SUNDAY 10 JANUARY 2021

SUN 00:00 Freeness (m000r3dq)
Sax and Drums

Corey Mwamba presents adventurous improvised music. This week features a series of tracks born out of a partnership between saxophone and drums. The group Alula grew out of several performances between the Brooklyn-based saxophonist Caroline Davis and drummer Greg Sanier. On their album from 2019, they added synth player Matt Mitchell to the mix for an album inspired by the movement of a bird’s wing. And there’s music from a South Korean duo of saxophonist Daniel Ko and drummer Soojin Suh who begin their improvisations with folk and religious melodies, before launching into rapturous solos that are reminiscent of the drum and saxophone duos from the classic 60's, free jazz era.

Elsewhere in the show, the longstanding duo ELDA (trumpeter Aaron Diaz and keyboardist Andrew Woodhead) welcome the saxophonist Faye MacCalman on to their latest record Hippocampinae, where live electronic soundscapes are created from the raw sounds of their instruments.

Produced by Rebecca Gaskell and Gabriel Francis
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3


SUN 01:00 Through the Night (m000r3ds)
Silver-Garburg Piano Duo

Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg, partners in life as well as music, perform piano duets by Schubert and Rimsky-Korsakov. Presented by John Shea.

01:01 AM
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands, D.940
Silver Garburg Piano Duo (piano duo)

01:22 AM
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Allegro in A minor, D.947 'Lebensstürme'
Silver Garburg Piano Duo (piano duo)

01:40 AM
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Scheherezade - symphonic suite, Op.35
Silver Garburg Piano Duo (piano duo)

02:25 AM
Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963)
Malagueña
Silver Garburg Piano Duo (piano duo)

02:29 AM
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Russian Dance from 'Petrushka'
Silver Garburg Piano Duo (piano duo)

02:33 AM
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Ann Kuppens (arranger)
Variations on a rococo theme for cello and String orchestra, Op 33
Gavriel Lipkind (cello), Brussels Chamber Orchestra

02:55 AM
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Sejour de l'eternelle paix from Castor et Pollux
Anders J. Dahlin (tenor), Les Ambassadeurs, Alexis Kossenko (director)

03:01 AM
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)
Symphony No 5, Op 50
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, John Storgards (conductor)

03:37 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Grand Motet "Deus judicium tuum regi da" (Psalm 71)
Veronika Winter (soprano), Andrea Stenzel (soprano), Patrick Van Goethem (alto), Markus Schafer (tenor), Ekkehard Abele (bass), Rheinische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzert, Hermann Max (conductor)

03:57 AM
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)
Segoviana for guitar (Op.366)
Heiki Matlik (guitar)

04:02 AM
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857)
Kamarinskaya - fantasy for orchestra
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ludovit Rajter (conductor)

04:10 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Polonaise for piano in F sharp minor (Op.44)
Aldo Ciccolini (piano)

04:20 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major, BWV.1047
Alexis Kossenko (recorder), Erik Niord Larsen (oboe), Ole Edvard Antonsen (trumpet), Elise Batnes (violin), Risor Festival Strings, Knut Johannessen (harpsichord)

04:32 AM
Oskar Lindberg (1887-1955), Jeanna Oterdahl (lyricist)
Midsommarnatt
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Maria Wieslander (piano), Gustav Sjokvist (conductor)

04:36 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Il Pastor Fido - ballet music
English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

04:46 AM
Felipe Lluch (c.1700-c.1750)
Flute Sonata in D major
La Guirlande

05:01 AM
Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Overture to Mireille
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oliver Dohnanyi (conductor)

05:08 AM
Albertus Groneman (c.1710-1778)
Sonata for 2 flutes in G major
Jed Wentz (flute), Marion Moonen (flute)

05:17 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles (conductor)

05:32 AM
Leonel Power (1370-1445)
Salve Regina
Hilliard Ensemble

05:39 AM
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Scherzo Capriccioso Op.66
Orchestre du Conservatoire de Musique du Quebec, Raffi Armenian (conductor)

05:54 AM
Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936)
Reverie for horn and piano in D flat major (Op.24)
Mindaugas Gecevicius (horn), Ala Bendoraitiene (piano)

05:58 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Sextet for strings No.2 in G major, (Op.36)
Oslo Chamber Soloists, Atle Sponberg (violin), Jon Gjesme (violin), Nora Taksdal (viola), Eva Katrine Dalsgaard (viola), Anne Britt Savig Aardal (cello), oystein Sonstad (cello)

06:38 AM
Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799)
Violin Concerto in D major (Op 3 no 1) (1774)
Linda Melsted (violin), Tafelmusik Orchestra, Jeanne Lamon (conductor)


SUN 07:00 Breakfast (m000r393)
Sunday - Martin Handley

Martin Handley presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, including a Sunday morning Sounds of the Earth slow radio soundscape.

Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk


SUN 09:00 Sunday Morning (m000r395)
Sarah Walker with an exhilarating musical mix

Sarah Walker chooses three hours of attractive and uplifting music to complement your morning.

Sarah starts with a cosy reflection on the new year with a love song for cello and piano by Poulenc, tries to solve the mystery of Byrd’s Rowland keyboard variations, and plays a piece for organ that truly pulls out all the stops...

Plus, the uplifting chorus of Vivaldi’s Gloria.

A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3


SUN 12:00 Private Passions (b078wr8m)
Roger Allam

Roger Allam is an actor equally at home with Shakespeare, musical theatre, detective shows, and comedy on both radio and television. From the Globe Theatre to Game of Thrones, through Endeavour, The Thick of It and Cabin Pressure, to the RSC and the West End, he refuses to be typecast.

He talks to Michael Berkeley about his lifelong passion for music and why he became an actor rather than an opera singer. And he explains how he overcame his initial reservations about the Globe Theatre to play Falstaff there (a performance that won him the Olivier Award for Best Actor).

Roger’s musical passions are predominately 20th century, with music by Britten, Messiaen and Ravel, but he also chooses Bach, Schubert and a mesmerising piece of medieval music.

Producer: Jane Greenwood
A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 3

01 00:04:15 Claude‐Michel Schönberg
Stars (Les Miserables)
Singer: Roger Allam
Duration 00:01:24

02 00:07:37 Maurice Ravel
Asie (Sheherazade)
Singer: Margaret Price
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Duration 00:09:52

03 00:20:24 Benjamin Britten
Nocturne (Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings)
Performer: Dennis Brain
Singer: Peter Pears
Orchestra: The Boyd Neel Orchestra
Conductor: Benjamin Britten
Duration 00:03:32

04 00:25:04 Anonymous
Estampie Royal no.6
Performer: Stevie Wishart
Ensemble: Sinfonye
Duration 00:03:19

05 00:33:24 Johann Sebastian Bach
Goldberg Variations: Variation no.14
Performer: Angela Hewitt
Duration 00:02:15

06 00:37:31 Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.4 (4th mvt)
Singer: Juliane Banse
Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra
Conductor: Pierre Boulez
Duration 00:06:06

07 00:45:49 Franz Schubert
Das Wirthaus (Winterreise)
Performer: Gerald Moore
Singer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau
Duration 00:04:58

08 00:54:05 Olivier Messiaen
La Vierge et 'Enfant (La Nativite du Seigneur)
Performer: Jennifer Bate
Duration 00:05:34


SUN 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m000qxwf)
Soprano Ema Nikolovska in Schubert, Dvorak, Britten and more

From Wigmore Hall, London, a recital by soprano and Radio 3 New Generation Artist Ema Nikolovska with pianist Malcolm Martineau, including songs by Schubert, Dvorak, Britten and Nadia Boulanger.

Presented by Martin Handley.

Schubert: Mein Grus an den Mai; Im Haine; Die Vogel; Der Knabe; Im Fruhling
Vítězslava Kaprálová: Jarni (Spring); Polohlasem (Under one’s breath); Dopis (Letter)
Dvořák: In Folk Tone, Op.73
Nadia Boulanger: Cantique
Ana Sokolovič: O Mistress Mine from Love Songs
Nadia Boulanger: Chanson
Ana Sokolovič: Plava zvezda from Love Songs
Britten: Cradle Song & Sephestia’s Lullaby from A Charm of Lullabies
Nicolas Slonimsky: Five Advertising Songs


SUN 14:00 The Early Music Show (m000r397)
Flautist Joachim Becerra Thomsen at the Copenhagen Baroque Festival

Danish flautist Joachim Becerra Thomsen is joined by cellist Hanna Loftsdottir and keyboard player Soren Christian Westergaard in a concert recorded at the 2020 Copenhagen Baroque Festival. They perform music by flute-playing Prussian king Frederick the Great alongisde pieces by CPE Bach, Telemann, Quantz and by Frederick the Great's niece - the Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel .

Presented by Hannah French


SUN 15:00 Choral Evensong (m000qyyv)
Ely Cathedral

From Ely Cathedral for the Feast of the Epiphany.

Introit: Bethlehem Down (Warlock)
Responses: Clucas
Psalms 98, 100 (Robinson, Stanford)
First Lesson: Baruch 4 v.36 – 5 v. 9
Office hymn: Why, impious Herod, shouldst thou fear? (Veni redemptor)
Canticles: Sumsion in G
Second Lesson: John 2 vv.1-11
Anthem: Christus (When Jesus our Lord) (Mendelssohn)
Hymn: From the Eastern Mountains (King’s Weston)
Voluntary: Sonata No. 6 (Allegro risoluto) (Merkel)

Edmund Aldhouse (Director of Music)
Glen Dempsey (Assistant Director of Music)

Recorded 10 November.


SUN 16:00 Jazz Record Requests (m000r399)
10/01/21

Jazz records from across the genre, as requested by Radio 3 listeners.


SUN 17:00 The Listening Service (m000hjh6)
The Inbetweeners

Baroque, Classical and Romantic... the big categories of music history all have their big-name composers. But what about the composers less easy to categorise, the ones who fall in between the gaps? Tom Service goes in search of the Inbetweeners from all eras and, with the help of CPE Bach aficionado Andreas Staier, discovers how these once hugely influential figures still speak directly to us now.

David Papp (producer)


SUN 17:30 Words and Music (m0000h9k)
The Plastic Tide

Fiona Shaw and Robert Glenister perform readings where anxiety meets beauty as we mark a year that will see COP26 - the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties taking place in Glasgow in November. It’s unknown how much unrecycled plastic waste ends up in the ocean but research at the University of Georgia estimates between 5.3 and 14 million tons just on coastal regions. In this programme we appreciate nature through the poems of John Clare and Edward Thomas and the music of Oliver Messiaen and John Luther Adams. Our fear at the dangers facing the environment come in Lavinia Greenlaw's The Recital of Lost Cities, Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi and Alan Hovhaness's And God Created Great Whales. Our love of plastics is captured in an extract from Richard Yates' novel, Revolutionary Road, in which his characters drive candy and ice cream coloured automobiles, ("a long bright valley of coloured plastic and plate glass and stainless steel"). And a possible outcome of our abuse of our environment comes in Byron's prophetic Darkness, written in 1816 after a volcano eruption cast enough sulphur into the atmosphere to reduce global temperatures and cause abnormal weather across much of north-east America and northern Europe.

The producer is Fiona McLean.

Readings:

James Honeyborne and Mark Brownlow - from The Blue Planet
Ira Levin - from The Stepford Wives
Denise Levertov - It Should be Visible
Iain Hamilton Finlay - Estuary
Luke Kennard - The Persistence of Rubbish
Jane Commane - Circa
Richard Yates - from Revolutionary Road
Lord Byron - from Darkness
Anna Kavan - from Ice
Simon Armitage - The Last Snowman
Lavinia Greenlaw - The Recital of Lost Cities
Sonali Deraniyagala - from Wave
Edward Thomas - First Known when Lost
John Clare - All Nature has a Feeling
Alice Oswald - A Short History of Falling
Henry David Thoreau - from Walden
Rachel Carson - from Silent Spring

You can find this playlist of discussions about Green Thinking on BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking website which includes an exploration of Rachel Carson's influential book The Silent Spring https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zg0r2

If you feel inspired and would like to find out more about the actions you can take to help make a difference – go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/453T5Gp3FP6kmMrJBRS09d/resources

01 Alan Hovhaness
And God Created Great Whales
Performer: Seattle Symphony
Duration 00:03:45

02 00:00:16
James Honeyborne and Mark Brownlow
The Blue Planet read by Robert Glenister
Duration 00:00:55

03 00:03:22
Ira Levin
The Stepford Wives read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:00:42

04 00:04:04 David Byrne
Nothing but Flowers
Performer: Talking Heads
Duration 00:04:19

05 00:08:21
Denise Levertov
It Should be Visible read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:01:08

06 00:08:25 Einojuhani Rautavaara
Cantus Arcticus
Performer: Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Laura Mikkola Piano
Duration 00:03:44

07 00:09:32
Iain Hamilton Finlay
Estuary read by Robert Glenister
Duration 00:00:18

08 00:12:02
Luke Kennard
The Persistence of Rubbish read by Robert Glenister
Duration 00:01:22

09 00:13:20 George Benjamin
At First Light
Performer: London Sinfonietta
Duration 00:05:06

10 00:14:08
Jane Commane
Circa read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:00:31

11 00:18:17
Richard Yates
from Revolutionary Road read by Robert Glenister
Duration 00:01:23

12 00:19:41 Joni Mitchell (artist)
Big Yellow Taxi
Performer: Joni Mitchell
Duration 00:02:15

13 00:21:55
Lord Byron
from Darkness read by Robert Glenister
Duration 00:00:57

14 00:22:51 Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Earth Dances
Performer: Ensemble Modern Orchestra
Duration 00:04:16

15 00:26:55
Anna Kavan
from Ice read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:01:12

16 00:28:07 Henry Purcell
Cold Song
Performer: Klaus Nomi
Duration 00:04:03

17 00:32:11
Simon Armitage
The Last Snowman read by Robert Glenister
Duration 00:00:49

18 00:32:18 John Luther Adams
Dream in White on White
Performer: The Apollo Quartet and Strings
Duration 00:06:32

19 00:38:41
Lavinia Greenlaw
The Recital of Lost Cities read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:01:23

20 00:40:04 Jean Sibelius
The Tempest Suite no 2 – Chorus of the Winds
Performer: Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Duration 00:03:46

21 00:43:44
Sonali Deraniyagala
from Wave read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:01:28

22 00:45:13 Toru Takemitsu
Rain Tree Sketch II
Performer: Hélène Grimaud
Duration 00:05:25

23 00:50:30
Edward Thomas
First Known when Lost read by Robert Glenister
Duration 00:00:43

24 00:51:08 Tobias Picker
Old and Lost Rivers
Performer: Houston Symphony
Duration 00:06:33

25 00:57:35
John Clare
All Nature has a Feeling read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:00:36

26 00:58:11 George Butterworth
Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad – Loveliest of Trees
Performer: Roderick Williams (baritone) and Iain Burnside (piano)
Duration 00:02:28

27 01:00:32
Alice Oswald
A Short History of Falling read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:01:21

28 01:01:54 Elizabeth Maconchy
Reflections – con allegrezza
Performer: Chroma
Duration 00:03:07

29 01:04:34
Henry David Thoreau
from Walden read by Robert Glenister
Duration 00:01:07

30 01:05:32 Olivier Messiaen
Des canyons aux etoiles – Les Orioles
Performer: Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France
Duration 00:04:52

31 01:10:07
Rachel Carson
from Silent Spring read by Fiona Shaw
Duration 00:01:10

32 01:11:13 Samuel Barber
Sure on this shining night
Performer: Cambridge University Chamber Choir
Duration 00:02:25


SUN 18:45 Sunday Feature (m000r39c)
The Robots Are Us

In January 1921, in a Europe still reeling from war and revolution, the Czech writer Karel Capek created a worldwide hit with his 'comedy of science and truth' R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), flesh not metal, are sold around the world first to create a world free from arduous labour and then to fight our wars. Free from consciousness or feelings. What could possibly go wrong? Humanity stops breeding and a new class of feeling robots strike out for a brave new world once humankind is all but exterminated. This now seems awfully familiar but in 1921 not so much.

Ken Hollings examines the creation and legacy of a play that both gifted the world the word Robot and began an enduring cliché that intelligent machines will rise up and destroy us. Written before pulp science fiction and at the height of Taylorism and the Ford assembly line, it found an international audience anxious about the fate of workers and work, revolution and mass production. But Capek's fleshy creations, more replicant that TOBOR, would soon be overlayed with the image of the clanking metal machine that would surely seek world domination on the covers of pulp science fiction and movies. In fiction the SKYNET is always falling, our robot overlords must be welcomed and the singularity is just around the corner. The science of Robotics would only begin in earnest decades after R.U.R. and A.I. and its ethical conundrums of existence, rights and reasoning belong to our 21st century yet Capek's notion of the revolt of the machines still dances through our debates and imagination. Ken Hollings talks to historians, roboticists, to grasp the power of R.U.R. and all that has followed.

Producer: Mark Burman


SUN 19:30 Drama on 3 (m000r39f)
Peking Noir

Presented by Paul French
Drama written by Sarah Wooley

Whatever anyone declared categorically about Shura Giraldi, someone else insisted on the exact opposite. Shura was handsome and beautiful; Shura was kind and good, Shura was exploitative and evil. Shura was just another struggling White Russian refugee trying to get by in 1930s China; Shura was the heart and brains of a gang that ran clubs, sex workers, illicit booze and drugs, when not robbing banks and stealing gems to fence in Shanghai. Shura loved ballet and cabaret, creating the Shura Giraldi Dance Troupe that topped the bill at all the best Peking nightclubs.

Shura sometimes presented as male and sometimes as female. When passing as a man Shura bound his breasts tightly and wore a sharp tailored suit; when she was a woman she wore startlingly coloured robes, both Chinese-style cheongsam and Western dresses, letting her raven hair flow loose, said witnesses. Shura had added an incredibly massive layer of confusion and obfuscation to anyone looking by changing gender. Switching for anonymity, for commercial gain or criminal advantage, for love, for a whim.

Paul French is a historian and writer who focuses on China in the first half of the 20th century. He's been on Shura’s trail for 15 years, digging through the paper records and archives in half a dozen countries in an attempt to get to grips with the enigma that was Shura. This story, a product of that tireless research, is full of truths, but like an old jigsaw brought down from the attic after decades, there are many pieces missing. So we're using drama, written by Sarah Wooley, to conjure and join the dots of Shura’s story, and go in search of a lost life and a forgotten world.

The search will take us from a Russian far east in violent revolution, to the chaos of the mass emigration of the White Russians, to the crowded hutongs of Peking; from that city’s nightclubs and cabarets, to the casinos of Shanghai; from a China wracked by rampaging warlordism, invaded by Japan, and then fighting its own civil war that culminated in its own revolution.

Shura saw it all; Shura lived through it all; Shura, in part, explains it all.

Shura . . . . . Maggie Bain
Zaichek . . . . . Leo Wan
Roy . . . . . Daniel York Loh
Leopard . . . . . Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Tatiana . . . . . Charlotte East
Anton . . . . . Luke Nunn
Marie . . . . . Cecilia Appiah
Saxsen . . . . . Ian Dunnett Jnr
The MC . . . . . Roger Ringrose
Anna . . . . . Jane Whittenshaw

Editing and sound design by Peter Ringrose.

Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.


SUN 21:30 Record Review Extra (m000r39h)
Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto

Hannah French offers listeners a chance to hear at greater length the recordings reviewed and discussed in yesterday’s Record Review, including the recommended version of yesterday's Building a Library work, Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto.


SUN 23:00 The Electronic Century with Gabriel Prokofiev (m000r39k)
New Sonic Territories

One hundred years since the earliest electronic instruments began to appear, composer Gabriel Prokofiev explores how the advent of electronically generated sound has influenced how we make and listen to music. Over three episodes, Gabriel charts a personal journey through the key works that influenced his own composing style, and the impact electronics have had on contemporary classical music.

In this episode, Gabriel shares some of the earliest compositions made with electronically generated sound. Starting with the theremin, the first instrument to broaden the possibilities of the orchestra through electronics, Gabriel traces a line between the lesser heard electronic compositions of György Ligeti emerging from Stockhausen’s WDR studio in Cologne, to the madcap inventions of Raymond Scott and Wendy Carlos’ synthesized film scores.

We’ll feature music composed for early, lesser-known synthesizer prototypes such as the ANS machine from 1937, inspired by the Russian composer and synesthesiac Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, as well as Daphne Oram’s ‘Oramics Machine’ which also allowed her to draw shapes and turn them into sound. Gabriel re-evaluates the early electronic compositions that were sidelined into jingles, TV themes and film scores to hear how they still stand the test of time today.

Produced by Alannah Chance
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3