SATURDAY 18 JULY 2015

SAT 19:00 Pappano's Classical Voices (b062hmz6)
Mezzo-Soprano

Series in which conductor Sir Antonio Pappano (music director of the Royal Opera House since 2002) explores the great roles and the greatest singers of the last hundred years through the prism of the main classical voice types - soprano, tenor, mezzo-soprano, baritone and bass. Through discussion, demonstrations and workshops, Pappano explores every aspect of the art of great singing.

The lowest female voice type, and the one closest to a woman's natural speaking voice, the mezzo-soprano only rarely plays the name part. But when she does - in Carmen, Samson et Dalila, and La Cenerentola - the fireworks begin. More often, she is the rival, and the villainess.

Antonio explores the particular effect the mezzo voice has on the audience. Her low, sultry tones make her voice perfect for the earth goddess, but also the enchantress, the siren. But she has to sing nearly as high as the soprano. So how does she do it? What is the 'chest voice' and what effect does it have? How do you sing ugly to convey the evil of a character without destroying your voice, and at the same time unearth some redeeming qualities?

Antonio finds out what makes the mezzo tick by looking at great performances from Giulietta Simionato, Kathleen Ferrier, Marian Anderson, Shirley Verrett, Cecilia Bartoli and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and taking soundings from Janet Baker, Christa Ludwig, Joyce DiDonato, Felicity Palmer and Sarah Connolly.


SAT 20:00 Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom (p01hscs5)
Episode 2

For the first time in over 50 years, a team of wildlife film-makers from the BBC's Natural History Unit and scientists from the world-renowned Smithsonian Institution has been granted access to venture deep into Burma's impenetrable jungles. Their mission is to discover whether these forests are home to iconic animals, rapidly disappearing from the rest of the world - this expedition has come not a moment too soon.

On the second leg of their journey, wildlife film-makers Gordon Buchanan and Justine Evans, along with a team of scientists, head deep into the mountains of western Burma. This is where they hope to find the shy sun bear and two of the world's rarest and most beautiful cats: the Asian golden cat and the clouded leopard.

Meanwhile, zoologist Ross Piper and the science team are on a mission to create a wildlife survey to present to the government of Burma to persuade them that these forests are so unique they must be protected. High on the forest ridges, Gordon finds evidence to suggest that Burma's wildlife might be in danger. Undercover filming in a border town known as the 'Las Vegas of the jungle' leads to a shocking discovery.


SAT 21:00 Cordon (b062xc5g)
Episode 7

With tension inside and outside the cordon intensifying, Dr Cannaerts has an untried vaccine smuggled into NIIDA. When Lex is called to a breach in the cordon security he and Lommers are quarantined together, where Lommers lets slip about the pressure of working on disaster scenarios.

In Flemish with English subtitles.


SAT 21:50 Cordon (b062xc5j)
Episode 8

Eager to find out what Lommers is concealing, Lex breaks into her office and discovers a concealed USB stick, but what it holds is so explosive that even Gryspeerts is reluctant to put it on his blog. Thinking that she has found a refuge with her friend Melissa, Ineke suggests they try to find the lab that Jokke has told her about, but conditions at the F Tron offices are reaching breaking point.

In Flemish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:40 David Bowie: Five Years (b0214tj1)
An intimate portrait of five key years in David Bowie's career. Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved, from Ziggy Stardust to the soul star of Young Americans and the 'Thin White Duke'. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let's Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, this film investigates how Bowie became an icon of our times.


SAT 00:10 The Genius of David Bowie (b01k0y0q)
A selection of some of David Bowie's best performances from the BBC archives, which also features artists who Bowie helped along the way, such as Mott the Hoople, Lulu, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.


SAT 01:10 Top of the Pops (b062mf6g)
Peter Powell presents chart hits of the week. Guests include the Barracudas, Gary Numan, the Selecter, Mike Berry, the Skids, Elton John, Sue Wilkinson, Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Village People, Judas Priest and David Bowie, plus a dance routine from Legs & Co.


SAT 01:55 Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom (p01hscs5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:55 You've Got a Friend: The Carole King Story (b0461chb)
Documentary telling, in her own words, the story of Carole King's upbringing in Brooklyn and the subsequent success that she had as half of husband-and-wife songwriting team Goffin and King for Aldon Music on Broadway.

It was during this era in the early 1960s that they created a string of pop hits such as Take Good Care of My Baby for Bobby Vee, The Locomotion for Little Eva and Will You Love Me Tomorrow for the Shirelles, which became the first number one hit by a black American girl group. They also wrote the era-defining Up on the Roof for the Drifters and the magnificent Natural Woman for Aretha Franklin.

By 1970 Carole was divorced from songwriting partner Gerry Goffin and had moved to Los Angeles. It was here that she created her classic solo album Tapestry, packed with delightful tunes but also, for the first time, her own lyrics, very much sung from the heart. The album included It's Too Late, I Feel the Earth Move and You've Got a Friend and held the record for the most weeks at number one by a solo female artist for nearly 20 years. It became a trusted part of everyone's record collection and has sold over 25 million copies to date.

The film features some wonderful unseen material and home movies, and narrates her life as an acclaimed singer-songwriter. To date, more than 400 of her compositions have been recorded by over 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles.

More recently, in 2013, Carole was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress for her songwriting, whilst in 2014 Broadway production Beautiful, which tells her life story during the Goffin and King era, has received rave reviews.

Nowadays Carole King would see herself as an environmental activist as much as a songwriter, and she is to be found constantly lobbying congress in defence of the wildlife and ecosystems of her beloved Idaho.