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Sound Frontiers: Friday - Rob Cowan with Lucian Msamati

Rob Cowan presents live from Southbank Centre. Including Music in Time: Merula: Solo songs; Artist of the Week: Michael Gielen, featured conducting Mahler's Symphony No 10.

9am
My favourite... Brahms Intermezzos. Such is his love of Brahms' piano music that Rob struggled to find his favourite intermezzos, but eventually chose a selection primarily from the Opp. 117-119 collections. They are performed by such varied Brahms interpreters as Steven Kovacevich, Clifford Curzon, Eugene Istomin, Evgeny Kissin and Glenn Gould, all of whom bring their unique, individual voices to the poetry of Brahms' piano-writing.

9.30am
Take part in today's musical challenge: listen to the clues and identify a mystery musical place.

10am
Rob's guest is the actor Lucian Msamati. Best known for his role as Salladhor Saan in Game of Thrones, in 2015 Lucian he became the first black actor ever to play Iago in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Othello, alongside Hugh Quarshie as Othello. In the same year he made his directorial debut with Boi Boi Is Dead. His stage work includes Clybourne Park and the London riots play Little Revolution, while recent TV credits include The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Ashes to Ashes and Doctor Who. Throughout the week, Lucian shares his favourite pieces of classical music with Rob and on Friday he appears live in the Essential Classics pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre.

10.30am
Power of Three - the next episode in a 70-part daily series of pioneering sounds from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Third Programme and Radio 3 archives presented by David Hendy.

Followed by
Music in Time: Baroque
Rob heads back to the Baroque period as he discovers music by the little-known Italian composer Tarquinio Merula, whose 1638 book of solo songs is an expressive and ingenious collection displaying the composer's skilful treatment of the attractive 'Aria di ciaccona' (Chaconne-aria) form.

11am
Rob's Artist of the Week is the German conductor and composer Michael Gielen who when he retired in 2014, left behind an extensive recorded legacy. He held conducting posts from Vienna and Stockholm to Cincinnati and London. Besides championing the music of contemporary composers, he also excelled in music of the classical and romantic eras, which Rob focuses on this week, with Mozart's 'Haffner' Symphony, Schubert's 'Great' C major Symphony, Debussy's tennis-themed ballet Jeux, Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and the opening Adagio from Mahler's final, incomplete Symphony No. 10.

Mahler
Symphony No. 10 in F sharp minor: Adagio
SWR-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
Michael Gielen (conductor).

3 hours

Music Played

  • Tarquinio Merula

    Ciaccona

    Ensemble: Hespèrion XXI. Director: Jordi Savall.
  • MY FAVOURITE...BRAHMS INTERMEZZOS

    • Johannes Brahms

      Intermezzo in E flat minor, Op.118 No.6

      Performer: Stephen Kovacevich.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Entr'acte (Hamlet, Op.67a)

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Kurt Masur.
    • Warner Apex.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Piano Trio in D major, H.15.8

    Ensemble: Beaux Arts Trio.
    • PHILIPS.
  • Maria Theresia von Paradis

    Sicilienne

    Performer: Arthur Grumiaux. Performer: IstvΓ΅n Hajdu.
    • DECCA.
  • Thea Musgrave

    Impromptu for flute and oboe

    Performer: Emily Beynon. Performer: Alexei Ogrintchouk.
    • CHANNEL.
  • Claude Debussy

    No. 2; Fetes (Nocturnes for Orchestra)

    Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • Philips.
  • Lucian Msamati's Choice No.1

    • Richard Wagner

      Siegfried's Funeral March (Götterdämmerung)

      Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Otto Klemperer.
      • EMI.
  • Rob's choice for Lucian Msamati

    • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

      Sugar Rum Cherry

      Music Arranger: Duke Ellington. Ensemble: Duke Ellington Orchestra.
      • Duke Ellington The Nutcracker Suite.
      • Columbia.
      • 4.
  • Tarquinio Merula

    Su la cetra amorosa (aria di ciaccona)

    Singer: Montserrat Figueras. Ensemble: Hespèrion XXI. Ensemble: Hespèrion XXI. Conductor: Jordi Savall.
    • ALIA VOX.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: MICHAEL GIELEN

    • Gustav Mahler

      Symphony No.10 in F sharp minor: Adagio

      Orchestra: SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg. Conductor: Michael Gielen.
      • HANSSLER.

Mystery Place

Answer: The Concertgebouw

Broadcast

  • Fri 7 Oct 2016 09:00

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