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Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Kirsty Wark

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Mendelssohn Choral Music; Music in Time: Renaissance; Menuhin 100: featuring Yehudi Menuhin in Brahms's String Sextet No 2 in G.

9am
My favourite... Mendelssohn choral music. Felix Mendelssohn was probably the keenest promoter of J. S. Bach in the nineteenth century and there can be little doubt that the Cantor of St Thomas's was a significant influence on Mendelssohn's own music, especially the oratorios Elijah, St Paul and the unfinished Christus. Rob's choices include extracts from all three, as well as Hear My Prayer (including 'O for the wings of a dove') and Psalm 98 - elevating works, and a joy to hear.

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

10am
Rob's guest this week is the broadcaster and journalist Kirsty Wark. Best known as the long-standing presenter of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's current affairs show Newsnight, Kirsty has presented programmes including the Late Show and The Review Show, as well as election specials. She has conducted interviews with everyone from Margaret Thatcher and Harold Pinter to Madonna and George Clooney, and has also made cameo appearances in dramas including Doctor Who and Absolutely Fabulous. She recently published her first novel, The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle. Kirsty will be sharing a selection of her favourite classical music every day at 10am.

10:30am
Music in Time: Renaissance
Rob places Music in Time. He explores the fashion during the Renaissance period for battle music, from Clement Janequin's popular chanson, La Guerre, depicting the Battle of Marignan, to instrumental works by Claude Gervaise and Andrea Gabrieli.

11am
Menuhin 100
To celebrate the centenary of Lord Menuhin's birth, Rob has mined the vast Menuhin recording archive and come up with a dazzling array of great performances, including the 16-year-old's still unrivalled recording of Elgar's Violin Concerto under the conductor's own direction, the Third Sonata by Yehudi's teacher Enescu, with its gypsy music inflections (Hephzibah Menuhin at the piano), Bach's Double Concerto with fellow Enescu-pupil Christian Ferras, and a virtuoso 1934 recording of Paganini's First Concerto that has to be heard to be believed.

Brahms
String Sextet No. 2 in G, Op. 36
Yehudi Menuhin, Robert Masters (violin)
Cecil Aronowitz, Ernst Wallfisch (viola)
Maurice Gendron, Derek Simpson (cello).

3 hours

Last on

Wed 13 Apr 2016 09:00

Music Played

  • Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

    Battalia (extract)

    Ensemble: La bande Montréal Baroque. Ensemble: Concerto Palatino.
    • ATMA.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Rondo in E flat major, K.371

    Performer: Ab Koster. Orchestra: Tafelmusik. Conductor: Bruno Weil.
    • SONY CLASSICAL.
  • MY FAVOURITE...MENDELSSOHN CHORAL MUSIC

    • Felix Mendelssohn

      Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied

      Choir: Gulbenkian Choir. Orchestra: Lisbon Gulbenkian Orchestra. Conductor: Michel Corboz.
      • ERATO.
  • Jean Françaix

    Divertissement for oboe, clarinet and bassoon

    Performer: Bergen Woodwind Quintet.
    • BIS.
  • Joseph Haydn

    The Mermaid’s Song; A Pastoral Song

    Singer: Catherine Bott. Performer: Melvyn Tan.
    • MERIDIAN.
  • Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli

    Violin Sonata Op.3`2 'La Cesta'

    Performer: Andrew Manze. Performer: Richard Egarr. Performer: Fred Jacobs.
    • CHANNEL CLASSICS.
  • Edvard Grieg

    Norwegian Folksongs and Dances, Op 17 (selection)

    Performer: Einar Steen-Nøkleberg.
    • NAXOS.
  • KIRSTY WARK'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Aaron Copland

      Fanfare for the Common Man (Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic Studio Concerts)

      Orchestra: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic. Conductor: John Wilson.
      • CHANDOS.
  • KIRSTY WARK'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

      Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35; III. Finale: Allegro vivacissimo

      Performer: Nicola Benedetti. Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Jakub Hrůša.
      • DG.
  • Malcolm Arnold

    Little Suite for Brass Band no.1 Op.80

    Ensemble: Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Conductor: Elgar Howarth.
    • SONY.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: RENAISSANCE

    • Clément Janequin

      La guerre

      Ensemble: Ensemble Clément Janequin.
      • Harmonia Mundi.
    • Claude Gervaise

      Pavane et Gaillarde de la Guerre

      Ensemble: La bande Montréal Baroque. Ensemble: Concerto Palatino.
      • ATMA.
    • Andrea Gabrieli

      Canzona 'La Battaglia'

      Ensemble: The King’s Consort. Conductor: Robert King.
      • HYPERION.
  • Maurice Ravel

    Une barque sur l'ocean (Miroirs)

    Performer: Bertrand Chamayou.
    • ERATO.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: YEHUDI MENUHIN

    • Johannes Brahms

      String Sextet No.2 in G major, Op.36

      Performer: Yehudi Menuhin. Performer: Robert Masters. Performer: Cecil Aronowitz. Performer: Ernst Wallfisch. Performer: Maurice Gendron. Performer: Derek Simpson.
      • WARNER CLASSICS.
  • Josef Fiala

    Concerto in C major for cor anglais

    Performer: Albrecht Mayer. Orchestra: Potsdam Chamber Academy. Director: Albrecht Mayer.
    • DG.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: YEHUDI MENUHIN

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Minuets & Bourree (Partita No.3 in E major, BWV1006)

      Performer: Yehudi Menuhin.
      • EMI.

Heard on Screen

Answer: The Woodentops

The music played:

Grieg
Kulok (Cow Call) from Norwegian Folksongs and Dances, Op.17 No.22
Einar Steen-Nokleberg (piano)
NAXOS

Broadcast

  • Wed 13 Apr 2016 09:00

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