Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Monday - Rob Cowan, plus Sarah Walker with John Lithgow

With Rob Cowan. Including Five Reasons to Love Operetta; Musical challenge; Artist of the week: the Vienna Philharmonic, featured performing Brahms's Symphony No 2.

9am
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... operetta'. Throughout the week Rob makes the case for this sometimes overlooked genre, showcasing some personal favourites that demonstrate the many delights of light opera: charm, wonderful tunes, great singers and quirky and amusing storylines. You may not hear operetta in quite the same way again!

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: identify a piece of music played backwards.

10am
This week Sarah interviews the stage and screen actor John Lithgow. John has appeared on Broadway 22 times, winning Tony Awards for The Changing Room and Sweet Smell of Success. He received back-to-back Academy Award nominations for The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment and is well known for his Emmy Award-winning performances in the television series 3rd Rock From the Sun and Dexter. Most recently he has starred in Love is Strange, Interstellar and The Homesman. John shares a selection of his favourite classical music and tells Sarah about catching the acting bug performing in Gilbert and Sullivan, how he appeared as the elephant in a ballet of Saint-Sa毛ns's Carnival of the Animals and why Yo-Yo Ma once gave him a private performance of Bach.

10.30am
Vintage Proms 1915 - music inspired by a Prom from 100 years ago
During the 大象传媒 Proms 2015 Rob takes a look at the Proms season from a century ago and plays music that reflects a time when concert programmes were quite different from those of today. This week Rob showcases highlights including two Elgar rarities, Carillon and Polonia, Parry's Overture to an Unwritten Tragedy and Mendelssohn's Rondo brillant in E flat major, all of which received their Proms premiere during the 1915 season.

11am
Rob's artist of the week is one of the world's finest orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic. Since its foundation in 1842 the orchestra has earned a reputation as one of the greats, making top recordings stretching back to 1905 and performing over a hundred concerts every season. Throughout the week Rob shares the Vienna Philharmonic's interpretations of works by composers including Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss, under the batons of maestros such as Karl B枚hm, Claudio Abbado and Fritz Reiner.

Including:
Brahms
Symphony No.2 in D Op.73
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Pierre Monteux (conductor).

3 hours

Last on

Mon 7 Sep 2015 09:00
大象传媒 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Friday - Rob Cowan with Fleur Adcock

Next

Tuesday - Rob Cowan, plus Sarah Walker with John Lithgow

See all episodes from Essential Classics

Music Played

  • Johann Strauss II

    Persian March

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Willi Boskovsky.
    • DECCA.

  • Franz Schubert

    Rosamunde (Ballet in G major)

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Karl M眉nchinger.
    • Decca.

  • 5 REASONS TO LOVE...OPERETTA

    • Johann Strauss II

      'Woiwode der Zigeuner' (Gypsy Baron, end of Act I)

      Singer: Herbert Lippert. Singer: Christiane Oelze. Singer: Hans-Jurgen Lazar. Singer: Jurgen Flimm. Singer: Elisabeth von Magnus. Singer: Rudolf Schasching. Singer: Pamela Coburn. Singer: J煤lia Hamari. Choir: Arnold Schoenberg Chor. Orchestra: Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project. Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
      • TELDEC.

  • Johann Joseph Fux

    Concentus musico-instrumentalis No.3

    Ensemble: Clemencic Consort. Director: Ren茅 Clemencic.
    • OEHMS CLASSICS.

  • 脡tienne Moulini茅

    Veni sponsa mea

    Ensemble: Les Pages et les Chantres de Musique Baroque de Versailles. Conductor: Olivier Schneebeli.
    • ALPHA.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    String Quartet in D major, K.155

    Ensemble: Hagen Quartett.
    • DG.

  • Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Dance of the Blessed Spirits (Orfeo ed Euridice)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Monteux.
    • DECCA ELOQUENCE.

  • JOHN LITHGOW'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Arthur Sullivan

      'When I went to the Bar as a Very Young Man' (Iolanthe, Act 1)

      Singer: George Baker. Orchestra: Orchestra. Conductor: Malcolm Sargent.
      • ARABESQUE.

  • JOHN LITHGOW'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Gente, gente, all'armi, all'armi

      Singer: Thomas Allen. Singer: Samuel Ramey. Singer: Lucia Popp. Singer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Singer: Philip Langridge. Singer: Robert Tear. Singer: Giorgio Tadeo. Singer: Kurt Moll. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Georg Solti.
      • DECCA.

  • JOHN LITHGOW'S CHOICE NO.3

    • John Adams

      Boulevard Night (City Noir)

      Orchestra: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: David Robertson.
      • NONESUCH.

  • Camille Saint鈥怱a毛ns

    Henry VIII: Ballet-Divertissement

    Orchestra: Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Mogrelia.
    • NAXOS.

  • Joseph Kosma

    Les feuilles mortes

    Singer: Elly Ameling. Performer: Rudolf Jansen.
    • OMNIUM AUDIOVISUEEL.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Ciaconna (Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV1004)

    Performer: Yves Rechsteiner.
    • ALPHA.

Recording Rewind

The music played:

听
Gluck
Dance of the Blessed Spirits
London Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Monteux (conductor)
DECCA

Broadcast

  • Mon 7 Sep 2015 09:00
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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.