Wednesday 02 Dec 2009
Programme Information
Network Radio BBC Week 31: Tuesday 4 August 2009
BBC 1XTRA Tuesday 4 August 2009
Mistajam – Live From Ayia Napa
During the first week of August, BBC 1Xtra's Mistajam broadcasts live from one of the summer's best party destinations, Ayia Napa.
Live from the Villa 1Xtra, Mistajam brings listeners the biggest Napa anthems, guest DJ mixes, artist acoustic moments as well as the usual mix of the best in black music.
Mistajam is joined by fellow 1Xtra DJs throughout the week – including DJ Cameo, who broadcasts his UK garage show live on 4 August, and DJ Target's Closing Party, which is broadcast live on 8 August.
1Xtra Breakfast Show presenter Gemma also reports from Ayia Napa into the daytime shows throughout the week, and updates listeners with all the happenings from Villa 1Xtra as well as bringing her own unique take on what's hot and what's not in Napa.
Presenter/Mistajam
BBC 1Xtra Publicity
BBC RADIO 2 Tuesday 4 August 2009
Playwright and director Kwame Kwei-Armah tells the story of playwright Thomas "Tennessee" Williams, exploring the creative influence of his childhood home.
Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1911 and spent a great deal of his childhood in Clarksdale, living in the church rectory with his grandparents, mother and sister, while his travelling salesman father was largely absent.
The rich heritage of his religious upbringing in the Deep South has influenced his plays. Many refer to actual places in Coahoma County and some of his most famous characters – Blanche, Brick, Baby Doll, Stella and Amanda Wingfield – are named after real-life Clarksdale residents.
The Annual Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival was established in 1993 to celebrate both his talent and the cultural heritage immortalised in dramas like The Glass Menagerie, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Streetcar Named Desire and Orpheus Descending. The Clarksdale festival is held in mid October and plays are performed on porches and in venues, offering an authentic backdrop to the action.
Contributors include residents of Clarkesdale; aficionados of Tennessee Williams's work; the American musician Charlie Musselwhite; and some of the actors who have taken on his characters, including Brenda Blethyn.
Presenter/Kwame Kwei-Armah, Producer/Carmel Lonergan
BBC Radio 2 Publicity
Marc Riley dips into the BBC's archives once again and unearths another seminal interview, as he continues his journey in the Musical Time Machine.
This evening, he transports listeners back to 1977 – the year that Elvis Presley died, EMI fired The Sex Pistols and Star Wars fever hit Britain.
It was also the year that John Tobler spoke to Debbie Harry and Chris Stein just before Blondie broke in the UK with the release of Denis. The programme features uncut extracts from an interview that was broadcast on BBC Radio 1's Rock On show on 5 November 1977.
Debbie and Chris discuss the early bands they were in, the New York scene, meeting Phil Spector and their disgust at a Donna Summer record.
Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Ian Callaghan
BBC Radio 2 Publicity
BBC RADIO 3 Tuesday 4 August 2009
BBC PROMS 2009
Prom 26 – BBC National Orchestra Of Wales
Felix Mendelssohn features as one of BBC Radio 3's four Composers Of The Year and tonight's BBC Prom brings together two works from opposite ends of his life – his early first symphony, written when he was only 15, and his lyrical violin concerto. The featured soloist is the exciting German violinist Isabelle Faust, who makes her BBC Proms debut.
Principal conductor Thierry Fischer and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales also perform music by the distinguished Swiss composer Heinz Holliger. (S)irató is an anguished lament for Holliger's Hungarian teacher Sándor Veress, to whom the piece is dedicated. Fragments of Hungarian folk songs – collected by Bartók – revolve around a slowly evolving mass of orchestral sound. There's even a part for that most Hungarian of instruments, the cimbalom.
Finally, Prokofiev's ballet score for Romeo And Juliet reveals all the intimacy, tragedy and tenderness of Shakespeare's drama, as heard in this suite, selected by tonight's conductor.
This Prom will be repeated on Tuesday 11 August at 2.30pm.
Presenter/Martin Handley, Producer/Tim Thorne
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
As part of the Proms Literary Festival Victorian season, Matthew Sweet is joined by Roy Hattersley and Valentine Cunningham at the Royal College Of Music to champion the Victorian novel in all its forms. From the elegance of Jane Austen and the thrilling sensation novels of Wilkie Collins, to the stately realism of George Eliot and the bleakness of Thomas Hardy, the Victorian novel is a treasure trove of literary riches.
Roy and Valentine argue that these should still be seen as pinnacles of English literature and their mix of character, social upheaval, storytelling, melodrama, malign fate and high style suffuse a commitment to portray the whole of life that is as relevant today as it ever has been.
Tonight's programme was recorded in front of an audience earlier today at the Royal College Of Music.
Presenter/Matthew Sweet, Producer/James Cook
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
Norman Lebrecht talks to Michael Kaiser this week, as he continues his series of interviews. Known as "the turnaround king" of performing arts, Kaiser has saved numerous artistic organisations from closure. The American describes himself as "very gloomy" about the effect of the current economic situation on the creative world and says a lot more damage will be done to many more artistic companies by the recession.
Advocating spending more money on the arts in a time of economic difficulty, he also reflects on the turbulent years he spent rebuilding the Royal Opera House over a decade ago, on how he struggled to get the support of the New Labour government and how his time working in Britain was the biggest challenge of his career.
Presenter/Norman Lebrecht, Producer/Jeremy Evans
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
BBC PROMS 2009
Prom 27 – London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta and Sir Harrison Birtwistle have formed a close bond over the last four decades. Under the baton of their co-founder, David Atherton, they revisit three of the composer's early works – all of which the ensemble originally premièred – in tonight's BBC Prom, live from London's Royal Albert Hall.
One of the themes of this year's season is 1934, England At The Crossroads, the year Birtwistle was born, and a turning point for British music in the 20th century.
Verses For Ensemble showcases the virtuosity of the ensemble with brass, wind and percussion all vying for the listener's attention. In Silbury Air and Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum, Birtwistle explores the mysterious and the mechanical with imaginary landscapes and colliding musical ideas.
Presenter/Verity Sharp, Producer/Tom Nelson
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
BBC RADIO 4 Tuesday 4 August 2009
For 40 years it was the mythical flagship of Frenchman Jacques Cousteau. Now with restoration underway on the Calypso, Nick Haslam sets out to re-evaluate the legendary yet highly controversial French underwater explorer – shedding light on the bitter battle over Cousteau's legacy and his boat.
A pioneer of nature documentaries, Cousteau's series, The Undersea World Of Jacques Cousteau, had an enormous impact on the Seventies. The films of sea-life, coupled with Cousteau's natural history lectures, are credited with spawning the environmental movement but, according to Cousteau, the real star was always the Calypso, acting as a kind of running theme.
The scene of Cousteau's greatest triumphs, the Calypso, is, and always has been, really, run by women. Behind the scenes it was Simone rather than Jacques who held the reins, selling her jewellery to pay for fuel when money was tight. But, unknown to the crew, Jacques had another life and other children by an air stewardess called Francine – who now owns the Calypso, which sunk in Singapore harbour months before Cousteau's death.
The programme features contributions from Jean Michael Cousteau, Jan Cousteau and men of the Calypso – Albert Falco, Jacques Renoir, Bernard Delemotte and Ted Turner.
Presenter/Nick Haslam, Producer/Emily Williams
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Aled Jones tells the curious story of composer Carlo Gesualdo – Third Prince of Venosa, Eighth Duke of Gesualdo – who was the primary suspect for the murder of his wife and her lover.
As the programme explores the strange values of four centuries ago, it is tempting to see a relationship between the double murder, for which he was famed throughout Italy, and his music. Yet as Gesualdo's biographer Glenn Watkins states, it was the custom in Italy for a man to uphold his family's honour.
A visit to Gesualdo's castle, currently being restored, takes listeners to the scene of his country retreat. But the biggest key to his state of mind is, perhaps, his music. Gerald Place and the fellow singers of the Gesualdo Consort demonstrate some of the music's beauty, and intrinsic peculiarity, as the composer sets up extraordinary difficulties of pitch and intonation. Singing about the torments of love, and about death, listeners perhaps see a parallel between his art and his life.
The merits of Gesualdo's writing have been hotly contested over the centuries, but he is now being appreciated as a composer of great skill – as well as one of a highly complex, yet fascinating character.
Presenter/Aled Jones, Producer/Geoff Ballinger
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Great Lives Ep 1/9
Matthew Parris returns with a new series of BBC Radio 4's biography programme, Great Lives, as he challenges nine new guests to argue the case for their heroes.
In today's opener, which forms part of the celebration of the bicentenary of Tennyson's birth, Andrew Motion argues for Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Ann Thwaite provides the details on a frequently troubled life, while Matthew finds himself surprisingly won over by the great Victorian's solemn style.
Further programmes in the series include David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, on Joe Slovo, the Jewish barrister who became a leading member of the ANC; Irish travel writer Dervla Murphy on Freya Stark; George Galloway on John Cornford, a poet killed in the Spanish Civil War; and Boris Johnson on Samuel Johnson.
Presenter/Matthew Parris, Producer/Miles Warde
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Matthew Hill explores the ties between psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry, in Rewriting The Psychiatrist's Bible.
The Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Health Disorders (DSM) is currently being revised. It has a huge influence, not only in the United States where it is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), but globally. In Britain, most psychiatrists would not get their work published if they did not follow the DSM diagnostic guidelines.
Panellists are selected by the APA. Its critics say the manual provides an invaluable service for the drug industry by defining new conditions for which new drugs can be marketed. Previous editions have been heavily criticised for a lack of transparency between the panel members and pharmaceutical companies. But the last edition was published in the Nineties and the APA says that things have changed since then and that this time it will be different. Members of the panel have to declare their interests and there is a limit to the amount they can earn from outside interests.
Also under review is the "Chinese Menu" aspect of its diagnostic criteria and the sheer number of conditions it includes. Many British psychiatrists are concerned about the prospect of bipolar disease in children being added to the next edition – not least because the drugs used to treat the disorder have serious side effects.
For the fifth edition, new conditions under consideration include shopping addiction, internet addiction and sex addiction.
Rewriting The Psychiatrist's Bible investigates whether the APA's new transparency policy goes far enough and whether real conditions are being medicalised or just traits of human personality.
Presenter/Matthew Hill, Producer/Geraldine Fitzgerald
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
BBC RADIO 5 LIVE Tuesday 4 August 2009
5 Live Sport
George Riley presents all the day's sports news and, from 7.45pm, listeners can hear live commentary the of Uefa Champions League third qualifying round, second-leg matches involving British teams.
Presenter/George Riley, Producer/Mark Williams
BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity
BBC 6 MUSIC Tuesday 4 August 2009
Richard Williams joins Cerys Matthews this week and tells the story of the making of Miles Davis's most celebrated album in his new book The Blue Moment, which has been published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the album's release.
Presenter/Cerys Matthews, Producer/Jax Coombes
BBC 6 Music Publicity
Classic country-rockers The Band are in concert for Gideon Coe this evening, and listeners can hear highlights from The Good, The Bad And The Queen's 2006 show at London's Roundhouse.
The archive session tracks come from Moondogs, The Acorn, Yellow Moon Band and "freak folk" outfit Vetiver recorded in the 6 Music Hub last year.
Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon
BBC 6 Music Publicity
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