Thursday - Rob Cowan with Simon Callow
With Rob Cowan. Including Musical challenge; Music in Time: Franck's Symphonic Variations; Artist of the Week: Thomas Beecham, featured conducting Schubert's Symphony No 5.
9am
Rob sets the tone and mood of the day's programme with a range of music to intrigue, surprise and entertain.
9.30am
Take part in today's musical challenge: listen to the clues and identify a mystery musical personality.
10am
Rob's guest is the actor, writer and director Simon Callow. Sir Laurence Olivier gave Simon his first theatre job - in the box office of the National Theatre - and after that the young Callow soon found his way onto the stage, first coming to prominence playing Mozart in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus. He has since become one of the UK's best-loved actors, not only on the stage, but in TV series such as Chance in a Million, and films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral. Simon is often referred to as a writer who acts, having produced not only books about his own life as an actor, but also biographies of Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, Orson Welles and most recently Richard Wagner. During the week Simon discusses all this and more and chooses music by Sibelius, Grainger, Mozart and Wagner.
10.30am
Music in Time: Romantic
Rob places Music in Time, and travels back to the Romantic era. The composer, pianist and organist C茅sar Franck was renowned for his brilliance at improvising around sacred melodies. Rob explores how Franck's expertise in developing and transforming musical themes was channelled into his Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra.
Double Take
Rob explores the nature of performance by highlighting the differences in style between two recordings of the aria Ombra mai f霉 by Handel, sung by two favourite singers from different eras: the tenor Enrico Caruso and countertenor Andreas Scholl.
11am Artist of the Week: Sir Thomas Beecham
'The Beecham Touch' is an epithet for all that is stylish, delicate, mischievous and spontaneous in conducting. Sir Thomas鈥痺as the living embodiment of charm, genuine authenticity (in that he conducted from the heart as well as from the head) and a sense of theatre that could leave an audience breathless with excitement. Rob's selection of Beecham recordings ranges from Handel and Haydn to Delius and Sibelius, all of them 'first-loves' for this most charismatic of conductors.
Schubert
Symphony No.5 in B flat major
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Thomas Beecham (conductor).
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Music Played
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George Frideric Handel
Flute Sonata in G: II. Allegro (arranged for trumpet and continuo)
Performer: Paul Merkelo. Performer: Luc Beaus茅jour.- ANALEKTA.
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Simeon ten Holt
Canto Ostinato: Section 95
Performer: Jeroen can Veen.- BRILLIANT CLASSICS.
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Henry Purcell
Bonduca: Sing ye Druids
Director: Christopher Hogwood. Ensemble: Academy of Ancient Music. Choir: Taverner Choir. Singer: Elizabeth Lane. Singer: Prudence Lloyd.- DECCA.
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Edward Elgar
Carillon
Narrator: Simon Callow. Orchestra: 大象传媒 Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Ben Palmer.- SOMM.
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C茅sar Franck
Cantabile
Performer: Jean Guillou.- DORIAN.
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Franz Schubert
Der Vater mit dem Kind D906
Singer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson. Performer: Graham Johnson.- HYPERION.
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Domenico Scarlatti
Sonata in C minor K115
Performer: Carole Cerasi.- Metronome Recordings.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Egmont Overture
Orchestra: La Scala Philharmonic. Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini.- SONY CLASSICAL.
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George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue (arranged for harmonica and piano)
Performer: Larry Adler. Performer: George Gershwin. Music Arranger: George Gershwin.- DECCA.
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Percy Grainger
Shallow Brown
Singer: John Shirley鈥怮uirk. Choir: Ambrosian Singers. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Benjamin Britten.- London.
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Richard Wagner
Das Liebesverbot (Overture)
Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Wolfgang Sawallisch.- Wagner: Overtures, Marches, Symphony in E, Siegfried Idyll: Sawallisch.
- EMI Classics.
- 1.
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C茅sar Franck
Symphonic Variations
Performer: Bertrand Chamayou. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: St茅phane Den猫ve.- 狈础脧痴贰.
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George Frideric Handel
Serse: Overture, 'Fondi tenere... Ombra mai fu'
Singer: Andreas Scholl. Orchestra: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin.- HARMONIA MUNDI.
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George Frideric Handel
Serse: 'Ombra mai f霉'
Singer: Enrico Caruso. Orchestra: Victor Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Boris Pasternak.- NIMBUS.
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Fritz Kreisler
Liebesleid (Old Viennese Dances)
Performer: Joshua Bell. Performer: Paul Coker.- Kreisler: Liebesleid, Liebesfreud: Joshua Bell.
- Decca.
- 7.
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Franz Schubert
Symphony No.5 in B flat
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Beecham.- EMI.
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Dmitry Shostakovich
String Quartet No.7
Ensemble: Atrium Quartet.- EMI CLASSICS.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
7 Bagatelles Op.33 (no.7 in A flat major)
Performer: Steven Osborne.- Beethoven: Bagatelles: Steven Osborne - piano.
- Hyperion.
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George Frideric Handel
Messiah: Why do the nations so furiously rage together?
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George Frideric Handel
Messiah: Let us break their bonds asunder
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George Frideric Handel
Messiah: He that dwelleth in heaven
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George Frideric Handel
Messiah: Thou shalt break them
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George Frideric Handel
Messiah, Pt. 2 - Hallelujah
Featured Artist: Gabrieli Consort & Players. Featured Artist: Paul McCreesh.
Musical Challenge: Mystery Person
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