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Extreme Classical!

What are the most extreme pieces of classical music ever written? And is today's shock-of-the-new tomorrow's old hat?

What are the most extreme pieces of classical music ever written? And is today's shock-of-the-new tomorrow's old-hat?

Tom Service looks some of the longest, the most apocalyptic, the weirdest and the most expensive music ever written - what were the composers up to, exactly? And where do we go from here?

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30 minutes

Music Played

  • John Cage

    ASLSP for piano or organ

    Performer: Gery Verkade.
    • MODE.
  • Alexander Scriabin

    Mysterium

    Performer: Ostankino Radio Chorus. Performer: Russian State Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Igor Golovchin.
    • Triton.
  • Richard Strauss

    4 Letzte Lieder for voice and orchestra (AV.150), no.3; Beim Schlafengehen

    Performer: Jessye Norman. Performer: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Performer: Kurt Masur.
    • Philips.
  • Karlheinz Stockhausen

    Helikopter-Streichquartett

    Performer: Arditti Quartet.
    • Montaigne.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    The Art of Fugue

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Performer: Brecon Baroque.
    • Channel Classics.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony no. 40 (K.550) in G minor, 4th movement; Allegro assai

    Performer: English Baroque Soloists. Performer: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Philips.
  • Johannes Brahms

    Piano Concerto No. 1 In D Minor, Op.15

    Performer: Paul Lewis. Performer: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Daniel Harding.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 3 (Op.55) in E flat major "Eroica", 1st movement; Allegro con brio

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Performer: Claudio Abbado.
    • DG.
  • Richard Wagner

    Tristan und Isolde - Prelude

    Performer: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Teldec.
  • Anton Bruckner

    Symphony no.7 in E major (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
    • DG.
  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie fantastique, Op.14 - 5th movement: Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat

    Performer: Anima Eterna. Performer: Jos van Immerseel.
    • Zig Zag Territories.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Nabucco - Va, pensiero, sull'ali (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves)

    Performer: Santa Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra. Performer: Carlo Rizzi.
    • Teldec.
  • Arnold Schoenberg

    5 Orchestral Pieces, Op.16

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Robert Craft.
    • Koch International Classics.
  • Igor Stravinsky

    The Rite of Spring: - Sacrificial dance (The Chosen One)

    Performer: Sim贸n Bol铆var Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Gustavo Dudamel.
    • DG.
  • Dobrinka Tabakova

    Concerto for cello and orchestra - 3rd movement: Radiant

    Performer: Kristina Blaumane. Performer: Lietuvos kamerinis orkestras. Performer: Maxim Rysanov.
    • ECM.
  • Franz Liszt

    Etudes d'execution transcendante for piano, S.139 - No.5 in B flat: Feux-follets

    Performer: Nikolai Lugansky.
    • 狈补茂惫别.
  • Brian Ferneyhough

    Trittico per G.S.

    Performer: Stefano Scodanibbio.
    • Montaigne.
  • Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

    Opus Clavicembalisticum

    Performer: Fantasia. Performer: John Ogdon.
    • Altarus.
  • John Luther Adams

    Inuksuit

    Performer: Various Artists.
    • Cantaloupe.

Broadcast

  • Sun 2 Dec 2018 17:00

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