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Wagner's Siegfried Idyll in Building a Library with Gillian Moore and Andrew McGregor

Gillian Moore chooses her favourite version of Wagner's orchestral piece Siegfried Idyll, and Joseph McHardy selects a crop of new releases of early music.

Andrew McGregor with the best new recordings of classical music.

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Harpsichordist Joseph McHardy shares his pick of the latest early music releases.

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Building a Library
Wagner's Siegfried Idyll with Gillian Moore

"Music was sounding, and what music! After it had died away, R put into my hands the score of his β€œSymphonic Birthday Greeting." So wrote Richard Wagner's wife Cosima after the first performance of the composer's Siegfried Idyll - written as a surprise birthday present for Cosima which she first heard as she awoke on Christmas morning 1870 while the specially assembled chamber orchestra was playing it on the stairs of the couple's villa. The intensely romantic work is full of personal significance for the Wagners, and much of the music was later incorporated into the third instalment of Wagner's operatic Ring cycle, Siegfried.

Recommended version:
Symphony of the Air
Leopold Stokowski (conductor)
Bridge BRIDGE9074

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Record of the Week: Andrew’s top pick.

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1 hour, 59 minutes

Last on

Saturday 14:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Mass in B Minor BWV.232 (Osanna in Excelsis)

    Choir: La Cetra Vokalensemble. Orchestra: La Cetra Barockorchester Basel. Conductor: Andrea Marcon.
    • J. S. Bach: Mass in B Minor.
    • Arcana.
    • 23.

  • Kalevi Aho

    String Quartet no.3 (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Stenhammar Quartet.
    • BIS.

  • Richard Wagner

    O du mein holder Abendstern (TannhΓ€user)

    Singer: Florian Sempey. Orchestra: Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. Conductor: Victor Jacob.
    • Alpha.

  • James Oswald

    Airs for the Spring - The Tulip (Allegro [Moderato])

    Ensemble: Ensemble Hesperi.
    • BIS.

  • James Oswald

    Airs for the Spring - The Tulip (2nd Allegro [Moderato)]

    Ensemble: Ensemble Hesperi.
    • BIS.

  • James Oswald

    Airs for the Spring - The Tulip (Hornpipe [Vivace])

    Ensemble: Ensemble Hesperi.
    • BIS.

  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Trio Sonata in G minor TWV.42:g9 (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Ensemble Hesperi.
    • BIS.

  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Trio Sonata in G minor TWV.42:g9 (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Ensemble Hesperi.
    • BIS.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland BWV.659

    Performer: Masaaki Suzuki.
    • BIS.

  • Marc‐Antoine Charpentier

    Les Arts florissants H.487 (Scene 5; Chaconne, Air et Choeur)

    Singer: Haley Sicking. Singer: David Grogan. Singer: Andrew Dittman. Performer: James Richman. Orchestra: Dallas Bach Society.
    • Rubicon.

  • Johann Friedrich Fasch

    Orchestral Suite in D Major (Overture)

    Orchestra: Tempesta di Mare. Director: Gwyn Roberts. Director: Richard Stone.
    • Chandos.

  • Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart

    6 Polonaises mΓ©lancoliques Op.17 (no.4 in G minor)

    Performer: Robert Markham.
    • F. X. Mozart: Polonaises.
    • Grand Piano.
    • 104.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Ein ergrimmter Lowe brullet (Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots K.35)

    Singer: Adèle Charvet. Ensemble: The Caravaggio Ensemble. Conductor: Camille Delaforge.
    • Mozart: Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, K. 35.
    • ChΓ’teau de Versailles Spectacles.
    • 5.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori (Sorge il di [Aci, Galatea e Polifemo])

    Singer: Nahuel di Pierro. Orchestra: Ensemble Diderot. Conductor: Johannes Pramsohler.
    • Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori.
    • Audax Records.
    • 113.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    String Quartet no.4 in D major Op.83 (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Casals Quartet.
    • Shostakovich: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-5.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 10.

  • Michael Praetorius

    Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen

    Ensemble: Trio Mediæval.
    • 2L.
    • 1.

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    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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