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Performance on 3 - Archive concerts from the last 40 years

Petroc Trelawny
Performance on 3

Another chance to hear some of the great concerts that Radio 3 has built up in its archive over the last 40 years.

    Purcell
    Wednesday 3rd October

    Purcell 300 , Westminster Abbey 21st November 1995


    The first of six recordings from the archive celebrating 40 years of Radio 3.

    This concert was given on the 300th anniversary of Purcell’s death on 21 November, 1995 as part of Radio 3’s year-long celebration of Purcell and English music Fairest Isle, and came from Westminster Abbey where Purcell himself was organist. The Choir of Westminster Abbey was directed by the then abbey organist Martin Neary, who was joined by the New London Consort, the Nash Ensemble, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Andrew Davis, Catherine Bott (soprano), James Bowman (countertenor), and David Wilson-Johnson (baritone). The programme included a new song commissioned from Sir Michael Tippett, who celebrated his 90th birthday that year.

    Jonathan Dove Fairest Isle Fanfare
    Purcell Incidental Music: Abdelazer (Z.570)
    Gibbons Hosanna to the Son of David
    Byrd O Lord, make thy servant
    Purcell Hear my prayer, O Lord (Z.15); If music be the food of love (Z.379); Fairest Isle (King Arthur); Hosanna to the highest (Z.187); Hark! the echoing air (The Fairy Queen); My heart is inditing
    Handel Zadok the Priest (HWV.258)
    Purcell, arr. Elgar Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes
    Tippett Trumpet Tune and Caliban’s Song
    Britten The Young person's Guide to the
    Purcell Evening Hymn: Now that the sun hath veiled his light  

      Emil Gilels
      Wednesday 10th October

      Emil Gilels Celebrity Recital, RFH 5th February 1984


      The second of six recordings from the archives celebrating 40 years of Radio 3. This Royal Festival Hall recital was given by the great Russian pianist Emil Gilels in 1984, the year before his death.

      Skryabin Sonata No. 3 in F sharp minor (Op.23); 5 Preludes (Op.74)
      Prokofiev Sonata No. 3 in A minor (Op.28)"from old notebooks"
      Beethoven Sonata for piano No. 29 in B flat major (Op.106) "Hammerklavier"

        W A Mozart
        Wednesday 17th October

        Mozart Vespers, Westminster Cathedral, 27th January 1991


        The third of six recordings from the archive looking back over 40 years of Radio 3. The bicentenary celebrations marking Mozart’s death in 1991 were opened by Radio 3 on Mozart’s birthday, 27 January, with a whole day devoted to the composer. Live broadcasts of Mozart’s music from around Europe included this performance from Westminster Cathedral of the Vespers “as it may have been celebrated in Salzburg in Mozart’s time.”

        Vesperae de Dominica (K.321) in C major
        Misericordias Domini (K.222)
        Litaniae Lauretanae (K.109)
        Chant from Salzburg Cathedral Archives
        Gillian Fisher (soprano)
        Robert Harre-Jones (countertenor)
        Andrew King (tenor)
        Michael George (bass)
        Westminster Cathedral Choir
        Hanover Band
        James O’Donnell, director

          Simon Rattle (photo by Terry Wien)
          Wednesday 24th October

          Simon Rattle at the Proms, 1984



          The 4th of 6 programmes celebrating forty years of Radio 3. Four years after his appointment as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's Principal Conductor, Simon Rattle brought the CBSO to the Proms and stunned the audience and critics with this concert which is still remembered as one of the highlights of his extarordinary two decades with the orchestra.

          Tippett Concerto for double string Orchestra
          Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 in E flat major (Op.107)
          Nielsen Symphony No. 4 (Op.29) "The Inextinguishable"
          Nielsen Pan and Syrinx (Op.49)
          Yo Yo Ma, cello
          City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
          Simon Rattle, conductor

            Eartha Kitt
            Tuesday 30th October

            Eartha Kitt, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1972



            The fifth of six concerts celebrating 40 years of Radio 3 is from 1972 when star of song, stage and screen, Eartha Kitt thrilled a capacity audience at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. The legendary chanteuse was joined by the Nash Ensemble for songs by Kurt Weill, and then pianist-composer Richard Rodney Bennett accompanied Kitt in a sequence of his own arrangements of American classics from the 20s and 30s. The programme also includes Nash Ensemble party pieces by Stravinsky and Martinu.

            Stravinsky  Suite: The Soldier's Tale
            Weill  Overture; Mack the Knife; Barbara Song (from The Threepenny Opera), Bilbao Song; Matrosen Tango; Surabaya Jonny; Hard Nut (from Happy End)
            Martinu  La revue de cuisine Arr. RR Bennett:
            Cole Porter  Anything goes; My heart belongs to Daddy;
            Gershwin  My man's gone now;
            Cole Porter  Love for sale;
            Harold Arlen  I wonder what became of me;
            Rodgers and Hart  Ten cents a dance;
            Cole Porter  Let's misbehave
            Eartha Kitt (voice)
            Richard Rodney Bennett (piano)
            Nash Ensemble
            Marcus Dods (conductor)

              Boulez conducting the BBC SO
              Wednesday 7th November

              BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yokohama 13th June 1975


              The last of six recordings from the archive celebrating 40 years of Radio 3. Pierre Boulez's tenure as the BBC Symphony Orchestra's Principal Conductor from 1971 - 1975 is widely thought of as a high point in the orchestra's history. One of Boulez's last concerts as Principal Conductor was recorded in Yokohama in 1975 as part of a Japanese tour and is a telling showcase of their partnership.

              Webern Passacaglia (Op.1)
              Birtwistle Nenia on the Death of Orpheus
              Ravel Daphnis et Chloe
              Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano
              BBC Symphony Orchestra
              Pierre Boulez, conductor

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