Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (1934-1998)

Series

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

2018

Shostakovich's Heir?

20180730

Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and occasionally nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. Today - the composer's role as heir to Shostakovich.

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.

Donald begins the week by exploring the connections - musical, psychological and spiritual - between Alfred Schnittke and the great titan of Soviet music, Dmitri Shostakovich. Featuring the second movement of Schnittke's utterly remarkable First Symphony - a gargantuan, postmodernist fever-dream of a piece in which tangos, Bach, marching bands, Beethoven, honky-tonk pianos, electric guitars and Viennese waltzes collide in a vast particle-accelerator of musical history.

Concerto Grosso No 1 (version for flute, oboe, harpsichord, prepared piano and strings) (2nd mvt)

Sharon Bezaly, flute

Christopher Cowie, oboe

Cape Philharmonic Orchestra

Owain Arwel Hughes, conductor

Violin Concerto No 1 (2nd mvt)

Mark Lubotsky, violin

Malmo Symphony Orchestra

Eri Klas, conductor

Piano Quintet (2nd mvt - 'In Tempo Di Valse')

Erato Alakiozidou, piano

Lutoslawski Quartet

Violin Sonata No 1

Roman Mints, violin

Katya Apekisheva, piano

Symphony No 1 (2nd mvt)

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Leif Segerstam, conductor

Producer: Steven Rajam for BBC Wales.

Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.

2018

Polystylist

20180731

Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. Today - unravelling how Schnittke's blended jarringly disparate musical styles.

In today's episode, Donald unravels the term 'polystylism', which Schnittke himself coined to describe his fusing of wildly eclectic styles - from Bach to pop to hypermodernism to Tchaikovsky - in a unique, often dreamlike musical voice. But what does it all mean?

The Cloak (Gogol Suite)

USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra

Gennady Rozhdestvensky, conductor

Concerto Grosso No 3

Sarah & Deborah Nemtanu, violins

Orchestre Chambre de Paris

Sacha Goetzel, conductor

Voices Of Nature

Danish National Radio Choir

Stefan Parkman, conductor

Schnittke, arr Boguslavsky

Suite In The Old Style

Roman Mints, violin

Olga Martynolva, harpsichord

Andrei Doynikov & Dmitri Vlasik, percussion

Hymn No 3, for cello, bassoon, harp, harpsichord and tubular bells

Torleif Thed退en, cello

Christian Davidson, bassoon

Ingegerd Fredlund, harp

Entcho Raoukanov, harpsichord

Mayumi Kamata, tubular bells

Producer: Steven Rajam.

Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.

2018

A Religious Awakening

20180801

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.

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)

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.

Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.

2018

1985: Triumph And Catastrophe

20180802

Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. Today - the year 1985 brings great musical success...and personal catastrophe.

The year 1985 was perhaps the most important of Schnittke's entire life - for reasons both musically brilliant, and personally catastrophic. It saw the creation of a quintet of acknowledged masterpieces of the late 20th century, cementing Schnittke's position as perhaps the greatest Russian composer since Shostakovich. Yet it was also the year Schnittke suffered the first of a series of debilitating strokes, which would eventually kill him at the relatively young age of 63. Donald Macleod introduces music from this period, including the must-loved Viola Concerto and Fourth Concerto Grosso, which simultaneously functions as Schnittke's Fifth Symphony.

Moz-Art A La Haydn

Tero Latvala, Meri Englund, violins

Tapiola Sinfonietta

Ralf Gothoni, conductor

Viola Concerto (1st & 2nd mvts)

Yuri Bashmet, viola

USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra

Mstislav Rostropovich, conductor

Concerto Grosso No 4 / Symphony No 5 (2nd mvt)

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Doctor Faustus lamented and wept...It came to pass (Faust Cantata)

Inger Blom, mezzo

Mikael Bellini, countertenor

Louis Devos, tenor

Ulrik Cold, bass

Malmo Symphony Orchestra & Choir

James DePriest, conductor

Menuet, for violin, viola and 'cello

Gidon Kremer, violin

Mstislav Rostropovich, cello.

Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.

2018

05 LAST

Farewells

20180803

Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke. Today - Schnittke's remarkable late creativity in the midst of physical decline.

Schnittke's crippling stroke of 1985 was to be the first of several over the next decade - the last of which would claim his life at the premature age of 63. But rather than easing off, the composer seems to have regarded his mortality as a driver to create ever more music - to compose to the very bitter end, in the face of almost unimaginable physical challenges. In this final programme, Donald Macleod introduces a pair of masterpieces from his final years - his Sixth Symphony, memorably described by one critic as like 'a Mahler symphony with the flesh torn away', and a complete performance of the shattering First Piano Sonata.

Stille Nacht

Anne Akiko Myers, violin

Emmanuel Ceysson, harp

Symphony No 6 (3rd & 4th mvts)

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Tadaaki Otaka, conductor

Piano Sonata No 1

Simon Smith, piano.

Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.

Episodes

Series	Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Comments
2018	01	Shostakovich's Heir?	20180730	Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and occasionally nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. Today - the composer's role as heir to Shostakovich. 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. Donald begins the week by exploring the connections - musical, psychological and spiritual - between Alfred Schnittke and the great titan of Soviet music, Dmitri Shostakovich. Featuring the second movement of Schnittke's utterly remarkable First Symphony - a gargantuan, postmodernist fever-dream of a piece in which tangos, Bach, marching bands, Beethoven, honky-tonk pianos, electric guitars and Viennese waltzes collide in a vast particle-accelerator of musical history. Concerto Grosso No 1 (version for flute, oboe, harpsichord, prepared piano and strings) (2nd mvt) Sharon Bezaly, flute Christopher Cowie, oboe Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Owain Arwel Hughes, conductor Violin Concerto No 1 (2nd mvt) Mark Lubotsky, violin Malmo Symphony Orchestra Eri Klas, conductor Piano Quintet (2nd mvt - 'In Tempo Di Valse') Erato Alakiozidou, piano Lutoslawski Quartet Violin Sonata No 1 Roman Mints, violin Katya Apekisheva, piano Symphony No 1 (2nd mvt) Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Leif Segerstam, conductor Producer: Steven Rajam for BBC Wales. Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.
2018	02	Polystylist	20180731	Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. Today - unravelling how Schnittke's blended jarringly disparate musical styles. 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. In today's episode, Donald unravels the term 'polystylism', which Schnittke himself coined to describe his fusing of wildly eclectic styles - from Bach to pop to hypermodernism to Tchaikovsky - in a unique, often dreamlike musical voice. But what does it all mean? The Cloak (Gogol Suite) USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra Gennady Rozhdestvensky, conductor Concerto Grosso No 3 Sarah & Deborah Nemtanu, violins Orchestre Chambre de Paris Sacha Goetzel, conductor Voices Of Nature Danish National Radio Choir Stefan Parkman, conductor Schnittke, arr Boguslavsky Suite In The Old Style Roman Mints, violin Olga Martynolva, harpsichord Andrei Doynikov & Dmitri Vlasik, percussion Hymn No 3, for cello, bassoon, harp, harpsichord and tubular bells Torleif Thed退en, cello Christian Davidson, bassoon Ingegerd Fredlund, harp Entcho Raoukanov, harpsichord Mayumi Kamata, tubular bells Producer: Steven Rajam. Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.
2018	03	A Religious Awakening	20180801	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) 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. Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.
2018	04	1985: Triumph And Catastrophe	20180802	Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. Today - the year 1985 brings great musical success...and personal catastrophe. 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. The year 1985 was perhaps the most important of Schnittke's entire life - for reasons both musically brilliant, and personally catastrophic. It saw the creation of a quintet of acknowledged masterpieces of the late 20th century, cementing Schnittke's position as perhaps the greatest Russian composer since Shostakovich. Yet it was also the year Schnittke suffered the first of a series of debilitating strokes, which would eventually kill him at the relatively young age of 63. Donald Macleod introduces music from this period, including the must-loved Viola Concerto and Fourth Concerto Grosso, which simultaneously functions as Schnittke's Fifth Symphony. Moz-Art A La Haydn Tero Latvala, Meri Englund, violins Tapiola Sinfonietta Ralf Gothoni, conductor Viola Concerto (1st & 2nd mvts) Yuri Bashmet, viola USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra Mstislav Rostropovich, conductor Concerto Grosso No 4 / Symphony No 5 (2nd mvt) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, conductor Doctor Faustus lamented and wept...It came to pass (Faust Cantata) Inger Blom, mezzo Mikael Bellini, countertenor Louis Devos, tenor Ulrik Cold, bass Malmo Symphony Orchestra & Choir James DePriest, conductor Menuet, for violin, viola and 'cello Gidon Kremer, violin Mstislav Rostropovich, cello. Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.
2018	05 LAST	Farewells	20180803	Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke. Today - Schnittke's remarkable late creativity in the midst of physical decline. 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. Schnittke's crippling stroke of 1985 was to be the first of several over the next decade - the last of which would claim his life at the premature age of 63. But rather than easing off, the composer seems to have regarded his mortality as a driver to create ever more music - to compose to the very bitter end, in the face of almost unimaginable physical challenges. In this final programme, Donald Macleod introduces a pair of masterpieces from his final years - his Sixth Symphony, memorably described by one critic as like 'a Mahler symphony with the flesh torn away', and a complete performance of the shattering First Piano Sonata. Stille Nacht Anne Akiko Myers, violin Emmanuel Ceysson, harp Symphony No 6 (3rd & 4th mvts) BBC National Orchestra of Wales Tadaaki Otaka, conductor Piano Sonata No 1 Simon Smith, piano. Exploring the strange, brilliant and sometimes nightmarish world of Alfred Schnittke.