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Sound Frontiers: Building a Library - Tallis's Spem in alium

Live from Southbank Centre in London. Including Building a Library: Tallis: Spem in alium; New music from each decade since the Third Programme's 1946 inception; Disc of the Week.

with Andrew McGregor, live from London's Southbank Centre

0930
Building a Library: Simon Heighes makes a personal recommendation of Thomas Tallis's 40-part motet Spem in alium from among available recordings.

No one really knows what prompted Tallis's Spem in alium. One theory is that it was written as an 'anything you can do I can do better' response to a visiting Italian's forty-parter. Whatever the reason for its composition, England's preeminent Tudor composer wrote what has become one of the defining works of the English Renaissance, an unsurpassed masterpiece extensively recorded by secular and ecclesiastical UK choirs.

1045
Southbank Centre's Director of Music Gillian Moore chooses seven signal recordings of new music, one for each decade since the Third Programme's 1946 foundation.

1145
Disc of the Week: Andrew selects an outstanding recent release.

3 hours, 12 minutes

Last on

Sat 1 Oct 2016 09:00
大象传媒 Radio 3

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Sound Frontiers: Building a Library - Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1

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Building a Library: Elgar: Falstaff

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Music Played

  • Richard Wagner

    Die Walkure [part 2 Of 'Der Ring Des Nibelungen'] - Prelude

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Klaus Tennstedt.
    • Wagner: Die Walk眉re: Act 1.
    • LPO.
    • 001.

  • Lennox Berkeley

    Stabat Mater (1947) (i. Stabat mater dolorosa)

    Singer: Mary Thomas. Singer: Barbara Elsy. Singer: Maureen Lehane. Singer: Nigel Rogers. Singer: Christopher Keyte. Singer: Michael Rippon. Choir: Ambrosian Singers. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Norman Del Mar.
    • Lennox Barkeley: Sacred Choral Music.
    • Lyrita.
    • 001.

  • Maurice Durufl茅

    Requiem Op.9 (Libera me)

    Choir: Choir of King鈥檚 College, Cambridge. Performer: Tom Etheridge. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Conductor: Stephen Cleobury.
    • Kings KGS0016.
    • King's College Cambridge.
    • 008.

  • Roy Harris

    Concerto For Violin And Orchestra (Sections 3 & 4)

    Performer: Tamsin Waley-Cohen. Orchestra: 大象传媒 S O.. Conductor: Andrew Litton.
    • Roy Harris / John Adams: Violin Concertos.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 003.

  • Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    Barcarolle in F sharp major Op.60

    Performer: Benjamin Grosvenor.
    • Benjamin Grosvenor: Homages.
    • Decca.
    • 009.

  • Richard Wagner

    Die Walkure [part 2 Of 'Der Ring Des Nibelungen'] - Act 1, Scene 3

    Singer: Eva-Maria Bundschuh. Singer: Ren茅 Kollo. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Klaus Tennstedt.
    • Wagner: Die Walk眉re: Act 1.
    • LPO.
    • 008.

9.00am

Lennox Berkeley: Sacred Choral Music
BERKELEY, L: Stabat Mater; Batter My Heart Three Person鈥檇 God for soprano, chorus, oboe, horn, cellos, double-bass and organ; Magnificat for large mixed choir, orchestra and organ
Mary Thomas (soprano), Barbara Elsy (soprano), Maureen Lehane (contralto), Nigel Rogers (tenor), Christopher Keyte (baritone), Michael Rippon (bass), Members of the English Chamber Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, Norman Del Mar (conductor), Felicity Harrison (soprano), Donald Hunt (organ), 大象传媒 Northern Singers, Members of the 大象传媒 Northern Orchestra, Lennox Berkeley, London Symphony Orchestra, Choirs of St Paul鈥檚 Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral
LYRITA REAM1129 (CD)

Durufle: Requiem
DURUFLE: Requiem Op. 9; Messe Cum Jubilo Op. 11; Quatre Motets sur des themes gregoriens Op. 10
Patricia Bardon (contralto), Ashley Riches (baritone), The Choir of King's College Cambridge, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)
KINGS COLLEGE KGS0016 (Hybrid SACD)

Adams & Harris Violin Concertos
ADAMS, J: Violin Concerto
HARRIS, ROY: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin), 大象传媒 Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton (conductor)
SIGNUM SIGCD468 (CD)

9.30am Building a Library

Simon Heighes compares recordings of Thomas Tallis鈥� 40-part motet 鈥楽pem in Alium鈥� and recommends a version.聽

Building a Library Recommendations

Top recommendation:

Tallis: Latin Church Music
TALLIS: Videte miraculum; Homo quidam fecit cenam magnam; Audivi vocem de caelo; Candidi Facti Sunt; Dum transisset sabbatum; Honor, Virtus et Potestas; Hodie nobis caelorum; Loquebantur variis linguis; In pace in idipsum; Spem in alium for eight five-part choirs '40-part Motet'; Gaude gloriosa Dei mater; Te lucis ante terminum; Miserere nostri, motet for 7 voices, P. 207; Salvator mundi, salva nos 1 & 2; Lamentations of Jeremiah I & II; O sacrum convivium; Suscipe quaeso Domine; O nata lux de lumine 5vv; In ieiunio et fletu
Taverner Consort, Taverner Choir, Andrew Parrott (conductor)
ERATO 5622302 (2CD)

Other recordings:

Below is a shortlist of other recordings which Simon Heighes also liked, although we can鈥檛 guarantee the availability of these discs.

Historical recommendation:

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks (conductor)
DECCA 4336762 (CD)

Recommendation of version in English:

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers (conductor)
CORO CORSACD16016 (Hybrid SACD)

Recommendation of version with mixed voices and instruments:

I Fagiolini, Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
DECCA 4782734 (CD)

10.20am New Releases

Benjamin Grosvenor: Homages
BUSONI: Transcription of Bach's Partita BWV 1004: Chaconne
CHOPIN: Barcarolle in F sharp major Op. 60
FRANCK, C: Prelude, Choral et Fugue, M21
LISZT: Venezia e Napoli (3 pieces), S. 162
MENDELSSOHN: Prelude & Fugue for piano in E minor Op. 35 No. 1; Prelude & Fugue for piano in F minor Op. 35 No. 5
Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
DECCA 4830255 (CD)

10.35am Gillian Moore鈥檚 Most Important Recordings of New Music

The Southbank Centre's Director of Music Gillian Moore chooses seven signal recordings of new music, one for each decade since the Third Programme's 1946 foundation.

Adventures In Sound
SCHAEFFER: Cinq 脡tudes De Bruits
STOCKHAUSEN: Studies 1-2; Gesang Der J眉nglinge
XENAKIS: Diamorphoses; Concret PH
VAR脠SE: Po猫me 脡lectronique
HENRY: Voile D'Orph茅e
Musique Concr猫te recorded in the studios of West German Radio in Cologne and French Radio in Paris
脡l ACMEM159CD (CD)

BRITTEN: War Requiem Op. 66
Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano), Peter Pears (tenor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Simon Preston (organ), London Symphony Orchestra, Melos Ensemble, London Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Highgate School Choir, The Bach Choir, Benjamin Britten (conductor)
DECCA 4757511 (2CD)

Duke Ellington: The Far East Suite Special Mix
ELLINGTON: Tourist Point of View; Bluebird Of Delhi (Mynah); Isfahan; Depk; Mount Harissa; Blue Pepper (Far East Of The Blues); Agra: Arnad; Ad Lib On Nippon; Tourist Point of View (Alternate Take); Bluebird Of Delhi (Alternate Take); Isfahan (Alternate Take); Amad (Alternate Take)
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
BLUEBIRD 07863 66551-2 (CD)

REICH: Music for 18 Musicians
ECM 8214172 (CD)

NANCARROW: Studies for Player Piano
WERGO WER69072 (5CD)

Le Grand Macabre, Opera In Four Scenes (1997 Version)
LIGETI: Le Grand Macabre
Richard Stuart (Black Minister), Willard White (Nekrotzar), Martin Winkler (Ruffiack), Michael Lessiter (Schabernack), Marc Campbell-Griffiths (Schobiack), Frode Olsen (Astradamors), Derek Lee Ragin (Prin Go-go), Charlotte Hellekant (Amando), Jard Van Nes (Mescalina), Laura Claycomb (Amanda), Sibylle Ehlert (Gepopo, Venus), Graham Clark (Pie De Pot), Steven Cole (White Minister), London Sinfonietta Voices, Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen
SONY S2K 62312 (2CD)

Unsuk Chin: Three Concertos
CHIN: Piano Concerto; Cello Concerto; 艩u for sheng and orchestra
Sunwook Kim (piano), Alban Gerhardt (cello), Wu Wei (sheng), Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Myung-Whun Chung (conductor)
DG 4810971 (CD)

Varmints
MEREDITH: Nautilus; Taken; Scrimshaw; Something Helpful; R-Type; Dowager; The Vapours; Honeyed Words; Last Rose; Shill; Blackfriars; Untitled
Anna Meredith (electronics, clarinet, vocals), Mara Carlyle (vocals), Gemma Kost (cello), Oliver Coates (cello), Sam Wilson (drums, xylophone, vocals), Jack Ross (guitar, vocals)
MOSHI MOSHI RECORDS MOSHICD67 (CD)

11.45am Disc of the Week

WAGNER: Act 1, Die Walkure
Rene Kollo (Siegmund), Eva-Maria Bundschuh (Sieglinde), John Tomlinson (Hunding), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt
LPO LPO0092 (CD)

Broadcast

  • Sat 1 Oct 2016 09:00
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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