Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Jane Lapotaire

Essential Classics

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite British Light Music; James MacMillan: The Confession of Isobel Gowdie; Artist of the Week: Zoltan Kocsis directing Bartok: Dance Suite.

9am
My favourite... British light music. Throughout the week Rob shares some of his favourite light music by British composers. He features musical treats including Ronald Binge's classic Elizabethan Serenade, Geoffrey Toye's waltz The Haunted Ballroom, Charles Ancliffe's Nights of Gladness and Elgar's Chanson de Matin, plus there's a trip to Knightsbridge with the march from Eric Coates's London Suite.

9.30am
Take part in our daily music-related challenge: listen to the clues and identify the mystery person.

10am
Rob's guest this week, sharing a selection of her favourite classical music every day at 10am, is the actress Jane Lapotaire. Jane first achieved stardom with her Tony-award winning portrayal of the French songstress Édith Piaf. She is known for taking on great tragic roles and throughout her career has played leading ladies ranging from Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth to Joan of Arc, Marie Curie and opera star Maria Callas. Throughout the week Jane talks about her favourite acting parts, remembers working alongside Laurence Olivier as a young actress and explains how classical music helped her to recover from a devastating brain injury.

10.30am
Rob places Music in Time with James MacMillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie - a piece of storytelling from 1990 that reacted against increasingly abstract Modern music.

11am
Rob's artist of the week is the renowned pianist, conductor, composer, and founding member of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Zoltan Kocsis. Throughout the week Rob features some of Kocsis's top records, including his Gramophone Instrumental Award winning interpretation of Debussy's Images, a recording of him as soloist in Mozart's popular Piano Concerto No. 23, where he's joined by the Budapest Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, and as conductor in a pair of works by his compatriot, Bartok (Dance Suite and Rhapsody No. 2), as well as in solo piano music by Wagner and Rachmaninov.

Bartok
Dance Suite
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
Zoltán Kocsis (conductor).

Show less

3 hours

Last on

Wed 20 Jan 2016 09:00

BBC Radio 3

More episodes

Tuesday - Rob Cowan with Jane Lapotaire

Thursday - Rob Cowan with Jane Lapotaire

See all episodes from Essential Classics

Béla Bartók

Swineherd’s Dance (Hungarian Sketches)
Conductor: Zoltán Kocsis. Orchestra: Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra.
- HUNGAROTON.
Cécile Louise Chaminade

Carnival Waltz, Op.73
Performer: Bengt Forsberg. Performer: Peter Jablonski.
- DG.
My favourite... British light music
- Edward Elgar
  
  Chanson de matin
  Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis.
  
  TELDEC.
Joseph Haydn

String Quartet in D major, Op 33 No 6
Ensemble: Casals Quartet.
- HARMONIA MUNDI.
Knut Nystedt

Peace I leave with you, Op.43 No.2
Choir: Norwegian Soloists' Choir. Conductor: Grete Pedersen.
- BIS.
Giovanni Gabrieli

Sonata XXI (1615)
Performer: Bojan Čičić. Performer: Stephen Pedder. Performer: Julia Kuhn. Performer: William Carter. Performer: Richard Egarr.
- WIGMORE HALL LIVE.
Hector Berlioz

Le carnaval romain
Orchestra: Staatskapelle Dresden. Conductor: Colin Davis.
- RCA.
Johann Sebastian Bach

Goldberg Variations: Variation 30 (Quodlibet) & Aria da capo
Performer: Alexandre Tharaud.
- WARNER.
Jane Lapotaire's Choice No. 1
- Giacomo Puccini
  
  Chi il bel sogno di Doretta (La rondine)
  Performer: Ian Watson. Singer: Renée Fleming. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Jeffrey Tate.
  
  DECCA.
Jane Lapotaire's Choice No. 2
- Arvo Pärt
  
  Spiegel im Spiegel
  Performer: Tasmin Little. Performer: Martin Roscoe.
  
  EMI.
Jane Lapotaire's Choice No. 3
- Giuseppe Verdi
  
  'Ave Maria' (Otello, Act IV)
  Singer: Maria Callas. Orchestra: Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire. Conductor: Nicola Rescigno.
  
  EMI.
Henry Purcell

Fantazia à 3 No 3 in G minor
Ensemble: Fretwork.
- HARMONIA MUNDI.
Music in Time: Modern
- Sir James MacMillan
  
  The Confession of Isobel Gowdie
  Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.
  
  BIS.
Wilhelm Stenhammar

I skogen
Performer: Paul Rivinius. Singer: Camilla Tilling.
- BIS.
Artist of the Week: Zoltan Kocsis
- Béla Bartók
  
  Dance Suite
  Orchestra: Nemzeti Filharmonikus Zenekar. Conductor: Zoltán Kocsis.
  
  HUNGAROTON.
Johann Sebastian Bach

Missa brevis in G minor, BWV235
Béla Bartók

Rhapsody No.2 for violin and orchestra
Performer: Barnabas Kelemen. Orchestra: Nemzeti Filharmonikus Zenekar. Conductor: Zoltán Kocsis.
- HUNGAROTON.