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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Nancy, our Music Librarian, was telling Stratton about a piece of music that she thought was “psychologically brilliant”. But what Richie heard her say was that the piece of music was “psychedelically brilliant”. Being Richie, he loved that description. When we explained that he got it wrong, he proclaimed, “who really wants to hear a piece because it’s psychologically brilliant, but anyone would want to hear a piece that’s psychedelically brilliant.” -
When Stratton asked Richie if he knew of a 20th Century composer whose music was reviled at first, but whose reputation is enjoying a reappraisal, he answered immediately, “Tim Smith, leader of the Cardiacs”. As luck would have it, Stratton claimed not to know Tim Smith’s name; nor had he ever heard of the Cardiacs. Richie sent him some files.
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Richie has often told us that Danny Elfman’s score to “Batman” was what inspired him to pursue music as his vocation. Stratton on the other hand discovered Danny Elfman not just as another very good film composer, but as a composer of what Stratton would call concert pieces in the best tradition of classical music. After reviewing Elfman’s unlikely journey as a music maker, Richie and Stratton discuss Stratton’s belief that Elfman has become a composer who is forging the future of classical music.
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Stratton noticed that Richie has a brother who is a working musician. He began to wonder about other brothers who both have made music their livelihood. In the classical period there were the Haydn brothers, Joseph and Michael. Then in the full bloom of musical romanticism two young pianists became the toast of Russia, the brothers Anton and Nicolai Rubinstein. In our time at least two successful “bands” were built around brothers; The Kinks featuring Dave and Ray Davies, and the British band with the warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher.
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JAZZ FUSION is a distinct strain of American musical practice; one that Stratton has largely ignored over a lifetime of music listening. Can Richie really catch him up by, once again, making Stratton apply his considerable skills as a listener to a genre of music that has enriched Richie’s own life?
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Stratton’s plan was to talk about pieces that reference “the sea”, except Richie wants to talk about pieces that he describes as “oceanic” instead. It’s all about what lurks below the surface.
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Richie introduces Stratton to jangle pop through three songs by the Scottish Band, Teenage Fanclub. To his own surprise, Stratton becomes a fast fan which prompts conversation about melody, craftsmanship, and the joy of the unexpected.
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Richie pushes Stratton far outside his comfort zone with "Fix Your Face" by the Dillinger Escape Plan, using it as an entry point into the genre of hardcore. The result is a surprising discussion about musical intensity, expression, and whether Beethoven might be classical music's original hardcore composer.
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What makes a piece of music feel like hope? Stratton and Richie explore works that shine as a "light in a time of darkness," drawing from music by Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Haydn, Handel, and Brahms.
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Richie claims that "Might Be Right" by White Reaper is a good example of what Mozart would be writing today if he were still alive and composing — and Stratton demands proof. Their debate leads to the exploration of the power pop genre and how great music transcends time and genre.