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Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Tom Conti

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Tenor Arias; Music in Time: Kodaly: Psalmus Hungaricus; Artist of the Week: Daniil Shafran, featured performing Brahms's Cello Sonata No 2.

9am
My favourite... tenor arias. Throughout the week Rob shares some of his favourite tenor arias, with voices both familiar (Franco Corelli, Richard Tucker and the legendary Carlo Bergonzi) and unfamiliar (Bruno Prevedi and Flaviano Labo). The repertoire ranges from the touching simplicity of Pergolesi's 'Nina' to the searing melodrama of Leoncavallo's 'Vesti la giubba', via Verdi, Giordano and Ponchielli.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: identify a piece of music played backwards.

10am
Rob's guest this week is the Tony Award-winning and Oscar-nominated actor, writer and director Tom Conti. Famous internationally for his roles in films such as Shirley Valentine, Reuben, Reuben and The Dark Knight Rises, Tom was recently voted the most popular actor in the West End in the last 25 years. Tom talks about his career-defining acting roles and shares a selection of his favourite classical music, including works by Donizetti, Handel and Verdi, every day at 10am.

10.30am
Music in Time: Modern
Rob places Music in Time as he explores the Modern era and Zoltán Kodály's passionately nationalistic Psalmus Hungaricus, commissioned to mark the 50th anniversary of the union of the cities of Buda, Pest and Óbuda. In the event, it also marked the beginning of his international reputation as a composer.

11am
Rob's artist of the week is Daniil Shafran, the 'other' great Russian cellist, who Rob considers to have a more individual style than the better-known Rostropovich. Shafran is deliciously quick-witted in the Shostakovich Sonata, passionate in Brahms's 2nd, and profoundly responsive to the voices of Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninov. His tone, full and sensual, was quite unlike anyone else's.

Brahms
Cello Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99
Daniil Shafran, cello
Felix Gottlieb, piano.

3 hours

Last on

Wed 22 Jun 2016 09:00

Music Played

  • György Ligeti

    I. Sostenuto - Misurato - Prestissimo (Musica Ricercata)

    Performer: Pierre‐Laurent Aimard.
    • Sony.
  • Robert Schumann

    Manfred, Op.115 (Overture)

    Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: George Szell.
    • SONY.
  • Johann Pachelbel

    Suite No 3 in E flat major

    Ensemble: Gli Incogniti. Director: Amandine Beyer.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
  • MY FAVOURITE...TENOR ARIAS

    • Giuseppe Verdi

      'Nel suo bel volto... Sotto una quercia parvemi' (Giovanna d’Arco)

      Singer: Carlo Bergonzi. Choir: Ambrosian Singers. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Nello Santi.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Graeme Koehne

    The Persistence of Memory

    Performer: David Nuttall. Orchestra: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Mills.
    • ABC.
  • Alexander Scriabin

    Fantasy in B minor, Op.28

    Performer: Alexander Melnikov.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Rigoletto (Overture)

    Orchestra: Orchestra of Santa Cecilia. Conductor: Giuseppe Sinopoli.
    • PHILIPS.
  • TOM CONTI'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

      Finale (Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, Op.23)

      Performer: Evgeny Kissin. Orchestra: Academic Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.
      • BRILLIANT CLASSICS.
  • TOM CONTI'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Ludwig van Beethoven

      Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67; I. Allegro con brio

      Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Carlos Kleiber.
      • Beethoven, Symphony no. 5 and no. 7: Vienna Philharmonic.
      • DG.
      • 1.
    • Joseph Haydn

      Fantasia in C major H.17.4

      Performer: Shai Wosner.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: MODERN

    • Zoltán Kodály

      Psalmus Hungaricus, Op.13

      Singer: Lajos Kozma. Choir: Wandsworth School Boys’ Choir. Choir: Brighton Festival Chorus. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: István Kertész.
      • DECCA.
  • Robert de Visée

    Prelude in a minor; La Mascarade, Rondeau [

    Performer: Rolf Lislevand.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: DANIIL SHAFRAN

    • Johannes Brahms

      Cello Sonata No 2 in F major, Op 99

      Performer: Daniil Borisovich Shafran. Performer: Felix Gottlieb.
      • MELODIYA.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Folk Song Suite for Military Band

    Ensemble: The Band of the Coldstream Guards.
    • Bandleader.
  • Grażyna Bacewicz

    String Quartet No 1 (1938)

    Ensemble: Silesian String Quartet.

Recording Rewind

The music played:

Verdi
Prelude to Rigoletto
鶹Լ Philharmonic Orchestra
Edward Downes (conductor)
CHANDOS

Broadcast

  • Wed 22 Jun 2016 09:00

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