SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 2023

SAT 01:00 Composed (m001k1kn)
Composed with Devonté Hynes

THE PIANO: Pieces that spark joy and creativity

Devonté Hynes explores the powerful, evolving sounds of classical music, with playlists drawn from across the musical spectrum.

This week, to coincide with Piano Day, Devonté puts a spotlight on the instrument he pulls the most from creatively.

The selection includes Debussy, Nina Simone and Philip Glass.

01 00:01:51 Ottorino Respighi
Six Pieces: Studio
Performer: Konstantin Scherbakov
Duration 00:01:28

02 00:03:19 Claude Debussy
Toccata
Performer: Pascal Rogé
Duration 00:03:42

03 00:07:54 Maurice Ravel
Sonatine
Performer: François‐Joël Thiollier
Duration 00:03:45

04 00:11:38 Harold Budd, Ruben Garcia & Daniel Lentz (artist)
Pulse Pause Repeat
Performer: Harold Budd, Ruben Garcia & Daniel Lentz
Duration 00:04:09

05 00:15:47 H Hunt (artist)
Wrong I
Performer: H Hunt
Duration 00:02:24

06 00:18:52 Ernest Bloch
Piano Sonata
Performer: Cédric Pescia
Duration 00:07:00

07 00:25:52 Francis Poulenc
Piano Sonata for Four Hands or Two Pianos
Performer: Arthur & Lucas Jussen
Duration 00:02:11

08 00:29:36 Julius Eastman
Evil N*****
Performer: Julius Eastman
Performer: Frank Ferko
Performer: Janet Kattas
Performer: Patricia Martin
Duration 00:04:29

09 00:34:05 Nils Frahm (artist)
All Numbers End
Performer: Nils Frahm
Duration 00:01:30

10 00:36:38 Nina Simone (artist)
Another Spring
Performer: Nina Simone
Duration 00:03:29

11 00:36:38 Philip Glass
Etude No. 18
Performer: Maki Namekawa
Duration 00:03:29

12 00:46:55 Morton Feldman
For Bunita Marcus
Performer: Aki Takahashi
Duration 00:06:07

13 00:53:02 Lili Boulanger
D'un Vieux Jardin
Performer: Sophia Subbayya Vastek
Duration 00:02:58

14 00:57:12 Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude in E Minor
Performer: Emil Grigoryevich Gilels
Duration 00:02:47


SAT 02:00 Gameplay with Baby Queen (m0013sjh)
Power up your energy levels

Gaming fanatic Baby Queen chooses music for an energy boost, featuring tracks from Chrono Trigger, The Last of Us and The Witcher 3.

Join the Gameplay community at The Student Room to share stories about your favourite gaming soundtracks. Search The Student Room x Gameplay to be part of the conversation.

01 Koji Kondo (artist)
Super Mario Galaxy - Gusty Gardens
Performer: Koji Kondo

02 Isak J Martinsson (artist)
Fran Bow - Bedtime Story
Performer: Isak J Martinsson

03 Max LL (artist)
Spiritfarer - My Friends (Spirit Theme Suite)
Performer: Max LL

04 Marcin Przybyłowicz (artist)
The Witcher 3 - Geralt of Rivia
Performer: Marcin Przybyłowicz

05 Michael F. April (artist)
Dead by Daylight - Theme
Performer: Michael F. April

06 Gustavo Santaolalla (artist)
The Last of Us - Head Rush
Performer: Gustavo Santaolalla

07 Ilan Eshkeri (artist)
Ghost of Tsushima - A Reckoning in Blood
Performer: Ilan Eshkeri

08 Ed GAPS (artist)
Lumino City - The Park
Performer: Ed GAPS

09 Daniel Gadd (artist)
Road 96 - Raindrops on a Car Window
Performer: Daniel Gadd

10 Reo Uratani (artist)
Monster Hunter Rise - Kamura’s Song of Purification (Instrumental)
Performer: Reo Uratani

11 Frédéric Chopin (artist)
Waltz in E-Flat major, Op.18
Performer: Frédéric Chopin

12 Shusaku Uchiyama (artist)
Resident Evil Village - Eradicating Evil
Performer: Shusaku Uchiyama

13 Gustaf Grefberg (artist)
It Takes Two - Deeply Rooted
Performer: Gustaf Grefberg

14 Kevin Penkin (artist)
Florence - Wake Up, Moving On
Performer: Kevin Penkin

15 Yasunori Mitsuda (artist)
Chrono Trigger - Main Theme
Performer: Yasunori Mitsuda

16 Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory (artist)
Portal - Your Not a Good Person
Performer: Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory

17 00:59:59 Aso (artist)
Coolin Out
Performer: Aso
Duration 00:02:59


SAT 03:00 Through the Night (m001t2ld)
Lutosławski, Bacewicz and Brahms from Finland

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon are joined by pianists Peter Jablonski and Elisabeth Brauss. Presented by John Shea.

03:01 AM
Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994)
Novelette, for orchestra
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon (conductor)

03:17 AM
Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
Concerto for two pianos
Peter Jablonski (piano), Elisabeth Brauss (piano), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon (conductor)

03:35 AM
Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006)
Allegro, from 'Sonatina for 4 Hands'
Peter Jablonski (piano), Elisabeth Brauss (piano)

03:36 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 2 in D, op. 73
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon (conductor)

04:18 AM
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Nouvelles suites de pieces de clavecin ou Seconde livre (1728)
Annamari Polho (harpsichord)

04:40 AM
Franz Berwald (1796-1868)
Piano Trio No 1 in E flat
Teres Lof (piano), Roger Olsson (violin), Hanna Thorell (cello)

05:01 AM
Ferdinand Furchtegott Huber (1791-1863), Andre Scheurer (arranger)
Lueget vo Bergen und Tal (Look at the Mountains)
Zurich Boys' Choir, Mathias Kopfel (horn), Alphons von Aarburg (conductor)

05:05 AM
Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750-1817)
Duet no 2 for 2 violas
Milan Telecky (viola), Zuzana Jarabakova (viola)

05:14 AM
Frigyes Hidas (1928-2007)
Adagio for orchestra
Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Gyorgy Lehel (conductor)

05:26 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Oft on a plat of rising ground from 'L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato'
Emma Kirkby (soprano), Academy of Ancient Music, Andrew Manze (director)

05:30 AM
Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962)
Four works
Barnabas Kelemen (violin), Zoltan Kocsis (piano)

05:41 AM
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)
Concerto grosso in E minor, Op 3 no 6
Camerata Bern, Thomas Furi (conductor)

05:50 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Litanies à la Vierge Noire version for women's voices and organ (1936)
La Gioia, Diane Verdoodt (soprano), Ilse Schelfhout (soprano), Kristien Vercammen (soprano), Bernadette De Wilde (soprano), Lieve Mertens (mezzo-soprano), Els Van Attenhoven (mezzo-soprano), Peter Thomas (organ)


06:21 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Die Burgschaft (D.246)
Christoph Pregardien (tenor), Andreas Staier (pianoforte)

06:38 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Flute Concerto in D major, K314
Robert Aitken (flute), National Arts Centre Orchestra, Franco Mannino (conductor)


SAT 07:00 Breakfast (m001t9sn)
Your classical weekend

Elizabeth Alker with a Breakfast mix of classical music, folk and the odd Unclassified track, plus two shortlisted entries from the Carol Competition.

Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk


SAT 09:00 Record Review (m001t9t3)
Stravinsky's ballet The Fairy's Kiss with Jeremy Sams and Andrew McGregor

Andrew McGregor with the best new recordings of classical music.

9.30 am
The conductor Robert Hollingworth shares some remarkable new releases which have caught his ear and shares his 'On Repeat' track – a recording which he is currently listening to again and again.

10.30 am
Building a Library: Jeremy Sams chooses his favourite recording of Stravinsky's ballet The Fairy's Kiss.

The Fairy's Kiss (Le Baiser de la fée) is a neoclassical ballet which Igor Stravinsky composed in 1928 and revised in 1950 for George Balanchine and the New York City Ballet. He based it on Hans Christian Andersen's short story, The Ice-Maiden. The work pays homage to Tchaikovsky and was written for the 35th anniversary of his death. Stravinsky used and elaborated several melodies from early piano pieces and songs by Tchaikovsky in his score. The ballet was choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska and premiered in Paris on 27 November 1928.

11.20 am
Record of the Week: Andrew’s top pick.
Send us your On Repeat recommendations at recordreview@bbc.co.uk or tweet us @BBCRadio3


SAT 11:45 Music Matters (m001fwxj)
John Rutter

Beloved by choirs and audiences all over the world, John Rutter is one of the most popular and successful choral composers of the last half-century. In particular, for many people, Rutter’s carols and carol arrangements are the sound of Christmas. The festive season would be unthinkable today without the joyful tunes of Shepherd’s Pipe Carol or Star Carol resounding in school halls, churches and concert halls.

Tom Service visits the composer at his home in rural Cambridgeshire to try to learn the secret of writing a great carol, and to chat about an illustrious career that has also included major choral works such as his Requiem and Gloria, and the large-scale Mass of the Children, written in 2003 following the sudden death of Rutter’s son Christopher at the age of 19. We also drop in on a rehearsal with the Bach Choir in London, as John prepares them for last year's gala Christmas Celebration concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

First broadcast in December 2022


SAT 12:30 This Classical Life (m001t9tg)
Jess Gillam with... Guylaine Eckersley

Jess Gillam and bassoonist Guylaine Eckersley share their favourite tracks, with music by Abel Selaocoe, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Laura Misch and a guilty pleasure from Frozen 2.

Playlist:
Abel Selaocoe - Ka Bohaleng / On the Sharp Side
Pergolesi - Stabat Mater [Philippe Jaroussky (counter-tenor), Julia Lezhneva (soprano), I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis]
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez - Into the Unknown [from Frozen 2]
Rachmaninov - Symphony no 3 [Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nezet Seguin]
Vivaldi - Bassoon Concerto in A minor, rv498 [Sergio Azzolini (bassoon), L’Onda Armonica]
Laura Misch - Glass Shards
Grażyna Bacewicz - Concerto for String Orchestra [Amadeus Chamber Orchestra]
Vaughan Williams - Silent Noon (from the House of Life) [Roderick Williams (baritone) , Iain Burnside (piano)]


SAT 13:00 Inside Music (m001t9tv)
Composer and conductor Eric Whitacre with a special festive playlist

Eric Whitacre’s music has been performed throughout the world by millions of musicians around the world, while his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united singers from over 110 different countries. In this special edition of Inside Music, Eric will be taking listeners deep into the heart of his personal classical selections, with insights and stories that conjure up a distinctive festive flavour.

Eric selects a handful of stunning Christmas choral pieces from Sarah Quartell, Benjamin Britten, Cecilia McDowall, Philip Stopford and Francis Poulenc as well as one of his own most celebrated works, Lux Aurumque. There’s also festive music from Corelli, Palestrina, Prokofiev and Florence Price, as well as upbeat numbers by Tchaikovsky, John Adams and Leonard Bernstein.

Plus, inventive and intriguing music by Caroline Shaw that relies on a collection of flower pots…

A series in which each week a musician explores a selection of music - from the inside.

A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3


SAT 15:00 Sound of Cinema (m001t9v3)
Swashbuckling

With the new Three Musketeers film in cinemas, Matthew Sweet dons the mantle of Errol Flynn, swinging into action to bring us the music of the greatest swashbuckling films - from The Adventures of Robin Hood to The Mark of Zorro.


SAT 16:00 Music Planet (m001t9vb)
At home with Maddy Prior

Kathryn Tickell visits English folk star singer Maddy Prior at home in Cumbria. As lead singer of Steeleye Span, she was at the forefront of the 1970s English folk revival, which transformed English folk music with influences from rock and pop, but still seeking to keep the essence of the traditional songs. Their a cappella track 'Gaudete' was one of the most unlikely Christmas hits in 1973, and 'All around my hat' reached number 5 in the UK charts. Christmas songs were Maddy Prior's focus for many years with her Carnival Band, and she is also helping to nurture the next generation of folk singers with her courses and workshops. Steeleye Span is still playing and recording - they are currently coming to the end of a 27-date UK tour.


SAT 17:00 J to Z (m001t9vj)
The best of 2023

Your gateway to the best in jazz – past, present and future. Jumoké Fashola, Julian Joseph and Kevin Le Gendre share some of their favourite albums and live moments of 2023, including music from modern drum great Mark Guiliana and his quartet, recorded on the J to Z Presents stage at the London Jazz Festival.

Looking further back, they also share some highlights from the J to Z archive – including an intimate studio session with piano legend Kenny Barron and a storming live set from the father of Ethio Jazz, Mulatu Astatke, with the Hackney Colliery Band. We also hear a moving interview with trumpet great Roy Hargrove, recorded shortly before his death in 2018. In it, Roy offers deep insights into tracks that meant something to him, along with advice for the next generation of musicians.

Produced by Thomas Rees for Somethin' Else


SAT 18:30 Opera on 3 (m001t9vs)
Handel's Jephtha

From the Royal Opera House in London: Handel's late masterpiece, starring Allan Clayton in the title role, with Alice Coote and Jennifer France and conducted by Laurence Cummings.

Jephtha is called back from exile to lead the Israelites in battle against the Ammonites. His unshakeable faith in God carries him to victory - but at the cost of a terrible vow with tragic consequences for his family and the community.

Presented by Martin Handley, in conversation with Lucy Winkett.

Jephtha ..... Allan Clayton (tenor)
Iphis, his daughter ..... Jennifer France (soprano)
Storgè, his wife ..... Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano)
Hamor, Iphis's lover ..... Cameron Shahbazi (countertenor)
Zebul, Jephtha's brother ..... Brindley Sherratt (bass)
Angel ..... Kaelan O'Sullivan (treble)
Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor Laurence Cummings


SAT 22:00 New Music Show (m001t9w1)
Gavin Bryars at 80

Tom Service with the very latest in new music performance including new recordings of pieces by Emily Howard and Gavin Bryars. And Robert Worby talks to composer, Gavin Bryars as he celebrates his 80th birthday year.

SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER 2023

SUN 00:00 Freeness (m001t9wc)
The Bells of Midwinter

Corey Mwamba presents the best in new improvised music. Laura Cannell pulls us into a crisp midwinter’s day at the centuries-old Tombland Cathedral in Norwich, where old stones carry the memories of processions. Through an atmospheric haze of violin and synth recorded inside the cathedral, Cannell invites us to make our own processional rituals in the outside world, movements - big or small - towards horizons of hope. Elsewhere in the programme, we experience more forward momentum by way of a percussion duo comprising Tyshawn Sorey and Adam Rudolph who have been performing together since 2018. Here, we travel back to 2021 for a kaleidoscopic set of twisting shapes and dynamic explorations at the Zürcher Gallery in New York City. Plus, Welsh guitarist Ash Cooke examines the creative parallels between painting and free improv on the guitar. Through close recordings of dry brushes on paper and on guitar strings, he attempts to "paint through sound" with gauzy, psychedelic flourishes layered over tonal experiments with colour.

Produced by Tej Adeleye
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3


SUN 01:00 Through the Night (m001t9wr)
Storioni Trio at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival

Music by Robert Schumann and Louise Farrenc performed at the 53rd Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland. Presented by John Shea.

01:01 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, op. 63
Storioni Trio

01:33 AM
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)
Nonet in E flat, op. 38
Janne Thomsen (flute), Blanca Gleisner (oboe), Lauri Sallinen (clarinet), Ville Hiilivirta (french horn), Jaakko Luoma (bassoon), Tami Pohjola (violin), Rumen Cvetkov (viola), Artturi Aalto (cello), Zoran Markovic (double bass)

02:03 AM
Uuno Klami (1900-1961)
Kalevala Suite, Op 23
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mikko Franck (conductor)

02:41 AM
Georg Druschetzky (1745-1819)
Sextet for 2 clarinets, 2 french horns and 2 bassoons in E flat major
Bratislava Chamber Harmony

03:01 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Orchestral Suite no 2 in B minor, BWV.1067
Jan Dewinne (flute), Ensemble 415

03:21 AM
Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819-1872)
String Quartet No.2 in F major (1837-1840)
Camerata Quartet


03:55 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Variations Serieuses, Op54
Reitze Smits (organ)

04:08 AM
Marin Marais (1656-1728)
Tombeau pour Monsr. de Lully
Ricercar Consort, Henri Ledroit (conductor)

04:16 AM
Henryk Gorecki (1933-2010)
Three Dances for Orchestra
National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wojciech Michniewski (conductor)

04:31 AM
Etienne Mehul (1763-1817)
Piano Sonata in D major Op.1 No.10
Arthur Schoonderwoerd (fortepiano)

04:41 AM
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Sinfonia in D major Wq.183 No 1
Slovenicum Chamber Orchestra, Uros Lajovic (conductor)


05:01 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
First movement (Allegro) from Concerto for trumpet and orchestra (H.7e.1)
Tine Thing Helseth (trumpet), Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Christian Arming (conductor)

05:08 AM
Kaspar Forster (1616-1673)
Jesu dulcis memoria
Dirk Snellings (bass), Ensemble Il tempo

05:15 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Tragic Overture in D minor (Op.81) (1881)
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Leif Segerstam (conductor)

05:31 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Nocturne in C minor, Op 48 no 1
Teresa Carreno (piano)

05:37 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Concerto for organ, strings and timpani
Michael Dudman (organ), Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Dommett (conductor)

06:00 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Recitative and Leonora's aria from 'Fidelio'
Anja Kampe (soprano), Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Miguel Angel Gomez Martinez (conductor)

06:08 AM
Giovanni Battista Fontana (1589-1630),Giovanni Battista Spadi (c.1600-1650),Dario Castello (fl.1621-1629)
Sonata XVI, for 3 violins; Anchor che col partire; Sonata IV, for 2 violins
Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini (director)

06:24 AM
Bela Bartok (1881-1945)
2 Pictures for orchestra (Sz 46), Op 10
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bystrik Rezucha (conductor)

06:41 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Sonata in B flat (K.333)
Gabor Farkas (piano)


SUN 07:00 Breakfast (m001t9wx)
Classical escape

Martin Handley presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring two shortlisted entries from the Carol Competition.

Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk


SUN 09:00 Christmas around Europe (m001t9x7)
Part 1

A day-long festival of Christmas music and singing from across Europe and Canada in the European Broadcasting Union’s annual Christmas music day. Choirs and ensembles come together to celebrate the wonder of Christmas. First we travel to Hanover with the NDR Radio Philharmonic; then to Amsterdam with the choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, and then from Stockholm we hear Musica Temprana perform music from the Iberian Peninsula, and from Stuttgart, a Christmas concert given by the SWR Vocal Ensemble.

Sarah Walker (presenter)

09.00: Hanover - Christmas music by Bach and his contemporaries with the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, from Hannover

Bach: Opening Chorus from the cantata 'Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61'
Jesus bleibet meine Freude, from the cantata 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147'
Choral excerpts from 'Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248'
Manfredini: Concerto grosso in C ('Con una Pastorale per il Santissimo Natale')
Vivaldi: Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor, RV 531
Lute Concerto in D, RV 93
NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Michael Hofstetter, conductor

10.00: Amsterdam: The Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge, with a feast of festive music

Trad, arr. Vaughan Williams: This is the Truth Sent from Above
Tamsin Jones: Noel: Verbum caro factum est
Anon, arr Philip ledger: Sussex Carol
Anon: There is no rose
Howells: A Spotless Rose
Sing Lullaby
Here is the little door
Bach: In dulci jubilo, BWV 729
Sweelinck: Hodie Christus natus est
Byrd: O admirabile commercium
Victoria: O magnum mysterium
Becky McGlade: In the bleak midwinter
Cornelius: The three kings
Felix Mendelssohn: When Jesus our Lord, from 'Christus, op. 97, oratorio'
Adam: O Holy Night
Cantique de Noël/Minuit, chrétiens
Felix Mendelssohn: Hark! The herald angels sing

Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge
Christopher Gray, conductor

11.00: Stockholm: Musica Temprana perform music from Iberian Peninsula

12.00: Stuttgart – a Christmas concert given by the SWR Vocal Ensemble

Pärt: Excerpts from 'Berlin Mass' – Kyrie, Gloria
Pärt: Magnificat
Pärt: Excerpts from 'Berlin Mass' – Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
Evelin Seppar: Seesama meri
Ravel, arr. Clytus Gottwald: La vallée des cloches, from 'Miroirs'
Gundega Smite: Light Seeking Light
Adrianna Kubica-Cypek: L'hiver
Pēteris Vasks: Plainscapes
Jan Sandström: Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

SWR Vocal Ensemble, Stuttgart
Krista Audere, conductor


SUN 13:00 Clive Myrie at Christmas (m001t9xx)
A selection of classical Christmas treats

On Sunday lunchtimes throughout December, Clive Myrie presents four hour long shows to celebrate the festive season. Clive will gradually build the seasonal atmosphere over the month, with a feast of Advent and Christmas classical music alongside some of his personal discoveries.

In today's show, Clive introduces music from one of his favourite Christmas albums from the world of jazz, composer Leroy Anderson serves up a feast of carols in his 'Christmas Festival', and Leon Fleisher plays one of Bach's most famous pieces.

Plus, Irish harpist Aine Minogue plays seasonal Celtic music to warm the heart and soul...


SUN 14:00 Christmas around Europe (m001t9yc)
Part 2

The annual celebration of Christmas from all around Europe continues with music from Riga, with the Sinfonietta Rīga conducted by Normunds Šnē.

Presented by Hannah French.

Handel: Organ Concerto in B flat, op. 4/6, HWV 294
Alfreds Kalnins: Christmas Lullaby
Rihards Dubra: Christmas Concertino
Liszt: 'Weihnachtsbaum, Christmas Tree Suite, S. 186' - excerpts
Handel: Concerto grosso in C, HWV 318 ('Alexander's Feast')

Liene Andreta Kalnciema, organ
Daumants Liepinš, piano
Sinfonietta Rīga
Normunds Šnē


SUN 15:00 Choral Evensong (m001t2nv)
St Paul's Church, Heaton Moor, Stockport

From St Paul's Church, Heaton Moor, Stockport, with the Diocese of Manchester Choral Scholars.

Introit: The Angel Gabriel (Basque Carol arr. John Rutter)
Responses: Sarah Macdonald
Psalms 69, 70 (Plainsong)
First Lesson: Amos 9 vv.11-15
Office hymn: Creator of the starry height (Conditor alme siderum)
Canticles: Harris in D
Second Lesson: Romans 13 vv.8-14
Anthem: There is no rose (Britten)
Prayer Anthem: I sing of a maiden (Amy Bebbington)
Hymn: Come, thou Redeemer of the earth (Puer nobis nascitur)
Voluntary: Chorale Prelude ‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland’ BWV 661 (Bach)

Olivia Tait (Director)
Kwankaew Ruangtrakool (Choral Conducting Scholar)
Elin Rees (Organist)

Recorded 11 November.


SUN 16:00 Christmas around Europe (m001t9yt)
Part 3

A day-long festival of Christmas music and singing from across Europe and Canada in the European Broadcasting Union’s annual Christmas music day. Choirs and ensembles come together to celebrate the wonder of Christmas. In this part, we travel to Reykjavík for a programme by Nordic Affect, then to Copenhagen and the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, and then to Munich for a jamboree of Christmas film music. Later in the evening, concerts from Paris, Helsinki, Lisbon and Sofia.

Presented by Hannah French.

16.00: Reykjavík: Christmas concert: The Light Comes with Nordic Affect, including music by Holborne and Purcell, performed by Nordic Affect.

Eyjólfur Eyjólfsson, vocals, angelica flute (fadno) and Icelandic drone zither
Ian Wilson, recorders
Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir, baroque violin
Hanna Loftsdóttir, viola da gamba
Gudrún Óskarsdóttir, harpsichord

17.00: Copenhagen: The Danish National Vocal Ensemble with Christmas music.

Povl Hamburger: Der er ingenting i verden så stille som sne
(There is nothing in the world as quiet as snow)
Trad, arr Jim Clements: Gabriel’s Message
Trad, arr. Stefan Claas: Maria gennem torne går
(Mary through thorns walks)
Trad, arr. Nigel Short: Quem pastores laudavere
Niels Gade: Barn Jesus i en krybbe lå
(Infant Jesus in a manger lay)
Jacob Meidell: Dejlig er den himmel blå
(Lovely is the sky so blue)
Niels la Cour: Hodie Christus natus est
Bára Gisladottir: NĀT
Nielsen: Mit hjerte altid vanker
(My heart always wanders)

Bach: In dulci jubilo, BWV 608
Praetorius: In dulci jubilo
Bach: In dulci jubilo, BWV 729
Bo Holten: First Snow

Trad: Dejlig er jorden
(Lovely is the earth)
Danish National Vocal Ensemble

Mads Høck, organ
Bára Gísladóttir, double bass
Phillip Faber, conductor
https://www.phillipfaber.dk/

18.00: Munich: Christmas Classics at the Movies with the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Munich Radio Orchestra

Favourite soundtracks from cinema classics of the Christmas season under the baton of Gavin Sutherland.

19.00: Paris - Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker from Orchestre National de France and Petr Popelka.

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, op. 71, ballet in two acts
Orchestre National de France
Petr Popelka, conductor

On Christmas Eve, young Clara receives a nutcracker that turns into a prince, while the toys come to life and everyone flies off to the kingdom of candy. On this thin plot, Tchaikovsky pours treasures of melodies, up to the audacious use of the celesta in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, which makes the salt of the second act. No doubt, Christmas is coming.

20.35: Helsinki - Christmas Dinner at the Brodsky's with violinists Minna Pensola and Antti Tikkanen, including music by Brahms, Grieg and Tchaikovsky.

Minna Pensola, violin
Antti Tikkanen, violin

Counted among the most influential figures in the music world of the late 19th century, the violinist Adolph Brodsky had close relations with many of the musical superstars of the age. We know, for instance, that Brahms and Tchaikovsky were only on very frosty, formal terms. At Christmas 1887, Brodsky took the considerable risk of inviting both composers to dine at the same table. Tchaikovsky was shocked when he saw Brahms, who was visiting Brodsky for a rehearsal of his piano trio. The atmosphere was charged because both composers were on the record as saying they found the other’s music unpleasant. To keep the peace over Christmas dinner, Tchaikovsky nonetheless refrained from commenting upon his colleague’s playing, and the atmosphere lightened further once Edvard Grieg and his wife Nina joined the assembled guests.
In this concert, familiar pieces of chamber music by Brahms, Grieg and Tchaikovsky meet new arrangements of popular Finnish Christmas carols.

21.30: Lisbon - Portuguese Sacred Music with soprano Mariana Castello-Branco and the Avres Serva ensemble.

Manuel Rodrigues Coelho: Verses on the 2nd tone, from 'Magnificat'
Frei Jerónimo da Madre de Deus: In Sabatho Sancto: Lectio 8a ‘Et ideo novi testamenti’
Domenico Gabrielli: Sonata No. 1
Ricercari, canone e sonate per violoncello
Frei Francisco do Carmo: Organ Verses on the 6th tone, according to the prayer of the psalm from the Royal Choir at the Monastery of Arouca
Policarpo José António da Silva: Lisam Primeyra da 5a Feira
Francisco de São Boaventura: Toccata
João José Baldi: Calendar for Christmas Eve
António da Silva Leite: Feria V in Coena Domini Lectio VI

Mariana Castello-Branco, soprano
Pedro Massarrão, cello
Avres Serva Ensemble
Nuno Oliveira, organ, director

22:30: Sofia - Cantanti DAI MONTI VERDI with madrigals, villancicos and Orthodox songs.

Cantanti DAI MONTI VERDI

Italian madrigals by Franco-Flemish composers, alongside Spanish villancicos and Orthodox strochny and demestvenny part-singing.


SUN 23:30 Round the Horn with Felix Klieser (m001t9z8)
3. The Further Adventures of the Horn

French horn player Felix Klieser introduces the third of three programmes all about his instrument. He looks at how it works, how to play it, and how it has changed over the years, as well as how it has shaped his own life. Felix was born without arms, and has become one of the world's most in-demand French horn soloists, wowing BBC Proms audiences earlier this year. He's also a prolific recording artist.

In this final episode, Felix looks to the heroic nature of the French horn, and how that has made it a favourite instrument for film composers. He also shares how film music helped him learn to play the instrument. He listens to how the horn was used in jazz by Miles Davis and Gil Evans, and also explores some of the more unusual techniques in playing, as utilised by composers like Olivier Messiaen and Gilbert Vintner. And he introduces the thirty-two-horned wonder that is the London Horn Sound.

The music includes Wagner’s Ring Cycle and John Williams’s Jurassic Park, two atmospheric elegies from Britten and Ethel Smyth, and virtuosic moments from Ligeti and Messiaen.

Series producer: Sam Hickling

MONDAY 18 DECEMBER 2023

MON 00:30 Through the Night (m001t9zq)
Richard Strauss in Sydney

Zubin Mehta conducts the Australian World Orchestra in an all-Richard Strauss programme close to his heart. John Shea presents.

12:31 AM
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Don Juan, Op. 20
Australian World Orchestra, Zubin Mehta (conductor)

12:49 AM
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op 28
Australian World Orchestra, Zubin Mehta (conductor)

01:05 AM
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Ein Heldenleben, Op 40
Australian World Orchestra, Zubin Mehta (conductor)

01:52 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Ballade for piano in G minor, Op.24
Goran W. Nilson (piano)

02:10 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
String Quartet No 2 in C major D.32
Orlando Quartet

02:31 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Eivind Aadland (conductor)

02:49 AM
Johann Rosenmuller (1619-1684)
Gloria for SATB, cornett, 2 violins, 2 violas and bass continuo
Johanna Koslowsky (soprano), David Cordier (tenor), Gerd Turk (tenor), Stephan Schreckenberger (bass), Carsten Lohff (organ), Cantus Colln, Konrad Junghanel (director)

03:04 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

03:27 AM
Giles Farnaby (c. 1563 - 1640), Elgar Howarth (arranger)
Fancies, toyes and dreames (A Giles Farnaby suite) arr. for brass quintet
Hungarian Brass Ensemble

03:32 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Symphony in E major, Op 10 no 1
La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider (conductor)

03:44 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Grand duo in E major on themes from Meyerbeer's 'Robert le Diable'
Sol Gabetta (cello), Bertrand Chamayou (piano)

03:56 AM
Santiago de Murcia (1673-1739)
2 pieces from 'Codex de Saldívar'
Xavier Diaz-Latorre (guitar)

04:05 AM
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602-c.1678)
O quam bonus es - motet for 2 voices
Cappella Artemisia

04:15 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Fantasy in D minor (KV.397)
Bruno Lukk (piano)

04:21 AM
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
Psalm 23 (5 Psalms of David (1604)) 'The Lord is my Shepherd'
Netherlands Chamber Choir, Philippe Herreweghe (conductor)

04:31 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Die schöne Melusine - overture Op 32
Danish Radio Concert Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa (conductor)

04:42 AM
Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975)
Rhapsodie pour la harpe (1921)
Rita Costanzi (harp)

04:52 AM
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Magnificat BuxWV Anh. I
Marieke Steenhoek (soprano), Miriam Meyer (soprano), Bogna Bartosz (contralto), Marco van de Klundert (tenor), Klaus Mertens (bass), Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Chorus, Ton Koopman (conductor)

04:59 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Violin Sonata in C major, K 303
Tai Murray (violin), Shai Wosner (piano)

05:10 AM
Toivo Kuula (1883-1918)
Festive March Op 13
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, George de Godzinsky (conductor)

05:19 AM
Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840)
Duetto amoroso for violin and guitar
Tomaz Lorenz (violin), Jerko Novak (guitar)

05:29 AM
Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978)
Divertimento
Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Georgi Dimitrov (conductor)

05:47 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Laudate pueri Dominum, HWV 237
Nora Ducza (soprano), Hungarian Radio Chorus, Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Csaba Somos (conductor)

06:08 AM
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
L'Arlesienne Suites Nos 1 & 2
Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Montgomery (conductor)


MON 06:30 Breakfast (m001t9vw)
Your classical commute

Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests and two shortlisted entries from the Carol Competition.

Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk


MON 09:00 Essential Classics (m001t9w5)
Your perfect classical playlist

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with familiar favourites alongside new discoveries and musical surprises.

0930 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.

1010 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.

1045 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.

1130 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.


MON 12:00 Composer of the Week (m001t9wh)
A Vaughan Williams Christmas

Leith Hill Place

Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s early experiences of Christmas at his home, Leith Hill Place, and as a student.

“I’ve always loved carols,” Vaughan Williams wrote to Cecil Sharp in 1911. Despite being called a “most determined atheist” by Bertrand Russell at University, and in later life “a cheerful agnostic”, the composer never lost his love for Christmas. It dated back to childhood memories of singing carols from Stainer and Bramley’s Christmas Carols New and Old at his home at Leith Hill Place, Surrey. As an adult, his lifelong passion for the Christmas period was demonstrated in his music - the Fantasia on Christmas Carols, On Christmas Night based on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the cantata Hodie and the nativity play The First Nowell. His passion for collecting folk tunes in various counties of England – armed with a trusty pencil and paper, or at times a phonograph - also led to a plethora of carol settings using these folk tunes, as Vaughan Williams himself said “Every day some old village singer dies, and with him there probably die half-a-dozen beautiful melodies, which are lost to the world forever: if we would preserve what still remains we must set about it at once.” In this special week of programmes, Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s experiences of Christmas across his life alongside some of his best loved pieces, and the music he wrote to celebrate the festive period.

In Monday’s programme, Kate delves into Vaughan Williams’s early experiences of Christmas at his home, Leith Hill Place, and as a student, exploring how the discovery of carols came to have such a huge impact on him. Kate also explores a trip Vaughan Williams made to Kingsfold, near Leith Hill Place, where he heard a folk singer called Mr Booker sing “the Ballad of Maria Marten”, a tune which would remain an inspiration to him throughout his life.

Vaughan Williams (arr.)
Dives and Lazarus
The Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea
William Vann, director

Vaughan Williams
The First Nowell (extract)
Sarah Fox, soprano
Roderick Williams, baritone
Joyful Company of Singers
City of London Sinfonia
Richard Hickox, conductor

Trad.
The Murder of Maria Marten
Joseph Taylor, singer

Vaughan Williams
Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Manze, conductor

Vaughan Williams
Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra – Group 1
Helen Callus, viola
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Marc Decio Taddei, conductor

The Wasps - Overture
Hallé Orchestra
Mark Elder, conductor

Produced Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and West


MON 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m001t9x1)
The Sixteen sing Christmas music from the Renaissance

Live from Wigmore Hall: The Sixteen celebrate Christmas with a feast of music from the Renaissance.

The world-famous choir have called their programme, 'Resonet in Laudibus,' and Wigmore Hall should indeed resound in praise as they present an hour-long celebration of some of the finest Christmas music of the Renaissance along with some traditional carols from Ireland, England and the Basque Country.

Presented by Martin Handley.

Anon: Resonemus laudibus
Palestrina: Kyrie from Missa Hodie Christus natus est:
Byrd: Lulla, lullaby, my sweet little baby
Basque traditional: Gabriel's Message
Byrd: This day Christ was born
Jacob Handl: Resonet in laudibus
Irish traditional: Wexford Carol
Jean Mouton: Nesciens mater Virgo virum
Palestrina: Hodie Christus natus est
Walter Lambe: Nesciens mater
English traditional: Sans Day Carol
Lassus: Resonet in laudibus
Palestrina: Gloria from Missa Hodie Christus natus est
Anon: Herrick's Carol
Sheppard: Reges Tharsis

The Sixteen
Harry Christophers (director)


MON 14:00 Afternoon Concert (m001t9xf)
Radio 3 Christmas Carol Competition

Fiona Talkington presents a week of Afternoon Concert, featuring new recordings from the BBC Performing Groups and the European Broadcasting Union. Today's programme includes performances from pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, recorded in Munich in October. And at 2.30 we hand over to Petroc Trelawny for a live performance by the BBC Singers of the carols by this year's Radio 3 Christmas Carol Competition finalists.

Presented by Fiona Talkington

2pm
Chopin Mazurka in D flat, Op.30’3
Yulianna Avdeeva (piano)




c.3.50
Chopin Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat, Op.61
Yulianna Avdeeva (piano)


4.10
Henry Purcell arr Alison Balsom King Arthur – Suite
Alison Balsom (trumpet)
English Concert
Trevor Pinnock (director)


MON 16:30 New Generation Artists (m001t9xw)
Tom Borrow plays Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme of Corelli

New Generation Artist Tom Borrow plays Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme of Corelli.

As the Rachmaninov 150th anniversary year draws to a close, there's another chance to hear Tom Borrow's brilliant Wigmore Hall performance of the composer's final work for solo piano. The Corelli variations might not be as famous as the composer's Paganini variations but they were surely the catalyst for those: the theme was an old Italian tune - La Folia - and Rachmaninov treats it to two sets of ever-more elaborate variations before finally ending the work in his trademark mood of mindful regret.

Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Corelli Op. 42
Tom Borrow (piano)

Trad. Italian: Bella ci dormi
Elina Duni (vocals), Rob Luft (guitar), Fred Thomas (piano)


MON 17:00 In Tune (m001t9y9)
Live music and news from the world of classical

Choirmaster Gareth Malone joins Sean Rafferty live in the studio to talk about his special Christmas programmes for Radio 3, and pianist Angela Hewitt performs live in the studio.


MON 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m001t9yr)
Your daily classical soundtrack

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.


MON 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m001t9zb)
Rimsky-Korsakov and Ravel's Shéhérazade with Fatma Said

Tales of the Arabian Nights: Fatma Said sings Ravel's Shéhérazade and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra plays Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade Suite.

The Egyptian soprano, a former Radio 3 New Generation Artist and Gramophone Award winner, brings a special affinity to Ravel's settings of three poems inspired by the Tales of the Arabian Nights. After hearing these poems by Tristan Klingsor Ravel wrote: “I yielded to the profound attraction that the East has always held for me since my childhood.” After the interval the orchestra plays a work that Ravel admired hugely, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade Suite, four movements unified by the haunting sound of the violin solos played by the leader of the orchestra which depict Scheherazade herself as she tells her wondrous tales to the stern Sultan.
And the concert opens with Conte fantastique, a dark chamber work by André Caplet inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Masque of the Red Death.

Presented by Fiona Talkington.

André Caplet: Conte fantastique
Ravel: Shéhérazade, song cycle
Mohammed Abdul Wahab: La mosh ana-l-abki
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, op. 35, symphonic suite

Fatma Said (soprano)
Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra
Pietari Inkinen (conductor)


MON 21:30 Compline (m001t9zs)
Advent 3

A reflective service of night prayer for the last week of Advent from the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Englefield Green. With words and music for the end of the day, including works by Ben Parry, Rupert Gough and Bob Chilcott sung by the choir of Royal Holloway, University of London.

Introit: O nata lux (Ben Parry)
Preces (Plainsong)
Hymn: Creator of the stars of night (Conditor alme)
Psalm 143 (Plainsong)
Reading: Mark 13 vv.35-37
Responsory: Into thy hands, O Lord (Plainsong)
Canticle: Nunc dimittis (Rupert Gough)
Antiphon: O Adonai (Bob Chilcott)
Anthem: A hymn to Christ (Imogen Holst)

Rupert Gough (conductor)


MON 22:00 Music Matters (m001fwxj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Saturday]


MON 22:45 The Essay (m001tb06)
The Story of Puddings

Tapioca

Essay 1: Tapioca

A new series of essays written and read by the very popular Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College, Oxford, following her much praised series of essays The Meaning of Trees and Composers and their Dogs. Here Fiona explores some of the world’s favourite puddings, all of which have surprising stories and have become symbols far beyond the pudding bowl.

Tapioca is equally loved and loathed; this hot and cold 'frogspawn' pudding’s story is reverse imperialism; an east Asian dessert with many guises, seen as old-fashioned in Britain, now hyper-trendy, conquering new global markets as 'pearls' in bubble tea. Key ingredient: starch from cassava. It is native to South America, taken to Asia and Africa by Portuguese merchants, it is also made into alcoholic drinks. Tapioca, a global staple food, bringing British school dinners many comic tales of revulsion. symbolises one of many puddings that came to Europe from 'the colonies' and was embraced and customised in the UK. Haters will easily believe it is used as a biodegradable plastic substitute (a renewable, reusable, recyclable eco-product) to make bags, gloves and aprons and as the starch used for starching shirts before ironing. Seeing tapioca is a primeval experience; it is viewing the elements that combine to form new life, the ova, the massive spawn of fish or frogs, the quantity ensuring some survive; speaking to us all with wonder or disgust.

Producer – Turan Ali
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3


MON 23:00 Night Tracks (m001tb0w)
Adventures in sound

Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.

TUESDAY 19 DECEMBER 2023

TUE 00:30 Through the Night (m001tb1b)
Carl Friedrich Abel

Krzysztof and Anna Firlus perform viola da gamba sonatas by Abel at the Actus Humanus Festival in Gdansk. Presented by John Shea.

12:31 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord in D major, A 2:75
Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba), Anna Firlus (harpsichord)

12:43 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord in G major, A 2:68a
Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba), Anna Firlus (harpsichord)

12:53 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord in G minor, A 2:56a
Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba), Anna Firlus (harpsichord)

01:04 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord in A minor, A 2:57a
Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba), Anna Firlus (harpsichord)

01:15 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord in D major, A 2:50
Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba), Anna Firlus (harpsichord)

01:25 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Allegro from Sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord in A minor, A 2:57a
Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba), Anna Firlus (harpsichord)

01:28 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Mass in C major, Missa in tempore belli 'Paukenmesse' H.22.9
Hilde Haraldsen Sveen (soprano), Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo-soprano), Jonas Degerfeldt (tenor), Gabriel Suovanen (baritone), Oslo Philharmonic Choir, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Manfred Honeck (conductor)

02:09 AM
Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)
Quintet in F major for flute, oboe, violin, viola and continuo (Op.11 No.3)
Wilbert Hazelzet (flute), Les Adieux

02:18 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Ferruccio Busoni (arranger)
Prelude & Fugue in D major (BWV.532) transcribed Busoni
Vladimir Horowitz (piano)

02:31 AM
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Concerto in modo misolidio for piano and orchestra
Olli Mustonen (piano), Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Markus Lehtinen (conductor)

03:07 AM
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Agnus Dei - super ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la (for 6 and 7 voices)
Huelgas Ensemble, Paul van Nevel (director)

03:14 AM
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Beni Mora - oriental suite (Op.29 No.1)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba (conductor)

03:30 AM
Jan van Gilse (1881-1944)
String Quartet (Unfinished, 1922)
Ebony Quartet

03:40 AM
Francois Couperin (1668-1733)
Bruit de Guerre
Hungarian Brass Ensemble

03:44 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
5 Deutsche with 7 trios and coda (D.90)
Zagreb Soloists

03:59 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Ah! che troppo inequali Italian cantata HWV 230
Maria Keohane (soprano), European Baroque Orchestra, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)

04:09 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Sonata for piano in E minor, Op 7
Ilkka Paananen (piano)

04:31 AM
Zygmunt Noskowski (1846-1909)
Overture to Sir Zolzikiewicz
Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra Katowice, Zygmunt Rychert (conductor)

04:38 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Cantata "Es wird ein unbarmherzig Gericht" for 4 voices
Veronika Winter (soprano), Patrick Van Goethem (alto), Markus Schafer (tenor), Ekkehard Abele (bass), Rheinische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzert, Hermann Max (conductor)

04:49 AM
Marcel Tournier (1879-1951)
Au Matin - etude de concert
Mojca Zlobko (harp)

04:54 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Pohjola's daughter - symphonic fantasia, Op 49
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Colin Davis (conductor)

05:08 AM
William Byrd (1543-1623)
The Bells for keyboard (MB.27.38)
Colin Tilney (harpsichord)

05:16 AM
Bernat Vivancos (b.1973)
Messe aux sons des cloches
Latvian Radio Choir, Edgars Saksons (percussion), Ivo Kruskops (percussion), Ugis Kruskops (percussion), Rihards Zajupe (percussion), Elina Endzele (percussion), Atis Vintuks (percussion), Sigvards Klava (conductor)

05:30 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Ondine - from Preludes Book 2 (1912)
Philippe Cassard (piano)

05:34 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Quintet in E flat major K.452 for piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), Albrecht Mayer (oboe), Kari Kriikku (clarinet), Per Hannisdahl (bassoon), Jonathan Williams (horn)

05:57 AM
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Symphony No 3 in C minor
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Valentina Peleggi (conductor)


TUE 06:30 Breakfast (m001tb16)
Classical rise and shine

Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests and two shortlisted entries from the Carol Competition.

Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk


TUE 09:00 Essential Classics (m001tb1k)
The greatest classical music

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with familiar favourites, new discoveries and the occasional musical surprise.

0930 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.

1010 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.

1045 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.

1130 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.


TUE 12:00 Composer of the Week (m001tb1w)
A Vaughan Williams Christmas

Christmases in Italy and London

Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s burgeoning friendships with Gustav Holst and Adeline Fisher, who would become his first wife, and the first few Christmases they spent together.

“I’ve always loved carols” Vaughan Williams wrote to Cecil Sharp in 1911. Despite being called a “most determined atheist” by Bertrand Russell at University, and in later life “a cheerful agnostic”, the composer never lost his love for Christmas. It dated back to childhood memories of singing carols from Stainer and Bramley’s Christmas Carols New and Old at his home at Leith Hill Place, Surrey. As an adult, his lifelong passion for the Christmas period was demonstrated in his music - the Fantasia on Christmas Carols, On Christmas Night based on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the cantata Hodie and the nativity play The First Nowell. His passion for collecting folk tunes in various counties of England – armed with a trusty pencil and paper, or at times a phonograph - also led to a plethora of carol settings using these folk tunes, as Vaughan Williams himself said “Every day some old village singer dies, and with him there probably die half-a-dozen beautiful melodies, which are lost to the world forever: if we would preserve what still remains we must set about it at once.” In this special week of programmes, Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s experiences of Christmas across his life alongside some of his best loved pieces, and the music he wrote to celebrate the festive period.

In Tuesday’s programme, Kate explores Vaughan Williams’s burgeoning friendships with Gustav Holst and Adeline Fisher, who would become his first wife. As part of their honeymoon, the pair spent Christmas of 1897 in Italy with Adeline’s family before settling down in London. Kate also discovers the origins of one of the melodies Vaughan Williams used to set the carol “The Holy Well”, which dates back to a trip the composer made with folklorist Mrs Ella Mary Leather to a gypsy encampment in Sutton St Nicholas, Herefordshire.

Vaughan Williams (arr)
I Saw Three Ships Come In
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann, director

Vaughan Williams
Willow Wood
Roderick Williams, baritone
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
David Lloyd-Jones, conductor

Vaughan Williams (arr Douglas)
Folk Songs of the Four Seasons: Orchestral Suite
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Martin Yates, conductor

Trad
The High-low well
Wiggy Smith, singer

Vaughan Williams (arr)
The Holy Well (version 1)
Derek Welton, baritone
Iain Burnside, piano

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Aurora Orchestra
Nigel Short, conductor

Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and West


TUE 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m0016jtl)
LSO St Luke's: Saint-Saens's Circle (1/4)

Hannah French presents the first in a new series of Lunchtime Concerts devoted to Saint-Saens and his circle, and recorded at LSO St Luke's in London. Today, the Nash Ensemble play two of Saint-Saens's most popular pieces for chamber-music ensembles - his Caprice on Danish and Russian airs and his Tarantelle in A minor - followed by the Quartet in G minor by Faure, who was both a pupil and close friend of Saint-Saens.

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Caprice sur des airs danois et Russes for piano, flute, oboe and clarinet

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Tarantelle in A minor Op 6 for piano, flute and clarinet

GABRIEL FAURE
Quartet in G minor Op 45

Nash Ensemble

Recorded at LSO St Luke's in London on 25th March 2022


TUE 14:00 Afternoon Concert (m001tb26)
Sibelius's Violin Concerto

Fiona Talkington presents Afternoon Concert, featuring new recordings from the BBC Performing Groups and the European Broadcasting Union. Today's 3 o'clock moment is a performance of Sibelius's Violin Concerto with Ning Feng the soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. There are more performances from pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, recorded in Munich in October, and new recordings from the BBC Singers, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra.

Presented by Fiona Talkington.

2pm
Bridge: Sir Roger de Coverley - Christmas dance [1922]
BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Richard Hickox (conductor)

Rachmaninov: Selection from Preludes Op.23 (nos 10, 9, 8, 7)
Yulianna Avdeeva (piano)

Debussy orch Caplet: Clair de lune, from 'Suite bergamasque'
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Alain Altinoglu (conductor)

Brahms: Two songs for voice, viola and piano Op. 91
Ema Nikolovska (mezzo-soprano)
Timothy Ridout (viola)
Jonathan Ware (piano)

Fanny Mendelssohn: Overture in C major
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)

Vivaldi: Trio Sonata in D minor RV.63, Op.1`12 (La Follia) for 2 violins and continuo
Hesperion XXI

c.3pm
Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47
Ning Feng (violin)
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Vassily Petrenko (conductor)

Weinberg: Piano Sonata no.4 in B minor, Op.56
Yulianna Avdeeva (piano)


Wagner: Meistersinger Overture
Ulster Orchestra
Geoffrey Paterson (conductor)

Ester Magi: Bukoolika for orchestra
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Arvo Volmer (conductor)


TUE 17:00 In Tune (m001tb2g)
In session with stellar classical artists

Flautist Brandon Patrick George performs live in the studio, and Sean Rafferty talks to mandolin player Avi Avital ahead of his concert at Wigmore Hall.


TUE 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m001tb2n)
Classical music for your journey

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.




TUE 22:00 Free Thinking (m001tb30)
Prize Winners 2023

Cultural revolution memories, European resistance in occupied Poland and France and early attempts to establish trade with Mughal leaders in India are the topics explored in prize winning history books. Rana Mitter talks to authors Tania Branigan, Halik Kochanski and Nandini Das about digging in the archives and seeking out interviewees to help shape our understanding of these different periods in world history. Plus prize winning science books by John Vaillant, who considers the incredible power of fire as it consumes a city in Alberta built on the extraction of fossil fuels, and Ed Yong who reveals the extrodinary range of senses which humans don't have, but other animals do, from navigating using smell to the ability to detect electromagnetic waves.

Tania Branigan is the 2023 winner of the Cundill History Prize for Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution
Nandini Das is the 2023 winner of the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding for Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire
Halik Kochanski won the Wolfson History Prize 2023 with her book Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939–1945
John Vaillant won the 2023 Baillie Gifford Prize for non fiction for his book Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World
Ed Yong was the winner of the 2023 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize for An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

Producer: Julian Siddle

You can hear more from Nandini Das talking to Rana alongside Peter Frankopan, author of The Earth Transformed: An Untold History in a Free Thinking episode called Climate change and empire building. You can hear more from Halik Kolchanski in the interviews Rana recorded with all six finalists for the 2023 Wolfson prize.


TUE 22:45 The Essay (m001tb36)
The Story of Puddings

Summer Pudding

Essay 2: Summer Pudding

A new series of essays written and read by the very popular Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College, Oxford, following her much praised series of essays The Meaning of Trees and Composers and their Dogs. Here Fiona explores some of the world’s favourite puddings, all of which have surprising stories and have become symbols far beyond the pudding bowl.

Summer pudding, supposedly quintessentially English, (mixed berries encased in juice-soaked stale bread) began life as a symbol of health food for weight conscious American women over a century ago. It’s an invention from Victorian times, originally called ‘hydropathic pudding’, (low-calorie dessert for US health spas). Key ingredients: berries, sugar and stale bread. The changing variety of berries charts the growth of global trading and capitalism. Through this relatively low-calorie dessert we explore how, before refined sugar, desserts were not seen as an especially unhealthy course. Poorer families would have soup and a hearty dessert, as their main meal, with desserts much more likely to be fruit and wholegrain based. Summer pudding symbolises millennia of puddings that were not calorie bombs of refined, hyper-processed ingredients with little nutritional value, quite the reverse. The colours in summer pudding are a large part of its enduring success. Cutting into a summer pudding is like conducting a surgical operation; oozing with deep purple and blood-red syrupy fruit juices; a dramatic pudding that impresses and surprises us all; gory theatre on the dinner table.

Producer – Turan Ali
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3


TUE 23:00 Night Tracks (m001tb3c)
Night music

Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.

WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2023

WED 00:30 Through the Night (m001tb3f)
Andrea Bernasconi's "L'Huomo" at the Herne Early Music Days Festival

Ensemble 1700 under Dorothee Oberlinger perform the one-act tragicomedy commissioned by Princess Wilhelmine of Bayreuth based on her French opera poem "L'Homme", translated into Italian by Luigi Stampiglia and set to music by Andrea Bernasconi. John Shea presents.

12:31 AM
Andrea Bernasconi (1706-1784)
L’huomo (festa teatrale in one act)
Philipp Mathmann (soprano), Maria Ladurner (soprano), Francesca Benitez (soprano), Florian Götz (baritone), Alice Lackner (mezzo-soprano), Simon Bode (tenor), Anna Herbst (soprano), Johanna Rosa Falkinger (soprano), Ensemble 1700, Dorothee Oberlinger (conductor)

02:27 AM
Anonymous
Paradetas (after Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz)
Accentus Austria, Thomas Wimmer (director)

02:31 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano concerto no 2 in B flat, Op 19
Szymon Nehring (piano), Israel Camerata Jerusalem, Avner Biron (conductor)

03:01 AM
Virgil Thomson (1896-1989)
Quartet for strings no 2
Musicians from the Chamber Music Conference and Composer's Forum of the East

03:25 AM
Ruth Watson Henderson (1932-)
The Song my Paddle Sings for SATB with piano accompaniment
Elmer Iseler Singers, Claire Preston (piano), Lydia Adams (conductor)

03:29 AM
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)
Concerto Grosso in G minor (after Corelli Op.5 No.5)
Andrew Manze (violin), Academy of Ancient Music, Andrew Manze (director)

03:37 AM
Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)
Mon coeur s'ouvre from 'Samson et Dalila' (arr for trumpet & orchestra)
Jouko Harjanne (trumpet), Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Ari Rasilainen (conductor)

03:44 AM
Marc Heyral, Gaston Rochon (arranger), Henri Contet (author)
Le Noel de la Rue (1952)
Richard Pare (harpsichord), Les chanteurs de Saint-Coeur-de-Marie, Claude Gosselin (conductor)

03:49 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise brillante (Op.22)
Julia Kociuban (piano)

04:04 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Serenade (K.525) in G major, 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Grant Llewellyn (conductor)

04:19 AM
Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)
Wenn wir in höchsten Nöhten seyn, from 'Polyhymnia Caduceatrix et Panegyrica'
Cardinal Complex, Jonas Gassmann (conductor)

04:31 AM
Vatroslav Lisinski (1819-1854)
Vecer (Evening) - orchestral idyll
Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, Enrico Dindo (conductor)

04:38 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Fugue BWV.542 'Great' (orig. for organ)
Guitar Trek

04:45 AM
Ivo Parac (1890-1954)
Pastorale
Ljerka Ocic-Turkulin (organ)

04:53 AM
Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch (1691-1765)
Concerto in A minor for two oboes, solo violin, strings & basso continuo
Paul van de Linden (oboe), Kristine Linde (oboe), Manfred Kraemer (violin), Musica ad Rhenum

05:05 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Fantasy for piano (Op.49) in F minor
Szymon Nehring (piano)

05:19 AM
Zoltan Kodaly (1882 - 1967)
Faj a szivem - My heart is breaking - No.4 of 4 Songs for voice and piano
Ilona Tokody (soprano), Imre Rohmann (piano)

05:25 AM
Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D, op. 19
James Ehnes (violin), Zurich Philharmonia, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)

05:47 AM
Francesco Mancini (1672-1727)
Missa Septimus
Claire Lefilliatre (soprano), Marnix De Cat (alto), Han Warmelinck (tenor), Currende, Erik van Nevel (director)



WED 06:30 Breakfast (m001t9xq)
Start the day with classical music

Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show, featuring listener requests and two shortlisted entries from the Carol Competition.

Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk


WED 09:00 Essential Classics (m001t9y5)
Classical soundtrack for your morning

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with familiar favourites alongside new discoveries and musical surprises.

0930 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.

1010 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.

1045 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.

1130 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.


WED 12:00 Composer of the Week (m001t9yp)
A Vaughan Williams Christmas

At War

Kate Molleson explores what Christmas was like for Ralph Vaughan Williams during World War I, as part of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

“I’ve always loved carols” Vaughan Williams wrote to Cecil Sharp in 1911. Despite being called a “most determined atheist” by Bertrand Russell at University, and in later life “a cheerful agnostic”, the composer never lost his love for Christmas. It dated back to childhood memories of singing carols from Stainer and Bramley’s Christmas Carols New and Old at his home at Leith Hill Place, Surrey. As an adult, his lifelong passion for the Christmas period was demonstrated in his music - the Fantasia on Christmas Carols, On Christmas Night based on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the cantata Hodie and the nativity play The First Nowell. His passion for collecting folk tunes in various counties of England – armed with a trusty pencil and paper, or at times a phonograph - also led to a plethora of carol settings using these folk tunes, as Vaughan Williams himself said “Every day some old village singer dies, and with him there probably die half-a-dozen beautiful melodies, which are lost to the world forever: if we would preserve what still remains we must set about it at once.” In this special week of programmes, Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s experiences of Christmas across his life alongside some of his best loved pieces, and the music he wrote to celebrate the festive period.

Today, Kate explores what Christmas was like for Ralph Vaughan Williams during World War I, as part of the Royal Army Medical Corps,

Vaughan Williams (arr.)
As Joseph was Walking
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea
William Vann, director

Vaughan Williams
A London Symphony – III. Scherzo
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Manze, conductor

Vaughan Williams
Fantasia on Christmas Carols
City of London Sinfonia
Richard Hickox, conductor

Vaughan Williams
Symphony 3 - II. Lento
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult, conductor

Trad.
On Christmas Night
Tony Wales, vocals and guitar

Vaughan Williams (arr.)
Sussex Carol
The Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea
Hugh Rowlands, organ
William Vann, director

Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending
Sarah Chang, violin
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Bernard Haitink, conductor

Produced by Sam Philips for BBC Audio Wales and West


WED 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m0016k0g)
LSO St Luke's: Saint-Saens's Circle (2/4)

Hannah French continues this week's series, Saint-Saens's Circle, which was recorded at LSO St Luke's in London. Today, bass-baritone Ashley Riches is joined by pianist Joseph Middleton to perform songs by Saint-Saens, Dupart, Debussy and Ravel.

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Melodies Persanes (extracts: La Brise, Au Cimitiere & Tournoiement)

HENRI DUPARC
La Vague et la Cloche
Phidyle
Serenade

CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Nuit d’Etoiles
Beau Soir
Fêtes Galantes (extracts: En Sourdine, Fantoches & Clair de Lune)

MAURICE RAVEL
Histoires Naturelles

Ashley Riches (bass baritone)
Joseph Middleton (piano)

Recorded at LSO St Luke's in London on 18th March 2022


WED 14:00 Afternoon Concert (m001t9z3)
Brahms Symphony no.1

Fiona Talkington presents Afternoon Concert, featuring new recordings from the BBC Performing Groups and the European Broadcasting Union. Today's 3 o'clock moment is a performance of Brahms's Symphony no.1 performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. There are more performances from pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, and highlights of a concert of choral music by early music group Ensemble Polyharmonique. Plus new recordings from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC Concert Orchestra.

Presented by Fiona Talkington.

2pm
José Maurício Nunes Garcia Sinfonia fúnebre
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Emilie Godden (conductor)

Szpilman The Life of the Machines
Yulianna Avdeeva (piano)

Finzi Romance for string orchestra, Op.11
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner (conductor)

Schutz Selig sind die Toten
Schutz Unser Wandel ist im Himmel
Ensemble Polyharmonique
Klaus Eichhorn (organ)


Rautavaara Notturno e danza
Johan Dalene (violin)
Nicola Eimer (piano)

c.3pm
Brahms Symphony no.1 in C minor, Op.68
Hong Kong Philharmonic
Jaap van Zweden (conductor)

c3.45
Heinrich Scheidemann Praeambulum in D minor, WV 33 (just organ)
Christoph Bernhard Wie der Hirsch schreiet nach frischem Wasser
Ensemble Polyharmonique
Klaus Eichhorn (organ)


WED 16:00 Choral Evensong (m001t9zl)
Norwich Cathedral

Live from Norwich Cathedral.

Introit: O Clavis David (Kerensa Briggs) (world premiere)
Responses: Michael Nicholas
Office hymn: O come, O come Emmanuel (Veni Emmanuel, arr. Ashley Grote)
Psalms 4, 9 (Martin, Elvey)
First Lesson: Isaiah 51 vv.1-8
Canticles: Collegium Magalenae Oxoniense (Leighton)
Second Lesson: 2 Thessalonians 1 vv.1-12
Anthem: Angelus ad Virginem (Matthew Martin)
Hymn: Lo! he comes with clouds descending (Helmsley)
Voluntary: Symphonie-Passion (Le monde dans l’attente du sauveur) (Dupré)

Ashley Grote (Master of Music)
David Dunnett (Organist)


WED 17:00 In Tune (m001tb01)
Christmas Special

Live from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in London, the Christmas Special is packed to the brim with festive cheer and the highlight of the In Tune year.

Presenters Katie Derham and Sean Rafferty bring you a Christmas party celebration like no other! With special live performances from some of the show’s greatest performer friends, including cellist Natalie Clein, folk singer Cara Dillon, pianist Iain Farrington, Alex Mendham and His Orchestra, the Kleio String Quartet and the BBC Singers, don't miss them play all your favourite Christmas classics alongside seasonal readings from writer and comedian Sandi Toksvig and poet Joseph Coelho.


WED 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m001tb0h)
Half an hour of the finest classical music

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.


WED 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m001tb0z)
Bach's Magnificat

Solomon's Knot, Wigmore Hall's Baroque Ensemble in Residence, is a conductorless international collective of leading instrumentalists and singers who perform from memory. Tonight they present three of Bach's colourfully scored vocal and choral works, all written soon after his appointment as Cantor of St Thomas's in Leipzig in 1723.

Two Cantatas begin the concert. The first, 'O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort' (O eternity, you word of thunder), is famous for its unusual closing whole-tone tune which 200 years later, Alban Berg used in the final movement of his Violin Concerto. And 'Wachet! Betet! Betet! Wachet!' (Watch! Pray! Pray! Watch!) begins with a rousing chorus and trumpet fanfares.

To end, Bach's Magnificat in E flat. The text, taken from the Gospel of Luke, is Mary's joyful thanks to the Lord that, despite being a virgin, He has fixed it so she will bear a child who "will be called the Son of the Most High." Bach later added four extra Christmas-themed movements to zhuzh up his setting with a seasonal twist for his Leipzig congregation.

Recorded earlier this month and introduced by Ian Skelly.

JS Bach:
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort BWV 60
Wachet! Betet! Betet! Wachet! BWV 70
Magnificat in E flat BWV 243a with Christmas interpolations

Solomon's Knot


WED 22:00 Free Thinking (m001tb1f)
The lure of Greece and Crete

Greek goddesses are the focus of Natalie Haynes's most recent book. She joins Ian Collins, curator of an exhibition at Pallant House celebrating the paintings made by John Craxton, who relocated from England to Crete after visiting in 1947; Minna Moore Ede, curator of an exhibition inspired by Leda and the Swan at the Victoria Miro Gallery and Dr Lucy Jackson talks about her research into the chorus in Greek drama. Shahidha Bari hosts

Natalie Haynes' books include Divine Might, A Thousand Ships, Pandora's Jar, Stone Blind, The Children of Jocasta, The Amber Fury and The Ancient Guide to Modern Life
John Craxton: A Modern Odyssey runs at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester until 21 April 2024 curated by Ian Collins, author of John Craxton: A Life of Gifts in partnership with the gallery
Leda and the Swan: a myth of creation and destruction runs at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London until Jan 13th 2024 and is also available to view digitally via https://vortic.art/discover
Dr Lucy Jackson is Assistant Professor at Durham University

Producer: Robyn Read


WED 22:45 The Essay (m001tb1r)
The Story of Puddings

Crème Brûlée

Essay 3: Crème Brûlée

A new series of essays written and read by the very popular Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College, Oxford, following her much praised series of essays The Meaning of Trees and Composers and their Dogs. Here Fiona explores some of the world’s favourite puddings, all of which have surprising stories and have become symbols far beyond the pudding bowl.

Crème brûlée (meaning burnt cream) - a pudding thought of as a French creation (1697). But its surprising backstory saw British food historians claim it as a creation by the chefs at Trinity College, Cambridge (founded in 1546), prompting French academics to then cite their version from the early 1500s, with literary references. French aristocracy’s fervent embracing of it as a wealth and status symbol put this pudding on the international map, but post-revolution the French abandoned it as a decadent symbol of the rejected gentry, with expensive cream, eggs and scarce refined sugar. For two centuries it was in obscurity until a New York chef championed it in 1980, creating a new worldwide favourite. A phoenix rising from the blow torch that caramelises its sugary lid. Key ingredient: refined sugar, connecting it to slavery, and we explore the complex science of brittle caramel. Breaking into a crème brûlée is like cracking the carapace of a well-protected creature, breaching its security to scoop out its warm brain, a dramatic audible pudding that turns us into diggers for liquid gold.

Producer – Turan Ali
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3


WED 23:00 Night Tracks (m001tb22)
Christmas at Night

Hannah Peel with an immersive festive radio experience – the radio equivalent of a snowy night, a warm blanket and a glass of something Christmassy. Let Hannah be your guide as music and seasonal sounds combine to take you on a magical sonic journey through Christmas at night.

THURSDAY 21 DECEMBER 2023

THU 00:30 Through the Night (m001tb2c)
Three Haydn Symphonies

Concerto Copenhagen and conductor Lars Ulrik Mortensen perform Haydn's Symphonies Nos 47, 43 and 44. John Shea presents.

12:31 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 47 in G, Hob. I:47
Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)

12:55 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Hob. I:44 ('Mourning')
Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)

01:19 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 43 in E flat, Hob. I:43 ('Mercury')
Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)

01:46 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
String Quartet in G major, D.887
Alban Berg Quartet, Gunter Pichler (violin), Gerhard Schultz (violin), Thomas Kakuska (viola), Valentin Erben (cello)

02:31 AM
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Missa Salisburgensis
Collegium Vocale 1704, Collegium 1704, Vaclav Luks (conductor)

03:13 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata no. 15 in D major Op.28 'Pastoral' for piano
Ji-Yeong Mun (piano)

03:39 AM
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (orchestrator)
Khovanschina (overture)
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Samo Hubad (conductor)

03:45 AM
Arvo Part (1935-)
Spiegel im Spiegel
Morten Carlsen (viola), Sergej Osadchuk (piano)

03:52 AM
Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)
Three Shanties for wind quintet, Op 4
Ariart Woodwind Quintet

04:00 AM
Vaino Raitio (1891-1945)
Joutsenet , Op 15 (1919)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Okko Kamu (conductor)

04:09 AM
Henry Eccles (c.1675-1745)
Sonata for double bass and piano
Gary Karr (double bass), Harmon Lewis (piano)

04:17 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Friedrich Ruckert (author), Max Reger (arranger)
Du bist die Ruh (D.776), arr. Reger for voice and orchestra
Brigitte Fournier (soprano), National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jerzy Semkow (conductor)

04:22 AM
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
Trio sonata in C major, Op 3 no 8
Il Seminario Musicale, Gerard Lesne (director)

04:31 AM
Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921)
Overture from Hansel and Gretel
Symphony Nova Scotia, Georg Tintner (conductor)

04:39 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Scherzo no.1 in B minor, Op.20
Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)

04:48 AM
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Friede auf Erden for chorus, Op 13
Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble

04:58 AM
Fernando Sor (1778-1839)
Introduction and variations on a theme from Mozart's Magic Flute, Op 9
Ana Vidovic (guitar)

05:07 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto in G minor 'per l'Orchestra di Dresda'
Cappella Coloniensis, Hans-Martin Linde (conductor)

05:16 AM
Pieter Hellendaal (1721-1799)
Sonata Prima in G major (Op.5)
Jaap ter Linden (cello), Ton Koopman (harpsichord), Ageet Zweistra (cello)

05:25 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Gammelnorsk Romance met Variasjoner Op.51
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ole Kristian Ruud (conductor)

05:50 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Chapel Royal Anthem ('Let God arise'), HWV 256/b
Dmitry Sinkovsky (countertenor), Pál Szerdahelyi (baritone), Hungarian Radio Children's Chorus, Budapest, Hungarian Radio Chorus, Budapest, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Budapest, Soma Dinyes (conductor)

06:02 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Piano Trio in A minor (1914)
Bernt Lysell (violin), Mats Rondin (cello), Bengt-Ake Lundin (piano)




THU 09:00 Essential Classics (m001tb4b)
The ideal morning mix of classical music

Tom McKinney plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

0930 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.

1010 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.

1045 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.

1130 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.


THU 12:00 Composer of the Week (m001tb4d)
A Vaughan Williams Christmas

White Gates

Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s time living at 'White Gates' in Surrey, where he moved in the late 1920s.

“I’ve always loved carols” Vaughan Williams wrote to Cecil Sharp in 1911. Despite being called a “most determined atheist” by Bertrand Russell at University, and in later life “a cheerful agnostic”, the composer never lost his love for Christmas. It dated back to childhood memories of singing carols from Stainer and Bramley’s Christmas Carols New and Old at his home at Leith Hill Place, Surrey. As an adult, his lifelong passion for the Christmas period was demonstrated in his music - the Fantasia on Christmas Carols, On Christmas Night based on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the cantata Hodie and the nativity play The First Nowell. His passion for collecting folk tunes in various counties of England – armed with a trusty pencil and paper, or at times a phonograph - also led to a plethora of carol settings using these folk tunes, as Vaughan Williams himself said “Every day some old village singer dies, and with him there probably die half-a-dozen beautiful melodies, which are lost to the world forever: if we would preserve what still remains we must set about it at once.” In this special week of programmes, Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s experiences of Christmas across his life alongside some of his best loved pieces, and the music he wrote to celebrate the festive period.

Today, Kate explores Vaughan Williams’s time living at 'White Gates' in Dorking, where he moved in the late 1920s. He would stay there for 25 years and survive the bombing raids of the second World War in the house. The leafy surrounds of Surrey made for quieter Christmases on the whole, and Ralph’s wife Adeline was growing old and frail, but a new flame was kindled in Vaughan Williams's heart when he met a young poet named Ursula Wood. Kate also explores the origins of a famous carol’s tune – the melody of which Vaughan Williams notated as being sung by Mr Garman of Forest Green, Surrey, on a folk song collecting trip in 1903.

Vaughan Williams
Hodie (This Day): The Oxen
Stephen Gadd, baritone
Royal Philharmonic Onrchestra
Hilary Davan Wetton, conductor

Vaughan Williams
On Christmas Night (extract)
Sarah Fox, soprano
Roderick Williams, baritone
The Joyful Company of Singers & City of London Sinfonia
Richard Hickox, conductor

Vaughan Williams
Dona Nobis Pacem – III. Reconciliation
Christina Pier, soprano
Matthew Brook, baritone
Bach Choir
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
David Hill, conductor

Trad
Ploughboy’s Dream
Coope, Boyes & Simpson, vocals

Vaughan Williams (arr.)
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Tom Etheridge, organ
Stephen Cleobury, director

Vaughan Williams
Prelude: 49th parallel
Northern Sinfonia
Richard Hickox, conductor

Vaughan Williams
Symphony no. 5 in D Major - III. Romanza
BBC SO
Andrew Davis, conductor

Vaughan Williams (arr.)
God rest you merry, gentlemen
Angus McPhee, baritone
Timothy Murphy, bass
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann, director

Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and West


THU 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m0016jxy)
LSO St Luke's: Saint-Saens's Circle (3/4)

Hannah French continues this week's series of Lunchtime Concerts, Saint-Saens's Circle, recorded at LSO St Luke's in London. Today, the Gould Piano Trio perform Faure's Piano Trio in D minor, a masterpiece from his late works, and Saint-Saens's Second Piano Trio in E minor, a grand work penned during the composer's visit to Algeria in 1892.

FAURE
Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120

SAINT-SAENS
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Op. 92

Gould Piano Trio

Recorded at LSO St Luke's in London on 25th March 2022


THU 14:00 Afternoon Concert (m001tb4g)
Ravel Mother Goose

Penny Gore presents Afternoon Concert, featuring new recordings from the BBC Performing Groups and the European Broadcasting Union. Today's 3 o'clock moment is a complete performance of Ravel's ballet Mother Goose, performed by the Liege Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. There are more highlights of a concert of choral music by early music group Ensemble Polyharmonique, and new recordings from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Presented by Penny Gore

2pm
Saint-Saens Symphony no. 1 in E flat major Op.2: 2nd movement; Marche – scherzo
Liege Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Jean-Jacques Kantorow (conductor)

Praetorius Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist
Ensemble Polyharmonique
Klaus Eichhorn (organ)

Tchaikovsky arr Chauhan Overture and Polonaise from Cherevichki
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Alpesh Chauhan (conductor)

Locatelli Concerto grosso in F minor Op.1`8 (Christmas concerto)
Concerto Copenhagen
Lars Ulrik Mortensen (director)

Ruth Gipps Seascape for winds, Op.53
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Jonathan Bloxham (conductor)

c.3pm
Ravel Mother Goose (complete ballet)
Liege Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Gergely Madaras (conductor)

Wolfgang Carl Briegel Ach Herr, lehre doch mich
Wolfgang Carl Briegel Du aber, Daniel
Ensemble Polyharmonique
Klaus Eichhorn (organ)

Handel Concerto Grosso in D minor, Op.6 No.10
Handel & Haydn Society
Christopher Hogwood (director)

c.4.15
Respighi Trittico Botticelliano for small orchestra, no.2; L' Adorazione dei Magi
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Britten Four Sea Interludes, from 'Peter Grimes, op. 33a
Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra
Joana Mallwitz (conductor)

Berlin arr Andrew Cottee
White Christmas
Louise Dearman (singer)
Matthew Ford (singer)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Andrew Cotee (conductor)


THU 17:00 Christmas with Gareth Malone (m001tb4j)
Episode 1

As we approach the big event, Gareth Malone chooses an eclectic mix of seasonal music to put the tinsel into your evening, bringing festive cheer as you wind down at the end of the day. Expect sleigh bells, wassailing, yuletide brass, and of course some finely sung carols along the way, in the first of two special programmes for Christmas.

Producer: Helen Garrison


THU 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m001tb4l)
Classical music to inspire you

From Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker to Philip Lane's Wassail Dances and plenty of popular carols throughout, enjoy 30-minutes of back to back festive music in tonight's Classical Mixtape.
Producer: Kevin Satizabal Carrascal


THU 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m001tb4n)
A Renaissance Christmas with the Tallis Scholars

For the past half-century, Peter Philips and the Tallis Scholars have set the standard for performance in Renaissance a cappella repertoire. Tonight, live from St John's, Smith Square, they present an enticing Christmas-themed programme in which the Nativity is seen from the shepherds' perspective as they come to worship Baby Jesus in the stable.

Clemens non Papa: Pastores quidnam vidistis
Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis (Kyrie & Gloria)
Victoria: Quem vidistis, pastores?
Pedro de Cristo: Quaeramus cum pastoribus
Giovanni Croce: Quaeramus cum pastoribus
Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis (Credo)
Obrecht: Salva Regina
Peter Philips: Salve Regina
Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis (Sanctus, Benedictus & Agnus dei)

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Philips (director)


THU 22:00 Free Thinking (m001tb4q)
Dickens, Disney and copyright

Mickey Mouse in his first incarnation in a short film from 1928 becomes available for public viewing without infringing Disney's copyright next year. In a programme looking back at the copyright history which affected authors including Charles Dickens and at current questions around legislation, Matthew Sweet is joined by David Bellos, author of Who Owns This Sentence? – A History of Copyrights and Wrongs, Katie McGettigan, lecturer in C19th American literature and Hayleigh Bosher, Reader in Intellectual Property Law at Brunel University London.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod


THU 22:45 The Essay (m001tb4s)
The Story of Puddings

Pavlova

Essay 4: Pavlova

A new series of essays written and read by the very popular Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College, Oxford, following her much praised series of essays The Meaning of Trees and Composers and their Dogs. Here Fiona explores some of the world’s favourite puddings, all of which have surprising stories and have become symbols far beyond the pudding bowl.

Pavlova is a much-disputed national symbol claimed by rival neighbours. A crisp meringue with whipped cream and fruit, it has become a source of pride and national identity for New Zealand and Australia; both claim its creation with disputed historical citations. For both it is their Christmas dessert. But the pavlova symbolises the re-writing of history. Actually, it’s a 1700s Austrian Habsburger dessert, long before ballerina Pavlova's 1926 Australian tour (a story of celebrity hysteria) supposedly inspired it. The USA documented an almost identical dessert in 1896 with another name. Thus Australia or New Zealand can only claim to have renamed it. Key ingredient: egg white. We explore its amazing properties and health benefits. Addressing a pavlova is like looking into a huge cloud at sunset, the surface bright with warm colours (strawberries, passion fruit); breaking it open reveals the white fluffy interior one expects (whipped cream). No wonder the world recognises and loves this pudding.

Producer – Turan Ali
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3


THU 23:00 The Night Tracks Mix (m001tb4v)
Christmas at Night

Hannah Peel with an immersive festive radio experience – an atmospheric half hour mix of music and seasonal sounds to conjure Christmas after dark.

FRIDAY 22 DECEMBER 2023

FRI 00:30 Through the Night (m001tb4z)
Schumann and Vaughan Williams from the Ruhr Piano Festival

Pianist Beatrice Rana joins the WDR Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrew Manze in a performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto. John Shea presents.

12:31 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Overture to 'Genoveva, op. 81'
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, Andrew Manze (conductor)

12:40 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 54
Beatrice Rana (piano), WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, Andrew Manze (conductor)

01:12 AM
Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915)
Prelude in B Major, op. 11/11
Beatrice Rana (piano)

01:15 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Symphony No. 5 in D
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, Andrew Manze (conductor)


02:05 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Spanisches Liederspiel, Op 74
Margit Laszlo (soprano), Jozsef Reti (tenor), Zolte Bende (bass), Hungarian Radio & Television Choir, Zoltan Vasarhelyi (conductor)

02:31 AM
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Mass in D major (Op.86)
Ludmila Vernerova (soprano), Olga Kodesova (alto), Vladimir Okenko (tenor), Ilja Prokop (bass), Miluska Kvechova (organ), Czech Radio Choir, Pilzen Radio Orchestra, Lubomir Matl (conductor)

03:11 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Sonata in A major K.526 for violin and keyboard
Geir Inge Lotsberg (violin), Einar Steen-Nokleberg (piano)

03:39 AM
Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783)
Arminio (Overture)
Berlin Academy for Early Music, Ekkehard Hering (oboe), Wolfgang Kube (oboe), Andrew Joy (horn), Rainier Jurkiewicz (horn), Stephan Mai (director)

03:45 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Abegg variations Op.1 for piano
Annika Treutler (piano)

03:53 AM
Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909)
Notturno Op 70 no 1
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Nello Santi (conductor)

04:01 AM
Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824)
Duo concertante in G major
Alexandar Avramov (violin), Ivan Peev (violin)

04:10 AM
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Potpourri from the opera Die schweigsame Frau
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis (conductor)


04:21 AM
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)
Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op 3 no 2
Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi (director)

04:31 AM
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Overture to L' Italiana in Algeri
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox (conductor)

04:39 AM
Johann Christian Schickhardt (c.1682-1760)
Flute Sonata in C major
Vladislav Brunner jr. (flute), Herta Madarova (harpsichord)

04:49 AM
Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819-1872)
Duet (Halka & Janusz) : "Oh Janusz my darling" from Halka, Act I
Ewa Vesin (soprano), Stanislaw Kufluk (baritone), Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lukasz Borowicz (conductor)

04:58 AM
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)
From Jewish Life, B.54
Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Alexander Lonquich (piano)

05:08 AM
Wojciech Kilar (1931-2013)
Orawa for string orchestra (1988) (Vivo)
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wojciech Rajski (conductor)

05:16 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Fantasia (and unfinished fugue) for keyboard in C minor, BWV.906
Andreas Staier (harpsichord)

05:24 AM
Heikki Suolahti (1920-1936)
Sinfonia Piccola (1935)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kari Tikka (conductor)

05:45 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Violin Sonata No 2 in A major
Valdis Zarins (violin), Ieva Zarina (piano)

06:05 AM
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Quintet in B flat major Op.34 for clarinet and strings (J.182)
Lena Jonhall (clarinet), Zetterqvist String Quartet


FRI 06:30 Breakfast (m001tb07)
Ease into the day with classical music

Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show with the Friday poem and music that captures the mood of the morning.

Email your requests to 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk


FRI 09:00 Essential Classics (m001tb0p)
Refresh your morning with classical music

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with familiar favourites alongside new discoveries and musical surprises.

0930 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.

1010 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.

1045 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.

1130 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.


FRI 12:00 Composer of the Week (m001tb15)
A Vaughan Williams Christmas

Hanover Terrace

Kate Molleson explores the Christmases Vaughan Williams spent back in London, living on Hanover Terrace.

“I’ve always loved carols” Vaughan Williams wrote to Cecil Sharp in 1911. Despite being called a “most determined atheist” by Bertrand Russell at University, and in later life “a cheerful agnostic”, the composer never lost his love for Christmas. It dated back to childhood memories of singing carols from Stainer and Bramley’s Christmas Carols New and Old at his home at Leith Hill Place, Surrey. As an adult, his lifelong passion for the Christmas period was demonstrated in his music - the Fantasia on Christmas Carols, On Christmas Night based on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the cantata Hodie and the nativity play The First Nowell. His passion for collecting folk tunes in various counties of England – armed with a trusty pencil and paper, or at times a phonograph - also led to a plethora of carol settings using these folk tunes, as Vaughan Williams himself said “Every day some old village singer dies, and with him there probably die half-a-dozen beautiful melodies, which are lost to the world forever: if we would preserve what still remains we must set about it at once.” In this special week of programmes, Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s experiences of Christmas across his life alongside some of his best loved pieces, and the music he wrote to celebrate the festive period.

In the last programme of this week, Kate explores the Christmases Vaughan Williams spent back in London, living on Hanover Terrace, where he and his second wife Ursula held an annual carol party. Kate also explores the composer’s last trip to the USA and his final folk song collecting trip in 1955 and we will hear music from his Christmas pieces Hodie and The First Nowell.

Vaughan Williams
The First Nowell: IX: In Bethlehem City
Joyful Company of Singers
City of London Sinfonia
Richard Hickox, conductor

Vaughan Williams
On Wenlock Edge – V. Bredon Hill
James Gilchrist, tenor
Anna Tilbrook, piano
Fitzwilliam String Quartet

Vaughan Williams
Epithalamion (the bridal day) – Procession of the bride
Joyful Company of Singers
Britten Sinfonia
Alan Tongue, conductor

Vaughan Williams
Hodie (extract)
John Shirley-Quirk, bass-baritone
Dame Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano
Richard Lewis, tenor
Bach Choir
Westminster Abbey Choir
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir David Willcocks, conductor

Vaughan Williams
Symphony no 7 – V. Epilogue
Sir John Gielgud, narrator
Margaret Ritchie, soprano
London Philharmonic Choir
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult, conductor

Trad
Seven Virgins (Leaves of Life)
Norma Waterson

Vaughan Williams (arr.)
The Seven Virgins
Derek Welton, baritone
Iain Burnside, piano
 
Vaughan Williams
The First Nowell – XX. The First Nowell
Sarah Fox, soprano
Roderick Williams, baritone
The Joyful Company of Singers
City of London Sinfonia
Richard Hickox, conductor

Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and West


FRI 13:00 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (m0016k33)
LSO St Luke's: Saint-Saens's Circle (4/4)

Hannah French brings this week's series of Lunchtime Concerts, Saint-Saens's Circle, from LSO St Luke's in London, to a close. Today, pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy perform a sparkling recital of music from Rameau to Saint-Saens and Bizet to Desyatnikov.

SAINT-SAENS
Swan (from the Carnival of Animals)

RAMEAU
La Boucon (from Pieces de Clavecin en concerts)

SAINT-SAENS/DEBUSSY
Pavanne (from Etienne Marcel)

SAINT-SAENS
Variations on the theme by Beethoven

SAINT-SAENS
Berceuse, Op.105

BIZET
Selection of pieces from Jeux d’enfants

FAURE
Selection of pieces from Dolly Suite

DESYATNIKOV
Du côté de chez Swan

Pavel Kolesnikov & Samson Tsoy (pianos)

Recorded at LSO St Luke's in London on 18th March 2022.


FRI 14:00 Afternoon Concert (m001tb1j)
Brahms's Symphony No 2

Penny Gore presents Afternoon Concert, featuring new recordings from the BBC Performing Groups and the European Broadcasting Union. Today's 3 o'clock moment is a performance of Brahms's Symphony No 2, performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jaap van Zweden. Plus there are highlights of a carol concert given by the BBC Singers at Temple Church yesterday, presented by Ian Skelly.

Presented by Pennny Gore



Lyadov Kikimora - symphonic poem Op.63
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Thierry Fischer (conductor)

Vivaldi Concerto in G major RV.150 for string orchestra
La Serenissima
Adrian Chandler (director)

c.3pm
Brahms Symphony no.2 in D major, Op.73
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Jaap van Zweden (conductor)


c.4.15
Dvorak Prague waltzes [Prazske valciky] B.99
Prague Symphony Orchestra
Jiri Belohlavek (conductor)


FRI 16:30 The Listening Service (m001fwyc)
Britten's Choral Christmas

Tom Service delves into the music of Benjamin Britten and explores the unusual stories behind some of his best-loved festive works, including St Nicolas and A Ceremony of Carols.


FRI 17:00 Christmas with Gareth Malone (m001tb1v)
Episode 2

Put down that Christmas shopping, pour yourself something delicious, and join Gareth Malone for two hours of relaxing Christmas classical music to warm the heart and lift the spirits on a cold, dark night, in the second of two special programmes for Christmas.

Producer: Helen Garrison


FRI 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m001tb29)
Expand your horizons with classical music

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.




FRI 22:00 The Verb (m001tb2q)
The Verb Christmas Special

Ian McMillan ho ho hosts a special Christmas edition of The Verb from the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, recorded in front of a live audience. With stories and verse and song to bring comfort and joy, from poet Jackie Kay, singer-songwriter Amelia Coburn, international storyteller Danyah Miller and doorstep poet Rowan McCabe who's been knocking on stranger's doors and offering to write them a poem especially for The Verb. So pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. Are you ready? Then we'll begin...

Producer: Cecile Wright


FRI 22:45 The Essay (m001tb2y)
The Story of Puddings

Christmas Pudding

Essay 5: Christmas Pudding

A new series of essays written and read by the very popular Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College, Oxford, following her much praised series of essays The Meaning of Trees and Composers and their Dogs. Here Fiona explores some of the world’s favourite puddings, all of which have surprising stories and have become symbols far beyond the pudding bowl.

Christmas pudding. A British icon, supposedly a classless, medieval religious symbol but which owes its modern prominence to Dickens. Exported as Empire Pudding, it is loved around the Commonwealth. There are surprising local adaptations in Asia (especially India) and the Caribbean, adding spices and exotic elements and renaming it as their own Christmas tradition. Thus it symbolises the reverse appropriation of imperialism. Key ingredient: dried fruit. Dates back to 4000 BC, much older than any religion, hence its role in nearly all of them. Christmas pudding is an example of the Victorians inventing many of our “traditions” we think of as older. Charles Dickens was a major creator of modern ideas of Christmas, with Mrs Beeton’s recipe for 'Exceedingly Good Plum Pudding' (later Christmas pudding) whether flambéed or teetotal, establishing the British idea of Christmas centring on particular foods. Literary examples include Edward Lear's wacky villain, 'The Plum Pudding Flea'. Seeing and eating a Christmas pudding is like breaking into hot earth, a sweet, steaming mound of loam that looks rich enough to plant and grow the healthiest of Christmas trees; a universal substrate for a global festival. And then … there’s the tooth-breaking sixpence-in-the-pudding tradition.

Producer – Turan Ali
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3


FRI 23:00 Late Junction (m001tb34)
Party Time with WaqWaq Kingdom and NYX!

Celebrate the festive season with us at a very Late Junction end-of-year party. On the guest list, three magical musicians: the Japanese tribal bass duo WaqWaq Kingdom - vocalist Kiki Hitomi and producer Shigeru Ishihara (aka DJ Scotch Egg) - and New Zealand’s Sian O’Gorman of the NYX electronic drone choir. We invited them to Maida Vale studios in London to meet for the first time and collaborate together to create our very own late-night office party soundtrack. They weave together Japanese min'yō, ecstatic choral sounds, festive bells, mind-expanding noise and bass-heavy electronics - along with a healthy dose of Game Boy music and some wonky 3D printed pipes - to welcome in that holiday feeling.

Produced by Katie Callin
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3