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Founded as a budget classical record label in 1964 by Jac Holzman, head of the then-independent Elektra Records, Nonesuch Records has grown over the last five decades to pursue a broad mission, including classical music, contemporary music, jazz, traditional American and world music, popular and alternative music, musical theatre and dance. In a business filled with constant change, its leadership has been remarkably stable: two people鈥攖he late Tracey Sterne and, since 1984, Bob Hurwitz鈥攈ave been at the helm for 43 of those 48 years. The label has always been at the forefront of contemporary classical music during both the Sterne (George Crumb, Elliott Carter, William Bolcom) and Hurwitz (John Adams, Steve Reich, Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass, Louis Andriessen, Frederic Rzewski, Henryk G贸recki) eras. Petroc Trelawny meets Bob Hurwitz, Nonesuch鈥檚 current president and hears from David Harrington of Kronos Quartet.听 New York critic John Rockwell and The Observer's classical music critic, Fiona Maddocks, discuss the ongoing legacy of the record label as it celebrates its fiftieth year.

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As Schoenberg鈥檚 operatic setting of the biblical story of Moses und Aron is about to be staged by Welsh National Opera, the production鈥檚 co-director Sergio Morabito, conductor Lothar Koenigs and the two principal singers 鈥� Sir John Tomlinson (Moses) and Rainer Trost (Aron) give an insight into this rarely performed work 鈥� regarded as Schoenberg鈥檚 鈥渇ragmentary masterpiece鈥�. Although billed as an opera in three acts (with a libretto by the composer himself) Schoenberg only composed the first two acts. It鈥檚 regarded as the most challenging piece in the repertoire for an operatic chorus - WNO have spent almost 18 months learning it 鈥� and the role of Moses is written in 鈥渟prechgesang鈥� 鈥� half spoken half sung.

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Thirty years ago Hilary Hahn had her first violin lesson. Now, at the age of 34, she plays to audiences around the world and by the end of June this season will have performed in nearly fifty cities in fourteen countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

Hahn is a commissioner of new music and in her latest CD 鈥淚n 27 Pieces鈥� she asked twenty-six composers from around the world to write short-form works. For the final encore she held an open contest that drew more than 400 entries.

Hilary Hahn joined Petroc Trelawny in the studio on a visit to London earlier this month to talk about reviving the encore and artistic freedom.听

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As Daniel Barenboim announces that his new label will initially release recordings straight to digital downloads, and as streaming platforms continue to try and improve the quality and accessibility of classical music we explore how the classical music industry is faring in the digital age.

Petroc is joined by classical music critics Fiona Maddocks, Hugh Canning and John Rockwell to discuss.