BBC 100 - Celebrating Our Orchestras And Choirs

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BBC Concert Orchestra

20220212

Ian Skelly presents a concert live from Watford Colosseum conducted by the orchestra's principal guest conductor Anna-Maria Helsing. They are joined by singer Clare Teal, and leader Nathaniel Anderson-Frank plays Vaughan Williams's ever-popular Lark Ascending. The concert also features light music by Eric Coates from the early days of the BBC and there's music by the orchestra's former associate composers Guy Barker and Anne Dudley, including the first performance of a suite from her film score for Elle. Plus music from a winner of the BBC Young Composer Competition.

Coates: The Merrymakers

Anne Dudley: Musique d'Elle (first performance)

Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending

INTERVAL

Arnold: Beckus the Dandipratt

Xia Leon Sloane: brink

Rodgers and Hammerstein: It might as well be spring

Artie Butler, arr Jonny Mandel: Here's To Life

Wayne Shorter, arr Guy Barker: Nefertiti

Coates: London Suite (London Every Day)

Live from Watford Colosseum, presented by Ian Skelly. With guest singer Clare Teal.

A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra

BBC National Orchestra Of Wales

20220212

As part of Radio 3's weekend looking ahead to the BBC Centenary in October 2022, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft take us on a journey through 100 years of music. From Sebastian Hilli's 2020 response to tragedy in the pandemic, Miracle, we travel all the way back to Stravinsky's 1920 ballet Pulcinella, the composer's self-confessed 'discovery of the past'. Along the way we encounter Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, the piece that won him a Pulitzer prize, and Grace Williams's Elegy for String Orchestra, a work that the orchestra premiered in 1936, when it was a nascent ensemble of just 20 players.

Presented by Nicola Heywood Thomas, live from BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff.

Sebastian Hilli: Miracle

Copland: Appalachian Spring (suite)

1.50pm

Interval music

2.10pm

G Williams: Elegy for String Orchestra

Stravinsky: Pulcinella (suite)

Ryan Bancroft (conductor)

Ryan Bancroft conducts the BBC NOW in Hilli, Copland, Williams and Stravinsky.

A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra

BBC Philharmonic

20220212

The birth of the BBC Philharmonic, like the BBC, can be traced back to 1922; formed as the orchestra of 2ZY, a radio station later incorporated into the BBC, it broadcast from Old Trafford, just a stone's throw from where the BBC Philharmonic now has its MediaCityUK home. At the forefront of Britain's musical life from the start, an augmented ensemble played the first broadcast of Elgar's Enigma Variations in 1923 and of The Dream of Gerontius the following year. Initially the band consisted of a small number of players, so we reflect that by opening the programme with a piece for large chamber ensemble, a work which received its premier in 1922, Hindemith's Kammermusik No.1. Infused with jazz, with a film-music feel and quirky instrumentation (including a box of sand and a siren) it's a piece with immediate appeal. The ensemble has always championed new music and the UK premiere of Marionettes by Aziza Sadikova follows, looking back to the baroque and forward to the future. Giuilia Contaldo joins the orchestra for Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto and the programme ends with music by Tippett, whose life spanned almost the whole of the 20th Century; his music embraces the politics, literature, science and culture of the times through which he lived, times through which the orchestra has broadcast. His sparkling Ritual Dances from his opera The Midsummer Marriage end the programme.

To enjoy detailed on-line programme notes, timed with the music, visit BBC.co.uk/notes.

Live from Bridgewater Hall

Presented by Tom McKinney

Hindemith: Kammermusik No 1

Aziza Sadikova: Marionnettes

8.10 Interval

Schumann: Piano Concerto

Tippett: Midsummer Marriage: Ritual Dances

Giulia Contaldo (piano)

Omer Meir Wellber (conductor)

The BBC Philharmonic with Chief Conductor Omer Meir Wellber

A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

20220213

Live from City Halls, Glasgow

Presented by Jamie MacDougall

Weill: Quodlibet

Strauss: 3 Hymnen, Op.71 - No.1 'Hymne an die Liebe

8.10 Interval

8.30 Part 2

Ryan Wigglesworth: Five Waltzes for Viola and Orchestra

Berg: Three Fragments from Wozzeck

Katherine Broderick (soprano)

Scott Dickinson (viola)

Ryan Wigglesworth (conductor)

Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Weill, Strauss and Berg.

A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra

BBC Singers

20220213

As part of a weekend of music from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs celebrating the BBC Centenary in October 2022, the BBC Singers explore a programme of choral music reflecting British choral music then and now.

Ralph Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor, premiered 100 years ago in 1922, was a game-changer for English choral music - a piece whose pastoral harmonies may sound like the stuff of English soil and summertime, but whose distinctive atmosphere reconnected the country's music with a tradition that had lain dormant for four centuries. Here, the Mass's movements are interspersed with contemporary works that harbour the same sense of peace and spirituality.

After the interval Howard Goodall conducts the European premiere of his own Unconditional Love. Written in lockdown, the cantata was conceived as a work of gratitude, of memorial and of hope for a world rebuilt' after the pain of the pandemic. This radiant piece from one of the UK's most communicative composers sets poetry written in times of hardship, much of it in 2020 and some by Goodall himself.

Live from Milton Court, London. Presented by Natasha Riordan.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor (except Credo)

Judith Weir: Love Bade Me Welcome

Melissa Dunphy: Mourning into Dancing

Roxanna Panufnik: Child of Heaven

Philip Herbert: Agnus Dei

Errollyn Wallen: PACE

Henry Walford Davies: God be in my head

Arnold Bax: This worldes joie

Howard Goodall: Unconditional Love: A Cantata of Gratitude and Remembrance (European premiere)

Howard Goodall (conductor)

Francesca Massey (organ)

Richard Pearce (piano)

Bella Tromba Brass Ensemble: Jo Harris, Becca Toft (trumpet); Anneke Scott, Jo Withers (horn); Emma Bassett, Becky Smith (trombone); Hanna Mbuya (tuba)

Howard Goodall conducts the BBC Singers in the UK premiere of his new cantata for choir.

A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra

Ulster Orchestra

20220213

John Toal introduces a special morning concert from the Ulster Hall to mark the BBC's centenary. It's part of a weekend of live performances on BBC Radio 3, featuring the BBC's Orchestras and Choirs, and showcasing music written in the 1920s and the 2020s.

The Ulster Orchestra, under conductor Andrew Gourlay, performs works by two local composers. The first is Sir Hamilton Harty, the Hillsborough man who went on to become Chief Conductor of the Hall退 Orchestra in Manchester. He wrote his Piano Concerto in 1922 - the same year as the BBC was founded - and the soloist in this performance of it is Belfast-born pianist Michael McHale.

The programme also features Democracy Dances by Belfast composer Conor Mitchell. This orchestral work, with its story of the search and struggle for democracy, was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in November last year. It was premiered in March 2021 by the Ulster Orchestra with live electronics, but has been specially reworked for this broadcast.

Hamilton Harty: Piano Concerto in B minor (37')

Conor Mitchell: Democracy Dances (14')

Michael McHale (Piano)

Andrew Gourlay (Conductor)

Andrew Gourlay conducts the Ulster Orchestra in music by Harty and Mitchell.

A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Comments
BBC Concert Orchestra	20220212	Ian Skelly presents a concert live from Watford Colosseum conducted by the orchestra's principal guest conductor Anna-Maria Helsing. They are joined by singer Clare Teal, and leader Nathaniel Anderson-Frank plays Vaughan Williams's ever-popular Lark Ascending. The concert also features light music by Eric Coates from the early days of the BBC and there's music by the orchestra's former associate composers Guy Barker and Anne Dudley, including the first performance of a suite from her film score for Elle. Plus music from a winner of the BBC Young Composer Competition. Coates: The Merrymakers Anne Dudley: Musique d'Elle (first performance) Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending INTERVAL Arnold: Beckus the Dandipratt Xia Leon Sloane: brink Rodgers and Hammerstein: It might as well be spring Artie Butler, arr Jonny Mandel: Here's To Life Wayne Shorter, arr Guy Barker: Nefertiti Coates: London Suite (London Every Day) Live from Watford Colosseum, presented by Ian Skelly. With guest singer Clare Teal. A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra
BBC National Orchestra Of Wales	20220212	As part of Radio 3's weekend looking ahead to the BBC Centenary in October 2022, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft take us on a journey through 100 years of music. From Sebastian Hilli's 2020 response to tragedy in the pandemic, Miracle, we travel all the way back to Stravinsky's 1920 ballet Pulcinella, the composer's self-confessed 'discovery of the past'. Along the way we encounter Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, the piece that won him a Pulitzer prize, and Grace Williams's Elegy for String Orchestra, a work that the orchestra premiered in 1936, when it was a nascent ensemble of just 20 players. Presented by Nicola Heywood Thomas, live from BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff. Sebastian Hilli: Miracle Copland: Appalachian Spring (suite) 1.50pm Interval music 2.10pm G Williams: Elegy for String Orchestra Stravinsky: Pulcinella (suite) Ryan Bancroft (conductor) Ryan Bancroft conducts the BBC NOW in Hilli, Copland, Williams and Stravinsky. A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra
BBC Philharmonic	20220212	The birth of the BBC Philharmonic, like the BBC, can be traced back to 1922; formed as the orchestra of 2ZY, a radio station later incorporated into the BBC, it broadcast from Old Trafford, just a stone's throw from where the BBC Philharmonic now has its MediaCityUK home. At the forefront of Britain's musical life from the start, an augmented ensemble played the first broadcast of Elgar's Enigma Variations in 1923 and of The Dream of Gerontius the following year. Initially the band consisted of a small number of players, so we reflect that by opening the programme with a piece for large chamber ensemble, a work which received its premier in 1922, Hindemith's Kammermusik No.1. Infused with jazz, with a film-music feel and quirky instrumentation (including a box of sand and a siren) it's a piece with immediate appeal. The ensemble has always championed new music and the UK premiere of Marionettes by Aziza Sadikova follows, looking back to the baroque and forward to the future. Giuilia Contaldo joins the orchestra for Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto and the programme ends with music by Tippett, whose life spanned almost the whole of the 20th Century; his music embraces the politics, literature, science and culture of the times through which he lived, times through which the orchestra has broadcast. His sparkling Ritual Dances from his opera The Midsummer Marriage end the programme. To enjoy detailed on-line programme notes, timed with the music, visit BBC.co.uk/notes. Live from Bridgewater Hall Presented by Tom McKinney Hindemith: Kammermusik No 1 Aziza Sadikova: Marionnettes 8.10 Interval Schumann: Piano Concerto Tippett: Midsummer Marriage: Ritual Dances Giulia Contaldo (piano) Omer Meir Wellber (conductor) The BBC Philharmonic with Chief Conductor Omer Meir Wellber A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra	20220213	Live from City Halls, Glasgow Presented by Jamie MacDougall Weill: Quodlibet Strauss: 3 Hymnen, Op.71 - No.1 'Hymne an die Liebe 8.10 Interval 8.30 Part 2 Ryan Wigglesworth: Five Waltzes for Viola and Orchestra Berg: Three Fragments from Wozzeck Katherine Broderick (soprano) Scott Dickinson (viola) Ryan Wigglesworth (conductor) Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Weill, Strauss and Berg. A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra
BBC Singers	20220213	As part of a weekend of music from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs celebrating the BBC Centenary in October 2022, the BBC Singers explore a programme of choral music reflecting British choral music then and now. Ralph Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor, premiered 100 years ago in 1922, was a game-changer for English choral music - a piece whose pastoral harmonies may sound like the stuff of English soil and summertime, but whose distinctive atmosphere reconnected the country's music with a tradition that had lain dormant for four centuries. Here, the Mass's movements are interspersed with contemporary works that harbour the same sense of peace and spirituality. After the interval Howard Goodall conducts the European premiere of his own Unconditional Love. Written in lockdown, the cantata was conceived as a work of gratitude, of memorial and of hope for a world rebuilt' after the pain of the pandemic. This radiant piece from one of the UK's most communicative composers sets poetry written in times of hardship, much of it in 2020 and some by Goodall himself. Live from Milton Court, London. Presented by Natasha Riordan. Ralph Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor (except Credo) Judith Weir: Love Bade Me Welcome Melissa Dunphy: Mourning into Dancing Roxanna Panufnik: Child of Heaven Philip Herbert: Agnus Dei Errollyn Wallen: PACE Henry Walford Davies: God be in my head Arnold Bax: This worldes joie Howard Goodall: Unconditional Love: A Cantata of Gratitude and Remembrance (European premiere) Howard Goodall (conductor) Francesca Massey (organ) Richard Pearce (piano) Bella Tromba Brass Ensemble: Jo Harris, Becca Toft (trumpet); Anneke Scott, Jo Withers (horn); Emma Bassett, Becky Smith (trombone); Hanna Mbuya (tuba) Howard Goodall conducts the BBC Singers in the UK premiere of his new cantata for choir. A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra
Ulster Orchestra	20220213	John Toal introduces a special morning concert from the Ulster Hall to mark the BBC's centenary. It's part of a weekend of live performances on BBC Radio 3, featuring the BBC's Orchestras and Choirs, and showcasing music written in the 1920s and the 2020s. The Ulster Orchestra, under conductor Andrew Gourlay, performs works by two local composers. The first is Sir Hamilton Harty, the Hillsborough man who went on to become Chief Conductor of the Hall退 Orchestra in Manchester. He wrote his Piano Concerto in 1922 - the same year as the BBC was founded - and the soloist in this performance of it is Belfast-born pianist Michael McHale. The programme also features Democracy Dances by Belfast composer Conor Mitchell. This orchestral work, with its story of the search and struggle for democracy, was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in November last year. It was premiered in March 2021 by the Ulster Orchestra with live electronics, but has been specially reworked for this broadcast. Hamilton Harty: Piano Concerto in B minor (37') Conor Mitchell: Democracy Dances (14') Michael McHale (Piano) Andrew Gourlay (Conductor) Andrew Gourlay conducts the Ulster Orchestra in music by Harty and Mitchell. A weekend of live performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra