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Thursday - Rob Cowan with Samuel West

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Etudes; Music in Time: Schumann: Konzertstuck; Artist of the Week: pianist Artur Rubinstein, featured in Beethoven's Violin Sonata (Kreutzer).

9am
My favourite... études. Rob showcases a selection of these works which many composers regarded not as traditional studies but demanding miniatures. He considers the innovation of Chopin, who transformed a traditionally dry exercise into an exploration of virtuoso technique, and features works ranging from Vieuxtemps's Concert Études and Rachmaninov's Études-Tableaux to Stravinsky's Four Orchestral Études and Bartók's Three Études Op. 18.

9.30am
Take part in today's music-related challenge: listen to the clues and identify the mystery person.

10am
Rob's guest this week is the actor and director Samuel West. Samuel has received accolades for his work across stage and screen. He was nominated for a Bafta for his role in the acclaimed film Howards End, earned a Critics' Circle Award for his role as Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has performed to critical acclaim in West End productions including Lucy Prebble's play Enron. Currently playing Frank Edwards in the popular television series Mr Selfridge, Samuel also has experience behind the scenes directing plays and operas. He has toured with the Choir of London and provided narration for groups including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Nash Ensemble, besides making a number of appearances at the Proms. Samuel will be talking about his life on and off stage and sharing a selection of his favourite classical music every day at 10am.

10:30
Rob places Music in Time. The focus is on the Romantic period and Robert Schumann's Konzertstück, described by the composer himself as "something completely unusual" - a concerto that pits not one but four of the then new-fangled valve horns against Schumann's full-blooded Romantic orchestra.

11am
Rob's artist of the week is the pianist Artur Rubinstein. Few musicians in living memory were more widely loved than Artur Rubinstein, so it's not surprising that he was always in demand as a chamber player. Though a musical giant in his own right, Rubinstein would happily - and regularly - join forces with his younger peers in pursuit of performances that combine wisdom and spontaneity. Throughout the week Rob shares some of Rubinstein's best ensemble playing, in works including Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor and Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata.

Beethoven
Violin Sonata in A, Op. 47 ('Kreutzer')
Henryk Szeryng, violin
Artur Rubinstein, piano.

3 hours

Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    III. Scherzo (Sonata for violin and piano in F major 'Spring', Op.24)

    Performer: Henryk Szeryng. Performer: Arthur Rubinstein.
    • SONY.
  • Georg Caspar Schürmann

    Ludovicus Pius (Overture)

    Orchestra: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • MY FAVOURITE...ÉTUDES

    • Sergey Rachmaninov

      Study in E flat minor, Op 39 No 5

      Performer: Vladimir Horowitz.
      • SONY.
  • Mieczyslaw Weinberg

    Violin Concertino Op.42

    Performer: Gidon Kremer. Orchestra: Kremerata Baltica.
    • ECM.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Overture to Lo speziale (The Apothecary)

    Orchestra: Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice. Conductor: Michael Halász.
    • NAXOS.
  • Franz Liszt

    O Lieb, so lang du lieben kannst for voice and piano (S.298)

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim. Singer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau.
    • DG.
  • Hugo Wolf

    Italian Serenade

    Ensemble: Brodsky Quartet.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Alexander Scriabin

    Waltz in A flat major Op.38

    Performer: Benjamin Grosvenor.
    • DECCA.
  • SAMUEL WEST'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Felix Mendelssohn

      Octet in E flat major, Op 20 (4th mvt)

      Ensemble: Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble.
      • DECCA.
  • SAMUEL WEST'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Béla Bartók

      Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (3rd mvt)

      Performer: Martha Argerich. Performer: Stephen Kovacevich. Performer: Michael De Roo. Performer: Willy Goudswaard.
  • SAMUEL WEST'S CHOICE NO.3

    • William Walton

      Valse (Façade)

      Narrator: Prunella Scales. Ensemble: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Jane Glover.
      • ASV.
  • Music in Time: Romantic

    • Robert Schumann

      Konzertstuck in F major for 4 horns and orchestra, Op.86

      Performer: Roger Montgomery. Performer: Gavin Edwards. Performer: Susan Dent. Performer: Robert Maskell. Orchestra: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
      • DG.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto Grosso in B flat major Op.3`1

    Performer: Alice Piérot. Performer: Christian Moreaux. Conductor: Marc Minkowski. Ensemble: Les Musiciens du Louvre.
    • Handel: Concerti Grossi Op.3: Les Musiciens du Louvre/Minkowski.
    • Erato.
    • 13-15.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: ARTUR RUBINSTEIN

    • Ludwig van Beethoven

      Sonata for violin and piano in A major 'Kreutzer', Op.47

      Performer: Henryk Szeryng. Performer: Arthur Rubinstein.
      • SONY.
  • Eric Coates

    Concert Waltz 'Footlights'

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Avie.
  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Spring: Cantata for baritone, chorus and orchestra

    Singer: Sergey Yakovenko. Orchestra: State Academic Symphony Orchestra of The Russian Federation. Conductor: Evgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov.
    • ALTO.

Mystery Person

Answer: Benjamin Grosvenor

Broadcast

  • Thu 25 Feb 2016 09:00

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