大象传媒

For Radio 3 in Concert, five celebrities from the worlds of media, dance and drama create fantasy classical music concerts from the 大象传媒’s rich archive of performances by the 大象传媒 Orchestras, Choirs and New Generation Artists.

Darcey Bussell, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Joanna Lumley, Rose Matafeo and Janet Street-Porter discuss their musical choices with Radio 3 presenter Sean Rafferty, revealing links between their picks and their own life experiences, passions for specific strands of classical music, and their recent discoveries. Sean also introduces the celebrities to some new tracks to complement their selections.

Music has been ingrained in me from a very early age. Suddenly it’s such a luxury to be able to listen and perform to live music to such an extent – I was very blessed. I was driven by every part of the music; it’s the only reason why we dance really.

Mozart comes very much at the top of my list. I loved how dramatic and over the top the characters were, I loved the comedy of it. When you hear the Marriage of Figaro Overture for the first time, it’s so colourful and so complex and I wished they used Mozart in the ballet more often. I danced when I was quite young to Mahler’s Adagietto and it made me think, "Oh my God, I am so excited to be an artist!" I will never forget it; it really goes deep to your soul when you are moved by a piece of music like that.

I was so lucky to dance A Midsummer Night’s Dream – I love the character and the personality that comes through the music. Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet is one of those pieces that I literally cry to because I can hear the stories being told through the music and I could never ever get bored of it. Stravinsky’s music is incredibly difficult to dance to when the rhythm is constantly changing, but The Firebird will never date – it’s fascinating, its colour and drama, everything about it.

Darcey's programme:

• Mozart: Overture (Marriage of Figaro)
• Mahler: Adagietto (from Symphony No 5)
• Mendelssohn: Overture, Scherzo, Nocturne and Wedding March (from A Midsummer Night's Dream)
• J S Bach: Cello Suite No 3, BWV 1009
• Villa-Lobos: Study No 1 in E minor
• Maxwell Davies: Farewell to Stromness
• Stravinsky: The Firebird (suite, 1945 version)

Listen to Darcey's choices now at Experience Classical.

I am almost really embarrassed by it, but I won’t be because I profoundly believe in the power of art to open up new windows and new doors to experiences and energies that you did not know existed.

And that for me was when I first came across the play Amadeus, in particular Salieri’s speech where he speaks about a particular work of Mozart as if Mozart were touched by God. And that was Serenade No. 10 in B-Flat Major. When I heard that piece of music, I too knew that Mozart was touched by however we want to call the divine – and new doors were open to me. This piece of music introduced me to Western classical music, and I am so thankful for it.

Janá膷ek’s String Quartet No. 1 is so youthful – it has so much energy – but also what I love about it is that for many of us (and I include myself) who did not grow up in an environment where one listens to Western classical music, invariably our access to it was through films. And what’s really interesting about listening to Janá膷ek is that I always hear a protagonist. In this piece in particular there’s a solo voice that I follow and it’s like dialogue. As a dramatist of course I am going to like it – this is everything that I am trained to like.

Kwame's programme

• Bernstein: Candide (Overture)
• Leoš Janá膷ek: String Quartet No. 1, "The Kreutzer Sonata"
• Dvo艡ák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op 88
• Arvo Pärt: Cantus in memorium Benjamin Britten
• Liza Lim: Flying Banner
• Mozart: Serenade No. 10 in B-Flat Major, K. 361 "Gran Partita"

Listen to Kwame's choices now at Experience Classical.

I’ve always adored music and I’ve taken my role in the audience very humbly I think. Some of my choices spring from my childhood – things that you see and fall in love with when you’re quite young never really leave you. When I was young I’d never seen Rossini’s opera William Tell – the whole thing was a mystery, except that the music was ravishing and that’s what caught my soul and made Rossini one of my all-time favourites.

I first heard Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances when I was nine and I loved it for the "boom bang a bang" quality of it, but also the fact that it’s got some sensationally lovely and soppy love music. This music seems to make you jump on your feet and I loved dancing; there is something about Russian music that just blows you away!

Beethoven was my man but thanks to my husband [conductor Stephen Barlow] I began to think about Mozart quite differently – it’s completely sublime, it’s fresh spring water, there’s something quite marvellous. Music is quite different to other senses, it’s not like reading or looking at art – "music expresses that which cannot be said and which it is impossible to be silent". This is why I love orchestral music; it’s the instruments which speak to us. I think human beings were born with music, it fills up every possible sad gap in your life – anything that goes wrong can be corrected with music.

Joanna's programme

• Rossini: Overture to William Tell
• Borodin: Polovtsian Dances from "Prince Igor"
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major K.467
• Beethoven: Prisoners' Chorus from Fidelio
• Pauline Viardot-Garcia: Bolero – Madrid and Upon the hills of Georgia
• Liszt: Fantasia on themes from Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni
• Tchaikovsky: Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet

Listen to Joanna's choices now at Experience Classical.

Curating my dream concert and sharing it with Radio 3 listeners is a treat, particularly at a time where the shared live concert experience isn’t possible. Classical music wasn’t in my life as a child or a teenager. It was something I actively sought out – like with most of the obsessions in my life.

Ravel was almost an introduction to classical music for me entirely. I listened to this CD my mother bought over and over again. Ravel’s music sounded like things in my head and my heart basically. Jeux d’eau speaks about how I feel before going on stage or before I perform. It’s this sort of bubbling excited feeling but into a cohesive piece. You can hear a fountain! And I think that this is the most incredible thing about classical music – is that it just completely paints a picture with music.

Elgar for me is more of a recent discovery. I love Vaughan Williams and lots of other British composers. I started reading about Elgar and I really appreciate his background. He was sort of a normal dude – he’d be lovely to meet. I love how he loved his dogs, I really appreciate that and he seems very sweet. Particularly Cockaigne, being inspired by London, is something I think that sort of spoke to me. I moved to London from New Zealand in 2016 to start doing comedy, I suppose following my dreams, and it was very exciting which is really reflected in this piece.

Rose's programme

• Elgar: Cockaigne (in London Town), Op. 40
• Ravel: Jeux d’eau
• Debussy: La mer
• Delius: On hearing the first cuckoo in spring
• Respighi: Pines of Rome (binaural recording)
• Bernstein: Sonata for clarinet and piano
• Gershwin: An American in Paris
• Wagner: Tristan und Isolde – Prelude and Liebestod

Listen to Rose's choices now at Experience Classical.

The good thing now about modern technology is that you can go on the 大象传媒 Archive or the Sounds app or YouTube and you can sample music and if it’s not for you, you can leave it. Now music is accessible, it’s so easy to broaden your taste and I think as I’ve got older, I’ve made more effort to listen to things I wouldn’t have listened to before. I like music that you can kind of imagine that your life is a film and it’s the soundtrack to your life.

I’ve had quite a chequered romantic life – I might seem on television as quite loud and abrasive but I’m a deeply romantic person and Handel’s Chaconne really appeals to me. Zadok the Priest is a completely thrilling piece of music. It proves to you comprehensively that at the time Handel must have been a megastar; it must have been so exciting to hear Handel for the first time – I wish I’d been there. Even now when you play this music it’s jaw-dropping. I’d love to be at an event where it’s played before I walked in! Kaija Saariaho is a new discovery to me and I discovered her through the 大象传媒 Archive. I like the fact that she’s a living contemporary composer, I like that the music conjures up all sorts of ideas.

Janet's programme

• Handel: Zadok the Priest (Coronation Anthem No 1 HWV 258)
• Giuseppe Tartini: Sonata in G minor (Devil's Trill)
• Handel/Johan Halvorsen: Passacaglia in G minor
• Sibelius: Tapiola
• Kaija Saariaho: Terra Memoria
• Anne Dudley: Music and Silence

Listen to Janet's choices now at Experience Classical.