With John Shea. Including Lukasz Borowicz conducting the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. 
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Richard Goode
The Pianist Richard Goode is used to playing the world's concert halls and teaching the best students in Marlboro yet this American classical music idol is an intensely private person. Tom Service talks to him about Chopin and Schumann (two composers whose music features on his latest UK tour), his complete identification with pieces and the paradoxes of performance and discovering that the professorial Goode is just as addicted to the drug of performance as other musicians.
Richard Goode at the RFH - Sunday 12th February
Photo: Richard Goode © Sasha Gusov -
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski died 75 years ago and as his music is celebrated by orchestras up and down the country Music Matters explores the life and works of Poland's great early modernist. Tom talks to conductor Edward Gardner, Polish tenor Piotr Beczala and two British Szymanowski scholars – Adrian Thomas and Stephen Downes . He discovers how the composer rejected the conservatism of Poland's musical scene, found musical, sexual, and sensual inspiration in his travels south - to Greece and North Africa - and how this cosmopolitan experience inspired his music.
CBSO-Szymanowski: Stabat Mater-15th&18th February
Photo: Karol Szymanowski: courtesy of Polish Cultural Institute -
Sir Antonio Pappano
Following the review of the new Charles Munch biography by Sir Antonio Pappano in last week’s programme, Tom takes the opportunity to talk further with the music director of the Royal Opera and The Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. Pappano reveals how singer-power is changing the dynamics of today's opera world, and how he and the Royal Opera are facing up to the challenges of 2012, from the Olympics to the economic crisis to renewing the Italian repertoire.
Photo: Sir Antonio Pappano: © Musacchio & Ianniello licensed to EMI Classics -
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s opera Thelma
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor completed his opera Thelma (based on a Norse legend) in 1909, but it was rejected by the Carl Rosa Company and presumed lost for decades. That was until the original manuscript was rediscovered on the shelves of the British Library. Surrey Opera are presenting the world premiere of the work in a full-scale production at the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon (Coleridge-Taylor’s home town), in this, the centenary year of the composer’s death. Tom pays a visit to meet the creative team responsible including Jonathan Butcher, Surrey Opera's artistic director and conductor. He thinks Thelma is a masterpiece which could eclipse Coleridge-Taylor's most famous piece, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, in music lover’s affections!
Samuel Coleridge Taylor - Croydon's Centenary Festival
Photo: Thelma (Surrey Opera production) © Peter Marr
Broadcasts
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BBC Radio 3Sat 11 Feb 2012 12:15 BBC Radio 3
Podcast
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Music Matters
The latest news on classical music. Interviews with key UK and international performers, composers,...
