Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov at the 2015 BBC Proms. John Shea presents.
Nikolai Lugansky (piano), St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Temirkanov (conductor)
Elizabeth Wallfisch (baroque violin), Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Paul Dyer (director)
Concerto in G minor for oboe, strings and bass continuo (Allegro; Largo; Presto)
Hans-Peter Westermann (oboe), Neue Düsseldorfer Hofmusik, Mary Utiger (director)
Karolj Kolar (tenor), Belgrade Radio and Television Chorus, Mladen Jagušt (conductor)
Roberto Saccà (tenor), L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Armin Jordan (conductor)
Kullervo Kojo (clarinet), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ulf Söderblom (conductor)
Georgia Mann presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests.
1010 Our Classical Century - 100 key moments in the last century of classical music.
1050 Cultural inspirations from our guest of the week, the actor, Kelsey Grammer.
At 21, Berg wrote to a friend: I hope that when I go out into the big wide world, I’ll find an honourable, wonderful young woman who will be devoted to me and show me the way to glory. He soon met and married the beautiful Helene Nahowski. She was rumoured to be the illegitimate offspring of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph. From the outside, the Berg’s relationship looked ideal. There are 488 letters spanning their courtship and 28-year marriage which, on the surface, depict a loving, attentive, devoted partnership. But underneath the veneer lie years of hidden secrets.
Recorded in March at St Marys' Church, Tetbury in Gloucestershire, the Calidore String Quartet play favourite works by Prokofiev and Beethoven, in the first of four curated concerts which the quartet, former Radio 3 New Generation Artists, gave as part of a Radio 3 Big Chamber Weekend, held in association with Tetbury Music Festival .
The Calidore String Quartet present two works of great heart and optimism, written in the shadow of war. Following Germany's war-time invasion of Russia, Prokofiev's second string quartet reflects the captivating folk tunes he heard while living in the Caucasus region, while Beethoven's Harp Quartet, one of his most light and romantic, could be attributed to being in love, rather more than Napoleon's bombardment of Vienna.
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra perform two concerts this afternoon. The first, conducted by Ben Gernon, features the overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila by Glinka, then Mats Larsson Gothe's Ricerco 2, with the bassoon player Henrik Blixt as soloist, ending with Beethoven's Symphony 4. The second concert, this one with Omer Meir Wellber conducting the Swedish orchestra, includes two piano concertos, both with Johnathan Biss as soloist: Beethoven's Piano Concerto 1 and Sally Beamish's Piano Concerto 3, 'City Stanzas', then the afternoon finishes with Richard Strauss tone poem Ein Heldenleben. Presented by Hannah French.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B flat, op. 60
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C, op. 15
Sally Beamish: Piano Concerto No. 3 ('City Stanzas')
Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, op. 40
Live music comes from Award-winning choir Tenebrae, ahead of their concert at St John Smith's Square as part of the Holy Week Festival. Sean Rafferty is also joined by Baritone Cody Quattlebaum, soprano Elizabeth Watts and members of the Academy of Ancient Music, and conductor John Wilson with singer Simon Butteriss join Sean to talk about their new period instrument interpretation of Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury.
A specially curated sequence of classical, alternative and world music designed to help you concentrate. With music by Handel, Rachmaninov, Olafur Arnalds and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Making his International Piano Series debut, Javier Perianes performs two of Chopin’s most emotionally-charged works: the Nocturnes Op 48; and his final large-scale composition for the piano, the Third Sonata.
The second half opens with Debussy's Estampes, musical explorations of geographical regions including East Asia, Granada and Normandy, and the recital concludes with the exuberant music of Perianes' native Spain in works by Falla.
Falla: 3 Dances from The Three-cornered Hat arr. piano
Anne McElvoy debates at the Free Thinking Festival with intensive care doctor Aoife Abbey, GP & Prof Louise Robinson, Naeem Soomro expert in using robotic surgery and Michael Brown medical historian. Does emotion have any place in relationships with patients in a more open age? Medical professionals are trained to adopt “clinical distance” when dealing with patients. Tradition says that getting emotional weakens their judgement of medical evidence and can cause safeguarding issues. But how can those in caring roles prevent disinterest seeming like un-interest?
Aoife Abbey is a doctor working in Intensive Care whose book Seven Signs of Life is an account of her experiences told through the emotions she encounters on a daily basis. Aoife previously wrote a blog as The Secret Doctor for the British Medical Association and works on a national training programme for doctors in intensive care medicine. She is a council member of the Intensive Care Society (UK).
Michael Brown is a cultural historian at the University of Roehampton who is currently leading a project for the Wellcome Trust entitled Surgery & Emotion exploring this relationship from 1800 to the present. He is the author of Performing Medicine: Medical Culture and Identity in Provincial England, c. 1760-1850
Louise Robinson is Director of Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing, Professor of Primary Care and Ageing and a GP. She leads one of only three Alzheimer Society national Centres of Excellence on Dementia Care and is a member of the national dementia care guidelines development group.
Dr Naeem Soomro is Leading Consultant Urologist at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle. He has pioneered minimally invasive and robotic surgery in the North East and has developed the biggest multi-speciality robotic surgery program in the UK.
The writer Kit de Waal grew up a Jehovah’s Witness, and it was not a happy experience for her. The painting at the National Gallery she has chosen for her Essay is the 16th century Christ Before Pilate by the Master of Cappenberg, sometimes identified as Jan Baegert. It captures the moment when Pilate, the Roman prefect, tries to wash his hands of his part in the death of Christ. For Kit, this is a poignant reminder of the sense of not passing muster in God’s eyes which she was carrying for much of her life – and a chain of ritual disavowals running through her own family history.
For this Holy Week series, BBC Radio 3 has invited five people to choose a painting of Christ’s passion or resurrection at the National Gallery in London and make it the starting point for their Essay.
Prick up your ears, loosen those hips, move your feet, open up your mind. Tonight Max Reinhardt has an excellent selection of songs and pieces that resonate with, or respond and relate to, the human body.
American singer-bassist Esperanza Spalding wants to connect you more closely to individual body parts through her contemporary pop songs; Rotherham raver Rian Treanor explores the loss of control of bodily movements with new album ATAXIA; Bristol’s avant-garde ambient music-maker Sam Kidel deconstructs the individuality of the human voice box, and the competency of voice recognition software; and, finally, cult music and performance art collective Throbbing Gristle fill up your adrenal glands.
Produced by Jack Howson.
WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL 2019
WED 00:30 Through the Night (m000488x)
Great British Youth at the Proms
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the 2018 BBC Proms playing Mussorgsky, Ravel, Ligeti and Debussy. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
A Night on the Bare Mountain
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, George Benjamin (conductor)
12:43 AM
George Benjamin (b.1960)
Dance Figures for Orchestra
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, George Benjamin (conductor)
12:59 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand
Tamara Stefanovich (piano), National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, George Benjamin (conductor)
01:18 AM
Oliver Knussen (1952-2018)
Prayer Bell Sketch for piano
Tamara Stefanovich (piano)
01:24 AM
György Ligeti (1923-2006)
Lontano for Orchestra
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, George Benjamin (conductor)
01:37 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
La Mer
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, George Benjamin (conductor)
02:02 AM
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Piano Trio in G minor, Op 17
Eva Zurbrugg (violin), Angela Schwartz (cello), Erika Radermacher (piano)
02:31 AM
Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745)
Missa Nativitatis Domini, ZWV.8
Barbora Sojková (soprano), Stanislava Mihalcová (soprano), Marta Fadljevicová (mezzo soprano), Markéta Cukrová (contralto), Sylva Cmugrová (contralto), Daniela Cermáková (contralto), Jarosla Brezina (tenor), Cenek Svoboda (tenor), Tomáš Král (baritone), Jaromír Nosek (bass), Musica Florea, Marek Stryncl (director)
03:05 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
24 Preludes, Op.28
David Kadouch (piano)
03:41 AM
Károly Goldmark (1830-1915)
Scherzo for orchestra in E minor (Op.19)
Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Adam Medveczky (conductor)
03:47 AM
Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli (1630-1670)
Violin Sonata in A minor, Op 3, No 2, 'La Cesta'
Daniel Sepec (violin), Hille Perl (viola da gamba), Lee Santana (theorbo), Michael Behringer (harpsichord)
03:55 AM
Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
2 Songs - When Night Descends in silence & Oh stop thy singing maiden fair
Fredrik Zetterström (baritone), Tobias Ringborg (violin), Anders Kilström (piano)
04:03 AM
Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710)
Xácaras and Canarios (Instrucción de música sobre la guitara española" )
Eduardo Egüez (guitar)
04:13 AM
Walter Gieseking (1895-1956)
Chaconne on a Theme by Scarlatti after Keyboard Sonata in D minor K 32
Joseph Moog (piano)
04:20 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Symphony in D major, Op 10 No 5
La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider (conductor)
04:31 AM
Arcangelo Califano, (fl.1700-1750)
Sonata for 2 oboes, bassoon and keyboard in C major
Ensemble Zefiro
04:41 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Fantasia on an Irish song "The last rose of summer" for piano Op 15
Sylviane Deferne (piano)
04:50 AM
Artemy Vedel (1767-1808)
Choral concerto No.5 "I cried unto the Lord With my voice" Psalm 143
Platon Maiborada Academic Choir, Viktor Skoromny (conductor)
05:00 AM
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Sonata in F minor, Kk 466
Louis Schwizgebel (piano)
05:07 AM
Howard Cable (1920-2016)
The Banks of Newfoundland
Hannaford Street Silver Band, Stephen Chenette (conductor)
05:15 AM
Henry Eccles (c.1675-1745)
Sonata for double bass, continuo and strings
Joel Quarrington (double bass), Eric Robertson (harpsichord), Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Timothy Vernon (conductor)
05:24 AM
Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921)
Im grossen Schweigen for baritone and orchestra
Håkan Hagegård (baritone), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly (conductor)
05:48 AM
Marjan Mozetich (b.1948)
The Passion of Angels - Concerto for 2 harps and orchestra (1995)
Nora Bumanis (harp), Julia Shaw (harp), CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
06:09 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Concerto for keyboard and string orchestra No.1 in D minor (BWV.1052)
Raphael Alpermann (harpsichord), Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
WED 06:30 Breakfast (m00048bb)
Wednesday - Georgia’s classical picks
Georgia Mann presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests.
Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk
WED 09:00 Essential Classics (m00048bd)
Ian Skelly
Ian Skelly with Essential Classics - the best in classical music.
0930 Your ideas for companion pieces on the Essential Classics playlist.
1010 Our Classical Century - 100 key moments in the last century of classical music.
1050 Cultural inspirations from our guest of the week, the actor, Kelsey Grammer.
1130 Slow Moment - time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection
And this week Essential Classics celebrates the artistry of Dame Janet Baker.
WED 12:00 Composer of the Week (m00048bg)
Alban Berg (1885-1935)
This is hell in the true sense of the word
Faced with the squalor of conditions at an army training camp and the regular drills and tough exercise required, Alban Berg had a physical breakdown and was taken to hospital. A series of tests revealed the damaged state of his lungs, and he was declared only suitable for orderly duties. He spent the rest of the war on guard duty and in the War Ministry in Vienna.
He turned his attention to a play Woyzeck, written 80 years earlier by George Büchner, based on a historical case of a barber who killed his mistress in a jealous rage. The barber was tried and condemned to death, but for the first time in the history of German law, the question was raised of diminished responsibility on the grounds of mental instability.
Berg’s opera, inspired by Buchner’s play, came to be known as Wozzeck. At the opening night on the 14th of December 1925, it was described as sounding like: Massed attacks and convulsions of instruments….tortured, mistuned cackling….. A capital offence…… A dissonant orgy….scarps, shreds, sobs and belches… But there was also talk of: the strange perfection and uniqueness of this work which places him right next to the most important music dramatist of our time not only was the evening the greatest sensation of the season it was a significant event in history of music drama in general. Berg was finally and firmly on the musical map.
Ferne Lieder – Distant Songs
Jessye Norman, soprano
Ann Schein, piano
Wozzeck: Act 3, Tanzt Alle
Walter Berry, baritone (Wozzeck)
Ingeborg Lasser, contralto (Margret)
Orchestra and Choir Of Paris Opera
Pierre Boulez, conductor
Wozzeck: Act 3, Scenes 4 and 5
Walter Berry, baritone (Wozzeck)
Orchestra and Choir Of Paris Opera
Pierre Boulez, conductor
Three Pieces for Orchestra
Vienna Philharmonic
Claudio Abbado, conductor
Wein, Weib und Gesang (Waltz Op 333 by Johann Strauss II, trans. Berg)
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Mario Venzago, conductor
Produced by Rosie Boulton for BBC Wales
WED 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m00048bj)
High jinks and lyricism: Schumann and Mendelssohn
Recorded in March at St Marys' Church, Tetbury in Gloucestershire, two members of the Calidore String Quartet join forces with the pianist Zee Zee in the second concert in a series curated by the quartet, which brings together former Radio 3 New Generation Artists for a Radio 3 Big Chamber Weekend, held in association with Tetbury Music Festival.
Introduced by Fiona Talkington.
Schumann: Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op.26
Zee Zee, piano
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No.1
Zee Zee, piano
Ryan Meehan, violin
Estelle Choi, cello
Schuman's colourful depiction of a Carnival in Vienna is vividly presented by pianist Zee Zee, who then teams up with Ryan Meehan and Estelle Choi, members of the Calidore String Quartet, for a performance of Mendelssohn's First Piano Trio, fittingly described by Schumann as the "master trio of our age", with its breathtaking lyricism, and virtuosity shared between all the players.
WED 14:00 Afternoon Concert (m00048bl)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs a concert including Anton Webern's arrangement for orchestra of J.S. Bach's Ricercar a 6, followed by Rautavaara's Cello Concerto, 'Towards the Horizon', with Truls Mørk as soloist, ending with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D minor, conducted by Klaus Mäkelä. Presented by Fiona Talkington.
2.00pm
J.S. Bach (arr. by Anton Webern): Ricercar a 6
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Cello Concerto No. 2, 'Towards the Horizon'
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, op. 47
Truls Mørk, cello
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Klaus Mäkelä, conductor
WED 15:30 Choral Evensong (m00048bn)
Canterbury Cathedral
Live from Canterbury Cathedral.
Introit: Amicus meus (Victoria)
Responses: Statham
Office hymn: The royal banners forward go (Vexilla regis)
Psalm 88 (Prendergast)
First Lesson: Isaiah 63 vv.1-9
Canticles: Quarti toni (Morales)
Second Lesson: Revelation 14 v.18 – 15 v.4
Anthem: Vinea mea electa (Poulenc)
Hymn: O sacred head, sore wounded (Passion Chorale)
Voluntary: Fantazia of foure parts (Gibbons)
David Flood (Organist and Master of the Choristers)
David Newsholme (Assistant Organist)
WED 16:30 New Generation Artists (m00048bq)
Over the rim of the moon - Alessandro Fisher sings Michael Head
New Generation Artists: Alessandro Fisher
Appearing this month in Handel's Berenice at the Royal Opera House, Alessandro Fisher brings his lyrical tenor this afternoon to a song cycle by a master song smith of the last century. After that recent NGA, Andrei Ionita plays music by Doreen Carwithen.
Michael Head Song Cycle 'Over the rim of the moon.'
The ships of Arcady
Beloved
A blackbird singing
Nocturne
Alessandro Fisher (tenor), Ashok Gupta (piano)
Doreen Carwithen Sonatina for cello and piano
Andrei Ionita (cello), Lilit Grigoryan (piano)
WED 17:00 In Tune (m00048bs)
2019 BBC Proms special
Today's programme is a Proms Launch edition special with a curated list of guests featuring in the BBC 2019 Proms.
WED 19:00 In Tune Mixtape (m00048bv)
An unpresented sequence of music.
WED 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m00048bx)
The Rose Lake
Live from the Barbican, Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Tippett's evocation of a Senegalese lake. Lisa Batiashvili joins for Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1.
Presented by Martin Handley
Michael Tippett: The Rose Lake
Karol Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No 1
8pm
Interval
Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
Suite (UK premiere), arr. Altinoglu
Lisa Batiashvili (violin)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)
‘A song without words for orchestra’, Tippett’s final work was inspired by a lake in Senegal, flushed pink by the midday sun. The result is an ecstatic hymn to nature teeming with rhythmic energy and thick slashes of melody. Tippett specialist Sir Andrew Davis, conducts The Rose Lake alongside two other richly coloured works – the Suite from Debussy’s shadowy fairytale opera Pelléas et Mélisande, which receives its UK premiere here, and, with Lisa Batiashvili as soloist, Szymanowski’s sumptuous Violin Concerto - inspired by a poem by the Polish poet Tadeusz Miciński with the words "And now we stand by the lake in crimson blossom, in flowing tears of joy, with rapture and fear...."
WED 22:00 Free Thinking (m00048bz)
Why We Need Weepies
Poet and critic Bridget Minamore, TV drama expert John Yorke and film expert Melanie Williams join Matthew Sweet for a Brief Encounter at the Free Thinking Festival to look at the devices – music, close ups and the cliffhangers that cinema and TV employ to make us cry. From Bambi to Titanic, how have directors managed to trigger our tear ducts? And has the big screen actually shaped our understanding of emotion in modern life.
John Yorke is the author of How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them. Former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has shaped stories and big emotional moments in British TV working on series such as Shameless and Life On Mars, EastEnders and Holby City, Bodies and Wolf Hall.
Melanie Williams is the author of Female Stars of British Cinema, a book about David Lean and British Women’s Cinema. She teaches at the University of East Anglia.
Bridget Minamore has published a poetry pamphlet about modern love and loss Titanic, her journalism includes writing for The Guardian and The Stage. She has written with organisations including The Royal Opera House, The National Theatre and Tate Modern.
Producer: Fiona McLean
WED 22:45 The Essay (m00048c1)
Behold the Man
Christ as the Man of Sorrows by Jacobello del Bonomo
For Muslim journalist and commentator Abdul-Rehman Malik, when it came to selecting a painting at the National Gallery for his Essay, his choice had everything to do with skin colour: Christ as the Man of Sorrows by the 14th century Italian painter Jacobello del Bonomo is brown, rather than white and blue-eyed like so many other depictions of Jesus in Western art. Abdul-Rehman’s joy over this discovery proved short-lived – but the painting prompted him to reflect on how Jesus is seen in Islam, and how he as a Muslim, who does not believe that Christ died on the cross, can relate to this image of suffering.
For this Holy Week series, BBC Radio 3 has invited five people to choose a painting of Christ’s passion or resurrection at the National Gallery in London and make it the starting point for their Essay.
The series producer is Kristine Pommert for CTVC.
WED 23:00 Late Junction (m00048c3)
An alternative string quartet collaboration session
Max Reinhardt assembles an alternative string quartet for the latest Late Junction collaboration session. The players, from four distinct traditions, come together for one day only in the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios to create musical magic.
Our awesome foursome features: virtuoso scholar of Chinese traditional music Cheng Yu playing the guqin, a seven-stringed zither, and the pipa, a four-stringed lute; Sam Underwood, the instrument inventor and purveyor of ‘doom tuba’, with a new electroacoustic string contraption designed especially for this session; master fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh on his ten-stringed hardanger d’amore; and rising jazz star Elliot Galvin introducing his prepared piano expertise into the mix.
Elsewhere in the programme Max plays a track from the new album by cellist-singer Ayanna Witter-Johnson, and some classic Bessie Smith, who was born 125 years ago this week and went on to become “Empress of the Blues”.
Produced by Jack Howson.
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3.
THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2019
THU 00:30 Through the Night (m00048c5)
Voces Suaves and Cafebaum
A concert of choral music from the 2018 Schaffhausen Bach Festival in Switzerland. With John Shea.
12:31 AM
Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708-c.1763)
Quartet in G minor ('O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden')
Cafebaum
12:48 AM
Silvan Loher (b.1986), Georg Trakl (author)
De Profundis, cantata
Voces Suaves, Cafebaum
01:14 AM
Johann Bach (1604-1673)
Unser Leben ist ein Schatten, motet
Voces Suaves, Cafebaum
01:22 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Komm Jesu, komm, BWV 299 - motet
Voces Suaves, Cafebaum
01:31 AM
Silvan Loher (b.1986)
Ungeheuer ist viel und nichts ungeheurer als der Mensch, motet
Voces Suaves, Cafebaum
01:43 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV 42 - cantata
Voces Suaves, Cafebaum
02:11 AM
Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768)
Sonata in F major for Violin and Continuo (Op.1 No.12)
Gottfried von der Goltz (violin), Lee Santana (theorbo), Torsten Johann (harpsichord)
02:31 AM
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (1865-1936)
The Seasons (Op.67) - ballet in 1 act
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Kazuyoshi Akiyama (conductor)
03:08 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Sextet for piano and winds
Anita Szabó (flute), Béla Horváth (oboe), Zsolt Szatmári (clarinet), Tamás Zempléni (horn), Pál Bokor (bassoon), Zóltan Kocsis (piano)
03:25 AM
Calixa Lavallée (1842-1891), David Passmore (arranger)
The Ellinger Polka, Op 8
Moshe Hammer (violin), Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi (cello), William Tritt (piano)
03:28 AM
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Agathe's aria 'Und ob die Wolke sie verhulle' from Act III of Der Freischutz
Charlotte Margiono (soprano), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Kenneth Montgomery (conductor)
03:34 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
7 Klavierstucke in Fughettenform Op.126 for piano (excerpts)
Andreas Staier (piano), Tobias Koch (piano)
03:43 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Cello Concerto in D minor, RV 407
Charles Medlam (cello), London Baroque
03:53 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Prelude and fugue from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier
Christophe Bossert (organ)
03:58 AM
Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681)
Prelude - Caprice de chaconne
Simone Vallerotonda (guitar)
04:05 AM
Carl Ludwig Lithander (1773-1843)
Rondo for flute and keyboard Op 8
Mikael Helasvuo (flute), Tuija Hakkila (pianoforte)
04:12 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Waltz in A flat major Op.34 No.1
Zóltan Kocsis (piano)
04:18 AM
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Overture to Les francs-juges, Op 3
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Thierry Fischer (conductor)
04:31 AM
Bernat Vivancos (b.1973)
El cant del ocells
Latvian Radio Choir, Ieva Ezeriete (soprano), Sigvards Kļava (conductor)
04:37 AM
Imants Zemzaris (b.1951)
The Light springs
Juris Gailitis (flute), Indulis Suna (violin)
04:44 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Une Barque sur l'ocean
Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Eivind Aadland (conductor)
04:52 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Concerto for 2 horns and orchestra (TWV 52:D2) in D major
Jozef Illéš (horn), Jan Budzák (horn), Chamber Association of Slovakian Radio, Vlastimil Horák (conductor)
05:05 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Fantasia in F minor for piano duet (D.940)
Leon Fleischer (piano duo), Katherine Jacobson Fleisher (piano duo)
05:24 AM
Wilhelm Kienzl (1857-1941)
Selig sind, die Verfolgung leiden, from Act 2 of 'Der Evangelimann'
Benjamin Butterfield (tenor), Peter Neelands (treble), Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Richard Bradshaw (conductor)
05:31 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
String Quartet no 2 in F (unfinished)
Ensemble Fragaria Vesca
05:52 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
5 Songs for chorus, Op 104
Danish National Radio Choir, Stefan Parkman (conductor)
06:05 AM
Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Cello Sonata in G minor Op 19 (Andante)
Sol Gabetta (cello), Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
06:11 AM
Zygmunt Noskowski (1846-1909)
The Pearls of Moniuszko - 15 Songs for orchestra
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Łukasz Borowicz (conductor)
THU 06:30 Breakfast (m0004862)
Thursday - Georgia’s classical alarm call
Georgia Mann presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests.
Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk
THU 09:00 Essential Classics (m0004864)
Ian Skelly
Ian Skelly with Essential Classics - the best in classical music.
0930 Your ideas for companion pieces on the Essential Classics playlist.
1010 Our Classical Century - 100 key moments in the last century of classical music.
1050 Cultural inspirations from our guest of the week, the actor, Kelsey Grammer.
1130 Slow Moment - time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection
And this week Essential Classics celebrates the artistry of Dame Janet Baker.
THU 12:00 Composer of the Week (m0004866)
Alban Berg (1885-1935)
A small monument to a great love
Berg needed to visit Prague to hear fragments of Wozzeck performed. It was through his connection with Mahler’s widow Alma, that he came to stay, in May 1925, in Prague, with Alma’s sister in law, Hanna Fuchs-Robettin and her husband. Berg believed in the guiding force of destiny: that he was fated to meet Hanna and fall in love with her. He was 40, she was in her early 30s with two children. Divorce was unthinkable and so was the idea that Berg’s wife Helene might discover the truth. But Alban’s love affair with Hanna lasted the rest of his life and there exist more than a decade’s worth of letters to demonstrate the depth of their passion and reveal that everything he was to write from thereon in would be influenced by his love for Hanna. So, when Berg came to compose his Lyric Suite, he wrote a document of their love affair. But this detail was hidden within musical riddles and codes and it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the true meaning of this work was discovered.
Chamber Concerto for piano, violin and 13 wind instruments (Adagio)
Daniel Barenboim, piano
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Ensemble InterContemporain
Pierre Boulez, conductor
Lyric Suite
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Kronos Quartet
Der Wein
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo soprano
Vienna Philharmonic
Claudio Abbado, conductor
Produced by Rosie Boulton for BBC Wales
THU 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m0004868)
Spiritual perspectives: Golijov and Beethoven
Recorded in March at St Marys' Church, Tetbury in Gloucestershire, the Calidore String Quartet, former Radio 3 New Generation Artists, continue their curated series with two contrasting works of spiritual dimension, Golijov's "Tenebrae" for string quartet, and Beethoven's mighty String Quartet Opus 131. The recital was given as part of a Radio 3 Big Chamber Weekend, held in association with Tetbury Music Festival.
Introduced by Fiona Talkington.
Osvaldo Golijov: Tenebrae for String Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op 131
The Calidore String Quartet
Jeffrey Myers, violin
Ryan Meehan, violin
Jeremy Berry, viola
Estelle Choi, cello
The Calidore String Quartet present a work by Golijov which seeks perspectives on the violence of our world and at the same time its enormity, with Beethoven's late quartet, Opus 131, an expression of the composer's advanced thinking on the form itself and his profound contemplation on life in all its forms.
THU 14:00 Afternoon Concert (m000486b)
Opera matinee: Wagner's The Flying Dutchman
Our opera matinée is Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, in a concert version recorded recently at the RAI Auditorium in Turin, Italy, with the baritone Tomas Tomasson in the title role, accompanied by the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, the Coro Maghini and the Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, under the baton of James Conlon. Presented by Fiona Talkington.
2.00pm / Wagner - The Flying Dutchman, in 3 acts
The Dutchman - Tómas Tómasson, baritone
Daland, a Norwegian sea captain - Kristinn Sigmundsson, bass
Senta, Daland's daughter - Amber Wagner, soprano
Mary, Senta's nurse - Sarah Murphy, mezzo-soprano
Erik, a huntsman - Rodrick Dixon, tenor
Daland's steersman - Matthew Plenk, tenor
Coro Maghini
Slovak Philharmonic Chorus
RAI National Symphony Orchestra
James Conlon, conductor
THU 17:00 In Tune (m000486d)
Jess Gillam
Sean Rafferty introduces live music and conversation, including, today, the saxophonist Jess Gillam.
THU 19:00 In Tune Mixtape (m000486g)
Happiness
29 minutes of unalloyed happiness, from Percy Whitlock's "Spade and Bucket Polka", to Cinderella leaving for the ball and dancing to Prokofiev's ballet music; from the hope of happiness in the future in Handel's oratorio "Jephtha" , to Bach's spiritual joy in his Cantata no 51; from Bobby McFerrin's positive attitude, to sheer musical joy from Mendelssohn and Django Reinhardt, and finally the choice of a dreamy happy ending (as opposed to the alternate less happy option) from the film "The French Lieutenant's Woman".
THU 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m000486j)
As part of the Holy Week Festival at St John's Smith Square in London, Sir James MacMillan conducts the BBC Singers in a sequence of music for Maundy Thursday. Alongside movements from Carlo Gesualdo's Responsories for Maundy Thursday, MacMillan conducts his own works, including movements from The Strathclyde Motets and A Choral Sequence from the St John Passion.
James MacMillan - Cum vidisset Jesus
MacMillan- 'Qui meditabitur' from The Strathclyde Motets
Gesualdo - 'In Monte Oliveti' from Responsories for Maundy Thursday, 1st Nocturn
MacMillan - 'Videns Dominus' from The Strathclyde Motets
Gesualdo - 'Tristis est anima mea' from Responsories for Maundy Thursday, 1st Nocturn
MacMillan - 'Mitte manum tuam' from The Strathclyde Motets
Gesualdo - 'Ecce vidimus eum' from Responsories for Maundy Thursday, 1st Nocturn
MacMillan - Pascha nostrum immolatus est
INTERVAL
MacMillan - Domine non secundum peccata nostra
Gesualdo - Benedictus
MacMillan - A Choral Sequence from the St John Passion
BBC Singers
Richard Pearce - Organ
Sir James MacMillan - Conductor
THU 22:00 Free Thinking (m000486l)
The New Age of Sentimentality
Charles Dickens. Walt Disney. The Romantic poets. These renowned artists and entertainers were all accused of being “over-sentimental”. But is our own age topping them all – with its culture of grief memoirs, gushing obituaries and feel-good fiction? Three Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature join Rana Mitter at the Free Thinking Festival to take a hard look at whether contemporary culture has “gone soft”.
Lisa Appignanesi is the author of books including Everyday Madness: On Grief, Anger, Loss and Love; Mad, Bad, and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors; All About Love: Anatomy of an Unruly Emotion and Trials of Passion: Crimes in the Name of Love and Madness. She is Chair of the Royal Society of Literature Council.
Irenosen Okojie is author of a novel Butterfly Fish and a short story collection Speak Gigantular - surreal tales of love and loneliness. She has written for The New York Times, The Observer, and The Huffington Post and is currently running a writing workshop at London’s South Bank.
Rachel Hewitt’s books include A Revolution of Feeling:The Decade that Forged the Modern Mind and Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey. She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Newcastle University, where she is also Deputy Director of the Newcastle Centre for Literary Arts.
Producer: Zahid Warley
THU 22:45 The Essay (m000486n)
Behold the Man
The Crucifixion by the Master of Delft
The writer and film-maker Sheila Hayman runs writing workshops for survivors of torture, and when she set about choosing a painting for her Essay at the National Gallery, she thought she would be drawn to an image of physical torment. But the image that attracted her was the 16th-century Crucifixion by the Master of Delft in the Netherlands. Telling the entire story from Christ’s trial to his resurrection, and bursting with colour, detail and busyness, the painting still shows the suffering of Christ – but all around him, life goes on. Ultimately, Sheila concludes, it speaks of resurrection rather than death, as do the stories of those torture survivors – and her own Jewish refugee father.
For this Holy Week series, BBC Radio 3 has invited five people to choose a painting of Christ’s passion or resurrection at the National Gallery in London and make it the starting point for their Essay.
The series producer is Kristine Pommert for CTVC.
THU 23:00 Late Junction (m000486q)
Max Reinhardt’s music to lift your spirits
From the sublime to the ridiculous, tonight’s music will move ethereally through you and lift your spirits.
Featured artists include tabla guru and philosophy teacher Pandit Divyang Vakil, preacher and early protest songwriter Blind Alfred Reed, and spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid.
Also, hear a classic New Age piece by Brian Eno, alongside new music from Leafcutter John, who has built idiosyncratic modular synth music around his own meditative, environmental field recordings.
Produced by Jack Howson.
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3.
FRIDAY 19 APRIL 2019
FRI 00:30 Through the Night (m000486s)
St John Passion from the 2017 BBC Proms
The Dunedin Consort and John Butt perform Bach's St John Passion from 2017 BBC Proms. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630), Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
St John Passion - liturgical reconstruction Part 1
Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), Matthew Brook (baritone), Sophie Bevan (soprano), Tim Mead (counter tenor), Andrew Tortise (tenor), Konstantin Wolff (bass), Dunedin Consort, John Butt (director), Stephen Farr (organ)
01:18 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Jacob Handl (1550-1591), Johannes Crüger (1598-1662)
St John Passion - liturgical reconstruction Part 2
Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), Matthew Brook (baritone), Sophie Bevan (soprano), Tim Mead (counter tenor), Andrew Tortise (tenor), Konstantin Wolff (bass), Dunedin Consort, John Butt (director), Stephen Farr (organ)
02:51 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Images - set 2 for piano
Roger Woodward (piano)
03:04 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Violin concerto in D major (Op.77)
Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste (conductor)
03:44 AM
Vatroslav Lisinski (1819-1854)
3 Mazurkas: in F major; E flat major and B flat major
Zagreb Woodwind Trio
03:50 AM
Traditional, Darko Petrinjak (arranger)
6 Renaissance Dances
Zagreb Guitar Trio, Darko Petrinjak (guitar), Istvan Romer (guitar), Goran Listes (guitar)
04:01 AM
Jacques-François Halévy (1799-1862)
Aria: "Quand de la nuit l'epais nuage" (from "L'eclair", Act 3)
Benjamin Butterfield (tenor), Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Richard Bradshaw (conductor)
04:06 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata no 24 in F sharp major, Op 78
Cedric Tiberghien (piano)
04:15 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Serenade (K.525) in G major, 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Grant Llewellyn (conductor)
04:31 AM
Alfred Whitehead (1887-1974)
Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd)
Tudor Singers of Montréal, Patrick Wedd (director)
04:37 AM
Anonymous
Greensleeves, to a Ground with Divisions
Elizabeth Wallfisch (baroque violin), Linda Kent (harpsichord), Rosanne Hunt (cello)
04:43 AM
Alberta Suriani (1920-?)
Partita for harp
Branka Janjanin-Magdalenič (harp)
04:53 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles (conductor)
05:08 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Polonaise-fantasy in A flat major, Op 61
Yulianna Avdeeva (piano)
05:22 AM
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Violin Concerto, Op 14
James Ehnes (violin), Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey (conductor)
05:46 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (author)
An die Entfernte (D.765) (To one who is far away)
Christoph Pregardien (tenor), Andreas Staier (pianoforte)
05:49 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (author)
Schafers Klagelied (D.121) (Op.3 No.1) (Shepherd's Lament)
Christoph Pregardien (tenor), Andreas Staier (pianoforte)
05:53 AM
Giovanni Battista Fontana (c.1592-1631)
Sonata undecima for cornet, violin and bass continuo
Le Concert Brisé
06:02 AM
Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse (1774-1842)
Symphony No.6 in C minor
Danish Radio Concert Orchestra, Adám Fischer (conductor)
FRI 06:30 Breakfast (m00048d0)
Friday - Georgia’s classical mix
Georgia Mann presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests and the Friday poem.
Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk
FRI 09:00 Essential Classics (m00048d2)
Ian Skelly
Ian Skelly with Essential Classics - the best in classical music.
0930 Your ideas for companion pieces on the Essential Classics playlist.
1010 Our Classical Century - 100 key moments in the last century of classical music.
1050 Cultural inspirations from our guest of the week, the actor, Kelsey Grammer.
1130 Slow Moment - time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection
And this week Essential Classics celebrates the artistry of Dame Janet Baker.
FRI 12:00 Composer of the Week (m00048d4)
Alban Berg (1885-1935)
Watch over his legacy
In the summer of 1935, Berg started to be bothered by an abscess at the base of his spine. He thought it might have been caused by insect sting. Rather than seeking professional medical help, Helene kept on lancing the boils, which kept on appearing. It’s thought that the major abscess burst internally, and poisoned Berg’s blood. He was rushed to hospital, operated on and given a transfusion. There was a turn for the worse on the 23rd of December 1935. He died just about midnight. He was 50 years old.
Berg left the score of his opera Lulu incomplete. Thereafter ensued years of legal wrangles between opera houses, music publishers and Helene.
She set up a shrine to their marriage, setting in aspic their homes in Vienna and in the countryside. “Alban can wait with confidence until this Hell on earth has ceased to rage,” she wrote. “His time will come - a better time, I am convinced…. My life’s sole purpose is to watch over his legacy and preserve its purity. What else is left for me in this world estranged from God!" Helene died in 1976 and disputes about the opera continued until 1979 when, nearly 44 years after Berg’s death, Lulu was finally performed, in its entirety.
Schliesse mir die Augen beide (1907)
Jessye Norman, soprano
Ann Schein, piano
Schliesse mir die Augen beide (1925)
Jessye Norman, soprano
Ann Schein, piano
Lulu Suite: Variationen
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Simon Rattle, conductor
Violin Concerto
Isabelle Faust, violin.
Orchestra Mozart
Claudio Abbado, conductor
Produced by Rosie Boulton for BBC Wales
FRI 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m00048d6)
A tower and a garden: Shaw and Chausson
Recorded in March at St. Marys' Tetbury in Gloucestershire, the Calidore String Quartet conclude their curated series of concerts with a work by a composer with whom they enjoy a close association, the Pulitzer prize-winning young American, Caroline Shaw. The Quartet are then joined by two more former Radio 3 New Generation Artists, pianist Zee Zee and violinist Jennifer Pike, for a performance of Ernest Chausson's Concert for Piano, Violin and String Quartet. The recital forms part of a Radio 3 Big Chamber Weekend, held in association with Tetbury Music Festival.
Introduced by Fiona Talkington
Caroline Shaw: First Essay "Nimrod"
Ernest Chausson: Concert for piano, violin and string quartet, Op.21
The Calidore String Quartet present the first panel of a triptych by the young American composer Caroline Shaw. Written especially for the "wonderfully thoughtful" quartet, the genesis of Shaw's First Essay, "Nimrod" comes from the story of the biblical figure who constructed the giant tower of Babel, a tower tall enough to reach heaven, but which resulted in a chaos of languages. That's followed by a work from one of the late nineteenth century's great romantics, Ernest Chausson. His demanding and unusually scored Concert for Piano, Violin and String Quartet, is perhaps best known through its second movement, a Sicilienne, which was aptly described by a contemporary as being like “the gardens where bloom the charming fancies of a Gabriel Fauré.”
FRI 14:00 Afternoon Concert (m00048d8)
BBC Singers in Good Friday music
James Weeks conducts the BBC Singers in a programme featuring his own work for choir and narrator, Orlando Tenebrae, as part of repertoire linked to Good Friday. At the heart of the programme are Lenten-related works that make no reference to Christian or religious specifics in their texts. The Orlando Tenebrae takes these ancient texts into a modern, secular frame of reference, where the theme becomes oppression, suffering and hope. The programme continues with two pieces inspired by Good Friday, with the BBC Singers performing first Kenneth Leighton's Crucifixus Pro Nobis and then, Paul Drayton's The Passion of Christ as told by Mark the Evangelist.
Also today, Our Classical Century, as we continue to explore repertoire that was crucial in the development of our contemporary music. Today, it's Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, from which we hear the Agnus Dei in the celebrated version featuring tenor Peter Pears and the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by the composer. Presented by Hannah French.
2.00pm
Tomás Luis de Victoria: Three Tenebrae Responsories
Ecce quomodo moritur iustus
Aestimatus sum
O vos omnes
James Weeks: Orlando Tenebrae (with narrator)
Heinrich Schütz:
Quid commisisti, o puer SWV56
Die mit Tränen saen, SWV378
Die mit Tränen saen, SWV42
BBC Singers
James Weeks, conductor [& chamber organ in last Schutz piece (SWV42)]
Kenneth Leighton: Crucifixus Pro Nobis
Christopher Bowen - tenor solo
Richard Pearce – organ
BBC Singers
Paul Spicer – conductor
Paul Drayton: The Passion of Christ as told by Mark the Evangelist
Jesus: Andrew Rupp - baritone
High Priest & Pilate: Jamie W. Hall - bass
Narrator: Olivia Robinson – soprano
Peter: Stephen Jeffes – tenor
BBC Singers
Marin Andre – conductor
4.10pm
Our Classical Century -
Benjamin Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66 - Agnus Dei
Peter Pears, tenor
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Benjamin Britten, conductor
FRI 16:30 The Listening Service (b095q2x9)
Music for Mourning
Tom Service asks why music has always been an essential part of mourning. With the help of cognitive neuropsychologist Catherine Loveday, he compares the music of two royal funerals separated by three centuries, and by tracing the development of funeral music into abstract art music he uncovers the private grief behind Bach's great D-minor violin Chaconne. And before ending with a Top Ten countdown of today's UK musical funeral favourites, he ponders why some music, never intended to be mournful, becomes indelibly associated with grieving.
Producer David Papp.
FRI 17:00 In Tune (m00048db)
Mark Simpson, Peter Whelan
Clarinettist Mark Simpson performs live ahead of his concert at Saffron Hall on the 26th and 27th of April as part of Radio 3's Big Chamber Weekend, and bassoonist and conductor Peter Whelan drops by to discuss his latest project with the Irish Baroque Orchestra.
FRI 19:00 In Tune Mixtape (m00048dd)
An unpresented sequence of music.
FRI 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m00048dg)
Easter at King's
Donald Macleod presents a concert live from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge. In his final season as Music Director, conductor Stephen Cleobury has chosen Verdi's dramatic and thrilling Requiem, first performed in May 1874 in commemoration of the writer Alessandro Manzoni, with Verdi himself conducting. George Bernard Shaw was a particular admirer of the piece, and Brahms's verdict: Only a genius could have written such a work.
Verdi Requiem
Ailish Tynan (soprano)
Jennifer Johnston (alto)
Brenden Gunnell (tenor)
James Platt (bass)
Philharmonia Chorus
BBC Concert Orchestra, conductor Stephen Cleobury
FRI 22:00 The Verb (m00048dj)
Romantic Dialogue
On the joys and challenges of writing romantic dialogue with guests including Kate Fox and Matthew Ingram.
FRI 22:45 The Essay (m00048dl)
Behold the Man
The Incredulity of St Thomas by Guercino
A novelist and historian still in her 20s, Chibundu Onuzo grew up a Christian in Lagos before moving to boarding school in England as a teenager. For her Essay, she has chosen the National Gallery’s The Incredulity of St Thomas by the 17th-century Italian painter Guercino – because Thomas, the disciple who said he would not believe unless he could put his fingers into Christ’s wounds, is a kindred spirit to her. At boarding school in ‘darkest Winchester’, when most of her peers fell away from their Christian faith, their critical questions made her doubt her own beliefs too.
For this Holy Week series, BBC Radio 3 has invited five people to choose a painting of Christ’s passion or resurrection at the National Gallery in London and make it the starting point for their Essay.
The series producer is Kristine Pommert for CTVC.
FRI 23:00 Music Planet (m00048dn)
Blick Bassy in session with Lopa Kothari
Lopa Kothari introduces a specially recorded studio session from Cameroonian singer-songwriter Blick Bassy performing material from his new album 1958. Betto Arcos reports from Cartegena in Colombia for this week's Road Trip, our Classic Artist is the Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar and we have new releases from Altın Gün (Turkey), Black Flower (Belgium) and Coladera (Cape Verde).