SATURDAY 29 MARCH 2025
SAT 00:30 Through the Night (m00291kj)
String trios from Switzerland
Three outstanding chamber musicians join together in a string trio for a concert series in the Swiss town of Bulle. Liza Ferschtman, Malin Broman and Antoine Lederlin play a Mozart Divertimento and Bach's Goldberg Variations arranged for strings. Jonathan Swain presents.
12:31 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Divertimento in E flat, K.563
Liza Ferschtman (violin), Malin Broman (viola), Antoine Lederlin (cello)
01:12 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), arr. Dmitri Sitkovetsky
Goldberg Variations, BWV.988 arr. for string trio
Liza Ferschtman (violin), Malin Broman (viola), Antoine Lederlin (cello)
01:58 AM
Frano Parac (b.1948)
Guitar Trio
Zagreb Guitar Trio
02:04 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto no 23 in A major, K.488
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Terje Tonnesen (conductor)
02:31 AM
Pierre de la Rue (1452-1518)
Missa Sancto Job
Orlando Consort
03:06 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Peer Gynt Suite no 1, Op 46
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Grant Llewellyn (conductor)
03:23 AM
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), arr. Igor Stravinsky
Concerto in E flat 'Dumbarton Oaks' arr. for two pianos
James Anagnoson (piano), Leslie Kinton (piano)
03:38 AM
Mel Bonis (1858-1937)
Suite Orientale, Op 48 no 2: Prelude & Danse d'almees
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba (conductor)
03:45 AM
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Sonata in C major for flute and harpsichord, Wq.73
Konrad Hunteler (flute), Ton Koopman (harpsichord)
03:58 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Romance for viola and piano
Steven Dann (viola), Bruce Vogt (piano)
04:05 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Pavane pour une infante defunte
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Mester (conductor)
04:12 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Scherzo from Piano Quintet in E flat, Op 44
Boris Berman (piano), Alexander String Quartet
04:17 AM
Erik Satie (1866-1925)
Poudre d'or, waltz for piano
Ashley Wass (piano)
04:23 AM
Francois Dufaut (1604-1672), Honore d'Ambruys (c. C17th)
Pièce pour harpe (Dufaut); Air de cour “Le doux silence de nos bois" (d'Ambruys)
Marc Mauillon (tenor), Etienne Galletier (theorbo)
04:31 AM
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)
Overture no 2, Op 24
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier (conductor)
04:38 AM
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Va Pensiero chorus from Nabucco
Canadian Opera Company Chorus, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Richard Bradshaw (conductor)
04:43 AM
Andre Messager (1853-1929)
Solo de concours for clarinet and piano
Pavlo Boiko (clarinet), Viola Taran (piano)
04:49 AM
Ester Magi (1922-2021)
Vesper
Tallin Chamber Orchestra, Tonu Kaljuste (conductor)
04:56 AM
Morten Lauridsen (b.1943)
Contre qui Rose - 2nd movement from Les Chansons des Roses
Phoenix Chamber Choir, Ramona Luengen (conductor)
04:59 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Symphony in C major, Op 10 no 4
La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider (conductor)
05:08 AM
Friedrich Kuhlau (1786-1832)
Variations on the old Swedish air Och liten Karin tjente, Op 91
Folmer Jensen (piano)
05:23 AM
Michael Tippett (1905-1998)
Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Duncan Ward (conductor)
05:44 AM
Francesca Caccini (1587-1640)
Excerpts from Act One of La Liberazione di Ruggiero
Suzie Le Blanc (soprano), Barbara Borden (soprano), Dorothee Mields (soprano), Christian Hilz (baritone), Tragicomedia, Stephen Stubbs (director)
06:04 AM
Henriette Bosmans (1895-1952)
Piano Trio
Leonore Piano Trio
SAT 06:30 Breakfast (m002988s)
Start your weekend the Radio 3 way, with Saturday Breakfast
Join Emma Clarke to wake up the day with a selection of the finest classical music.
To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Breakfast."
SAT 09:00 Saturday Morning (m002988v)
Tom with composer Steve Reich
Tom Service with guests, stories and the perfect classical soundtrack to start the weekend!
On today's show, Tom talks to Steve Reich, one of the greatest living composers about his life and music. Called “the most original musical thinker of our time” (The New Yorker), works like Different Trains, Music for 18 Musicians and It’s Gonna Rain changed the classical musical landscape forever. As Steve reissues his life’s work on a 27 disc box set he chats to Tom about his music, how he hears his work now and what's still to come in an iconic career spanning 6 decades.
Plus the continuation of BBC Radio 3’s 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century. This week, New Jersey based Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy chats to Tom about the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’, when pilot Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, the event that inspired his piece Hard Landing.
To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3”
SAT 12:00 Earlier... with Jools Holland (m0025w7x)
Jools's musical selection for a Saturday lunchtime
In a new show for Saturday lunchtimes, Jools shares his lifelong passion for classical music, and the beautiful connections with jazz and blues. With fascinating guests each week, who bring their own favourite music and occasionally perform live in Jools's studio.
Today, Jools's choices include music by Holst, Shostakovich and Lully, with performances by Sister Ernestine Washington and soprano Bidu Sayao. His guest is the folk singer and fiddler Eliza Carthy who shares music she loves by Purcell, Handel and Rimsky-Korsakov, and talks about starting out on the fiddle and why dancing the hornpipe should be wild and rhythmic as opposed to dainty and delicate.
To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Earlier with Jools Holland".
SAT 13:00 Music Matters (m002988x)
Jenni Murray's Women Composers
It's all right now ... isn't it?
Jenni Murray concludes her series celebrating the music of women composers with a final fabulous playlist of great music, classic and modern, and exploring the issues women face in forging a career as a composer.
8. It's all right now ... isn't it? Jenni is joined by composer Anna Meredith to take stock of the progress that women composers have made over the past centuries in the face of often great prejudice and adversity, and to look to the future - what obstacles still remain and what solutions still need to be found? The playlist includes music by Mel Bonis, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Anna Clyne, Caroline Shaw and Dani Howard.
Producer: Graham Rogers
To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Matters"
SAT 14:00 Record Review (m002988z)
Schumann's Carnaval in Building a Library with Lucy Parham and Andrew McGregor
Andrew McGregor with the best new recordings of classical music.
1405
Andrew Matthews-Owen makes his pick of the best new releases
1500
Lucy Parham chooses her favourite recording of Schumann's Carnaval
1545
Record of the Week: Andrew’s top pick.
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Record Review”
SAT 16:00 Sound of Cinema (m0029ktm)
London Soundtrack Festival
Matthew Sweet meets some of the biggest names in cinema at the London Soundtrack Festival, a brand new event that celebrates music composed for film, television and games.
Join us behind the scenes for conversations with titans of the industry – including world-renowned actor Cate Blanchett, pioneering filmmaker David Cronenberg, and legendary composer Howard Shore.
Featuring classic soundtracks from Dead Ringers, The Chronicles of Narnia and Obi-Wan Kenobi - along with exclusive insights from two award-winning composers, Harry Gregson-Williams and Natalie Holt.
To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say “Ask BBC Sounds to play Sound of Cinema.”
SAT 17:00 This Classical Life (m0029891)
Jess Gillam with....Nemanja Radulovic
Jess Gillam is joined by violinist Nemanja Radulovic to talk about the music they love and the musical lives they live. They talk Beethoven, concertos, and how music can create connections between people. Nemanja shares his love of Celine Dion, and and Jess brings some meditative music by Shabaka Hutchings. Plus Jess and Nemanja talk about what makes an amazing performer, how they bring you in to their musical world and whether that's a talent musicians are born with.
SAT 18:00 Opera on 3 (m0029893)
Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick
Live from the New York Met: Jake Heggie's operatic version of Herman Melville's epic novel, with Brandon Jovanovich as the implacable Captain Ahab. Karen Kamensek conducts.
The whaling ship Paquod has been sailing for a week, but none of the crew have seen the captain, Ahab, since they left shore. When he does emerge he tells them of Moby-Dick, the white whale that took off one of his legs. This is the real reason they're sailing - to hunt down this one whale and destroy it, and nothing will stand in his way.
Presented from the Met by Debra Lew Harder with commentator Ira Siff.
Heggie: Moby-Dick
Captain Ahab ..... Brandon Jovanovich (tenor)
Greenhorn ..... Stephen Costello (tenor)
Starbuck .... Peter Mattei (baritone)
Queequeg ..... Ryan Speedo Green (bass-baritone)
Flask ..... William Burden (tenor)
Stubb ..... Malcom MacKenzie (baritone)
Pip ..... Janai Brugger (soprano)
The Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Karen Kamensek (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Opera on 3".
SAT 21:30 Music Planet (m0029895)
Bogotá In Three Tracks
Kathryn Tickell presents three tracks showcasing Bogotá’s rich musical landscape, picked by avant-latin Colombian trio, Los Pirañas. Their new album titled Una Oportunidad más de triunfar en la vida is the result of a week of improvised sessions recorded in the Colombian capital, where grooves informed by Colombian cumbia, Latin American rhythms and West African highlife interlace with circular loops on electric guitar.
Elsewhere in the show, Finnish folk celebrating diversity, celestial music for harmonium and tanpura recorded in a park, and funky Anatolian psych-folk.
Produced by Silvia Malnati
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: “Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Planet.”
SAT 22:30 New Music Show (m0029897)
Boulez at 100: Re-imagined
Kate Molleson and Tom Service present a live, Boulez-themed edition of the show from the BBC’s Maida Vale studios in London. Performing specially commissioned music tonight in front of a studio audience are Caoutchouc and Plus-Minus Ensemble. Caoutchouc is a duo comprising Jessie Marino and Serge Vuille, an uncategorisable mix of percussion, fiddle, spoken word and electronics, and tonight they explore texts by and about Pierre Boulez. Plus-Minus Ensemble perform two pieces by Boulez, his Derive I for six instruments, and the lesser known, rarely performed Structures I for two pianos. Plus-Minus also bring two brand new pieces, both “re-imaginings” of older works: Alex Hills’s response to Ruth Crawford Seeger’s String Quartet, and Natacha Diels’s take on Mexican composer Julián Carrillo’s Preludio a Colón. Both works are co-commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and Plus-Minus Ensemble. Also tonight, Nothing Truly Ever Ends, a new work by British composer Charlotte Bray, commissioned and performed by Ensemble intercontemporain at the Paris Philharmonie in December; plus the first of this weekend’s postcards from Paris: the 98 year old Betsy Jolas tells Kate about her first ever meeting with Boulez.
To listen using most smart speakers, just say “Ask BBC Sounds to play New Music Show”
SUNDAY 30 MARCH 2025
SUN 00:30 Through the Night (m0029899)
Bruckner and Adès from conductor Simon Rattle with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Adès's formidable one-movement symphony 'Aquifer' is followed by Bruckner's Fourth Symphony which the composer himself named the 'Romantic'. Jonathan Swain presents.
12:31 AM GMT
Thomas Adès (b.1971)
Aquifer
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle (conductor)
12:49 AM
Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Symphony no 4 in E flat major, 'Romantic'
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle (conductor)
01:49 AM
Felix Nowowiejski (1877-1946)
3 Songs from "The Bialowieza Forest folder", Op 56
Polish Radio Choir, Marek Kluza (conductor)
03:11 AM BST
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Fairy Tales, Op 132
Reto Bieri (clarinet), Eivind Holtsmark Ringstad (viola), Saskia Giorgini (piano)
03:27 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Concerto Grosso in F major, Op 6 no 2, HWV 320
European Union Baroque Orchestra, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)
03:39 AM
Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
Pavane & Forlane from Quelques danses for piano, Op 26 (1896)
Bengt-Ake Lundin (piano)
03:49 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Last Spring, Op 33 no 2
Camerata Bern, Thomas Furi (leader)
03:54 AM
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Laudate pueri (Psalm 113), SV 270
Collegium Vocale 1704, Collegium 1704, Vaclav Luks (conductor)
04:02 AM
Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003)
Sonatina for cello and piano
Andrei Ionita (cello), Lilit Grigoryan (piano)
04:13 AM
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Song to the Moon from Rusalka, Op 114
Yvonne Kenny (soprano), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Kamirski (conductor)
04:20 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Ballade for piano no 1 in G minor, Op 23
Zbigniew Raubo (piano)
04:31 AM
Anonymous
Middle Ages Suite
Bolette Roed (recorder), Alpha
04:40 AM
Cornelius Canis (1515-1561)
Tota pulchra es
Huelgas Ensemble, Paul van Nevel (conductor)
04:46 AM
Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)
Introduction and rondo capriccioso for violin and orchestra, Op 28
Moshe Hammer (violin), Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Kazuhiro Koizumi (conductor)
04:55 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Toccata in D major, BWV 912
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)
05:07 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), orch. Lennox Berkeley
Flute Sonata
Emmanuel Pahud (flute), Swiss Romande Orchestra, Enrique Garcia-Asensio (conductor)
05:20 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet no 50 in B flat major, Op 64 no 3 (Hob.III:67)
Talisker Quartet
05:41 AM
Nino Rota (1911-1979)
Piano Concerto in C major
Giuseppe Albanese (piano), WDR Radio Orchestra, Cologne, Giacomo Sagripanti (conductor)
06:08 AM
Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672)
Magnificat anima mea Dominum, SWV468
Cologne Chamber Chorus, Collegium Cartusianum, Peter Neumann (conductor)
06:18 AM
Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801), arr. Arthur Benjamin
Trumpet Concerto in C minor
Geoffrey Payne (trumpet), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Michael Halasz (conductor)
SUN 06:30 Breakfast (m0029880)
Boulez at 100
Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s classical breakfast show with music that captures the mood of Sunday morning. Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk
Including tributes to Pierre Boulez, as Radio 3 pays tribute to the influential French composer and conductor on his centenary.
To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Breakfast."
SUN 09:00 Sunday Morning (m0029882)
Boulez at 100: The Conductor
Sarah Walker with three hours of classical music celebrating the legacy of renowned French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez.
Today, Sarah looks at Pierre Boulez’s remarkable impact as a conductor, featuring a symphony by Mahler, a Shakespeare-inspired dance by Berlioz, a sparkling highlight from Stravinsky’s Firebird, and one of Ravel’s most beloved works.
Sarah also explores musicians who crossed paths with Boulez, showcasing performances from pianist Yvonne Loriod and her sister, ondes martenot player Jeanne Loriod, alongside a choral gem by Messiaen, and oboist Heinz Holliger performing a concerto by Marcello.
Plus, exclusive interviews with Kate Molleson, who travelled to Paris to uncover the story of Marigny Theatre, learn about the curious instrument that is the ondes martenot, and hear how pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet approaches Boulez’s music…
A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3
SUN 12:00 Private Passions (m0029884)
Boulez at 100: Gerard McBurney
As part of Radio 3's Boulez at 100 day celebrating the centenary of composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, Michael Berkeley's guest is someone who knew Boulez well - composer and musicologist Gerard McBurney.
McBurney is most closely associated with the music of Russian composers – particularly Shostakovich – as a result of having lived and studied in Russia in the 1980s. Notable Shostakovich scores he has rescued from oblivion with completions and orchestrations include the music-hall show Hypothetically Murdered and the opera Orango. He talks to Michael about life in Russia in the years immediately before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
His many other musical projects have included working on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s long-running dramatized discovery series Beyond the Score, on many of which he collaborated with Boulez - about whom McBurney has first-hand insightful stories to relate.
Producer: Graham Rogers
To listen to this programme on most smart speakers, say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Private Passions".
SUN 13:30 Music Map (m0029886)
Boulez at 100: A journey to Mémoriale
As part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the brilliant and influential French composer Pierre Boulez, Sara Mohr-Pietsch sets out on a musical sightseeing tour towards Boulez's compact, elegiac masterpiece Mémoriale. Music by Maurice Ravel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Edgar Varèse, Nadia Boulanger and Claude Debussy are among the stops on this special tour, paying homage to Boulez as both composer and conductor.
SUN 15:00 Radio 3 in Concert (m0029888)
Boulez at 100: Total Immersion - The Second Piano Sonata
Live from London's Milton Court, musicians from Guildhall School of Music & Drama perform music by Pierre Boulez as Radio 3 pays tribute to the influential composer and conductor.
Boulez’s shattering Second Piano Sonata, and two extraordinary works for solo clarinet, performed by the talented musicians of the Guildhall School and introduced by BBC Radio 3’s Kate Molleson. Pierre Boulez made art without compromise. 'History as it is made by great composers is not a history of conservation, but of destruction - even while cherishing what is destroyed', he wrote, and in his explosive Second Piano Sonata of 1947-8 he set out to blast a path forward through the ruins of the western tradition. Few experiences in 20th century piano music are more visceral – or more bracing. And we’ll hear Boulez explore the clarinet and the amazing things it can do in Domaines (1961) and Dialogue de l’ombre double for clarinet and tape (1985) – written 24 years later. Don’t be misled: this is music that’s small only in the physical sense; a thrilling reminder that as well as being a radical chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Boulez was a creator who split the musical atom - and revelled in the energy it released.
Pierre Boulez: Domaines for solo clarinet
Lily Payne (clarinet)
Pierre Boulez: Piano Sonata No 2
David Palmer (piano)
Pierre Boulez: Dialogue de l’ombre double for clarinet and tape
Benat Erro Diez (clarinet)
Part of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Total Immersion day at the Barbican, London.
SUN 16:15 Boulez at 100: The composer (m002988b)
Tom Service celebrates some of the key works from the Boulez catalogue, in a wide-ranging sequence of music spanning several decades, including the orchestral Notations (1978/1984/1997) based on his earlier set of pieces for piano; an excerpt from Repons (1981-84) in which Boulez fused instrumental sounds with electronics developed at the composer’s IRCAM research centre in Paris; we hear Le Soleil des eaux (1947-8/1958), an early example of his writing for voice and orchestra and interest in the poetry of René Char; Messagesquisse (1976) for solo cello and six cellos in a live recording made by Ensemble intercontemporain at the Paris Philharmonie in December; an excerpt from his iconic and influential Le Marteau sans maître (1955/1957); and finally, a complete broadcast of …explosante fixe… (1973/1993), a work which evolved and took on many different forms over the years, heard here in the final version for solo MIDI-flute with live electronics, two “shadow flutes” and ensemble.
Along the way we’ll hear from two of Boulez’s biographers: Caroline Potter whose book Organised Delirium looks at the influence of the surrealists on Boulez’s early work, and Christian Merlin on Boulez’s early interest in non-Western music, recorded in conversation with Kate Molleson at the Musée de l’Homme - one of her postcards from Paris featured throughout Radio 3's Boulez at 100.
SUN 18:15 Sunday Feature (m002988d)
Afterwords: Pierre Boulez at 100
The musician Pierre Boulez - one of the dominant composers of the 20th century and a deeply respected conductor - is perhaps most widely known for his iconoclastic utterances, suggesting we 'blow the opera houses up' and that 'all art of the past must be destroyed'.
In the week of what would have been his 100th birthday, figures who were close to him - the composer George Benjamin and the pianist Mitsuko Uchida - and others who have been touched by his thinking - Errollyn Wallen, Master of the King's Music, and Gillian Moore, former Director of Music at the Southbank Centre in London - engage with Boulez's creativity, his personality (an uncompromising, faultlessly charming manner) and his lasting legacy.
Produced by Alan Hall with Phoebe McIndoe
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three
SUN 19:00 Radio 3 in Concert (m002988g)
Boulez at 100: Total Immersion - Pli Selon Pli
Introduced by Kate Molleson. Live from the Barbican in London, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, pianist Tamara Stefanovich and soprano Anna Dennis perform landmark works by Pierre Boulez.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Total Immersion day-long deep-dive into the life and work of Pierre Boulez reaches a truly monumental climax. Across an evening that spans his whole creative career, pianist Tamara Stefanovich plays the brilliant Notations and Incises, and the BBC Singers join the BBC SO to perform the extraordinary, playful Cummings ist der Dichter.
And then soprano Anna Dennis joins an expanded BBC Symphony Orchestra for a rare complete performance of Boulez’s single largest work, his five-movement epic masterpiece, Pli selon Pli. Part Mallarmé song cycle, part self-portrait and part era-defining manifesto for the possibilities of musical modernism, every performance is a major occasion. Boulez himself recorded it with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, making it the perfect way for the orchestra to salute the 100th birthday of its most revolutionary chief conductor.
Boulez: Deux Études, musique concrète for tape
Boulez: 12 Notations
Boulez: Incises
Boulez: Cummings ist der Dichter
c.
7.45pm
During the interval, Kate is joined by Jonathan Cross and Gillian Moore to consider Boulez's legacy - a discussion recorded earlier in the day at the Barbican.
c.
8.15pm
Boulez: Pli selon pli
Tamara Stefanovich, piano
Anna Dennis, soprano
BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Singers
Martyn Brabbins, conductor
SUN 22:00 Compline (m002988j)
Lent 4
A reflective service of night prayer for Mothering Sunday. With words and music for the end of the day, including works by Tavener, Maggie Kaposamweo and Petra Bjorkhaug sung by the choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Introit: Mother of God, here I stand (Tavener)
Preces (Plainsong)
Hymn: Abide with me (Maggie Kaposamweo)
Psalm 4 (Plainsong)
Reading: John 19 vv25-27
Responsory: Into thy hands, O Lord (Plainsong)
Canticle: Nunc dimittis (Plainsong)
The Lord's Prayer (Lucy Walker)
Anthem: Mariavise (Petra Bjorkhaug)
Anna Lapwood (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Compline”.
SUN 22:30 Night Tracks (m002988l)
Dissolve into sound
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
SUN 23:30 Unclassified (m002988n)
Bonnie Prince Billy's Listening Chair
Elizabeth Alker welcomes Will Oldham, a.k.a Bonnie Prince Billy, to the Unclassified Listening Chair to share a track that transports him elsewhere. Will has been a giant of the alt-folk scene for the past thirty years, collaborating with scores of musicians of all different stripes along the way. His most recent album The Purple Bird was made in Nashville with legendary producer David ‘Ferg’ Ferguson. It mischievously and lovingly plays with traditional country tropes - but Will’s Listening Chair choice has much more of a stripped-back and semi-mystical Californian feel.
Elsewhere in the programme Elizabeth introduces the new single from Max Richter, music from Glasgow greats Mogwai, and the latest song from Kathryn Joseph.
Produced by Geoff Bird
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Unclassified”
MONDAY 31 MARCH 2025
MON 00:30 Through the Night (m002988q)
Sheherazade
Musikkollegium Winterthur performs versions of the Sheherazade story by Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov, along with Stravinsky's tribute to his teacher 'Rimsky' - his Chant funebre. Jonathan Swain presents.
12:31 AM
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Chant funèbre, Op 5
Musikkollegium Winterthur Orchestra, Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas (conductor)
12:42 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Shéhérazade - song cycle
Sophie Koch (soprano), Musikkollegium Winterthur Orchestra, Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas (conductor)
12:58 AM
Charles Koechlin (1867-1950)
Épiphanie, Op 17 no 3
Sophie Koch (soprano), Musikkollegium Winterthur Orchestra, Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas (conductor)
01:04 AM
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Scheherazade - symphonic suite, Op 35
Musikkollegium Winterthur Orchestra, Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas (conductor)
01:49 AM
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)
Sheherazade - no 1 of 'Masques' for piano, Op 34
Natalya Pasichnyk (piano)
01:58 AM
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Pulcinella, ballet suite
Bern Symphony Orchestra, Gemma New (conductor)
02:22 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Sonata for oboe and continuo, HWV.362
Louise Pellerin (oboe), Dom Andre Laberge (organ)
02:31 AM
Cornelis Dopper (1870-1939)
Symphony no 7 "Zuiderzee" (1917)
Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kees Bakels (conductor)
03:07 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
String Quartet in B flat major, K458, 'Hunt'
Quatuor Mosaiques
03:29 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Premiere rapsodie
Jozef Luptacik (clarinet), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ludovit Rajter (conductor)
03:38 AM
Camilla de Rossi (fl.1707-1710)
Duol sofferto per Amore' (excerpt Sant'Alessio)
Martin Oro (counter tenor), Musica Fiorita, Daniela Dolci (director)
03:44 AM
Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950)
Concertino for piano and chamber orchestra, Op 3 'en style ancien'
Horia Mihail (piano), Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, Horia Andreescu (conductor)
04:01 AM
Ruth Gipps (1921-1999)
Wind Octet, Op 65
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
04:12 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Symphony in E major, Op 10 no 1
La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider (conductor)
04:23 AM
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Legend in C major, Op 59 no 4
Bratislava Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stefan Robl (conductor)
04:31 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Rosamunde (Ballet Music no 2), D.797
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Heinz Holliger (conductor)
04:38 AM
Francesca Caccini (1587-1640)
Maria, dolce Maria - from Il primo libro delle musiche a una, e due voci
Tragicomedia, Stephen Stubbs (director), Suzie Le Blanc (soprano)
04:42 AM
Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
Concertino for clarinet and small orchestra in B flat major, Op 48 (BV 276)
Dancho Radevski (clarinet), Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Plamen Djurov (conductor)
04:54 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
3 Pieces from Slatter (Norwegian Peasant Dances), Op 72
Havard Gimse (piano)
05:03 AM
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899), arr. Arnold Schoenberg
Kaiser-Walzer Op 437 (1888)
Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Raffi Armenian (director)
05:15 AM
Luka Sorkocevic (1734-1789)
Overture in G major
Ulrike Neukamm (oboe), Salzburger Hofmusik, Wolfgang Brunner (director)
05:20 AM
Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672)
Vater Abraham, erbarme dich mein (SWV.477)
La Capella Ducale, Musica Fiata Koln, Roland Wilson (director)
05:34 AM
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)
Symphony no 2, Op 16, 'The Four Temperaments'
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ingar Bergby (conductor)
06:06 AM
Carl Reinecke (1824-1910)
Trio for oboe, horn and piano in A minor, Op 188
Maarten Karres (oboe), Jaap Prinsen (horn), Ariane Veelo-Karres (piano)
MON 06:30 Breakfast (m002989c)
Start the day with classical music
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's award-winning classical breakfast show with music that captures the mood of the morning, including BBC Radio 3’s 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century – a series of brand new commissions celebrating and commemorating some of the biggest events of the 21st century so far. This week, New Jersey based Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy remembers the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’, when pilot Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River. Hard Landing is recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Email your requests to 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk. To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Breakfast.”
MON 09:30 Essential Classics (m002989f)
Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.
1000 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.
1030 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.
1115 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.
1145 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.
1230 Album of the Week
To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”
MON 13:00 Classical Live (m002989h)
Romantic song live from London's Wigmore Hall
Elizabeth Alker showcases the best performances by BBC orchestras, choirs, ensembles and other great performing groups from Europe and around the globe.
We begin the programme with a live concert from London’s Wigmore Hall. Swedish soprano Johanna Wallroth joins pianist Michael Pandya, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, to explore the song writing brilliance of Clara Schumann, Pauline Viardot and Gunnar de Frumerie, alongside favourite songs by Schubert and Berlioz.
Elsewhere, Elizabeth begins a week-long celebration of music of Spain. The RTVE Symphony Orchestra feature Manuel de Falla at the ballet and also Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's powerful first piano concerto. Plus, music by Spanish Renaissance composer and organist, Antonio de Cabezón.
Elizabeth also has a spotlight on solo violin performers and violin sonatas throughout the week. Today, Elena Urioste stands alongside pianist Tom Poster to perform one of Mozart's final great masterpieces for the genre and violinist Naoka Aoki begins a survey of Eugène Ysaye's lyrical and virtuosic sonatas for violin alone.
***
Live from Wigmore Hall, introduced by Fiona Talkington.
Clara Schumann
6 Lieder aus Jucunde Op. 23: Geheimes Flüstern
Er ist gekommen Op. 12 No. 1
Warum willst du and're fragen Op. 12 No. 3
6 Lieder aus Jucunde Op. 23: Was weinst du Blümlein
Sie liebten sich beide Op. 13 No. 2
Ich hab' in deinem Auge Op. 13 No. 5
Franz Schubert
Rastlose Liebe D138
Die Rose D745
Seligkeit D433
Gunnar de Frumerie
Hjärtats Sånger Op. 27
Hector Berlioz
Les nuits d'été Op. 7: Villanelle
Le spectre de la rose
Pauline Viardot
Hai luli!
L'oiselet
Ici-bas tous les lilas meurent
Aime-moi
Johanna Wallroth (soprano)
Michael Pandya (piano)
***
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, op. 23
Josu de Solaun (piano)
RTVE Symphony Orchestra
Christoph König (conductor)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Violin Sonata in B flat major, K454
Elena Urioste (violin)
Tom Poster (piano)
Manuel de Falla
El Sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat)
RTVE Symphony Orchestra
Christoph König (conductor)
Carles Blanch
Tarantelas y canarios
Fahmi Alqhai (viola da gamba)
Rami Alqhai (viola da gamba)
Carles Blanch (guitar)
Accademia del Piacere
Maurice Ravel
Alborada del Gracioso
Danish RSO
Lorenzo Biotti (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live."
MON 16:00 Composer of the Week (m001h57h)
Mel Bonis (1858-1937)
The turning point
Donald Macleod surveys the life of nineteenth century French composer Mel Bonis, with a focus today on two dates, both of which would mark significant events, 1881 and 1883.
Mel Bonis's name may not be a familiar one these days, but she produced somewhere in the region of three hundred compositions. There's no doubt that she was sensitive to gender discrimination. It's why she chose to publish her music under the name of Mel rather than her birth name Mélanie.
She was born in 1858 to parents of modest means. Her father worked for the watch company Breguet, still in business today, and her mother worked in the haberdashery trade. Neither of them held any particular interest in music, so it was down to young Mélanie to teach herself the play the family's piano. Her talent was recognised by a visiting friend who facilitated a meeting with one of the leading lights of the day, César Franck, an esteemed professor of organ at Paris's prestigious Conservatoire. Mélanie enrolled and showed great promise as a student, winning several end of year prizes. Her studies came to an abrupt end when her parents refused to give their consent to her marriage to a fellow student there, a poet, critic and singer, Amédée Hettich. Her life took a sharp turn two years later when, at the instigation of her parents, she married a twice widowed man of comfortable means. Thereafter her life as a composer had to take a back seat to the demands of raising five step-children and three of her own children with her husband, Albert Domange. Even so, she managed to continue to compose, producing music for her own instrument, the piano, and in almost every other genre as well.
Today Donald Macleod considers the means Mel Bonis had at her disposal to further her musical ambitions.
Étiolles, Op 2
Mariam Barbaux-Cohen, piano
Ophélie, Op 165
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Rumon Gamba, conductor
Piano Quartet No 1 in B flat major, Op 69 - II. Intermezzo. Allegretto tranquillo
Mozart Piano Quartet
Impromptu pour piano, Op 1
Laurent Martin, piano
5 pièces pour piano
No 1: Gai Printemps, Op 11
No 2: Romance sans paroles, Op 29
No 3: Menuet, Op 14
No 4: Églogue, Op 12
No 5: Papillons, Op 28
Diana Sahakyan, piano
Cello sonata in F major, Op 67 – III. Très lent
Thomas Blees, cello
Maria Bergmann, piano
Fantaisie, Op 72 "Septuor"
Tatjana Ruhland, flute
Florian Wiek, piano
Members of Stuttgart Royal Symphony Orchestra
Produced by Johanna Smith for BBC Audio Cardiff
MON 17:00 In Tune (m002989l)
Live classical music for your drive
Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.
MON 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m001nnt1)
Classical music for your journey
Wind down to half and hour of back to back classical music, including a seductive Habanera from Ravel, delicious choral harmonies from Poulenc, swaying, graceful symphonic writing from Dvorak, and one of J.S. Bach's most beautiful concerto movements. All that and a popular computer gaming score from Jeremy Soule.
Producer: Helen Garrison
MON 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002989p)
Bruce Liu performs Rachmaninov
Bruce Liu joins the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, along with music by two emigrée composers, Korngold and Bartók.
Recorded a fortnight ago at the Royal Festival Hall, presented by Ian Skelly.
Korngold: The Sea Hawk extracts (Main Theme, Reunion The Albatross, Farewell)
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Interval music
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Bruce Liu (piano)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko (conductor)
Rachmaninov’s world was turned completely upside down by the Great War. Severed from his roots, he fled Russia and began a career as a globetrotting pianist. His devilish set of variations, performed here by Bruce Liu – winner of the 2021 International Chopin Competition – embodies this nomadic life: written in Switzerland, premiered in America, based on a tune by Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini and infused with Rachmaninov’s own Russian style. Composers Erich Korngold and Béla Bartók were also forced by politics to leave their homes: both fled from fascism to the New World, and Korngold’s swashbuckling film score is practically a hymn to freedom. Bartók’s spectacular Concerto for Orchestra, meanwhile, is more than just a multi-coloured showcase, it’s a struggle between darkness and light, crowned by a mighty shout of joy.
MON 21:45 The Essay (m002989r)
New Generation Thinkers 2024
Land Cinema
If cinema is often associated with Hollywood or the European New Wave, since the 1970s activist-filmmakers around the world have been involving local people in telling their own stories. Co-creating films about land rights, food security, and pollution, these filmmakers pioneered what Becca Voelcker calls Land Cinema. In her essay, she shares examples made by Zhang Mengqi, Tsuchimoto Noriaki, Ogawa Productions and Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien
Dr Becca Voelcker is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio.
At Goldsmiths, University of London she lectures on art, film and visual culture, particularly in relation to politics and ecology; and has written for publications including Screen, Frieze and Sight & Sound.
Producer: Erin Downes
MON 22:00 Night Tracks (m002989t)
Music for the still of night
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
MON 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002989w)
Alison Rayner’s Flowers
‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.
From Monday to Thursday this week, award-winning British bassist and bandleader Alison Rayner is Soweto’s Flowers guest. As well as working with Deirdre Cartwright, Chris Hodgkins, and Carol Grimes to name a few, Alison helms the critically acclaimed jazz quintet ARQ. They released their latest album SEMA4 in March 2025.
Alison will be sharing some of the artists and living legends that have influenced her. To begin her week of selections, Alison chooses an album in homage to a double bass great.
Plus there’s music from Marshall Allen, Emma-Jean Thackray, and Olivia Murphy.
TUESDAY 01 APRIL 2025
TUE 00:30 Through the Night (m002989y)
Beethoven and Schumann in Switzerland
Truls Mørk is the soloist in Schumann's Cello Concerto, with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, followed by Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony. Jonathan Swain presents.
12:31 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Cello Concerto in A minor, Op 129
Truls Mork (cello), Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, David Afkham (conductor)
12:56 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sarabande, from Cello Suite no 2 in D minor, BWV.1008
Truls Mork (cello)
01:01 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony no 6 in F major, Op 68 'Pastoral'
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, David Afkham (conductor)
01:44 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata no 17 in D major, D.850
Francesco Piemontesi (piano)
02:23 AM
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)
String Quartet no 7 in F sharp minor, Op 108 (3rd movement: Allegro)
Quartett Ventira
02:31 AM
Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999)
Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra
Lukasz Kuropaczewski (guitar), Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jose Maria Florencio (conductor)
02:54 AM
Anonymous
Lauda Jerusalem (Psalm)
Claire Lefilliatre (soprano), Marnix De Cat (alto), Han Warmelinck (tenor), Currende, Erik van Nevel (director)
03:14 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Fantasia in G major BWV.572 for organ
Tomas Thon (organ)
03:22 AM
Joseph Touchemoulin (1727-1801)
Sinfonia in B flat major
Neue Dusseldorfer Hofmusik
03:37 AM
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
La chapelle de Guillaume Tell, S.160
Matti Raekallio (piano)
03:42 AM
Arthur Butterworth (1923-2014)
Romanza for horn and strings
Martin Hackleman (horn), CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
03:52 AM
George Frideric Handel, arr. Johan Halvorsen
Passacaglia in G minor arr. Halvorsen for violin and cello
Dong-Ho An (violin), Hee-Song Song (cello)
04:01 AM
Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)
Vltava (Moldau) from 'Ma Vlast'
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox (conductor)
04:14 AM
Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921)
De klare dag - song
Christoph Pregardien (tenor), Rudolf Jansen (piano)
04:20 AM
Richard Addinsell (1904-1977)
Warsaw concerto for piano and orchestra
Patrik Jablonski (piano), Polish Radio Orchestra, Wojciech Rajski (conductor)
04:31 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata for flute, violin and continuo in G major, BWV.1038
Musica Petropolitana
04:39 AM
Gabriel Faure (1845 - 1924)
Nocturne no 12 in E minor, Op 107
Stephane Lemelin (piano)
04:45 AM
Armas Jarnefelt (1869-1968)
Music to 'The Promised Land'
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ilpo Mansnerus (conductor)
04:58 AM
Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682)
Fulmini quanto sa for voice and accompaniment
Emma Kirkby (soprano), David Thomas (bass), Alan Wilson (harpsichord), Jakob Lindberg (lute), Anthony Rooley (lute)
05:04 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
String Quartet no 4 in C major, K.157
Harmonie Universelle
05:19 AM
Cesar Franck (1822-1890)
Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, M.21
Robert Silverman (piano)
05:40 AM
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Vodnik - The Water Goblin, Op 107
BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)
06:01 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Three Psalms, Op 78
Chamber Choir AVE, Andraz Hauptman (conductor)
06:21 AM
Andrea Falconieri (c.1585-1656),Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665)
Battalia de Barabaso yerno de Satanas; Sentirete una canzonetta
Jan Van Elsacker (tenor), United Continuo Ensemble
TUE 06:30 Breakfast (m00298br)
Morning classical
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's award-winning classical breakfast show with music that captures the mood of the morning. Email your requests to 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk. To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Breakfast.”
TUE 09:30 Essential Classics (m00298bt)
Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.
1000 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.
1030 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.
1115 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.
1145 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.
1230 Album of the Week
To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”
TUE 13:00 Classical Live (m00298bw)
Zemlinsky's The Little Mermaid from Spain
Elizabeth Alker showcases the best performances by BBC orchestras, choirs, ensembles and other great performing groups from Europe and around the globe.
This week on Classical Live, there will be a celebration of Spanish music. At the beginning of the programme, a performance of Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole. Elizabeth's centrepiece is Alexander Zemlinsky's The Little Mermaid, inspired by the famous story by Hans Christian Andersen and performed by the RTVE Symphony Orchestra. To end the programme, Manuel de Falla's evocative recollection of the nocturnal atmosphere of the Alhambra Palace and beyond in Nights in the Gardens of Spain.
Elizabeth also has a spotlight on violin sonatas throughout the week. Today, violinist Ana María Valderrama and pianist David Kadouch perform Francis Poulenc and Reynaldo Hahn; and there's another chance to catch this week's featured new composition in the Radio 3 series marking key historical events from the first twenty-five years of the century
Igor Stravinsky
Suite Italienne
Santiago Canon-Valencia (cello)
Naoko Sonoda (piano)
Maurice Ravel
Rapsodie espagnole
Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Elena Schwarz (conductor)
Federico García Lorca
Excerpts, from 'Spanish Folksongs'
María Valderrama (violin)
David Kadouch (piano)
Francis Poulenc
Violin Sonata, FP 119
Ana María Valderrama, (violin)
David Kadouch (piano)
Radio 3's 25 for 25: 2009
Donnacha Dennehy
Hard Landing
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Alexander von Zemlinsky
The Little Mermaid, fantasy after Andersen
RTVE Symphony Orchestra
Andrey Boreyko (conductor)
Reynaldo Hahn
Violin Sonata in C
Ana María Valderrama (violin)
David Kadouch (piano)
Manuel de Falla
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra
Josep Pons (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live”
TUE 16:00 Composer of the Week (m001h5cc)
Mel Bonis (1858-1937)
The learning years
Donald Macleod explores Mel Bonis's years of training at the Paris Conservatoire, where she rubbed shoulders with the likes of Debussy, and attended César Franck's organ classes.
Mel Bonis's name may not be a familiar one these days, but she produced somewhere in the region of three hundred compositions. There's no doubt that she was sensitive to gender discrimination. It's why she chose to publish her music under the name of Mel rather than her birth name Mélanie.
She was born in 1858 to parents of modest means. Her father worked for the watch company Breguet, still in business today, and her mother worked in the haberdashery trade. Neither of them held any particular interest in music, so it was down to young Mélanie to teach herself the play the family's piano. Her talent was recognised by a visiting friend who facilitated a meeting with one of the leading lights of the day, César Franck, an esteemed professor of organ at Paris's prestigious Conservatoire. Mélanie enrolled and showed great promise as a student, winning several end of year prizes. Her studies came to an abrupt end when her parents refused to give their consent to her marriage to a fellow student there, a poet, critic and singer, Amédée Hettich. Her life took a sharp turn two years later when, at the instigation of her parents, she married a twice widowed man of comfortable means. Thereafter her life as a composer had to take a back seat to the demands of raising five step-children and three of her own children with her husband, Albert Domange. Even so, she managed to continue to compose, producing music for her own instrument, the piano, and in almost every other genre as well.
Mel Bonis was just nineteen when she entered Paris's famous musical establishment. Her years of study there gave her access to a superior level of training in piano, harmony and accompaniment.
Près de ruisseau, Op 9
Myriam Barbaux-Cohen, piano
Pensées d’automne
Myriam Barbaux-Cohen, piano
Piano Quartet No 1, Op 69 – I. Moderato and IV. Final. Allegro ma non troppo
Mozart Piano Quartet
Villanelle, Op 4
Dès l’aube, Op 18
Valérie Gabail, soprano
Eric Cerantola, piano
Marionnettes, Op 42
Maria Stembolskaya, piano
Sonata for Flute and Piano
Maria Cecilia Muñez, flute
Tiffany Butt, piano
Suite Orientale, Op 48 No 2
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Rumon Gamba, conductor
Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Audio Cardiff
TUE 17:00 In Tune (m00298bz)
Classical artists live in the studio
Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.
TUE 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m00298c1)
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.
TUE 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m00298c3)
The BBC Philharmonic in Sibelius and Beethoven
The Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, John Storgårds, opens tonight's programme with music dedicated to him by Per Nørgård. A mind-bending kaleidoscope of sound; glitter and jazz with a backward glance to Sibelius.
Paul Lewis joins the orchestra for Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, the 'Emperor'; a chance to hear one of the best-loved concertos of all in the hands of one of the world's greatest performers of the music.
Unstoppable energy launches Sibelius's Third Symphony and an optimistic choral-like finale brings the work to a conclusion. Poised between them, the central movement embraces us in haunting melody and hypnotic lilting rhythm - music that gently tugs at the heart-strings, once heard never forgotten.
Recorded at the Bridgewater Hall on 22 March 2025
Presented by Tom McKinney
Per Nørgård; Symphony No.8
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 'Emperor'
8.30 Interval
Sibelius: Symphony No.3
Paul Lewis (piano)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgårds (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".
TUE 21:45 The Essay (m00298c5)
New Generation Thinkers 2024
Mothers on trial
Having worked as a criminal and family barrister, Shona Minson has seen the effect on women and their children when a mother is sentenced to prison for committing a crime. Her essay considers the 1989 Children Act and what she sees as contradictory approaches to motherhood in British law.
Dr Shona Minson is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio.
She is based at the University of Oxford, has researched the sentencing of women and has written a book Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child. She has also been appointed to the newly created government advisory body the Women’s Justice Board.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
TUE 22:00 Night Tracks (m00298c9)
Immersive music for after-hours
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
TUE 23:30 'Round Midnight (m00298cf)
‘Round Midnight at 1 Year
‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.
Tonight, UK bassist and ARQ bandleader Alison Rayner returns to give out her second bouquet of Flowers, and this time it's the turn of American drummer and member of ARTEMIS, Allison Miller.
Plus, music from Zola Marcelle, Ashley Henry, and Flora Purim.
WEDNESDAY 02 APRIL 2025
WED 00:30 Through the Night (m00298ck)
Italian choral music from Renaissance to Baroque
Berlin Cathedral resonates with the sound of forty voices in Alessandro Striggio's motet Ecce beata lucem, as well as works by other Italian musicians including Gabrieli, Caccini and Benevoli. Robert Hollingworth directs the RIAS Chamber Chorus, Berlin with the instrumental ensemble Capella de la Torre. Jonathan Swain presents.
12:31 AM
Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612)
Magnificat à 14
Joachim Burhmann (tenor), Andrew Redmond (baritone), RIAS Chamber Chorus, Berlin, Capella de la Torre, Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
12:38 AM
Orazio Benevoli (1605-1672)
Kyrie And Gloria From Missa Si Deus pro nobis à16
RIAS Chamber Chorus, Berlin, Capella de la Torre, Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
12:56 AM
Francesco Usper (1560-1641)
Sonata à 8
Capella de la Torre, Katharina Bauml (conductor)
01:00 AM
Orazio Benevoli (1605-1672)
Credo From Missa Si Deus pro nobis à16
RIAS Chamber Chorus, Berlin, Capella de la Torre, Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
01:14 AM
Alessandro Grandi (1586-1630)
Plorabo die ac nocte
Julienne Mbodje (alto), Minsub Hong (tenor), Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
01:20 AM
Francesca Caccini (1587-1640)
Sinfonia / Bergamesca
Capella de la Torre, Katharina Bauml (conductor)
01:25 AM
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Ave Maris Stella
RIAS Chamber Chorus, Berlin, Capella de la Torre, Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
01:35 AM
Orazio Benevoli (1605-1672)
Sanctus And Agnus Dei From Missa Si Deus pro nobis à16
RIAS Chamber Chorus, Berlin, Capella de la Torre, Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
01:40 AM
Maurizio Cazzati (1616-1678)
Passacaglia
Capella de la Torre, Katharina Bauml (conductor)
01:45 AM
Alessandro Striggio (c.1573-1630)
Ecce beata lucem
RIAS Chamber Chorus, Berlin, Capella de la Torre, Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
01:53 AM
Vincenzo Petrali (1832-1889)
Organ Sonata per flauto
Cor van Wageningen (organ)
01:58 AM
Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Symphony No 7 in C sharp minor, Op 131
Orchestre Metropolitain, Agnes Grossmann (conductor)
02:31 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Quintet in D major for clarinet, horn, violin, cello and piano
Stephan Siegenthaler (clarinet), Thomas Muller (horn), Matthias Enderle (violin), Patrick Demenga (cello), Hiroko Sakagami (piano)
02:57 AM
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Requiem
Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh (director)
03:19 AM
Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
Partita for orchestra
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jan Krenz (conductor)
03:33 AM
Felipe Lluch (c.1700-c.1750)
Flute Sonata in D major
La Guirlande
03:46 AM
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Tatyana's Letter Scene from the opera "Eugene Onegin" (Act I Scene 2)
Joanne Kolomyjec (soprano), Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
03:59 AM
Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745-1818)
String Quartet no 1 in E flat major, Op 3
Eos Quartet
04:09 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Good Friday music from 'Parsifal'
Felix Mottl (piano)
04:19 AM
Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745)
E voi siete d'altri, o labra soavi, ZWV 176
Delphine Galou (contralto), Les Ambassadeurs, Alexis Kossenko (director)
04:31 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Syrinx for solo flute
Ivica Gabrisova-Encingerova (flute)
04:33 AM
Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
3 Pieces for cello and piano
Zoltan Despond (cello), Vesselin Stanev (piano)
04:41 AM
Ruth Gipps (1921-1999)
Jane Grey Fantasy, Op 15
Scott Dickinson (viola), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Teresa Riveiro Bohm (conductor)
04:52 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (no 6 from Lyric pieces, Op 65)
Valerie Tryon (piano)
05:00 AM
William Byrd (1543-1623)
Content is rich
Emma Kirkby (soprano), Rose Consort of Viols
05:04 AM
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
8 Instrumental miniatures for 15 instruments
Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Raffi Armenian (director)
05:12 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony no 4 in D major, H.1.4
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ondrej Lenard (conductor)
05:23 AM
Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
5 Pieces for string quartet
Signum Quartet
05:37 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Concerto in A minor for Recorder, Viola da Gamba, Strings and Continuo
La Stagione Frankfurt
05:52 AM
Steve Reich (b.1936)
Eight Lines
Ricercata Ensemble, Ivan Siller (piano), Fero Kiraly (piano), Jan Kruzliak (violin), Daniel Herich (violin), Peter Dvorsky (viola), Branislav Beilik (cello)
06:10 AM
Susan Spain-Dunk (1880-1962)
Stonehenge
BBC Concert Orchestra, Anna-Maria Helsing (conductor)
WED 06:30 Breakfast (m00298b0)
Ease into the day with classical music
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's award-winning classical breakfast show with music that captures the mood of the morning. Email your requests to 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk. To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Breakfast.”
WED 09:30 Essential Classics (m00298b2)
Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.
1000 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.
1030 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.
1115 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.
1145 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.
1230 Album of the Week
To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”
WED 13:00 Classical Live (m00298b4)
A Spanish celebration featuring Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez
Elizabeth Alker showcases the best performances by BBC orchestras, choirs, ensembles and other great performing groups from Europe and around the globe.
This week on Classical Live, there will be a celebration of Spanish music. Rodrigo's popular Concierto de Aranjuez performed by guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas sits at the heart of today's programme alongside music by another great Spanish figure, Roberto Gerhard, performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Also in the programme, 17th century Spanish music by José Castel.
Elizabeth also has a spotlight on violin sonatas throughout the week. Today, violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Kiveli Dorken open the programme with Cesar Franck's Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano, one of the most outstanding sonatas in the violin repertory and violinist Naoka Aoki continues her survey of Eugène Ysaye's monumental sonatas for solo violin.
Cesar Franck
Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano
Christian Tetzlaff (violin)
Kiveli Dorken (piano)
Roberto Gerhard
Pedrelliana
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena (conductor)
Gaspar Sanz
Marizapalos et Fandangos
Fahmi Alqhai (viola da gamba)
Rami Alqhai (viola da gamba)
Carles Blanch (guitar)
Accademia del Piacere
Joaquin Rodrigo
Concierto de Aranjuez
Pablo Sáinz-Villegas (guitar)
Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra
Alondra de la Parra (conductor)
Eugène Ysaye
6 Sonatas for Violin Solo Op. 27 No. 4 in E minor
Naoka Aoki (violin)
José Castel
String Trio No. 3 in E flat
Concerto 1700
José Castel
Minuetto, from 'String Trio No. 2 in F'
Concerto 1700
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live”
WED 15:00 Choral Evensong (m00298b6)
Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
From the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick.
Introit: Remember not, Lord (Purcell)
Responses: Shephard
Psalm 119 vv33-56 (Armes, Clucas, Woodward)
First Lesson: Jeremiah 13 vv20-27
Office hymn: Lord, thy word abideth (Ravenshaw)
Canticles: Howells in B minor
Second Lesson: 1 Peter 1 v17 – 2 v3
Anthem: O Lord, rebuke me not (Byrd)
Hymn: Jesu, lover of my soul (Aberystwyth)
Voluntary: Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 741 (Bach)
Oliver Hancock (Director of Music)
Mark Swinton (Assistant Director of Music)
Recorded 26 March.
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong”.
WED 16:00 Composer of the Week (m001h5st)
Mel Bonis (1858-1937)
An Affair of the Heart
Donald Macleod recounts how and why Mel Bonis came to find her musical training at an abrupt end. It was a circumstance that irrevocably changed the course of her life.
Mel Bonis's name may not be a familiar one these days, but she produced somewhere in the region of three hundred compositions. There's no doubt that she was sensitive to gender discrimination. It's why she chose to publish her music under the name of Mel rather than her birth name Mélanie.
She was born in 1858 to parents of modest means. Her father worked for the watch company Breguet, still in business today, and her mother worked in the haberdashery trade. Neither of them held any particular interest in music, so it was down to young Mélanie to teach herself the play the family's piano. Her talent was recognised by a visiting friend who facilitated a meeting with one of the leading lights of the day, César Franck, an esteemed professor of organ at Paris's prestigious Conservatoire. Mélanie enrolled and showed great promise as a student, winning several end of year prizes. Her studies came to an abrupt end when her parents refused to give their consent to her marriage to a fellow student there, a poet, critic and singer, Amédée Hettich. Her life took a sharp turn two years later when, at the instigation of her parents, she married a twice widowed man of comfortable means. Thereafter her life as a composer had to take a back seat to the demands of raising five step-children and three of her own children with her husband, Albert Domange. Even so, she managed to continue to compose, producing music for her own instrument, the piano, and in almost every other genre as well.
One of the most important relationships of Mel Bonis's life was with Amédée Hettich. Originally a fellow student, the pair of them collaborated on song writing projects.
Valses-caprice, Op 87
Laurent Martin and Claudine Simon, piano four hands
Elève toi mon âme
Laetitia Grimaldi, soprano
Ammiel Bushakevitz, piano
L’Oiseau Bleu, Op 74
BBC Singers
Elizabeth Burgess, piano
Grace Rossiter, conductor
Cello sonata in F major, Op 67 – I. Moderato quasi andante
Thomas Blees, cello
Maria Bergmann, piano
Suite en forme de valses, Op 35 to 39
The Bucharest Symphony Orchestra
Benôit Fromanger, conductor
La chanson de Rouet, Op 24
Carillon mystique, Op 31
Maria Stembolskaya, piano
Les Gitanos, Op 15 No 2
Laurent Martin, piano
Suite en Trio, Op 59
Trio Empreinte
Clara Abou, violin
Émilie Heurtevent, soprano saxophone
Anne de Fornel, piano
Salomé, Op 100
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Rumon Gamba, conductor
Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Audio Cardiff
WED 17:00 In Tune (m00298b9)
Live music and chat with classical artists
Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.
WED 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m00298bc)
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.
WED 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m00298bf)
The London Philharmonic performs Prokofiev and Mussorgsky
Vladimir Jurowski conducts the LPO in a programme of uncompromising emotional power, with music by Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, and the Ukrainian composer Borys Liatoshynsky's Third Symphony.
Presented live from the Royal Festival Hall, presented by Martin Handley.
Prokofiev: Selection from Semyon Kotko
Mussorgsky arr. Denisov: Songs and Dances of Death
Interval music
Liatoshynsky: Symphony No 3
Matthew Rose (bass)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski (conductor)
Vladimir Jurowski conducts a programme of uncompromising emotional power. ‘Peace Shall Defeat War’ wrote Borys Liatoshynsky on the score of his Third Symphony, and the message of this great 20th-century Ukrainian composer has never felt more urgent or compelling. LPO Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski believes passionately that it needs to be heard, and you’ll be gripped by its epic sweep and uncompromising emotional power. Jurowski has paired it with music from Prokofiev’s operatic tale of Ukrainian struggle, and Mussorgsky’s pitch-black, darkly comic songs – perfect for a singer as dramatic and as characterful as the British bass Matthew Rose.
WED 21:45 The Essay (m00298bh)
New Generation Thinkers 2024
The crime of creation
The Japanese philosopher Yujin Nagasawa says the majority of people are what he calls ‘existential optimists’. What does this mean for ideas about evil and the creation of life? Jack Symes’ essay takes us through the views of thinkers including Schopenhauer, Stephen Law and Camus.
Jack Symes is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. He is based at Durham University. His books include Philosophers on Consciousness: Talking about the Mind and Talking about Existence and Defeating the Evil-God Challenge and he is working on a book about morality.
Producer: Luke Mulhall
WED 22:00 Night Tracks (m00298bk)
Reflective music for the day’s end
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
WED 23:30 'Round Midnight (m00298bm)
One from Vibration Black Finger
‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.
On tonight’s programme, Alison Rayner has another bunch of flowers to give to an artist she admires – fellow prominent UK bandleader, the pianist and composer Nikki Iles.
Plus, music from And Is Phi, Anthony Joseph, and Naoya Matsuoka.
THURSDAY 03 APRIL 2025
THU 00:30 Through the Night (m00298bp)
Schumann and Haydn from Bucharest
Cellist Razvan Suma joins the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra and conductor Noam Zur in Haydn's cello concerto no 1 plus music by Schumann and Haydn's Symphony no 82 "The Bear'. Jonathan Swain presents.
12:31 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op 52
Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, Noam Zur (conductor)
12:50 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Cello Concerto no 1 in C major, Hob. VIIb:1
Razvan Suma (cello), Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, Noam Zur (conductor)
01:13 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 - Sarabande
Razvan Suma (cello)
01:15 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No 82 in C major, Hob. I:82 'The Bear'
Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, Noam Zur (conductor)
01:39 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata for oboe and keyboard, BWV.1030
Douglas Boyd (oboe), Knut Johannessen (harpsichord)
01:55 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Kreisleriana, Op 16
Jakub Kuszlik (piano)
02:31 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Violin Sonata in A major, Op 47 'Kreutzer'
Geir Inge Lotsberg (violin), Einar Steen-Nokleberg (piano)
03:08 AM
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)
Variaciones concertantes, Op 23
Bern Chamber Orchestra, Kaspar Zehnder (conductor)
03:33 AM
Jan van Gilse (1881-1944)
Trio for flute, violin and viola
Viotta Ensemble
03:47 AM
Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)
Loquebantur variis linguis for 7 voices
BBC Singers, Bo Holten (director)
03:52 AM
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Giovanna d'Arco - Sinfonia
Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Richard Bradshaw (conductor)
04:00 AM
Traditional, arr. Narciso Yepes
Romanza for guitar
Stepan Rak (guitar)
04:06 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Adagio and fugue for strings in C minor, K.546
Risor Festival Strings
04:14 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Barcarolle, Op 60
Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
04:23 AM
Luka Sorkocevic (1734-1789)
Sinfonie in D major
Salzburger Hofmusik, Wolfgang Brunner (organ), Wolfgang Brunner (director)
04:31 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Petite Suite
Royal Academy of Music Brass Soloists
04:39 AM
Othmar Schoeck (1886 - 1957)
Zwei Klavierstucke, Op 29
Desmond Wright (piano)
04:46 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Laudate Pueri - motet, Op 39 no 2
Polyphonia, Ivelina Ivancheva (piano), Ivelin Dimitrov (conductor)
04:56 AM
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Concertino in E flat, Op 26
Arthur Stockel (clarinet), Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, Pawel Kapula (conductor)
05:06 AM
Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824)
Duo concertante in D minor
Alexandar Avramov (violin), Ivan Peev (violin)
05:15 AM
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Recorder Concerto in A minor
Leonard Schelb (recorder), Raphael Alpermann (harpsichord), Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck (conductor)
05:24 AM
Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Te Deum in C
Kelly Nassief (soprano), Sylvie Sulle (mezzo soprano), Kim Begley (tenor), Jerome Correas (baritone), Radio France Chorus, Lubomir Matl (director), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Gunther Herbig (conductor)
05:48 AM
William Byrd (1543-1623)
Pavan and galliard for keyboard in G major, MB.
28.70 'Quadran'
Aapo Hakkinen (harpsichord)
06:02 AM
Carl Fruhling (1868-1937)
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano, Op 40
Amici Chamber Ensemble
THU 06:30 Breakfast (m00298ds)
Sunrise classical
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's award-winning classical breakfast show with music that captures the mood of the morning. Email your requests to 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk. To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Breakfast.”
THU 09:30 Essential Classics (m00298dv)
Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.
1000 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.
1030 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.
1115 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.
1145 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.
1230 Album of the Week
To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”
THU 13:00 Classical Live (m00298dx)
Live performance from the BBC Concert Orchestra
Elizabeth Alker showcases the best performances by BBC orchestras, choirs, ensembles and other great performing groups from Europe and around the globe.
This week on Classical Live, there is a celebration of Spanish music. Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo with the famous 'Ritual Fire Dance' is performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra alongside music by Spanish baroque composer, Gaspar Sanz; and the BBC Concert Orchestra perform live for the programme from London's Alexandra Palace with a programme of music from and about Spain, including Joaquín Rodrigo's Fantasía para un gentilhombre with guitarist Craig Ogden.
Elizabeth is also putting the spotlight on violinists and violin sonatas throughout the week. Today the American virtuoso Kevin Zhu and pianist Elisa Tomellini perform the violin sonata by Richard Strauss; and Naoka Aoki continues her journey through Eugène Ysaye's demanding sonatas for solo violin with a performance of two of the best known from the set.
Manuel Falla
El Amor Brujo
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Francisco Coll (conductor)
Eugène Ysaye
Sonata for Solo Violin in A minor, Op. 27/2
Naoka Aoki (violin)
José Castel
String Trio No. 4 in G minor
Sei Trio a Duo Violini é Basso
Concerto 1700
Richard Strauss
Violin Sonata in E flat, Op. 18
Kevin Zhu (violin)
Elisa Tomellini (piano)
***
BBC Concert Orchestra LIVE from Alexandra Palace, London:
Georges Bizet
Carmen Suite No. 1
Joaquín Rodrigo
Fantasía para un gentilhombre (with Craig Ogden)
Enrique Fernández Arbós
Petite suite espagnole, Op.4
Craig Ogden (guitar)
BBC Concert Orchestra
George Jackson (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live”
THU 16:00 Composer of the Week (m001h693)
Mel Bonis (1858-1937)
Heartache in war-time
Donald Macleod considers why the Great War was especially difficult for Mel Bonis and how she expressed her emotional state through her music.
Mel Bonis's name may not be a familiar one these days, but she produced somewhere in the region of three hundred compositions. There's no doubt that she was sensitive to gender discrimination. It's why she chose to publish her music under the name of Mel rather than her birth name Mélanie.
She was born in 1858 to parents of modest means. Her father worked for the watch company Breguet, still in business today, and her mother worked in the haberdashery trade. Neither of them held any particular interest in music, so it was down to young Mélanie to teach herself the play the family's piano. Her talent was recognised by a visiting friend who facilitated a meeting with one of the leading lights of the day, César Franck, an esteemed professor of organ at Paris's prestigious Conservatoire. Mélanie enrolled and showed great promise as a student, winning several end of year prizes. Her studies came to an abrupt end when her parents refused to give their consent to her marriage to a fellow student there, a poet, critic and singer, Amédée Hettich. Her life took a sharp turn two years later when, at the instigation of her parents, she married a twice widowed man of comfortable means. Thereafter her life as a composer had to take a back seat to the demands of raising five step-children and three of her own children with her husband, Albert Domange. Even so, she managed to continue to compose, producing music for her own instrument, the piano, and in almost every other genre as well.
During the war Mel Bonis was profoundly affected by news from the frontline. Two of her sons were in the army, and then the bombing of Paris cast a light on the circumstances surrounding Mel Bonis's illegitimate daughter.
Mazurka-ballet, Op 181
Laurent Martin, piano
Trois melodies, Op 91
Hélène Guilmette, soprano
Martin Dubé, piano
Soir et Matin, Op 76
Mozart Piano Quartet
Scènes de la Forêt
Diana Ambache, piano
Richard Dilley, horn
Anthony Robb, flute
La Cathédrale Blessée, Op 107
Myriam Barbaux-Cohen, piano
Sonate pour violon et piano, Opus 112 – IV. Finale
Francine Trachier, violin
Françoise Tillard, piano
Produced by Johanna Smith for BBC Audio Cardiff
THU 17:00 In Tune (m00298f0)
Ease into your evening with classical music
Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.
THU 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m00298f2)
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music, including music by Saint-Saëns, Coleridge-Taylor and Louis Spohr.
THU 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m00298f4)
Pulcinella and Puccini
Live from the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Presented by Mark Forrest
Nil Venditti joins the BBC Philharmonic, bringing with her a feast of Italian music. The programme opens with the sparkling overture to Rossini's opera 'The Thieving Magpie' and the luxurious silken warmth of Mascagni's Intermezzo from 'Cavalleria rusticana' follows. Shakespeare provides the inspiration for music from Verdi's 'Otello'; soprano Mariangela Sicilia joining the orchestra for the heart-breaking Willow Song and Ave Maria.
Puccini's lush early Preludio sinfonico changes the mood after the interval, and to end, tenor Alessandro Fisher and baritone James Atkinson join the orchestra and Mariangela Sicilia for Stravinsky's ingenious witty ballet 'Pulcinella'. Inspired by Italian baroque music, the beautifully assembled dances are painted in Stravinsky's unmistakable colours.
Rossini: Overture - The Thieving Magpie
Mascagni: Intermezzo - Cavalleria rusticana
Verdi: Willow Song and Ave Maria - Otello
Interval
8.10
Puccini: Preludio sinfonico
Stravinsky: Pulcinella
Mariangela Sicilia (soprano)
Alessandro Fisher (tenor)
James Atkinson (baritone)
BBC Philharmonic
Nil Venditti (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".
THU 21:45 The Essay (m00298f6)
New Generation Thinkers 2024
Workplace performance
What connects actors with baristas? In 1983, the American sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild published a book called The Managed Heart which studied the working world of airline stewards. Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal’s essay considers what it means when a waiter smiles as they serve you and looks at some recent court cases over performing at work.
Dr Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is based at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research focuses on performance and work, including how drama based methods are implemented in across other sectors and industries. She is a member of the research collective Performance and Political Economy.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
THU 22:00 Night Tracks (m00298f8)
A bewitching night time soundtrack
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
THU 23:30 'Round Midnight (m00298fb)
A debut from Poppy Daniels
‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.
Alison Rayner is back to share the fourth and final artist she would like to spotlight and give Flowers to. This Thursday night she goes for a British double bassist who began his performing career playing a tea-chest bass in local skiffle group. Any guesses?
Also in the programme, music from Ledley, Don Glori, and Lil Hardin Armstrong.
FRIDAY 04 APRIL 2025
FRI 00:30 Through the Night (m00298fd)
Mahler's Ninth Symphony from Helsinki
Legendary Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra performing Mahler's Ninth Symphony. Jonathan Swain presents.
12:31 AM
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony no 9 in D
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt (conductor)
01:53 AM
Alban Berg (1885-1935), Rainer Maria Rilke (lyricist)
Traumgekrönt
Franziska Heinzen (soprano), Benjamin Mead (piano)
01:56 AM
Alma Mahler (1879-1964), Rainer Maria Rilke (lyricist)
Bei dir ist es traut
Franziska Heinzen (soprano), Benjamin Mead (piano)
01:58 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Quartet for piano and strings no 3 in C minor, Op 60 "Werther"
Rian de Waal (piano), Joan Berkhemer (violin), Michel Samson (viola), Nadia David (cello)
02:31 AM
Jacobus Gallus Carniolus (1550-1591)
Missa super Adesto dolori meo a 5, SQM III/9
Madrigal Quintett Brno, Roman Valek (director)
02:53 AM
Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013)
Tout un monde lointain, cello concerto
Marc Coppey (cello), Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, Alexander Humala (conductor)
03:22 AM
Franjo von Lucic (1889-1972)
Elegy for organ
Ljerka Ocic-Turkulin (organ)
03:29 AM
Gabriel Faure (1845 - 1924)
Nocturne for piano in E flat minor, Op 33 no 1
Livia Rev (piano)
03:37 AM
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
3 Characteristic Pieces
Sofia Soloists Chamber Ensemble, Vassil Kazandjiev (conductor)
03:48 AM
Frantisek Jiranek (1698-1778)
Flute Concerto in G major
Jana Semeradova (flute), Collegium Marianum, Jana Semeradova (artistic director)
03:59 AM
Wilhelm Kienzl (1857-1941)
Selig sind, die Verfolgung leiden (from Act 2 of 'Der Evangelimann')
Benjamin Butterfield (tenor), Peter Neelands (treble), Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Richard Bradshaw (conductor)
04:06 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Andante con moto for piano trio in C minor
Kungsbacka Trio
04:16 AM
Francois Couperin (1668-1733)
La Sultane
Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (director)
04:27 AM
Traditional Chinese, arr. Peter Sculthorpe
Beautiful Fresh Flower (Chinese melody)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Geoffrey Simon (conductor)
04:31 AM
Orlande de Lassus (1532-1594)
Dulces Exuviae - motet
Currende, Erik van Nevel (conductor)
04:37 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Sonata for violin and keyboard in B flat major, K.15
Les Ambassadeurs
04:44 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Impromptu no 3 in B flat major from 4 Impromptus, D 935
Ilze Graubina (piano)
04:53 AM
Lodewijk Mortelmans (1868-1952)
Lyrisch gedicht voor klein orkest
Flemish Radio Orchestra, Bjarte Engeset (conductor)
05:05 AM
Imre Kalman (1882-1953), Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach (librettists)
Excerpts from 'Die Csárdásfürstin'
Aleksander Nohr (baritone), Birgitte Christensen (soprano), Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Petr Popelka (conductor)
05:19 AM
Charles Avison (1709-1770)
Concerto Grosso no 2 in G major for strings and continuo
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Jeanne Lamon (director)
05:32 AM
Boris Papandopulo (1906-1991)
Tri Studije / Za B.J.M (3 Studies, dedicated to B.J.M)
Branka Janjanin-Magdalenic (harp)
05:44 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Ma mere l'oye - suite vers. for orchestra
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Michel Plasson (conductor)
06:03 AM
Gustav Uwe Jenner (1865-1920)
Trio in E flat for Clarinet, Horn and Piano
James Campbell (clarinet), Martin Hackleman (horn), Jane Coop (piano)
FRI 06:30 Breakfast (m00298fl)
Boost your morning with classical
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3's award-winning classical breakfast show with music that captures the mood of the morning, including BBC Radio 3’s 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century – a series of brand new commissions celebrating and commemorating some of the biggest events of the 21st century so far. This week, New Jersey based Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy remembers the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’, when pilot Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River. Hard Landing is recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Email your requests to 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk. To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Breakfast.”
FRI 09:30 Essential Classics (m00298fn)
Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.
1000 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.
1030 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.
1115 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.
1145 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.
1230 Album of the Week
To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”
FRI 13:00 Classical Live (m00298fq)
A Spanish celebration featuring a musical telling of Don Quixote
Elizabeth Alker showcases the best performances by BBC orchestras, choirs, ensembles and other great performing groups from Europe and around the globe.
This week on Classical Live, there is a celebration of Spanish music. Violinist Esther Yoo joins Spain's RTVE Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrey Boreyko to perform Bruch's famous first violin concerto. Music by Spanish composers such as Juan María Guelbenzu and Arturo Márquez will also be performed plus there will be highlights from Bizet's Carmen performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The centrepiece of today's programme is Roberto Gerhard's rarely heard musical telling of Miguel Cervantes's story of Don Quixote performed by the BBC Philharmonic with conductor, Juanjo Mena.
Elizabeth also has a spotlight on violin sonatas throughout the week. Today, American violinist Esther Yoo and pianist Robert Koenig perform Grieg and Naoka Aoki comes to the end of her presentations of Eugène Ysaye's fiendish sonatas for solo violin with a performance of his third sonata - the 'Ballade'.
Max Bruch
Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Esther Yoo (violin)
RTVE Symphony Orchestra
Andrey Boreyko (conductor)
Juan María Guelbenzu
'Mamita' Habanera Dance.
Noelia Rodiles (piano)
Roberto Gerhard
Alegrias
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena (conductor)
Edvard Grieg
Violin Sonata No 3 in C minor, Op 45
Esther Yoo (violin)
Robert Koenig (piano)
Georges Bizet
Habanera from 'Carmen'
Niamh O'Sullivan (mezzo soprano)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Nil Venditti (conductor)
Georges Bizet
Chanson Boheme from 'Carmen'
Niamh O'Sullivan (mezzo soprano)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Nil Venditti (conductor)
Roberto Gerhard
Don Quixote
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena (conductor)
Arturo Márquez
Danzón No. 2
Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra
Alondra de la Parra (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live”
FRI 16:00 Composer of the Week (m001h6kh)
Mel Bonis (1858-1937)
Reflections on a life
Donald Macloed explores Mel Bonis's preoccupations, musical and otherwise, in later life. After the Great War Bonis turned to writing music for her own pleasure, for her friends and family and for God.
Mel Bonis's name may not be a familiar one these days, but she produced somewhere in the region of three hundred compositions. There's no doubt that she was sensitive to gender discrimination. It's why she chose to publish her music under the name of Mel rather than her birth name Mélanie.
She was born in 1858 to parents of modest means. Her father worked for the watch company Breguet, still in business today, and her mother worked in the haberdashery trade. Neither of them held any particular interest in music, so it was down to young Mélanie to teach herself the play the family's piano. Her talent was recognised by a visiting friend who facilitated a meeting with one of the leading lights of the day, César Franck, an esteemed professor of organ at Paris's prestigious Conservatoire. Mélanie enrolled and showed great promise as a student, winning several end of year prizes. Her studies came to an abrupt end when her parents refused to give their consent to her marriage to a fellow student there, a poet, critic and singer, Amédée Hettich. Her life took a sharp turn two years later when, at the instigation of her parents, she married a twice widowed man of comfortable means. Thereafter her life as a composer had to take a back seat to the demands of raising five step-children and three of her own children with her husband, Albert Domange. Even so, she managed to continue to compose, producing music for her own instrument, the piano, and in almost every other genre as well.
The arrival of her illegitimate daughter Madeleine had already brought much anxiety and guilt to the religiously minded Bonis. She kept the child a secret from her family. Then one of her sons expressed his wish to marry Madeleine, completely unaware that they were related.
Finale, Op 187
Tatjana Ruhland, flute
Florian Wieck, piano
Miocheries, Op 126, No 13, La toute petite s’endort
Bertrand Chamayou, piano
Regina coeli, Op 45
Calliope Women’s Chorus
Régine Theodoresco, director
Piano quartet No 2 in D major, Op 124
Mozart Piano Quartet
Cantique de Jean Racine, Op 144
Gérard Chave, tenor
Schola Saint-Saveur, vocal ensemble
Claire Le Fur, harp
Chantal de Zeeuw, organ
Jean-François Sénart, conductor
Le songe de Cléopatre, Op 180
Bucharest Symphony Orchestra
Bênoit Fromanger, conductor
Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Audio Cardiff
FRI 17:00 In Tune (m00298ft)
Classical music live from the BBC
Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.
FRI 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m001nw8m)
Expand your horizons with classical music
Opening with a symphony by Haydn full of graceful pomp, the Classical Mixtape explores the intimacy of musical prayer, with Francesca Caccini and Nadia Boulanger, as well as the infinity of the universe with music by John Williams. Star composer Antonio Vivaldi joins forgotten Portuguese musician António Pereira da Costa in a Baroque feast, while Bonds and Scarlatti are reimagined for the piano and the guitar respectively. Finishing with a timeless earworm: Beethoven and his bagatelle to Elise...
Producer: Julien Rosa
FRI 19:30 Friday Night is Music Night (m0020hzm)
Summer in St Albans
Mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge joins conductor Martin Yates and the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Alban Arena, St Albans, in a programme tinged with classical antiquity. Recorded last summer.
Presented by Petroc Trelawny.
Stephen Sondheim: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum - Overture
Camille Saint-Saëns: Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix (Samson and Delilah)
Albert Ketelbey: Bells across the Meadows
Alexander Borodin: Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor)
Georges Bizet: Seguidilla (Carmen)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Wasps - Overture
INTERVAL
Dobrinka Tabakova: Orpheus’ Comet
Ivor Novello: I Can Give You The Starlight
Ron Goodwin: 633 Squadron - Main title
Frederic Curzon: The Boulevardier
Percy Grainger: Molly on the Shore
Eric Coates: By the Sleepy Lagoon; Bird Songs at Eventide
Malcolm Arnold: English Dances Set No 2
Mezzo, Kathryn Rudge
BBC Concert Orchestra
Conductor, Martin Yates
FRI 21:45 The Essay (m00298fx)
New Generation Thinkers 2024
Digging for Words
In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a collection of poems. Jade Cuttle looks at the way her poems were described and asks what do we categorise as nature writing? Her essay considers the idea of "coining" and the work of a new generation of poets including Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Khairani Barokka, Kei Miller and a collection called Nature Matters edited by Mona Arshi and Karen McCarthy Woolf.
Jade Cuttle is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio.
She is studying for her PhD at the University of Cambridge, writing journalism and her first book called Silthood, which explores ancient connections between soil and self. She has also released an album of poem-songs called Algal Bloom.
You can find examples of Essays written for Radio 3 by Kei Miller and Elizabeth Jane Burnett on the programme website.
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
FRI 22:00 Late Junction (m00298fz)
Encrypted pianos and half-forgotten archives
Jennifer Lucy Allan is our guide through the outer thickets of adventurous listening, uncovering a half-forgotten archive of music from Japan’s cult label DD. Records and Singaporean sound artist Bani Haykal’s abandoned pianos, which have since been retrofitted to send encrypted messages. Plus, Mongolian singer Enji reflects on the in-betweenness of migration, while Lebanese artist Nour Sokhon and Montreal-based media-maker Stefan Christoff collaborate on a sonic exploration of identity and displacement.
Produced by Gabriel Francis
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
To listen on most smart speakers just say, “ask BBC Sounds to play Late Junction”
FRI 23:30 'Round Midnight (m00298g1)
Moses Yoofee Trio in concert
‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.
Fridays on ‘Round Midnight are a little bit different from the rest of the week. And tonight, Soweto presents highlights from Berlin’s Moses Yoofee Trio, performing live at Elbjazz Festival 2024 Hamburg last year.
The group is led by keyboardist and producer Moses Yoofee, alongside drummer Noah Fürbringer and bassist Roman Klobe-Barangă. They are well known in Germany, and increasingly internationally, for their kinetic stage presence, drawing influence from jazz, soul, R&B, hip-hop and more.
Plus, music from Amy Gadiaga, Enemy, and Anna Chandler-King.