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Thursday - Sarah Walker with Adrian Lester

With Sarah Walker. Including My Favourite Debussy Preludes; Music in Time: works by Gluck; Artist of the Week: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, featured conducting Dvorak's Piano Concerto.

9am
My favourite... Debussy Preludes. Sarah chooses five of her favourite preludes from Debussy's landmark collection of piano pieces, which brought a new perspective to the popular 19th century character piece. His pictorial subjects range from footprints in the snow and a submerged cathedral rising from the waves, to an ancient Egyptian jar, and an effervescent display of fireworks.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: can you remember the television show or film that featured this piece of classical music?

10am
In the week leading up to Radio 3's celebrations of Shakespeare's life, Sarah's guest is the actor Adrian Lester. Adrian has taken on Shakespearean roles ranging from Rosalind in an all-male production of As You Like It to a critically acclaimed Hamlet, and won an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance of Othello. Adrian also recently starred in the West End play Red Velvet, about the first black actor to play Othello on a London stage, back in 1833. Adrian's television roles include conman Mickey in the long-running series Hustle and the assassin Myror in Merlin, and he is currently starring in the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ political thriller Undercover. Adrian will be sharing a selection of his favourite classical music, including Byrd's Mass for Three Voices, which takes him back to his days as a chorister, and Stephen Sondheim's Company, in which he performed.

10:30am
Music in Time: Classical
Sarah places Music in Time as she turns to the Classical period and the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck, who decided to reform the worst excesses of opera for the new age of reason, creating masterpieces of dramatic concision such as Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste.

11am
Sarah's artist of the week is Nikolaus Harnoncourt, one of the most influential conductors of the 20th century. Originally an orchestral cellist, Harnoncourt brought a new level of musical scholarship and historical sensibility to performances of works by composers such as Monteverdi, Bach, Beethoven and Dvorak, working with ensembles such as Concentus Musicus of Vienna (which he founded in the early 1950s), the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Dvorak
Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33
Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Nikolaus Harnoncourt (conductor).

3 hours

Last on

Thu 21 Apr 2016 09:00

Music Played

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Prelude in G sharp minor, Op 32 No 12

    Performer: Andrei Gavrilov.
    • EMI.
  • Gioachino Rossini

    The Silken Ladder (Overture)

    Orchestra: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • DG.
  • Gregorio Allegri

    Miserere mei Deus

    Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • SIGNUM.
  • MY FAVOURITE...DEBUSSY PRELUDES

    • Claude Debussy

      La cathΓ©drale engloutie (Preludes, Book 1)

      Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
      • Debussy: Complete works for piano vol.1: Bavouzet.
      • Chandos.
      • 10.
  • Trad.

    C 256; lag Bari

    Ensemble: The Baroque Gypsies.
    • ANALEKTA.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Piango gemo

    Performer: Ricardo Requejo. Music Arranger: FΓ©lix Lavilla. Singer: Teresa Berganza.
    • DG.
  • Leos JanÑček

    Mladi (Youth Suite)

    Performer: Philippa Davies. Performer: Gareth Hulse. Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Richard Watkins. Performer: Robin O’Neill. Performer: Peter Sparks. Ensemble: London Winds.
    • CHANDOS.
  • ADRIAN LESTER'S CHOICE

    • Sergey Rachmaninov

      Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor, Op 30 (1st mvt)

      Performer: Denis Matsuev. Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.
      • MARIINSKY.
  • Vladimir Horowitz

    Variations on a theme from Bizet's Carmen

    Performer: Cameron Carpenter.
    • Cameron Carpenter - Revolutionary.
    • Telarc.
    • 10.
  • Music in Time: Classical

    • Christoph Willibald Gluck

      Alceste (Overture)

      Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Alceste (conclusion of Act I)

    Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Singer: Dietrich Henschel. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • PHILIPS.
  • Francis Poulenc

    Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone

    Performer: Alan Civil. Performer: John Wilbraham. Performer: John Iveson.
    • EMI.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT

    • AntonΓ­n DvoΕ™Γ‘k

      Piano Concerto in G minor, Op 33

      Performer: Pierre‐Laurent Aimard. Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
      • WARNER CLASSICS.
  • Marin Marais

    Suite No 1 in C major (Pièces en trio, 1692)

    Performer: William Hunt. Ensemble: Purcell Quartet.
    • Marin Marais 'La folia' & other music for viols and violins The Purcell Quartet.
    • Hyperion.
    • 1.

Heard on Screen

Answer: Crown Court (ITV)

The music played:

Janacek
IV. Allegretto (Sinfonietta)
Vienna PhilharmonicΒ 
Charles Mackerras (conductor)
DECCA

Broadcast

  • Thu 21 Apr 2016 09:00

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