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Friday - Rob Cowan with Alan Ayckbourn

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Romantic and 20th-Century Shakespearean Music; Music in Time; Artist of the Week: Marc Minkowski conducts Mehul's Symphony No 1.

9am
My favourite... Romantic and 20th-Century Shakespearean Music. Throughout the week Rob shares a selection of music from the last two hundred years inspired by the plays of the Bard. The line-up includes Korngold and Mendelssohn's musical interpretations of the comedies Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as the Queen Mab Scherzo from Berlioz's choral symphony Roméo et Juliette and the conclusion of Verdi's masterful comic opera Falstaff.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge and identify the place associated with a well-known work.

10am
Rob's guest is the Olivier and Tony Award winning playwright and director Sir Alan Ayckbourn. Alan has written eighty plays to date, including Relatively Speaking, How the Other Half Loves, Absurd Person Singular, Bedroom Farce and The Norman Conquests. His plays have been produced in the West End as well as around the world, though Alan is most associated with the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough where he was Artistic Director for many years, and where the majority of his work has been premiered. Alan will be talking about his life in the theatre and sharing a selection of his favourite classical music, including works by Janácek, Tallis and Bartók, every day at 10am.

10.30am
Music in Time: Baroque
Rob places Music in Time. Written in the early Baroque period when opera was still a new form, Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea helped to redefine the boundaries of theatrical music, especially in its reflection of human characteristics and emotions.

11am
Rob's artist of the week is the conductor Marc Minkowski. Hailed as one of the finest early music specialists of his generation, Minkowski founded the period-instrument ensemble, Les Musiciens du Louvre. With this much-praised ensemble he has performed and recorded repertoire not only from the Baroque and Classical periods, but also by Romantic composers including Bizet and Wagner. Throughout the week Rob shares Minkowski's distinctive accounts of Charpentier's Te Deum, Berlioz's dramatic Symphonie fantastique, Schubert's final 'Great' Symphony in C major, Handel's cantata Il delirio amoroso (with soloist Magdalena Kozena), and ²Ñé³ó³Ü±ô's rarely-heard First Symphony.

²Ñé³ó³Ü±ô
Symphony No. 1 in G minor
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Marc Minkowski (conductor).

3 hours

Music Played

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    L'Orfeo (Toccata)

    Ensemble: Le Concert d’Astrée. Ensemble: Les Sacqueboutiers. Conductor: Emmanuelle Haïm.
    • Virgin.
  • Robert Schumann

    Toccata in C major, Op 7

    Performer: Vladimir Horowitz.
    • SONY.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    'Could this ill world have been contriv’d' (Scottish Songs, Op.108)

    Performer: Gerold Huber. Performer: Anton Barakhovsky. Performer: Sebastian Klinger. Singer: Christian Gerhaher.
    • BR KLASSIK.
  • My favourite... Romantic and 20th century Shakespearean music

    • Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Much Ado About Nothing Suite, Op. 11

      Orchestra: Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg. Conductor: Marc Albrecht.
      • Pentatone.
  • Franz Liszt

    Mephisto Waltz No.1

    Performer: Sviatoslav Richter.
    • REVELATION.
  • György Ligeti

    Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet

    Performer: Les Vents Français.
    • WARNER.
  • Alan Ayckbourn's Choice No. 1

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      V. Allegro (Organ Concerto in D minor, BWV596 (after Vivaldi’s Op.3 No.11))

      Performer: Daniel Chorzempa.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Alan Ayckbourn's Choice No. 2

    • George Frideric Handel

      Lascia ch'io pianga (Rinaldo)

      Singer: Simone Kermes. Orchestra: La magnifica comunità. Conductor: Isabella Longo.
      • SONY CLASSICAL.
  • Rob's choice for Alan Ayckbourn

    • Ludwig van Beethoven

      Piano Trio in E flat major, Op 1 No 1 (finale)

      Ensemble: Beaux Arts Trio.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Children's Piece (Kinderstuck - Song without Words in A major, Op 102 No 5)

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Mendelssohn: Lieder Ohne Worte: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 23.
  • Music in Time: Baroque

    • Claudio Monteverdi

      L’incoronazione di Poppea: conclusion

      Singer: Sylvia McNair. Singer: Dana Hanchard. Singer: Marinella Pennicchi. Singer: Catherine Bott. Singer: Constanze Backes. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Singer: Bernarda Fink. Singer: Mark Tucker. Singer: Nigel Robson. Singer: Julian Clarkson. Singer: Noel Mann. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
      • ARCHIV.
  • William Walton

    Coronation Te Deum

    Choir: Polyphony. Choir: Polyphony. Performer: James Vivian. Ensemble: Wallace Collection. Ensemble: Wallace Collection. Conductor: Stephen Layton. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • HYPERION.
  • William Walton

    Bagatelle No 2 (Five Bagatelles for guitar)

    Performer: Julian Bream.
    • The Essential Julian Bream.
    • RCA.
    • 9.
  • Artist of the Week: Marc Minkowski

    • Étienne ²Ñé³ó³Ü±ô

      Symphony No.1 in G minor

      Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
      • ERATO.
  • Alexander Borodin

    String Quartet No.2

    Ensemble: Borodin Quartet.
    • Decca.

Mapping the Music

Answer: Transylvania

The music played:

Bartok
Transylvanian Dances
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
Zoltan Kocsis (conductor)
HUNGAROTON

Broadcast

  • Fri 22 Jul 2016 09:00

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