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Wednesday - Rob Cowan, plus Sarah Walker with Rick Wakeman

With Rob Cowan. 5 Reasons to Love the Harpsichord; Musical challenge; Proms Artist of the Week: percussionist Evelyn Glennie, featured in Saint-Saens's Carnival of the Animals.

9am
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... the harpsichord'. Rob explores the range of styles of this characterful instrument, including Spanish flavoured pieces by Soler and Scarlatti, works by Couperin with a sense of nobility, Bach's intricate Fantasia and Fugue and the percussive excitement of a concerto by Henryk Gorecki.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: identify a piece of music played backwards.

10am
Throughout the week Sarah talks to the musician Rick Wakeman, who shares a selection of his favourite classical music. Rick abandoned his piano studies at the Royal College of Music to pursue a career in rock, both as a solo performer and in the prog-rock group Yes. He has since become a familiar face on television through his appearances in the Â鶹ԼÅÄ television series Grumpy Old Men. Rick's music choices range from Bach to Shostakovich, and his conversations with Sarah cover topics including his friendship with the harpsichord maker Thomas Goff, as well as the everyday business of being a rock legend.

10.30am
This week Rob features recordings by Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms artist Dame Evelyn Glennie, one of the UK's best loved solo musicians who celebrates her 50th birthday this summer. Glennie was born in Aberdeenshire, trained at the Royal Academy of Music, and swiftly became the world's most successful virtuoso percussionist. She has recorded over thirty CDs and, as well as commissioning new works, has written percussion pieces of her own to perform. Her range of instruments is huge; from her beloved marimba to ones she's developed herself including the Simtak, made from an old car exhaust pipe.

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Carnival of the Animals
Ensemble led by Viktoria Mullova (violin)
Katia and Marielle Labèque (pianos)
Evelyn Glennie (percussion).

2 hours

Music Played

  • Maurice Ravel

    Le Reveil de la mariee (No.1 of 5 Melodies populaires grecques)

    Performer: Marc-André Hamelin. Singer: Karina Gauvin.
    • ATMA.
  • 5 Reasons to Love... Harpsichords

    • Henryk MikoÅ‚aj Górecki

      Concerto for harpsichord and string orchestra

      Performer: Elzbieta Chojnacka. Orchestra: London Sinfonietta. Conductor: Markus Stenz.
      • ELEKTRA NONESUCH.
  • Giovanni Gabrieli

    Canzon à 8 no.7

    Ensemble: Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.
    • ARGO.
  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

    Symphony in E flat major Wq.179

    Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Conductor: Rebecca Miller.
    • SIGNUM CLASSICS.
  • Malcolm Arnold

    Solitaire: Sarabande & Polka

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Malcolm Arnold.
    • LYRITA.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata in F, Op.10 No.2

    Performer: Alfred Brendel.
    • PHILIPS.
  • Michael Tippett

    Go Down, Moses (A Child of Our Time)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Choir: London Symphony Chorus. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Rick Wakeman's choice No. 1

    • Johannes Brahms

      III. Allegro giocoso (Symphony No.4 in E minor, Op.98)

      Orchestra: Gewandhaus Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
      • DECCA.
  • Rick Wakeman's Choice No. 2

    • Dmitry Shostakovich

      Concerto for piano, trumpet and strings, Op.35 (3rd and 4th movements)

      Performer: Martha Argerich. Performer: Sergei Nakariakov. Orchestra: Orchestra della Svizzera italiana. Conductor: Alexander Vedernikov.
      • EMI.
  • PROMS ARTIST OF THE WEEK: EVELYN GLENNIE

    • Camille Saintâ€Saëns

      The Carnival of the Animals

      Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque. Performer: Viktoria Mullova. Performer: Alexej Nagovitsyn. Performer: Yuri Abramovich Bashmet. Performer: Mischa Maisky. Performer: Gary Karr. Performer: Richard Stoltzman. Performer: Benoît Fromanger. Performer: Evelyn Glennie.
      • RCA.
  • Chopin orch Palmer

    Black key study op 10 no 5

    Performer: Evelyn Glennie. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recording Rewind

The music played:
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Tippett
A Child of Our Time: Go Down, Moses
Willard White (bass-baritone)
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Richard Hickox (conductor)
CHANDOS

Broadcast

  • Wed 12 Aug 2015 09:00

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