John Shea presents a Prom given by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, with a Scottish theme.
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles (conductor)
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles (conductor)
Nicola Benedetti (violin), National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Donald Runnicles (conductor)
Hunter, Willie [1933-1994], arr. Paul Campbell
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles (conductor)
Olga Pasiecznik & Marta Boberska (sopranos), Il Tempo Baroque Ensemble - Wim Maseele (guitar, theorbo), Lilianna Stawarz (chamber organ), Agata Sapiecha (violin & director)
Suzanne Shulman (flute), James Campbell (clarinet), Andrew Dawes (violin), Daniel Domb (cello)
Milhaud, Darius (1892-1974), arr. Timothy Kain
Guitar Trek: Timothy Kain, Carolyn Kidd, Mark Norton, Peter Constant (guitars)
Concerto for violin and orchestra in F minor (RV.297) (Op.8 No.4), 'Inverno' (Winter)
Elizabeth Wallfisch (baroque violin), Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Paul Dyer (director)
Mozetich, Marjan (b. 1948)
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests.
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... Purcell ground bass'. Throughout the week Sarah shares some favourite examples of Purcell ground bass, highlighting their hypnotic nature, innate expressivity and imaginative harmonies in works including Dido and Aeneas, Ode for St Cecilia's Day and Come Ye Sons of Art.
Take part in today's musical challenge: identify a piece of music played backwards.
Sarah's guest this week is the writer Jeanette Winterson, whose semi-autobiographical 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' won the Whitbread Award for a first novel in 1985. Since then her writing has been praised for its startling originality in books about humanoid robots, witches, time travel, quantum physics, and above all the search for love. Her latest book is the first in a series of 'covers' of Shakespeare plays - a modern take on The Winter's Tale. Jeanette will be sharing a selection of her favourite classical music, including works by Handel, Gluck, Adams and Barber, every day at
Sarah places Music in Time. She transports us back to the Classical era to discover how a teenage Mozart absorbed the trend for Sturm und Drang, 'storm and stress', a movement that emphasised the importance of dramatic expression and extremes of emotion.
Sarah's Artists of the Week are the Ensemble Wien-Berlin. This esteemed wind quintet was formed in 1983 when five musicians, mostly principal players with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras, decided to join forces. The group has since built up an international reputation, performing at some of the most prestigious venues in the world and collaborating with string players and pianists to widen their repertoire. Throughout the week Sarah showcases some favourites from their catalogue of recordings, with works by composers including Mozart, Spohr and Debussy.
During the 1920s Henry Cowell becomes an international concert pianist yet his music continues to divide opinion.
Cowell's influence on American music has been immense, spread not only through more than 900 compositions of infinite variety, but through his many lectures, articles and recordings. One of the first advocates for World Music, his breadth of musical and cultural appreciation inspired pupils including John Cage and Lou Harrison. Cowell was tireless in his support of other contemporary composers, notably including Charles Ives and Ruth Crawford Seeger. He founded the New Music Society of California and ran the Pan American Association of Composers for much of their existence as well as founding the quarterly publication New Music.
Cowell's life is as unique as his music. Born in 1897 in Menlo Park, California his childhood was punctuated by periods of extreme poverty, which he alleviated by finding various means to earn money, including working as a cowherd and as a wildflower collector. Largely home schooled, his education was derived from his own natural curiosity. As a consequence Cowell acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge in diverse fields, yet he was unable to spell or do arithmetic with any degree of proficiency. A chance encounter with Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman led to the recognition of his exceptional mind, and to some funding for a more formalised education, including studying with Charles Seeger at Stanford. Cowell carved out a career as an international concert pianist, presenting his own avant-garde pieces, despite the occasional riot and character assassinating reviews. Cowell's musical activities were interrupted in 1936. Then in his late thirties, Cowell pleaded guilty to a morals charge and spent four years in San Quentin prison. It was due to the efforts of his step-mother Olive and the folk-music scholar Sidney Hawkins Robertson, who later became his wife, that he was released on parole in 1940. Two years later he received a pardon from the California governor, which allowed him to take up a position within the US Office of War Information and later on for Cowell to receive several awards and accolades in respect of his outstanding contribution to music.
Cowell's concert appearances were not without controversy. European modernists like Schoenberg and Bartok took him seriously, but his use of tone clusters and direct manipulation of the piano's strings scandalized audiences and critics alike, a situation that made him both a figure of some notoriety and highly in demand. Donald Macleod is again joined by Joel Sachs, conductor, pianist, professor at Juilliard School and author of a comprehensive biography of Henry Cowell.
In the first of a week of concerts showcasing Radio 3 New Generation Artists, French violist Lise Berthaud, who's in her second year on the scheme, plays Franck and Brahms at Sage Gateshead.
Brahms: Sonata in E flat, Op.120 No. 2
Penny Gore continues a week of Afternoon on 3 featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with a focus on music from the Southern Hemisphere. Today's programme includes music by Shostakovich, Glazunov and Rachmaninov. It also features Ice Disintegration by Annie Hsieh who was born in Taiwan and raised between New Zealand and Australia. Her music explores multi-layered and slowly-changing sonorities.
Symphony No. 15 in A major Op.141
Symphony No. 2 in E minor Op.27
Tenor John Mark Ainsley and pianist James Baillieu perform live in the studio ahead of their concert at the St Andrews Voices festival. Howard Shelley talks about his forthcoming 'Beethoven Explored' series with the London Mozart Players at St John's Smith Square in London. And the newly-crowned winner of the Jaques Samuel Pianos Intercollegiate Piano Competition pops in to play live.
Martin Yates conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra, recorded on Saturday at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, as part of the Malcolm Arnold Festival 2015. They are joined by Peter Donohoe in the Fantasy on a Theme of John Field and the concert ends with his cryptic Seventh Symphony, the three movements of which are said to be musical portraits of his children.
Matthew Sweet talks to Richard Mabey about his new book The Cabaret of Plants: Botany and the Imagination and hears how so much of our history has been driven by our discovery and exploitation of their properties but it's time to put our own human social preoccupations aside. Joining them, Andrea Wulf presents her findings on the extraordinary scientist Alexander von Humboldt, a seminal figure in human attempts to understand nature.
And it was nearly fifty years ago that The Black Panther Party was founded. Stanley Nelson, director of a new documentary history, Vanguard of the Revolution and Mohammed Mubarak, one of the movements official photographers join Matthew to discuss the Black Panthers' role in a political awakening for black Americans and their impact on wider American culture.
With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, reflects on what Scottishness means to her in this new series of The Essay. Today: a good sense of humour.
Max Reinhardt tries to raise the temperature with sound artists Fari Bradley and Chris Weaver's Night Stroll 35 Degrees, brings us back to the present with a previously lost version of Autumn Leaves by Oscar Peterson, tunes into the sighs of Meg Baird with her song Even the Walls Don't Want You to Go, enjoys electronica/house producer Henrik Schwarz's orchestral foray I Exist Because of You Two plus exploratory vocalisation from Anna Murray and a timber and Harp duet from Cemil Qocgiri and Tara Jaff.
WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER 2015
WED 00:30 Through the Night (b06hzhwc)
BBC Concert Orchestra perform Walter Braunfels
John Shea presents a recording of the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Johannes Wildner performing music by little-performed German composer Walter Braunfels.
12:31 AM
Braunfels, Walter (1882-1954)
Symphonic Variations on a French Children's Song Op.15
BBC Concert Orchestra; Johannes Wildner (conductor)
12:47 AM
Braunfels, Walter (1882-1954)
The Glass Mountain - suite from the opera Op.39b
BBC Concert Orchestra; Johannes Wildner (conductor)
1:13 AM
Braunfels, Walter (1882-1954)
Sinfonia brevis Op.69
BBC Concert Orchestra; Johannes Wildner (conductor)
1:46 AM
Spohr, Louis (1784-1859)
Fantasy, Theme and Variations on a Theme of Danzi in B flat (Op.81)
László Horvath (clarinet), New Budapest String Quartet
1:55 AM
Wagner, Richard [1813-1883]
Prelude and Isolde's Liebestod - from "Tristan und Isolde"
Oslo Philharnonic Orchestra; Rafael Frubeck de Burgos (conductor)
2:11 AM
Beethoven, Ludwig van [1770-1827]
Grosse Fuge for string quartet (Op.133)
Vertavo String Quartet
2:31 AM
Bach, Johann Sebastian [1685-1750]
Cantata No. 51 BWV 51 (Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen)
Maria Keohane (soprano), Sebastian Philpott (trumpet) European Union Baroque Orchestra, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)
2:47 AM
Stravinsky, Igor (1882-1971)
The Firebird - suite (1919)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste (conductor)
3:08 AM
Brahms, Johannes (1833-1897)
Piano Trio No.3 in C minor (Op.101)
Christopher Krenyak (violin), Jan Insinger (cello), Dido Keuning (piano)
3:29 AM
Duparc, Henri (1848-1933)
L'invitation au voyage (words Charles Baudelaire)
Mark Pedrotti (baritone), Stephen Ralls (piano)
3:33 AM
Ravel, Maurice [1875-1937]
La Valse - choreographic poem for orchestra
Orchestre National de France; Charles Dutoit (conductor)
3:47 AM
Heinichen, Johann David [1683-1729]
Concerto for flute, bassoon, cello, double bass and harpsichord
Vladislav Brunner jr. (flute), Jozef Martinkovic (bassoon), Juraj Alexander (cello), Juraj Schoffer (double bass), Miloš Starosta (harpsichord)
3:56 AM
Cabezon, Antonio de [1510-1566]
3 pieces for Double Harp
Margret Köll (arpa doppia)
4:06 AM
Järnefelt, Armas (1869-1958)
Berceuse
Izumi Tateno (piano)
4:08 AM
Grieg, Edvard (1843-1907)
Letzter Fruhling (Last Spring)
Camerata Bern, Thomas Furi (Leader)
4:15 AM
Dvorak, Antonin [1841-1904]
Song to the Moon from Rusalka (Op.114)
Yvonne Kenny (soprano); Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Vladimir Kamirski (conductor)
4:22 AM
Vivaldi, Antonio [1678-1741]
Violin Concerto in D (Op.3 No.9) (RV230)
Europa Galante; Fabio Biondi (conductor)
4:31 AM
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)
Concert aria: Ch'io mi scordi di te...? Non temer, amato bene (K505)
Tuva Semmingsen (soprano), Jörn Fosheim (piano), Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Michel Tabachnik (conductor)
4:41 AM
Chopin, Frédéric (1810-1849)
Nocturne in C minor (Op.48 No.1)
Llyr Williams (piano)
4:48 AM
Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von [1644-1704]
Sonata No.12 a 8 from sonatae tam aris, quam aulis servientes (1676)
Collegium Aureum, Georg Ratzinger (conductor)
4:54 AM
Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich (1839-1881)
Prelude and Dance of the Persian Slaves from Khovanschina
Sofia Symphony Orchestra, Ivan Marinov (Conductor)
5:08 AM
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da (c.1525-1594)
Nos autem gloriari oportet - motet for 4 voices
Silvia Piccollo (soprano), Annemieke Cantor (alto), Marco Beasley (tenor), Furio Zanasi (bass), Paolo Crivellaro (organ), Alberto Rasi (viola da gamba), Chorus of Swiss Radio, Lugano, Diego Fasolis (conductor)
5:10 AM
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da (c.1525-1594)
Ad te levavi oculos meos - motet for 4 voices
Silvia Piccollo (soprano), Annemieke Cantor (alto), Marco Beasley (tenor), Furio Zanasi (bass), Paolo Crivellaro (organ), Alberto Rasi (viola da gamba), Chorus of Swiss Radio, Lugano, Diego Fasolis (conductor)
5:16 AM
Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901)
Overture from La Forza del Destino
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly (conductor)
5:24 AM
Britten, Benjamin [1913-1976]
Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge (Op.10)
Sofia Soloists Chamber Ensemble, Plamen Djourov (conductor)
5:49 AM
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il'yich (1840-1893)
Dumka - Russian rustic scene for piano (Op.59)
Duncan Gifford (piano)
5:59 AM
Schubert, Franz (1797-1828)
Symphony No. 5 (D485) in B flat major
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (conductor).
WED 06:30 Breakfast (b06hl4y4)
Wednesday - Petroc Trelawny
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests.
Email 3Breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
WED 09:00 Essential Classics (b06j0pyb)
Wednesday - Sarah Walker with Jeanette Winterson
9am
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... Purcell ground bass'. Throughout the week Sarah shares some favourite examples of Purcell ground bass, highlighting their hypnotic nature, innate expressivity and imaginative harmonies in works including Dido and Aeneas, Ode for St Cecilia's Day and Come Ye Sons of Art.
9.30am
Take part in today's musical challenge: two pieces of music are played together. Can you work out what they are?
10am
Sarah's guest this week is the writer Jeanette Winterson, whose semi-autobiographical 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' won the Whitbread Award for a first novel in 1985. Since then her writing has been praised for its startling originality in books about humanoid robots, witches, time travel, quantum physics, and above all the search for love. Her latest book is the first in a series of 'covers' of Shakespeare plays - a modern take on The Winter's Tale. Jeanette will be sharing a selection of her favourite classical music, including works by Handel, Gluck, Adams and Barber, every day at
10am.
10.30am
Sarah places Music in Time. The focus is on a Modern work, the first Chamber Symphony by Schoenberg, whose sparse forces and new approach to harmony shocked its first audience in Vienna.
11am
Sarah's Artists of the Week are the Ensemble Wien-Berlin. This esteemed wind quintet was formed in 1983 when five musicians, mostly principal players with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras, decided to join forces. The group has since built up an international reputation, performing at some of the most prestigious venues in the world and collaborating with string players and pianists to widen their repertoire. Throughout the week Sarah showcases some favourites from their catalogue of recordings, with works by composers including Mozart, Spohr and Debussy.
Spohr
Nonet Op.31
Ensemble Wien-Berlin.
WED 12:00 Composer of the Week (b06hl4y6)
Henry Cowell (1897-1965)
A Life Interrupted
Henry Cowell's music-making is curtailed after he pleads guilty to a morals charge and is sent to San Quentin prison.
Cowell's influence on American music has been immense, spread not only through more than 900 compositions of infinite variety, but through his many lectures, articles and recordings. One of the first advocates for World Music, his breadth of musical and cultural appreciation inspired pupils including John Cage and Lou Harrison. Cowell was tireless in his support of other contemporary composers, notably including Charles Ives and Ruth Crawford Seeger. He founded the New Music Society of California and ran the Pan American Association of Composers for much of their existence as well as founding the quarterly publication New Music.
Cowell's life is as unique as his music. Born in 1897 in Menlo Park, California his childhood was punctuated by periods of extreme poverty, which he alleviated by finding various means to earn money, including working as a cowherd and as a wildflower collector. Largely home schooled, his education was derived from his own natural curiosity. As a consequence Cowell acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge in diverse fields, yet he was unable to spell or do arithmetic with any degree of proficiency. A chance encounter with Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman led to the recognition of his exceptional mind, and to some funding for a more formalised education, including studying with Charles Seeger at Stanford. Cowell carved out a career as an international concert pianist, presenting his own brand of modernist pieces, despite the occasional riot and character assassinating reviews. Cowell's musical activities were interrupted in 1936, when in his late thirties, Cowell pleaded guilty to a morals charge and spent four years in San Quentin prison. It was due to the efforts of his step-mother Olive and the folk-music scholar Sidney Hawkins Robertson, who later became his wife, that he was released on parole in 1940. Two years later he received a pardon from the California governor, which allowed him to take up a position within the US Office of War Information and later on for Cowell to receive several awards and accolades in respect of his outstanding contribution to music.
In the third part of this week's series, Donald Macleod discusses the reasons behind Henry Cowell's incarceration in San Quentin with Joel Sachs, author of a comprehensive biography of the composer. Sachs, who knew Cowell's widow and had full access to Cowell's private papers, has done extensive research into the circumstances surrounding this extraordinary case, which even the prosecutor described as trivial.
Dance of Sport "Competitive Sport"
California Parallele Ensemble
Nicole Paiement, director
The Universal Flute
Ralph Samuelson, shakuhachi
Sound form No.1
Leta Miller, flute
Mark Brandenburg, clarinet
Jane Orzel, bassoon
Russell Greenberg, percussion
Michael Strunk, percussion
Where she lies
Mary Ann Hart, mezzo soprano
Jeanne Golan, piano
Deep Color
Joel Sachs, piano
Symphony No. 11
The Louisville Orchestra
Robert S. Whitney, conductor.
WED 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (b06j13qf)
New Generation Artists at Sage Gateshead
Kitty Whately
British mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately continues our week of New Generation Artist showcase concerts at Sage Gateshead. Kitty, who's in her second year of the scheme, is accompanied by Iain Burnside in a Shakespearean-themed programme which includes evocations of Ophelia by Strauss and Berlioz, and Lady Macbeth by Austrian-born British composer Joseph Horovitz.
Schubert: An Silvia
Strauss: 4 Ophelia Lieder, Op.67
Berlioz: La Mort d'Ophelie
Arne: Under the Greenwood Tree
Arne: Where the Bee Sucks
Korngold: Lieder nach Shakespeare, Op.31
Poulenc: Fancy
Quilter: Mystress Mine
Horovitz: Lady Macbeth - A Scena
Grainger: Willow Song
Kitty Whately (mezzo-soprano), Iain Burnside (piano).
WED 14:00 Afternoon Concert (b06hzptl)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Episode 3
Penny Gore continues a week of Afternoon on 3 featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Today's programme features Mahler's 10th Symphony completed by Deryck Cooke.
2pm
Mahler
Symphony No.10, completed by Deryck Cooke
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Donald Runnicles (conductor).
WED 15:30 Choral Evensong (b06j18sf)
Rochester Cathedral
Live from Rochester Cathedral
Introit: It was in that train (Barry Ferguson)
Responses: Leighton
Office Hymn: Father, hear the prayer we offer (Cypress Court)
Psalm: 106 (Atkins, Wesley, Parry)
First Lesson: 2 Kings 23 vv 4-25
Canticles: Arthur Wills on plainsong tones
Second Lesson: 1 Timothy 3
Anthem: See, see the Word is incarnate (Gibbons)
Organ Voluntary: Master Tallis's Testament (Howells)
Director of Music: Scott Farrell
Assistant Director of Music and Sub Organist: Claire Innes-Hopkins
Assistant Sub Organist: Benjamin Bloor.
WED 16:30 In Tune (b06j18sh)
Penelope Thwaites, Timothy West, Stephen Varcoe, Alisa Weilerstein, Viviane Chassot, David Pia
Sean Rafferty with a lively mix of music, chat and arts news.
Pianist Penelope Thwaites, actor Timothy West, and baritone Stephen Varcoe perform in the studio ahead of their concert at Kings Place in London which marks the centenary of the birth of poet Michael Thwaites.
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein talks to Sean ahead of her concert at City Halls in Glasgow.
The accordion player Viviane Chassot and cellist David Pia also perform live, ahead of their appearance at the Belfast International Arts Festival.
WED 18:30 Composer of the Week (b06hl4y6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 today]
WED 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (b06j1fy5)
BBC Symphony Barbican Season 2015-16: Mozart, Schoenberg, Strauss
Live from the Barbican. The BBC Symphony Orchestra with Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo in music from Vienna by Mozart, Schoenberg & Richard Strauss - his Rosenkavalier Suite No 1.
Presented by Martin Handley
Mozart: Serenade in B flat major, K366, 'Gran Partita'
8.25 Interval music chosen by Sakari Oramo including Schoenberg's 5 Piano Pieces, Op 23 and Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music.
8.45
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier - Suite No. 1
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)
Revel in the virtuosity of the BBC Symphony Orchestra soloists in this sumptuous Viennese programme.
Opening with Mozart's most sublime wind serenade, the Gran Partita, and ending with the wistful sophistication of Strauss's first suite from Der Rosenkavalier, the heart of the evening belongs to the strings for a performance of Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. In his setting of Dehmel's passionate love story, Schoenberg's saturated, chromatic harmonies reached an expressive, even operatic, intensity.
WED 22:00 Free Thinking (b06j1xk3)
Home: Marilynne Robinson, Thomas Harding, Imtiaz Dharker
Marilynne Robinson, Thomas Harding, Imtiaz Dharker discuss ideas of home with Philip Dodd. Are we becoming increasingly rootless, or simply finding new ways to put down roots.
Pulitzer Prize winning author Marilynne Robinson is the author of a novel called Home and finds her own roots in Iowa and in her Calvinist faith. In her new collection of essays The Givenness of Things, she explores the ideas that make up the religious and philosophical homeland of Europe and America - Calvinism, Humanism, the Reformation, the self.
Thomas Harding's family originate in Germany. In his new book The House by the Lake he relates the changing ownership and fortunes of his family's summer house in eastern Berlin and with it the history of Germany from the thirties up to the present. It's his follow up to his best-selling book Hanns and Rudolph.
Poet and artist Imtiaz Dharker describes herself as a "Pakistani Calvinist Scottish Muslim" and her life has taken her from Lahore, to Glasgow, to Bombay, to Wales and finally to London - "I think displacement is often a good and useful thing for a writer", she says.
And as a new exhibition dedicated to The World of Charles and Ray Eames opens, Edwin Heathcote takes Philip on an imaginative tour of their iconic house, Case Study House #8, which they designed to "express man's life in the modern world."
The World of Charles and Ray Eames runs at the Barbican in London from 21st October to 14th February.
Marilynne Robinson's Essay collection The Givenness of Things is out now.
Thomas Harding's book is called The House by the Lake
Imtiaz Dharker's most recent poetry collection is called Over The Moon.
WED 22:45 The Essay (b049605q)
Homage to Caledonia
Homage to Caledonia: Morality and Misery
With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, reflects on what Scottishness means to her in this series of The Essay. Today: morality and misery - is dourness necessarily such a bad thing?
Written and performed by AL Kennedy
Producer: Justine Willett.
WED 23:00 Late Junction (b06j1xvk)
Wednesday - Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt presents a mixed bag of music: a jazz mass by the James Taylor Quartet with Rochester Cathedral Choir, a letter from Americana songstress Natalie Merchant, a theme from Finlandia from Sibelius, Arvo Part's Für Alina, haunted electronica from Paddy Steer with his Spook Out Evil Opus, sci-fi soaked electronica from Guy Avern and his Robot Heart Beats on the Land and Tommie Bradley's 1932 recording of the Bessie Smith hit, Nobody's Business If I Do.
THURSDAY 22 OCTOBER 2015
THU 00:30 Through the Night (b06hzvsf)
Haydn, Chausson and Scriabin performed in Zagreb
Haydn, Chausson and Scriabin performed by the Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Haydn, Joseph (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 49 in F minor H.
1.49 (La Passione)
Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, Aleksandar Kalajdzic (conductor)
12:52 AM
Kunc, Bozidar (1903 - 1964)
Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op.55
Marco Graziani (violin), Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, Aleksandar Kalajdzic (conductor)
1:19 AM
Chausson, Ernest (1855-1899)
Poeme Op.25 for violin and orchestra
Marco Graziani (violin), Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, Aleksandar Kalajdzic (conductor)
1:36 AM
Ysaÿe, Eugène (1858-1931)
Sonata No. 4 in E minor Op.27' No. 4 for violin solo
Marco Graziani (violin)
1:42 AM
Scriabin, Alexander (1872-1915)
Le Poème de l'extase Op.54
Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, Aleksandar Kalajdzic (conductor)
2:03 AM
Prokofiev, Sergey [1891-1953]
Romeo and Juliet - Ballet (Op. 64) (Excerpts) (1. Montagues and Capulets (Suite 2 No. 1); 2. Dance (Suite 2 No. 4); 3.Romeo and Juliet Before Parting (Suite 2 No. 5); 4.Death of Tybalt (Suite 1 No. 7); 5. Death of Juliet (Suite 3 No. 6))
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Thierry Fischer (conductor)
2:31 AM
Anon (C.18th)
Lauda Jerusalem (Psalm) for chorus, soloists, strings and continuo
Claire Lefilliâtre (soprano), Marnix De Cat (alto), Han Warmelinck (tenor), Currende, Erik van Nevel (conductor)
2:52 AM
Dvorák, Antonín (1841-1904)
Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor (Op.65)
Grieg Trio
3:32 AM
Mortelmans, Lodewijk (1868-1952)
Solemn Procession to Gethsemane (Part II of Evangelical Diptych (1893-97 orchestrated in 1933)
Vlaams Radio Orkest (Flemish Radio Orchestra), Jan Latham-Koenig (conductor)
3:37 AM
Sonninen, Ahti (1914-1984)
Laulu omnesta (A Song of Happiness)
Sauli Tiilikainen (baritone), Markus Lehtinen (piano)
3:39 AM
Gorczycki, Grzegorz Gerwazy (c.1665-1734)
Illuxit sol (c.1700)
Olga Pasiecznik (soprano), Marta Bobertska (soprano), Piotr Lykowski (countertenor), Wojciech Parchem (tenor), Miroslaw Borzynski (bass), Concerto Polacco, Marek Toporowski (chamber organ/director)
3:46 AM
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus [1756-1791]
Sonata for violin and keyboard (K303) in C major
Tai Murray (violin), Shai Wosner (piano)
3:57 AM
Lukaszewski, Marcin (b. 1972)
De Profundis clamavi
Polish Radio Choir (with solo soprano), Wlodzimierz Siedlik (conductor)
4:02 AM
Schubert, Franz (1797-1828)
Piano Trio in E flat major (D.897), 'Notturno'
Grieg Trio
4:12 AM
Scarlatti, Domenico (1685-1757)
Sonata in C major (K.460)
Andreas Staier (harpsichord)
4:19 AM
Järnefelt, Armas (1869-1958)
The Sound of Home
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ilpo Mansnerus (conductor)
4:31 AM
Bach, Johann Sebastian [1685-1750]
Cantata No. 209 (BWV 209) 'Non sa che sia dolore' (Sinfonia)
Alexis Kossenko (flute), Les Ambassadeurs, Alexis Kossenko (director)
4:37 AM
Brahms, Johannes (1833-1897)
Rhapsody in G minor (Op.79 No.2)
Robert Silverman (piano)
4:44 AM
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il'yich (1840-1893)
3 Songs from Op.6 - No.4 Slyoza drozit (A tear trembles) (Alexei Tolstoy); No.5 Otchevo? (Why?) (Heine); No.6 Net, tolko tot, kto znal, (None but the lonely heart) (Goethe)
Mikael Axelsson (bass), Niklas Sivelöv (piano)
4:55 AM
Warlock, Peter (1894-1930)
Serenade (to Frederick Delius on his 60th birthday) for string orchestra
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Roy Goodman (conductor)
5:03 AM
Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-1788)
12 Variations on 'La Folia' (Wq.118/9) (H263)
Andreas Staier (harpsichord)
5:12 AM
Arriaga, Juan Crisóstomo de (1806-1826)
Stabat Mater
Grieg Academy Choir, Bergen Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Juanjo Mena (conductor)
5:20 AM
Boccherini, Luigi (1743-1805)
Cello Concerto in D (G478)
Boris Andrianov (cello), Varazdin Chamber Orchestra, David Geringas (conductor)
5:40 AM
Messager, Andre [1853-1929]
Solo de concours for clarinet and piano
Pavlo Boiko (clarinet), Viola Taran (piano)
5:47 AM
Bruhns, Nicolaus (1665-1697)
Ich liege und schlaffe
Greta de Reyghere (soprano), James Bowman (countertenor), Guy de Mey (tenor), Max van Egmond (bass), Ricercar Consort
6:00 AM
Dyson, Gordon H. (b.1939)
Le Cimetière marin for piano
Ashley Wass (piano)
6:06 AM
Debussy, Claude (1862-1918)
Piano Trio in G major 'Premier Trio' (c.1879)
Grumiaux Trio: Luc Devos (piano), Philippe Koch (violin), Luc Dewez (cello).
THU 06:30 Breakfast (b06hl4yb)
Thursday - Petroc Trelawny
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests.
Email 3Breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
THU 09:00 Essential Classics (b06j0pyg)
Thursday - Sarah Walker with Jeanette Winterson
9am
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... Purcell ground bass'. Throughout the week Sarah shares some favourite examples of Purcell ground bass, highlighting their hypnotic nature, innate expressivity and imaginative harmonies in works including Dido and Aeneas, Ode for St Cecilia's Day and Come Ye Sons of Art.
9.30am
Take part in today's musical challenge: listen to the clues and identify the mystery music-related object.
10am
Sarah's guest this week is the writer Jeanette Winterson, whose semi-autobiographical 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' won the Whitbread Award for a first novel in 1985. Since then her writing has been praised for its startling originality in books about humanoid robots, witches, time travel, quantum physics, and above all the search for love. Her latest book is the first in a series of 'covers' of Shakespeare plays - a modern take on The Winter's Tale. Jeanette will be sharing a selection of her favourite classical music, including works by Handel, Gluck, Adams and Barber, every day at
10am.
10.30am
Sarah places Music in Time as she sets out to explore how the Italian madrigal travelled to Renaissance England with O Rossignol by Monteverdi and Wilbey's Sweet Honey-sucking Bees.
11am
Sarah's Artists of the Week are the Ensemble Wien-Berlin. This esteemed wind quintet was formed in 1983 when five musicians, mostly principal players with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras, decided to join forces. The group has since built up an international reputation, performing at some of the most prestigious venues in the world and collaborating with string players and pianists to widen their repertoire. Throughout the week Sarah showcases some favourites from their catalogue of recordings, with works by composers including Mozart, Spohr and Debussy.
Rossini
Sonata No.1 in F for wind quartet
Ensemble Wien-Berlin.
THU 12:00 Composer of the Week (b06hl4yg)
Henry Cowell (1897-1965)
Starting Over
Released from prison on parole, Henry Cowell moves to New York to begin the difficult task of rebuilding his musical career.
Cowell's influence on American music has been immense, spread not only through more than 900 compositions of infinite variety, but through his many lectures, articles and recordings. One of the first advocates for World Music, his breadth of musical and cultural appreciation inspired pupils including John Cage and Lou Harrison. Cowell was tireless in his support of other contemporary composers, notably including Charles Ives and Ruth Crawford Seeger. He founded the New Music Society of California and ran the Pan American Association of Composers for much of their existence as well as founding the quarterly publication New Music.
Cowell's life is as unique as his music. Born in 1897 in Menlo Park, California his childhood was punctuated by periods of extreme poverty, which he alleviated by finding various means to earn money, including working as a cowherd and as a wildflower collector. Largely home schooled, his education was derived from his own natural curiosity. As a consequence Cowell acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge in diverse fields, yet he was unable to spell or do arithmetic with any degree of proficiency. A chance encounter with Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman led to the recognition of his exceptional mind, and to some funding for a more formalised education, including studying with Charles Seeger at Stanford. Cowell carved out a career as an international concert pianist, presenting his own avant-garde pieces, despite the occasional riot and character assassinating reviews. Cowell's musical activities were interrupted in 1936. Then in his late thirties, Cowell pleaded guilty to a morals charge and spent four years in San Quentin prison. It was due to the efforts of his step-mother Olive and the folk-music scholar Sidney Hawkins Robertson, who later became his wife, that he was released on parole in 1940. Two years later he received a pardon from the California governor, which allowed him to take up a position within the US Office of War Information and later on for Cowell to receive several awards and accolades in respect of his outstanding contribution to music.
The terms of parole required Cowell to have a sponsor. The composer Percy Grainger offered both a roof over his head and a small salary for work as his assistant. Working largely to commission, Cowell's compositions from the 1940s reflect his interest in writing for unusual combinations of instruments and an integration of modernist principles into larger form works, heard here in the Quartet and his Variations for Orchestra. Cowell expert, conductor and pianist Joel Sachs has recorded Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 6, a piece that's yet to be made available in published form, specially for Composer of the Week, and he joins Donald Macleod once again in discussion.
Rhumba from American Melting Pot,
Manhattan Chamber Orchestra
Richard Auldon Clark, conductor
Two Woofs
Joel Sachs, piano
Hymn & Fuguing Tune No. 6
Joel Sachs, piano
Pulse
The New Music Consort
Quartet for flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord, 1st movement
Jayn Rosenfeld, flute
Marsha Heller, oboe
Maria Kitsopoulos, cello
Cheryl Seltzer, harpsichord
Variations for Orchestra
Polish National Radio Orchestra
William Strickland, conductor.
THU 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (b06j13qh)
New Generation Artists at Sage Gateshead
Armida Quartet
Our week of New Generation Artist showcase concerts from Sage Gateshead continues with the young German Armida Quartet who are in their first year of the scheme.
Beethoven: String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95 "Serioso"
Stravinsky: Three Pieces for string quartet
Shostakovich: String Quartet No.10 in A flat, Op.118
Armida String Quartet.
THU 14:00 Afternoon Concert (b06hzvsh)
Thursday Opera Matinee
Purcell - King Arthur
Penny Gore introduces the Thursday opera matinee, a performance of Purcell's semi-opera King Arthur recorded at this year's Utrecht Early Music Festival. The story is not about Camelot but concerns the battles between King Arthur's Britons and the Saxons; and Arthur's attempts to get back his beloved, the blind Cornish Princess Emmeline, who has been taken off by his rival, King Oswald. The rest of the afternoon continues the week's theme of music from the Southern Hemisphere with a piece by the Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, who died last year. And the afternoon ends with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra playing works by Sibelius and Haydn
2pm
Purcell
King Arthur, Part 1
Caroline Weynants, soprano (Philidel)
Tomás Král, bass (Aeolus, Grimbald)
Sophie Junker, soprano (Nereid, Cupid)
Sebastian Myrus, baritone (Cold Genius, Comus)
Lionel Meunier, bass (Pan)
Kristen Witmer, soprano (Comus, Venus, Honour)
Robert Buckland, tenor (Comus)
Olivier Berten, tenor (Comus)
Zsuzsi Tóth, soprano (Venus)
Vox Luminis
Ensemble La Fenice
Jean Tubéry (conductor)
2.47pm
Purcell
King Arthur Part 2
3.21pm
Sculthorpe
Earth Cry
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Jessica Cottis (conductor)
3.32pm
James Ledger
Two Memorials
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Jessica Cottis (conductor)
3.53pm
Sibelius
Finlandia
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Eivind Aadland (conductor)
4.03pm
Haydn
Trumpet Concerto
Alison Balsom (trumpet)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Eivind Aadland (conductor).
THU 16:30 In Tune (b06j1y3g)
Amici Voices, Cleveland Watkiss
Sean Rafferty, with live music from Amici Voices marking the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt and jazz singer Cleveland Watkiss with a taster of his new album.
THU 18:30 Composer of the Week (b06hl4yg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 today]
THU 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (b06j23kp)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Payare, Alisa Weilerstein - Dvorak and Shostakovich
Rafael Payare conducts the BBC SSO in Dvorak's Seventh Symphony and they are joined by Alisa Weilerstein for Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No 2.
Live from City Halls, Glasgow
Presented by Jamie MacDougall
Gareth Patrick Williams: Fields of Light
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No 2
8.15 Music interval
8.35
Dvorak: Symphony No 7
Rafael Payare (conductor)
Ailsa Weilerstein (cello)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is joined by the energetic young conductor Rafael Payare for a concert of light and shade which concludes with one of Dvorak's most enduring and melodic orchestral works, his Seventh Symphony. The orchestra begins with a premiere performance of a piece commissioned by BBC Radio 3 by the Scottish composer Gareth Patrick Williams. His new work, Fields of Light, journeys from uttermost clarity to music of dance-like intensity, and back to shimmering simplicity.
And the orchestra is joined by the celebrated American cellist Alisa Weilerstein to perform Shostakovich's dark and brooding Second Cello Concerto.
THU 22:00 Free Thinking (b06j23kr)
James Bond in Spectre, Nawal El Saadawi, Lord Browne, IS and Poetry
The new James Bond film Spectre is reviewed by New Generation Thinker Sam Goodman. The Egyptian feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi talks to Rana Mitter about facing death threats and surviving prison - and her novels which include Memoirs of a Woman Doctor and God Dies by the Nile. Lord Browne, former CEO of BP, makes the case for business to engage with society in a discussion with Mark Littlewood from the Institute of Economic Affairs. Dr Elisabeth Kendall has been studying the way so called Islamic State use classical Arabic poetry on social media.
Elisabeth Kendall is the author of Twenty-First Century Jihad
Connect: How Companies Succeed by Engaging Radically with Society by John Browne with Robin Nuttall and Tommy Standlen, is out now.
Sam Goodman is the author of British Spy Fiction and the End of Empire
Spectre certificate 12A is out in cinemas nationwide from Monday.
Nawal El Saadawi is the author of The Hidden Face of Eve, Woman at Point Zero, The hidden face of Eve, God Dies By The Nile.
THU 22:45 The Essay (b0496066)
Homage to Caledonia
Homage to Caledonia: The Language of the Scots
With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, continues her reflections on what Scottishness means to her in this week's series of The Essay. Today: the language of Scotland.
Written and performed by AL Kennedy
Producer: Justine Willett.
THU 23:00 Late Junction (b06j23kt)
Thursday - Max Reinhardt
A 1980 ambient classic from Brian Eno & Laraaji, a 2015 noise miniature from Russell Haswell, an extract from the new release by Australian avant-jazzers The Necks, a distressed instrumental conversation by contemporary composer Marc Yeats plus the sonic serenity of a Bruckner motet and Daniel Herskedal minimalist orchestrations... That's the route through the music of a different colour that Max Reinhardt takes tonight.
FRIDAY 23 OCTOBER 2015
FRI 00:30 Through the Night (b06hzzmr)
BBC Proms 2014: Louis Schwizgebel and the Royal String Quartet
A chamber music concert, with the Royal String Quartet and pianist Louis Schwizgebel, presented by John Shea.
12:31 AM
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus [1756-1791]
Sonata in D major K311
Louis Schwizgebel (piano)
12:47 AM
Mahler, Gustav [1860-1911]
Quartet Movement in A minor for piano and strings
Louis Schwizgebel (piano), members of the Royal String Quartet: Izabella Szalaj-Zimak (violin), Marek Czech (viola), Michal Pepol (cello)
12:59 AM
Strauss, Richard [1864-1949]
Metamorphosen, arr. Rudolph Leopold for string septet
Royal String Quartet, Katarzyna Budnik-Galazka (viola), Marcin Zdunik (cello), Tomasz Januchta (double bass)
1:29 AM
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus [1756-1791]
Sonata (K576) in D major
Jonathan Biss (piano)
1:45 AM
Haydn, Joseph [1732-1809]
String Quartet (Op.77 No.1) in G major
Royal String Quartet
2:04 AM
Strauss, Richard (1864-1949)
Suite in B flat major (Op.4) for 13 wind instruments
Ottawa Winds, Michael Goodwin (conductor)
2:31 AM
Liehmann, Antonin (1808-1878)
Mass No.1 in D minor for soloists, chorus, organ and orchestra
Lenka Skornickova (soprano), Olga Kodesova (alto), Damiano Binetti (tenor), Ilja Prokop (bass), Radek Rejsek (organ), Czech Radio Choir, Pilsen Radio Orchestra, Josef Hercl (conductor)
3:12 AM
Dvorák, Antonín (1841-1904)
Symphonic Variations (Op.78)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Grant Llewellyn (Conductor)
3:38 AM
Bach, Johann Sebastian [1685-1750]
Aria: 'Kommt! eilet' from Cantata No. 74 (BWV 74)
Anders Dahlin (tenor), Zefira Valova (violin), Les Ambassadeurs, Alexis Kossenko (director)
3:44 AM
Macque, Giovanni de (c.1550-1614)
Bacciami vita mia for 6 voices
Maite Arruabarrena (soprano), Mira Valenta (alto), Josep Benet and Marius Van Altena (tenors), Anneke Pols and Richte Van Der Meer (viols), Konrad Junghänel (lute and director)
3:45 AM
Gabrieli, Andrea [c.1532/3-1585]
Cinto m'avea tra belle e nude à 6
Maite Arruabarrena (soprano), Mira Valenta (alto), Marius Van Altena (tenor), Josep Cabre (bass), Titia de Zwart and Anneke Pols (viols), Konrad Junghänel (lute and director)
3:47 AM
Raffaelli, Josip (1767-1843)
Introduction and Theme with Variations in A major
Vladimir Krpan (piano)
3:57 AM
Françaix, Jean (1912-1997)
Serenade for small orchestra
Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Raffi Armenian (conductor)
4:07 AM
Frescobaldi, Girolamo (1583-1643)
Canzon seconda à 4, due Canti a due Bassi for violin, cornett, sackbut, curtal, organ & chitarrone - from Canzoni da Sonare (Venice 1634)
Musica Fiata, Köln, Roland Wilson (director)
4:11 AM
Nin (y Castellanos), Joaquín (1879-1949)
Seguida Espanola (1930)
Henry-David Varema (cello), Heiki Mätlik (guitar)
4:21 AM
Turina, Joaquín (1882-1949)
Rapsodia sinfonica (Op.66) for piano and string orchestra
Angela Cheng (piano), Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Graf (conductor)
4:31 AM
Valentini, Giovanni (1582/3-1649)
Tocchin le trombe, a 10
La Capella Ducale, Musica Fiata Köln
4:39 AM
Telemann, Georg Philipp (1681-1767)
Sonata for flute and basso continuo in G major - from Essercizii Musici
Camerata Köln - Karl Kaiser (transverse flute), Rainer Zipperling (cello), Sabine Bauer (harpsichord)
4:46 AM
Sibelius, Jean (1865-1957)
Black Rose (Op.36 No.1); Sigh Sedges Sigh (Op.36 No.4); The Maiden's Tryst (Op.37 No.5); Spring is Flying (Op.13 No.4)
Jard van Nes (mezzo soprano), Gérard van Blerk (piano)
4:56 AM
Brahms, Johannes (1833-1897)
Theme with Variations - from Sextet in B flat major (Op.18)
Wiener Streichsextet: Erich Hobarth, Peter Matzka (violins), Thomas Riebl, Siegfried Fuhrlinger (violas), Susanne Ehn, Rudolf Leopold (cellos)
5:06 AM
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)
Fantasy in D minor (KV397)
Bruno Lukk (piano)
5:12 AM
Handel, Georg Frideric [1685-1759]
Sonata for recorder and continuo (HWV 367a)
Sharon Bezaly (flute), Terence Charlston (harpsichord), Charles Medlam (viola da gamba)
5:26 AM
Holmboe, Vagn (1909-1996)
Benedic Domino, anima mea - from Liber Canticorum II (Op.59a)
Danish National Radio Choir (soloists not named), Stefan Parkman (conductor)
5:40 AM
Nielsen, Carl (1865-1931)
Little Suite in A minor (Op.1) for string orchestra
CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
5:57 AM
Debussy, Claude [1862-1918]
En blanc et noir for 2 pianos
Lestari Scholtes (piano), Gwilym Janssens (piano)
6:14 AM
Lipinski, Karol Józef (1790-1861)
Rondo alla Polacca in E major (Op.13) (C.1820-24)
Albrecht Breuninger (violin), Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wojciech Rajski (conductor).
FRI 06:30 Breakfast (b06hl4yl)
Friday - Petroc Trelawny
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests.
Email 3Breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
FRI 09:00 Essential Classics (b06j0pyj)
Friday - Sarah Walker with Jeanette Winterson
9am
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... Purcell ground bass'. Throughout the week Sarah shares some favourite examples of Purcell ground bass, highlighting their hypnotic nature, innate expressivity and imaginative harmonies in works including Dido and Aeneas, Ode for St Cecilia's Day and Come Ye Sons of Art.
9.30am
Take part in today's musical challenge: listen to the music and see if you can trace the classical inspiration.
10am
Sarah's guest this week is the writer Jeanette Winterson, whose semi-autobiographical 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' won the Whitbread Award for a first novel in 1985. Since then her writing has been praised for its startling originality in books about humanoid robots, witches, time travel, quantum physics, and above all the search for love. Her latest book is the first in a series of 'covers' of Shakespeare plays - a modern take on The Winter's Tale. Jeanette will be sharing a selection of her favourite classical music, including works by Handel, Gluck, Adams and Barber, every day at
10am.
10.30am
Sarah places Music in Time. Berlioz is for many the epitome of the Romantic composer. Sarah presents his Overture: Benvenuto Cellini, with its new techniques of colourful orchestration and demand for virtuoso panache from all its players.
11am
Sarah's Artists of the Week are the Ensemble Wien-Berlin. This esteemed wind quintet was formed in 1983 when five musicians, mostly principal players with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras, decided to join forces. The group has since built up an international reputation, performing at some of the most prestigious venues in the world and collaborating with string players and pianists to widen their repertoire. Throughout the week Sarah showcases some favourites from their catalogue of recordings, with works by composers including Mozart, Spohr and Debussy.
Mozart
Trio for clarinet, viola and piano K.498 'Kegelstatt'
Ensemble Wien-Berlin
James Levine (piano).
FRI 12:00 Composer of the Week (b06hl4yq)
Henry Cowell (1897-1965)
The Extraordinary Entrepreneur
Henry Cowell embarks on an ambitious, year-long world tour and experiences the music of other cultures first-hand.
Cowell's influence on American music has been immense, spread not only through more than 900 compositions of infinite variety, but through his many lectures, articles and recordings. One of the first advocates for World Music, his breadth of musical and cultural appreciation inspired pupils including John Cage and Lou Harrison. Cowell was tireless in his support of other contemporary composers, notably including Charles Ives and Ruth Crawford Seeger. He founded the New Music Society of California and ran the Pan American Association of Composers for much of their existence as well as founding the quarterly publication New Music.
Cowell's life is as unique as his music. Born in 1897 in Menlo Park, California his childhood was punctuated by periods of extreme poverty, which he alleviated by finding various means to earn money, including working as a cowherd and as a wildflower collector. Largely home schooled, his education was derived from his own natural curiosity. As a consequence Cowell acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge in diverse fields, yet he was unable to spell or do arithmetic with any degree of proficiency. A chance encounter with Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman led to the recognition of his exceptional mind, and to some funding for a more formalised education, including studying with Charles Seeger at Stanford. Cowell carved out a career as an international concert pianist, presenting his own avant-garde pieces, despite the occasional riot and character assassinating reviews. Cowell's musical activities were interrupted in 1936. Then in his late thirties, Cowell pleaded guilty to a morals charge and spent four years in San Quentin prison. It was due to the efforts of his step-mother Olive and the folk-music scholar Sidney Hawkins Robertson, who later became his wife, that he was released on parole in 1940. Two years later he received a pardon from the California governor, which allowed him to take up a position within the US Office of War Information and later on for Cowell to receive several awards and accolades in respect of his outstanding contribution to music.
For the last time Donald Macleod is joined by Joel Sachs, conductor, pianist, professor at Juilliard School and author of a comprehensive biography of Henry Cowell. Today they discuss Cowell's later projects, his life-long fascination with world music and his absorption of the rhythms and sounds he heard while undertaking a world tour with his wife, the folk-music scholar Sidney Hawkins. There's a rare opportunity to hear Cowell's "Madras" Symphony, in a recording made by Joel Sachs with the New Juilliard Ensemble.
Firelight and Lamp
Robert Osborne, bass-baritone
Jeanne Golan, piano
Dynamic Motion
Henry Cowell, piano
Set of Five, Finale
Marily Dubow, violin
Gordon Gottlieb, percussion
Joel Sachs, piano
Persian Set, 1st movement
Manhattan Chamber Orchestra
Richard Auldon-Clark, conductor
Symphony No.13 (Madras)
New Juilliard Ensemble
Joel Sachs, conductor
26 Simultaneous Mosaics
Jo-Ann Sternberg, clarinet
Deborah Redding, violin
Dorothy Lawson, cello
William Trigg, percussion
Amy Rubin, piano.
FRI 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (b06j13qk)
New Generation Artists at Sage Gateshead
Louis Schwizgebel
Our week of New Generation Artist showcase concerts from Sage Gateshead concludes with a recital by Swiss-Chinese pianist Louis Schwizgebel who's in his final year of the scheme.
Haydn: Piano Sonata in C major, Hob.XVI:50
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor, D845
Louis Schwizgebel (piano).
FRI 14:00 Afternoon Concert (b06hzzmt)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Episode 4
Penny Gore ends this week of Afternoon on 3 featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Today's programme includes music by Sibelius, Walton, William Sweeney and Erik Chisholm.
2pm
Sibelius
Scènes historiques - Suite No. 2
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Rory Madonald (conductor)
2.20pm
Walton
Cello Concerto
Danjulo Ishizaka (cello)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Paul Watkins (conductor)
2.49pm
May Kay Yau
Demise of the Cherry Blossoms
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Vassily Sinaisky
3pm
Schubert
6 German Dances (D.820), orch. Webern
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov
3.08pm
Erik Chisholm
Violin Concerto
Matthew Trusler (violin)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Michael Collins (conductor)
3.40pm
William Sweeney
St Blane's Hill
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Gerard Korsten (conductor)
3.50pm
Sibelius
Symphony No. 7 in C major Op.105
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Donald Runnicles (conductor).
FRI 16:30 In Tune (b06j2l27)
Manchester Camerata, Martynas Levickis, Jonathan Dove, Matthew Halsall
Sean Rafferty with a lively mix of music, chat and arts news from Media City in Salford.
Sean's guests include composer Jonathan Dove and artist Tania Kovats who discuss their collaboration for Manchester Science Festival, and accordionist Martynas Levickis who plays live in the studio with members of Manchester Camerata. Plus more live music from jazz trumpeter Matthew Halsall.
FRI 18:30 Composer of the Week (b06hl4yq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 today]
FRI 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (b06j2l29)
BBC Singers - Nordic Choral Music
Live from St Giles' Church, Cripplegate, London
Presented by Martin Handley
The BBC Singers, directed by the Norwegian conductor Grete Pedersen, are joined by organist James McVinnie for a night of Nordic music.
Knut Nystedt: Immortal Bach
Knut Nystedt: O Crux
Knut Nystedt: Variations on 'Med Jesus vil eg fara' (op 4) for organ
Edvard Grieg: Four Psalms
8.15pm: Interval music: Norwegian folk-tunes played on the hardanger fiddle, and Grete Pedersen talks to Martin Handley about the Norwegian choral scene and her work with the Norwegian Soloists' Choir.
8.35pm:
Bo Holten: Rain and Rush and Rosebush
Hilding Rosenberg: Fantasia and Fugue for organ
Alfred Janson: Sonnet 76
Cecilie Ore: Toil and Trouble (London premiere)
James McVinnie (organ)
BBC Singers
Grete Pedersen (conductor)
Making her debut with the BBC Singers, Norwegian conductor Grete Pedersen directs a Nordic programme including sacred works by the founding father of Norwegian music, Edvard Grieg, and by a latterday composer - Knut Nystedt -, who died last year aged almost 100. In the second half of the concert, Bo Holten's choral retelling of a fairy story by Hans Christian Anderson, and the London premiere of Cecilie Ore's setting of the Witches' Scene from Shakespeare's Macbeth, alongside another Shakespeare setting by Alfred Janson. Completing the programme, James McVinnie plays two 20th-century Nordic works for organ.
FRI 22:00 The Verb (b06j2l2c)
Catastrophic Language
How do we convey the 'very big', the dramatic effects of climate change - or the 'very small', the world of antibiotic drugs and the microbes they attack? And how do we respond to the big 'catastrophic' words like 'apocalypse', 'abyss' and 'brink', which are sometimes used to try and convey their potential impact on human life?
Ian McMillan's guests this week include Cliodna McNulty, Nicola Davies, Emily Sutton, Adam Corner and poet Lucy Burnett who will be talking about the big consequences of getting small words right when writing and communicating on these two issues.
Producer: Faith Lawrence.
FRI 22:45 The Essay (b0496068)
Homage to Caledonia
Homage to Caledonia: Hidden Identities
With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, continues her reflections on what Scottishness means to her in this week's series of The Essay. Today: Scotland's many hidden identities.
Written and performed by AL Kennedy
Producer: Justine Willett.
FRI 23:00 World on 3 (b06j2njc)
Lopa Kothari - Womex 2015
Lopa Kothari is in Budapest for highlights from WOMEX, the annual gathering of the world music industry. WOMEX is a showcase for artists worldwide, and there will be concert recordings, interviews and live sessions from the latest bands and the freshest talent in world music.