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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It surprised Stratton when Richie told him that a new generation of serious composers is coming, not simply from film and television, but from the world of video games. Stratton immediately decided they should talk about this phenomenon. -
In this episode of Entering Music, we posit the notion that the invention of music began humanity’s cultural evolution.
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Sometimes you meet someone who despite age and education just seems in sync with your wilder choices and enthusiasms. That’s what happened when Stratton met Richie for the very first time. The duo take time to remember their first encounter.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.