Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Dylan Thomas Day - Rob Cowan with Andrew Motion

With Rob Cowan. Including Essential CD of the Week: Simpson: The Monthes - Sonnerie; Artist of the Week: Malcolm Sargent; Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No 1, Op 23.

Rob Cowan's guest on Essential Classics is the poet Andrew Motion, as Radio 3 marks the Dylan Thomas centenary throughout the day. The former poet laureate reads Thomas's 1933 poem 'The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower'.

9am
A selection of music, including the Essential CD of the Week: Simpson: The Monthes - Sonnerie, VIRGIN VERITAS. We also have our daily brainteaser at 9.30.

10am
Artist of the Week: Malcolm Sargent.

10.30am
Rob's guest this week is the former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion. Upon taking up the post of Poet Laureate in 1999, Andrew said he wanted to write poems related to commissions he received. Subsequently, he wrote about homelessness for the Salvation Army, bullying for ChildLine, and climate change for a song cycle by Peter Maxwell Davies. As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive, an online library with recordings of poets reciting their own work. In 2003, Andrew became Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London, and since 2009 he has been Chairman of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. He has been the jury chair for the Man Booker Prize, and has won numerous awards himself, including the Arvon Prize, and the Whitbread Prize for Biography. Andrew was knighted in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours list. He is currently President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

11am
Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor, Op 23
The Building a Library recommendation from last Saturday's CD Review.

3 hours

Last on

Mon 5 May 2014 09:00

Music Played

  • Benjamin Britten

    SoirΓ©es musicales, Op 9 (No 1, March)

    Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Bonynge.
    • London.
  • Ambroise Thomas

    Mignon (Overture)

    Orchestra: Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Philharmonic. Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier.
    • Chandos.
  • Christopher Simpson

    June (The Monthes)

    Ensemble: Sonnerie.
    • Virgin Veritas.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Bluebird pas de deux (from The Sleeping Beauty)

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Music Arranger: Igor Stravinsky. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Chandos.
  • anon

    Transports of Delight

    Performer: anon.
  • Peter Warlock

    Capriol Suite

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Malcolm Sargent.
    • Warner.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Symphony No 4 (1st movement)

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Adrian Boult.
    • Decca.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1, Fugue No. 4 in C sharp minor

    Performer: Zhu Xiao-Mei.
    • MIRARE.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Fantasy overture: Romeo and Juliet

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Malcolm Sargent.
    • Guild.
  • Bedrich Smetana

    Polka in G minor, Op.8 No.2

    Performer: Andras Schiff (piano).
    • TELDEC.
  • Constant Lambert

    Saraband (Summer's Last Will and Testament)

    Singer: William Shimell. Choir: Chorus of Opera North. Choir: Leeds Festival Chorus. Orchestra: Orchestra of Opera North. Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones.
    • Hyperion.
  • Lord Berners

    3 Valses bourgeoises (no 1)

    Orchestra: Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones.
    • Marco Polo.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor, Op 23 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Martha Argerich. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • DG.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Serenade in C minor, K388

    Performer: Consortium Classicum.
    • EMI.

Today's Brainteaser Answer - Transports of Delight

A gondola.

Μύ

The music played:

Μύ

Liszt<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

La lugubre gondola (S.200 No1)

Alfred Brendel (piano)

PHILIPS

Broadcast

  • Mon 5 May 2014 09:00

Our Classical Century

Our Classical Century

Radio 3 explores 100 key musical moments that shaped us, from 1918 to the present day.

Time Travellers: the podcast

Time Travellers: the podcast

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough presents quirky tales gathered from the corners of history.