Tuesday - Sarah Walker with John Humphrys
With Sarah Walker. CD of the Week: Beethoven's Bagatelles, featuring Steven Osborne; Artist of the Week: Pierre Boulez; Sarah's Essential Choice: Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances.
Sarah Walker with her guest, journalist and broadcaster John Humphrys.
9am
A selection of music including Sarah's Essential CD of the Week: Beethoven's Bagatelles performed by Scottish pianist Steven Osborne.
9.30am
Classical Consequences
Take part in today's music-related challenge and identify what happens next.
Artist of the Week: Pierre Boulez
Throughout the week we explore recordings of the influential French composer and conductor. Sarah showcases his interpretations of 20th-century masters Ravel, Stravinsky, Liszt and Debussy.
10.30am
Sarah is joined by John Humphrys, who shares a selection of his favourite classical music. Currently presenter of BBC Two's Mastermind and BBC Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme Today, John is known as a tenacious and forthright interviewer. He talks to Sarah about his award-winning career as a journalist and broadcaster as well as the role classical music has played in his life.
11am
Sarah's Essential Choice
Rachmaninov
Symphonic Dances
Concertgebouw Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy (conductor).
Last on
Music Played
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Franz Liszt
Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major
Performer: Daniel Barenboim. Conductor: Pierre Boulez. Orchestra: Staatskapelle Dresden.- DG.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Concerto - slow movement
Conductor: Frans Brüggen. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Performer: Thomas Zehetmair.- PHILIPS.
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George Frideric Handel
Serse (Overture)
Orchestra: Early Opera Company. Conductor: Christian Curnyn.- Handel: Serse.
- Chaconne.
- 1.
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Joseph Haydn
Symphony No 7 in C major, 'Le midi'
Director: Trevor Pinnock. Orchestra: The English Concert.- Archiv.
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Edward German
Nell Gwyn Overture
Conductor: John Wilson. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.- AVIE.
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Sergey Rachmaninov
Symphonic Dances
Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.- DECCA.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Bagatelle No. 5 in G major and No. 2 in G minor, Op. 126
Performer: Steven Osborne.- HYPERION.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
The Creatures of Prometheus: incidental music
Orchestra: Armonia Atenea. Conductor: George Petrou.- DECCA.
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Pietro Mascagni
Intermezzo (Cavalleria rusticana)
Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.- EMI.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Horn Concerto No.4 in E flat major, K.495
Performer: Barry Tuckwell. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Peter Maag.- DECCA.
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Giacomo Puccini
Vissi d'arte (Tosca)
Singer: Maria Callas. Orchestra: La Scala Orchestra, Milan. Conductor: Victor de Sabata.- EMI.
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Grigoras Dinicu
Hora Staccato
Performer: Michael Rabin. Orchestra: The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Felix Slatkin. Composer: Felix Slatkin.- EMI.
Musical Challenge - Classical Consequences
At the climax of Puccini’s opera, Tosca, the heroine leaps to her death from the walls of the Castel Sant’Angelo. Usually a thick mattress is positioned to break her fall, but, on one occasion, the safety-conscious stagehands came up with a different solution … So imagine, we’re at the end of Act 3, Tosca is about to be arrested for the murder of Scarpia, but she evades their clutches, runs to the parapet and hurls herself over … What happened next?
Answer:
The stagehands had replaced the mattress with a trampoline: the result was that, after dramatically jumping off the rampart, Tosca kept reappearing from behind the wall, bouncing up and down.
Broadcast
- Tue 16 Sep 2014 09:00
Our Classical Century
Radio 3 explores 100 key musical moments that shaped us, from 1918 to the present day.
Time Travellers: the podcast
Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough presents quirky tales gathered from the corners of history.
