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Friday - Rob Cowan with Ray Mears

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Polkas; Music in Time: Praetorius; Artist of the Week: pianist Claudio Arrau, featured performing Debussy's Images (Book 2).

9am
My favourite... polkas. Rob shares a selection of his favourite polkas, a dance form that originated in 19th-century Bohemia. He features polkas by Smetana, Shostakovich, Schubert and Rachmaninov, as well as Johann Strauss II's ever-popular Thunder and Lightning Polka.

9.30am
Take part in today's musical challenge: two pieces of music are played together - can you identify them?

10am
Rob's guest is the television presenter and writer Ray Mears. A bushcraft, wildlife and survival expert, Ray has presented shows including Ray Mears' Bushcraft, World of Survival and Extreme Survival. He has broadcast from around the world and recently presented Wild Australia with Ray Mears, and Wild France with Ray Mears. Ray has written books including Vanishing World: A Life of Bushcraft and Northern Wilderness, as well as his autobiography My Outdoor Life. His most recent book, Out on the Land: Bushcraft Skills from the Northern Forest, was released earlier this year. Ray shares a selection of his favourite classical music throughout the week, with choices ranging from Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man to Vaughan Williams' The Wasps and Schubert's Symphony No. 5.

10.30am
Music in Time: Renaissance
Rob places Music in Time. Today he turns to the Renaissance period, focusing on composers of sacred music and the works they wrote for key occasions in the liturgical calendar. Looking ahead to Christmas, Rob examines Praetorius's Lutheran Mass for Christmas Morning, which includes an exuberant account of the carol In Dulci Jubilo.

11am
Rob's artist of the week is the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau. A child prodigy, Arrau learned to read music before reading words, and at the age of eleven he could play Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, one of the most difficult works in the piano repertoire. He is known especially for his interpretations of composers from the Classical and Romantic eras, though he was also a champion of Baroque music, and in 1935 he gave a rendition of the entire keyboard works of Bach over twelve recitals. Throughout the week, Rob celebrates the recording legacy of this remarkable pianist, featuring Liszt's Fantasy on Hungarian folk-melodies, Schumann's Humoreske, Schubert's Piano Sonata D.958, Brahms' epic Piano Concerto No. 2, and Debussy's Images (Book II).

Debussy
Images Book II
Claudio Arrau (piano).

3 hours

Last on

Fri 23 Dec 2016 09:00

Music Played

  • George Frideric Handel

    Or let the merry bells ring round (L'Allegro, il penseroso, ed il moderato)

    Singer: Carolyn Sampson. Choir: Bach Choir. Orchestra: The English Concert. Conductor: David Hill.
    • BIS.
  • MY FAVOURITE... POLKAS

    • Franz Schubert

      Polka and Gallop D735

      Orchestrator: Bruno Maderna. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
      • DG.
  • Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka

    Viola Sonata

    Performer: Maxim Rysanov. Performer: Evelyn Chang.
    • AVIE.
  • Hans Christian Lumbye

    Victoria Quadrille

    Orchestra: Odense Symfoniorkester. Conductor: Peter Guth.
    • UNICORN.
  • Anna Cederberg-Orreteg

    ´³´Ç°ù»å²Ôä°ù²¹

    Choir: Allmänna Sången. Conductor: Maria Goundorina.
    • BIS.
  • Arcangelo Corelli

    Concerto Grosso in F major, Op.6, No.2

    Orchestra: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.
    • ARCHIV.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Nutcracker, Act II: No.12, Divertissement (Character Dances)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antal Doráti.
    • MERCURY.
  • RAY MEARS' CHOICE No. 1

    • Franz Schubert

      Symphony No.5 in B Flat, D.485 (1st mvt)

      Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Karl Böhm.
      • DG.
  • RAY MEARS' CHOICE No. 2

    • Trad.

      The Holly and the Ivy

      Music Arranger: Henry Walford Davies. Choir: Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. Conductor: George Guest.
      • CHANDOS.
  • RAY MEARS' CHOICE No. 3

    • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

      Symphony No.1, 'Winter Daydreams': III. Scherzo 

      Orchestra: Russian National Orchestra. Conductor: Mikhail Pletnev.
      • DG.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: RENAISSANCE

    • Trad.

      Puer Natus in Bethlehem

      Music Arranger: Michael Praetorius. Choir: Boy's Choir of Roskilde Cathedral. Choir: Congregational Choir of Roskilde Cathedral. Ensemble: Gabrieli Consort & Players. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
      • ARCHIV.
  • Michael Praetorius

    Mass: Gloria

    Orchestra: Gabrieli Consort & Players. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
    • ARCHIV.
  • Trad.

    In Dulci Jubilo

    Music Arranger: Michael Praetorius. Orchestra: Gabrieli Consort & Players. Choir: Boy's Choir of Roskilde Cathedral. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
    • ARCHIV.
  • Richard Strauss

    Der Rosenkavalier (Waltzes)

    Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Fritz Reiner.
    • RCA Living Stereo.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: CLAUDIO ARRAU

    • Claude Debussy

      Images: Book II

      Performer: Claudio Arrau.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Overture in E minor, 'Tafelmusik' (Overture)

    Performer: Jordi Savall. Ensemble: Le Concert des Nations. Director: Jordi Savall.
    • Le Concert Spirituel: Le Concert des Nations / Jordi Savall.
    • Alia Vox.
    • 18.
  • Benjamin Britten

    A Boy was Born, Op 3 (conclusion)

    Choir: Holst Singers. Choir: Choristers of St. Paul's Cathedral Choir. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • HYPERION.

Imperfect Harmony

The music played:

Tchaikovsky
The Nutcracker: Russian Dance
Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy (conductor)
³§°¿±·³ÛÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

±Ê°ù´Ç°ì´Ç´Ú¾±±ð±¹Ìý
Lieutenant Kije: Troika
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Claudio Abbado (conductor)
DG

Broadcast

  • Fri 23 Dec 2016 09:00

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