Composer of the Week

Beethoven Unleashed: Return to Form

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 12:08:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the enduring power, pathos and innovation of Beethoven’s late string quartets with guests Laura Tunbridge and Edward Dusinberre.Just two years before he died, Beethoven returned to an old treasured form, the string quartet. The five quartets he ended up writing would come to be his final major works, and would change the paradigm beyond recognition. Though dismissed by audiences in their day, their composition is now considered a pivotal moment not only in Beethoven’s life, but in the history of classical music. Donald is joined by musicologist Laura Tunbridge, and violinist Edward Dusinberre of the Takács Quartet, to discuss these extraordinary, watershed works that have bewildered and beguiled listeners ever since their creation. Throughout the week, they focus on each of the five late quartets, uncovering the stories, circumstances and conversations that surround them.Composer of the Week is returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.Music Featured:String Quartet No 12 in E flat, Op 127 Symphony No 9 (Finale, part 1)Bagatelle in E flat, Op 126 No 3String Quartet in A minor, Op 132 Fidelio, Act I: ‘Abscheulicher, wo eilst du hin?‘String Quartet in B flat major, Op 130 Piano Sonata in G major, Op 79 Grosse Fuge, Op 133Piano Sonata No 30, Op 109 (1st movement)String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op 131Lob auf der Dicken, WoO 100Falstafferel, WoO 184String Quartet in F major, Op 135 Coriolan Overture, Op 62Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: Return to Form https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jnlz And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Beethoven Unleashed: New Pathways

Fri, 22 May 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod continues his journey through the life of Ludwig van Beethoven.In this week’s episode, Donald Macleod traces Beethoven’s story through the momentous years of 1802 and 1803. It was a time that saw remarkable developments in Beethoven’s creativity as he pursued a self-declared ‘new path’ for his music. He undertook his most ambitious works yet, pouring his whole self into his art. At the same time his personal life was reaching a crisis point that would plunge him to the darkest depths of despair and threaten to ruin all his carefully laid plans for the future.Composer of the Week is returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.Music Featured:Symphony No.4, IV. Allegro ma non troppoPiano Sonata No 21 in C major, Op 53 ‘Waldstein’, II & IIISeptet Op. 20, III. Tempo di MenuettoSonata in G major for violin and piano, Op 30 No 3, II. Tempo di minuetto6 Variations on an original theme in F major, Op 34Piano Sonata No 17, Op.31 No.2 ‘The Tempest’, III. AllegrettoMissa Solemnis: KyrieSymphony No.2, Movts. III & IVViolin Sonata in A major Op.47 ‘Kreutzer’, II. Larghetto.Variations in Eb Op.35 ‘Eroica’, final movt.March (Fidelio, Act 1)Romance for violin and orchestra No 1, Op 405 Variations on “Rule Britannia” WoO 79Christ on the Mount of Olives (extract)Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’, IV.FinaleString Quartet No 1 in F Op 18 No 1, III. ScherzoViolin Sonata in G major Op 30 No 3, I. Allegro assaiPiano Sonata No 18 in E flat major, Op 31 No 3String Quintet in C, Op 29, I.Allegro moderatoGellert Lieder, VI. BussliedPiano Sonata No 17, Op.31 No.2 ‘The Tempest’, II. AdagioQuintet for piano and winds Op 16. III. RondoAndante Favori WoO 57Violin Sonata in A major Op 47 ‘Kreutzer’ I. Adagio sostenuto - PrestoPiano Sonata No 21 in C major Op 53 ‘Waldstein’, I. Allegro con brioPresented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Taylor for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: New Pathways https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j8k8And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Beethoven Unleashed: Beethoven and the Voice

Fri, 08 May 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Beethoven’s vocal music with Iain Burnside and Simone Young. In this week’s episode, Donald Macleod and his guests discuss some personal favourites from Beethoven's vocal music, taking in the giants of choral repertory like the Missa Solemnis and the ninth symphony, his opera Fidelio and orchestral vocal music, as well as relishing the astonishing variety of his song-writing, from the song cycle An die Ferne Geliebte and the most profoundly moving vocal masterpieces, to a comic song most likely dashed off to amuse friends in a bar.Composer of the Week will be returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.Music Featured: Christus am Ölberge, Op 85 Ein Selbstgespräch, WoO 144Adelaide, Op 46Funeral Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II Christus am Olberge, Op 85 Aus Goethes Faust, Op 75, No 3Der Wachtelschlag, WoO 129L'amante impaziente, Op 82 (a pair of settings)Ah Perfido!, Op 65Mass in C, Op 86 (Gloria, Sanctus & Benedictus)Klage, WoO 112Neue Liebe, neues Leben, WoO 127Fantasia for Piano, Choir and Orchestra in C minor op 80 Music, Love and Wine, Op 108, No 1La Tiranna, WoO 125Fidelio (Act 1), O welche Lust, in freier Luft (Prisoner’s Chorus)Fidelio (Act 1, Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?Fidelio (Act 2), Introduction and Aria Gott! Welch’ Dunkel hier! In des Lebens FrühlingstagenAn die Hoffnung, Op 94Maigesang (Mailied), Op 52, No 4Three Lieder to poems by Goethe, Op 83Der glorreiche Augenblick, Op 136 (Final chorus: Es treten hervor die Scharen der Frauen)Cantata on the Accession of Leopold II, WoO 88, Fliesse, Wonnezähre, fliesse!An die ferne geliebte, Op 98Meerestille und glückliche Fahrt, Op 112Der Kuss, Op 128Abendlied unter dem gestirnten Himmel, WoO 150Missa Solemnis in D major, Op 123, CredoSymphony No 9 (4th movement) Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: Beethoven and the Voice https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hv23 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Beethoven Unleashed: Fate

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod continues his journey through the life of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this week’s episode, Donald Macleod traces Beethoven’s story through the years 1799-1801. As he reaches his thirtieth birthday, we see Beethoven finally emerging as a mature composer and beginning to produce the enduring works that will mark him out as one of the great artists of his age. But there are clouds on the horizon too, and we see the first intimations of a serious problem with his hearing.Composer of the Week will be returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.Music featured:Piano Concerto No 3, III. RondoPiano Sonata No 10 in G major, Op 14, No 2Music: Symphony No 1, IV. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivaceSeptet Op. 20 (movts 4-6)Piano Sonata No 13 in Eb major, op 27 No 1, I. AndanteString Quartet Op 18, No 3, I. Allegro, II. Andante con moto) Piano Sonata No 11 in Bb, Op 22 III. Minuetto & IV. RondoViolin Sonata Op 23Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor Op. 13 ‘Pathetique’String Quintet in C, Op 29, II Adagio molto espressivo & IV. PrestoSymphony No.5, IV. AllegroSymphony No 3 ‘Eroica’, III. ScherzoHorn Sonata Op 17Cello Sonata Op 5 No 2, I. Adagio sostenuto e espressivo & II. Allegro molto più tosto prestoPiano Sonata No 15 in D, Op 28 ‘Pastoral’, I. AllegroPiano Sonata No 14 in C# minor, Op 27 No 2 ‘Moonlight’String Quartet Op 18 No 1, II. Adagio affettuoso ed appassionatoPrometheus (extracts from the complete Ballet Music)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Taylor for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: Fate https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hflgAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Beethoven Unleashed: At the Keyboard

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Pianist Jonathan Biss shares the wonder of Beethoven's piano sonatas with Donald Macleod. Recorded at the piano, in the Angela Burgess Recital Hall at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Jonathan shares his life-long passion for Beethoven with Donald. As they talk, he demonstrates how and why Beethoven's piano sonatas advanced the genre far beyond anything that anyone had ever achieved previously. As they talk we will gain a performer's perspective of Beethoven's developmental trajectory. Composer of the Week will be returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.Music featured:Piano Sonata No 2 in A major, Op 2 No 2 Sonata No 4 in E flat major, Op 7 (Grande sonate) Piano Concerto No 2 in B flat majorPiano sonata No 15 in D, Op 28 (Pastorale) Piano Sonata No 17 in D minor, Op 31 No 2 (The Tempest) Piano Sonata No 23 in F minor, Op 57 (Appassionata)Piano Sonata No 21 in C major, Op 53 (Waldstein)Piano Sonata No 30 in E major, Op 109 (excerpt)Piano Sonata No 31 in A flat major, Op 110Piano Sonata No 5 in C minor, Op 10 no 1Piano Sonata No 12 in A flat major, Op 26 Piano Sonata No 17 in D minor, Op 31 No 2 (The Tempest) Piano Sonata “quasi una fantasia”, Op 27 (Moonlight) Piano Sonata No 20 in G major, Op 49 No 2Piano Sonata No 3 in C major, Op 2 Piano Sonata No 27 in E minor, Op 90 Piano Sonata No 32 in C minor, Op 111 Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: At the Keyboard https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h02g And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod follows Beethoven’s progress as he seeks out wealthy Viennese patrons for his music. This week, Donald Macleod follows Beethoven through the years 1796-99, as the young composer learns to negotiate the privileged and moneyed circles of Vienna’s culture-loving aristocracy. Few can resist his extraordinary charisma as a virtuoso pianist but will he also be able to persuade them of his talents as a composer? In this episode, Beethoven undertakes his first international tour, reluctantly accepts piano students, puts his music before a wider public and starts work on his ambitious first symphony.Composer of the Week will be returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.Music featured:Piano Sonata No 5 in C minor, Op 10 No 1Piano Trio Op 1 No 1 March for four hands, Op 45 No 212 Variations on a Russian dance by Wranitzky, WoO 71String Quartet op 18 no 6, mvts. III & IVPiano Sonata No 5 in C minor, Op 10 No 1Sextet Op 71Ah! PerfidoCello Sonata Op 5 No 1Quintet for piano and winds, Op 16Piano Sonata No 4, Op 7Violin Sonata, Op 12 No 2String Quartet, Op 18 No 4Piano Trio Op 1 No 1Piano Sonata No 7, Op 10 No 3Romance in F, Op 50Duet for two obbligato eye-glasses, Woo 32String Quartet Op 18 No 1Violin Sonata, Op 12 No 3Piano Sonata No 6 in F, Op 10Zärtliche Liebe, WoO 123Trio in B flat major, Op 11Symphony No 1 in C Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Taylor for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gkqk And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Beethoven Unleashed: At Home

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod and Erica Buurman examine some of Beethoven’s personal possessions at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn.This week, Donald Macleod takes us to Beethoven’s home town of Bonn and the Beethoven-Haus museum which now occupies the building where he was born. Donald is joined by Erica Buurman, director of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, and together they explore some of the everyday objects and household artefacts owned by the composer to see what they can tell us about how he lived. We’ll hear about Beethoven’s hearing aids and the onset of his hearing loss. Next, with his personal cashbox, they talk about his relationship with money and the world of business. We’ll discover Beethoven’s domestic circumstances by inspecting his cut-throat razor, and his walking stick and writing desk shine a light on his everyday processes. Finally, Donald and Erica compare various samples of the composer’s hair.Composer of the Week will be returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.Music featured:Bagatelles Op 126, Nos 1 & 6Trio for Clarinet, Cello & Piano Op 38 Overture, The Consecration of the House Op 124Wellington’s Victory (Part II)Piano Sonata No 9 in E, Op 14 No.1Triple Concerto Cello Sonata in A, Op 69 Missa Solemnis (Agnus Dei)Sonata No 29 in Bb, Op 106 ‘Hammerklavier’ Aus Goethes Faust, Op 75, No 3 Symphony No 6 String Quintet in Eb Op 4 Mailied, Op 52 No 4String Quartet Op 59 No 2 Trauerkantate auf den Tod Kaiser Josephs II, No 3 Aria, “Da stiegen die Menschen an’s Licht”Grosse Fugue (arr. Piano, 4 hands) Op 134Piano Trio Op 1 No 3 Symphony No 1 Mass in C (Kyrie)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Taylor for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: At Homehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g3l7And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Florence Price

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod uncovers the story and prolific output of American composer Florence Price.Florence Price became a highly successful classical composer, organist, pianist and teacher of music during the twentieth century in America. She was the first African-American woman to be recognised as a composer of symphonic music, and also the first African-American woman to have her works performed by one of the world’s leading orchestras. In collaboration with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, BBC Radio 3 launched the Forgotten Women Composers Project. Championed by the composer and educator Shirley Thompson, Florence Price became a particular focus for the project. Scores by Florence Price were located and recorded by BBC Orchestras and Choirs. It will be the first time Florence Price has been featured on Composer of the Week, and the series is supplemented by many specially recorded works. Over the course of the episode, we’ll hear about the impact racial prejudice and marriage had on her life and career, her battles for recognition, ultimate fame, and her prolific output, despite health issues late in life.Music featured:The Deserted GardenSonata in E minor (Andante – Allegro)Suite for Organ No 1 (Fughetta and Air)The OakViolin Concerto No 2My DreamCotton DanceThe Old BoatmanThe Moon BridgeMy Soul’s been anchored in the LordSymphony No 1 in E minorSong for SnowSinner Don’t Let This Harvest PassPoem of PraisePiano Concerto in D minorDances in the CanebrakesSuite for Organ No 1 (Toccata)Sonata in E minor (Andante)SympathyThe Glory of the day was in her faceResignationSymphony No 3The Goblin and the MosquitoConcert Overture No 2Five Folksongs in Counterpoint (Drink to me only with thine eyes)NightMy Soul’s Been Anchored in the LordViolin Concerto No 1 in D majorPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Florence Pricehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fwf0And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Ludwig van Beethoven: Making His Way

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod follows Beethoven as he sets himself up in his new home of Vienna. All through 2020, Donald Macleod takes an unprecedented deep dive into the compelling story and extraordinary music of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this uniquely ambitious series, told across 125 episodes of Composer of the Week, Donald puts us inside Beethoven’s world and explores his hopes, struggles and perseverance in all the colourful detail this amazing narrative deserves. Alongside this in-depth biography, Donald will also be meeting and talking to Beethoven enthusiasts and experts from across the world to discover how his music continues to speak to us in the 21st century. Through story and sound, the series builds into a vivid new portrait of this composer, born 250 years ago this year, who made art that changed how people saw themselves and understood the world.This week, Donald Macleod’s focus is on Beethoven’s first months and years in Vienna, following his move there from his home town of Bonn. The young composer was still in his early twenties, low on cash, and had only a handful of works to his name. He was going to have to work hard to find success in the imperial capital, where audiences had grown up on the music of Mozart and Haydn. Music featured:La Partenza, WoO 124String Quartet in A minor, Op 132 (II. Allegro ma non tanto)Piano Concerto No 2 (III. Rondo)Trio in G major, Op 1 No 2Bagatelle, Op 33 No 7 (Presto)String Trio, Op 3 in E flat major ( I. Allegro con brio)Piano Sonata No 2, Op 2 No 2 (3rd and 4th movements)Symphony No 8, (2nd and 3rd movements)String Quartet No 16 in F, Op 135 (3rd and 4th movements)Sextet for horns and string quartet, Op 81bSymphony No 2 (1st movement)Quartet in E flat major, Op 127 (3rd and 4th movements)Piano Sonata No 12 in A flat, Op 26Piano Sonata No 3 in C, Op 2 No 3 (3rd movement) Piano Sonata No 1, Op 2 No 1 (final movement)Violin Sonata, Op 30 No 2 (3rd movement)‘Adelaide’, Op 46String Trio Op 3 in E flat major (4th, 5th and 6th movements)12 Minuets, WoO 7, No 1 Piano Concerto No 1 in C major, Op 15 (1st movement)Piano Trio Op 1 No 3 (1st and 2nd movements)12 Minuets WoO 7, Nos. 7 & 11Piano Concerto No 1 in C major, Op 15 (3rd movement)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Taylor for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: Making His Wayhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fmt0 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Claudio Monteverdi

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod looks at five themes in Claudio Monteverdi's life through the letters he wrote.Claudio Monteverdi’s compositions range from the secular to the sacred. He is a composer whose work spans the Renaissance and Baroque periods of musical history, and is known as a pioneer of the development of opera in Italy throughout the early 17th century. Throughout the week, Donald looks at five themes in Monteverdi’s life through the letters he wrote. Using Denis Stevens’ translations from the 1970s, we look at the excuses given by Monteverdi – a perpetually busy man – for not finishing compositions on time, the politics and hierarchy of life in the Italian Courts and Church, the financial struggles faced by Monteverdi, the illnesses that plagued his life and the lives of his close family and the importance of his family throughout his life.Across the episode, we’ll hear stories of Monteverdi’s penchant for procrastination, his revered opinions of singers, many financial struggles, tempestuous heath and the lengths he went to in order to support his family.Music featured:Chiome d’oroCantai un tempo, & se fu dolc’il cantoL’Orfeo: Prologue and Act IDixit DominusLamento d’Arianna a voce solaCantate DominoDominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuoCon che soavitàL’Incoronazione di Poppea: Act II: Amici, è giunta l’horaBallo delle ingrate‘Batto’, qui pianse ErgastoL’incoronazione di Poppea: Prologue and Act I: Lamento d’Arianna a 5Adoramus teZefiro tornaQuel sguardo sdegnosettoL’Orfeo: ToccataLamento della NinfaMissa In illo temporeIl ritorno d’Ulisse in patria: Act V: O dolor, o martirL’incoronazione di Poppea: Act III: Pur ti miroDamigella tutta bellaL’Orfeo: Act V: ExtractsTirsi e CloriIl ritorno d’Ulisse in patria: Act IMagnificat a 7Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Eleri Llian Rees for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Claudio Monteverdihttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ffwm And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Ludwig van Beethoven: Conversations with Friends

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by Raphael Wallfisch and Sara Bitlloch to discuss Beethoven’s early chamber music.All through 2020, Donald Macleod takes an unprecedented deep dive into the compelling story and extraordinary music of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this uniquely ambitious series, told across 125 episodes of Composer of the Week, Donald puts us inside Beethoven’s world and explores his hopes, struggles and perseverance in all the colourful detail this amazing narrative deserves. Alongside this in-depth biography, Donald will also be meeting and talking to Beethoven enthusiasts and experts from across the world to discover how his music continues to speak to us in the 21st century. Through story and sound, the series builds into a vivid new portrait of this composer, born 250 years ago this year, who made art that changed how people saw themselves and understood the world.This week, cellist Raphael Wallfisch and violinist Sara Bitlloch join Donald Macleod to talk about Beethoven’s early chamber music from 1795 to 1811, including beloved works such as the ‘Razumovsky’ quartets, the ‘Kreutzer’ violin sonata, and the ‘Ghost’ and ‘Archduke’ piano trios.Music featured:String Trio No 3 in G major: Op 9, No 1 (3rd movement - excerpt; 4th movement)Cello Sonata in F major Op 5 No 1 (Allegro) Piano Trio in C minor Op 1 No 3 (4th movement)String quartet in F major Op 18 No 1 (2nd movement)Violin Sonata in D major Op 12 No 1 (1st movement)Sonatina in C major for mandolin and piano WoO44 No 1String Quartet in C minor Op 18 No 4 (3rd movement)Violin Sonata in A major Op 30 No 1 (3rd movement)Serenade in D major Op 8 (1st and 2nd movements)Cello Sonata No 2 in G minor Op 5 (1st movement)String Quintet in C major Op 29 (4th movement)Piano Trio Op 121a, “Kakadu Variations” String Quartet in F major No 7, Op 59 (“Razumovsky”) (4th movement)Violin Sonata in A major No. 9 Op 47 ("Kreutzer") (1st movement) Septet in E flat major for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass Op 20 (2nd movement)String Quartet in C major Op 59 No 3 (“Razumovsky”) (1st movement) Piano Trio No 5 in D major Op 70 No 1 ("Ghost") (2nd movement) Violin Sonata No 5 in F major Op 24 ("Spring") (1st and 4th movements) String Quartet in E flat Op 74 (“Harp”) (1st movement) String Trio in C minor Op 9 No 3 (1st mvt)String Quartet in F minor (“Serioso”) Op 95 (1st and 4th mvts) Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major Op 69 (1st mvt) Piano Trio in B flat ("Archduke") Op 97 (1st mvt) Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Iain Chambers for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: Conversations with Friendshttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000f5mp And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Samuel Wesley

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of Samuel Wesley. Samuel Wesley was a child prodigy, and it was the older composer William Boyce who said of the boy that he was the English Mozart, and that he had dropped down from heaven. Wesley’s star speedily ascended to the heights from an early age as both performer and composer, but with issues surrounding his often extreme character, and also his health and morals, this ascendency was not to last. His popularity went in and out of fashion during his lifetime, and trying to secure a permanent position as an organist was something which eluded him for a long time. However, he was one of Britain’s leading musicians, mixed in the highest circles, and was responsible for promoting the largely unknown J. S. Bach to these shores. Towards the end of his life, famous musicians and composers sought Wesley out and even Mendelssohn asked the famed organist Samuel Wesley to play for him. We’re only just beginning to understand Wesley’s importance to the development of British classical music, and many of his substantial works, including numerous concertos for piano, organ, and violin, and large scale works for choir and orchestra, all still remain to be recorded.In this week’s episode, we’ll hear about Wesley’s religious background and fluctuating views, his circle of friends, his virtuosic performance career, his passion for JS Bach, and the mystery surrounding his health.Music featured:Symphony in A major (Brillante)O Lord God most holyMight I in thy sight appearPsalm 42 & 43Dixit DominusPreludium, Ariette & Fuga in C minorSymphony in A majorFugue in B minor for Dr MendelssohnSinfonia obbligatoO sing unto mie roundelaieVoluntary in DAir and GavotteViolin Concerto No 2 in D majorSonatina Op 4 No 1Sonatina Op 4 No 2Duet for the organSymphony in E flatArrangement with Variation of Rule BritanniaRondo on God rest you merry, GentlemenAll go unto one placeDuet in B flat major (for Eliza)Voluntary in D, Op 6 No 8Handel Arr. Wesley Rejoice the Lord is KingSymphony in D majorString Quartet in E flat major (Allegro spiritoso)Confitebor tibi, DomineVoluntary in G minorOde to St Cecilia (extract)Might I in thy sight appearMemoriam fecit mirabilium suorumSymphony in B flat majorFidelia omnia mandata ejusPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Samuel Wesleyhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dy1k And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Ludwig van Beethoven: Making a Man

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod looks for clues in Beethoven’s early life that point towards the great man he would become.All through 2020, Donald Macleod takes an unprecedented deep dive into the compelling story and extraordinary music of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this uniquely ambitious series, told across 125 episodes of Composer of the Week, Donald puts us inside Beethoven’s world and explores his hopes, struggles and perseverance in all the colourful detail this amazing narrative deserves. Alongside this in-depth biography, Donald will also be meeting and talking to Beethoven enthusiasts and experts from across the world to discover how his music continues to speak to us in the 21st century. Through story and sound, the series builds into a vivid new portrait of this composer, born 250 years ago this year, who made art that changed how people saw themselves and understood the world.This week, Donald looks at Beethoven’s humble beginnings as a child born into a family of court musicians, working for the Archbishop-Elector’s retinue in Bonn, Germany. He showed musical talent early and followed his father and grandfather into the Elector’s employ as soon as he reached his teens. Would he continue to follow the family pattern and retire there too?Music featured:Piano Sonata No 24 in F# major, Op 78 (2nd movement)Fugue in D for organ, WoO 31Symphony No 6 (movts. IV & V)Violin Sonata Op 30 No 2 (2nd movement)String Quartet Op 18 No 4 (1st and 3rd movements)String Quartet No 13 in Bb, Op 130 (2nd movement)Piano Sonata No 2, Op 2 No 2 (1st and 2nd movements)Symphony No 4 (4th movement)Sonata for cello and piano, Op 102 No 1 (2nd and 3rd movements)Piano Quartet, WoO 36 No 3Piano Sonata No 19, Op 49 No 1 (2nd movement)Piano Trio, WoO 38 (arr. Alec Frank-Gemmill)Der Mann von Wort, Op 99 24 Variations on "Venni Amore" by Righini, WoO 65Piano Trio, Op 70 No 2 (3rd and 4th movements)String Quartet, Op 95 (Serioso) (1st movement)Fidelio: Act I (finale)Musik zu einem Ritterballett, Woo 112 Variations on 'See the conqu'ring hero comes' by Handel for cello and piano, WoO 45Rondo a capriccio in G major (Rage over a lost penny) for piano, Op 1297 Variations on 'Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen', WoO 46Resignation, WoO 149 String Quartet, Op 59 No 1 (1st movement)Violin Concerto (2nd and 3rd movements)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Taylor for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: Making a Manhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dpzm And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Karol Szymanowski

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the myriad influences on the life’s work of Karol Szymanowski.The reshaping of Europe at the end of the First World War had a defining effect on Polish composer Karol Szymanowski. As Europe was being reapportioned, the comfortable world he’d known up to that point disappeared for good. His family’s comfortable and cultured life disappeared, their assets wiped out by the October Revolution. From that point on, Szymanowski ceased to be a man of some privilege, able to compose in the relative seclusion of his family’s estate in what was then part of Ukraine. He needed to support himself and his mother and sisters but he found himself ill-equipped temperamentally to deal with this dramatic change in his lifestyle. He became increasingly weighed down by illness, quite probably tuberculosis. That, coupled with a chain-smoking habit and struggles with alcoholism, were to take their toll. He died in poverty at the age of just 54 in 1937. Across the week, Donald Macleod explores five distinct influences on Szymanowski’s music, starting with his formative years growing up in a family with a passion for the arts. As a young student, his studies in Warsaw led him towards the language of Richard Strauss and Max Reger, while his love of travel directed him towards impressionism, the ancient world and the Orient. Meeting Stravinsky in Paris and hearing the Ballets Russe was another turning point, as was in his later years in particular, his commitment to establishing a national musical voice for the newly formed country of Poland. Music featured:Study in G flat major, Op 4 No 2The Swan, Op 7 L’île des sirènes (Métopes, Op 29)Violin Concerto No 1, Op 35Songs of a Fairytale Princess, Op 31 Mazurka, Op 50 No 11Desires; The infatuated east wind; Dance (Love Songs of Hafiz, Op 26) Concert Overture in E major, Op 12 Piano Sonata No 2 in A major, Op 21 (2nd movement) Symphony No 2 in B flat, Op 19 (1st movement) La fontaine d’Aréthuse (Mythes, Op 30)Sérénade de Don Juan (Masques, Op 34)Demeter, Op 37b String Quartet No 1 in C major, Op 37 (3rd movement) Symphony No 3, Op 27: The Song of the NightStudy in B flat minor, Op 4 No 3Penthesilea, Op 18 Thème varié 'Caprice No 24' (Three Paganini Caprices, Op 40) King Roger, Act 1 (excerpt) King Roger Act 2 (excerpt) Mazurkas, Op 50 Nos 1, 3, 6Wanda, Op 46b No 5Whip on the horse, Op 58 No 4 String Quartet No 2 (2nd movement)Harnasie, Op 55 (Tableau 1: In the mountain pasture) Symphony No 4, Op 60, 'Sinfonie concertante' (1st movement) Stabat Mater (excerpt) Mazurka, Op 62 No 1Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Karol Szymanowskihttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dj02 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Ludwig van Beethoven: Why Beethoven?

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod asks conductor Marin Alsop and historian Simon Schama why Beethoven's life and work still matter today.All through 2020, as part of Radio 3's Beethoven Unleashed season, Donald Macleod takes an unprecedented deep dive into the compelling story and extraordinary music of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this uniquely ambitious series, told across 125 episodes of Composer of the Week, Donald puts us inside Beethoven’s world and explores his hopes, struggles and perseverance in all the colourful detail this amazing narrative deserves. Alongside this in-depth biography, Donald will also be meeting and talking to Beethoven enthusiasts and experts from across the world to discover how his music continues to speak to us in the twenty-first century. Through story and sound, the series builds into a vivid new portrait of this composer, born 250 years ago this year, who made art that changed how people saw themselves and understood the world.Music featured:Bagatelle in A minor (Fur Elise), WoO 59String Quartet No 10, Op 74 (Harp) (3rd movement)Symphony No 3 in E flat major (Eroica) (3rd movement)Grosse Fuge, Op 133Symphony No 5 in C minor (1st and 2nd movements)Symphony No 8 in F major, Op 93 (2nd movement)Sonata in A major, Op 30 No 1 for violin and pianoLeonore Overture No 3Piano Sonata No 27 in E minor, Op 90 (2nd movement)Piano Concerto No 4 in G major, Op 58 (2nd movement)Piano Sonata No 13 in E flat major, Op 27 No 1 (2nd movement)Symphony No 3 in E flat major (Eroica), Op 55 (2nd movement)The Creatures of Prometheus: OvertureFidelio: Act II finaleSymphony No 4 in B flat major, Op 60 (1st movement)Piano Sonata No 14 (Moonlight), Op 27 No 2 (1st movement)String Quartet in F minor, Op 95 (1st movement)Egmont Overture, Op 84Symphony No 9 in D major (Choral), Op 125 String Quartet in A minor, Op 132 (5th movement)String Quartet in E flat major, Op 127 (1st movement)Bagatelle in E flat major, Op 126 No 6Mass in D major (Missa Solemnis), Op 123 (Kyrie)Coriolan Overture, Op 62String Quartet in B flat major, Op 130 (5th movement)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Martin Williams for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven: Why Beethoven?https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d7zg And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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George Walker

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of George Walker, in conversation with his son Gregory. When Rosa King Walker announced to her five-year-old son George that, like it or not, he was going to have piano lessons, she can scarcely have been aware that she was dispatching him on a lifelong journey in music. He made his concerto début at the age of 23 playing Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the great Eugene Ormandy. A stellar career on the concert platform surely beckoned, but in the event, things were not so straightforward. We’ll hear how Walker began to turn his back on the idea of a solo career, gravitating instead towards a life in teaching – and, increasingly, composition. Donald and Gregory discuss Walker’s studies with the formidable Nadia Boulanger, the relief when his commissions started rolling in, and the far reaches of his stylistic ambition. Walker won the epic Pulitzer Prize for music in 1996 for his piece Lilacs, a career-defining moment, which makes what happened next in Walker’s career all the more surprising. “I got probably more publicity nationwide than perhaps any other Pulitzer Prize-winner,” he recalled in 2015. “But not a single orchestra approached me about doing the piece or any piece. It materialized in nothing.” In this emotional look back at the life and work of his father, Gregory discusses identity, representation and perseverance, ending with the story of his swansong, Visions, inspired by the tragedy of the Charleston church massacre. Music featured:Response String Quartet No 1 Lyric for StringsPiano Sonata No 1Cello Sonata Trombone ConcertoThe Bereaved MaidSonata No 1 for violin and pianoSpatialsVariations for Orchestra Five Fancies for clarinet and piano four hands (Theme and 5 variations)Piano Concerto Music for Brass (Sacred and Profane)CantataPiano Sonata No 4Sinfonia No 1Hey Nonny No (anon)Poème for violin and orchestraIn Time of Silver RainMother Goose (Circa 2054)LilacsModusIcarus in OrbitPiano Sonata No 5Da Camera, for piano trio, harp, celesta, string orchestra and percussionViolin Concerto BleuSinfonia No 5 (‘Visions’)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for George Walker https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cz2q And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Arcangelo Corelli

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod delves into the international successes of Arcangelo Corelli.Arcangelo Corelli was something of a European phenomenon not only during his lifetime, but also after his death. His compositional output was not large, but the development of the printing press enabled his music to be widely circulated. Musically, he bridged the gap between the Baroque and the Classical periods, and is seen as pivotal in the development of the sonata and the concerto. Even today, Corelli’s music is held in high esteem, with composers still inspired by his music. As a violinist he was also legendary, and people flocked from all over Europe to not only hear him play, but to also be taught by him. Corelli spent most of his career in Rome, maintained in some luxury by royalty, nobility and the Church. During his career he collaborated with many other composers including Alessandro Scarlatti and Handel. Despite his fame and continued popularity, we still know relatively little about Corelli, and this Composer of the Week series seeks to explore the man and his music through his personal and professional relationships.Music featured:Sonata in G minor, Op 4 No 2 (Corrente)Concerto Grossi, Op 6 No 3Sonata in G, Op 1 No 9Handel: La Resurrezione (Ho un non so che nel cor)Sonata in F major, Op 5 No 10Concerto Grosso in D, Op 6 No 1Fuga con un soggetto soloSonata in G minor, Op 5 No 5Sonata in F, Op 1 No 1Sonata in A minor, Op 1 No 4Sonata in B minor, Op 3 No 4Sonata in F minor, Op 3 No 9Concerto Grosso in F, Op 6 No 12Sonata in D Sonata in B major, Op 2 No 5Sonata in E flat major, Op 2 No 11Sinfonia to Santa Beatrice d’Este in D minor, WoO1Concerto in G minor, Op 6 No 8 (Christmas Concerto)Sonata in C, Op 5 No 9Sonata in A minor, op 4 No 5Sonata in B minor, op 4 No 12Sonata in C, Op 2 No 3Sonata in F major, Op 2 No 7Handel: Sonata a 5, HWV288 (Violin Concerto in B flat)Sonata in G minor WoO2Corelli Arr. J. C. Schickhardt: Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 3Sonata No 2 in D minor, Op 2 No 2Concerto Grosso in F, Op 6 No 2Corelli Arr. Geminiani: Concerto Grosso VII in D minorSonata in D minor, Op 5 No 12 (Follia)Concerto Grosso in F, Op 6 No 9Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Arcangelo Corelli. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d6y6 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Johannes Brahms

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music of Johannes Brahms through his close relationships.Brahms was a deeply private man and very guarded about his life, his friends and his feelings. Across this week, Donald goes “Behind Closed Doors” with Brahms to discover what really made him tick. He finds friends, mentors and lovers along the way who together help solve the enigma of the composer.We’ll hear about Brahms’s doomed early romance with a young singer, Agathe von Siebold, plus his lifelong friendships with Robert, and particularly Clara Schumann - probably the person he was closest to in his life. Donald explores the music written for some of the women he knew intimately, and why he sought solitude and how it came to influence his music. Throughout his life, there was a great expectation placed on Brahms’s shoulders. We end by looking at how that shaped his character and music.Music featured:Sonata No 3 in F minor, Op 5 (4th movement)Lieder & Romanzen, Op 14 (No 4, Ein Sonett & No 7, Ständchen)Piano Concerto No 1 in D minor, Op 15 (1st movement)Ave Maria, Op 12String Sextet No 2 in G, Op 36 (1. Allegro non troppo)2 Gavottes, WoO 3 (Nos 1 and 2)Piano Sonata No 1 in C major, Op 1 (1. Allegro)6 Songs, Op 3 (Nos 2 and 3)Piano Quartet, Op 25 (3rd and 4th movements)String Sextet No 1in B flat major, Op 18 (2nd movement)Piano Quintet in F minor, Op 34A (1st movement)Rhapsody in B minor, Op 79 No 16 Songs, Op 7 (Nos 2 -5)Variations in E flat on a Theme by Schumann (Nos 8-11)Alto Rhapsody, Op 5316 Waltzes, Op 39 (Nos 1-4)Cello Sonata No 1 in E minor, Op 38 (3rd movement - Allegro)Klavierstücke, Op 76 (No 7 - Intermezzo in A major; No 8 - Capriccio in C major)Violin Sonata No 2, Op 100 (1st movement: Allegro amabile)Nanie, Op 82Piano Concerto No 2 in B flat major, Op 83 (3rd movement - Andante)Serenade No 1 in D major, Op 11 (2nd movement)Piano Sonata No 2 in F sharp minor, Op 2 (4th movement)Vier ernste Gesänge, Op 121 (Nos 3 and 4)Ein Deutsches Requiem [A German Requiem], Op 45 (2nd and 3rd movements)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Glyn Tansley for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Johannes Brahms. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cb1x And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Percy Grainger

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod surveys the life, music and quirks of Australian composer, Percy GraingerDonald Macleod begins this week episode about Percy Grainger by tracing the composer's ambivalent relationship with his primary musical instrument, the piano, and the ever-present influence of his mother. He then follows Grainger to London, where his composing took second place to performing, leading to concert tours of Scandinavia, South Africa, New Zealand and back home to Australia. We’ll also hear about his enthusiastic and sometimes controversial role in the folksong revival of the 1900s, away from starchy drawing rooms and concert halls. Donald keeps up with Grainger during an anxiety-ridden move to America during the First World War. To end, he explores some of the composer's more unsavoury views and his quest for musical 'freedom'.Music featured:Mowgli's Song Against People Molly on the ShoreWalking TuneTribute to FosterMarching Song of DemocracyHill-Song 1 and 2Handel in the StrandEnglish DanceColonial SongScotch Strathspey and ReelThe WarriorsBrigg FairCreeping JaneI'm Seventeen Come SundayFour Settings from 'Songs of the North'Green BushesLincolnshire PosyCountry GardenSuite: In a NutshellThe Power of Rome and the Christian HeartIrish Tune from County DerryThe Bride's TragedyShepherd's HeyThe Power of LoveJutish Melody (Danish Folk Song Suite)To a Nordic PrincessImmovable Do Free Music Free Music No 2The Jungle Book (excerpts)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Martin Williams for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Percy Grainger. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c4kf And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Leoš Janáček

Fri, 06 Dec 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod illustrates Leos Janacek’s inner tensions through five key relationshipsOne of the most original voices of the twentieth century, Leoš Janáček was a composer, musical theorist, folklorist and teacher. Born in 1854 in the Moravian village of Hukvaldy, which was then part of the Austrian Empire, in his youth German was the language of government, education and social influence. Having returned from studies in Germany, Janáček made detailed studies of native folk song and spent years annotating the natural rhythms of the Czech language. He was to write all his works for stage in his native language. The range of his professional activities gave him a range of outlets to voice what quickly became a life-long commitment to Czech culture. Janáček was a contradictory man, who spent much of his life feeling at odds with his circumstances. Through five of his closest relationships, Donald Macleod builds a picture of how his inner tensions found expression in his music. Music featured:Suite for Strings, Andante con moto (3rd movement) Four male-voice choruses Lachian Dances Šárka (excerpt from Act 1) SinfoniettaLavečka (The Bench)Theme with variations (Zdenka Variations) Amarus (3rd movement) Janacek, rev. Mackerras: The Cunning Little Vixen Orchestral Suite JW 1/9Quartet no.1 (The Kreutzer Quartet)Nejistota JW V/2Hukvaldy SongsTaras BulbaPohádka Jenůfa – excerpt from Act 1Kat’a Kabanova – Act 3 excerpt The diary of one who disappeared (excerpt)Quartet for strings no. 2: Intimate LettersGlagolitic Mass – Credo Žárlivost On the overgrown path (excerpts) The Excursions of Mr Brouček The Fiddler’s ChildPotulný šílenecPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Leoš Janáček https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cr48 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Mary Lou Williams

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 13:01:00 GMT

Donald Macleod charts the extraordinary life of composer and jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams’ music stands out from the crowd because, as Duke Ellington recognised, “her writing and performing have always been just a little ahead throughout her career.” A prolific composer and arranger, she was also a gifted pianist. A master of blues, boogie woogie, stride, swing and be-bop, Williams was quick to absorb the prevailing musical currents in her own music, naturally able to exploit her ability to play anything she heard around her. It is this restless musical curiosity that defines her own compositions, and led her to become friends with and mentor many younger musicians, among them Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Born around 1910 in Atlanta, Georgia, Williams grew up in Pittsburgh, where she had to overcome racial segregation, gender discrimination and the disadvantages of an impoverished family to realise her musical ambitions. Learning to play entirely by ear, she was performing locally by age six. Barely into her teens she was touring professionally as a pianist, living proof that - contrary to the prevailing views - women really could play jazz as well as men. But her artistic success came at some personal cost, with instances of domestic abuse, two divorces, a gambling addiction, and the ongoing strain of trying to support her extended family, all taking its toll over the years. After taking a spiritual path, she spent some years trying to rehabilitate addicted musicians, and developed an interest in writing sacred jazz pieces, and after a long career of some sixty years she took on the mantle of educating future generations about the cultural roots of jazz. Over the course of the episode, Donald Macleod follows Mary Lou Williams as her life and musical pathways intertwine, from the early years playing Kansas City swing, to embracing be-bop, religion and modern jazz.Music featured:The History of Jazz (excerpt) Rosa Mae My mama pinned a rose on me Willis Nite Life Variations Close to Five Lonely Moments Cloudy Kool Bongo Walkin’ and Swingin’ Corky Stomp Froggy Bottom Lotta Sax Appeal Mess-A-Stomp The Rocks Little Joe from Chicago Sammy Cahn & Saul Chaplin, arr. by ML Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band A Mellow Bit of Rhythm Twinklin’ Jelly Roll Morton, arr. ML Williams: The Pearls What’s Your Story, Morning Glory Scratchin’ in the Gravel Roll ‘Em Gjon Mili Jam Session Boogie misterioso Zodiac Suite (excerpt) In the land of Oo-bla-dee Mary Lou Williams Orchestra In the land of Oo-bla-dee A Fungus A Mungus Nicole Irving Berlin, arr. by ML Williams: Blue Skies (Trumpets no end)Tisherome New Musical Express Hymn to St. Martin de Porres The Devil O.W.Mary Lou’s MassML Williams, Sonny Henry: Lazarus Zodiac SuiteSyl-o-gism Why? Chunka Lunka Ode to Saint Cecilie Medi II Blues for Timme Praise the Lord Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Mary Lou Williams https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bdx1 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Malcolm Arnold

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod journeys through some of the contrasting sides of Sir Malcolm Arnold and his musicSir Malcolm Arnold was a prolific composer, writing music in many different genres ranging from nine symphonies and over twenty concertos, to chamber music, music for brass bands and nearly one hundred and twenty film scores. These many works for film include classics such as Hobson’s Choice, Whistle Down the Wind, the St Trinian’s films, and The Bridge on the River Kwai for which he won an Oscar. He composed works for some of the very top performers in the music industry including Julian Bream, Julian Lloyd Webber, Larry Adler, Frederic Thurston, Benny Goodman, and collaborated with the likes of Deep Purple and Gerard Hoffnung. His music crossed social boundaries and gave pleasure to so many, and yet his personal life was marred by alcoholism, depression and periods of hospitalization. He’s been described as a larger than life character, outrageous, Falstaffian, Bohemian, and some of the stories which circulated about Arnold have become the stuff of legend.Across the episode Donald Macleod traces Sir Malcolm Arnold’s life through exploring five different influences upon the composer’s music, from his love of Cornwall and Ireland, to his own mental and emotional wellbeing. Music featured:The Belles of St Trinian’s (Prelude)Symphony No 2, Op 40 (Lento)String Quartet No 1, Op 23Clarinet Sonatina, Op 29English Dances Set 1, Op 27Three Shanties, Op 4 (Allegro vivace)Four Cornish Dances, Op 91Fantasy for Guitar, Op 107Symphony No 8, Op 124 (Allegro)Philharmonic Concerto, Op 120Suite Bourgeoise for flute, oboe and piano (Tango)Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, Op 47A Grand Grand Overture, Op 57Symphony No 4, Op 71 (Allegro)Concerto for Two Pianos (3 Hands), Op 104The Padstow Lifeboat, Op 94Divertimento for flute, oboe and clarinet, Op 37Little Suite No 1, Op 53Fantasy for Brass Band, Op 114Concerto for Two Violins, Op 77Hobson’s Choice (Overture)The Sound BarrierFive Blake Songs, Op 66 Symphony No 5, Op 74Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Malcolm Arnold https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b8hm And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Antonín Dvořák

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life, music and perseverance of Antonín Dvořák.Antonín Dvořák was no spring chicken when he found success as a composer. He was in his early thirties before he made his mark in his native Czech Republic, despite composing from a young age. Donald Macleod follows Dvořák as he attempts to win over successive audiences: from Prague to Vienna, England to America, before eventually returning to Prague and to the opera stage. Who did he need to impress in order to achieve the success he craved?Donald Macleod introduces us to Dvořák as he struggles to carve his path as a composer. We’ll meet his influential friends who championed his work, including Brahms, the conductor Hans Richter and the virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim. Dvořák’s ambition eventually took him to America, but as well as inspiring many of his best-known works, found him embroiled in arguments about the nature of American music and struggling with homesickness. Donald considers what drove Dvořák to tirelessly persevere, particularly with the operatic genre, when his other works were so well received by audiences at home and abroad. Music featured:Slavonic Dances, Op 46 (Dumka)In Nature’s Realm, Op 91Symphony No 3 in E flat major, Op 10 Písně Milostné, Op 83Serenade, Op 44 Piano Trio in F minor, Op 65 Moravian Duets, Op 32 (How small the field of Slavíkov is & Water and Tears)Symphonic Variations, Op 78String Quartet No 10 in E flat major, Op 51 Violin Concerto in A minor, Op 53 Czech Suite, Op 39 Stabat Mater, Op 58 Svatá Ludmila, Op 71 Symphony No 8 in G major, Op 88 Requiem, Op 89 (Hostias)Piano Trio in E minor, Op 90 (Dumky) Cello Concerto in B minor, Op 104 Violin Sonatina in G, Op 100Biblical Songs, op 99String Quartet No 12 in F major, Op 96 (American) Symphony No 9, Op 95 (From the New World)Vanda (Overture)The King and the Charcoal Burner (Act 11, scene 7)Dimitrij (Act 4, scene 3)The Noon Witch, Op 196Rusalka (Act 3)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Cerian Arianrhod for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Antonín Dvořák https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009zxh And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Harrison Birtwistle

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod talks to Sir Harrison Birtwistle about his life, inspiration and music.This week Donald Macleod meets Sir Harrison Birtwistle, described as “the most forceful and uncompromisingly original composer of his generation.” We hear his major compositions, broadly in chronological order, and reveal the preoccupations and processes behind a singular music imagination. To begin, we’ll hear about, Birtwistle’s daily working life, and about his early years among what became known as the Manchester school of composers. The premiere of his first opera Punch and Judy at Aldeburgh was infamous - much of the audience – including its commissioner Benjamin Britten – walked out at the interval. Next, we’ll hear about Birtwistle’s time in America and his friendship with Morton Feldman. They discuss some of his non-musical inspirations too: the power of mythology, the paintings of Paul Klee and the films of Quentin Tarantino. Birtwistle reveals how time, and the instruments for measuring time, have inspired many of his compositions, and how a lifelong fascination with moths inspired a new work meditating on loss.Music featured:Oockooing BirdRefrains and ChorusesPunch and Judy (The Resolve; Passion Aria; Adding Song)TragoediaDinah and Nick’s Love SongTrio ChronometerThe Triumph of TimeDuets for Storab (Urlar; Stark Pastoral; Crunluath)Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae PerpetuumThe Mask of Orpheus (13th, 14th 15th Arch from Act 2, Scene 2)Silbury AirNine Settings of Lorine Niedecker (There’s A Better Shine; How The White Gulls; My Life; Sleep’s Dream)Earth DancesHarrison’s Clocks (Clock 2; Clock 5)PanicVirelai (Sus une fontayne)The Minotaur (Part Two)The Moth RequiemIn Broken ImagesDuet for Eight Strings Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Iain Chambers for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Harrison Birtwistle https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009r3h And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Muzio Clementi

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of piano prodigy Muzio Clementi.Muzio Clementi was one of the 18th and 19th century’s most revered musicians – a star performer, a composer admired by Czerny, Beethoven and Chopin and an astute musical businessman. However, he also had his detractors in his own time and history hasn’t been as kind to him as to the greater names of his time – Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Today his name is unfamiliar to most but it is certainly better known than the music he wrote. He was fortunate to have interactions with perhaps the world's three greatest composers, but this fortune may have also worked against him - putting him in direct competition with them. Across the episode, Donald Macleod explores Clementi’s contact with the greatest composers of his day, reassessing the life and music of the man known as the “father of the piano” in the light of these encounters. We’ll hear the stories of his musical duel with Mozart, stage-sharing with Haydn, brushes with Beethoven and dispute with John Field over a hat.Music featured:Symphony No 3 (Finale)Musical Characteristics, Op 19Piano Sonata in A flat Major, WoO 13 Sonata for piano, Op 2 No 4Duetto in C Major, Op 3 No 3 (Presto)Mozart (arr. Clementi): Symphony no. 40 in G minor, K 550 (Finale)Sonata in G minor, Op 7 No 3Toccata in B flat Major, Op 11 No 2Sonata in B flat major, Op 24 No 2Variations on Mozart’s Batti, batti, o bel Masetto from Don Giovanni, WoO 10Sonata in E flat major, Op. 8 No 2 (II. Larghetto con espressione)Symphony in B flat major, Op 18 No 1 (I. Allegro Assai)Sonata in G minor, Op 9 No 2Overture in D MajorSymphony No 4Capriccio in F major, Op 34 No 2Monferinas selectionSonata, Op 34 No 2Concerto for piano and orchestra (II. Adagio e cantibile) Piano Sonata in F minor, Op 13 No 6 (III. Presto)Adagio sostenuto in F major (Gradus ad Parnassum, Book I, No 14)Sonata in B minor, Op 40 No 2 (II. Largo)Symphony No 2 in D major ( Finale)Symphony No 1 in C major (III. Minuet and Trio)Piano Sonata in G minor, Op 50 No 3 “Didone abbandonata”Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Sam Phillips for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Muzio Clementi https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009bdq And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Sergei Prokofiev

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music of Sergei Prokofiev and tells the story of his American dream.After a series of revolutions in his native Russia, the young composer Sergei Prokofiev made the decision to leave his homeland and to head to the United States in search of fame and fortune. His years in the United States would turn into some of the most tumultuous of his life. Across this week, Donald explores how those years in exile and how it would prove to be one of his most challenging periods professionally, financially and personally. His life was set against the turbulent events of the first half of the twentieth century, and forces beyond his control so often intervened to scupper his grand ambitions.Music featured:Violin Concerto No 1 in D, Op 19 (3rd movement)Seven, They Are Seven, Op 30Sonata for piano No 2, Op 14 (3rd & 4th movements)Visions Fugitives, Op 22 (selection)Symphony No 1 in D major, Op 25 (Classical)Tales of an Old Grandmother, Op 31Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op 34Prelude from 10 pieces for piano, Op 12Concerto No 1 for piano and orchestra in D flat major, Op 10 (excerpts)Scythian Suite, Op 20The Love for Three Oranges Symphonic Suite, Op 33bis (Marche)Four Pieces, Op 32 (selection)Piano Concerto No 3 in C major, Op 26 Five melodies for violin and piano, Op 35bis (selection)The Fiery Angel, Op 37 (Act IV Scene 1)Sonata No 3 in A minor, Op 28The Gambler: Four Portraits from the Opera, Op 49 (Portrait No 1; Alexis)Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor, Op 16 Quintet in G minor, Op 39 (Selection)The Prodigal Son, Op 46 (Scene 2, excerpt)Chout Suite, Op 21 (excerpts)American Overture, Op 42Peter and the Wolf (excerpt)Five Poems, Op 36 (selection)The Love of Three Oranges Symphonic Suite, Op 33bisRomeo and Juliet, Op 64 (excerpts)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Glyn Tansley for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Sergei Prokofiev https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00093cn And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Gustav Mahler

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music and life of Gustav Mahler through five key themes. This week’s episode begins with an exploration of love - a potent force in Mahler’s creative armoury, but, for Mahler’s wife Alma, it came at a heavy price. Mahler was also obsessed with human mortality, but that became all too real with the tragic death of his daughter Maria. We’ll also hear about the composer’s ambivalent relationship to religion. Despite his lack of adherence to a particular creed, Mahler’s work is shot through with a genuine religious sense. Next, Donald discusses the vein of tart humour in Mahler’s music, from the gently sardonic to the out-and-out grotesque. Finally Donald tells how Mahler’s profound love of the natural world seeped into almost everything he wrote.Music featured:Liebst du um SchönheitLieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (No 4, ‘Die zwei blauen Augen’)Wo die schönen Trompeten blasenSymphony No 5 (4th mvt, Adagietto)Symphony No 6 (1st movement, Allegro energico, ma non troppo)Rückert-Lieder (Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen)Symphony No 4 (2nd movement, In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast)Kindertotenlieder (Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n)Symphony No 6 (4th movement, Finale. Allegro moderato – Allegro energico)Symphony No 8 (Part 1, extract – ‘Veni creator spiritus')Symphony No 4 (4th movement, Sehr behaglich)Symphony No 10 (3rd movement, Purgatorio – Unheimlich bewegt)Symphony No 2 (‘Resurrection’) (5th movement, Finale)Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt)Symphony No 1 in D (‘Titan’) (3rd movement, Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen)Symphony No 2 (3rd movement, In ruhig fliessender Bewegung)Symphony No 7 (3rd movement, Scherzo: Schatternhaft)Symphony No 9 (3rd movement, Rondo-Burleske)Lieder und gesänge aus Jugendzeit (Ablösung im Sommer)Symphony No 3 (3rd movement, Comodo)Das Lied von der Erde (6. Der Abschied)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Gustav Mahler https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008p73 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Henry Purcell

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music and life of Henry Purcell. Frustratingly little is known about the tragically abbreviated life of the composer who is arguably Britain’s greatest, Henry Purcell. Purcell kept no diary of his own – at least none has survived – and if he was active as a letter-writer, precious little of his correspondence has come down to us. Our evidence for the facts of the composer’s life appears in a sequence of glimpses – a portrait here, an anecdote there, unvarnished entries in the official records of the time. Donald begins with a whistle-stop trip through the scanty facts of the composer’s biography, and then looks at a single year, 1680, in which Purcell emerged as one of the greatest contrapuntists of his time. We hear about the pieces he wrote to mark specific events, from King Charles’ escape from shipwreck to the passing of Queen Mary. Next, an excursion round six key Purcellian venues, from pint-sized York Buildings to gargantuan Westminster Abbey. Finally, Donald tells stories of the relatively small but extraordinarily rich body of work Purcell wrote for intimate, domestic settings.His smaller-scale work – catches, songs, keyboard and chamber music – is generally less well-known, but contains some absolute gems. In a sense, it’s the music that Purcell didn’t have to write.Music featured:Sound the trumpet (Come ye sons of art, Z323)Chacony in G minor, Z730I was glad, Z19Now does the glorious day appear, Z332The Indian Queen, Z630 (Act 3, extract)Thou knowest, Lord, Z58cTheodosius, Z606 (‘Hail to the myrtle shade’)Fantazia IV in G minor, Z735Fantazia V in B flat major, Z736Theodosius, Z606 (Act 1, scene 1)Fantazia VIII in D minor, Z739Fantazia VI in F major, Z737Welcome, vicegerent of the mighty king, Z340Fantazia X in E minor, Z741Fantazia XI in G major, Z742March, Z860Funeral Sentences (Man that is born of a woman, Z27 – In the midst of life, Z17 – Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, Z58b)Welcome to all the pleasures, Z339They that go down to the sea in ships, Z57Of old, when heroes thought it base, Z333 Who can from joy refrain, Z342 The Fairy Queen, Z629 (Act 3)Rejoice in the Lord alway, Z49 (Bell anthem)Ye tuneful Muses, Z344 Hail, Bright Cecilia, Z328 My heart is inditing, Z30The Fairy Queen, Z629 (Act 4, extract)Since the Duke is return’d, Z271Overture in G, Z770Suite No 7 in D minor, Z668Sonata No 7 in E minor, Z796 (Twelve Sonnata’s of III Parts)O! Fair Cedaria, hide those eyes, Z402I resolve against cringing and whining, Z386I take no pleasure in the sun’s bright beams, Z388 She loves and she confesses too, Z413Sonata No 6 in G minor, Z807Tell me, some pitying angel, Z196 Fantasia upon one note, Z745Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Henry Purcell https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008gtl And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Franz Schubert

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Franz Schubert.It’s hard to think of a composer more gregarious than Schubert, and further removed from the image of the reclusive genius, closeted away in his artistic ivory tower, creating peerless masterpieces in splendid isolation. From his days at Vienna’s Stadtkonvikt, the Imperial Catholic boarding school that offered the best general and musical education in the Austrian capital, Schubert developed a wide and supportive network of highly cultured friends, with whom he explored art, politics, religion, literature, and, of course, music; frequented the odd tavern or three; and attended convivial social gatherings in the homes of well-heeled admirers, from which developed the tradition of the ‘Schubertiad’ – informal get-togethers devoted to the performance of Schubert’s music, and above all, his songs.In this week's episode, we’ll start by meeting Schubert’s friends, and then take a trip round Vienna in search of Schubert’s audience. Next, Donald gives us a whistle-stop tour of the jaw-droppingly productive year that’s been called Schubert’s annus mirabilis, 1815. We’ll also hear how Schubert faced the challenge of following in Beethoven’s footsteps, and about the posthumous discovery of much of his music, including many of his most-loved works.Music featured:‘An die Musik’, D547‘Suleika I’ D720‘Geheimes’, D719 Symphony No 8 in B minor (‘Unfinished’), D759 ‘Über Wildemann’, D884‘Sehnsucht’, D879‘Das Zügenglöcklein’, D871Gesang (‘An Sylvia’), D891String Quartet in D minor, D 810 (‘Death and the Maiden’) Mass in F, D105 (Sanctus)Overture in D, D590 (‘In the Italian style’)Der Zwillingsbrüder, D647 (No 3, Aria, ‘Der Vater mag wohl immer Kind mich nennen’)String Quartet in A minor, D804 (‘Rosamunde’) Psalm 92, D953Piano Trio in E flat, D929 (Op 100) Erlkönig’, D328Piano Sonata in E, D157 Mass in G, D167 (Agnus Dei)String Quartet in G minor, D173 Der vierjährige Posten, D190 Symphony No 3 in D, D200 ‘Heidenröslein’, D257‘Gebet während der Schlacht’, D171‘An die Nachtigall’, D196‘Die Mondnacht’, D238‘Das Rosenband’, D280Beethoven: ‘Der Zufriedene’, Op 75 No 6Schubert: ‘Der Zufriedene’, D320Symphony No 4 in C minor (‘Tragic’), D417‘Abschied’, D957 No 7‘Der Atlas’, D 957 No 8Octet in F for clarinet, horn, bassoon, string quartet and double bass, D803 ‘Auf dem Strom’, D943Liszt, after Schubert: Die Rose – Lied von Franz Schubert, S556/1Symphony in C, D 944 Piano Sonata in A, D959 String Quintet in C, D 956 Ständchen, D920Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Franz Schubert https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00083n5 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Guillaume Dufay

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by William Lyons to explore Guillaume Dufay's life and music.The beauty, originality and technical mastery of Guillaume Dufay’s music illustrate why the Florentine ruler Piero de’Medici gave him the epithet “the greatest ornament of our age”. Undoubtedly he is one of the 15th century’s most distinctive voices. He was in his late 70s by the time he died in 1474; a long life by medieval standards. His outstanding talent transported him from an uncertain start in life as the illegitimate son of a servant and an unknown man, to being a musician who was feted at court, and respected by the church and the papacy alike. As his fame spread across Europe, he commanded the admiration of his fellow composers, influencing not only his direct contemporaries but also the generation of composers who succeeded him, among them Johannes Ockeghem. Donald Macleod is joined by William Lyons, a historical music researcher and the founder of the ensemble The Dufay Collective. Pulling together what’s known about Dufay, across the episode, they build a picture of the man behind this illustrious reputation, examine the key relationships he fostered, and consider how his music flourished as he navigated the turbulent political currents of the age.Music featured:St. Anthony of Padua MassCe jour de l’an Quel fronte signorillo C’est bien raison de devoir essaucier Ave Regina caelorum Missa Ave regina caelorum Motet: Apostolo gloriosumSeigneur Leon, vous soyés bienvenus Missa Sancti Jacobi - Offertorium Magnificat tertii et quarti toni Missa Ecce ancilla Domini - Sanctus Malheureulx cueur Motet: Moribus et genere Adieu ces bons vins de LannoysMissa Sine Nomine - Kyrie & Gloria Ballade: Resvelliés-vous et faites chiere lye Vasilissa ergo gaude O Sancte Sebastiane Missa Sancti Jacobi - Sanctus, Agnus Dei Vergene BellaLa Belle se siet Ballade: Se la face ay pale Flos Florum Ecclesiae militantis Balsamus et munda cera Supremum est mortalibus bonum Ave Maris Stella L’alta tua bellezza Salve flos Tusce gentisCe moys de may Bon jour, bon mois Il sera par vous combatuMissa L’homme armé - Kyrie S’il est Plaisir Je me complains Par le regard Ave regina caelorum II Sanctus Ave verum corpus Gaude virgoPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Guillaume Dufay https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007yz1 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Edward Elgar

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Edward Elgar’s music through the locations that inspired him.Worcester-born, with his roots in the beautiful English countryside around Hereford and the Malverns yet drawn to the bright lights of London, English composer Edward Elgar moved house a lot. He lived in over 25 residences in his lifetime, stayed with friends, travelled often for work and pleasure in the UK, Europe and further afield, and had a number of second homes he rented as retreats. This week we’re focusing on the locations that were important to Elgar, and the places that inspired his music. Following Elgar’s journeys, Donald takes us from home life in the Midlands to country cottage holidays, summers in Europe and as far afield as the Amazon. Music featured:Pomp and Circumstance March, Op 39 No 1 in D major Cockaigne (In London Town) Salut d'amour, Op 12 O Happy Eyes, Op 18 No 1 The Dream of Gerontius, Op 38 Owls, an Epitaph, Op 53 No 4 (Four Choral Songs) Enigma Variations, Op 36Symphony No 2 (3rd movement)String Quartet (2nd movement)Introduction ‘The woodland interlude’ (Caractacus) Sea Pictures, Op 37Piano Quintet, Op 84 (3rd movt - Andante – Allegro)Cello Concerto in E minor, Op 85 (1st movement)In SmyrnaParis – Five QuadrillesFrom the Bavarian Highlands, Op 27 Nos 3 - 6 In the South (Alassio) Mina The Wand of Youth Suite No 1, Op 1a Organ Sonata No 1 in G major, Op 28 (2nd movement) Severn Suite, Op 87 Lux Aeterna (choral arrangement of Enigma Variations Op 36 Nimrod by John Cameron) Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Amy Wheel for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Edward Elgar https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000754h And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Antonio Vivaldi

Fri, 26 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Antonio Vivaldi.As a virtuoso violinist, as a teacher, as a priest and as a prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was a key figure in Baroque Italy and remains one of the most famous names in classical music today. In this episode, Donald begins by exploring Vivaldi’s intrinsic link with his birth city, Venice, through a series of images. Next, he examines the depth of Vivaldi’s faith – as an ordained priest who didn’t say mass, there have been many questions asked about his piety. We’ll also hear about the composer’s many female muses, his rapid fall from grace to anonymity and the posthumous rediscovery of his music after a long period in the musical wilderness.Music featured:Violin Concerto in E flat major “La Tempesta di Mare”, RV 253Armida, RV 699 Violin Concerto in F minor “L’inverno”, RV297Judita Triumphans, RV644 Concerto for two horns, RV 538Laetatus sum (psalm 121), RV 607Concerto in G minor, Op 3 No 2, RV 578Stabat Mater dolorosa, RV 621Gloria, RV 589Griselda, RV 718Il Teuzzone RV 736 Dorilla In Tempe, RV 709 Concerto for Viola d’Amore in A minor, RV397Orlando furioso, RV 728 Nulla in mundo pax sincera, RV 630Atenaide, RV 702 Il Farnace, RV 711 Concerto per S.A.S.I.S.P.G.M.D.G.S.M.B., RV 574 Violin Concerto in E major “la primavera”, RV 269La Senna Festeggiante, RV 693 Violin Concerto No 12 in B Minor “La Cetra”, RV 391Agrippo, RV697 Il Bajazet, RV 703 Nisi Dominus, RV 608 Salve Regina, RV 616Bach: Concerto for Four Keyboards in A minor (after Vivaldi), BWV 1065L’Olimpiade, RV 725 Violin Concerto in G Minor “L'estate", RV 315 Dixit Dominus, RV 594 Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Sam Phillips for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Antonio Vivaldi https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006zh2 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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James MacMillan

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod talks to composer James MacMillan as he celebrates his 60th birthdayOne of the UK’s most prolific living composers, James MacMillan was born on the 16th of July 1959 in Ayrshire. His grandfather introduced him to brass band music and his primary teacher taught him the recorder. The combination of these musical experiences sparked a lifelong passion in James to make and create music of his own. As well as James’s journey into music, we’ll hear about the birth of James’s political and religious views, and his critiques of Scotland which finds their way into his writing. Donald and James discuss the importance of the composer’s connection with his listeners and performers. His festival, the Cumnock Tryst, brings musical sharing to his community in Ayrshire, and his religious music continues to bring solace even in very difficult family times.Music featured:The Storm (Into the Ferment)Berserking (1st movement)It is Finished (Seven Last Words from the Cross)The Confession of Isobel GowdieFor IanCantos Sagrados (Identity)The Reproaches (Cello Concerto)Veni, Veni Emmanuel A Scotch Bestiary Tenebrae ResponsoriesClemency: Sarah’s Lament Piano Concerto No 2 (3rd movement - Shamnation)O Radiant Dawn (Strathclyde Motets) MiserereOboe ConcertoThe Sacrifice: Act III, Scene 3Domus Infelix Est - An Unhappy HouseOne Prelude (St Luke Passion)Benedicimus Deum coeli (Strathclyde Motets)Violin Concerto (3rd movement – Song and Dance)Fac, ut portem Christi mortem (Stabat Mater)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Rosie Boulton for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for James MacMillan https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006sjd And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Carl Nielsen

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Carl Nielsen’s worldview through his music. You’ll find a clue as to Carl Nielsen’s character in any number of photographs that show him smiling; they include snaps of him taken as a young man in which he’s cheekily pulling funny faces for the camera. They’re far removed from the formal portraiture one might expect of Denmark’s foremost composer. As well as a good sense of humour, these unselfconscious poses reveal an open, inquisitive fascination with the world around him. In this episode, Donald Macleod explores how the world around him fed into Nielsen’s music. Excerpts from five of his symphonies reveal some of his most profound thinking on life, while his major choral works Hymnus Amoris and Springtime on Funen - which directly relate to his rural childhood - show a more personal side of his character. Ever the keen observer, there’s comedy and drama and even a musical portrait of chickens to be found in his operas. Music featured:Maskarade: Overture Violin Concerto, Op 33 (Rondo: Allegretto scherzando) Frihed er det bedste guldHelios Overture Afflictus Sum (3 Motets) The Cockerel’s Dance (Maskarade) Se dig ud en sommerdag Chaconne, Op 32 Symphony No 3 (1: Allegro espansivo) String Quintet in G major (3: Allegretto scherzando) Springtime on Funen, Op 42 Five Piano Pieces Op 3 (Humoresque: Allegretto giocoso) Little Suite for Strings (Intermezzo)6 Songs, Op 10 Symphony No 1 (Allegro orgoglioso) Hymnus Amoris Benedictus Dominus (3 Motets) Jens Vejmand (excerpts) Suite, Op 45 for piano (Allegretto un pochettino)Saga-Dream Saul and David (Act 4) String Quartet in F major, Op 44 (1: Allegro non tanto e comodo)Symphony No 5 (Allegro – Presto – Andante poco tranquillo – Allegro (tempo 1)) Graeshoppen Wind Quintet (1: Allegro ben moderato) Pan and Syrinx, Op 49 Sonata for violin and piano No 2, Op 35 (2: molto adagio) Symphony No 4 (1: Allegro)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Carl Nielsen https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006m0z And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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CPE Bach

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod tells the story of the loss - and later rediscovery - of CPE Bach’s musicCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was many things in his lifetime: composer, virtuoso harpsichord player and improviser extraordinaire, author, businessman – publishing his own music – biographer – of his father and other members of his family, and teacher. This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much of his archive in 1999. Throughout the episode we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. We’ll learn about CPE’s musical crowd-funding, his emotive Empfindsamer style, his life in Hamburg, and how the discovery has changed the way Bach and his music is seen in 2019.Music featured:L'Aly Rupalich, Wq 117 No 27 Keyboard Concerto in D minor, Wq 23Heilig, Wq 217Flute concerto in D Major, Wq 13 Solfeggio in C Minor, Wq 117 No 2Free Fantasie in F sharp minor, Wq 67Licht der Welt, von Gott gegeben, H 811 (Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe) Rondo II in D Minor, Wq 61 No 4Flute Sonata in A minor, Wq 132Solfeggio in C Minor Symphony in D Major, Wq 183 No 1Fantasia No. 2 in C Major, Wq 59 No 6Wer ist so würdig als du; Ach, ruft mich einst zu seinen Freuden, H 805 (Nun danket alle Gott)Sonata in C Minor, Wq 78Morgengesang am Schöpfungsfeste, W 239Magnificat anima mea Dominum, Et misericordia eius, Gloria Patri et Filio, Sicut erat in principio (Magnificat, Wq 215) Quartet in D Major, Wq 94Rondo in A minor Wq 56 No 5Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, Wq 240 (Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu)Leite mich nach deinem Willen, H 835Cello Concerto in A major, Wq 172 (2nd mvt)Symphony in B minor, Wq 182 No 5 Sonata in C major, Wq 55 No 1 (Für Kenner und Liebhaber)Double Concerto for harpsichord and fortepiano in E Flat major, Wq 47Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Iain Chambers for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for CPE Bach https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006fff And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Fryderyk Chopin

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores “the poet of the piano”, Fryderyk Chopin. Donald starts this week’s episode with a look at how Chopin’s Polish heritage shaped his music. Although he left the country at the age of 20, dance forms like the polonaise and mazurka left a strong mark on his writing. Next, we catch fleeting glimpses of the composer through his letters, and his relationship with his instrument, the piano. Chopin’s reticence to perform made his rare appearances extremely lucrative, but he much preferred the more intimate and sociable surroundings of the salon, where his trademark light touch could be appreciated to the full. We hear about Chopin through the eyes of his most illustrious contemporaries – his lover George Sand, and fellow composers Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann. To end, stories of the composer’s ever-feeble health – Berlioz is supposed to have said Chopin was “dying all his life” – which makes the scale of his achievement all the more heroic.Music featured:‘Życzenie’ (The maiden’s wish), Op 74 No 1Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor, Op 21 (3rd mvt, Allegro vivace)4 Mazurkas, Op 17 Polonaise No 5 in C minor, Op 40 No 2Polonaise No 6 in A flat, Op 53 (‘Heroic’)Ballade No 4 in F minor, Op 522 Mazurkas (Mazurka in G; Mazurka in B flat)Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, Op 11 (2nd mvt, Romance—Larghetto)Preludes, Op 28 3 Mazurkas, Op 50 (No 1 in G; No 2 in A flat; No 3 in C sharp minor)2 Nocturnes, Op 55 (No 1 in F minor; No 2 in E flat)Etude in A flat, Op 25 No 1 (‘Aeolian Harp’)‘Krakowiak’: Grand Concert Rondo in F, Op 14Mazurka in B minor, Op 33 No 4Andante spianato, Op 22 No 1Impromptu No 3 in G flat, Op 51Nocturne in F sharp minor, Op 48 No 2Barcarolle, Op 60Etude in C, Op 10 No 1Ballade No 2 in F, Op 38Variations in B flat major on ‘La ci darem la mano’, from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, Op 2Scherzo No 4 in E, Op 54Sonata in G minor for piano and cello, Op 65 (2nd and 3rd movements)Mazurka in G minor, Op 67 No 22 Nocturnes, Op 27 (No 1 in C sharp minor, Larghetto; No 2 in D flat, Lento sostento)Scherzo No 3 in C sharp minor, Op 39Ballade No 3 in A flat, Op 47Sonata No 3 in B minor, Op 58 (3rd movement, Largo)Waltz in E flat, Op 18 (‘Grande valse brillante’)Berceuse, Op 57Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Fryderyk Chopin https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00066mv And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Jacques Offenbach

Fri, 21 Jun 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod on Jacques Offenbach - maestro of the Cancan and much more besides. Today’s episode we meet Offenbach on the brink of defeat – when he decides to launch his own theatre company, ‘Les Bouffes-Parisiens’ in a tiny wooden shack on the Champs-Elysées. It was an instant and enduring success; over the next quarter-century, more than 50 of Offenbach’s musical comedies were to début there. We get an insight into the character of this driven creative artist – the man who “cannot stop working”. He even had his carriage kitted out with a writing desk, so that he could continue composing, scoring or revising as he travelled between venues. Next, we hear about his A-team librettists, Meilhac and Halévy, and a mysterious stranger makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Offenbach is whisked to the United States on a concert tour, where he is particularly fascinated by the women. Finally, Donald looks at Offenbach’s gout-ridden final years, and the opera he left unfinished on his death (The Tales of Hoffmann).Music featured:Orphée aux enfers (extracts)Les deux aveugles (Overture)Monsieur Choufleuri restera chez lui (extracts)Valse de Zimmer (Dernier Souvenir)Boléro (from Grande scène espagnole, Op 22)Lischen et Fritzchen (Act 1, ‘Je suis Alsacienne’)Le papillon (extract)Boule de neige (‘L'Hospodar nous invite a luncher avec lui, lunchons!’)Barbe-bleue (Act 1, Couplets de Boulotte: “Y’a des bergers dans le village”)La belle Hélène (extract)La vie Parisienne (Act 3, finale) La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (Act I, finale)La Perichole (extract)La boulangerie à des écus (‘Ce qu’ j’ai?’)Vert-Vert (overture)American Eagle WaltzLa vie Parisienne (Act 2, beginning)Les belles AméricainesLa Belle Hélène (Act 2, ‘On me nomme Hélène le blond’)La jolie parfumeuse (Act 1, ‘Je peins, je crayonne’)Les contes d’Hoffmann (extract)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Jacques Offenbach https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00061hq And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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England's Golden Age

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod introduces six composers who flourished under the rule of Elizabeth I.The composers of 16th century England flourished under the rule of Elizabeth I, rapidly developing a diverse musical culture unparalleled anywhere on the continent, a truly Golden Age for English music. In this week of programmes Donald Macleod explores six composers who were key to this ascent - Thomas Morley, John Bull, Peter Philips, Thomas Weelkes, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Tomkins. These composers were all active at around the same time as the “Father of British Musick” William Byrd and John Dowland, and all either studied or worked with Byrd, but they don’t often receive the same attention as those more famous names.Music featured:Morley: It was a Lover and his lass / Hard by a Crystal Fountain / Now is the month of maying; Sing we and chant it; On a fair morning / Cruel, Wilt Thou Persever / Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis from First Service / Tomkins: Fantasia a 6 no. 18 / Too Much I Once Lamented (for Byrd) / Oft did I marle (c.1622) / Know You Not / Cloris When As I Woo / O Let Me Live for True Love / Be Strong and of good courage / Offertory / Thou Art My King / Pavan “for these distracted times” / The Lady Folliot’s Galliard / Burial SentencesBull: Chromatic Pavan and Galliard MB 87a/b / Pavan No 2 (from Parthenia) / Almighty God, Which by the leading of a Star / Fantasia on a fugue of Sweelinck / Coranto – Alarm / Pavan & Galliard “St Thomas Wake”Philips: Hodie beata Virgo Maria; Surgens Jesus; Ave Verum Corpus / Pavan & Galliard (arr. Philips based on Morley’s originals) / Lasso, non e morir / Amarilli (after G. Caccini) / Gaude Maria virgo / Salve Regina / Pavan & Galliard in memory of Lord Paget / Pavan and Galliard DolorosaGibbons: Prelude in D minor / See, See the World is Incarnate / The Silver Swan (c.1611) / Fantasia No 5 in G minor / O Clap your hands / Lord Salisbury’s Pavan and Galliard from Parthenia / Nay Let me weep (Part 1) / O Lord in thy Wrath, Rebuke me NotWeelkes: As Vesta was from Latmos Hill Descending / O Lord, Grand the King a Long Life/ O Care Thou Wilt Dispatch Me (Parts 1 and 2) / Come, Sirrah Jack, ho! / Thule, the period of cosmology – The Andalusian merchant / Death hath deprived me of my dearest friendAlfonso Ferrabosco the Elder: Questi ch'indizio fan del mio tormentoPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Sam Phillips for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for England’s Golden Age https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005nly And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Dmitry Shostakovich

Fri, 24 May 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music of Dmitry Shostakovich through the lens of his family life.In this week’s episode, Donald introduces us to Shostakovich - the family man. Turning his attention to the middle of the Russian composer's life, we hear the story of his relationships with his two children (Galina, born in 1936, and Maxim, born in 1938) and his first wife Nina, who he was married to from 1935 until her death in 1954. Starting with the complicated early days of building a family, Donald tells us how Shostakovich celebrated the birth of his first daughter, plus the answer to an important question: was Shostakovich a cat or a dog person? Next, we meet the family as wartime evacuees and hear about the symphony that was almost lost in a toilet on a train. We join the Shostakoviches in a country retreat set up by the USSR Union of Composers, where they spent memorable summers, and hear about the terrifying moment Shostakovich received a phone call from Stalin. Lastly, Donald reveals how Shostakovich coped following Nina’s death, and the music which his grief inspired.Music featured:Suite for Variety OrchestraSix Romances on Texts by Japanese Poets, Op 21 The Tale of the Silly Little Mouse Symphony No 4 in C major Op 43 6 Romances on Verses by English Poets, Op 62 - 1. Sir Walter Raleigh to His Sonne Sonata No 2 in B minor, Op 61 Symphony No 7 in C major ‘Leningrad’, Op 60 Children's Notebook Op 69 (1-7)String Quartet 2 in A major, Op 68Piano Trio No 2 Op 67 Symphony No 8 in C minor Op 65 Pirogov (Finale) Violin Concerto No 1 in A minor Op 77 The Song of the Forests Op 81 String Quartet No 4, Op 83 Festive Overture, Op 96 Symphony No 10 in E minor, Op 93 Piano Concerto No 2 in F major, Op 102 String Quartet No 7 in F sharp minor, Op 108 Youth (Romance) from The Gadfly Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Amy Wheel for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Dmitry Shostakovich https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005736 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Igor Stravinsky

Fri, 10 May 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod surveys the life and music of Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky.In this week’s episode, Donald explores the composer who is said, in his music, to have ushered in the 20th century: Igor Stravinsky. His name is probably still most associated with the utterly extraordinary, revolutionary evening that prompted that accolade – the premiere of The Rite of Spring in Paris on the 29th of May 1913. We’ll hear about his pivotal relationships with fellow musician Rimsky-Korsakov, his assistant Robert Craft and the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Plus, Donald delves into some of the most formative periods in Stravinsky’s life: his creative move towards neo-classicism, the death of his wife, his lonely exile to the USA, and his experiments with serialist methods.Music featured:Rite of SpringScherzo in G minorPastorale Four Etudes, Op 7, Nos 3 and 4Symphony in E flat major (1st and 2nd movements)Faun and ShepherdessScherzo FantastiqueFireworks The Firebird SuiteThree Movements from PetrushkaPulcinella (Overture)Mavra: Russian Song (arr for cello & piano)Octet (2nd movement)Symphony of PsalmsConcerto in E flat major 'Dumbarton Oaks'TangoEbony Concerto (1st and 2nd movements)Scherzo a la RusseSymphony in Three MovementsRake's Progress: Act I Scene 3 (excerpt)Mass (Kyrie, Gloria)In Memoriam Dylan ThomasMovements for Piano and OrchestraAgon: Act IVThe dove descending breaks the airCanticum SacrumPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Martin Williams for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Igor Stravinsky https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004y0p And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Amy Beach

Fri, 03 May 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod follows Amy Beach’s quest to create a uniquely American sound in her music.Amy Beach was born in the 19th century and, like all women composers of her generation, she found her path to greatness strewn with obstacles. This week, Donald Macleod charts her struggle to take control of her own destiny and become one of America’s most cherished cultural figures; a composer who helped lead her nation into the mainstream of classical music. Famed conductor, Leopold Stokowski noted that her symphony was “full of real music, without any pretence or effects but just real, sincere, simple and deep music.” In her search to develop her individual voice as a composer, Donald discusses the impact of her religious beliefs, her marriage and the places which shaped her work: her first tour of Europe, and the MacDowell Colony, where she composed most of her later works.Music featured:Pastorale, Op 151Romance, Op 23Symphony in E minor, Op 32 (Gaelic) (Alla sicilana & Lento)Evening Hymn, Op 125 No 2From Grandmother’s Garden, Op 97The Year’s at the Spring, Op 44 No 1Valse Caprice, Op 4Canticle of the Sun, Op 123Though I take the wings of morning, Op 152Trio for violin, cello and piano, Op 150Ah, love, but a day, Op 44 No 2A Prelude, Op 71 No 1When far from her, Op 2 No 2Come, ah come, Op 48 No 1Nunc Dimittis, Op 8 No 1Peace I leave with you, Op 8 No 3Violin Sonata in A minor, Op 34Symphony in E minor, Op 32 (Gaelic) (Allegro di molto)Autumn Song, Op 56 No 1Prelude Op 81Der Totenkranz, Op 73 No 2The Candy Lion, Op 75 No 1Piano Concerto in C sharp minor, Op 45On a HillJe demande à l’oiseau, Op 51 No 4A Hermit Thrush at Eve, Op 92 No 1A Hermit Thrush at Morn, Op 92 No 2Quartet for Strings, Op 89AmbacheTrois morceaux caractéristiques, Op 28Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Amy Beach https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004ltq And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Handel, Messiah and Dublin

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod tells the real story behind one of the most popular masterpieces ever composed. In 1741 Handel packed his bags and left London for Dublin, where he spent nearly nine months writing and performing in the city. The main work that he premiered there was a new oratorio which proved to be one of the landmarks of his career. Across the week we hear the whole of Handel’s Messiah, uncover the secrets of its origins and dispel the myths that still surround it.To begin this week’s episode, Donald and his guest Ruth Smith paint a picture of Handel’s life in London as he prepared to leave for Ireland, examining the way in which the texts and ideas of Messiah respond to the social and intellectual turbulence of the time. Next, they focus on Handel’s relationship with his extraordinary collaborator, Charles Jennens, who conceived the idea of Messiah. They discuss Handel’s arrival in Dublin and how he gathered his forces for his hotly-awaited concert series, the sensational reception of Messiah’s premiere, and the work’s long association with charity. Finally, we hear about the legacy left embedded in Messiah, and how the work has come to mean so much to generations of singers and music lovers long after the deaths of Handel and Jennens.Music featured:MessiahOde for St Cecilia’s Day (Final movement)Israel in Egypt (excerpts)Saul: Act I ‘How excellent Thy name’Athalia: Part I Scene 4 ‘Gloomy tyrants, we disdain’L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato: As steals the mornAlexander’s Feast: Revenge, Timotheus criesOrgan Concerto Op 7 No 1 in B flat major, HWV 306Saul: Act I Scene 5, "O Lord, whose mercies numberless"Utrecht Te Deum, HWV 278 (movements 5 – 10)Samson: Act I, Scene 2 'O first created beam!'Samson: Act II, Scene 1 'Return, O God of hosts!'Belshazzar: Act I, Scene 3Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Amelia Parker for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for George Frideric Handel https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004dq7 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Alban Berg

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod surveys the life, loves and music of Alban Berg.As a youngster, Berg loved the music of Brahms, Mahler and Richard Strauss and composed 34 songs as a teenager. Maybe this would have been the end of it, but his brother Charly secretly took some of these songs to show a music professor in the city - Arnold Schoenberg. This week’s episode begins with a look at their stimulating but often turbulent relationship. Donald tells the story of Berg’s long marriage to Viennese beauty Helene Nahowski, and the secrets beneath the surface, including Berg’s love affair with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin which permeated his compositions. We hear about how his time in army training led to physical collapse, from which he emerged to write a brutal opera – Wozzeck. Finally, Berg’s premature death from an infected insect sting, and how his wife Helene set up a shrine to his memory, forbidding the completion of Lulu, the unfinished opera he left behind.Music featured:Über den Bergen – Over the MountainsLied de Lulu from Lulu SuiteStill is where the graves are (Schattenleben)Where the Laburnum GrowsPassacaglia (arr. Von Borries)Piano Sonata, Op 1String Quartet, Op 3Vielgeliebte schone FrauSeven Early SongsFour Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op 5Five Altenberg LiederChamber Concerto for piano, violin and 13 wind instruments (Rondo)Ferne Lieder – Distant SongsWozzeck: Act 3, Tanzt Alle Wozzeck: Act 3, Scenes 4 and 5 Three Pieces for OrchestraWein, Weib und Gesang (Waltz Op 333 by Johann Strauss II, trans. Berg)Chamber Concerto for piano, violin and 13 wind instruments (Adagio)Lyric SuiteDer WeinSchliesse mir die Augen beide (1907)Schliesse mir die Augen beide (1925)Lulu Suite: VariationenViolin ConcertoPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Rosie Boulton for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Alban Berg https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00047vv And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Joseph Haydn

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the prolific life of Joseph Haydn, with a spotlight on his massesJoseph Haydn’s prodigious creativity earned him the titles Father of the Symphony and Father of the String Quartet. However, he was also occupied with sacred music throughout his career. This week, as Donald Macleod follows Haydn’s journey from humble choirboy to Europe’s most celebrated composer, he shines the spotlight on music from Haydn’s many settings of the Mass. It's music that is as chock-full of invention and character as any of the instrumental forms he made his own. In this week’s episode Donald illustrates Haydn’s generosity and sense of humour, the obstacles thrown into Haydn’s path throughout his career, the importance he placed on religion, and the effect war and turmoil had on his music. Also, the extraordinary story of how Haydn lost his head.Music featured:Mass in B flat major ‘Harmoniemesse’ Symphony No 94 in G major ‘Surprise’ (Andante)Mass in B flat major ‘Theresienmesse’ String Quartet in B minor, Op 64 No 2Organ Concerto in C majorPiano Trio No 17 in F majorMass in G major ‘Missa Sancti Nicolai’: Agnus DeiStabat Mater: Sancta MaterMass in F major ‘Missa brevis a due soprani’Arianna a Naxos cantata: Aria ‘Dove sei’String Quartet in B flat major, Op 64 No 3Mass in C major Missa in tempore belli ‘Paukenmesse’ Symphony No 100 in G major ‘Military’ (2nd movement)Piano Trio No 39 in G major ‘Gypsy Rondo’Die Schöpfung, Part 2: Mass in D minor ‘Nelson Mass’ Trumpet Concerto in E flat major: movt I AllegroSymphony No 104 in D major ‘London’: movt IV Finale: SpiritosoMass in B flat major ‘Schöpfungsmesse’: Kyrie and GloriaPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Eleri Llian Rees for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Joseph Haydn https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00045nb And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Francis Poulenc

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod surveys the life and work of Francis Poulenc, a man full of contradictionsThis week Donald Macleod explores five aspects of Poulenc’s personality and how they find expression in his music. 'In Poulenc there is something of the monk and something of the rascal' said the composer’s friend Claude Rostand - but there were other sources of inspiration that drove him. From the gregarious exploits of his youth to his serious engagement with Catholicism, from schmoozing in high society salons to the calm he sought at his country retreat and his struggles with depression, Donald surveys the life and music of a man full of contradictions.Music featured:Chanson à boire Cocardes La Dame de Monte-Carlo Les Biches (Suite) Chansons GaillardesNocturne No 4 in C minor ‘Bal fantôme’ Concert Champêtre (1st movement)Trois poèmes de Louise Lalanne Tel Jour, Telle Nuit Concerto in D minor for two pianos and orchestra Ce doux petit visageChansons villageoises (excerpt) Les Animaux modèlesFigure Humaine Priez pour paix Litanies à la Vierge NoireStabat Mater Sonata for two pianos (3rd movement) Dialogues des Carmélites (Act II, Scene 4)Sonata for flute and piano (2nd movement) Gloria Élégie for horn and piano Sept Répons des Ténèbres (V-VI-VII) Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Megan Jones for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Francis Poulenc https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003sh5 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music, and what little is known of the life, of Baroque master Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber.Biber’s first appearance in the historical records is in his early 20s, when we find him in the service of Karl Liechtenstein, prince-bishop of Olomouc in central Moravia. In this week’s episode, we meet Biber as he runs an errand for his boss, but mysteriously absconds en route, trading in his old employer for a new and even more illustrious one, Prince-Archbishop Maximilian Gandolph von Küenburg. In Salzburg, Biber put down roots, married the daughter of a wealthy local businessman, fathered eleven children and gradually rose through the court ranks to become Kapellmeister. His risky career-gamble had paid off. Donald introduces us to the musical legacy the elusive composer left behind, playing Biber’s best-known work (his Mystery, or Rosary, Sonatas) as well as his music for church and stage. We also learn about his close relationships with the violin and his home of Salzburg, and the five remarkable printed collections of instrumental music that spread his name across Europe.Music featured:Missa Alleluia (Kyrie)Sonata ‘La pastorella’Battalia a 10 (Sonata di marche)Sonata violino solo representativaPartita VI in D (Harmonia Artificioso-Ariosa)The Rosary Sonatas: The Five Joyful MysteriesPassacaglia in G minor for unaccompanied violinVesperae longiores ac breviores, 1693Arminio, or Chi la dura la vince (extracts)Litaniae Sancto JosephoSonata No 11 in A (Sonatae tam Aris, quam Aulis servientes)Partita No 3 in A minor (Mensa sonoris, seu Musica instrumentalis) Sonata No 3 in F (Sonatae violino solo)Sonata No 12 in A major (Fidicinium sacro-profanum)Partita No 1 in D minor (Harmonia artificioso-ariosa)Balletti a 6 (1. Sonata)Missa SalisburgensisSonata a 7Sonata Sancti PolycarpiPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biberhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003rq6 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Astor Piazzolla

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 15:25:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of the bandoneon virtuoso and composer Astor Piazzolla, through five key locations.All his life he fought against the tide, and in the end, he was the victor. Astor Piazzolla was a rebel with a cause. A virtuoso bandoneon player and a composer, he set out to break tango free from its roots, and make it a music with a future far beyond the dance halls and cafes of 1950s Buenos Aires. Hits like “Libertango” and collaborations with jazz giants like Gary Burton and Gerry Mulligan made his name beyond the tango world, while his classical compositions brought his instrument, the bandoneon critical acclaim in the concert hall. The secrets of musical technique came, he said, from his studies with French pedagogue, Nadia Boulanger and Argentinian composer, Alberto Ginastera but they also came from his teenage experiences in Buenos Aires, the city where had played bandoneon and arranged music for Anibal Troilo’s famous tango band. Across the week Donald Macleod traces Astor Piazzolla’s life through the places which played an important part in his musical development: New York, Buenos Aires, Paris, Rome and the Uraguayan resort of Punta del Este.Music featured:Tanguedia Tres minutos con la Realidad Piano sonata No 1, Op 7 Sideral Requiem para un Malandra Adios nonino Concierto para quinteto Buenos Aires hora cera (Buenos Aires zero hour) El desbande Tiernamente El recodoHistoire du Tango for flute and guitar Balada para mi muerte Sinfonía Buenos Aires, Op 15 Otoño porteñoTwo pieces for clarinet and string orchestraTriunfal Prepárense Tangos, El Exilio de Gardel (excerpts from the original soundtrack) Mumuki Michelangelo 70 AmelitangoMaria de Buenos Aires (excerpt) Summit Close your eyes and listen 3 Movimientos Tanguisticos PortenosTristezas de un Doble A Jeanne y Paul Resurreccion del Angel Concerto for bandoneon, string orchestra & percussion Le Grand Tango La Camorra II Five Tango Sensations Libertango Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Astor Piazzolla https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003c6f And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Hector Berlioz

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Hector BerliozBerlioz is perhaps unique among composers in having had a literary gift almost the equal of his musical one. He earned his bread-and-butter living as a writer, turning out witty and often acerbic music criticism for the influential Journal des débats and Gazette musicale among others. Donald starts this week with a look at Berlioz through his engaging, passionate and entertaining Memoirs. Next, he delves into the world of Berlioz’s literary muses – first and foremost, Virgil, Goethe and Shakespeare. We hear about Benvenuto Cellini, the opera whose “verve, impetus and brilliance” Berlioz feared he would never again equal, and his attempt to secure the coveted Prix de Rome amidst the thundering July Revolution. We also encounter some of the celebrated musicians he rubbed shoulders with – among them Liszt, Cherubini, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Wagner and Paganini.Music featured:Les Nuits d’été, Op 7 (Villanelle)Overture Les Francs-Juges, Op 3Grande Messe des Morts, Op 5 (Dies irae)La Damnation de Faust, Op 24 (extract)Béatrice et Bénédict (Act 1)Zaïde, Op 19 No 1La Damnation de Faust, Op 24 (Part 2)Waverley, grande ouverture, Op 1Les Troyens, Op 29 (Act 1, finale)Marche funèbre pour la dernière scène d'Hamlet (Tristia, Op 18)La Captive, Op 12Harold en Italie, Op 16 (IV. Orgie des brigands)Le carnaval romain, Op 9Benvenuto Cellini, Op 23 (extracts)Messe solennelle (Quoniam tu solus Sanctus)Épisode de la vie d’un artiste – Grande Symphonie fantastique, arr. Franz LisztLe roi Lear, grande ouverture, Op 4Les nuits d’été, Op 7 (Absence)Romeo et Juliette, Op 17 (Part 3)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Hector Berliozhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000345c And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Debbie Wiseman

Fri, 08 Mar 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod visits Debbie Wiseman at home to discuss her long and varied career.Debbie Wiseman has over two hundred credits for her music, ranging from television and film, to the concert hall and music for royal pageantry. Not only is she a multi-award winning composer, but also a teacher, pianist and conductor, often performing in and recording her own works. This week, Donald Macleod visits Debbie Wiseman at her home in London to discuss her long and varied career. We hear about the film composer's craft of evoking different worlds in music, Debbie’s belief in versatility and lifelong learning, the challenges of composing for royal events, and her life outside the studio.Music featured:Wolf HallThe Musical Zodiac Haunted Lesbian Vampire KillersWilde Judge John Deed (Man of Law)The Andrew Marr Show (Affairs Current)Tom & Viv The Nightingale and the RoseArsene LupinLighthouse The PromiseWarriors Edie The Ugly DucklingQuiet RoomGigueThe 90th Birthday Celebration Suite The Glorious Garden Tom’s Midnight Garden FloodMiddletown The Upper Hand (Joe & Diana)Joanna Lumley’s Nile (Journey of a Lifetime)Father BrownLand Girls (While We’re Away)The Selfish GiantPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Debbie Wisemanhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002zfy And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Johann Sebastian Bach

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod travels alongside J S Bach as he moves from place to place throughout his life.Donald begins with Bach’s early years in the towns of Eisenach and Ohrdruf, where his excellence as a singer and organist was first recognised. He first moved to Weimar at the age of 18, to work as a court musician, and later as an organist and concertmaster – it was here that he would write most of his organ repertoire, but also spent his time trying to please two antagonistic Dukes. Then we move to the city of Köthen, where Bach was employed at the court of Prince Leopold. The royal court offered Bach exactly what he had been denied in Weimar – the chance to build a really exceptional instrument ensemble. We arrive in Leipzig, where Bach was a public servant again, having to satisfy a plethora of different bodies and individuals. Although his time there was peppered with disputes and discontent, it was his home for 27 years and it is where he composed the bulk of the work that lives on. Finally, Donald explores the afterlife of Bach’s music, including his propulsion into outer space aboard the Voyager spacecraft’s Golden Record.Music featured:MagnificatBrandenburg Concerto No.3 in G majorConcerto in C major for organPartita No 1 for violinWiderstehe doch der SundeCapriccio on the Departure of his Most Beloved Brother Komm, Jesu, Komm Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organViolin Partita No. 2 in D minorTritt auf die GlaubensbahnThe Art of FugueCello Suite No 1 in G Major Sonata for Violin and Piano No 3 Concerto No 2 in F major Well-Tempered Clavier, No 1 in C majorJesu, Joy of Man's Desiring Violin Sonata No 1 in G minorOrchestral Suite No 4 in D majorMusical OfferingMass in B minorPartita for Violin No 3 in E major Capriccio in E major St Matthew PassionGoldberg VariationsPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Martin Williams for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Johann Sebastian Bachhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002l9v And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Max Bruch

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Max Bruch’s violin works.Melody, said Bruch, represents the “soul of music” and nowhere is that better represented than in his famous violin concerto. It’s a work which brought him fame and fortune, but it’s also a work he came to hate, since he felt its popularity suppressed performances of his other compositions. It’s a sentiment that has some justification, since Bruch wrote some two hundred odd works, the majority of which are rarely performed. This week, Donald Macleod looks at Max Bruch’s prickly professional relationships, his feeling of being overshadowed by Brahms, and the instrument with which he had a very close affinity.Music featured:Adagio Appassionato Septet 6 pieces for solo piano Op 12 Violin Concerto no 1 in G minor, Op 26 Swedish dances, Op 63 Symphony No 2 Schön Ellen Op 24 for soprano, baritone and orchestra Violin Concerto No 2 in D minor, Op 44 Bei den roten Rosen Odysseus, Op 41Scottish Fantasy Kol nidrei Op 47 Symphony No 3 Romance in A minor, Op 42 Das Lied von der Glocke, Op 45 Violin concerto No 3 Eight pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, Op 83Serenade, Op 75String Octet in B flat major Konzertstück in F sharp minor, Op 84Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Max Bruch:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002gxf And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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William Grant Still

Fri, 08 Feb 2019 12:59:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of African-American composer William Grant Still (1895-1978). This week Composer of the Week looks at Still’s transformative period of study with mentor Edgard Varèse, the writing of his breakthrough 1st Symphony the ‘Afro-American’, being embraced by the American musical establishment and becoming the first African-American to conduct a major US symphony orchestra, and his uphill struggles to establish himself as a composer of opera. Music featured: Brown Baby Darker AmericaBreath of a RoseLa Guiablesse (The She-Devil), balletAfrica, suite for orchestra (1. Land of Peace)Quit Dat Fool’nishSymphony No 1 in A flat, ‘Afro-American’A Deserted PlantationKaintuck’, poem for piano and orchestraBlues, Pt 1Lenox Avenue (The Crap Game; The Flirtation; The Fight; The Law)Symphony No 2 in G minor, ‘Song of a New Race’ (4. Moderately Slow)Out of the Silence (Seven Traceries, No 4)And They Lynched Him on a TreeOld California‘A Black Pierrot’ (Songs of Separation)Incantation and Dance, for oboe and pianoFestive OvertureBellsSymphony No 4, ‘Autochthonous’Whippoorwill's Shoes (Wood Notes)Little Black Slave Child (Troubled Island)Ennanga, for harp, piano and string quartet (1. Moderately fast)Symphony No 3, ‘The Sunday Symphony’ (2. Prayer – very slowly; 3. Relaxation – Gaily)Lyric QuartetteHighway One: Act I (extract)Grief (Weeping Angel)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for William Grant Still:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002cbdAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Michael Tippett

Fri, 01 Feb 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod and Oliver Soden look at Michael Tippett through his intense personal relationships.Michael Tippett was a particularly absorbent composer, soaking up an incredibly wide range of inspirations and influences from the world around him, and perhaps most often from outside the field of music. His huge intellectual capacity and endless interest in other people combined with immense charisma to make him a personality to which everyone who met him seemed irresistibly drawn. His - often complex - relationships were particularly intense ones, and frequently blurred the lines between professional and personal, artistic and sexual. This week Composer of the Week looks at some of the people closest to Tippett and asks what influence they had on the life and music of a man whose story has still never been fully told. Joining Donald Macleod to explore sometimes uncharted territory is Oliver Soden, the author of a new - and the first complete - biography of the composer.Music featured:Where The Bee Sucks from Songs for Ariel A Child of Our Time (Part 1) Byzantium  Purcell arr. Tippett: If music be the food of love  Piano Sonata No 1, 1st movement: Allegro Suite in D for the Birthday of Prince CharlesThe Heart’s Assurance Variations on an Elizabethan Theme: Lament Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli The Midsummer Marriage Praeludium For Brass, Bells And Percussion Music String Quartet No 1: Lento CantabileSymphony No 2: Adagio molto e tranquillo Songs for Achilles The Knot Garden: Enough, Enough Tippett: Dance, Clarion Air Piano Concerto – 1: Allegro non troppo Crown of the YearThe Blue GuitarThe Rose Lake Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Dominic Jewel for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Michael Tippett:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00028h7 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Franz Liszt

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of Franz Liszt through five striking images.Franz Liszt was the most photographed man of the 19th century and the most sculpted man aside from Napoleon - one of the most recognisable figures of his age. Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of the prolific composer and virtuoso pianist through five intriguing images. Through these, he examines the promotion of Liszt as a child prodigy, and how his persona of the ‘dramatic virtuoso’ was created. We also hear about Liszt’s complicated relationships: with women and his friend Richard Wagner, and his frantic threefold existence, living between Rome, Weimar and Budapest.Music featured:50 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli – Variation 24Hungarian Rhapsody No 2Transcendental Etude No 4 'Mazeppa'Don Sanche (The Castle of Love): OvertureMalédictionChristus Grandes Etudes de Paganini No 3 'La Campanella'TotentanzEl Contrabandista – Rondo FantastiqueGrand Galop ChromatiqueCantata for Inauguration of the Beethoven Monument: Soirées de Vienne No 6Liebestraum No 3 (Nocturne)Années de pèlerinage: Au lac de WallenstadtA Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy Harmonies poétiques et religieuses: Cantique d'amourOrpheusWieder möcht' ich dir begegnen Richard Wagner (arr. Franz Liszt) Tannhäuser: Choeur des PèlerinsPrometheusA Faust Symphony: III. MephistophelesIn LiebeslustThe Legend of St Elizabeth: Chorus of the AngelsAt the Grave of Richard WagnerLegend of St Francis of Assisi: St Francis preaches to the birdsVia Crucis (Cruxis): Station VIHungarian Rhapsody No 9Nuages GrisMephisto Waltz No 2Années de pèlerinage: IV. Au bord d’une sourceRichard Wagner (arr. Franz Liszt) Tristan und Isolde: LiebestodPresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Sam Phillips for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Franz Liszt:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00022zn And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Jean-Philippe Rameau

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the operas of Jean-Phillipe Rameau.At his death in 1764, Rameau, by then an octogenarian, had more than 30 stage works to his credit. It’s a remarkable achievement when you consider he produced his first opera at the age of 50. Up to that point, although details about his life are surprisingly patchy, he appears to have held a succession of posts in the provinces, as an organist, teacher and theoretician, seemingly without even a whiff of greasepaint. Then, at an age when one might assume his chosen path was settled, Rameau upped sticks, came back to Paris and conquered the stage with breathtaking speed. Across the week Donald Macleod focusses on those heady, initial years in the French capital, building a picture of what made Rameau into a highly successful, if controversial, theatrical composer.Music featured:Hippolyte et Aricie Thétis Concert No. 1 in C minorLes Indes Galantes (suite) La PouplinièreNouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin Castor et PolluxQuatrième concertLes fêtes d’Hébé, (opera-ballet) Le Rappel des Oiseaux Les soupirs Les cyclopsLes fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’AmourDardanus Les tricotetsL’indifferenteLa poulel’enharmoniquel’égiptiennePresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Jean-Philippe Rameau: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00893kl And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Felix Mendelssohn

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod journeys through the life of Felix Mendelssohn.Mendelssohn was a leading figure of German music in his day, and became something of an international celebrity. He was at the very forefront of music making during the 1830s and 1840s, as a composer, conductor, pianist and organist. He began as a highly gifted and versatile prodigy, and rose to become one of Germany’s first rank composers of the early romantic period. He composed music in many genres including concertos, oratorios, symphonies, songs and chamber music. Amongst some of his most famous works are the highly evocative and dramatic overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and his mature and richly romantic Violin Concerto.In Composer of the Week, Donald Macleod journeys through the life of Felix Mendelssohn, exploring in particular a number of influences upon the composer’s works: Mozart, his travels in Italy, Bach, his visits to London, and his wife and muse, Cecile.Music featured:Die beiden Padagogen Duo Sonata in G minorPiano Quartet No 2 in F minor, Op 2 (Allegro molto vivace)Piano Concerto in A minor Lieder ohne Worte, Op 19B No 6 (Venetianisches Gondellied)Psalm 115 Non nobis Domine, Op 31Nachspiel in D majorSymphony No 4 in A major, Op 90 (Italian)String Symphony No 5 in B flat major (Allegro vivace)Prelude and Fugue No 1 in E minor, Op 35Paulus, Op 36 (Rise! Up! Arise!)Organ Sonata in C minor, No 2 Op 65Elijah, Op 70 (It is enough)Sechs Lieder ohne Worte, Book 1 Op 19b (Moderato)Daniel Barenboim, pianoA Midsummer Night’s Dream (Overture)Rondo Brillant, Op 29Erntelied, Op 8 No 4Pilgerspruch, Op 8 No 5Elijah, Op 70 (For the mountains shall depart)Sechs Lieder ohne Worte Op 38 No 6 (Duetto: Andante)Ich wollt’ meine Lieb’ ergosse sich, Op 63 No 1Herbstlied, Op 63 No 4Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Op 37 No 1Concerto in E minor for violin and orchestra, Op 64String Quartet in E minor, Op 44 No 2 (Presto agitato)Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Felix Mendelssohn: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001xj5 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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George Gershwin

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of George Gershwin.When a second-hand piano was hoisted through the window of the Gershwin family’s Lower East Side apartment, a window was quite literally opened onto a new world. Donald begins by looking at Gershwin’s early and lifelong love of the instrument. For many, he was the foremost composer of the "jazz age" and it's through jazz-inflected interpretations that his music has reached its widest audience. Next, Donald tells the story of Gershwin's excursions in the concert hall. He may have been the toast of Broadway, but his attempts to move musically out of the theatre district and into the hallowed portals of the city’s concert halls were, despite some successes, constantly frustrated and a source of disappointment to him. To end, Donald charts George Gershwin's final years, partly spent in a ramshackle beach cottage on Folly Island in South Carolina. His memorable musical experiences with the local Gullah people eventually inspired his magnum opus, the opera Porgy and Bess.Music featured:Summertime That Certain FeelingThree PreludesPiano Concerto in FHas Anyone Seen Joe The Real American Folk SongFascinating RhythmEmbraceable YouI Got RhythmI Got Rhythm VariationsSomeone to Watch Over MeRhapsody in BlueSecond RhapsodyAmerican in ParisStrike Up the Band OvertureCuban OvertureMy Man's Gone NowI Got Plenty of Nothin'Bess, You Is My Woman NowIt Ain’t Necessarily SoI Loves You PorgyCatfish Row SuitePresented by Donald MacleodProduced by Martin Williams For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for George Gershwin: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001tjn And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Heinrich Schütz

Fri, 28 Dec 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod journeys through Christmas week in the company of Heinrich Schütz.Donald begins by dipping a toe into the fertile archival territory of Schütz’s own writings, a fascinating window onto the life of the composer. Then we’re to the Striezelmarkt for a pastry and a glass of Glühwein, with a look at Christmas in 17th-century Dresden. Onwards to Venice, where Schütz studies with Gabrieli and hobnobs with Monteverdi. Next, things turn serious, as Schütz is swept up in the convulsions of the 30 Years’ War and its impact is felt on musical life. Finally, Donald looks at the great music of Schütz’s final years, his attempts to retire – and eventually bids farewell with his Schwanengesang.Music featured:Cantate Domino canticum novum, SWV 281 O quam tu pulchra es, SWV 265 Wie sehr lieblich und schöne sind doch die Wohnung dein, SWV 181 Habe deine Lust an dem Herren, SWV 311 Concert in Form einer teutschen Begräbnis-Missa, SWV 279 Gedenke deinem Knechte an dein Wort, SWV 485Hodie Christus natus est, SWV 456Warum toben die Heiden, SWV 23Ein Kind ist uns geboren, SWV 302 Verbum caro factum est, SWV 314The Christmas Story, SWV 435Jubilate Deo in chordis et organo, SWV 276Ride la primavera, SWV 7Di marmo siete voi, SWV 17Vasto mar, nel cui seno, SWV 19 Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren, SWV 41Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, SWV 29Ich danke dem Herrn von ganzem Herzen, SWV 34 Fili mi, Absalon, SWV 269 In te, Domine, speravi, SWV 259Es steh Gott auf, SWV 356‘O, Herr, hilf’, SWV 402 Syncharma musicum, SWV 49Da pacem, Domine’, SWV 465Veni, Sancte Spiritus, SWV 328O süsser, o freundlicher Herr Jesu Christ, SWV 285Erhöre mich, wenn ich dich rufe, SWV 289Ist Gott für uns, SWV 329 Ich bin eine rufende Stimme, SWV 383Verleih uns Frieden genädiglich, SWV 372Das Wort ward Fleisch, SWV 385Das ist je gewisslich wah, SWV 388 Danket dem Herren, denn er ist freundlich, SWV 45 Auf dem Gebirge, SWV 396 Feget den alten Sauerteig aus, SWV 404Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? SWV 415Komm, heiliger Geist SWV 417 Ich danke dem Herrn von ganzem Herzen, SWV 424 Jauchzet dem Herren, alle Welt (Psalm 100), SWV 493St Matthew Passion, SWV 479 Mein Seele erhebt den Herren, SWV 494 Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Heinrich Schütz: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001qghAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod surveys the life and work of Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovRimsky-Korsakov’s music is filled with lush orchestration and hints of orientalism and folk music. These elements and his role as a leading member of “The Mighty Handful” of composers who sought to forge a truly nationalistic music have led him to be regarded as the main architect of the Russian style of composition we know today. We hear about Rimsky Korsakov’s lifelong relationship with the sea, his fascination with myths and folklore, the acts of rebellion which pepper his life, his changing religious beliefs and his carefully constructed legacy.Music featured:By the Sea, Op 46: The Wave Breaks into a SprayScheherazade (I. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship) From Homer Op.60Symphony No 1 (II. Andante tranquillo)Sadko, Op. 6Trombone Concerto (I. Allegro Vivace)Captivated by the Rose, the Nightingale (4 Songs, Op 2 No 2)Antar: IV. Allegretto - AdagioSkazka, Op 29Capriccio Espagnol, Op 34Hymn to the Sun from The Golden CockerelAllegro in B flat major (Les Vendredis, Book II)Overture on Russian Themes, Op 28Symphony No 3: II. ScherzoKashchey the Immortal: Tableau 3Suite from “The Golden Cockerel”: IV. Wedding Feast – Death of King Dodon - Finale Octave (5 Songs “To the Poet”, Op 45)May Night: OvertureSnow Maiden: Act IV FinaleRussian Easter Festival OvertureChants for Holy WeekThe Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya Suite: I. Hymn to NatureFlight of the Bumblebee (Tsar Saltan)Maid of Pskov – OvertureNight on the Bare MountainPolonaise (Christmas Eve Suite)Mlada: Act III, Scenes 2 and 3Mozart & Salieri: Scene 2 (extract)Upon the hills of Georgia, Op 3Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Sam Phillips for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001n89 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Camille Saint-Saëns

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod delves into the character and music of Camille Saint-SaënsThis week’s episode begins with a look at Saint-Saëns the innovator, who introduced new-fangled ideas to an opera-loving Parisian public. Donald investigates the driving force behind the composer’s unstoppable ambition and his dogged determination to find an audience for his music. Next, the playful side of Saint-Saëns’ character - one which he kept under wraps in public, yet amongst friends and in private correspondence he sparkled with wit, and it reveals itself in some of his most popular and enduring music. We hear about the many obstacles Saint-Saëns encountered in his attempts to be recognised as a serious operatic composer, and finally, the composer’s critical views on emerging musical trends in the final decades of his life, when he was condemned as a reactionary for his outmoded attitudes.Music featured:Guitares et mandolines Havanaise Piano Trio No 1 in F, Op 18 (1st mvt) Piano Concerto No 2 Danse MacabreTarantellePiano Quintet in A minor Op 14 (final mvt)Cello Concerto No 1 Septet La Cigale et la FourmiWedding Cake Waltz La Coccinelle Suzette et SuzonTournoiement ‘Songe d’opium’ Six Studies for the Left Hand, Op 135 (Nos 4, 5 & 6)Le Carnaval des AnimauxLa Princesse Jaune: Overture O Cruel Souvenir (Henry VIII)Samson et Dalila: Act II (excerpt) Bacchanale (Samson et Dalila)Proserpine: Act II (excerpt) L’Assassinat du Duc de Guise (5th tableau)Fantaisie for violin and harpPiano Concerto No 5 (1st mvt)Romance for flute and pianoOrgan Symphony (2nd mvt)Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Deborah Preston for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Camille Saint-Saëns: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001d2q And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Billy Strayhorn

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod looks at five key environments that shaped Billy Strayhorn's personal and musical trajectory.Donald starts the journey in Homewood, Pittsburgh, where Billy Strayhorn’s early life was over-shadowed by poverty and a violent father. Over six years of toil as a “soda jerk and delivery boy” he saved up for music college, but an Art Tatum record showed him that everything he loved about classical music was there in one form or another in jazz. Strayhorn cut free and moved to New York, where his path crossed with Duke Ellington. He was quick to discover an exciting new world of opportunity, playing and writing for Ellington’s famous band – a complex relationship that continued for almost thirty years. Work took him to Hollywood - Donald explores the reasons why this turned out to be both an opportunity and a source of disillusionment. We also hear of Strayhorn’s love affair with Paris, the city where he found the night-life and the artistic independence he craved, and where he was given the chance to record his first album under his own name. Finally, Donald charts the ups and many downs of Strayhorn's final years, which he spent in Riverside Drive, New York.Music featured:Take the “A” Train Lush Life Valse Something to Live For Fantastic Rhythm Suite for the DuoMy little Brown BookThe HuesSniborTonkPassion Flower Your Love has faded Three and Six Grouya/Anderson, arr. Strayhorn: Flamingo Chelsea Bridge Strayhorn/Ellington: The Perfume SuiteClementineEllington/Strayhorn/Gaines: Just a-sittin' and a rockin' Rain Check Pentonsilic You're the One Tchaikovsky, arr Strayhorn: The Nutcracker Suite Boo-dahBallad for very tired and very sad lotus eaters Johnny Come Lately Satin Doll Music for The Love of Don Perlimplin for Belisa in their Garden The Newport Jazz Festival SuiteMulticoloured Blue Day DreamUMMGEllington/Strayhorn: Smada Cue's Blue Now Far East Suite Blood Count Cashmere Cutie Le Sacre SupremeLotus Blossom Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Billy Strayhorn: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00016tc And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Gioachino Rossini

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod presents five takes on the life and music of Gioachino Rossini.Donald starts by unpacking the winning formula Rossini hit on right at the start of his operatic career. Aged 18, Rossini was thrown in at the deep end, learning on the job at Venice’s Teatro San Moisè, and the structural groundplan he concocted for his early farces continued to come in handy later in life. Rossini is best known as a composer of comic operas, but Donald introduces us to his serious side, looking at three of his opere serie: Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra, Zelmira and Ermione. Next, a look at Rossini’s life through the enthusiastic but distorting lens of the writer Stendahl, the composer’s earliest biographer and an eyewitness of his most productive period. Donald then delves into the large collection of music that Rossini didn’t have to write – his forays into other genres and forms that came out of his spare time and retirement. Finally, we journey to Paris, to explore the composer’s on-off relationship with the city where he wrote so many of his most celebrated works.Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Gioachino Rossini: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00013x1 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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François Couperin

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod marks 350 years since the birth of François Couperin, one of France’s most dazzling musical talents.Donald begins by leading us through a gallery of the musical portraits that Couperin composed – depicting his contemporaries Lully and Corelli, his aristocratic patrons, and well-known mythological figures. Next, he delves into Couperin’s extraordinary musical family tree, boasting a long line of 7 Couperins who served as organist of St Gervais in Paris. Throughout his glittering career at court, Francois Couperin maintained a loyal connection with his family church and dedicated several works for liturgical use there. We also hear about Couperin’s time in the court of Louis XIV – as the Sun King's composer, writing music for the Versailles Chapel and court entertainment, but also as royal harpsichord tutor. Finally, Donald examines how Couperin embraced the new musical idioms emerging from other countries, and in particular introduced Italian flavours to his native French style.Music featured:La CouperinSalve ReginaL’Apothéose de CorelliLa CharoloiseLa Princesse de SensArianne consolée par BacchusRegina coeli laetare, AlleluiaLouis Couperin: Five FantasiesPange lingua en basseQuatre versets du motetArmand-Louis Couperin: Simphonie de clavecins, in D majorLa ManonL’EnchanteresseLa Fleurie ou la tendre NanetteLes plaisirs de Saint Germain en LayeDomine salvum fac regemMesse pour les couvents (Gloria)Troisième LeçonLes Nations (La Francois)Messe pour les paroisses (Agnus Dei)L’Art de toucher le clavecinRespice in meConcert Royaux (Premier Concert)Pieces de violes avec la basse chifree (Deuxième Suite)La MilordineLa PiemontoiseLes Gouts-reunis ou Nouveaux Concerts (Cinquième Concert)Quatrième livre de Pieces de clavecin, Vingt-troisième ordrePresenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Francois Couperin : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000114n And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Anton Bruckner

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores five personality traits of the strange genius Anton Bruckner.Donald starts with Bruckner’s obsessive tendencies – from bar-counting to full-blown ‘numeromania’ which landed him in a sanatorium. We hear about Bruckner’s unshakeable religious belief, his influential divine visions, and his music for the church. Next, his veneration for Wagner - he was transformed by the experience of hearing Tannhaüser, and paid frequent tribute to the man he was wont to call “the master of all masters”. Bruckner was also one of music history’s great re-thinkers. His many musical revisions were driven by artistic insecurity, criticism and his constant search for proportion and balance. Finally, Bruckner’s superstitious nature is explored, particularly his fear of writing a ninth symphony.Music featured:Locus iste, WAB23Symphony No 1 in C minor Mass No 3 in F minor, WAB 28 (Kyrie)Symphony No 5 in B flat, WAB105 Germanenzug (The Germanic Host), WAB 70Mass No 1 in D minor, WAB 26 (Sanctus)Ave Maria, WAB 6Mass No 2 in E minor, WAB 27 (Credo)Os iusti, WAB 30Ecce sacerdos magnus, WAB 13Virga Jesse, WAB 52Psalm 150, for soprano, chorus and orchestra, WAB 38Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act 3 (‘Ehrt eure deutschen Meister’)Symphony No 3 in D minor, WAB 103 Christus factus est, WAB 11Symphony No 7 in E, WAB 107 Symphony No 2 in C minor, WAB 102 Symphony No 4 in E flat, WAB 104 (‘Romantic’) Symphony No 8 in C minor, WAB 108Bruckner: Symphony No 9 in D minor, WAB 109 Symphony no 9 in D minor, WAB 109 Te Deum, WAB 45Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Chris Barstow for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Anton Bruckner: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000xj9 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Dora Pejačević

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod introduces a first in Composer of the Week’s seventy-year history, the Croatian Countess Dora Pejačević. Donald is joined by Professor Koraljka Kos and Professor Iskra Iveljic to discuss the known facts about the life and music of this Countess and her family. Although Pejačević was born into one of the most influential aristocratic families in Croatia, she became rather critical of her own class in later life. Through her position she did have the opportunity to study in Germany with noted music teachers of the day, and met and collaborated with some of the literary giants of the early twentieth century. Upon her death at the age of only 37, she left a catalogue of over one hundred compositions displaying a unique voice now largely forgotten.Music featured:Romance, Op 22Symphony in F sharp minor, Op 41 Zwei Nocturnes, Op 50 No 2Piano Concerto in G minor, Op 33Zwei Lieder, Op 27 No 1 (I creep along my way)Warum? Op 13Berceuse, Op 2Papillon, Op 6Sechs Fantasiestucke, Op 17 String Quartet in C major, Op 58Canzonetta, Op 8Violin Sonata, Op 43 (Adagio)Phantasie Concertante, Op 48Verwandlung, Op 37Blumenleben, Op 19 Madchengestalten, Op 42 Drei Gesange, Op 53Piano Quintet in B minor, Op 40 (Poco sostenuto)Humoreske and Caprice, Op 54Trio in C major, Op 29 (Scherzo: Allegro & Lento)Liebeslied, Op 39Piano Sonata in A flat major, Op 57Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Dora Pejačević: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000tqb And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Hubert Parry

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Marking the centenary of his death, Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Hubert Parry.Donald begins with the story of Parry's early years, rooted at Highnam Court in Gloucestershire, before looking at the period he was centred around Orme Square in London, the home of his teacher and mentor Edward Dannreuther. We hear about Parry’s connection with the long-running Three Choirs Festival: Parry’s father, Thomas Gambier Parry, was energetic and generous in his efforts to ensure the Festival’s survival, and the Three Choirs was to prove an important platform for his son’s music. Another hugely important institution to Parry was the Royal College of Music - in time, he would become Director of the College and an inspiration to the next generation of composers. We finish with the final years of Parry’s life, during World War One, when Parry's most enduring composition, Jerusalem, was first performed at the Queen’s Hall in London.Music featured:I was Glad Freundschaftslieder Bright Star Fantasie Sonata in B major Choral Prelude for Organ "On SS Wesley's Hampton" Symphony No.1 (2nd movement) Love is a bable Cello Sonata in A Take, O take those lips away Partita in D Minor String Quintet in E-Flat Major Symphony No. 2 in F major (The Cambridge) Long Since In Egypt's Plenteous LandBlest Pair of Sirens The Soul's Ransom Symphony No.3 in C major (The English) Who Can Dwell in Greatness The Birds of Aristophanes Crabbed Age and Youth From Death to Life Symphony No.4 (4th movement)Jerusalem Ode on the Nativity Lord Let Me Know Mine End Symphony No.5 in B minor (ii. Love)Jerusalem Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Martin Williams for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Hubert Parry: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000nl6 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Thea Musgrave

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is in conversation with Thea Musgrave as she celebrates her 90th birthday.Donald and Thea begin by discussing her dream of becoming a composer, and the dreams that have inspired her works. Born in Edinburgh, Thea left her medical degree for music, winning a composition prize which took her to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger. A dream about a subversive clarinettist helped formed the idea for her breakthrough commission from the CBSO, the Concerto for Orchestra. They talk about her early electronic experimentation, and her idea of the dramatic abstract, where she experiments with spatial configurations of players and acoustic possibilities. Thea is also one of Britain’s most prolific living opera composers, bringing to the stage stories of figures like Mary Queen of Scots, Harriet Tubman, and Simón Bolívar. In 1970 she was offered the post of Guest Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara and has lived and made her life as a composer in the States ever since. Donald asks her about her approach to teaching and encouraging young composers. They look at the importance of visual art in Thea’s life and imagination, leading to significant compositions inspired by Edward Hopper and J. M. W. Turner. Finally, Thea reflects on the continuing pleasure she derives from composing, as well as her on-going friendships with players, and she stresses the vital part that music plays in all of our lives.Music featured:Driving in the Highlands (Excursions for piano duet)Four Madrigals Rorate CoeliImpromptu for flute and oboe Concerto for Orchestra Niobe for oboe and pre-recorded tapeConcerto for horn and orchestraWild Winter IThe Peace Chorus (Mary Queen of Scots, Act 1)The SeasonsHelios - Concerto for oboe and orchestra On the Underground, Set 2: The Strange and the ExoticNight Windows for oboe and piano Turbulent Landscapes for orchestra On the Underground, Set 1: SometimesSongs for a Winter’s EveningTwo’s Company – a concerto for percussion and orchestra Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Rosie Boulton for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Thea Musgrave: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000kg9 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Sergei Rachmaninov

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Sergei Rachmaninov’s years in America.Reluctant even to visit at first, and once there always more than a little homesick, this proudly Russian composer in fact lived in the United States of America for 25 years, from the end of the First World War until his death in 1943. His life there was principally that of a virtuoso performer, not a composer; and Rachmaninov gave recitals for presidents, recorded discs for Thomas Edison, and felt obliged to rattle off his “hated” Prelude in C sharp minor for concert audiences wherever he went. All this week, Donald looks at Rachmaninov’s equivocal relationship with his adopted homeland. Rachmaninov’s first toured the USA in 1909, but it was only when he fled the 1917 revolution that he had to properly adjust to life as a concert pianist there. His intense performing schedule left him exhausted – we hear about the year 1926, which dedicated solely to composition, and how he found productive solace during his in summers in Switzerland. Although Rachmaninov was slow to embrace his adopted country, never really learning proper English and always looking back longingly to mother Russia, he did come to love the United States, and eventually, in the final year of his life, became a citizen. By then he’d become immersed in American cultural life, relishing jazz music and even admiring Mickey Mouse’s take on his ubiquitous Prelude.Music featured:Prelude in C sharp minorPiano concerto in D minor, 1st movementThe Isle of the Dead, Op 29A Dream (6 Songs, Op 38 No 5)The Star-Spangled Banner for pianoPiano Concerto No 2 in C minor, 1st movementPolichinelle in F sharp minor, Op 3 No 4Lento a capriccio (The Bells)Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 in C sharp minor (Liszt, arr. Rachmaninov)Liebeslied (arr. for piano)Etudes Tableaux, Op 33, Nos 2 and 73 Russian Songs, Op 41Marche (Etudes Tableaux, orch. Respighi)Variations on a theme of Corelli, Op 42Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, Op 43Symphony No 3 in A minor, Op 44, second movementPrelude in C sharp minor (arr. Barnet)3 Symphonic Dances, Op 45The Muse; What Happiness; Vocalise (14 Songs, Op 34)Lilacs Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Dominic Jewel for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Rachmaninov: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000hb7 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the conflicted relationships and mysteries in the life of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.Donald begins this week’s episode by looking at Tchaikovsky’s early years as a civil servant, wrestling with the tension between his desire to compose music and his responsibilities as a bureaucrat in St Petersburg. We hear about some of the composer’s tricky relationships - with the ascendant Nationalist school of Russian composers, and also with money. His need to earn a living and support himself by the music he composed led to an unconventional connection with one wealthy woman in particular. Donald traces Tchaikovsky’s long period of wandering, in which he spent years away from Russia, seemingly compelled by a disordered, un-reconciled personal life. Tchaikovsky was a mystery to the end, and there are many questions surrounding the puzzle of his death, which happened just days after the premiere of his sixth symphony, considered by many to be his finest work.Music featured:Swan Lake (Act 2) Eugene Onegin (Act 3, Scene 1)Song for the Golden Jubilee of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence Piano Concerto No. 1 (1st movement)Romeo and Juliet Chant sans paroles (Souvenir de Hapsal)None but the Lonely HeartString Quartet no.1 The Snow Maiden, First Song of LelFinale: Moderato assai - allegro vivo – presto (Symphony No. 2)1812 OvertureMarch: The Song of the Lark (The Seasons)The TempestPiano Trio, 1st movementFinale (Symphony No 4)Pimpinella (Romances, Op 38, No 6)Valse SentimentaleViolin ConcertoDanse des polichinelles et des histrions (Maid of Orleans)Souvenir de Florence (1st and 2nd movements)We Sat TogetherAct 1, March (The Nutcracker)Piano Concerto No 3Adagio & Waltz (The Sleeping Beauty - Suite)Symphony No 6Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Martin Williams for BBC WalesFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Tchaikovsky: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000bbvAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Ernest Chausson

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the friendships, influences and struggles in the life and work of Ernest Chausson.Amédée-Ernest Chausson grew up in Paris during a period of great political, social and economic upheaval in France, from the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War to the advent of the Third Republic. His family, however, was materially little affected, profiting from their involvement in Napoleon’s remodelling of the medieval city into wide open boulevards. Living a bourgeois lifestyle amongst the salon society of the mid-nineteenth century, they boasted an extensive art collection in their family mansion, where Chausson later remained with his wife and children. Supported by a private income unlike most of his creative peers, he was able to devote himself to composing with no financial pressure. But Chausson’s life wasn’t without a care in the world. Critics saw him as a dilettante, and his relatively small output reflects the agonies of doubt in his mind. He battled to find his own voice at a time when Wagner had cast a long shadow over French music - his only opera took almost ten years to complete. This struggle for artistic recognition was only just turning a corner when he died unexpectedly at the age of 44 in 1899.In this episode, Donald Macleod looks at the cultural advantages of Chausson’s family circle, fostering his passion for art which he indulged at home and on his travels. He uncovers Chausson’s musical friendships with Debussy and Franck, and his struggles to create – the torment of writing a symphony, and how enchanted forests, myths and legends inspired his rare forays into the world of theatre. Music featured:Pièce for cello (or viola) and piano, Op 39Sérénade italienne; Les papillons; La dernière feuille, (7 Melodies, Op 2)La caravaneSerres chaudes, Op 24 Poème for violin and orchestraL’aveu; Apaisement, Op 13 Andante and Allegro Viviane, op 5 Piano Trio in G minor, Op 3 (4th mvt) Symphony in B flat, Op 20 (3rd mvt)Sicilienne, Op 214 Mélodies, Op 8Symphony in B flat, Op 20 (1st mvt)Poème de l’amour et de la mer, Op 19La Nuit, Op 11Chanson perpetuelle, Op 37 Soir de Fête, Op 32Piano Quartet in A major Op 30 (1st mvt) La Légende de Sainte-Cécile, Op 22 (Act 3 Finale) Dans la forêt du charme et de l’enchantement, Op 36 no 2 Excerpts from La Tempête; La Légende de Ste Cécile; Le roi ArthusFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Chausson: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000092k And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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Leonard Bernstein

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by Bernstein protegée, conductor Marin Alsop, to look back at Bernstein’s hectic life as composer, pianist, thinker and entertainer.There are no neutrals when it comes to Leonard Bernstein: exhibitionist, a playboy touring Italy in a Maserati, an exhilarating conductor, provocative thinker, ‘one of the most electrifying personalities of our time’. 2018 marks the centenary of this life-affirming composer who always preferred to call himself, simply, ‘musician’. Donald and Marin begin in the world of jazz which inspired much of Bernstein’s finest work, then look at the composer’s gift for reaching new audiences through the theatre. They discuss Bernstein’s reputation as a musical thinker– treading a delicate line between the innovative and the kitsch, and trace his journey from upstart son of a Jewish immigrant to superstar ambassador for American music.Thanks to the BBC radio and TV archives, we hear from Bernstein himself in interviews he gave through the course of his prolific career. We discover a man who was forceful in his views, passionate to the extreme, charismatic on the stage, but also latterly tormented by regrets and a feeling that he had never quite achieved the magnum opus inside him. Music featured:Enter Three Sailors (Fancy Free)Prelude, Fugue and RiffsThe Lark (Latin Choruses)The Age of Anxiety (part 2)arr. Buddy Rich: West Side Story The Children Fly (Peter Pan)Wonderful Town (Overture) A Quiet Place (Act 1 finale)West Side Story (excerpts)Slava! A Political OvertureMass (excerpts)I Hate Music!Kaddish (1st mvt)Samba (Divertimento)Mr and Mrs Webb Say Goodnight (Arias and Barcarolles)On the Waterfront (Suite)Songfest (excerpts)Lucky to be Me (On the Town)For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Bernstein: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00007gc And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-zPresenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Michael Surcombe for BBC Wales

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Alfred Schnittke

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and occasionally nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. The music of Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) is like being lost in a hall of mirrors. Staring back at you is the whole of music history - from Bach to modern pop via tangos, Soviet work songs, Gregorian chant and Viennese waltzes - refracted and distorted, and woven together to create a uniquely personal style. Thrilling, grotesque, occasionally nightmarish - Schnittke creates a world where everything has a hidden meaning. Beethoven's Fifth suddenly springs terrifyingly out of the darkness in the midst of an otherwise chaotic symphony. Or a cheap Russian pop song appears inexplicably amidst a Baroque chorale. Schnittke's world of suppressed meanings perfectly captured life under the cosh of Soviet Communism. All this week, Donald Macleod unpicks the strands of a musician often seen as the heir to Shostakovich - and perhaps the last truly great composer of the 20th century.Donald begins by exploring the connections - musical, psychological and spiritual - between Alfred Schnittke and the great titan of Soviet music, Dmitri Shostakovich. He then unravels the term "polystylism", which Schnittke himself coined to describe his fusing of wildly eclectic styles - from Bach to pop to hypermodernism to Tchaikovsky. We hear about Schnittke’s intense fame in the 1970s, and how his turn to a deeply devout musical style shocked the avant-garde and won him a whole new spectrum of admirers. Donald takes us through Schnittke’s most rollicking and significant year – 1985 – which saw the creation of five acknowledged masterpieces and the first of several crippling strokes. Seemingly, Schnittke’s mortality drove him to create ever more shattering music in his final years - to compose to the very bitter end, in the face of almost unimaginable physical challenges. Music featured:Concerto Grosso No 1 (arr. for flute, oboe, harpsichord, prepared piano and strings) (2nd mvt)Violin Concerto No 1 (2nd mvt)Piano Quintet (2nd mvt - "In Tempo Di Valse")Violin Sonata No 1Symphony No 1 (2nd mvt)The Cloak (Gogol Suite)Concerto Grosso No 3Voices Of NatureSchnittke, arr BoguslavskySuite In The Old StyleHymn No 3, for cello, bassoon, harp, harpsichord and tubular bellsComplete This Work Which I Began (Choir Concerto - 4th mvt)Gloria - Credo - Crucifixus (Symphony No 2 "St Florian")O Master Of All Living (Choir Concerto - 1st mvt)When They Beheld The Ship That Suddenly Came; If You Wish To Overcome Unending Sorrow; I Entered This Life Of Tears A Naked Infant (Psalms Of Repentance)Moz-Art A La HaydnViola Concerto (1st & 2nd mvts)Concerto Grosso No 4 / Symphony No 5 (2nd mvt)Doctor Faustus lamented and wept...It came to pass (Faust Cantata)Menuet, for violin, viola and 'celloStille NachtSymphony No 6 (3rd & 4th mvts)Piano Sonata No 1For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Schnittke: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bcpr22 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z Presenter: Donald MacleodProducer: Steven Rajam for BBC Wales

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of undisputed master, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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Josquin des Prez

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod and Jeremy Summerly discuss elusive Renaissance master, Josquin des Prez.

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Ralph Vaughan Williams

Fri, 13 Jul 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams

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Luciano Berio

Fri, 06 Jul 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Italian experimental composer, Luciano Berio

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Carl Maria von Weber

Fri, 22 Jun 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod examines the life and work of German composer Carl Maria von Weber

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Charles Gounod

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of French composer Charles Gounod

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Giovanni Gabrieli

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of Giovanni Gabrieli

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Maurice Ravel

Fri, 25 May 2018 12:30:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of French composer Maurice Ravel.

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Johannes Brahms

Fri, 18 May 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the lifelong friendship between Brahms and the great violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim - and the music of genius that resulted

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Lili Boulanger

Fri, 11 May 2018 13:16:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life of Lili Boulanger, the first female winner of France's most prestigious composition competition, the Prix de Rome

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Aaron Copland

Fri, 04 May 2018 13:28:00 GMT

Aaron Copland is the composer who, more than any other, defined the sound of American classical music. Copland's life spanned every decade of the 20th Century, and this week Donald Macleod explores the composer's life and music against the background of the events of that Century.

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Giuseppe Verdi

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod pieces together the truths as he traces Verdi's life and music.

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Johann Pachelbel

Fri, 13 Apr 2018 11:05:00 GMT

Donald Macleod unravels the rich musical legacy of a composer known almost exclusively for one iconic work: the "Canon in D".

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Carlo Gesualdo

Fri, 30 Mar 2018 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod looks at the life and music of Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, notorious for the murder of his first wife and cousin, Maria d'Avalos.

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Claude Debussy

Fri, 23 Mar 2018 13:03:00 GMT

Donald Macleod looks at the development of Debussy's career against his personal life

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Joseph Haydn

Fri, 16 Mar 2018 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores a hugely successful episode in Haydn's life, his London years.

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Rachel Portman

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod joins the Oscar winning film composer Rachel Portman in her studio in London, to chat about her life and music for film and the concert platform.

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Richard Strauss

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod introduces the life and music of the German composer and conductor, Richard Strauss.

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John Dowland

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 15:40:00 GMT

Donald Macleod introduces John Dowland, and those influenced by his exquisite melodies.

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Jean Sibelius

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of the man who is almost universally recognised as Finland's greatest ever composer – Jean Sibelius.

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Toru Takemitsu

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.

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Handel

Fri, 02 Feb 2018 13:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod introduces a variety of music across the whole of Handel's life

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Lutoslawski

Fri, 26 Jan 2018 13:29:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by Dr Nicholas Reyland to explore Witold Lutoslawski's life

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Beethoven

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 14:24:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Beethoven the pianist and composer for the piano.

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Schubert

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 11:50:00 GMT

Donald focuses on five years through Franz Schubert's short life.

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J S Bach

Fri, 22 Dec 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod traces J S Bach's early life from Eisenach through to his first marriage.

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Tchaikovsky

Fri, 15 Dec 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the rich vein of fairy tale and fantasy in Tchaikovsky's music

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21st Century Opera

Fri, 08 Dec 2017 11:53:00 GMT

Paul Griffiths joins Donald Macleod to give opera a health check in the 21st century.

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Thelonious Monk

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod and Brian Priestley celebrate the centenary of jazz legend Thelonious Monk

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Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture: Soviet Russia (1953-1991)

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald and Marina Frolova-Walker look at the lives and masterpieces of the musicians.

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Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture: Soviet Russia (1917-1953)

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald and Marina Frolova-Walker look at the lives and masterpieces of the musicians.

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Elgar

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and career of Edward Elgar through the lens of his muses

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Puccini

Fri, 20 Oct 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod and Sir Antonio Pappano trace the developmental line of Puccini's heroines

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Vivaldi's operas

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 10:50:00 GMT

A look behind the curtain and onto the stage to explore the world of Vivaldi's operas

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Mussorgsky

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Mussorgsky's music, with the spotlight on his songs

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Purcell

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 11:10:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music of English composer Henry Purcell.

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Alexander Goehr - Part 2

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 10:51:00 GMT

Donald Macleod in conversation with composer Alexander Goehr at his home near Cambridge

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Alexander Goehr - Part 1

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod in conversation with composer Alexander Goehr at his home near Cambridge

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Mozart

Fri, 08 Sep 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the miraculous chamber music of Mozart's Vienna years

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Grieg

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod looks at the multi-talented Norwegian composer, pianist and conductor

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Birth of Polyphony

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod takes a close look at the change from pure monophony to complex polyphony.

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Mathias

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Mathias's student days in Aberystwyth and London

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Haydn

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Haydn's often overlooked piano sonatas.

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Messiaen

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the organ music of Olivier Messiaen.

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Charpentier

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

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Mahler

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the relationship between Gustav and Alma Mahler

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Bizet

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Georges Bizet

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Chopin

Fri, 09 Jun 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Fryderyk Chopin

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Rebecca Clarke

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod looks at life of Rebecca Clarke with Christopher Johnson and Ian Jones.

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Monteverdi

Fri, 19 May 2017 10:52:00 GMT

Donald Macleod recounts Monteverdi's rise from humble beginnings in Cremona.

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Praetorius

Fri, 05 May 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod focuses on Praetorius's final years and works.

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LeFanu

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod talks to British composer Nicola LeFanu in the year of her 70th birthday

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LeFanu

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 10:50:00 GMT

British composer Nicola LeFanu discusses her life and music with Donald Macleod.

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Schumann

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Schumann's Dusseldorf years.

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Dvorak

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald explores the critical period in the late 1870s when Dvorak first made his name.

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Joplin

Fri, 07 Apr 2017 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod looks at the African-American composer Scott Joplin.

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Zemlinsky

Fri, 24 Mar 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Alexander Zemlinsky

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Maxwell Davies

Fri, 17 Mar 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Peter Maxwell Davies.

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The Women of Renaissance Ferrara

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald with Laurie Stras explore the work of the female composers of Renaissance Ferrara.

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Gade

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by Dr Colin Roth to explore the life and work of Niels Gade.

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Ravel

Fri, 17 Feb 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the enigmatic personality and vibrant music of Maurice Ravel.

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Mackenzie

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Alexander Mackenzie.

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Britten

Fri, 03 Feb 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music of Benjamin Britten's formative years.

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Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

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Schoenberg

Fri, 06 Jan 2017 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Schoenberg's life from five different viewpoints

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Novello

Fri, 30 Dec 2016 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Ivor Novello.

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Prokofiev

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Prokofiev's triumphant and ultimately tragic return to the USSR.

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Caccini

Fri, 16 Dec 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Francesca Caccini and her circle.

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Handel

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod focuses on Handel the organist.

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Faure

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod follows the dramatic thread running through Gabriel Faure's musical output

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Schubert

Fri, 11 Nov 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the remarkable and prolific final year of Schubert's life.

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Meredith Monk

Fri, 04 Nov 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod talks to Meredith Monk about her remarkable life and unique music

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Michael Haydn

Fri, 28 Oct 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Michael Haydn. He was a composer admired and respected by Mozart and revered by Schubert

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Martinu

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Bohuslav Martinu.

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Daniel Kidane

Fri, 07 Oct 2016 15:47:00 GMT

Donald is in conversation with Composer Daniel Kidane .

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Anna Meredith

Fri, 07 Oct 2016 11:29:00 GMT

Donald Macleod talks to acoustic and electronic music composer Anna Meredith.

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Helen Grime

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 11:40:00 GMT

Donald Macleod speaks to British composer Helen Grime about her work.

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Gwilym Simcock

Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:35:00 GMT

Donald's joined by composer and jazz pianist Gwilym Simcock .

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Anoushka Shankar

Tue, 04 Oct 2016 11:18:00 GMT

Donald is joined by composer and sitar player Anoushka Shankar.

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Oliver Knussen

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 16:26:00 GMT

Donald Macleod invites composer Oliver Knussen to join him to discuss his life and career

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Rubbra

Fri, 23 Sep 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald is joined by Edmund Rubbra's sons Benedict and Adrian, who discuss their father and his music

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Rimsky-Korsakov

Fri, 16 Sep 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Rimsky-Korsakov's final years through the lens of his biographer, Vasily Vasilyevitch Yastrebtsev

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Mendelssohn

Fri, 26 Aug 2016 17:30:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of composers.

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Janacek

Fri, 19 Aug 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald looks at Janacek's life through his instrumental and small-scale compositions.

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Villa Lobos

Fri, 12 Aug 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald explores the music and life of Villa-Lobos with musicologist Manoel Correa do Lago

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Butterworth

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music of George Butterworth and four of his contemporaries

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Brahms

Fri, 29 Jul 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Looking at the life and work of Johannes Brahms and some of his larger orchestral works

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Mozart

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald explores Mozart's relationship with his home city of Salzburg.

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Bernard Stevens

Fri, 08 Jul 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of neglected British composer Bernard Stevens

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Stravinsky and the Symphony

Fri, 01 Jul 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Igor Stravinsky's life through his symphonies.

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Johann Strauss I and II

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the lives of and music of Johann Strauss I and his son, Johann

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Gershwin

Fri, 03 Jun 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald explores the colourful life and music of George Gershwin, a pianist and composer.

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Clara Schumann and Her Circle

Fri, 27 May 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the lives and music of Clara Schumann and the extraordinary circle of composers and musicians she moved in

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Satie

Fri, 20 May 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Satie the Onion: his surreal life viewed in reverse.

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Dussek

Fri, 13 May 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Dussek’s early years traveling through Europe.

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Purcell

Fri, 29 Apr 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Henry Purcell, a musical revolutionary remembered as Britain's 'musical Shakespeare'

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Byrd

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of William Byrd.

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Sterndale Bennett

Fri, 15 Apr 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of William Sterndale Bennett.

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Vaughan Williams

Fri, 08 Apr 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod charts the long life and career of Vaughan Williams.

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Telemann

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 10:52:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores who the real Telemann was.

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Granados

Fri, 25 Mar 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Spanish composer-pianist Enrique Granados.

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Women of the MacDowell Colony

Fri, 18 Mar 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the work of the many female composers who have visited the Edward MacDowell artists' colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire

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Strozzi

Fri, 11 Mar 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Barbara Strozzi, with Dr Sara Pecknold

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Haydn

Fri, 04 Mar 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Haydn's final works.

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Debussy

Fri, 26 Feb 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod discusses the fruits of a number of Debussy's important friendships

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Cimarosa

Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Domenico Cimarosa

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Ponce

Fri, 12 Feb 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce.

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Rubinstein

Fri, 05 Feb 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Anton Rubinstein was called the Michelangelo of music and was one of the most prolific and charismatic musical figures of the 19th century.

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Dvorak

Fri, 29 Jan 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Dvorak

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Dutilleux

Tue, 26 Jan 2016 12:30:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of French composer Henri Dutilleux

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Coulthard

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Canadian composer Jean Coulthard

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Stockhausen

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod and Robert Worby explore the life and music of Karlheinz Stockhausen

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Berwald

Fri, 25 Dec 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Franz Berwald,

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Sibelius

Fri, 11 Dec 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores how Sibelius's music helped bring the nation of Finland into being

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CPE Bach

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 14:10:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the second son of Johann Sebastian

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Handel

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 16:02:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Handel's early years

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Hoagy Carmichael

Fri, 20 Nov 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Hoagy Carmichael.

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Chabrier

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Emmanuel Chabrier.

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Farrenc

Fri, 06 Nov 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc

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Nielsen

Fri, 30 Oct 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Carl Nielsen's early life in rural Denmark in the aftermath of the 1864 war with Prussia

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Cowell

Fri, 23 Oct 2015 10:50:00 GMT

A profile of US composer and pianist Henry Cowell

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Kapralova

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 10:50:00 GMT

A profile of Czech composer and conductor Vitezslava Kapralova

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Rachmaninov

Fri, 09 Oct 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Rachmaninov the pianist-composer.

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Vanhal

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the work of Vanhal.

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Bellini

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 11:42:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini

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Shostakovich

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 10:30:00 GMT

Donald Macleod views Dmitry Shostakovich through the prism of his string quartets

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Elgar

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 10:30:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Edward Elgar.

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Walton

Fri, 07 Aug 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of English composer William Walton

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Three Choirs

Fri, 31 Jul 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the 300-year history of the Three Choirs Festival.

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Poulenc

Fri, 24 Jul 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod charts some of Francis Poulenc's important musical friendships

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Arvo Part

Fri, 26 Jun 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Estonian composer Arvo Part.

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Bach

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 15:55:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Bach's vocal music.

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Kodaly

Fri, 05 Jun 2015 10:50:00 GMT

In conversation with David Vinden, Donald Macleod evaluates the life Zoltán Kodály.

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Bacewicz

Fri, 29 May 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of composer and violinist Grazyna Bacewicz

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Schutz

Fri, 22 May 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the early years of the man described as the "father of German Music", Heinrich Schutz.

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Widor

Fri, 15 May 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Dr John Near joins Donald Macleod to journey through the world of Widor, looking beyond his famous organ Toccata to explore the composer's chamber and orchestral music.

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Mozart

Fri, 08 May 2015 10:50:00 GMT

As part of Young Artists Day on Radio 3, Martin James Bartlett, BBC Young Musician of the Year 2014, joins Donald to explore the early life of Mozart. Donald continues with Mozart’s pioneering piano concertos.

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Scriabin

Fri, 01 May 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and career of the virtuoso pianist and composer Alexander Scriabin, described as 'one of the most enigmatic and controversial and artistic personalities of all time'

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Tailleferre

Fri, 17 Apr 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Germaine Tailleferre, whose published legacy reveals a rich treasure trove of chamber works, solo piano, concertos, ballets, operas and songs

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Chopin

Fri, 10 Apr 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music and life of Chopin, zooming in on five key places on his lifetime itinerary

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Judith Weir

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by composer Judith Weir to discuss her life and work. Her music draws on a wide variety of sources: fairy tales, folk stories, Chinese philosophy and Indian music and culture

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Holst

Fri, 27 Mar 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and career of English composer Gustav Holst

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Weber

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores works by Carl Maria von Weber

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Five Under 35

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod speaks to five members of a new generation of British composers about their work and the issue of women in music from a contemporary perspective

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Jacquet de la Guerre

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Hailed by scholars as one of the most successful women in the history of French music, Donald Macleod explores with Mary Cyr, the life and music of Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre.

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Verdi

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Giuseppe Verdi’s middle period.

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Purcell

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Henry Purcell's stageworks: William and Mary's accession heralds a change in direction for one of England's most brilliant and respected composers. Donald Macleod charts Purcell's activities during their reign.

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Schubert

Fri, 06 Feb 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores music written in a critical time in Schubert's life, following the diagnosis of serious illness

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Bartok

Fri, 30 Jan 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and career of composer Bela Bartok (1881-1945), one of the most influential composers of the 20th Century. Today he focuses on Bartok's sickly childhood, early life and musical beginnings, including his first major work Kossuth, influenced by Strauss and inspired by a Hungarian revolutionary.

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Haydn

Fri, 23 Jan 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Exploring Haydn's time at the Hungarian palace of Eszterhaza, the composer's primary base of operations for nearly a quarter of a century and where, he said, he 'was forced to become original'

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Lassus

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod surveys the life and music of Orlande de Lassus, a cosmopolitan composer who became so famous he was known as 'the divine Orlando'.

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Liszt

Fri, 09 Jan 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Franz Liszt with a rare opportunity to hear all 13 of his symphonic poems

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Chabrier

Fri, 02 Jan 2015 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Emmanuel Chabrier, a composer whose originality is acknowledged by leading voices of French music in the 20th century.

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Vivaldi

Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Antonio Vivaldi, a Venetian priest, feted in his lifetime as both composer and violinist, yet destined to die in obscurity in faraway Vienna

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Previn

Fri, 19 Dec 2014 11:50:00 GMT

In conversation with Donald Macleod, celebrated conductor, composer, jazz performer and classical pianist Andre Previn discusses his remarkable life and music

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Schumann

Fri, 12 Dec 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Robert Schumann, focusing on the literary influences that helped shape his work

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Lord Berners

Fri, 05 Dec 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of the colourful and eccentric British composer Lord Berners. While he behaved as a very English gentleman, his compositions had a distinctive European slant.

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Falla

Fri, 28 Nov 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Spanish composer Manuel de Falla

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Mozart

Fri, 14 Nov 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores five key years of Mozart's life and presents five of his chamber works for solo wind and strings

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Stradella

Fri, 07 Nov 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod on the music of Alessandro Stradella. Highly respected and successful, he wrote in all genres: oratorios, cantatas, theatre music, opera seria, songs, and sacred and instrumental music

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Khachaturian

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Aram Khachaturian, a composer whose colourful scores led him to be dubbed the 'Rubens of Russian Music'

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Debussy

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 10:40:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores a less celebrated, but important, area of Debussy's output - his chamber works

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Brahms Experience- Johannes Brahms

Fri, 10 Oct 2014 10:40:00 GMT

Exploring the friendship between Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann, who would become a lifelong friend, critic and inspiration

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Dyson

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 10:40:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of George Dyson, celebrated composer, broadcaster, teacher and author of the first manual on hand grenade use

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Panufnik

Fri, 26 Sep 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod celebrates the life and music of Warsaw-born composer Andrzej Panufnik

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Donizetti

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Gaetano Donizetti, who composed almost 70 operas in 19th-century Italy

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Rameau

Fri, 12 Sep 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by Professor Graham Sadler to celebrate the work of one of the greatest figures in French musical history, composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau

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Dvorak

Fri, 05 Sep 2014 10:40:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Dvorak's relationship with the British Isles, which he visited nine times between 1884 and 1896

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Stravinsky

Fri, 08 Aug 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Igor Stravinsky's life and work up to the end of World War I, introducing rarely-heard and early compositions

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Cole Porter

Fri, 01 Aug 2014 10:40:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Cole Porter, one of the most famous Broadway composers of his time. His achievements include a catalogue of witty, sophisticated and sometimes risque songs

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Janacek

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod celebrates the life and music of Leos Janacek. Known primarily as a folklorist and teacher, he didn't achieve international recognition as a composer until he was into his sixties

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Dittersdorf

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod on the life and music of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, a composer whose concertos, operas, string quartets and over 100 symphonies made him a rival to Haydn in the late 18th century.

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Buxtehude

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Danish organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude

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Gurney

Fri, 04 Jul 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by Dr Kate Kennedy to explore the life and work of Ivor Gurney. Including works specially recorded for the series.

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Strauss

Fri, 13 Jun 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Richard Strauss

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Weinberg

Fri, 06 Jun 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod and Martin Anderson explore the life and work of Mieczyslaw Weinberg

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Berlioz

Fri, 30 May 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of quintessential romantic, Hector Berlioz

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Monteverdi

Fri, 23 May 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Claudio Monteverdi

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Grieg

Fri, 16 May 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Edvard Grieg, including five key works and the vast array of arrangements

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Hans Gal

Fri, 09 May 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by conductor, cellist and Gal expert Kenneth Woods to explore the life and prolific career of Hans Gal

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Handel

Fri, 25 Apr 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music Handel composed for Kings George I and II and to commemorate major events in their reigns

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Locatelli

Fri, 04 Apr 2014 10:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Pietro Locatelli. He became famous for his innovative, virtuosic playing which informed his music and challenged views of the violin's capabilities

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Leopold Mozart

Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by Prof Cliff Eisen to explore the life and work of Wolfgang Mozart's father, Leopold. He was at the forefront of early symphonic writing and composed music across many forms

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Mendelssohn

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Mendelssohn's formative years and the musical treasures they inspired

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Franck

Fri, 28 Feb 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Belgian composer Cesar Franck

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Rossini

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Gioachino Rossini, most successful composer of the early 19th century,

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Mahler

Fri, 14 Feb 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Mahler's childhood in Bohemia, where he was inspired by the sounds and songs of the countryside.

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Taneyev

Fri, 07 Feb 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by Dr Anastasia Belina-Johnson to explore the life and music of Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev, a one-time child prodigy, who became an excellent pianist and a great composer.

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Massenet

Fri, 31 Jan 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of one of France's most spectaular operatic superstars, Jules Massenet.

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Schubert

Fri, 24 Jan 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Franz Schubert

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Vienna on the Brink

Fri, 10 Jan 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the music of Vienna, the most exciting cultural city in the world in the early 1900s and home of Mahler, Schoenberg and Freud.

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The Sammartini Brothers

Fri, 03 Jan 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the lives and music of Giuseppe and Giovanni Sammartini

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Beethoven

Fri, 27 Dec 2013 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Ludwig van Beethoven, focusing on how he transformed the classical legacy of Haydn and Mozart

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70th Anniversary Special - Louise Farrenc

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 11:50:00 GMT

Donald Macleod marks Composer of the Week's 70th birthday by featuring a composer suggested by Radio 3 listeners: Louise Farrenc

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Iceland

Fri, 13 Dec 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the landscapes and vistas of Iceland, to discover its unique musical culture, including the work of its greatest 20th-century composer, Jon Leifs

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Pietro Mascagni

Fri, 06 Dec 2013 11:55:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Mascagni, who triumphed in his early twenties with his opera Cavalleria Rusticana and, during his lifetime, was one of the most famous figures in Italy

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Saint-Saens

Fri, 29 Nov 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the charming and eccentric variety of later works by Camille Saint-Saens

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Britten 100

Fri, 22 Nov 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Benjamin Benjamin Britten for the 100th anniverary of the composer's birth. From humdrum origins, he rose to be the pre-eminent British composer of his day.

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Bill Evans

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Bill Evans, the 'poet of the piano' and the 'Chopin of jazz'. He came to prominence working with Miles Davis and played with Tony Bennett and Stan Getz

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Ethel Smyth

Fri, 08 Nov 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of composer, author and women's rights champion Ethel Smyth

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Franz Joseph Haydn

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Haydn through another musical form apart from the symphony that the composer made his own, his music for trio

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Lully

Fri, 25 Oct 2013 11:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the work of Lully, the pre-eminent composer of the French court in the late 17th century, the founding father of French opera and a leading figure in the music of his era.

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Chaminade and Holmes

Fri, 18 Oct 2013 11:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod, with the help of experts Marcia Citron of Rice University and Karen Henson of Columbia University, explores the life and work of Cecile Chaminade and Augusta Holmes

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Verdi 200

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 11:00:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Verdi's later life and music when, after years of honing his craft, he propelled opera from the world of the 19th century into the modern age

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British Film Music

Fri, 27 Sep 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by writer and film music expert John Huckvale to explore British film music. Covering over eight decades, their focus embraces Ealing comedy, Hammer horror, jazz and rock

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Golden Age of Hollywood

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 12:15:00 GMT

"Sound of Cinema" continues as Donald Macleod explores the soundtrack of The Golden Age of Hollywood, in the company of conductor and film music expert, John Wilson.

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Gluck

Fri, 13 Sep 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Christoph Willibald Gluck, seen as having 'reformed' opera in the second half of the 18th century, rescuing it from the excesses of the opera seria style

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Dvorak

Fri, 06 Sep 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Antonin Dvorak.

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Sibelius

Fri, 23 Aug 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, from his early years to his famous silent period

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200 Years of the Royal Philharmonic Society

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 12:04:00 GMT

Donald Macleod recalls the story of the Royal Philharmonic Society - and the remarkable roll-call of commissions and world premieres given by the Society during its two centuries of existence

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Robert Schumann

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:21:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Robert Schumann, who drew his inspiration as much from literature and the dramas of his own life as from the music of the composers he revered

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Tchaikovsky

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and works of Russia's most popular Romatic composer.

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Ravel and His World

Fri, 05 Jul 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Ravel's life and music in context with his friends in the artistic group Les Apaches. As well as Ravel, there is music by Maurice Delage, Déodat de Séverac and Florent Schmitt

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George Lloyd

Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:01:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of George Lloyd, the English Romantic composer who never stopped writing tunes, long after they had gone out of fashion.

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Elgar

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 12:46:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of the 'quintessentially English' Edward Elgar, a composer who nevertheless had musical roots firmly in Europe

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Vaughan Williams

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod reflects on Vaughan Williams's highly productive later years

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Faure

Fri, 31 May 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod charts the life and work of Gabriel Faure. He's joined by the composer's biographer Jessica Duchen, pianist Billy Eidi, and the leading authority on Faure's music, Jean-Michel Nectoux.

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Wagner and His World

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the connections and relationships that helped establish Wagner as the most revolutionary musical thinker of the 19th century

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Hummel

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Hummel, regarded by Chopin as one of the three greatest masters alongside Mozart and Beethoven

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Copland

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores Copland's life and work through the places he lived, visited, and evoked in his music

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Meyerbeer

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:10:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Giacomo Meyerbeer in conversation with one of the composer's leading advocates, Robert Letellier

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Gordon Jacob and Joseph Horovitz

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:44:00 GMT

Donald is joined by Joseph Horovitz,to talk about his own career and that of Gordon Jacob

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Gordon Jacob and Joseph Horovitz

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:10:00 GMT

Donald Macleod is joined by composer Joseph Horovitz, who not only talks about his own career, but also that of his one-time teacher Gordon Jacob

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Giacomo Puccini

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Giacomo Puccini

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J S Bach

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:15:00 GMT

As part of Baroque Spring, a month-long season of Baroque music and culture, Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Bach

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Vivaldi

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:15:00 GMT

As part of Baroque Spring, Radio 3's season celebrating Baroque music and culture, Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Vivaldi.

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Purcell

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:15:00 GMT

For Radio 3's Baroque Spring season, Donald Macleod explores the life and music of arguably the greatest English composer of the era, Henry Purcell

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Handel

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:00:00 GMT

For Radio 3's Baroque Spring season, Donald Macleod explores Handel's years spent in Italy with the help of novelist, biographer and avid Handelian Jonathan Keates

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