Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Thursday - Sarah Walker with Andrew Neil

With Sarah Walker. Including Five Reasons to Love the music of St Mark's, Venice; Tallis: Spem in alium; pianist Murray Perahia, featured in Schubert's Fantasia in F minor, D940.

9am
A selection of music including '5 Reasons to Love... the music of St Mark's Venice'. The iconic domes and multiple choir lofts of the opulent St Mark's Basilica in Venice led to the birth of the Venetian polychoral style, as composers experimented with the sound delays and unique effects of the building by positioning choirs around the cathedral. Throughout the week Sarah investigates how composers including Giovanni Gabrieli, Monteverdi and Merulo exploited the acoustics and architectural peculiarities of St Marks to create sixteenth-century surround-sound for their virtuosic vocal and instrumental compositions.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: can you work out which two composers are associated with a particular piece?

10am
This week's guest is Andrew Neil. A veteran broadcaster and one of Britain's best-known political journalists, Andrew presents the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's live political shows the Daily Politics, the Sunday Politics and This Week. Andrew will be talking about his career as a newspaper editor and journalist, and sharing a selection of his favourite classical music, every day at 10am.

10.30am
Sarah places Music in Time with a recording of Tallis's Spem in Alium - Renaissance England's response to the Italian Striggio, who had written works for as many as sixty voice parts.

11am
Murray Perahia's big break came in 1972, when he became the first North American to win first prize at the Leeds Piano Competition. Since then he has put a remarkably wide range of repertoire on disc in a recording career that has lasted more than four decades, and is still going strong. Sarah features Perahia in one of the greatest versions of Schubert's Fantasie in F minor, where he's joined by Radu Lupu. There's also a critically acclaimed account of Brahms's Handel Variations, and two popular piano concertos: Beethoven's third and Chopin's first. Plus there's a rare opportunity to hear conductor Georg Solti at the piano when he joins Perahia in Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.

Schubert
Fantasia in F minor, D940
Murray Perahia, Radu Lupu (piano duo).

3 hours

Last on

Thu 19 Nov 2015 09:00

Music Played

  • Franz Schubert

    Bardengesang, D.147

    Choir: Arnold Schoenberg Chor. Conductor: Erwin Ortner.
    • TELDEC.
  • 5 REASONS TO LOVE...THE MUSIC OF ST MARK'S VENICE

    • Hans Leo Hassler

      The Procession, from a Venetian coronation (1595)

      Composer: Cesare Bendinelli. Ensemble: Gabrieli Players. Ensemble: Gabrieli Players. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
      • SIGNUM.
  • Arnold Bax

    Sonata for clarinet and piano in D major

    Performer: John Bradbury. Performer: James Creer.
    • NAXOS.
  • Lili Boulanger

    Psalm 24

    Singer: Julian Podger. Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • DG.
  • Igor Stravinsky

    Chanson Russe (from Mavra)

    Music Arranger: Stravinsky, Igor. Performer: Rosanne Philippens. Performer: Julien Quentin.
    • CHANNEL CLASSICS.
  • Henry Purcell

    Sonata in Four Parts No.10 in D major

    Ensemble: Retrospect Trio.
    • LINN.
  • Anton Stepanovich Arensky

    Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Hungarica. Conductor: Antal Doráti.
    • MERCURY LIVING PRESENCE.
  • ANDREW NEIL'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Antonín Dvořák

      II. Lento (String Quartet No.12 'American Quartet')

      Ensemble: Panochovo kvarteto.
      • SUPRAPHON.
  • ANDREW NEIL'S CHOICE NO.2

    • George Gershwin

      Piano Concerto in F major (3rd mvt)

      Performer: Freddy Kempf. Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Litton.
      • BIS.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: RENAISSANCE

    • Thomas Tallis

      Spem in alium

      Choir: Chapelle du Roi. Conductor: Alistair Dixon.
      • SIGNUM.
  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

    Cello Concerto in A major, Wq 172

    Performer: Truls Mørk. Orchestra: Les Violons du Roy. Conductor: Bernard Labadie.
    • Virgin.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: MURRAY PERAHIA

    • Franz Schubert

      Fantasia in F minor for piano duet, D 940

      Performer: Murray Perahia. Performer: Radu Lupu.
      • SONY.
    • Alban Berg

      Piano Sonata, Op.1

      Performer: Murray Perahia.
      • SONY.
  • Robert Schumann

    Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra, Op 86

    Performer: Dale Clevenger. Performer: Richard Oldberg. Performer: Thomas Howell. Performer: Norman Schweikert. Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Decca Eloquence.
  • Albert Ketèlbey

    In a Monastery Garden

    Orchestra: New London Orchestra. Conductor: Ronald Corp.
    • Hyperion.

By Association

Answer: Arensky and Tchaikovsky

The music played:

Arensky
Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky
Philharmonia Hungarica
Antal Dorati (conductor)
MERCURY LIVING PRESENCE

Broadcast

  • Thu 19 Nov 2015 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.