Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Antony Beevor

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Fugues; Music in Time: Chausson's Poeme; Artist of the Week: Clara Haskil, featured performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in A, K488.

9am
My favourite... Fugues
This week, Rob explores that ultimate test of a composer's mettle, the fugue - a musical form in which successive entries of the same melody weave together to create a complex contrapuntal fabric. Rob's favourites include fugues by Bach, Mozart, Walton and Shostakovich - plus a rarely-heard vocal one by the pianist Glenn Gould, aptly titled: "So you want to write a fugue?"

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

10am
Rob's guest this week, sharing his favourite classical music every day, is the acclaimed military historian Antony Beevor. Famous for the best-selling histories of World War Two, Stalingrad and Berlin - The Downfall 1945, his works also include Crete: The Battle and the Resistance and The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-39. Antony studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and went on to serve with the 11th Hussars before becoming a writer, and this week he shares with Rob music including works by Vaughan Williams, Dvorak, Bach and Vivaldi.

10.30am
Music in Time: Romantic
Rob places Music in Time. Today the spotlight is on the Romantic era and Chausson's ever-popular Poème for violin and orchestra, a passionate monologue that transforms the violin into an instrumental equivalent of the human voice. The piece harks back to the world of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, and provides a window on the Wagner-mania that swept the French musical world in the late 19th century.

11am
Artist of the Week: Clara Haskil
Rob's Artist of the Week is the Romanian pianist Clara Haskil, one of the finest musicians of her generation, who endured a life of great suffering but was adored by a discerning public. Her precious discography has stood the test of time and includes many celebrated recordings - not least, Mozart concertos, heartfelt Schumann, sultry Falla, poetic Chopin, and Beethoven violin sonatas with Arthur Grumiaux, with whom she gave her last concert.

Mozart
Piano Concerto in A, K488
Clara Haskil (piano)
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Paul Sacher (conductor).

3 hours

Last on

Wed 14 Sep 2016 09:00

Music Played

  • Grigoras Dinicu

    Hora staccato

    Music Arranger: HΓ₯kan Hardenberger. Music Arranger: Roland PΓΆntinen. Performer: Romain Leleu. Ensemble: Ensemble Convergences.
    • APARTE.
  • FrΓ©dΓ©ric Chopin

    Rondo Γ  la mazur in F major, Op 5

    Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • LONDON.
  • My Favourite... Fugues

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Adagio and Fugue in F minor for violin, viola and cello after W.F. Bach

      Ensemble: L’Archibudelli.
      • SONY.
  • Lukas Foss

    Three American Pieces

    Performer: Itzhak Perlman. Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Seiji Ozawa.
  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Concerto No.5 in B minor for harpsichord, flute and cello, TWV42:H1

    Performer: Wilbert Hazelzet. Performer: Jaap ter Linden. Performer: Konrad JunghΓ€nel. Performer: Jacques Ogg.
    • GLOSSA.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Elegischer Gesang, Op.118

    Orchestra: Collegium Musicum 90. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Steve Reich

    Electric Counterpoint (Fast)

    Performer: Pat Metheny.
    • ELEKTRA/NONESUCH.
  • Antony Beevor's Choice No.1

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Don Giovanni: 'Or sai chi l’onore'

      Singer: Carol Vaness. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
      • EMI.
  • Antony Beevor's Choice No.2

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Cello Suite No.1 in G Major, BWV1007 (4th mvt, Sarabande)

      Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma.
  • Antony Beevor's Choice No.3

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Violin Concerto No.3 in G major, K.216: III. Rondeau

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Lili Boulanger

    Les lilas avaient fleuri

    Singer: Carolyn Sampson. Performer: Joseph Middleton.
    • Fleurs.
    • BIS.
    • 23.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: CLASSICAL

    • Ludwig van Beethoven

      Piano Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101

      Performer: Maurizio Pollini.
      • DG.
  • Daniel FranΓ§ois Esprit Auber

    Les Diamants de la Couronne: Overture

    Orchestra: Orchestre de La SociΓ©tΓ© Des Concerts Symphonique de Paris. Conductor: RenΓ© Leibowitz.
    • SCRIBENDUM.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: CLARA HASKIL

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Piano Concerto in A major, K.488

      Performer: Clara Haskil. Orchestra: Wiener Symphoniker. Conductor: Paul Sacher.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    The Musical Offering: Trio Sonata

    Ensemble: Ars Rediviva. Director: Milan Munclinger.
    • SUPRAPHON.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Valiant-for-Truth

    Performer: Ashok Gupta. Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Conductor: Timothy Brown.
    • Vaughan Williams: Sacred Choral Music.
    • Naxos.
    • 2.

Imperfect Harmony

The music played:

Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending
Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin)
Orchestra of the Swan
David Curtis (conductor)
SIGNUM
Μύ
Reich
Electric Counterpoint: Movement 1
Pat Metheny (guitar)
NONESUCH

Broadcast

  • Wed 14 Sep 2016 09:00

Our Classical Century

Our Classical Century

Radio 3 explores 100 key musical moments that shaped us, from 1918 to the present day.

Time Travellers: the podcast

Time Travellers: the podcast

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough presents quirky tales gathered from the corners of history.