´óÏó´«Ã½

Donald Macleod and guest Yshani Perinpanayagam explore the lives and music of Joseph Canteloube and John Cage, composers who are most famous today for a single work.

Last Easter, Composer of the Week explored the lives of ten composers whose music we adore but mainly only for a lone composition. This week, Donald Macleod makes a second selection of classical ‘One Hit Wonders’ - ten more composers who have been catapulted into the mainstream thanks to the surprising popularity of just one of their pieces. He’s joined by pianist and music director, Yshani Perinpanayagam, to uncover these composers' stories and to share examples of their best music. We’ll hear the familiar hits alongside plenty of captivating music that’s less well-known.

Today, Donald and Yshani look at how one man’s crusade to preserve the traditional folk songs of his homeland led to enormous popular success. They also unpack John Cage’s most notorious work and discuss how its four-and-a-half minutes of apparent silence connects to some of his other, often very beautiful, music.

Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne: Bailèro
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon, conducted by Kent Nagano

Canteloube: Chants d’Auvergne: Chut, Chut & L’Antouèno
Natania Davrath, soprano
Unnamed orchestra, conducted by Pierre de la Roche.

John Cage: 4’33’’ (extract)

John Cage: Hymns & Variations: Hymn A (After W. Billing's "Old North")
Latvian Radio Choir, directed by Sigvards Klava

John Cage: Sonata No 5 for prepared piano
Boris Berman, prepared piano

John Cage: In a Landscape
Alexei Lubimov, piano

Canteloube: Triptyque
Véronique Gens, soprano
Orchestre National de Lille, conducted by Serge Baudo