Episodes
| Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090111 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra and composer Fung Lam to explore his new work Unlocking. Through conversation and diary entries which Fung recorded during the compositional process, they trace how this work was written from its conception through to the final version of the piece. Fung was commisioned by the BBC to write a piece for the programme, the first of a series of three works specially commissioned from contemporary composers. Taking inspiration from the exhibition of padlocks at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Fung's piece explores ideas of codes, secrets and locks. The programme also looks at an education project which composer and animateur Fraser Trainer has been running alongside the composition of Fung's new piece, a project which also took this exhibition as a starting point. Charles Hazlewood with the BBC CO and composer Fung Lam explore his new work Unlocking. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | ||
| (and All That) Jazz - Lambert: Piano Concerto No. 1 | 20040424 | Charles Hazlewood concludes his exploration of the impact made by jazz and dance music in European music of the 1920s and 30s, with a profile of the English composer Constant Lambert, born in 1905. In today's audience workshop, Charles is joined by pianist David Owen Norris and the BBC Concert Orchestra, for an exploration of two of Lambert's youthful piano works, the Elegiac Blues and the extraordinarily precocious Piano Concerto (No. 1), which he composed as an eighteen year old student. The programme also includes Lambert's arrangement of his friend William Walton's overture Portsmouth Point. Charles Hazlewood looks at Lambert's Elegiac Blues and Piano Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| (and All That) Jazz - Milhaud: La Creation Du Monde | 20040417 | Charles Hazlewood continues his exploration of the impact made by jazz and dance music in European music during the 1920s and 30s. He focuses on two of the most characteristic examples from France, Darius Milhaud's ballet La Creation du Monde and Jacques Ibert's Divertissement, in which he is joined by members of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Charles Hazlewood explores Milhaud's La Creation du Monde and Ibert's Divertissement. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| 16th Century Polyphony | 20100926 | Catherine Bott explores some of the joys of English ployphony with Harry Christophers, Sally Dunkley and The Sixteen in an exploration of music by Byrd, Tallis and Sheppard. The programme was recorded at the National Centre for Early Music in York as part of the 2010 York Early Music Festival and unpicks some of the working and ideas behind three contrasting masterpieces from 16th century English chuch music. William Byrd's 'Infelix Ego' is a meditation on Psalm 50 written by the Italian friar Girolamo Savonarola shortly before his execution for heresy. Thomas Tallis's short but intensely expressive 'Miserere Nostri' is an intricate web of musical games and devices around the words 'have mercy on us lord, have mercy on us'. Finally John Sheppard's 'Media Vita' is a setting of plainsong and text based around the Nunc Dimittis, the traditional song for evening prayer, composed by Sheppard on an uniquely grand scale. Harry Christophers, the director of The Sixteen, and Sally Dunkley who sings with the group and prepeares many of The Sixteen's editions, discuss and illustrate with Catherine Bott some of musical thinking behind these pieces. Catherine Bott joins The Sixteen for an exploration of English polyphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| 1964, The Rise Of Minimalism | 20101024 | In 1964, the American composer Terry Riley put on a concert of his music at the San Francisco Tape Music Centre, a concert which saw the premiere of a work which is now seen as one of the first pieces of musical Minimalism: In C. Through In C and a host of other works, Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the rise of this phenomenon, its popularity today and its roots in both American and European music of the past. Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the rise of minimalism. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Ancient Music - Strauss And Respighi | 20090222 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra to explore why certain composers have drawn on the past in their music. He considers movements from a rarely-performed ballet suite by Richard Strauss, his Divertimento, which re-works harpsichord pieces by Francois Couperin. That's followed by Ottorino Respighi's celebrated suite, The Birds, based on renaissance and baroque harpsichord and lute pieces. The programme also includes the third of Christopher Gayford's Codas - his brief look at some of the psychological aspects of listening to music. Charles Hazlewood explores pieces by Strauss and Respighi inspired by music from the past. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Arnold: Symphony No 5 | 20091004 | 20101031 (R3) | Malcolm Arnold has gained a posthumous reputation as a composer of light and superficial music. Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra delve into the world of his 5th Symphony however and discover a surprisingly dark and complex world - a work full of irony, conflict and above all: anguish. The programme also looks back at Arnold's views on social music making, featuring archive interviews with the composer. Charles Hazlewood delves into the world of Malcolm Arnold's Fifth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Bach Magnificat | 20110730 | Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Richard Egarr examine the music and background to Bach's celebrated setting of the Magnificat with the members of the Academy of Ancient Music. Bach's Magnificat is a setting of Mary's joyous response to the Annunciation - 'My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord'. The words have been set by countless composers, but one of the best loved settings is by JS Bach which exists in two versions. Sara Mohr-Pietsch, in conversation with the AAM's Music Director, Richard Egarr, examines the better known version, in D major, and looks at the way in which Bach adheres to the traditions of the 18th Century Baroque in his compositional approach, in particular how Bach uses his music to 'paint' key ideas suggested by the words, thereby heightening the overall expressive power of the work. The programme was recorded in the BBC Philharmonic Studios at Media City UK as part of the 'Philharmonic Presents.....' festival in May. Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Richard Egarr examine the music and background to Bach's Magnificat. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bach: Jesu, Meine Freude (bwv 227) | 20001126 | Chris de Souza explores one of J.S. Bach's best-loved choral works, Jesu, meine Freude. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bach: Mass In B Minor | 20130401 | How Bach the devout Lutheran set about producing a mass in the Catholic tradition. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 4 | 20120411 | Stephen Johnson explores how Leipzig's thriving coffee society found its perfect counterpart in the music of J.S. Bach, and the orchestral suites which he performed amongst the clinking cups and impassioned conversations. And Bach being Bach, he found ingenious ways of encapsulating this unpromising performing environment in his music. Stephen Johnson on how Leipzig's coffee society found its counterpart in Bach's music. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bach: Passacaglia In C Minor (bwv 582) | 20010325 | Chris de Souza presents an in-depth look at J.S. Bach's Passacaglia in C minor (BWV 582). Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bach: St Mark Passion | 20130329 | Stephen Johnson examines the sources of JS Bach's setting of the St. Mark Passion. Although his obituary tells us Bach wrote five Passions, only two of them, St. Matthew and St. John, have survived complete. It's thought the first performance of the St. Mark Passion took place on March 23rd in 1731, but subsequently the score of the music disappeared. Tantalisingly, all that remained was the text. However, after some keen detective work on Bach's music, there was enough evidence to make a reconstruction a possibility. Stephen Johnson examines the sources of Bach's setting of the St Mark Passion. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bach's Partita No 4 In D | 20090726 | 20100711 (R3) | Stephen Johnson and pianist Leon McCawley examine JS Bach's Partita No 4. The Sarabande and Gigue are A /AS Level Set Works for Edexcel in 2011. JS Bach composed six keyboard Partitas, or suites of dances, that have become a landmark of the pianist's repertory, even though the music was probably originally conceived for the harpsichord. The Fourth Partita, in D major, is arguably the most cohesive in the collection, and it also demonstrates Bach's unfailing imagination and skill with its rich variety of styles and moods. Stephen Johnson, alongside the pianist Leon McCawley examine the background and the workings of this keyboard masterpiece, in a programme that was recorded before an audience at the 2009 Manchester Piano Festival. As well as the Partita, they also consider Bach on the piano, and examine a transcription by one of Bach's greatest 20th Century advocates, Ferruccio Busoni: his piano adaptation of Bach's Chaconne for solo violin. Stephen Johnson and pianist Leon McCawley examine Bach's Partita No 4. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Barber: Violin Concerto And Essay No 1 For Orchestra | 20100307 | Stephen Johnson explores one of Samuel Barber's most tranquil and astonishing wartime orchestral works - his Violin Concerto, which he began in Switzerland in the summer of 1939. Barber continued writing the finale of the concerto in Paris before he quickly returned to his homeland of Pennsylvania as World War II erupted in Europe. The Violin Concerto was actually a commission from an American entrepreneur - Samuel Fels, who wanted a virtuosic showpiece for his adopted son to play. Barber's late Romantic style, though, wasn't exactly what Fels was looking for, so there had to be a number of changes made before the young prodigy Iso Briselli agreed to perform it. To begin the programme, Stephen Johnson also looks at another work written around the same time as the Violin Concerto - his Essay No.1 for Orchestra. This was a commission by the great Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini in 1938. Toscanini, despite living in the USA for many years, rarely commissioned new works from American composers, but he had been so struck by the 'simple beauty' of the slow movement of Samuel Barber's String Quartet, that he suggested Barber provide him with a version for full string orchestra. The First Essay, which has similar melancholic undertones to the resultant, now famous 'Adagio for strings', was first performed at that same concert. Gavin Maloney conducts the Ulster Orchestra in extracts and complete performances of both works, which were recorded in the Ulster Hall, Belfast in September 2009. The violin soloist is Chloe Hanslip. Stephen Johnson explores the nuances in Barber's Violin Concerto and First Essay. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bartok: Concerto For Orchestra (bb. 123) | 20011007 | Chris de Souza takes apart Bart\u00f3k's Concerto for Orchestra. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bartok: Quartet For String No. 2 (op. 17) | 20060930 | Stephen Johnson and the Eb\u00e8ne Quartet probe B\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k's second String Quartet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bartok's Divertimento | 20080302 | Martin Handley and the BBC SSO explore some of the ideas behind Bartok's Divertimento. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bartok's Music For Strings Percussion And Celeste | 20071007 | The Northern Sinfonia and conductor Thomas Zehetmair with a workshop on the popular piece. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven Cello Sonatas | 20090118 | In a programme recorded at the 2008 Lake District Summer Music Festival in St Martin's College, Ambleside, Stephen Johnson is joined by cellist Colin Carr and pianist Thomas Sauer to explore the first and last of Beethoven's five sonatas for cellos and piano: Op 5 No 1 in F and Op 102 No 2 in D. The two sonatas fall into the extreme ends of the three periods that Beethoven's music is usually divided into, and Stephen shows how Beethoven develops the relationship between the instruments through them. An exploration of Beethoven's first and last sonatas for cello and piano. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Grosse Fuge | 20111003 | It's adored for its logic, beauty, and total honesty, but Beethoven's 'Grosse Fuge' has also been branded one of the most mystifying of all the composer's works. Stephen Johnson pulls apart this string quartet masterpiece, which Beethoven himself subtitled 'somewhat free, somewhat scholarly', and explores how on earth we should go about listening to it. Stephen Johnson offers an insight into the mechanics of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 | 20121120 | Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 | 20130116 | Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 'emperor' | 20111213 | Stephen Johnson explores the history and musical mechanics of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 'Emperor'. The title might have been added by others, but Beethoven's masterpiece has always been obscured by the debate surrounding its supposed imperialist intentions: a heroic concerto, written with a Napoleonic spirit. Not only does this fly in the face of the composer's own sympathies, but it's also disguised the genius of Beethoven's writing. Stephen Johnson shifts the focus back to the music, and uncovers the radical innovations under the surface of Beethoven's craft. Stephen Johnson on the history and musical mechanics of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 'hammerklavier' (op. 106) | 20120320 | Stephen Johnson scales the extraordinary heights of Beethoven's giant among piano sonatas, the Hammerklavier. Completed in 1818, Opus 106 is the most imposing of all Beethoven's 32 sonatas for piano. The sheer scale of Beethoven's intellectual power coupled with the sonata's fearsome technical demands and length make this one of the most inspiring and challenging works in the solo piano repertoire. Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's piano sonata, the Hammerklavier, Op. 106. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: String Quartet In A Minor, Op 132 | 20110605 | Stephen Johnson is the guest of the Sowerby Music in Yorkshire for an exploration of one of the pinnacles of the repertory, Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor, Opus 132. This is one of the so called 'late' quartets of Beethoven, written after he had recovered from a debilitating illness. Beethoven used the quartet medium to grapple with some of his deepest feelings and sensibilities and the work is striking for the profundity of its expression and its novel and imaginative use of form. At the heart of the work lies one of the composers' most heart felt slow movements - an expression of an artist's thanks to God after recovering from illness. Stephen is joined by members of the Wihan Quartet who perform illustrations and a complete performance of the work, and he explores the piece by way of a series of queries and questions from the members of Sowerby Music. Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor, Op 132. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: String Quartet In E Flat (op. 127) | 20001008 | Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's String Quartet in E flat, Op 127. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 'razumovsky' | 20130604 | Stephen Johnson explores his favourite Beethoven quartet, the Quartet in C, from Beethoven's Opus 59 series. They were commissioned in 1806 by Count Razumovsky, who was the Russian Ambassador to Vienna and a keen amateur violinist. The quartets clearly reveal Beethoven's intellectual strengths to be at their height, yet their conception and length mystified contemporaries when they were first heard. Given the admiration they would receive subsequently, Beethoven showed remarkable prescience when he said, '..they are not for you but for a later age!'. Stephen Johnson explores the musical language of Beethoven's third Razumovsky Quartet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Symphony No 3 (eroica) | 20100221 | Stephen Johnson presents a programme exploring Beethoven's Third Symphony in E flat major, the Eroica. It is well known that Beethoven intended to dedicate the symphony to Napoleon, but when Napoleon had himself crowned Emperor in 1804, Beethoven angrily scratched out this dedication and the symphony was then titled the 'Heroic' symphony. Stephen Johnson considers this theme of 'heroism' in the work, illustrated with examples and a complete performance of the symphony by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Christophe Mangou. Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's Third Symphony in E flat, the Eroica. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 (op. 36) | 20050611 | Charles Hazlewood focuses on perhaps the least heralded of the nine Beethoven symphonies, his Symphony No. 2. He delves into the detail of this essentially classical work, revealing its unpredictability, its quixotic character, its serious moments and its many playful passages of humour. Charles is joined by his period instrument orchestra Harmonieband. Charles Hazlewood and the Harmnieband focus on Beethoven's Symphony No. 2. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 | 20130109 | Its the most famous piece of classical music ever written, an instant representation of drama, tension, even classical music itself. Whether you hear that iconic opening idea as Fate knocking at the door, or just a simple representation of a yellowhammer's song, it runs all the way through Beethoven's most popular work, his Symphony No. 5. Presented by Stephen Johnson. Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 In C Minor (op. 67) | 20001203 | 20010128 (R3) | Anthony Payne explores one of the most famous of all symphonies - Beethoven's 5th. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 | 20131126 | The musical jokes and light-hearted character of Beethoven's Eighth Symphony provide an irresistible contrast with the heroic and tempestuous symphonic works that precede and follow it. Beethoven famously called it his 'little symphony', but it's never been clear what prompted him to say that. Stephen Johnson peels back the layers, to reveal a work that's bursting with ideas and just as radical in its own way as anything else Beethoven created. Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's most playful symphony, the Eighth. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 | 20130627 | Stephen Johnson explores themes of triumph and doubt in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Trio In E Flat | 20120229 | Beethoven's Piano Trio in E flat opus 38, is one of the few instances of an arrangement of an original work by Beethoven himself. It's based on Beethoven's earlier Septet, and is a mark of gratitude by the composer to the Viennese physician Johann Adam Schmidt. Beethoven had been consulting Schmidt since about 1801 with various complaints, principally his increasing deafness. Due to its dedicatee, the Trio was intended to be performed in the domestic circle of the Schmidt household. The original virtuosic writing within the string parts in the Septet, therefore were allotted by Beethoven to the piano part in the Trio. Stephen Johnson explores the inner workings of Beethoven's Trio in E flat, Op 38. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven: Triple Concerto | 20120503 | Beethoven composed his Triple Concerto, Op. 56, during an intensely creative period when he was also working on his opera Fidelio, the Waldstein piano sonata, and the Eroica symphony. Yet, Beethoven made the point to his publishers that here in the Triple Concerto was something new. It was composed for Beethoven's young piano pupil Archduke Rudolph to perform, with the violinist Seidler and the celebrated virtuoso cellist Anton Kraft, for whom Haydn had composed a cello concerto two decades earlier. Although the cello takes slightly more prominence in the Triple Concerto, it was a novelty at the time to combine a piano trio with orchestra, and also give the orchestra equal importance. Stephen Johnson takes a look at this work which broke new ground, yet despite its freshness, after its Viennese premiere in 1808, was never performed again in Beethoven's lifetime. Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's ground-breaking Triple Concerto, Op. 56. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven's Fifth Symphony | 20090215 | Stephen Johnson and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Grant Llewellyn deconstruct Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in a programme that also features examples from the sketches. The Fifth is probably one of the best known works in the classical repertoire, but how much do we understand Beethoven's intentions by it? And how did the composer arrive at the work we know today? The programme also includes one of four weekly 'Codas' from conductor and music pyschologist Christopher Gayford, exploring our psychological responses to music. Stephen Johnson and the BBCSO with Grant Llewellyn explore Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 | 20071118 | Charles Hazlewood and experts discuss in detail Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 | 20130220 | Stephen Johnson explores Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Berg Chamber Concerto | 20090503 | Stephen Johnson joins the members of the Manchester Camerata and their conductor Douglas Boyd for an exploration of Alban Berg's Chamber Concerto, featuring pianist Martin Roscoe and violinist Jack Liebeck as soloists. The Concerto was written as a homage to Berg's teacher Arnold Schoenberg on his fiftieth birthday, and it alludes to a close circle of friends and Viennese intellectuals from the mid-1920s, namely Berg, Schoenberg and Berg's friend and fellow Schoenberg pupil Anton Webern. With a wealth of codes and extra-musical references, Berg crafted a compact and technically accomplished work, which is considered one of the great examples of German Expressionism. The programme includes a complete performance of the piece. Stephen Johnson and the Manchester Camerata explore Alban Berg's Chamber Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Berio's Sequenzas | 20100725 | Over a span of 44 years, the Italian composer Luciano Berio wrote fourteen pieces entitled Sequenza - a series of solo instrumental works which are dizzyingly virtuosic and experimental. Yet, unlike similarly experimental works, the Sequenzas remain at the forefront of contemporary solo instrumental repertoire. In a programme recorded at the 2010 Aldeburgh festival, Stephen Johnson is joined by Trombonist Byron Fulcher, Viola player Paul Silverthorne and Clarinettist Mark van de Wiel to explore three of these varied compositions. Stephen Johnson explores three of Luciano Berio's virtuosic and experimental Sequenzas. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Berlioz: Les Nuits D'\u00e9t\u00e9 | 20020203 | David Fanning uncovers the secrets of Berlioz's song cycle: Les Nuits d'Et\u00e9. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Berlioz: Les Nuits D'ete | 20100418 | Catherine Bott is joined by the biographer and musicologist David Cairns to explore the nuances in Berlioz's song-cycle 'Les nuits d'ete'. The settings of these six poems by Theophile Gautier was originally conceived to be performed with piano, but Berlioz completed the orchestral versions in 1856. It has now become one of his most enduring and often performed works. As David Cairns explains, Berlioz is so often thought to be just a composer on a grand scale, but in this song-cycle he really shows a softer side, capable of writing beautifully-crafted miniatures as well as for huge orchestral forces. The whole song-cycle is performed by soprano Elizabth Watts with the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Takuo Yuasa. Catherine Bott and David Cairns explore the nuances in Berlioz's Les nuits d'ete. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (op. 14) | 20000924 | 20010506 (R3) | Chris de Souza explores a world of exotic effects in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Berlioz's L'enfance Du Christ | 20110508 | Charles Hazlewood examines the background and music to Hector Berlioz's 'sacred trilogy' - L'enfance du Christ - The Childhood of Christ which contains some of the composer's most immediate and intimate music. Berlioz wrote it in the 1850s after penning a short musical sketch in a friend's Vistors' Book, in which he'd set out to parody the sounds of the 17th century. Liking the sketch, Berlioz worked on it further, expanding it into a three part oratorio recounting the childhood of Christ, with a text by Berlioz himself. In proved to be one of the composer's most successful and popular pieces during his lifetime. Charles Hazlewood joins the members of the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers with soloists, Jeremy Ovenden as the Narrator; Catherine Hopper as Marie; Stephan Loges as Joseph and Brindley Sherratt as the Father, in an examination of Berlioz's music, the background and ideas to the piece. Charles also conducts complete performances of the second and third parts: 'The Flight into Egypt' and 'The Arrival at Sais'. The programme was recorded before an audience at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Charles Hazlewood examines the background and music to Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bernstein: Serenade After Plato's 'symposium' | 20050528 | Leonard Bernstein's five movement concerto for violin, strings and percussion is one of his most personal compositions. It was inspired by Plato's discourse on love in all its aspects, the 'Symposium', which was presented in the form of a series of statements by celebrated guests at a banquet. Charles Hazlewood explores the relationship between Bernstein's music and the source of his inspiration. With Performances by Antje Weithaas (violin) and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Charles Hazlewood explores Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's 'Symposium'. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bernstein: Symphonic Dances From West Side Story | 20001224 | Stephen Johnson explores Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bizet's Symphony In C | 20130515 | Bizet's 'Symphony in C' has a fascinating history. Written when Bizet was studying at the Paris Conservatoire, probably as a student assignment, it seems he made no effort to have the work published during his lifetime. Rediscovered in the 1930s, it was premiered 80 years after it had been written and since then has remained a popular addition to the symphonic repertoire. Stephen Johnson unpicks this youthful work, which reveals the influence of Bizet's teacher, Charles Gounod and the techniques and colourful orchestration that Bizet would employ in his later compositions. Stephen Johnson explores the colourful world of Bizet's Symphony in C. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Borodin - Symphony No 2 | 20080914 | Stephen Johnson explores Borodin's Symphony No 2 with Andre de Ridder and the BBC Phil. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms And Berg Piano Sonatas | 20130924 | Stephen Johnson looks at two startling 'Opus Ones', featured in the second half of tonight's concert, from composers who despite their youth were already masters of their art. Stephen compares the first published works of Brahms and Berg, and examines how each re-imagined the classical idea of a 'piano sonata'. Stephen Johnson compares the first published works of Brahms and Berg, both piano sonatas. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms String Quartet In B Flat, Op 67 | 20091108 | In a programme coming from the University of Cumbria in Ambleside as part of the Lake Disctrict Summer Music Festival 2009, Stephen Johnson explores Brahms's third and final string quartet in B flat, Op 67, written in 1876 soon after he completed his First Symphony. Brahms's previous quartets, Op 51 Nos 1 and 2, suggest a more classical model and have more of his symphonic drama, but a striking element of the writing in Op 67 is its more conversational or dialogue style. Stephen is joined by the Kuss Quartet, who illustrate with excerpts and give a complete performance of the quartet. Stephen Johnson explores Brahms's String Quartet No 3 in B flat, Op 67. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms Symphony No 3 | 20070916 | 20081026 (R3) | Stephen Johnson explores Brahms's 'free but happy' Third Symphony with the BBC SO. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Brahms: German Requiem | 20120216 | Brahms' German Requiem is often presumed to be a nationalistic, Teutonic celebration. Yet this couldn't have been further from the truth. 'I confess, I should have gladly left out 'German' and substituted 'Human', the composer once wrote. Stephen Johnson explores the work's influences - from Bach's cantatas to the tragic death of Brahms' mentor, Robert Schumann - and looks at the universal appeal of this very 'humane' requiem. Stephen Johnson explores the influences behind Brahms's German Requiem. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 In D Minor (op. 15) | 20010114 | Gerard McBurney discusses Brahms's Piano Concerto no.1 in D minor. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 In B-flat Major (op. 83) | 20030302 | Chris de Souza explores the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat major by Johannes Brahms. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms: Symphony No 1 | 20080803 | Stephen Johnson explores Brahms's Symphony No 1 with conductor Gianandrea Noseda. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms: Symphony No 2 | 20090517 | Stephen Johnson explores Brahms' Second Symphony, with excerpts and a complete performance from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Theodore Kuchar. While Brahms's First Symphony took nearly 20 years to complete, his second - in D - was written in only one summer holiday in Portschach, an alpine area by the Wothersee that also inspired Mahler and Berg. Stephen Johnson explores Brahms' Second Symphony, with a performance by the BBCNOW. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms: Symphony No 4 | 20110612 | Stephen Johnson explores Brahms's Fourth Symphony, written in the 2 years following the Third Symphony. It was Brahms's final work in this genre and is remarkable original; Stephen explores some of the characteristics of the work's opening understated lilting melody, and considers the similarites with one of Brahms's Four Serious Songs, written the year before he died. The programme includes illustrative extracts, and a complete performance of the work performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Jir퀀 Belohlကvek. Stephen Johnson explores Brahms's Symphony No 4, with excerpts and a complete performance. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms: Symphony No. 1 | 20120928 | Stephen Johnson explores Brahms's Symphony No. 1, which took the composer a long time to compose. Brahms had a number of disappointments as an orchestral composer, in particular the reception of his First Piano Concerto. This made him very wary as a symphonist, and he didn't complete his First Symphony until the age of forty-three, despite having begun the work some twenty years earlier. By the time Brahms did feel ready to launch himself onto this purely orchestral scene, it was to a public already used to programmatic works from Wagner and Berlioz. Brahms strove to create his own unique sound, but the critics pounced upon the symphony, in particular the last movement for its Beethovenian echoes. Stephen Johnson explores the long-awaited First Symphony by Brahms. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brahms: Variations On A Theme Of Haydn (the St Anthony Choral) (op. 56) | 20050827 | 20061202 (R3) | Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Grant Llewellyn for a look at Brahms's pioneering set of orchestral variations: Variations on a theme of Haydn. Just as Mozart and Beethoven before him had used variation form to demonstrate their skills as a performer so Brahms used the form to show off his skills as a composer. Stephen Johnson and the BBC SO look at Brahms's Variations on a theme of Haydn. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Brahms's Violin Concerto | 20100829 | Stephen Johnson explores the Violin Concerto by Brahms, one of the most challenging works in the repertoire. Brahms was clearly inspired by his great friend and violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim, and Brahms sought his advice while he composed this concerto. Stephen Johnson is joined by the violinist Matthew Trusler, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Grant Llewellyn, who illustrate with musical extracts, and the programme concludes with a complete performance of the work. Stephen Johnson explores Brahms's challenging Violin Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Brett Dean | 20110410 | Sara Mohr-Pietsch explores the music of Australian born composer Brett Dean in the company of the man himself, and with soprano Claire Booth and members of BCMG. Brett Dean has quickly established himself as one Australia's foremost musicians and composers. His most recent opera, 'Bliss', with a libretto by Amanda Holden inspired by a story by Australian writer Peter Carey, will be broadcast on Radio 3 next weekend. As a prelude to that Sara Mohr-Pietsch joins the composer before an invited audience, and with the soprano Claire Booth and members of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) for an exploration of the composers work. The programme focuses on two pieces: 'Recollections' for ensemble, and 'Wolf-Leider' inspired by the life and songs of the great 19th Century romantic Hugo Wolf. The programme was recorded at last year's Cheltenham Festival where Brett Dean was a featured composer. Sara Mohr-Pietsch explores the music of Brett Dean in the company of the composer. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten Cello Symphony | 20091018 | Stephen Johnson visits Glasgow for an exploration of Benjamin Britten's Cello Symphony, and presents a complete performance of the work by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Takuo Yuasa with soloist Tim Hugh. Written in 1963 for the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the premiere a year later, with the Moscow Philharmonic conducted by the composer, the piece is full of very dark colours. It uses the bass sonorities of the orchestral texture, like low strings, bassoons, tuba and bass drum, allowing the cello's tenor register to sing out of the mire. It has a four-movement symphonic structure, with the last two linked by a solo cello cadenza, which, Stephen argues, makes the piece more of a symphony than a cello concerto, as the composer suggests in the work's title. Stephen Johnson joins the BBC SSO to explore the intricacies in Britten's Cello Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten: Les Illuminations (op. 18) | 20060506 | Tenor Daniel Norman joins Charles Hazlewood to explore Britten's Les Illuminations. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten: Nocturne (op. 60) | 20050625 | This exploration of the music and imagery of Benjamin Britten's Nocturne, an evocative cycle of night poems for tenor, seven solo instruments and strings was recorded in Orford parish Church. Premiered at the Leeds Festival on 1958, the work was first heard in Orford during the 1959 Festival. During the workshop Charles Hazlewood, his chamber orchestra Excellent Device and tenor Mark Tucker tease out the detail of the work and also give a complete performance. Charles Hazlewood and tenor Mark Tucker tease out the detail of Britten's Nocturne. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten: Saint Nicolas | 20111219 | Stephen Johnson reveals the inner workings of Britten's first major work for children's chorus, his cantata Saint Nicolas. Premiered at the first ever Aldeburgh Festival, the work drew on the skills of both amateur and professional performers. Stephen Johnson explores how their spirit permeated the work, typifying Britten's personal passion to make his music accessible and meaningful to everyone. Stephen Johnson explores Britten's work for children's chorus, his cantata Saint Nicolas. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten: Sea Interludes And Passacaglia | 20080203 | Britten: Sea Interludes and Passacaglia. Charles Hazlewood conducts. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten: Serenade For Tenor, Horn And Strings (op.31). | 20010107 | Stephen Johnson explores Benjamin Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings (Op.31). Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten: Spring Symphony | 20130125 | It's the work which polarises opinion more than anything else he wrote. For some, Benjamin Britten's 'Spring Symphony' is a deeply touching and human reflection on the emergence from winter, the epitome of Britten's talents as an anthologiser of literary sources, the works of Spenser, Clare, Peele and Auden. But does it cross a line into the realms of naivety, and can its architectural design stand up to the weight of its building blocks? Stephen Johnson takes the work apart to find out. Stephen Johnson explores Britten's Spring Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten: Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (op. 10) | 20010401 | Chris de Souza uncovers the secrets of Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge with the help of musical examples recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Andrea Quinn. The composition classes which Britten undertook with Frank Bridge arguably influenced the early growth of his style more than anything else. The Variations stand not just as a unique tribute to teacher by pupil, but also as a fascinating insight into the musical personality of the developing composer. Chris de Souza uncovers the secrets of Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten's Sinfonia Da Requiem | 20130418 | Written in 1940, the 'Sinfonia da Requiem' was commissioned by the government of Japan, who asked Britten to create a work celebrating the 2600th anniversary of the ruling dynasty. For his part, looking ahead in some ways to the Requiem he would write some years later, Britten, who was a dedicated pacifist, produced a kind of musical plea for peace, which uses part of the Catholic liturgy as movement headings. The overall tone of the score and its links with Christianity resulted in the Japanese commissioners feeling that the composer had rather misunderstood their wishes. Instead, the piece was first performed in America, with a personal dedication to the memory of Britten's parents. Stephen Johnson explores Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Britten's Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge | 20070923 | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC CO examine Britten's work alongside Bridge's Three Idylls. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 In G Minor (op. 26) | 20060429 | Stephen Johnson, the BBC SO and Alina Ibragimova explore Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bruckner: Symphony No 2 | 20130314 | Stephen Johnson explores Bruckner's Symphony No 2 in C minor. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 'romantic' | 20111012 | Bruckner was an abundance of contradictions: full of naivety but fascinated by politics, a writer with conviction but plagued by self-doubt, an eternal student with a passion for teaching, a lover of improvisation fascinated by the strictest musical forms. Stephen Johnson explores how all of this fed into his 4th Symphony, and uncovers why the composer might have decided to break from his usual habit and give it a published nickname: 'Romantic'. Stephen Johnson explores Bruckner's Symphony No. 4. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 | 20121116 | Stephen Johnson explores Bruckner's Symphony No. 9. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor (wab 109) | 20030202 | Stephen Johnson looks at\u00a0Bruckner's unfinished Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Bruckner's Sixth Symphony | 20110206 | Stephen Johnson examines the workings of Bruckner's enigmatic 6th Symphony with the help of the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Petri Sakari. In Stephen Johnson's opinion, Bruckner's 6th Symphony is one of the composer's most original pieces and contains some of his most beautiful and arresting music. It appeared partly as a response to the devastating reviews that Bruckner received following the disastrous first performance of his 3rd Symphony. Stephen takes Bruckner's symphony apart and compares it with music from the earlier symphony in order to illustrate the novelty and possible meaning of this 'Cinderella' work in the composers' symphonic output. The BBC Philharmonic then give a complete performance of the 6th Symphony, recorded in the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham with conductor Petri Sakari - who has won much acclaim for his interpretation of Bruckner. Stephen Johnson examines the workings of Bruckner's enigmatic Sixth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Charles Ives | 20090125 | American conductor David Robertson joins the BBCSO for an exploration of the music of one of his nation's most innovative composers, Charles Ives. He considers the imaginative way Ives evokes a sense of place - in particular his homeland around Boston - and what some of the wider implications of this might be. He focuses on three Ives masterpieces: Central Park in the Dark, The Unanswered Question and Three Places in New England. There is also a feature about a complementary project created by amateur musicians in London based on some of Ives's musical ideas. Conductor David Robertson explores ideas of place in the music of Charles Ives. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Chopin Preludes | 20100321 | Stephen Johnson with pianists Llyr Williams and Benjamin Frith, examine the history and musical ideas behind Chopin's cycle of Preludes. Chopin composed his celebrated set of Preludes Opus 28, while staying in Majorca with his lover, the novelist George Sand. One of his inspirations for the set was the keyboard music of JS Bach, especially Bach's celebrated cycle of Preludes and Fugues - the '48'. In this programme Stephen Johnson examines the ideas behind Chopin's Preludes. Unlike Bach's prices, these are not a prelude to anything in particular, so what did Chopin mean by the title? Did the composer intend the cycle for performance or are they didactic pieces, intended to explore different aspects of pianisim? Should the cycle be regarded as one whole or treated as an anthology? Stephen is assisted in his exploration by the pianist Lyr Williams, who also performs the Preludes. The programme was recorded before an audience at the Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton. In addition to the Opus 28 Preludes, Stephen Johnson also examines the three other pieces for piano which Chopin called Prelude. With the pianist Benjamin Frith, he takes apart the Prelude in C sharp minor Op45. A work that is sometimes called the 25th Prelude.Through meticulous examination of the piece, Stephen offers an insight into Chopin's compositional world, examining his romantic style; his harmonic and melodic invention; and his imaginative exploitation of musical form. Stephen Johnson, with pianists Llyr Williams and Benjamin Frith, on Chopin's Preludes. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Chopin: Scherzi (op. 20 And Op. 54) | 20010304 | Chris de Souza explores the construction of Chopin's Scherzi Op.20 and Op.54. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Chopin's Mazurkas | 20101017 | As part of the 2010 Birmingham International Piano Academy, Stephen Johnson is joined by pianist Ashley Wass at the Birmingham Conservatoire to explore the intricacies and folk-music elements in Chopin's Mazurkas and Polonaises. It's widely thought that Chopin's first ever composition was a Polonaise (which he wrote at the age of seven) and his last, fittingly, was a Mazurka. His 58 Mazurkas and 25 Polonaises, based on traditional Polish folk-dances, signalled new ideas of musical nationalism which influenced and inspired other composers to support their national music. Stephen Johnson on the intricacies and folk elements in Chopin's mazurkas and polonaises. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Composing For The Silver Screen | 20060225 | 20100516 (R3) | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra are joined by special guest film composer Debbie Wiseman to uncover what's involved in composing music for films The music used includes extracts from Debbie's own score for Wilde plus some iconic film moments where music carries the drama: the opening scene of On the Waterfront, with music by Leonard Bernstein, the Shower scene from Psycho, with music by Bernard Hermann and the main theme from Harry Potter by John Williams. This is a programme designed to complement A level study. (Repeat). Charles Hazlewood and Debbie Wiseman with the BBC CO on composing for the cinema. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Copland: Appalachian Spring For Orchestra | 20001112 | Gerard McBurney explores Copland's orchestral version of his ballet Appalachian Spring. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Copland: Clarinet Concerto | 20061014 | David Owen Norris and Richard Stoltzman explore Copland's jazz infused Clarinet Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Copland: Symphony No. 3 | 20030406 | Stephen Johnson explores the American composer Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3, which was largely composed during the latter years of the Second World War, and finds that it is a work strongly affected by the time in which it was written. The specially recorded examples are performed by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Jason Lai. Stephen Johnson explores the American composer Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Corelli's Opus 6 Concertos | 20101226 | Stephen Johnson unpicks the ideas and background behind Corelli's ground breaking set of Opus 6 Violin Concertos which includes the celebrated 'Christmas Concerto'. He joins the members of the European Union Baroque Orchestra directed from the violin by Enrico Onofri, and violinist Margaret Faultless, for a look at how some of the artistic innovations of late 17th Century Rome, focused the mind of a young violin virtuoso, Arcangelo Corelli, and prompted him to create what became the foundation of the influential and ubiquitous late baroque concerto. Stephen fosues on three concertos from the Opus 6 set of 12: Numbers 4, 8 and 12, which includes the famous Christmas Concerto. The programme was recorded as part of the 2010 Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music. Stephen Johnson unpicks the ideas behind Corelli's famous set of Opus 6 Concertos. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Debussy: Images | 20131010 | Stephen Johnson explores the musical paintings created by Debussy in Images. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Debussy: La Mer (l 109) | 20010311 | Roger Nichols explores the orchestral masterpiece La Mer, by Debussy. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Debussy's La Mer | 20110723 | Stephen Johnson examines the music and background to Debussy's La Mer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tito Ceccherini and the South Bank Gamelan Players. Debussy's three movement symphonic masterpiece takes much of its inspiration from the sea, as its title suggests, but it is more than just a piece of music with an extra musical programme. Stephen Johnson takes the work to pieces with the help of the players of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and looks at how Debussy was inspired not only by the Japanese wood block prints for a pictorial depiction of the sea, but by the structures and scales of far eastern music as well, to create what many regard to be the greatest ever symphony by a Frenchman. This programme has been filmed for a visualisation on the Radio 3 website. Debussy's La Mer is featured in the 2011 Proms on 29th July. Stephen Johnson examines the music and background to Debussy's La mer with the BBC SO. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Dvorak: Piano Quartet No. 2 | 20130405 | Stephen Johnson explores the intricacies of Dvorak's Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Dvorak: Piano Trio No. 4 'dumky Trio' | 20120403 | Dvorak's Dumky Trio was so well-received at its first performance in 1891, with Dvorak himself at the piano, that he took it on a 40-date farewell tour of Bohemia and Moravia, before leaving his homeland for a new life in America. Stephen Johnson explores what a dumka is, and how Dvorak adapted this native folk music for use in his classical compositions. Stephen Johnson explores Dvorak's Piano Trio No 4. in E minor - the Dumky Trio. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Dvorak: Symphony No. 7 | 20121130 | Stephen Johnson explores Dvorak's Seventh symphony, a work that marks a milestone in the composer's symphonic language. Commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1884, Dvorak's intention was ambitious from the outset. He wanted to create a work that 'must be capable of stirring the world.' The creative intensity Dvorak displayed during the symphony's composition extended to its first performance. Completed on March 17th, 1885, a mere five weeks later Dvorak conducted the first performance in London. Stephen Johnson explores Dvorak's Seventh Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Dvorak: Symphony No. 8 | 20130206 | Stephen Johnson explores Dvorak's Eighth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 In E Minor (from The New World) | 20010204 | Chris de Souza discusses Dvorak's Symphony no.9 in E minor 'From the New World'. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Dvorak: The Golden Spinning Wheel (op. 109) | 20050514 | Stephen Johnson looks at Dvorak's tone poem, The Golden Spinning Wheel. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Dvorak's American String Quintet | 20110327 | The Skampa Quartet and viola player Garfield Jackson join Stephen Johnson in dissecting Dvorak's 'American' String Quintet Op 97. Along with his Symphony No 9 (From the New World) and the American String Quartet Op 96, the String Quintet was a work Dvorak wrote during the 3 years he spent in the USA. The programme was recorded at last year's Lake District Summer Music Festival in Kendal, and features extracts and complete performance of the String Quintet. Stephen Johnson explores Dvorak's American String Quintet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Dvorak's New World Symphony | 20121023 | The Ninth Symphony by Dvorak, was the first completed work after the composer had arrived in New York, taking up his post as Director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. The symphony has definite links to Negro spirituals and plantation songs, and Dvorak encouraged this connection with America, giving it the name 'From the New World'. Yet at this time, Dvorak greatly missed his homeland, and the music of Czechoslovakia is also very much present within the work. Stephen Johnson explores the Symphony no.9 by Dvorak, within the context of its own musical heritage. Stephen Johnson explores Dvorak's New World Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Eight Songs For A Mad King | 20081102 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by the composer Peter Maxwell Davies for an in-depth exploration of his iconic music theatre work Eight Songs for a Mad King. With the ensemble Psappha and baritone Kelvin Thomas. Considered one of the most celebrated and shocking pieces of British music theatre ever written, the work portrays the tragic madness of King George III. A look at Peter Maxwell Davies's iconic music theatre work Eight Songs for a Mad King. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Eighteenth-century Tchaikovsky | 20081019 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Philharmonic and cellist Robert Cohen to explore two of Tchaikovsky's 18th century-inspired works - the Rococo Variations and the orchestral suite Mozartiana. Tchaikovsky's music appears to embody the romantic passions and storms of the his age, but the composer himself often took solace reflecting idealistically on the sensibilities of the 18th century and in particular on his beloved Mozart. Charles Hazlewood considers Tchaikovsky's musical reflections on the 18th century. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Electronic Music | 20080217 | An exploration of electronic music, with Jonathan Harvey on his Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: A Very English Composer | 20080127 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by the string section of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to explore what makes Elgar such a quintessentially 'English' composer, focusing on his 1905 Introduction and Allegro, and the 1892 Serenade for Strings. As a contrast, Charles also examines the music of Holst, another English composer who was writing in the early part of the 20th century, looking at his Saint Paul's Suite for string orchestra. Could Holst's style possibly be more authentically English than that of Elgar? Charles Hazlewood explores what makes Elgar's music typically English. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: A Very English Composer | 20080921 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by the string section of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to explore what makes Elgar such a quintessentially 'English' composer, focusing on his 1905 Introduction and Allegro, and the 1892 Serenade for Strings. As a contrast, Charles also examines the music of Holst, another English composer who was writing in the early part of the 20th century, looking at his Saint Paul's Suite for string orchestra. Could Holst's style possibly be more authentically English than that of Elgar? Charles Hazlewood explores what makes Elgar's music typically English. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: Cello Concerto In E Minor (op. 85) | 20001015 | Stephen Johnson explores Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, with the help of Liwei Qin. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: Concerto For Cello And Orchestra (op.85) In E Minor | 20051126 | Stephen Johnson joins the BBCSO for a look at Elgar's famous Cello Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: Concerto For Cello And Orchestra (op.85) In E Minor | 20071202 | Stephen Johnson joins the BBCSO for a look at Elgar's famous Cello Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: Enigma Variations | 20121205 | Stephen Johnson explores Elgar's 'Enigma Variations', a series of 13 musical sketches of the composer's friends which concludes with a representation of Elgar himself. The theme of the variations was spotted by his wife, as an exhausted Elgar strummed on the piano to relax after a long day teaching violin. When it was completed, this impromptu session turned into Elgar's most ambitious orchestral work to date, which, after it was first performed in London on 19th June 1899, went on to secure his reputation as a composer of international standing. Stephen Johnson explores Elgar's celebrated Enigma Variations. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: In The South | 20041120 | 20090719 (R3) | Mark Elder and the Halle Orchestra explore Elgar's concert overture In the South. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Elgar: Sea Pictures (op.37) | 20020609 | Sarah Walker explores Edward Elgar's deep love of nature, religious devotion and nationalism as viewed through his ever-popular Sea Pictures (Op.37). Specially recorded musical illustrations are performed by the mezzo-soprano Joanne Thomas with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Peter Stark. Sarah Walker explores Edward Elgar's ever-popular Sea Pictures (Op.37). Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: Symphony No. 1 | 20120110 | Stephen Johnson explores Elgar's Symphony No. 1, which was ten years in the making. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elgar: Symphony No. 2 | 20120315 | Stephen Johnson explores Elgar's Second Symphony, which was inspired by stays in Italy and Tintagel in Cornwall, and a poem by Shelley. When it was first heard in 1911, the shifting moods and complex underlying spirit of the symphony confounded many of the audience, perhaps anticipating the troubled times that were about to overtake Europe. Stephen Johnson explores Elgar's Second Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Elliott Carter At 100 | 20081214 | Stephen Johnson talks to the composer Elliott Carter in his 100th birthday year. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Eta Hoffmann | 20101205 | Stephen Johnson and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the impact of writer ETA Hoffmann on music, not least on Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker. The fantastical writings of ETA Hoffmann made an enormous impact on composers in the 19th Century. In this programme Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Johannes Wildner, before an audience at London's South Bank, for an exploration of Hoffmann's writings and ideas. Hoffmann began his career as a composer and music always played a large part in his life. In the programme the Concert Orchestra offer an opportunity to hear some of Hoffmann's music alongside a focus on Tchaikovsky's Hoffmann inspired ballet The Nutcracker. Stephen Johnson examines Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker and the impact of writer ETA Hoffmann. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Falla's Nights In The Gardens Of Spain | 20110710 | Stephen Johnson joins the pianist Artur Pizarro and the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth for a look at the music and ideas of Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Falla finsihed his musical evocation of Spanish landscapes, scored for piano and orchestra, in 1915. As well as the many native Spanish influences that shaped the music, Falla was also guided by the French Impressionists, Debussy and Ravel, so that his three movement portrait has a telling atmospheric quality. It also demonstrates many of the Spanish influences taken from the Arab world. Stephen unpicks the work with playing and comment from the Lisbon born pianist Artur Pizarro. Stephen Johnson considers the music of Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Faure Requiem | 20100117 | Gabriel Fauré composed what is arguably his magnum opus - the Requiem in D minor - between 1870 and 1890, but his reasons for composing the piece are uncertain. Faure lost both his parents within two years of each other, which may have been his original impetus, but by the time of his mother's death he had already begun the work, which he later declared was 'composed for nothing . for fun, if I may be permitted to say so! The first version of the work, which he called 'un petit Requiem' included just five movements, but not the 'Libera Me'. It was first performed at La Madeleine in Paris, with Fauré himself conducting - the occasion being the funeral of the architect, Joseph La Soufaché. Over the next two years Fauré expanded the piece to the now more familiar seven movements, and altered some of his original orchestrations. In 1899-1900, the score was reworked again for full orchestra, probably by one of his students. It was the definiteive version of the Requiem - played at Fauré's own funeral in 1924 - until John Rutter rediscovered Fauré's original manuscript of the chamber orchestra version in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris in the early 1980s. It has now become one of the most popular pieces for choirs and choral societies all over the world. In today's programme, Stephen Johnson explores the nuances and differences in the Requiem, using the recordings by John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir and The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers. Stephen Johnson explores the nuances and different versions of Faure's Requiem in D minor. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Faure: La Bonne Chanson | 20061021 | Stephen Johnson presents an exploration of Faure's Song-Cycle 'La Bonne Chanson'. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Faure's Piano Quartet No 1 | 20130430 | Stephen Johnson explores Faure's Piano Quartet No 1 in C minor. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Finzi's In Terra Pax | 20121219 | Stephen Johnson explores in detail Gerald Finzi's In Terra Pax. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Folk Music In Classical Music | 20050702 | Stephen Johnson joins the members of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Austin and the traditional folk-singer Martin Carthy for a look at the imaginative ways in which Percy Grainger and Ralph Vaughan Williams have used folk-song material in their compositions. The programme includes a complete performance of Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus by Vaughan Williams. Stephen Johnson and Martin Carthy look at folk in Grainger and Vaughan Williams's work. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Foxtrots | 20100110 | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore how the foxtrot of the dance halls of the 1920s and 40s had a creative impact on the imagination of 20th-century composers such as Maurice Ravel, John Adams and Peter Maxwell Davies. The iconic sounds of the popular foxtrots, which reached mass audiences through the wind-up gramophone, through the dance halls and through radio, have become a useful vehicle with which some composers have chosen to present extra-musical and sometimes ironic references in their 'serious' music. Charles briefly analyses the substance of the foxtrot and considers how Ravel used the dance in his opera L'enfant et les sortileges to evoke the spirit of his times; of how American composer John Adams uses the distinctive sounds of the dance played on a 78 rpm record, as the basis for short orchestral concert work The Chairman Dances; and of how Peter Maxwell Davies's recollection of the foxtrots of his childhood culminate in observations about political and moral responsibility in his St Thomas Wake for orchestra. Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore classical foxtrots for orchestra. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| George Benjamin | 20080120 | 20090308 (R3) | Composer George Benjamin talks about his orchestral pieces Dance Figures and Sudden Time. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue | 20020106 | Chris de Souza investigates the very first example of crossover music, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. It was commissioned by the great jazz bandleader Paul Whiteman for what he described as an 'experiment in modern music' - a programme of symphonic jazz, which he put on at New York's Carnegie Hall. It has been described as 'the finest piece of serious music that had ever come out of America; moreover the most effective concerto for piano and orchestra since Tchaikovsky's.' Music examples are played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with pianist Jack Gibbons conducted by Eric Stern. Chris de Souza investigates George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Gershwin's Piano Concerto | 20080504 | Charles Hazlewood and pianist Joanna MacGregor explore Gershwin's Piano Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Graham Fitkin's Tidal | 20100912 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the composer Graham Fitkin to explore Fitkin's new BBC commission 'Tidal'. Featuring an intriguing look into Fitkin's early work, musical influences and his current compositional techniques with excerpts from the new work and the World Premiere performance. The programme also features an inside look at a BBC Concert Orchestra education project which ran alongside this Discovering Music. Charles Hazlewood explores Graham Fitkin's new work Tidal with the composer. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Grieg Piano Concerto | 20071230 | Stephen Johnson with pianist Ronan O'Hora and the Ulster Orchestra explore Grieg's work. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Grieg Piano Concerto | 20081012 | Stephen Johnson with pianist Ronan O'Hora and the Ulster Orchestra explore Grieg's work. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Handel Operas | 20090301 | As part of Radio 3's 2009 Handel celebrations, Catherine Bott and Laurence Cummings explore Handelian opera seria - or serious opera. This was the dominant operatic form in the 18th Century, with its own rhetoric and conventions, and would have been widely understood and appreciated then. With soprano Rebecca Outram and countertenor Andrew Radley, Catherine and Laurence consider examples from a range of different operas by Handel, suggesting ways in which the composer took the operatic conventions of his day and, through his genius, transformed them to create dramatic music of great expressivity and imagination. The programme also includes the last of Christopher Gayford's Codas - his brief look at some of the psychological aspects of listening to music. Catherine Bott and Laurence Cummings explore the workings of Handelian 'opera seria'. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Handel Week: Ode For The Birthday Of Queen Anne | 20070506 | 20090412 (R3) | Charles Hazlewood explores Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Handel: Dixit Dominus | 20101107 | Handel's Dixit Dominus is one of his earliest choral works, written in Rome in 1707 when he was just 22. Robert Hollingworth explores this youthful and vivacious work and is joined by James O'Donnell, who conducts the BBC Singers and St James's Baroque in extracts and a complete performance of Dixit Dominus. The programme also includes a look at a project led by Tim Steiner with students from St Marylebone Church of England Secondary School. Robert Hollingworth explores Handel's youthful choral work Dixit Dominus. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Handel: Israel In Egypt | 20120521 | During the 1730s Handel was making his living in London as a composer of Italian opera, but when plans for the 1738-39 season collapsed due to lack of subscribers, he turned instead to oratorio. Stephen Johnson explores one of the fruits of this change of direction - Handel's monumental choral work, Israel in Egypt. Stephen Johnson explores Handel's monumental choral work Israel in Egypt. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Handel: Messiah | 20121214 | Stephen Johnson explores one of the most popular seasonal oratorios, Handel's Messiah. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Harrison Birtwistle | 20090712 | Stephen Johnson explores Harrison Birtwistle's Cortege and Secret Theatre. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Harvey: Tombeau De Messiaen And Other Presences | 20061028 | As part of the 2006 BBC Electric Proms, Discovering Music goes 'Electric' exploring two mixed media electro-acoustic works by one of the most skilled and imaginative composers using the electronic medium today, Jonathan Harvey. The composer joins Stephen Johnson in the FREEDM Studio at London's Roundhouse, to delve into two pieces which span the last twelve years of his compositional career. Pianist Clive Williamson and trumpeter Markus Stockhausen are the two solo performers in Tombeau de Messiaen, a piece for piano and tape from 1994 and Other Presences for Trumpet and sampling keyboard, a work which Stockhausen premiered at this year's Cheltenham Festival of Music. Jonathan Harvey and Stephen Johnson look at two of Harvey's compositions. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Hary Janos | 20080511 | 20100103 (R3) | Charles Hazlewood joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra before an audience at Glasgow's City Halls for an exploration of Kodaly's famous Hary Janos, an orchestral suite that in the 1920s established the composer as a musician of international standing. Considered a Hungarian 'nationalist' work, it tells the story of a figure who singlehandedly saves the country from Napoleon's army. And cimbalom player Heather Corbett joins Charles for a profile of the cimbalom, Hungary's national instrument and a prominent feature in Hary Janos. They consider the development of the instrument from the traditional folk dulcimer, and look at how composers as diverse as Liszt, Stravinsky and Boulez have written for it. Looking at Kodaly's suite Hary Janos and profiling the cimbalom, which features in it. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Haydn Symphonies Nos 22 And 92 | 20090607 | Stephen Johnson and the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Nicholas Kraemer, explore two titled Haydn symphonies, considering how the composer's musical imagination was inspired by the day-to-day happenings in his life. His symphony No 22 (The Philosopher) is believed to have been inspired by the appearance of a pair of unusual instruments - both cor anglais - at his workplace in Esterhazy. Whatever prompted Haydn to use these rare instruments resulted in a work that remains one of the most popular among his early symphonies. Stephen also explores some of the novelties in one of Haydn's later symphonies, the Oxford. It was supposedly composed to celebrate Haydn's honorary degree at the English University, but was in fact slightly reworked and composed a short while earlier. Stephen Johnson unpicks Haydn's Symphonies Nos 22 and 92. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Haydn Symphony No 98 And Piano Variations | 20070826 | 20090405 (R3) 20110123 (R3) | Stephen Johnson and conductor Nicholas Kraemer explore Haydn's wit and invention. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Haydn: Op. 33 Quartets | 20041211 | 20050521 (R3) | The six string quartets that Joseph Haydn composed around 1781 - his Op. 33 - contain some of his most inspired and innovative music. Stephen Johnson joins the members of the Wihan Quartet in front of an audience at the Jacqueline du Pre Hall in Oxford to reveal and to revel in the delights of Haydn's musical wit and invention. Stephen Johnson joins the Wihan Quartet to look at Haydn's six string quartets, Op. 33. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Haydn: Symphony No. 100 (h.1.100) In G Major | 20061007 | 20081130 (R3) | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore Haydn's Symphony No 100 (Military) Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Haydn: Symphony No. 104 | 20130118 | Stephen Johnson explores Haydn's Symphony No. 104. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Henri Dutilleux | 20080309 | Stephen Johnson explores some of the ideas behind the music of one of France's leading composers, Henri Dutilleux, focusing on his second Symphony (Le double). Thierry Fischer conducts a performance given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as part of their Discovering Dutilleux festival. Stephen Johnson explores ideas behind the music of French composer Henri Dutilleux. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphoses On Themes Of Weber | 20020901 | Examing Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis | 20121213 | Stephen Johnson explores the relationship between Paul Hindemith's 'Symphonic Metamorphosis' and the themes by the German romantic composer, Carl Maria von Weber, on which it is loosely based. By the time he completed the work in 1943 Hindemith had been living in America for some time. Originally the composer had intended to produce a ballet with the impresario L退onide Massine but the two of them fell out and the project was dropped. Three years later Hindemith revisited the material, reworking it into the 'Symphonic Metamorphosis'. Stephen Johnson explores Paul Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Holst: The Perfect Fool | 20130304 | Stephen Johnson explores Holst's The Perfect Fool. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Holst: The Planets Suite (op. 32) | 20001001 | Stephen Johnson discusses Holst's suite The Planets, with music performed by BBC NOW. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Janacek: Glagolitic Mass | 20090426 | 20101121 (R3) | Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, a cantata for soloists, choir, orchestra and organ, was written in 1926 to a tex in the Old Church Slavonic language; from an early age Janacek had been passionate about the traditions of the Slavic peoples. Stephen Johnson explores this mighty work, playing illustrative excerpts and the whole work from a recording of the mass by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Karel Ancerl. Stephen Johnson explores Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, playing excerpts and the entire work. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Jelly Roll Morton | 20110220 | The end of October 2010 saw the 120th anniversary of the birth of one of the most colourful and lively figures in jazz - Jelly Roll Morton. So to commemorate that anniversary, Alyn Shipton explores some of the musical legacies of the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz. Alyn Shipton looks at some of Morton's forerunners (including Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Scott Joplin) with help from the pianist Philip Martin, and at Morton's own musical style - with comment from one of the world's foremost authorites on classic jazz and ragtime - Keith Nichols. Alyn Shipton explores the legacy of the so-called 'founder of jazz', Jelly Roll Morton. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Joe Cutler's Music For Cello And Strings And Grieg's Holberg Suite | 20080727 | Charles Hazlewood and composer Joe Cutler examine Cutler's own Music for cello and strings Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Johann Strauss | 20081005 | Charles Hazlewood explores the music of the waltz king Johann Strauss. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| John Adams: Chamber Symphony | 20080106 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by Excellent Device to explore Adams's Chamber Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| John Adams: City Noir | 20131212 | Composed in 2009, John Adams's City Noir is a dark, brooding, jazz-inflected tribute to film noir. The composer's primary inspiration was urban California in the 1950s - from Sunset Boulevard to Macarthur Park - and his score seethes with barely-repressed energy. Stephen Johnson explores its murky musical pages. John Adams's orchestral paean to post-war Hollywood, and the world of the film noir. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| John Adams: Doctor Atomic Symphony | 20130426 | John Adams' opera Doctor Atomic has come to be regarded as one of the most original and engaging works of musical theatre of the last decade - its subject the lives of J. Robert Oppenheimer and others involved in the Manhattan Project of the 1950s. Stephen Johnson explores the symphony Adams created from his opera. Stephen Johnson explores John Adams' Doctor Atomic Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Korngold's Violin Concerto | 20110522 | From the Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff, Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conductor Rumon Gamba & soloist Matthew Trusler for an in-depth look at Korngold's colourful post-war Violin Concerto. Having escaped the Anschluss in his native Vienna, Korngold finally settled in Hollywood in 1938 and began writing music for film scores such as 'The Adventures of Robin Hood', which won him his second Oscar. Once the war was over, Korngold set about composing music for the concert platform once again, and this concerto was one of the first to be put before the public in a performance by Jascha Heifetz. Stephen Johnson explores the musical nuances of Korngold's post-war Violin Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Kurt Weill: Violin Concerto (op. 12) | 20060909 | Charles Hazlewood, the BBC SSO and Clio Gould explore Kurt Weill's Violin Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Kurtag - Scenes From A Novel | 20080629 | In a programme recorded at the Aldeburgh festival, Stephen Johnson is joined by soprano Maria Husmann and the ensemble Psappha to delve into the musical world of the featured composer of this year's festival - Gyorgy Kurtag. They examine Kurtag's work Scenes from a Novel alongside some of the piano minatures - Jatekok (Games) and the orchestral work Stele. Stephen Johnson is joined by soprano Maria Husmann to look at the work of Gyorgy Kurtag. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Ligeti Piano Concerto | 20090906 | Composed between 1985 and 1988, Ligeti's Piano Concerto is one of the composer's most dynamic examples of music inspired by contemporary ideas about structure, pattern and rhythm. The mathematics of Fractals and Chaos Theory is one starting point in understanding this colourful and arresting work, as are some of the more individual and distinctive folk traditions of Africa, Indonesia and Eastern Europe. Tom Service is joined by composer Julian Anderson, who is a great advocate of Ligeti's work, and a team of celebrated contemporary music specialists - pianist Rolf Hind, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG), and conductor Martyn Brabbins - for an exploration of the musical workings and ideas behind this virtuoso tour de force and one of the late 20th century's musical masterpieces. Tom Service explores the musical workings and ideas behind Ligeti's Piano Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Ligeti Violin Concerto | 20071209 | Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and violinist Ernst Kovacic for an in-depth exploration of Gyorgy Ligeti's Violin Concerto. Plus Jennifer Martin takes an inside look at a BBC SSO learning programme centred around another challenging work by Ligeti, his Chamber Concerto. Stephen Johnson, the BBC SSO and violinist Ernst Kovacic explore Ligeti's Violin Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Light Fantastic: Eric Coates | 20110626 | Catherine Bott and John Wilson explore the supreme musical craftsmanship of Eric Coates with the help of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra focusing on one of his popular marches, and from 1935, The Three Men Suite. It is characteristic of Light Music that it is direct in its appeal and uncomplex in its make up. In the years between the two World Wars, Eric Coates was the uncrowned king of the genre. Hugely popular and immensely successful, Coates prided himself on never being short of a tune. But as Catherine Bott and conductor John Wilson explain, Coates's musical talents were far in excess of merely having the ability to create a catchy melody. By exploring Coates's various musical beliefs and influences, and examining his music in detail, they demonstrate a musician with a perceptive and eclectic ear, and a master musical craftsman. Music featured in the programme includes The Knightsbridge March; The Three Men Suite as well as excerpts from Elgar, German and Delius. Catherine Bott and John Wilson explore the musical craftsmanship of Eric Coates. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Listening | 19990101 | In this final programme of ten Leonard Slatkin takes the pain out of getting your ears round a new piece of music - from modern compositions to a Haydn symphony you have never heard before. Leonard is joined by the BBC Philharmonic to perform a piece that only a handful of people have heard, Bolcom's Symphony no. 6. Leonard Slatkin examines how to approach listening to a new piece of music. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Listening To Webern | 20050910 | Stephen Johnson takes a close look at the music of the great Austrian figure, Anton Webern Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Liszt Piano Concertos | 20100523 | Sara Mohr-Pietsch considers the background and music to Liszt's first two piano concertos with pianist Piers Lane and the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Keith Lockhart. Liszt wrote, and serially revised, what we now call Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat and No 2 in A, over a period of 30 years. Sara Mohr-Pietsch considers the ways in which the pianist/composer strove to create a new kind of concerto worthy of the sensibilities and aesthetic of the early romantic period during the first half of the 19th Century. Sara Mohr-Pietsch considers the background and music of Liszt's first two piano concertos. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Liszt Transcriptions | 20110814 | Stephen Johnson is joined by pianist Leslie Howard at the Birmingham International Piano Academy to uncover the musical nuances in some of Liszt's piano transcriptions. Liszt was a celebrated virtuoso pianist and European superstar. His myriad piano transcriptions served a number of purposes. Some showed off his incredible technique, others were more easily playable by amateur musicians and so served to disseminate well-known pieces to a bigger audience. In others, there's a real sense that Liszt thought that the piano, as an instrument, actually had something different to bring to the original composition. He tackled Schubert songs, mammoth Beethoven symphonies, Wagnerian leitmotifs and Verdi grand operas, but none of his transcriptions are in any way a pastiche. All of them seem to carry a sense that Liszt cared deeply about the music and about the piano. Stephen Johnson unpicks some of the musical nuances in Liszt's piano transcriptions. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Liszt: Piano Sonata In B Minor | 20110927 | Wagner was an enthusiast, but it apparently sent Brahms to sleep. These days, Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor is regarded as one of the pinnacles of the piano repertoire, difficult for listeners and monumentally challenging for the pianist. There has been 150 years of disagreement about its structure and its form - is it in one section? Three sections? Four sections? What's it about? Some suggest it's based on the Faust legend. Others say it represents the story of the Garden of Eden. Or perhaps it's biographical. It's one of the most discussed and analyzed pieces of music ever written. This week on Discovering Music, Stephen Johnson gets to grips with Liszt's masterpiece, before a live performance by Nelson Goerner at Wigmore Hall. Stephen Johnson investigates the mysteries of Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Lully's Religious Works | 20120627 | They say that Louis XIV was 'occupied constantly with the idea of grandeur'. Given this starting-point, Lully as court composer could have been forgiven if his sacred music had overindulged in the spectacular. Stephen Johnson uncovers the subtleties of Lully's surviving religious works with Richard Egarr, director of tonight's concert, and finds a composer remarkably attuned to the opportunities and pitfalls of combining theatre and church in music. Stephen Johnson explores the blend of theatre and church in Lully's sacred music. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Lutoslawski: Symphonic Variations | 20100627 | Stephen Johnson explores two works by Witold Lutoslawski: the Symphonic Variations, his orchestral debut written while the composer was just 25, and the work which established Lutoslawski as an international figure, the Concerto for Orchestra, completed in 1954. Stephen explores the colourful and alluring sound world and influences of the composer. The programme includes musical examples and full performances from both works by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Krzysztof Urbanski. Stephen Johnson explores Lutoslawski's Symphonic Variations and Concerto for Orchestra. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Macmillan: The Confession Of Isobel Gowdie | 20031129 | 20050108 (R3) | In 1662 Isobel Gowdie, from Nairn in Scotland, was strangled at the stake and burned in pitch after having confessed to being a witch and consorting with the devil. Composer James MacMillan was drawn by the dramatic potential of this horrific event to compose what he has described as a 'complicated act of contrition - the requiem that Isobel Gowdie never had'. James MacMillan joins Stephen Johnson to reveal how the work was composed and the ways in which he has tried to capture the soul of Scotland in music. The composer also conducts the BBC Philharmonic in extracts and a complete performance of the work. James MacMillan joins Stephen Johnson to discuss The Confession of Isobel Gowdie. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde | 20100620 | Stephen Johnson examines the ideas and meaning of Mahler's great symphony of song, Das Lied von der Erde, through the chamber version made by Arnold Schoenberg and Rainer Riehn after Mahler's death. For superstitious reasons, Mahler would not call it his Symphony No 10 (too many composers in the past had died while writing a tenth symphony) and Mahler's own frail health at the time strengthened his fatalistic instincts. The Song of the Earth, is based on translations of Chinese poems, and as Stephen explains, there is a strong Eastern philosophical influence throughout the entire work. Stephen's workshop is illustrated by the Manchester Camerata and Douglas Boyd, with singers Jane Irwin and Peter Wedd, and the programme was recorded as part of the Manchester Mahler celebrations at the start of 2010. Stephen Johnson examines Mahler's Song of the Earth with the Manchester Camerata. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn | 20121004 | Stephen Johnson explores Mahler's collection of songs, Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mahler: Symphony No. 1 | 20121107 | Stephen Johnson explores Mahler's First Symphony to uncover a world of musical memories. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mahler: Symphony No. 1 In D | 20010211 | Stephen Johnson explores Mahler's immense first Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mahler: Symphony No. 4 | 20120420 | With its pipe tunes and folky finale, Mahler's Symphony No. 4 presents itself as the odd man out amongst the composer's grand and imposing symphonies. But is it really? Stephen Johnson explores darker undercurrents in the work, as well as shadows of the composer's other life as one of the greatest opera conductors of his day. Stephen Johnson explores darker undercurrents in Mahler's Symphony No. 4. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mahler: Symphony No. 5 | 20130628 | Stephen Johnson explores what Mahler's songs can tell us about his Symphony No. 5. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mahler: Symphony No. 7 | 20120309 | Mahler's Symphony No. 7 was premiered in 1908 in Prague, when the composer conducted the work himself, as part of a celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the coronation of Emperor Franz Joseph. The symphony is similar to most of Mahler's other symphonies, in that the Seventh calls for a very large orchestra. Mahler termed this work as 'predominantly cheerful, humorous content'. Some have interpreted the finale as an outburst of enthusiastic affirmation of life. Stephen Johnson reveals the inner workings of Mahler's Symphony No. 7. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mahler's Resurrection Symphony | 20110515 | Stephen Johnson hosts a round the table discussion about Mahler's monumental work, his 2nd Symphony, sometimes called the 'Resurrection.' Stephen is joined by 3 guests: Jeremy Barham, writer and editor of the Cambridge Companion to Mahler; Lesley Chamberlain, writer, critic and journalist, and author of the widely acclaimed book 'Nietzsche in Turin'; and Colin Matthews, composer who collaborated with Dereyck Cooke on the performing version of Mahler's 10th Symphony. Their discussion includes the social context of the work and Mahler's development as a symphonist, and also ideas about interpreting the death and resurrection theme of the symphony. The discussion is illustrated by short musical extracts, and the programme concludes with a recording of Mahler's tone-poem Totenfeier, which was later to become the first movement of the 2nd symphony. Stephen Johnson hosts a round table discussion about Mahler's monumental Second Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mark-anthony Turnage's Momentum And Kai | 20071125 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by cellist Matthew Barley and the BBC Philharmonic to explore the music of contemporary British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage through his works Momentum for orchestra and Kai for solo cello and ensemble. The programme also includes a look back over a week at Eccles College in Salford, where Matthew, Charles and members of the orchestra worked with amateur groups on their own piece inspired by Turnage's music. Cellist Matthew Barley and the BBC Philharmonic explore the music of Mark-Anthony Turnage. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Martinu: Piano Concerto No 2 | 20091206 | To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Bohuslav Martinu's death, Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conductor Tecwyn Evans and pianist Martin Roscoe for an exploration of music by Martinu. Stephen focuses on the Second Piano Concerto, written in the mid-1930s during Martinu's years in Paris. The city was the hothouse of modernism in the 1920s and 30s, attracting artists such as Picasso and composers such as Stravinsky, and while such charismatic figures left their mark on Martinu, the composer nonetheless ploughed his own distinctive artistic furrow, resulting in a very individual voice. Stephen also explores Martinu's Three Inventions for Orchestra, composed at the same time, which paved the way for his subsequent series of five symphonies. Stephen Johnson on Martinu's Piano Concerto No 2 and Three Inventions for Orchestra. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mendelssohn Overtures | 20080608 | Stephen Johnson explores three of Mendelssohn's symphonic poems. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mendelssohn Weekend - Italian Symphony | 20090510 | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the history and workings of Mendelssohn's popular 4th Symphony - the Italian, discovering that the composer was torn between two artistic ideals - using music to express the poetic and extra-musical, and creating a taut, pure symphonic construction that would be deemed worthy of a successor to Beethoven. Mendelssohn never managed to fully reconcile the two and he remained dissatisfied with his symphony. He withdrew it and it was never published in his lifetime. But that didn't stop it becoming immensely popular and a staple part of the symphonic repertoire. In considering the work and its revisions, Charles provides an insight into Mendelssohn's philosophy as a symphonist, as well as the role that Mendelssohn's mentor, Goethe, played in directing the young composer. The programme also features a performance of Mendelssohn's overture inspired by a poem of Goethe, Die Erste Walpurgisnacht. Charles Hazelwood explores the history and ideas behind Mendelssohn's Italian symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mendelssohn: Concerto In D Minor For Violin And Piano | 20111025 | Mendelssohn had already written over a hundred pieces in nearly every genre before he turned to his Concerto for violin and piano at the age of just fourteen years old. Stephen Johnson sifts through this rarely heard early work to see how the young composer was already racing down the path from child prodigy to incipient genius. Stephen Johnson explores Mendelssohn's rarely-heard Concerto for violin and piano. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mendelssohn: Octet In E Flat (op. 20) | 20011202 | Stephen Johnson explores Mendelssohn's ever-popular Octet in E flat Op.20. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 'scottish' | 20131101 | It was during a walking tour of Scotland in 1829 that the 20 year old Felix Mendelssohn visited the Palace of Holyrood. There, while walking among the ruins of Queen Mary's home, he began to form the first ideas for his Third Symphony. However, the gestation period turned out to be lengthy. By the time Mendelssohn completed the work in 1842, his holiday 13 years earlier was a distant memory. Stephen Johnson examines the symphony's relationship to its nickname, the 'Scottish'. Stephen Johnson explores Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3 'Scottish'. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 In A Major (''italian'') (op. 90) | 20020407 | Chris de Souza looks at Mendelssohn's Symphony no.4 'Italian'. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto | 20110424 | Catherine Bott explores the musical nuances of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Messiaen - St Francis Of Assisi | 20080831 | Alwynne Pritchard and conductor Kent Nagano explore Messiaen's opera St Francis of Assisi. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Messiaen: Quartet For The End Of Time | 20081207 | Stephen Johnson is joined by members of the Fibonacci Sequence for a detailed exploration of Messiaen's wartime piece Quartet for the End of Time, with pianist Kathron Sturrock, violinist Jack Liebeck, clarinettist Julian Farrell and cellist Benjamin Hughes, before a complete performance of the work, given at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. In 1941, Messiaen was captured by the German army and held as a prisoner of war at Stalag VIII-A in Gorlitz. It was there, to an audience of about 400 fellow prisoners that he, along with clarinettist Henry Akoka, violinist Jean le Boulaire and cellist Etienne Pasquier, gave the world premiere performance of his eight-movement piece. 'Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension', the composer recalled after the event. Stephen Johnson explores Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Milhaud And Poulenc | 20100425 | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore music by Milhaud and Poulenc. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Moeran's Symphony No 2 | 20120601 | Towards the end of his life, Ernest John Moeran was working on his second Symphony, inspired by the mountains of Kerry. On the 1st of December 1950, during an overcast and stormy day, Moeran was spotted walking towards the end of the pier at Kenmare in County Kerry. As he made to return, Moeran fell, possibly from a brain haemorrhage, and he never got to complete this work. Conductor Martin Yates has now realised and completed this second Symphony, and joins Stephen Johnson to discuss Moeran's last major orchestral project. Conductor Martin Yates joins Stephen Johnson to discuss EJ Moeran's Second Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Monteverdi's Il Combattimento Di Tancredi E Clorinda | 20080622 | Robert Hollingworth and I Fagiolini explore Monteverdi's Battle of Tancredi and Clorinda. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Monteverdi's L'orfeo | 20070930 | 20110320 (R3) | Robert Hollingworth joins a specially gathered group of performers for an exploration of some of the pioneering musical ideas behind music's first operatic masterpiece - L'Orfeo. Robert considers the way in which Monteverdi's ideas about creating opera developed from his experience of writing madrigals. He looks at Monteverdi's expressive use of music to colour and highlight the meaning of the text and features performances of several contrasting episodes from the opera. Robert Hollingworth and period performers explore musical ideas of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Mozart Dissonance Quartet | 20080113 | Stephen Johnson and the Royal Quartet explore Mozart's Haydn Quartets. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart: Clarinet Concerto In A (k.622) | 20010318 | Chris de Souza takes a fresh look at one of the cornerstones of the concerto repertoire, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A (K.622). Specially recorded musical examples are played by John Bradbury (clarinet/basset clarinet) with the BBC Philharmonic, Rumon Gamba (conductor), together with excerpts from the recording made by Charles Neidich with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Chris de Souza takes a fresh look at Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A (K.622). Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart: Last Piano Concerto (k.595) | 20050709 | Charles Hazlewood and pianist Ronald Brautigam examine Mozart's last piano concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart: Piano Concerto No.24 In C Minor (k. 491) | 20010408 | Gerard McBurney looks at Mozart's Piano Concerto no.24 in C minor K491. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart: Requiem | 20130926 | It's not possible to know precisely what Mozart's plans were for the Requiem he left incomplete on his death in 1791. At the request of his widow, Constanze, a completion was made by the composer's pupil Franz Süssmayr but lack of physical evidence means its proximity to Mozart's intentions cannot be proved. Two hundred years after the first completion, the musicologist, academic and performer Robert Levin recompleted the Requiem, aiming to enhance Süssmayr's version rather than replace it. Stephen Johnson examines the relationship between the two versions. Stephen Johnson explores Robert Levin's recompletion of Mozart's Requiem. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart: Serenade In C Minor (k.388) | 20060708 | Charles Hazlewood looks at Mozart's Serenade for Wind in C Minor with the Harmonieband. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart: Symphony No 41 | 20121129 | Stephen Johnson explores Mozart's Symphony No 41 (Jupiter). Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart: Symphony No. 41 'jupiter' (k.551) | 20000507 | Anthony Payne unlocks the secrets of Mozart's Symphony No 41 in C (Jupiter) Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart's Clarinet Quintet | 20130701 | Stephen Johnson explores Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A, K581. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik | 20110109 | As part of the 'Genius of Mozart' season, Stephen Johnson visits Clandon Park House in Surrey to study the nuances found in Mozart's most famous serenade - 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'. He's joined by the architect Jonathan Foyle to discuss the links between Mozart's musical structures and the Palladian-style architecture of the period, and by the historian Steven Parissien who'll be giving his insight into the social history of the time and into the European-wide concept of 18th century sensibility. Musical extracts will be played by The Doric Quartet and double-bass player Tim Gibbs. Stephen Johnson explores the musical nuances found in Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mozart's Linz Symphony | 20110116 | Mozart's Symphony No. 36, is known as the 'Linz Symphony' because it was composed in just four days during a visit to the Austrian town of Linz. Tom Service joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrew Manze to explore this incredible work. He also talks with Fraser Trainer about an education project which the orchestra ran alongside this Discovering Music recording, which involved players from the orchestra working with Glasgow School Students and National Youth Orchestra of Scotland players, writing a new piece in the same amount of time as Mozart. Tom Service and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra explore Mozart's Linz Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Music Of Mexico | 20091101 | Charles Hazlewood with the BBC Concert Orchestra take up a Latin American theme as they explore the music of Mexico in the concert hall. As Latin American rhythms became universally popular in the first half of the 20th century, and countries such as Mexico strove to reflect their own voice on the world stage, so a new palette of musical colours and ideas found their way onto the concert programme. Charles focuses on two works by Mexican born composers. Jose Pablo Moncayo's Huapango is a short orchestral piece based on popular rural dances from his native country and has become his most often performed piece. Silvestre Revueltas' Sensemaya draws on the mythology of the ancient Mayan civilisation and is a symphonic poem infused with Latin American colours, but which also reflects the composer's interest and understanding of Western European music from the first half of the 20th century. There is also a nod towards Mexico from a North American master, Aaron Copland. His El Salon Mexico came about as a result of a visit to Mexico during which he heard popular music in late night bars and cafes. Playlist: El Palo Verde (Mexican folk song) Cynthia Gooding sings Spanish Mexican and Turkish folk songs Collectors' Choice CCM-626 Tr 12. Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert orchestra focus on music inspired by Mexico. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition | 20091025 | In front of an audience at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff, Charles Hazlewood joins the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and pianist Ashley Wass for an examination of both the original piano and the orchestral versions of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Charles is also joined in his analysis by David Nice, an authority on Russian music. What exactly were the images that so fired Mussorgsky's imagination and what do they tell us about the personality of this complex and often misunderstood 19th-century composer? Why did the composer seek a synthesis of Western and Slavic influences, and to what extent is Pictures an 'international' piece, countering arguments that Ravel's orchestration is not Russian enough? Following the death of his close friend, Russian artist Victor Hartmann in 1873, Mussorsgky attended an exhibtion of his work and was inspired to compose a piano suite depicting some of the paintings, drawings and designs that he had seen. The composer wrote the suite very quickly and it became a potent example of his Russian nationalist sentiments and his desire to 'realistically' capture pictorial ideas in music. The piano suite cried out to be arranged for orchestra, and one who took up the challenge was Frenchman Maurice Ravel, who made his remarkable orchestration in 1922. The work has never waned in popularity since. Charles Hazlewood and the BBC NOW explore Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Nielsen Symphony No. 2 | 20111206 | It may have been inspired by a kitsch picture hanging in a village pub, but Nielsen's Symphony No. 2 'The Four Temperaments' took the composer to new artistic heights. Stephen Johnson lifts the lid on Nielsen's symphony and explores how it translates the spirit and imagery of ancient medical science into music. Stephen Johnson lifts the lid on Nielsen's Second Symphony (The Four Temperaments). Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Nielsen Symphony No. 4 | 20131024 | Stephen Johnson explores the structure of Nielsen's Fourth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Nielsen's 4th Symphony - The Inextinguishable | 20100808 | Tom Service and conductor John Storgards explore Nielsen's Fourth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Ockeghem's Requiem Mass | 20110703 | Stephen Johnson explores the earliest surviving setting of the Requiem mass by Ockeghem. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Portraits Day, Opera Portraits | 20120507 | Stephen Johnson explores the world of musical characterisation in opera. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Poulenc: Concerto For Two Pianos | 20130130 | Stephen Johnson explores Francis Poulenc's Concerto for two pianos. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Poulenc: Organ Concerto | 20061125 | Charles Hazlewood explores Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Prokofiev Symphony No 5 | 20090628 | David Nice joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Robertson for an exploration of the ideas and background to Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony. It has been labelled as 'a symphony of the grandeur of the human spirit' ever since the composer used that phrase on Moscow radio around the time of the premiere in 1945. But what kind of grandeur is this - the triumph of the individual or the spirit of Soviet man? A Prokofiev authority and biographer, Nice considers the symphony in the light of the time in which it was written, comparing it to other works the composer wrote in the 1940s. David Nice and the BBC Symphony Orchestra examine Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 (classical) (op. 25) | 20070729 | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC CO explore the world of Prokofiev's Classical Symphony Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 | 20130611 | Stephen Johnson examines Prokofiev's Seventh Symphony. It was written at a difficult time in Prokofiev's life. At the Congress of Soviet Composers in 1948, Prokofiev, along with other composers, was accused by Stalins's advisor on culture, Andrei Zhdanov, of 'formalism, decadence and bourgeois decay'. His response was write a symphony might fit the political agenda, yet at the same time hold true to his musical values. Tragically, it would be Prokofiev's final symphonic statement; he died just months after the work's premiere in 1952. Stephen Johnson explores Prokofiev's seventh and final symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Puccini's La Boheme | 20070225 | 20100822 (R3) | Puccini is revered as one of music's great tunesmiths but as Catherine Bott reveals there is much more to his art. With singers Katie van Kooten and Peter Auty and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner, Catherine Bott examines the final scene of Act One of the opera, and Puccini's artful means of sustaining dramatic narrative through music. Producer: Chris Wines. Catherine Bott explores Puccini's La Boheme with singers Katie van Kooten and Peter Auty. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Purcell - Dido And Aeneas | 20090322 | 20100207 (R3) | Stephen Johnson and Nicholas Kraemer examine Purcell's Dido and Aeneas - the first truly great opera in the English language. Along with members of the Manchester Camerata, and before an audience at the RNCM in Manchester, they examine Purcell's masterpiece in the light of its time and look at some of the musical devices that Purcell employs to create a tightly knit narrative and evoke real tragic human emotions. The programme includes a complete performance featuring: Carolina Krogius - Dido Philip Smith - Aeneas Fleur Bray - Belinda Hanna-Liisa Midwood Kirchin - 2nd Woman Katie Lowe - Sorceress Elise Dye - 1st Witch Soraya Mafi - 2nd Witch David Shaw - Sailor Jenny France - Spirit RNCM Chorus and Manchester Camerata directed by Nicholas Kraemer Stephen Johnson and Nicholas Kraemer offer an insight into Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances | 20110403 | Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the City Halls in Glasgow, for an exploration of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances. Written when he was 67, the Symphonic Dances was his last completed composition, and Rachmaninov himself considered it to be have been the best work that he had composed. Stephen Johnson explores the work with musical extracts, and the programme concludes with a complete performance given by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Russian conductor Alexander Titov. Stephen Johnson explores Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rachmaninov: Elegiac Trio No. 2 | 20121105 | Exploring Rachmaninov's Elegiac Trio No. 2, written in memory of Tchaikovsky. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rachmaninov: Isle Of The Dead (op. 29) | 20051203 | Stephen Johnson joins the BBC SO to look at Rachmaninov's tone poem Isle of the Dead. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 | 20131002 | Stephen Johnson explores the emotional heart of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rachmaninov: Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paginini (op. 43) | 20010225 | Gerard McBurney unravels the secrets of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 | 20131128 | Written in Dresden, where he'd gone to escape the heavy demands of his conducting career, Rachmaninov's second foray into symphonic form, proved much easier than the disaster he'd experienced with his first symphony some nine years earlier. Reception to that had left him seeking psychotherapy and unable to compose. By 1906 though, when he began work on the Second Symphony, the table had been fully reversed. He was happily married and had established himself as a successful conductor and composer. Stephen Johnson explores a work which reveals Rachmaninov fully in command of the form, at the height of his expressive powers. Stephen Johnson explores Rachmaninov's Second Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 | 20121101 | The Third Symphony by Sergei Rachmaninov was not a success when premiered in the USA. It was composed at a time when Rachmaninov and his family had left Bolshevik Russia for good. However, the composer still felt a deep connection with his homeland, and when the symphony was performed in Moscow just after the composer's death, it was a great success, touching the hearts of those in attendance. Stephen Johnson explores Rachmaninov's Third Symphony, which despite having been written far from the composer's homeland, is deeply entrenched in a Russian heritage. Stephen Johnson explores the Russian heritage of Rachmaninov's Third Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rachmaninov: Third Piano Concerto | 20090208 | In programme recorded in Glasgow's City Halls, as part of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's Russian Winter series, Stephen Johnson explores Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto. Featuring excerpts and a complete performance by pianist Nelson Goerner and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stefan Solyom. As well as considering its great significance in the piano repertoire, Stephen also looks at the many subtleties of the work. The programme also includes one of four weekly 'Codas' in which conductor and music pyschologist Christopher Gayford looks at some of ways in which humans process music. Stephen Johnson explores Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto, with pianist Nelson Goerner. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Ravel: La Valse | 20120202 | We think of the waltz as the apotheosis of elegance, refinement, high society. But it wasn't always so... In today's 'Discovering Music', Stephen Johnson explores the roots of the waltz - from rustic German dances, to sinister, dizzy treatments by Schumann and Mahler - before looking in-depth at 'La Valse' by Maurice Ravel. Ravel was fascinated by the history and cultural trappings of the waltz form - as well as its dark underbelly...and his 'choreographic poem' for orchestra is a dazzling evocation of gliding dancers warped and transmuted into something rather more sinister... Stephen Johnson on the dark underbelly of Ravel's ode to the Viennese waltz, La valse. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Ravel: Ma M\u00e8re L'oye | 20020707 | 20030504 (R3) | Sarah Walker explores the mechanics of Ravel's ballet suite Ma M\u00e8re l'Oye. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Ravel: Mother Goose | 20060610 | 20090913 (R3) | Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Boldur Broennimann in Glasgow for an exploration of the musical thinking behind Ravel's Mother Goose, a work that began life as an amusement at the piano and developed into an orchestral ballet score inspired by the fairy tales of Charles Perrault. Stephen Johnson and the BBC SSO explore Ravel's Mother Goose. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Ravel: Piano Concertos | 20100404 | Stephen Johnson considers the background and music to Ravel's two contrasting concertos for piano with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Pascal Rophe and French pianist Roger Muraro. Ravel's two concertos for piano were written almost simultaneously in the late 1920s, and were among the last orchestral works that Ravel composed. They are remarkable in many ways, not least for the contrast that one provides with the other. The Concerto for the Left-Hand was commissioned for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, brother of the famous philosopher, who had lost his right arm in the First World War. Ravel created a virtuosic single movement work which emerges from the sombre depths of the orchestral to grow into a powerful statement of triumph over adversity. Stephen Johnson unpicks the piece, examining some of Ravel's imaginative writing for the left-hand. The G major Piano Concerto was written for the French pianist Marguerite Long, and is characterised with some of the fashionable sounds of the day. The three movement concerto is heavily influenced by the sounds of jazz and as Stephen Johnson argues, the sound of the Parisian music hall. Stephen also examines the influence of Mozart on the concerto, especially in the beautiful and emotionally charged slow movement. The programme includes complete performances of both works and there will be an opportunity to see a visualisation of the programme on the Discovering Music website. Stephen Johnson explores two contrasting Piano Concertos from Ravel. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Ravel's Gaspard De La Nuit | 20080224 | Stephen Johnson and pianist Cedric Tiberghien consider the piano music of Maurice Ravel. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Reich's The Desert Music | 20131015 | By the early 1980s, Steve Reich had won acclaim for the sensuous, almost trance-like brand of minimalism of 'Music For 18 Musicians' and 'Drumming'. Yet 'The Desert Music', from 1983, marked a new direction in his career. Setting William Carlos Williams' adaptation of the Ancient Greek poet Theocritus, the text explores the idea of deserts as places of creativity, delirious visions, love - and destruction. But more than this, Reich's work for voices and ensemble captures Cold War anxieties over nuclear armageddon - as Stephen Johnson discovers... Stephen Johnson explores visions of nuclear armageddon in Steve Reich's The Desert Music. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano | 20021208 | 20030706 (R3) | Chris de Souza gets to grips with Ottorino Respighi's Trittico Botticelliano. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Rimsky-korsakov's Scheherezade | 20080210 | Catherine Bott and conductor Luke Dollman explore Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rimsky-korsakov's Scheherezade | 20080706 | Catherine Bott and conductor Luke Dollman explore Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rodrigo Guitar Concertos | 20100124 | Charles Hazlewood, the BBC Concert Orchestra and Craig Ogden examine two guitar concertos by Rodrigo - the Concierto de Aranjuez and the Fantasia para un Gentilhombre. The Concierto de Aranjuez, with its emotionally charged slow movement, is one of classical music's most popular pieces. It was composed during Rodrigo's years in Paris before the outbreak of the Second World War where the composer and his wife were living in near poverty. Its success made the blind composer world famous. Written in braille, it is one of the earliest examples of a concerto for guitar and orchestra and before its first performance, Rodrigo suffered sleepless nights worried that the quiet sounding guitar wouldn't be heard about the forces of the orchestra. However, Rodrigo's subtle orchestration and novel writing for the instrument proved his fears groundless. The other concerto in the programme is the Fantasia para un Gentilhombre written for the great Spanish guitarist Segovia which draws on some of the rich heritage of music for the guitar from Spain's past, as Craig Ogden explains and demonstrates. The programme was recorded before an audience at LSO St Luke's in London. Charles Hazlewood on Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un Gentilhombre. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Rossini | 20090802 | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra are joined by mezzo-soprano Liora Grodnikaite for an exploration of some of the workings of Rossini's opera buffa - comic opera - style, focusing on The Italian Girl in Algiers. They explain and demonstrate operatic terms such as cavatina, cabaletta and cavata, as well as considering the impact that Rossini's ideas made on some of his contemporaries, examining Rossini's influence on Schubert's Overture in C (In the Italian Style). Gioacchino Rossini was one of the most successful composers of the first half of the 19th century. In particular, he became the foremost creator of comic opera, producing such masterpieces as The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola and The Italian Girl in Algiers, providing mezzo-sopranos with some of their finest leading operatic roles. Charles Hazlewood explores some of workings of Rossini's comic opera style. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Roussel's Bacchus Et Ariane | 20120127 | Albert Roussel became a successful composer almost by accident. Born in 1869, he was a passionate mathematician and - perhaps improbably - navy man, who served several years aboard ships in the French colony of Cochinchina (now Vietnam). It was only after resigning from the Navy at the age of 25 that Roussel turned to composition; yet still for several decades his pupils - among them Erik Satie and Bohuslav Martinu - were to be more feted than their teacher. This was to change with the debut of his ballet 'Bacchus et Ariane' at the Paris Opera in 1931, choreographed by the great dancer Serge Lifar. Stephen Johnson gets under the skin of the incisive, neo-classical elan of Roussel's masterpiece. Stephen Johnson explores the ballet Bacchus et Ariane by French composer Albert Roussel. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Saint Saens - Africa And Piano Concerto No 2 | 20090705 | Stephen Johnson joins the Ulster Orchestra and conductor Michael Seal for an exploration of Camille Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No 2 - with pianist Ronan O'Hora as soloist - and his lesser-known piece Africa. The first piece, written in 1868, includes vibrant melodies, Italian dance tunes and Chopinesque flourishes, rejecting the music of two of Saint-Saens' other musical heroes - Bach and Mendelssohn. Saint-Saens lived until the age of 86, and he produced a large amount of orchestral and chamber music, as well as operas, choral works and even - towards the end of his career - music for film. His work Africa - for piano and orchestra - grew out of the places he travelled to following the death of his mother in 1886. Saint-Saens spent a great deal of time travelling to exotic locations all over the world, including parts of Southeast Asia, South America and North Africa. He settled in Algeria towards the end of his life, and his last pieces are often inspired by the modal Arabic folk-tunes of the region. Stephen Johnson and the Ulster Orchestra explore Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No 2. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schnittke And Mahler | 20090920 | In a programme recorded at the Pittville Pump Room, as part of the 2009 Cheltenham Festival of Music, Stephen Johnson is joined by the Aronowitz Ensemble to explore the music of Schnittke and Mahler. The festival's focus is on the music of Jewish heritage, and these composers, as well as being Jewish, had clear musical links. The main pieces discussed are Mahler's early Piano Quartet movement, Schnittke's Piano Quintet and the Mahler/Schnittke Piano Quartet. Stephen Johnson and the Aronowitz Ensemble explore music by Schnittke and Mahler. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schnittke: Concerto For Piano And Strings | 20050716 | Charles Hazlewood and Rolf Hind delve into Schnittke's Concerto for Piano and Strings. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1 | 20131204 | Composed in 1906, Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony caused a riot at an early performance in Vienna in 1913: the infamous 'skandalkonzert' in which the audience rebelled against Schoenberg, Berg and Webern's stark musical expressionism. Stephen Johnson explores a masterpiece on the edge between old and new musical worlds ? a crucial stepping stone towards the new artistic horizons of the 20th century. Stephen Johnson explores Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1 In E Major (op. 9) | 20050507 | Charles Hazlewood delves into the detail of one of the landmarks of European music in the early years of the 20th Century, written when Schoenberg was striving to break free from the conventions of traditional tonality. Scored for 15 solo instruments the symphony is rich in thematic detail, which took the composer much time and effort to get right. Charles explores Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1 in a workshop session with his own chamber orchestra Excellent Device. Charles Hazlewood and Excellent Device explore Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 2 In E-flat Minor And G Major (op. 38) | 20010415 | Stephen Johnson explores Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony no.2. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 In F Sharp Minor (op. 10) | 20060812 | 20070106 (R3) | Recorded in front of an audience at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge with the Quatuor Parisii and the soprano Rachel Nicholls, Stephen Johnson explores the ideas behind one of Arnold Schoenberg's most extraordinary pieces, the Second String Quartet. In this work the composer takes the listener on a journey from the music of late romanticism to the expressionism of the early twentieth century. Quatuor Parisii and soprano Rachel Nicholls explore Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2 Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Schubert: Octet | 20071021 | Stephen Johnson examines the ideas that inspired Schubert's piece for wind and strings. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schubert: Octet | 20080928 | Stephen Johnson examines the ideas that inspired Schubert's piece for wind and strings. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schubert: Piano Sonata In B Flat (d960) | 20020505 | David Fanning explores one of Schubert's most poignant works, his Piano Sonata in B flat. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schubert: Piano Trio In E Flat (d929) | 20001231 | Stephen Johnson discusses Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat, D929. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schubert: String Quartet In D Minor - 'death And The Maiden' (d810) | 20030105 | Stephen Johnson uncovers the secrets of Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden' quartet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schubert: Symphony No. 5 | 20130308 | Stephen Johnson explores Schubert's Symphony No. 5. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schubert: Symphony No. 5 In B-flat Major (d. 485) | 20010218 | David Fanning explores one of Schubert's most popular and charming symphonies - his Fifth. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schubert: Symphony No. 5 In B-flat Major (d. 485) | 20050219 | 20060701 (R3) | Charles Hazlewood investigates the ways in which Schubert fashioned his Symphony No. 5. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Schubert: Symphony No. 9 'great' | 20130215 | Stephen Johnson explores Schubert's Symphony No. 9 in C 'Great'. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schubert's Trout Quintet | 20071223 | 20080330 (R3) 20090927 (R3) | Stephen Johnson with the Gould Piano Trio and friends explore Schubert's Quintet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Schumann Piano Quintet | 20101114 | Stephen Johnson visits the Mananan Festival at the Erin Arts Centre on the Isle of Man for this weekend's Discovering Music programme. He's joined there by The Elias Quartet (one of Radio 3's current New Generation Artists) as well as pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips for a detailed breakdown of one of Robert Schumann's most popular and enduring works - the Piano Quintet in E flat, Op.44. Schumann was the first romantic composer to pair the piano with the string quartet, but the combination was really taken up in the mid 19th century by notable composers like Brahms, Franck, Dvorak and Elgar. The work was composed in just a few weeks in the autumn of 1842, during Schumann's so-called 'chamber music year.' Prior to that year Schumann had completed no chamber music at all, with the exception of an early piano quartet in 1829. However, during his year-long concentration on the genre he wrote three string quartets, a piano trio and a piano quartet as well as this popular piano quintet. The first performance of the work was given by the composer's wife, Clara Schumann, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in January 1843. Stephen Johnson considers the musical nuances to be found in Schumann's Piano Quintet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schumann Violin Concerto | 20101003 | Stephen Johnson considers the music and historical context to Schumann's Violin Concerto with Matthew Trussler and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rory McDonald. The Violin Concerto was Schumann's last orchestral work, written shortly before the composer's traumatic breakdown in the 1850s. It was never performed in the composer's lifetime; indeed according to Stephen Johnson , it is a work 'with one of the strangest histories in the repertory'. In this programme, Stephen considers the music in the light of Schumann's biography and sets it alongside another dark work from this period, The Manfred Overture, which appeared with the Violin Concerto during its first orchestral run-through. What do these pieces tell us about the musical world of Schumann's final years? Stephen Johnson considers the music and historical context to Schumann's Violin Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schumann: Dichterliebe | 20100530 | Stephen Johnson is joined, at Manchester Grammar School, by the Swedish baritone H倀kan Vramsmo and pianist David Quigley for an exploration of Schumann's intensely Romantic song-cycle 'Dichterliebe'. Composed in 1840, 'The Poet's Love' is arguably Schumann's best-known song-cycle. The texts for the 16 songs are taken from Heinrich Heine's 'Lyrisches Intermezzo', which he wrote between 1822 and 1823. The very natural, almost hyper-sensitive poetical affections of the poems are beautifully mirrored in Schumann's settings, with their miniaturist chromaticism and suspensions. The poet's love is a hothouse of nuanced responses to the delicate language of flowers, dreams and fairy-tales. Stephen Johnson explores the nuances of Schumann's Romantic song cycle Dichterliebe. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schumann: Piano Quintet In E Flat (op. 44) | 20001119 | Chris de Souza explores Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat, Op 44. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schumann: Symphony No. 4 In D Minor (op. 120) | 20050402 | Charles Hazlewood sheds new light on Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 4 by exploring the original version of the work, composed in 1841. In the process Charles questions the often quoted statement that Schumann could not orchestrate and explores the innovative way in which the composer shaped the work into a single span of invention. The performances are provided by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Douglas Boyd. Charles Hazlewood and the BBC SSO shed new light on Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 4. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schumann's Symphony No 3 (rhenish) | 20071111 | Stephen Johnson explores one of Schumann's most joyous symphonies. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schumann's Symphony No 3 (rhenish) | 20080427 | Stephen Johnson explores one of Schumann's most joyous symphonies. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Schwanengesang | 20080810 | Hakan Vramsmo and Julius Drake join Stephen Johnson to explore Schubert's song-cycle. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Scriabin's World | 20080406 | An exploration the life and music of the eccentric Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Shostakovich 8th String Quartet | 20060311 | 20110130 (R3) | Stephen Johnson and the Royal String Quartet explore Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Shostakovich Piano Trios | 20091011 | 20101010 (R3) | Stephen Johnson visits Wootton Upper School in Bedfordshire for an exploration of Shostakovich's two very different trios for piano and strings. The first was written in 1923 when the 17-year old composer was a student at the St Petersburg Conservatoire. At that time, Shostakovich often played music to accompany films at a local cinema, and his sister remembers Shostakovich being booed and whistled by the paying audience when he and his friends tried playing the trio along to the movies! A recording of the slow movement of Shostakovich's second trio was played at the composer's memorial service in 1975; it's a much more mature work, full of emotion, but also full of sardonic humour: grotesqueries which act as thinly veiled stabs at the Soviet dictatorship of Jozef Stalin. It also contains some fascinating Jewish music in the finale - something Shostakovich had been particularly intrigued by in his middle years: 'Jewish music has made a most powerful impression on me. I never tire of delighting in it; it is multifaceted, it can appear to be happy when it is tragic. It is almost always laughter through tears'. The programme ends with a complete performance by The Kungsbacka Trio, of Shostakovich's Piano Trio No.2 in E minor, Op.67. Stephen Johnson on the intricacies of Shostakovich's two trios for piano and strings. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Shostakovich: Symphony No 9 | 20100314 | Stephen Johnson and the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Michal Dworzynski are joined by the Danel String Quartet to explore the music and ideas of Dmitri Shostakovich's 9th Symphony. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his 9th Symphony in 1945, and it was planned to commemorate the Soviet victory over Germany in the second World War. The composer himself had said two years earlier that the symphony would be a work for large forces including orchestra, soloists and chorus with the idea of celebrating the Russian people, and the great Red Army's liberation of their homeland. However, when it finally appeared, the Symphony was without parts for either soloists or chorus, and the work's 'light' style surprised many. Shortly after it's premiere, the work was censored and banned from performance by the Soviet authorities. Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Michal Dworzynski and by the Danel String Quartet to explore this controversial work. Stephen Johnson explores the music and ideas behind Shostakovich's 9th Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 In E Minor (op. 93) | 20011104 | Stephen Johnson uncovers the musical messages of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 In A Major (op. 141) | 20030601 | Shostakovich's Symphony no. 15, his last, has mystified audiences with its array of conspicuous quotations and quirky tunes. Sarah Walker takes on the challenge of trying to make sense of it all, with the help of specially-recorded musical illustrations performed by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Jason Lai. Sarah Walker explores Shostakovich's Symphony no. 15. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 | 20121003 | Shostakovich was in the middle of writing his fourth symphony when an anonymous article appeared in Pravda, attacking his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Everybody knew that the vicious editorial represented the official position of the Party, and perhaps Stalin himself, who had stormed out of a performance of the piece. Two more articles quickly followed, but in spite of the official condemnation of his work, Shostakovich carried on writing his Symphony and planning the first performance for 11th December 1936. In the end though, the political pressure was too much to bear and he withdrew the work. It wasn't heard in public until 25 years had passed. Stephen Johnson explores the Fourth Symphony's fascinating history and sound. Stephen Johnson explores Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 | 20130208 | Stephen Johnson explores Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 | 20130322 | In the wake of the huge success of the Leningrad Symphony, in 1943 Shostakovich returned to the subject of war in his Eighth Symphony. This time he wanted to reflect on the tragedy of a war in which he said, 'twenty-seven million Soviet lives were lost.' At the time though, its popularity with audiences wasn't matched by the Soviet authorities, who denounced it as counter-revolutionary. The Minister of Culture went so far as to declare it 'repulsive and ultra individualist' and by 1948 it had almost disappeared from the repertory. Stephen Johnson examines the forces at play in the Eighth Symphony, a work seen by the composer as a 'poem of suffering'. Stephen Johnson explores Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sibelius, Symphony No 4 | 20110529 | Sibelius wrote his 4th Symphony in 1910/11, a period of great darkness for the composer. He had recently undergone an operation to remove a cancerous tumour from his throat, and he seems to have been convinced that the cancer had spread. The operation also meant that for two years he had to do without his two main emotional props: alcohol and tobacco. It was also a terrible time outside of Sibelius's personal life, the world was hurtling towards the great war and closer to home, Finland was still recovering from the previous century's famine during which starving Scandinavians had had to eat the bark of trees to survive. On top of all this turmoil, in the musical world, Sibelius felt profoundly challenged by Schoenberg's opening up of the world of atonality. Stephen Johnson and the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Petri Sakari explore this intense masterpiece, regarded by many as the greatest work Sibelius ever wrote. Stephen Johnson and the BBC Philharmonic explore Sibelius's Symphony No 4. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 | 20111104 | Sibelius's popular second symphony, with its grandiose finale, was connected by some with the struggle for Finnish independence, even being dubbed the 'Symphony of Independence,' as it was written at a time of Russian sanctions on Finnish language and culture. Sibelius's reaction to this has been widely debated; some claim that he had not intended any patriotic message and was purely identified as a nationalist composer, while others believe that he wrote the piece with an independent Finland in mind. Stephen Johnson explores Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 in D ahead of a live performance by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Stephen Johnson explores Sibelius's popular Symphony No. 2 in D. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 (op. 43) | 20070120 | 20070722 (R3) | Stephen Johnson and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra explore Sibelius' Symphony No 2. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 | 20130613 | Stephen Johnson scales the heights of Sibelius's seventh symphony, the culmination of the composer's creative journey as a symphonist. Moving away from the structure of his earlier symphonies, the seventh is cast in a single movement. Recognising the originality of this form, when Sibelius conducted the premiere of the symphony in 1924, he gave the symphony a name, 'Fantasia sinfonica' rather than a number. Stephen Johnson explores Sibelius's Seventh Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sibelius: Tapiola (op. 112) | 20001105 | Stephen Johnson explores Sibelius's great tone poem Tapiola. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sibelius: The Swan Of Tuonela, And Night Ride And Sunrise | 20071014 | 20080525 (R3) 20090524 (R3) | Stephen Johnson and the BBC Philharmonic explore Sibelius' tone poem Night Ride & Sunrise. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Sibelius's Fifth Symphony | 20100815 | Stephen Johnson explores Sibelius's 5th Symphony in E flat. In his diary at about the time he was sketching the symphony, Sibelius wrote that he wanted to compare the musical thoughts and motifs of the symphony to the rivulets of a river proceeding to the sea. Stephen Johnson considers this idea, illustrated by extracts and a performance of the work by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen. The programme also includes extracts from the original version of the work from 1915. Stephen Johnson explores Sibelius's Fifth Symphony in E flat. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sibelius's Violin Concerto | 20110910 | Stephen Johnson offers an insight into Sibelius's Violin Concerto with the help of violinist Vilde Frang and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen. Sibelius began his musical career with high hopes of becoming a concert violinist. When destiny forged another path for him, then he expressed his relationship with his instrument through this - his only concerto, a work that combines intense virtuosity with profound depths of expression. Stephen Johnson examines the history and background of the piece and with the help of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the remarkable young Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, he unpicks the work to reveal a distinctly original and challenging solo concerto, that has consistently proved a firm favourite with musicians and public alike. Stephen Johnson explores Sibelius's Violin Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sir Peter Maxwell Davies At 75 | 20091129 | As part of the celebrations of Peter Maxwell Davies's 75th birthday, Stephen Johnson and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra are joined by the composer himself at Glasgow's City Halls for a exploration of the ideas and workings of his half-hour orchestral tone poem A Reel of Seven Fishermen. The work was composed in 1998 and was inspired by Maxwell Davies's home in Orkney and verses by the Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown. Stephen examines the way that the composer evokes a personal seascape in the piece and how certain musical references are used to evoke some of the extra-musical themes suggested by the poem alongside some of the themes and ideas that have occupied the Master of the Queen's Music in recent years. Stephen Johnson and the BBC SSO explore Peter Maxwell Davies's A Reel of Seven Fishermen. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sonata Form | 19981230 | Every symphony is a sonata for orchestra', says Leonard Slatkin, who is joined by the BBC Philharmonic to explain why composers find this combination so satisfying. They reveal some clues on how to get the most out of listening to any kind of sonata. The programme ends by discovering how Beethoven used sonata form in his famous 5th Symphony. Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Philharmonic explore sonata form. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Songs - Schubert, Britten, Finzi And Wolf | 20010701 | Stephen Johnson looks at songs by Schubert, Wolf, Britten and Finzi. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Sound Of Cinema: On The Waterfront | 20130918 | He was perfectly placed to take a front-row seat amongst the band of illustrious and highly rewarded Hollywood film composers, yet Bernstein's 'On the Waterfront' was to remain his only score conceived solely for the cinema. Stephen Johnson assesses Bernstein's affinity for the needs of the silver screen and explores how the music evolved into the dazzling orchestral suite we hear now in the concert hall. Stephen Johnson explores On the Waterfront, Leonard Bernstein's only true film score. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Split Choir Tradition | 20100411 | Robert Hollingworth presents a programme looking at the split choir tradition in Renaissance music, and specifically in repertoire from north Italy which was the birthplace of the polychoral style of writing. Robert demonstrates how the element of musical dialogue between groups developed from the age-old tradition of psalm singing, illustrated in the music of Willaert's Salmi Spezzati, through to more elaborate polychoral repertoire by composers such as Striggio, Marenzio and Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. The programme also includes extracts performed by members of the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, and a complete performance of Giovanni Gabrieli's 'In Ecclesiis' from the recording made by the Taverner Consort and Players. Robert Hollingworth explores the split choir tradition in Renaissance music. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Spohr's Nonet | 20080316 | Paul Allen explores Spohr's popular Nonet with Ensemble 360. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Strauss Four Last Songs | 20110911 | Stephen Johnson considers two works by Richard Strauss, his early tone poem 'Death and Transfiguration' and the Four Last Songs with the soprano Katie Van Kooten and the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena. These two great works were composed at opposite ends of the composer's life but both are occupied with philosophical ideas of death and the passing over to the next world. 'Tod und Verklarung' - Death and Transfiguration - is a symphonic depiction of the subject and was a work that clearly came to mind when the Strauss composed his Four Last Songs in the final years of his life, as he quotes from the tone poem in the music. Stephen Johnson considers Strauss's attitude to the subject as depicted at the begining and at the end of his life and and unpicks both pieces offering an insight in to their background and musical workings. Complete performances of both pieces were given before an audience at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall. Stephen Johnson explores Strauss's Death and Transfiguration and the Four Last Songs. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Strauss: Alpine Symphony | 20120615 | Stephen Johnson explores Strauss's massive Alpine Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra | 20111019 | Strauss's famous sunrise opening of Also sprach Zarathustra is rather better known than the book which inspired it: Nietzsche's dense, philosophical novel of the same name. Stephen Johnson looks at what Strauss made of Nietzsche's deeply complex, and controversial ideas, and how he wielded this philosopher's grand vision for humanity into the questioning, and strangely unresolved musical work that follows. Stephen Johnson explores Strauss's tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Strauss: Metamorphosen | 20050409 | Richard Strauss conceived his late masterpiece for 23 solo strings as a memorial for a lost musical culture, particularly the bombing of the Munich Opera House, scene of so many of his operatic triumphs. In this workshop session, Charles Hazlewood and his ensemble Excellent Device explore the musical detail behind this very personal work, revealing in the process how strongly the shadow of Beethoven is cast over the music, particularly the Eroica Symphony. Charles Hazlewood explores the musical detail behind Richard Strauss's Metamorphosen. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Strauss's Don Quixote | 20080615 | An exploration of Strauss's Don Quixote, with the BBC Philharmonic and cellist Peter Dixon Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1945) | 20091115 | In a programme recorded at City Halls, Glasgow, Stephen Johnson explores the version of Stravinsky's Firebird suite from 1945, and begins by examining a work by one of Stravinsky's musical father figures, the Overture on Russian Themes by Rimsky-Korsakov. With excerpts and complete performances of both works from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Takuo Yuasa. Stephen Johnson and the BBC SSO explore the 1945 version of Stravinsky's Firebird suite. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printemps - Part 1 | 20021103 | Gerard McBurney presents the first of two programmes on Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Stravinsky: Petrushka | 20130201 | Stephen Johnson explores Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Stravinsky: The Firebird | 20001210 | Gerard McBurney explores a 20th century masterpiece: Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Stravinsky: The Rite Of Spring | 20130530 | Stephen Johnson explores the unique sounds of Stravinsky's The Right of Spring. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Stravinsky's Petrushka | 20090809 | 20100801 (R3) | Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to delve into the world of one of Igor Stravinsky's most iconic works - his music for the ballet 'Petrushka', exploring the lesser-known original version of the work which Stravinsky wrote in 1911. By looking at the changes that Stravinsky made in his more famous 1947 revision, can we learn much about the composer? Stephen Johnston explores Igor Stravinsky's ballet score Petrushka. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Stravinsky's Symphony Of Psalms | 20110313 | Tom Service, composer Julian Anderson and Stravinsky biographer Stephen Walsh examine the Symphony of Psalms with the BBC Singers and the BBCSO conducted by Michal Dworzynski. Stravinsky composed his psalm settings in the years between the two World Wars, and they are one of the first musical expressions of his re-discovered Christian faith. The work has proved one of the composer's most succesful and influential pieces. Tom Service hosts a round table forum on the piece, examining its background and the ideas behind the music with illustrations and a complete performance given by the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra. Tom Service ,Stephen Walsh and Julian Anderson examine Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Szymanowski And Lutoslawski | 20110501 | Stephen Johnson explores music by Karol Szymanowski and Witold Lutoslawski. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3 | 20120222 | Setting the second Divan, Song of the Night, by the thirteenth-century mystical poet Rumi, Szymanowski's Symphony no.3 marks a high point in the composer's Impressionistic style. Forging a link between western musical language and oriental beliefs in those worlds which lie beyond our physically and emotionally conditioned lives, Szymanowski realised that this work for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra, had surpassed his previous compositions. Once the work was complete, Szymanowski commented that 'not even a musician like myself can have any idea of what it will sound like with an orchestra.' The work has been described by composer Sorabji, as music that is permeated with the very essence of the choicest and rarest specimens of Iranian art...like a Persian painting or silk rug. Stephen Johnson explores the inner world of Szymanowski's Symphony No 3. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tallis's Spem In Alium And 40-part Motets | 20071028 | As part of Radio 3's 40th anniversary, Stephen Johnson is joined in the studio by Jeffrey Skidmore, Deborah Roberts and Antony Pitts for an exploration of Thomas Tallis's magnificent 40-part motet Spem in Alium. Including a look at works that may have inspired it and the music which it has itself inspired. Stephen Johnson and guests examine Thomas Tallis's piece and the ideas that inspired it. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Taneyev's Piano Quintet | 20110213 | Stephen Johnson is joined by the Danel Quartet & David Fanning to explore the nuances found in a hidden gem of the chamber music repertoire - the Piano Quintet by Sergei Taneyev. Sometimes referred to as 'the Russian Brahms', Taneyev was a pupil of Tchaikovsky at the Moscow Conservatoire, and in turn taught younger composers such as Scriabin, Gliere, Rachmaninoff and Medtner. He was a fine pianist himself, and was the soloist in the premieres of all of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concertos. This Piano Quintet in G minor was written towards the end of Taneyev's life, in 1911 and ranks among the finest examples of Russian Romantic chamber music. Stephen Johnson and David Fanning explore the nuances found in Taneyev's Piano Quintet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tango | 20080323 | 20081123 (R3) | The Tango started life as music of the slums and took on the form of an earthy and sensual dance. The music exudes strong feelings of sensuality, passion and the romantic element of the tragic too. Its dervish and dramatic nature imbued the music with the sense of the dance of death. Essentially the music of exiled people, the musical themes of Tangos often centre on broken love, the sadness for having left a country behind for a new life, as well as a desire and passion for life! Charles Hazlewood is joined by the quintet Tango Volcano and members of the BBC Concert Orchestra to explore the history of this exciting and sensual world. Charles Hazlewood and the quintet Tango Volcano explore the world of the tango. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Tansy Davies | 20090621 | Charles Hazlewood talks to composer Tansy Davies about how she came to create Rift, her new work for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Davies composed the piece alongside a project for schools and colleges in the Watford area, and, taking as her inspiration two musical worlds colliding, she explores a way of combining her new work and the workshop material together. Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the music of Tansy Davies. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tavener - The Protecting Veil | 20080601 | Charles Hazlewood and Matthew Barley are joined by the BBC Philharmonic and cellist Josephine Knight to explore John Tavener's seminal work The Protecting Veil, a piece which Tavener describes as trying to 'capture some of the almost cosmic power of the Mother of God'. The programme also looks at a BBC Philharmonic learning project focusing on The Protecting Veil, which was run alongside Discovering Music at the University of Salford. Charles Hazlewood and Matthew Barley explore John Tavener's work The Protecting Veil. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Francesca Da Rimini | 20121121 | Stephen Johnson explores Tchaikovsky's symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony | 20131017 | It should never have been by Tchaikovsky at all. His Russian colleague Balakirev was first in line to make a symphony of Byron's lonely Manfred, and he'd passed it to Berlioz. Only when the plan reached Tchaikovsky did it find a composer willing to take the challenge. Stephen Johnson explores how the composer transformed Byron's poetic vision into music, and teases apart the lives of the composer outside and the hero within. Stephen Johnson separates storytelling & autobiography in Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No 1 | 20100704 | Stephen Johnson examines Tchaikovsky's popular 1st Piano Concerto with pianist Ashley Wass and the BBC Philharmonic. Tchaikovsky's piece is one of the best loved in the repertory, an archetype of the great romantic concerto, with its weighty gestures and great sweeping melodies. The concerto has often been criticised however for seemingly lacking cohesion - something that Stephen Johnson refutes as he examines the idea of relationships in the work with the help of pianist Ashley Wass and the BBC Phil conducted by Alexander Walker. Stephen Johnson examines Tchaikovsky's popular First Piano Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Romeo And Juliet | 20000702 | Gerard McBurney examines Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture: Romeo and Juliet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Romeo And Juliet | 20070127 | Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Philharmonic explore Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Serenade For Strings | 20121009 | Stephen Johnson explores Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Symphonie Path\u00e9tique (1st Movement) (op. 74) | 20070203 | Charles Hazlewood explores the 1st movement of Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony, The Path\u00e9tique Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 | 20120918 | Stephen Johnson explores Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 | 20120210 | Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony is the middle of a last, great trilogy of symphonies whose musical ideas, the composer admitted, address great issues of Fate, Death, and Providence. Stephen Johnson explores the connections between Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies, written at a time when the composer was struggling with depression and fears over his homosexuality. How do these masterpieces intersect with the composer's own troubled psychological state? And how much can we really read into the way that their themes and motifs develop and intersect as emblematic of Tchaikovsky's own inner world? Stephen Johnson explores the private codes hidden in Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 'pathetique' | 20131109 | Stephen Johnson considers Tchaikovsky's final and most personal symphony, the Pathetique. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto | 20071104 | Charles Hazlewood conducts an in-depth examination of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Art Of Jazz Improvisation | 20090104 | Pianist and broadcaster Julian Joseph presents the programme from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as part of the 2008 London Jazz Festival. Performing alongside his own Trio, singer Cleveland Watkiss and the Guildhall Big Band, Julian provides a unique insight into the art of improvisation, using excerpts from jazz standards as well as form his own music, including performances of The Reverend and Mountain of Hope. Julian Joseph discusses the art of improvisation from the 2008 London Jazz Festival. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Benny Goodman Legacy | 20091213 | As part of the 2009 London Jazz Festival, Alyn Shipton presents a special programme from the BBC Radio Theatre exploring two remarkable but very different 'classical' clarinet concertos which were composed for the great jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman: works by Malcolm Arnold and Aaron Copland. Alyn chooses tracks from Goodman's extensive jazz discography to illustrate some of the focal points in the concertos, while the two pieces are bought to life with the help of soloist Julian Bliss and the Trinity College of Music Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andrew Gourlay. Born in 1909, Goodman was an astonishing child prodigy and young master of jazz and, by the end of the 1930s, he was arguably the most famous clarinettist in the world. But as his fame grew, he became increasingly anxious about what he saw as the limitations of his skills. He completely re-learned his technique and, in the late 1940s when Aaron Copland was writing a concerto for him, Goodman adopted a new embouchure and even had some surgery on his hands to get rid of the calluses that he had created by his unorthodox fingering. Copland's concerto, economically scored for harp, piano and strings, contains music inspired by many different styles - jazz, American country dance, the blues and even a touch of the Latin influence, which was thought to be a result of the composer's living in Rio de Janeiro. It is clear to many that Copland kept Benny Goodman absolutely in mind when he was writing the piece, as the work is a showcase for the soloist to demonstrate not only his dexterity and articulation, but also his warm, luxurious tone. At the 2009 London Jazz Festival, Alyn Shipton explores pieces written for Benny Goodman. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Chopin Ballades | 20080518 | Stephen Johnson is joined by pianist Cedric Tiberghien for an exploration of Chopin's Four Ballades and their possible hidden links to literature. And with conductor and researcher Christopher Gayford, Stephen looks at how we perceive musical stucture and the impact this has on our appreciation of Chopin's music. With Stephen Johnson and Cedric Tiberghien on Chopin's Four Ballades and literature. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Concerto | 19981229 | The history of the concerto is explored by Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Philharmonic, from its origins in the concerto grosso. The programme also explores the various ways of beginning and ending a solo cadenza and ends with a classic recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 23 in A played by Clifford Curzon and the LSO, conducted by Istvan Kertesz. Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Philharmonic examine the history of the concerto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Confession Of Isobel Gowdie | 20100228 | Stephen Johnson examines The Confession of Isobel Gowdie with its composer James MacMillan and looks at the impact of the composer's Scottish heritage on his work in general. MacMillan's orchestral work, The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, brought the composer great critical acclaim when it was first heard at the Proms in 1990, since then it has enjoyed numerous performances all over the world. The piece was inspired by the tragic account of a young 17th century Scots woman who was burned as a witch after an improbable confession was extracted from her. As Macmillan himself says of the work: 'Initially I was drawn by the dramatic and programmatic potential of this insane and terrible story but the work soon developed a far more emotional core as I attempted to draw together various strands in a single, complicated act of contrition. On behalf of the Scottish people the work craves absolution and offers Isobel Gowdie the mercy and humanity that was denied her in the last days of her life. To do this I Have tried to capture the soul of Scotland in music and outer sections contain a multitude of chants, songs and litanies (real and imagined) coming together in a reflective outpouring - a prayer for the murdered woman. This work is the Requiem that Isobel Gowdie never had.' In the course of the programme Stephen Johnson also explores the importance of the composer's Scottish heritage on his work, and looks at how Sottish themes and ideas have coloured his compositions. The BBC Philharmonic present illustrations and give a complete performance of 'The Confession of Isobel Gowdie' conducted by the composer. The programme also features extracts from the follwing recordings: Edward McGuire - Calgacus Performers: Takup Yuasa; BBCSSO Linn Records: CKD / 008 Tr.10 James MacMillan: The Beserking Performers: Martin Roscoe; BBC Philharmonic Chandos Records CHAN / 10092 Tr.2 Niel Gow: Dunkeld Bridge Performers: The Whistlebinkies Greentrax CD TRAX / 095 Tr.5 James MacMillan: Tryst Performers: Joseph Swenson; Scottish Chamber Orchestra BIS CD BIS CD / 1019 Tr.1 Traditional: Pi Li Li Lui Peformers: Mary McMaster Linn Records CKD / 008 Tr.5 Traditional: Stroudwater Psalm Performers: Lewis Congregation and Donald Macleod Greentrax CD TRAX / 9006 Tr. 3 James MacMillan: Mairi Performers: Stephen Betteridge; BBC Singers Chandos CHAN / 9997 Tr. 4. Stephen Johnson explores The Confession of Isobel Gowdie with its writer James MacMillan. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The English Viol Consort | 20091122 | Purcell Weekend As part of BBC Radio 3's celebrations of the 350th anniversary of the birth of Henry Purcell, Catherine Bott joins Laurence Dreyfus and his celebrated viol group Phantasm at the 2009 Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music for a guided tour of the Golden Age of English viol music, the culmination of which was the Fantasies and In Nomines of Henry Purcell. Catherine and Laurence offer an illustrated insider's view to this music, explaining the ideas that inspired it and highlighting many of characteristics that define it. They draw on music by Robert Parsons, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, John Jenkins and William Lawes - all of whom provided the catalyst for the Fourth Fantasia of Henry Purcell which tops and tails the programme. A well as many musical illustrations, Catherine presents complete performances given by Phantasm during the 2009 Lufthansa festival. Taverner: In Nomine (Sanctus of the Missa Tibi Trinitas - arranged for viols) (excerpt) Parsons: De La Court (In Nomine III) Byrd: Fantasia a 5 - two parts in one (Queen's Goodnight - Prelude and Ground a 5) Gibbons: In Nomine a 5 Jenkins: Fantasy 1 a 5 in G (excerpt); Fantasy 15 a 5 in C minor (excerpt) Lawes: Pavan and Ayre (Consort Set IV a 5 in F) Purcell: Fantazia 4 a 4. Catherine Bott, Laurence Dreyfus and Phantasm on the Golden Age of English viol music. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Marriage Of Figaro | 20080713 | Stephen Johnson explores the depiction of character and drama in The Marriage of Figaro. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Planets | 20100919 | Originally titled Seven Pieces for Large Orchestra, Gustav Holst's The Planets was a remarkably original composition when it was written. The first movement, Mars, the Bringer of War, was conceived in 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I, almost forseeing rather than reacting to war. The work was forward looking in many ways - Holst scored the work for a huge orchestra, creating extraordinary sounds and colours from this vast orchestral palette, and each movement has strikingly original characteristics. Stephen Johnson is joined by an expanded BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by David Atherton, who perform extracts and a complete performance of this monumental work. Stephen Johnson explores Holst's The Planets. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Play Of Daniel | 20081228 | Stephen Johnson is joined by Andrew Lawrence King and members of the Harp Consort to explore the music and ideas in the medieval Play of Daniel, one of the earliest pieces of musical theatre. A 13th-century 'opera' about the prophet Daniel, first executed by young clerics at Beauvais Cathedral, it was performed in the New Year as part of the Feast of Fools and combines burlesque with the mysteries of the Daniel story. With a complete staged performance of the work, recorded at York Minster as part of the 2008 York Early Music Festival. Stephen Johnson explores the Play of Daniel, one of the earliest pieces of music theatre. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| The Romantic Horn | 20100214 | The sound of the horn took on a special significance to the Romantic composers of the early 19th century with its suggestions of woodland magic and heroism. Charles Hazlewood deconstructs music by Weber, Mendelssohn and Schumann with the BBC Concert Orchestra, in an exploration of an instrument which achieved iconic status and came very much into its own when conveying the spirit of early Romanticism. Also helping Charles in his exploration are the hornists Stephen Bell and Michael Thompson. Charles looks at Weber's Overture to the opera Oberon; Mendelssohn's Nocturne from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Schumann's formidable Konzertstuck for four horns, the latter being a piece that also exploited the Romantic fascination for virtuosity. The programme was recorded before an audience in Watford. Charles Hazlewood considers the significance of the horn to early Romantic composers. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Tippett: Symphony No. 2 | 20130419 | Stephen Johnson explores Tippett's Symphony No. 2. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Trumpet Concertos - Telemann, Haydn | 20060218 | 20100718 (R3) | Stephen Johnson takes the trumpet concerto as his subject, journeying from the baroque with a concerto by Telemann to Haydn's ground breaking masterpiece of the classical era. Phillipe Schartz is the soloist who at one point even ventures to play an original keyed bugle - a new kind of instrument that enabled the player for the first time to play all twelve notes of the scale, across the whole range of instrument, and which inspired Haydn to put pen to paper. BBC National Orchestra of Wales is conducted by Kenneth Woods. Stephen Johnson explores the trumpet concerto, from Telemann to Haydn. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Vaughan Williams And The Lost Generation | 20081109 | Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Michael Seal, with violinist Lesley Hatfield and tenor James Gilchrist for an exploration of the English idyll in the light of some of the music to have appeared in the lead-up to the First World War, specifically Butterworth's A Shrophsire Lad and Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge and The Lark Ascending. Stephen Johnson looks at three English masterpieces in the context of the First World War. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vaughan Williams Flos Campi | 20080824 | Charles Hazlewood conducts an exploration of Ralph Vaughan Williams suite, Flos Campi. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vaughan Williams: Fantasia On A Theme, By Thomas Tallis | 20010603 | Stephen Johnson delves into Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vaughan Williams: Five Tudor Portraits | 20130503 | Stephen Johnson explores Vaughan Williams's Five Tudor Portraits. It was Edward Elgar who suggested that Vaughan Williams might enjoy the verse of the Tudor poet John Skelton. When he read the poems, it's clear that Vaughan Williams was impressed by them and when he came to set a selection of Skelton's work as Five Tudor Portraits, he responded to the jazz-like qualities in the metre, making inventive use of the poet's colourful language. Stephen Johnson analyses Vaughan Williams's Five Tudor Portraits. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vaughan Williams: Mass In G Minor | 20040626 | Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Singers for a look at Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 5 | 20090329 | 20091227 (R3) | Stephen Johnson explores one of Vaughan Williams's most tranquil works - his Symphony No 5 in D. The work was begun in 1938, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, and completed in 1943, and its serenity was set against the horrific backdrop of violence taking place throughout Europe at the time. Vaughan Williams conjures tonal images of the English countryside and often alludes to the sounds of Elizabethan polyphony. In a recording made at Glasgow's City Halls in October 2008, Paul Daniel conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in excerpts and a complete performance of the work. Stephen Johnson explores Vaughan Williams's Symphony No 5. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 6 | 20081116 | Stephen Johnson explores Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony, with excerpts and a complete performance of the work from the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins. First heard in 1948, the symphony's violence and dissonance came as a huge shock after the serenity of Symphony No 5. Vaughan Williams always denied this work was a 'war' symphony, but in some passages war imagery is, for many, hard to ignore. The first three movements are wild and complex both rhythmically and harmonically, while the conclusion is a desolate and haunting epilogue. Stephen Johnson explores Vaughan Williams's distinctive Sixth Symphony. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 7 'sinfonia Antartica' | 20131107 | How Vaughan Williams created his Symphony No. 7 from his most famous film score. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Verdi: Te Deum | 20120921 | Stephen Johnson explores Verdi's Te Deum from his Quattro Pezzi Sacri. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Verdi's Otello | 20090823 | Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Lawrence Renes, to unpick and explain some of the many ingredients that make Verdi's opera Otello arguably as equal an achievement in the art of theatre as the Shakespeare play on which it is based. How does the composer suggest the complex psychology of his characters through his music? How does he use the orchestra to evoke the poetic equivalent of Shakespeares verse? Otello is one of two great masterpieces of the operatic repertory that Verdi composed in the eighth decade of his life. Written in 1887, it was followed six years later by his final opera, Falstaff. The two works were the fruits of his association with librettist and composer Arrigo Boito, both taking as their inspiration plays by Shakespeare. With relevant excerpts performed by a cast of leading singers, including Amanda Roocroft as Desdemona, Anthony Michaels-Moore as Iago and David Rendall as Otello. The programme also features appearances from Edward Price as Montano, Edward Goater as Cassio and Christopher Bowen as Rodrigo. Stephen Johnson and the BBC SO consider the musical workings of Verdi's opera Otello. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Verdi's Rigoletto | 20101212 | Stephen Johnson with players and performers explore some of the ideas and music for one of the most popular and effective Italian operas of the 19th century, Verdi's Rigoletto. Verdi composed this powerful drama for Venice between 1850 and 1851, and while critics were initially a little ambivalent, audiences immeadiately took the opera to their hearts. Since that time it has never been out of the repertory. It provides singers with some of the most inspiring and challenging roles in Romantic opera, in a piece that contains some of Verdi's most affecting; best-loved and best-known music. Stephen Johnson focuses on the final act of the opera and joins a cast of singers that includes Anthony Michaels-Moore as Rigoletto; Laura Claycomb as Gilda; Madeleine Shaw as Maddalena; David Soar as Sparafucile and Gwyn Hughes Jones as the Duke; with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers conducted by Andrew Litton; and opera Director Graham Vick, for an examination of some of Verdi's musical and theatrical achievements in this work that proved the turning point in the career of one of the most significant composers of the operatic genre. Stephen Johnson explores some of the ideas and music of Verdi's masterpiece, Rigoletto. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vivaldi And Bach Double Violin Concertos | 20100131 | Johann Sebastian Bach's Double Violin Concerto remains one of his best loved and most famous works, but concertos for more than one instrument weren't a novelty by any means. Vivaldi had written many works for differing numbers of soloists, from one to 13, and had written double violin concertos of his own, including one as part of his famed 1711 publication L'estro armonico. For today's Discovering Music, Stephen Johnson is joined in Cardiff's Hoddinott Hall by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Nicholas Kraemer, and by Violinists Jennifer Pike and Lesley Hatfield and organist Daniel Hyde to explore these two great works of the Baroque. Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC NOW to explore music by Vivaldi and Bach. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vivaldi: The Four Seasons | 20120427 | Barking dogs, sleeping goatherds, bagpipes, finches and bluebottles - Vivaldi's Four Seasons has them all. But is there more to these exquisite violin concertos than a collection of pictures in sound? Stephen Johnson traces the work's roots to a set of mysterious sonnets and explores what motivated Vivaldi to translate poetry into music. Stephen Johnson explores the roots of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Vivaldi's Gloria | 20090315 | Robert Hollingworth explores one of the most famous of all baroque choral works - Vivaldi's Gloria in D, RV 589 - often simply refered to as the Vivaldi Gloria, although the composer made more than one setting. Robert conducts the BBC Singers and St James' Baroque in excerpts and a complete performance of the work, which was given in the Maida Vale Studios in November 2008. The programme also looks at a collaborative project called Gloria Revisited in which Tim Steiner guided nine A-level students from St Marylebone C of E Secondary School and The Greycoat School in Westminster in a series of workshops. The young composers each wrote a movement inspired by Vivaldi's Gloria. An exploration of Vivaldi's Gloria with Robert Hollingworth. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Wagner: Die Walkure | 20120620 | With its massive line-up of instruments, Wagner's orchestra for Die Walkure should by rights have been a recipe for nothing but gluttony. But with the skill of a watercolourist Wagner used it brilliantly to convey the subtlest of emotions. Stephen Johnson descends to the orchestra pit and uncovers the secrets of the composer's orchestral writing. En route he explores how this opera revolutionary marshalled the likes of Wagner tubas, six harps and a medieval bugle horn to create some of the most transfixing musical sounds ever produced. Stephen Johnson explores Wagner's orchestra and how he used it to evoke profound emotions. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde (act 3) | 20130411 | Stephen Johnson explores Act 3 of Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder (wwv. 91) | 20050903 | Charles Hazlewood is joined by mezzo soprano Jane Irwin and the BBC Concert Orchestra for a workshop session and performance focussing on the five songs which Wagner composed to poems by Mathilde Wesendonck: Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Mathilde was Wagner's muse; Wagner was her creative mentor. The intensity of their collaboration is enshrined in these five love songs. Charles Hazlewood and Jane Irwin focus on Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Wagner's Siegfried Idyll | 20040228 | 20101128 (R3) | Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to reveal the musical and emotional depths behind two very different birthday serenades. Wagner composed his 'Siegfried Idyll' as a surprise greeting for his wife Cosima which she heard wafting to her room from the stairs on her birthday. He based the work on themes from his latest opera. The young Peter Warlock's boyhood hero was the composer Frederick Delius, whose 60th birthday he marked with a short Serenade for strings, composed in pastiche style, but with his own personal twist. Charles Hazlewood explores some of the nuances to be found in Wagner's Siegfried Idyll. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |
| Walton: Symphony No.1 | 20131116 | Exploring the potent mix of musical and personal influences behind Walton's First Symphony Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Warlock | 20090816 | Radio 3 at the Summer Festivals From the 2009 Mananan International Festival of Music and the Arts, in Port Erin on the Isle of Man, Stephen Johnson explores the nuances and intricacies of the music of Peter Warlock. Warlock, who was born Philip Heseltine in 1894, was an eccentric musician, and in the 1920s edited the wonderfully combative music magazine The Sackbut. He was renowned as a hellraiser - a riotous prankster and great drinker, whose circle included fellow musicians such as Moeran, Constant Lambert and, occasionally, William Walton. But this was just one side to the man - Heseltine could also be a man of intense melancholy, and his behaviour has been the subject of much conjecture since his death (most likely by his own hand) in 1930. Stephen asks questions about Warlock's perceived bipolarity and the duality of his personality which may have led to the diversity in his songs. Tenor Michael Slattery and pianist Stephen Coombs help to uncover the genius behind some of Warlock's most beautiful songs, with reference to the many intriguing and diverse influences behind Warlock's unique sound palette. Warlock's lush harmonies and skill at word painting stem from his absorption in the music of the Tudor and Restoration periods, as well as his childhood obsession with Delius, and his friendship and admiration for Bartok and Bernard van Dieren. The programme also features a detailed look at Warlock's magnum opus The Curlew, a chamber song-cycle setting of words by WB Yeats, for tenor voice, flute, cor anglais and string quartet, performed by Michael Slattery and The Doric Quartet, with flautist Adam Walker and cor anglais player Daniel Bates. Stephen Johnson takes an in-depth look at the music of Peter Warlock. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week | |
| Zemlinsky, A Florentine Tragedy | 20120926 | Stephen Johnson surveys the compelling opera, A Florentine Tragedy by Alexander Zemlinsky. Based on a play by Oscar Wilde, this one act opera was premiered in 1917, and is a tragic tale of jealousy and revenge, masked behind the fa瀀ade of good living. It is a disturbing work in which a husband and wife realise their feelings for one another and their relationship is rejuvenated through a catastrophic event, the merciless act of murder. By the time this opera was premiered, Zemlinsky was famed as an opera conductor in Prague. Out of the five operas he composed, A Florentine Tragedy has received the most performances and was described as 'a splendid work' by Zemlinsky's pupil and brother-in-law, the composer Arnold Schoenberg. Stephen Johnson surveys Alexander Zemlinsky's opera A Florentine Tragedy. Programme which examines a different piece of music each week |