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Friday - Sarah Walker, plus Rob Cowan with guest Eddie Izzard

With Sarah Walker. Including Five Reasons to Love Nordic Song; Musical challenge; Music in Time: Britten: A Boy Was Born; Nordic recordings: Stenhammar: Serenade in F, Op 31.

Discover definitive recordings of the greatest classical music with your trusted guide, Sarah Walker. Plus Rob Cowan talks to the comedian Eddie Izzard.

9am
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... Nordic song'. As part of Radio 3's Northern Lights season Sarah shares a selection of Nordic songs, showcasing their lyrical beauty, sense of melancholy and nostalgia, the way they celebrate nature, and the dramatic stories that they tell. Sarah hears from singers including Camilla Tilling, Anne Sofie von Otter and Anders Andersson as she explores these vocal works from the frozen North.

9.30am
Take part in today's challenge. Two pieces of music are played together - can you work out what they are?

10am
Rob talks to Eddie Izzard. Comedian, actor and multiple marathon runner, Eddie is one of the foremost stand-ups of his generation and has entertained audiences the world over. Eddie's epic Force Majeure tour, which he has toured around 28 countries (and performed in four languages), will be coming to London next year. Eddie spills the secrets of his unique brand of humour, and shares a selection of his favourite classical music, every day at 10am.

10.30am
Sarah places Music in Time as she showcases a Modern work, and a teenaged Britten's remarkable treatment of variation form - A Boy Was Born.

11am
Sarah features recordings of major works by leading Nordic composers. Throughout the week Sarah travels through Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden as she shares a selection of music by Crusell, Sibelius, Grieg, Nielsen and Stenhammar.

Stenhammar
Serenade in F major, Op. 31
Royal Flemish Philharmonic
Christian Lindberg (conductor).

3 hours

Music Played

  • Anthony Holborne

    Muy Linda

    Ensemble: Barokksolistene. Director: Bjarte Eike.
    • BIS.
  • 5 REASONS TO LOVE...NORDIC SONG

    • Edvard Grieg

      Minstrels (Six Poems by Henrik Ibsen, Op.25 No.1)

      Singer: Katarina Karnéus. Performer: Julius Drake.
      • HYPERION.
  • Jean Sibelius

    The Bard, Op 64

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Paavo Berglund.
    • EMI.
  • Kurt Atterberg

    Suite No 3 for violin, viola and orchestra, Op 19

    Performer: Sara Trobäck Hesselink. Performer: Per Högberg. Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Imogen Holst

    Psalm 56; Psalm 91

    Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Ensemble: Dmitri Ensemble. Conductor: Graham Ross.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Trombone Concerto in B flat major

    Music Arranger: Otto Zurmühle. Performer: Christian Lindberg. Ensemble: Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. Conductor: Chikara Imamura.
    • BIS.
  • Edvard Grieg

    March of the Trolls, Op 54, No 3 (Lyric Pieces)

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • HYPERION.
  • EDDIE IZZARD'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Clarinet Concerto in A major, K 622 (2nd mvt)

      Performer: Sabine Meyer. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
      • EMI.
  • EDDIE IZZARD'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Sergey Prokofiev

      IV. Vivace (Symphony No.7)

      Orchestra: Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire. Conductor: Jean Martinon.
      • DECCA.
  • Gabriel Pierné

    Impromptu-Caprice, Op 9

    Performer: Lavinia Meijer.
    • CHANNEL CLASSICS.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: MODERN

    • Benjamin Britten

      Theme & Variation I (A Boy was Born)

      Choir: Trebles of Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir. Choir: Gabrieli Consort. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
      • SIGNUM.
  • Niels Wilhelm Gade

    Piano Sonata in E minor, Op.28

    Performer: Christina Bjørkøe.
    • CPO.
  • NORDIC MASTERPIECE

    • Wilhelm Stenhammar

      Serenade in F major Op.31 (Finale)

      Orchestra: Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Christian Lindberg.
      • BIS.
  • James McMillan

    Tremunt videntes angeli

    Choir: Elysian Singers. Conductor: Sam Laughton.
    • SIGNUM.
  • Edvard Grieg

    Andante con moto

    Performer: Lars Bjornkjaer. Performer: Andreas Brantelid. Performer: Christian Ihle Hadland.
    • BIS.

Imperfect Harmony

The music played:

Sibelius
Violin Concerto (1st movement)
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin)
Dresden Staatskapelle
Andre Previn (conductor)
DG
Ìý
Grieg
March of the Dwarfs (Lyric Pieces, Op.54 No.3)
Mikhail Pletnev (piano)
REGIS

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