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Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Francesca Simon

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Smetana Piano Works; Music in Time: Clementi; Artists of the Week: the Juilliard Quartet, featured in Schubert: Death and the Maiden Quartet.

9am
My favourite... Smetana piano works. Celebrated for his charming polkas, Bedrich Smetana was in fact a genuine musical innovator. His piano works contain some of the most daring, disquieting and original music written during the 19th century. This week Rob explores works ranging from the concert etude 'On the Seashore' to the collection of Czech Dances featuring performances by native Czech pianists Rudolf Firkusny and Jitka Cechova, as well as Andras Schiff and Leif Ove Andsnes.

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

10am
Rob's guest is the author Francesca Simon, creator of the Horrid Henry books. The adventures have sold millions of copies worldwide, have been made into an animated series and film, and have won the Children's Book of the Year awards. Besides the Horrid Henry series Francesca has written over fifty books for children of all ages and is among the most borrowed children's authors in British libraries. She is also involved in children's literacy charities as well as working with young writers, and is currently developing an opera for the Royal Opera House. Throughout the week Francesca will be sharing a selection of her favourite classical music including works by Jonathan Dove, Tchaikovsky and troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn.

10.30am
Music in Time: Classical
Rob places Music in Time as he goes back to the Classical era when Muzio Clementi was travelling all over Europe as a top pianist, composer, teacher, conductor and publisher. But he was a superstar who was later eclipsed by the reputations of Mozart and Haydn.

11am
Rob's featured artists are the members of the Juilliard Quartet, a group that has been in existence for nearly seven decades. Among the quartet's many virtues is their ability to make the classics sound new, and more modern music sound as if it's been around for years. In their hands everything becomes contemporary, vital and memorable.

Schubert
String Quartet in D minor D810 'Death and the Maiden'
Juilliard String Quartet.

3 hours

Last on

Wed 4 May 2016 09:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: JULLIARD STRING QUARTET

    • BΓ©la BartΓ³k

      IV. Allegretto pizzicato (String Quartet No.4)

      Ensemble: Juilliard String Quartet.
      • PEARL.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Organ Trio Sonata, BVW529 (re-imagined for chamber ensemble)β€―

    Music Arranger: Richard Stone. Ensemble: Tempesta di Mare.
    • CHANDOS.

  • MY FAVOURITE...SMETANA PIANO WORKS

    • Bedrich Smetana

      Bettina polka (1859 version)

      Performer: Jitka Cechova.
      • SUPRAPHON.

    • Bedrich Smetana

      Bettina polka (1883 version)

      Performer: Jitka Cechova.
      • SUPRAPHON.

  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Overture to La forza del destino

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.

  • Alfred Schnittke

    Gospodi, Gospodi Iisuse [O Lord Jesus Christ] (Three Sacred Hymns)

    Choir: Bavarian Radio Chorus. Conductor: Peter Dijkstra.
    • BR KLASSIK.

  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Capriccio espagnol Op.34

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antal DorΓ΅ti.
    • MERCURY LIVING PRESENCE.

  • Franz Schubert

    Der Tod und das Madchen

    Singer: Matthias Goerne. Performer: Helmut Deutsch.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Air [from Suite no.3] (Bach Suite)

    Music Arranger: Gustav Mahler. Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • DECCA.

  • FRANCESCA SIMON'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

      Letter Scene (Eugene Onegin)

      Singer: Teresa Kubiak. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: Georg Solti.
      • DECCA.

  • FRANCESCA SIMON'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Jonathan Dove

      'You're welcome. Here’s cheese!' (Tobias and the Angel)

      Singer: Darren Abraham. Singer: Maureen Brathwaite. Ensemble: The Young Vic Studio Ensemble. Conductor: David Charles Abell.
      • CHANDOS.

  • FRANCESCA SIMON'S CHOICE NO.3

    • Gavin Higgins

      The Ruins of Detroit (final section)

      Ensemble: Fidelio Trio.

  • MUSIC IN TIME: CLASSICAL

    • Muzio Clementi

      Piano Sonata in B flat major, Op 13 No 4

      Performer: Howard Shelley.
      • HYPERION.

  • Franz Liszt

    Der nächtliche Zug (Two Episodes from Lenau's Faust)

    Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Conductor: Kurt Masur.
    • EMI.

  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: JULLIARD STRING QUARTET

    • Franz Schubert

      String Quartet in D minor, D.810, 'Death and the Maiden'

      Ensemble: Juilliard String Quartet.
      • TESTAMENT.

  • Aram Khachaturian

    Lezghinka (Gayane)

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Kirill Karabits.
    • Khachaturian: Spartacus; Gayaneh.
    • Onyx.
    • 9.

  • Herbert Howells

    Take him, earth, for cherishing

    Choir: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Conductor: Stephen Cleobury.
    • ARGO.

By Association

Answer: Schubert and Mahler

The music played:

Schubert (orch. Mahler)
IV. Presto (String Quartet in D minor, 'Death and the Maiden')
LSO String Ensemble
Roman Simovic (conductor)
LSO

Broadcast

  • Wed 4 May 2016 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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