changed.
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At the turn of the 20th century, celebrity was invented as a substitute for genius, while the steady rise of the middle class meant the beginning of mass marketing and the establishment of “popular” music.
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Stratton asked Richie if he was ready to talk about the most vilified musician living in the 20thcentury. Richie asked Stratton if he meant Michael Jackson. “No,” Stratton replied.
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Stratton and Richie don’t generally talk about politics, but when Richie said he wanted to talk about “progressives,” Stratton, the old history major, got excited.
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After talking about Shostakovich, who often lived and worked as though there was a gun to his head, Richie and I wanted to talk about another composer who went silent for a long time.
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While watching an old film, Roberta, a 1934 musical comedy starring Irene Dunne and Joel McCrea with music by Jerome Kern, Stratton heard a great tune called “I Won’t Dance,” with lyrics by Dorothy Fields.
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After a lifetime of listening to recordings of great pieces of music that have been made note-perfect, when Stratton is seated at a concert, and he hears a mistake, it really bothers him.