Composer of the Week Podcast Folgen

Donald Macleod explores key figures in Richard Strauss’s lifeThis week, Donald Macleod explores key figures in the life of Richard Strauss, including his librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, his “domineering and difficult, yet devoted” wife, the soprano Pauline de Ahna, his “frenemy” Gustav Mahler as well as Strauss’s uncomfortably close relationship with the High Command of the Third Reich. Donald also examines the larger-than-life characters that populated the world of the composer’s imagination. Music Featured: Der Rosenkavalier, Op 59 (Act 1, Introduction) Le bourgeois gentilhomme, suite for orchestra, Op 60 (1. Overture) Elektra, Op 58 (Scene 6, ‘Was willst du, fremder Mensch?’) Arabella, Op 79 (Act 2, love duet “Sie sehn nicht aus wie jemand, den das alles da interessiert.”) Der Rosenkavalier, Op 59 (Act 3, Finale) Guntram, Op 25 (Act 2, Overture) Morgen (Tomorrow), Op 27 No 4 Ein Heldenleben, Op 40 (No 3, Das Helden Gefährtin) Intermezzo, Op 72 (Act I, Sc 1 “Anna, Anna! Wo bleibt denn nur die dumme Gans?”) Symphonia Domestica, Op 53 (2b, Wiegenlied; 3, Adagio) Four Last Songs, Op posth (No 4, Im Abendrot) Salome, Op 54 (“Wie schön ist die Prinzessin Salome heute nacht!”) Symphony No 2 in F minor, Op 12 (2nd mvt, Scherzo) Also sprach Zarathustra, Op 30 (8, The Dance Song; 9. Song of the Night Wanderer) An Alpine Symphony, Op 64 (13, On the Summit; 14, Vision; 15, Mists Rise) Salome, Op 54 (Sc 4, “Ah! Du wolltest mich deinen Mund nicht küssen lassen, Jochanaan!”) Das Bächlein (The Little Brook), Op 88 No 1 Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman), Op 80 (Act 1, “Ha!” “Was ist?” “Mir fällt etwas ein!”) Friedenstag (Peace Day), Op 81 (extract) Metamorphosen, study for 23 solo strings, TrV 290 Le bourgeois gentilhomme, Op 60 (3. The Fencing Master) Ariadne auf Naxos, Op 60 – Prologue (conclusion) Don Juan, Op 20 Daphne, Op 82 (Transformation scene, ‘Ich komme, ich komme’) Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op 28Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Richard Strauss (1864-1949) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0020hsyAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of American composer, Lou Harrison Lou Silver Harrison was an American, multi-faceted composer who died in 2003. In his music he explored a synthesis of Asian and Western influences, just intonation, and writing for percussion ensemble. He also involved himself in the arts as a performer, dancer, instrument maker, critic, puppeteer, poet, painter and much more. Harrison’s interest in Asian cultures began when he was very young, and remained a significant influence on his work for the rest of his life He enjoyed working with Gamelan percussion and instruments from Korea or China. With his partner William Colvig, Harrison also made his own instruments including an American Gamelan, for which he composed multiple works. Harrison took lessons with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg, and also collaborated with John Cage in exploring the possibilities of percussion ensembles. His career as a composer developed in the world of dance and theatre, supplementing his income as a critic and, later, as a teacher.Music Featured: The Heart Sutra (Tial, Sariputro, ciuj Darmoj) Waltz in C (New York Waltzes) First Concerto for Flute and Percussion Suite for Symphonic Strings (excerpt) Largo Ostinato Prelude for Grandpiano John Cage & Lou Harrison: Double Music Blaze of Day (Finale: Solstice) Piano Sonata No 3 (excerpt) Symphony No 2 “Elegiac” (excerpt) Hesitation Waltz (New York Waltzes) Waltz in A (New York Waltzes) Suite No 2 The Marriage at the Eiffel Tower (Overture) The Only Jealousy of Emer (excerpt) Suite for Cello and Harp Beverly’s Troubadour Piece, for harp and percussion Suite for Symphonic Strings (Nocturne) Four Strict Songs (Here is Holiness) Concerto in slendro Pacifika Rondo (excerpt) Easter Cantata A Waltz for Evelyn Hinrichsen Music for Bill and Me Young Caesar (excerpts) Suite for violin and American Gamelan (excerpt) Double Concerto for Javanese gamelan, violin and cello (excerpt) Third Symphony (Largo ostinato) Piano Concerto with selected orchestra (excerpt) O you whom I often and silently come where you are Grand Duo (Polka) Fourth Symphony ‘Last Symphony’ (Largo) Vestiunt Silve Pipa Concerto Mass to St Anthony (Gloria)Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Lou Harrison (1917-2003) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00209q6And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson explores five windows onto Dvořák’s soulAntonín Dvořák was one of the most heartfelt tunesmiths in classical music - a man who not only brought the sound of Czech folklore to the world, but also had an indelible impact on the musical nationhood of America. As a character he was sometimes shy, sometimes melancholy, routinely homesick and deeply passionate. This week, Kate Molleson explores five windows onto Dvořák’s soul, aspects of life that were really central to his convictions and his music.Music Featured: Gypsy Songs Op 55 No 4: Songs my mother taught me (arr. for cellos by Kian Soltani) Berceuse (Two Piano Pieces, No 1) Symphony No 1 “Bells of Zlonice” (3rd mvt) Cypresses, Nos 1 and 2 Symphony No 9 “From the New World” (2nd mvt) Sonatine (1st and 2nd mvts) Humoresque in G flat major Forget-me-not Polka Silent Woods (From the Bohemian Forest) Serenade for Strings (1st and 2nd mvts) Rusalka (Act I, Song to the moon) The Wild Dove String Quartet No 12 in F major “American”, Op 96 (3rd mvt) Prelude in D major On the Holy Mountain (Poetic Tone Pictures) Stabat Mater (IV, Fac ut ardeat cor meum; V, Tui nati vulnerate) Symphony No 7 (2nd mvt) Requiem (Confutatis) Biblical Songs (Nos 1-5) ‘Possibility’ (Moravian Duets, No 1) Slavonic Dances, Op 46 No 3 ‘My Home’ Overture, Op 62 Serenade for Winds in D minor (1st and 2nd mvts) Piano Trio No 4 ‘Dumky’, Op 90 (2nd mvt) The Noonday Witch Miniature in D minor, Op 75 No 2 String Quartet No 12 in F major “American”, Op 96 (4th mvt) Symphony No 7 (4th mvt) Scottish Dances, Op 41 New World Symphony (Finale) Cello Concerto in B minor (2nd mvt)Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00202zxAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z