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Thursday - Rob Cowan with Tom Conti

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Tenor Arias; Music in Time: Biber's Rosary Sonatas; Artist of the Week: cellist Daniil Shafran, featured in Chopin's Cello Sonata in G minor.

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 today's music-related challenge: listen to the clues and identify the mystery person.

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: Baroque
Rob places Music in Time as he heads back to the Baroque era and a landmark in the repertoire of the violin - Heinrich Biber's extraordinary sequence of Rosary Sonatas, which require the player to continually retune the instrument in a practice known as 'scordatura'. The result is an expanded palette of tone-colours, which Biber uses to heighten his portrayal of scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary.

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.

Chopin
Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65
Daniil Shafran, cello
Anton Ginsburg, piano.

3 hours

Last on

Thu 23 Jun 2016 09:00
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

    VIII. Musketeer's March (Sonata Representativa)

    Performer: Andrew Manze. Performer: Nigel North. Performer: John Toll.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Sonata in F major, Op.54

    Performer: Sviatoslav Richter.
    • SONY.

  • MY FAVOURITE...TENOR ARIAS

    • Amilcare Ponchielli

      'Cielo e mar!' (La Gioconda)

      Singer: Flaviano Labo. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome. Conductor: Fernando Previtali.
      • DECCA ELOQUENCE.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Bassoon Concerto in A minor RV497

    Performer: Rodion Tolmachev. Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra. Conductor: Ivan Stolbov.
    • MELODIYA.

  • Richard Strauss

    Dreaming by the Fireside (4 Symphonic Interludes from Intermezzo)

    Orchestra: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Davis.
    • ABC.

  • William Byrd

    O God, the proud are risen

    Choir: Tallis Scholars. Director: Peter Phillips.

  • Franz Schubert

    Drei Klavierstücke, D 946 (No 1 in E flat minor)

    Performer: Rudolf Firkušný.
    • Â鶹ԼÅÄ.

  • Gustav Mahler

    'Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen' (Kindertotenlieden)

    Singer: Kathleen Ferrier. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Bruno Walter.
    • EMI.

  • TOM CONTI'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Cosi fan tutte: "Soave sia il vento"

      Singer: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Singer: Christa Ludwig. Singer: Walter Berry. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Karl Bohm.
      • EMI.

  • TOM CONTI'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Antonín Dvořák

      Slavonic Dance in E minor, Op.72 No.2

      Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Karel Å ejna.
      • SUPRAPHON.

  • TOM CONTI'S CHOICE NO.3

    • Johannes Brahms

      Waltz in A flat major, Op.39 No.15; Waltz in G sharp minor, Op.39 No.14

      Performer: Stephen Kovacevich.
      • PHILIPS.

  • Johann David Heinichen

    Dresden Concerto in D major S.226 (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Musica Antiqua Köln. Conductor: Reinhard Goebel.
    • Archiv Producktion.

  • MUSIC IN TIME: BAROQUE

    • Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

      The Ascension (Rosary Sonata No 12)

      Performer: Andrew Manze. Performer: Alison McGillivray. Performer: Richard Egarr.
      • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Jean Sibelius

    En Saga, Op.9

    Orchestra: Staatskapelle Dresden. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • PROFIL.

  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: DANIIL SHAFRAN

    • Frédéric Chopin

      Cello Sonata in G minor, Op.65

      Performer: Daniil Borisovich Shafran. Performer: Anton Ginsburg.
      • MELODIYA.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    The Soldier's Tale

    Ensemble: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • Stravinsky: Le Chant du rossignol: Boulez.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 7-15.

Mystery Person

Answer: Kathleen Ferrier (contralto)

Broadcast

  • Thu 23 Jun 2016 09:00
    Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3

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