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Tuesday - Rob Cowan with Nicholas Hytner

Discover definitive recordings of classical music with your trusted guide, Rob Cowan. His guest is highly acclaimed theatre, opera and film director Nicholas Hytner.

9²¹³¾â€¯
Rob sets the tone and mood of the day's programme with a range of music to intrigue, surprise and entertain. 

9.30 
Take part in today's musical challenge: listen to the clues and identify a mystery musical person.

10am
Rob's guest this week is the highly acclaimed theatre, opera and film director Nicholas Hytner. Until recently Nicholas was Director of the National Theatre, a role he held for nearly 12 years. He began his directing career in the opera house as an assistant at English National Opera, where he went on to lead productions of Wagner, Handel and Mozart. In 1989 he directed the first production of Miss Saigon in the West End and soon afterwards began his long association with the National Theatre. At the National, Nicholas directed the original theatre production of Alan Bennett's The History Boys before directing the much-loved film adaptation. This was by no means his first or last collaboration with Bennett; he directed both the stage and film productions of Bennett's The Madness of George III and The Lady in the Van. As well as discussing his work as a director, Nicholas shares his passion for classical music, choosing a selection of his favourite works by composers including Monteverdi, Sibelius and Britten.

10.30
Music on Location: Rome
Rob explores an opera set in Rome: Puccini's Tosca. The third act is set in the Castel Sant'Angelo, which was built during the time of Emperor Hadrian and later used as a Papal fortress.

Double Take
Rob explores the nature of performance by highlighting the differences between two interpretations of a song from Brahms's cycle Die schöne Magelone, by baritones Christian Gerhaher and Roderick Williams.

11am
Rob's Proms Artist of the Week is the Scottish pianist Steven Osborne. Osborne is publicly acknowledged as one of the great pianists of his generation; in 2013 he was named Instrumentalist of the Year by The Royal Philharmonic Society and he is the recipient of two Gramophone awards. Osborne has given concerto performances and recitals around the world and is a regular at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Proms; this year he is giving the premiere of a new piano concerto by Julian Anderson with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scottish Symphony Orchestra (´óÏó´«Ã½SSO). Osborne has a long-term relationship with the ´óÏó´«Ã½SSO and this week Rob has chosen their recordings of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, Britten's Piano Concerto in D major, Stravinsky's Concerto for piano and wind instruments, and Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain. We'll also hear Osborne's award-winning recording of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition
Steven Osborne (piano).

3 hours

Last on

Tue 25 Jul 2017 09:00

Music Played

  • Orlando Gibbons

    O clap your hands/God is gone up - anthem for 8 voices

    Choir: Oxford Camerata. Conductor: Jeremy Summerly.
    • NAXOS.
  • Amy Beach

    Romance for violin and piano, Op.23

    Performer: Paul Barritt. Performer: James Lisney.
    • BIS.
  • Johann Friedrich Fasch

    Recorder Quartet in B flat major, FWV NB1

    Performer: Pamela Thorby. Ensemble: Ensemble Marsyas.
    • Linn.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Elegy for strings - in memory of Ivan Samarin

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • BIS.
  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Chiome d'oro, bel tesoro (Golden tresses, beautiful treasure)

    Ensemble: Nadia Boulanger Vocal And Instrumental Ensemble. Conductor: Nadia Boulanger.
    • IDIS.
  • Nikolai Girshevich Kapustin

    Bagatelle Op.59`9

    Performer: Marc-André Hamelin.
    • HYPERION.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Larghetto and Fugue in D major, K.405/5

    Orchestra: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Benjamin Britten

    Young Apollo, Op.16

    Performer: Steven Osborne. Orchestra: ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ilan Volkov.
    • HYPERION.
  • Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

    Sinfonia in D major

    Orchestra: Berlin Academy for Early Music. Conductor: Stephan Mai.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Nicholas Hytner's First Choice

    • Claudio Monteverdi

      Vespro della Beata Vergine: Domine ad adiuvandum; Laetatus Sum

      Singer: Marinella Pennicchii. Singer: Ann Monoyios. Singer: Nigel Robson. Singer: Mark Tucker. Singer: Alastair Miles. Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
      • ARCHIV.
  • Nicholas Hytner's Second Choice

    • Orlando Gibbons

      The Silver Swan

      Ensemble: The Hilliard Ensemble. Director: Paul Hillier.
      • English and Italian Renaissance Madrigals.
      • Virgin.
      • 12.
  • Nicholas Hytner's Third Choice

    • Jean Sibelius

      Karelia Suite: I. Intermezzo

      Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: John Barbirolli.
      • EMI.
  • Louis Frémaux

    Barbe-Bleue: Overture

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.
  • Music on Location: Rome

    • Giacomo Puccini

      Tosca: 'E lucevan le stelle'

      Singer: Franco Corelli. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Franco Ferraris.
      • WARNER.
  • Hugo Wolf

    Der Corregidor - Orchestral Suite

    Music Arranger: Hans Gál. Orchestra: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Conductor: Horst Stein.
    • DECCA.
  • Johannes Brahms

    Ruhe, Süssliebchen, im Schatten (Die Schöne Magelone)

    Performer: Gerold Huber. Singer: Christian Gerhaher.
    • SONY.
  • Johannes Brahms

    Ruhe, Süssliebchen, im Schatten (Die Schöne Magelone)

    Performer: Roger Vignoles. Singer: Roderick Williams.
    • CHAMPS HILL.
  • Proms Artist of the Week: Steven Osborne

    • Modest Mussorgsky

      Pictures from an Exhibition

      Performer: Steven Osborne.
      • HYPERION.
  • Gioachino Rossini

    Duetto in D major for cello and double-bass

    Performer: Franco Petracchi. Performer: Alain Meunier.
    • DECCA.

Musical Challenge: Mystery Person

The mystery individual was W.F Bach - composer, organist & eldest son of J.S.

Broadcast

  • Tue 25 Jul 2017 09:00

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