Friday - Rob Cowan with James May
With Rob Cowan. Including Five Reasons to Love Orchestral Lollipops; Mystery Composer; Riccardo Muti; Rob's Essential Choice: Tchaikovsky compl Semyon Bogatyrev: Symphony No 7.
Discover definitive recordings of the greatest classical music with your trusted guide, Rob Cowan. His guest is journalist and presenter of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Top Gear programme, James May.
9am
A selection of music including '5 Reasons to Love... orchestral lollipops'. Throughout the week Rob welcomes in the New Year with a selection of orchestral lollipops recalling the tradition of Thomas Beecham's orchestral bons-bons. The San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas play familiar favourites include Rachmaninov's Vocalise, Delius's On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, Schubert's Entracte No.3 from Rosamunde and Litolff's celebrated Scherzo.
9.30am
Musical challenge: Recording Rewind
10am
Rob's guest this week, sharing his favourite classical music every day at 10am, is James May. Best known as co-presenter of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Top Gear programme, the Renaissance man of motoring takes off his driving gloves and returns to Essential Classics to dig deeper into another of his great passions. A former chorister and occasional flautist, May is a classical music enthusiast with a particular love of the keyboard.
10.30am
This week Rob's featured artist is the eminent Italian conductor Riccardo Muti, whose performances combine probing intelligence and an intense conviction. Rob will feature benchmark recordings throughout the week from his prestigious career with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic and from his tenure as music director at La Scala, Milan. Not forgetting his memorable New Year's Day Concert of 2000.
11am
Essential Choice
Tchaikovsky (completed by Semyon Bogatyrev)
Symphony no.7 in E flat
Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy (conductor).
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Music Played
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Felix Mendelssohn
Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream
Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Rafael KubelΓk. -
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Georg Philipp Telemann
Ouverture, Β‘La BizarreΒ’ Β– 1. Overture 4:44
Performer: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin.- HARMONIA MUNDI.
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Felix Mendelssohn
Overture to A Midsummer NightΒ’s Dream, op.21 11:40
Performer: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Rafael Kubelik (conductor).- DG.
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Beethoven
Piano Sonata in E flat, op.31 no.3 19:50
Performer: Maurizio Pollini (piano).- DG.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata in E Flat Op 31
Performer: Maurizio Pollini.
Recording Rewind
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Broadcast
- Fri 2 Jan 2015 09:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
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