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Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. Today - Schnittke's unexpected (and controversial) turn to religion.

The music of Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) is like being lost in a hall of mirrors. Staring back at you is the whole of music history - from Bach to modern pop via tangos, Soviet work songs, Gregorian chant and Viennese waltzes - refracted and distorted, and woven together to create a uniquely personal style. Thrilling, grotesque, occasionally nightmarish - Schnittke creates a world where everything has a hidden meaning. Beethoven's Fifth suddenly springs terrifyingly out of the darkness in the midst of an otherwise chaotic symphony. Or a cheap Russian pop song appears inexplicably amidst a Baroque chorale. Schnittke's world of suppressed meanings perfectly captured life under the cosh of Soviet Communism. All this week, Donald Macleod unpicks the strands of a musician often seen as the heir to Shostakovich - and perhaps the last truly great composer of the 20th century.

By the mid-1970s, Schnittke was the most sought-after composer in Russia, so famous for his wild imagination and bizarre musical surprises that critics felt that there was nothing left he could do to shock them. They were wrong. From the late 1970s Schnittke embraced a simple, direct and deeply devout musical style in a succession of devoutly Christian works - alarming his fans in the avant-garde and winning him a whole new spectrum of admirers. Donald Macleod presents music associated with this religious revival - including his Choir Concerto, one of the masterpieces of 20th century choral music.

Complete This Work Which I Began (Choir Concerto - 4th mvt)
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Peter Dijsktra, conductor

Gloria - Credo - Crucifixus (Symphony No 2 "St Florian")
Mikaeli Chamber Choir
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Leif Segerstam, conductor

O Master Of All Living (Choir Concerto - 1st mvt)
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Peter Dijsktra, conductor

When They Beheld The Ship That Suddenly Came; If You Wish To Overcome Unending Sorrow; I Entered This Life Of Tears A Naked Infant (Psalms Of Repentance)
Raul Mikson, Toomas Toohert, tenors
Estonian Philharmonic Chorus
Kaspar Putnins

Producer: Steven Rajam.