Episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 01 | Holidays In Hell, Gluck The Reformer | 20130909 | 20140616 (R3) | Donald Macleod describes himself as 'a huge fan' of the music of this week's Composer of the Week, Christoph Willibald Gluck. Gluck is probably best known today as the composer of Orfeo's lament, 'Che faro senza Euridice?', recorded by generations of singers. Gluck also has the reputation of being the man who 'reformed' opera in the second half of the 18th century, rescuing it from the ludicrous excesses of the high-flown Italian opera seria style that little by little had become a vehicle for overpaid warblers to show off their vocal agility. 'I sought to retract music', said Gluck, 'to its true function of helping poetry to be expressive and to represent the situations of the plot, without interrupting the action or cooling its impetus with useless and unwanted ornaments.' All this week, Donald Macleod explores the life and work of this extraordinary composer, the sheer quality of whose music is often overshadowed by his reputation as an innovator. In today's programme, Donald explores the works that established Gluck's revolutionary credentials: the opera Orpheus and Euridice, from which comes the aforementioned lament; and the much less well-known ballet that immediately preceded it, Don Juan, based on the same legend that inspired Mozart's Don Giovanni. Orpheus and Don Juan both go to hell, but while Orpheus cannily negotiated a return ticket, Don Juan's journey is strictly one-way. Donald Macleod explores the works that established Gluck's revolutionary credentials. |
| 2013 | 02 | Gluck's Pre-reform Operas | 20130910 | 20140617 (R3) | Donald Macleod describes himself as 'a huge fan' of the music of this week's Composer of the Week, Christoph Willibald Gluck, probably best known today as the composer of Orfeo's lament, 'Che faro senza Euridice?', recorded by generations of singers. Gluck also has the reputation of being the man who 'reformed' opera in the second half of the 18th century, rescuing it from the ludicrous excesses of the high-flown Italian opera seria style that had become a vehicle for overpaid warblers to show off their vocal agility. 'I sought to retract music', said Gluck, 'to its true function of helping poetry to be expressive and to represent the situations of the plot, without interrupting the action or cooling its impetus with useless and unwanted ornaments.' All this week, Donald Macleod explores the life and work of this extraordinary composer, the sheer quality of whose music is often overshadowed by his reputation as an innovator. Gluck may be known as one of the key reformers of operatic history, but reforms don't spring out of thin air, so in today's programme Donald explores a handful of the 30-odd stage-works Gluck turned out before he was ready to create his game-changing opera Orpheus and Euridice. Four of them - The Duped Judge, The Chinese Women, The Dance and Innocence Justified - were written for Vienna, where in 1755 Gluck secured the first of several court appointments. The fifth, Ezio, was written several years earlier for Pietro Mingotti's travelling opera troupe, an upmarket outfit who put on shows for royal weddings and other such gala events; at this point Gluck was essentially a composer of no fixed abode, though a tolerably successful one. Donald Macleod focuses on stage works Gluck wrote before he created Orpheus and Euridice. |
| 2013 | 03 | Alceste | 20130911 | 20140618 (R3) | Donald Macleod describes himself as 'a huge fan' of the music of this week's Composer of the Week, Christoph Willibald Gluck, probably best known today as the composer of Orfeo's lament, 'Che faro senza Euridice?', recorded by generations of singers. Gluck also has the reputation of being the man who 'reformed' opera in the second half of the 18th century, rescuing it from the ludicrous excesses of the high-flown Italian opera seria style that had become a vehicle for overpaid warblers to show off their vocal agility. 'I sought to retract music', said Gluck, 'to its true function of helping poetry to be expressive and to represent the situations of the plot, without interrupting the action or cooling its impetus with useless and unwanted ornaments.' All this week, Donald Macleod explores the life and work of this extraordinary composer, the sheer quality of whose music is often overshadowed by his reputation as an innovator. Today's programme focuses on Alceste, premi耀red in Vienna in 1767 then revised for the Parisian stage eight years later. Writing the opera reduced Gluck to a state of nervous exhaustion: 'it seems to me that I have a hive of bees in my head that buzz continually', he said. It's a tale of matrimonial devotion set in legendary times. King Admetus is dying. The God Apollo decrees that only if someone should freely offer their life in his place will Admetus be spared. His wife, Alcestis, does so, but when Admetus finds out, he refuses to acquiesce in her sacrifice and decides to die alongside her. Impressed by the strength of their love for each other, Apollo allows them both to live happily ever after. Gluck wrote Alceste in tribute to the Empress Maria Theresa, recently widowed, but he sensed that the opera would outlive the circumstances that produced it: 'Alceste is not a work for a single season. I declare that it will please as much two hundred years hence, for I have grounded it in nature, which does not change with every passing fashion.'. Donald Macleod focuses on Gluck's opera Alceste. |
| 2013 | 04 | Gluck Storms Paris | 20130912 | 20140619 (R3) | Donald Macleod describes himself as 'a huge fan' of the music of this week's Composer of the Week, Christoph Willibald Gluck, probably best known today as the composer of Orfeo's lament, 'Che faro senza Euridice?', recorded by generations of singers. Gluck also has the reputation of being the man who 'reformed' opera in the second half of the 18th century, rescuing it from the ludicrous excesses of the high-flown Italian opera seria style that had become a vehicle for overpaid warblers to show off their vocal agility. 'I sought to retract music', said Gluck, 'to its true function of helping poetry to be expressive and to represent the situations of the plot, without interrupting the action or cooling its impetus with useless and unwanted ornaments.' All this week, Donald Macleod explores the life and work of this extraordinary composer, the sheer quality of whose music is often overshadowed by his reputation as an innovator. In today's programme, a courtly entertainment; a close shave; and success in Paris. The courtly entertainment is Gluck's Philemon and Baucis, part of a suite of operatic one-acters commissioned to spice up the marriage celebrations of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, a grandson of Louis XV, to Maria Amalia, Archduchess of Austria and daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa in July 1769. The close shave relates to an opera Gluck wrote the following year; Paride ed Elena tells the story of the adulterous love between the Trojan prince, Paris, and Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. In his anxiety to secure a venue for the production, Gluck gambled most of his savings on an ill-starred joint venture with a conman who went by the name of Count Afflisio. Gluck was duly fleeced, and learnt a costly if not catastrophic lesson. Success in Paris came four years later with Iphigenia in Aulis, his first opera to be conceived from the get-go for a French text. This time there was no difficulty in securing a venue, as Gluck had an influential backer: Marie Antoinette. Donald Macleod focuses on Philemon and Baucis, Paride ed Elena and Iphigenia in Aulide. |
| 2013 | 05 LAST | Gluck's Last Act | 20130913 | 20140620 (R3) | Donald Macleod describes himself as 'a huge fan' of the music of this week's Composer of the Week, Christoph Willibald Gluck, probably best known today as the composer of Orfeo's lament, 'Che faro senza Euridice?', recorded by generations of singers. Gluck also has the reputation of being the man who 'reformed' opera in the second half of the 18th century, rescuing it from the ludicrous excesses of the high-flown Italian opera seria style that had become a vehicle for overpaid warblers to show off their vocal agility. 'I sought to retract music', said Gluck, 'to its true function of helping poetry to be expressive and to represent the situations of the plot, without interrupting the action or cooling its impetus with useless and unwanted ornaments.' All this week, Donald Macleod explores the life and work of this extraordinary composer, the sheer quality of whose music is often overshadowed by his reputation as an innovator. In the last of this week's programmes, Gluck bows out with two operatic hits and a miscalculation, all produced for the Parisian stage. Armida initially caused controversy by setting a libretto originally written the previous century for the sainted Lully; like Gluck, Lully was a foreigner, but he had become a French national icon, and his work was not to be tampered with. Two years further on, when the orchestra of the Paris Opera first struck up the opening bars of Iphigenia in Tauris, not with an overture, but hurtling the audience straight into the action, it was to herald the greatest triumph of Gluck's entire career in France. According to one newspaper report, 'Some of the audience were seen to weep from beginning to end'. If they were weeping at the premi耀re of Echo and Narcissus just two months later, it was for a different reason. The opera, which was to be Gluck's last, a pastoral confection a world away from the classical seriousness of Iphigenia, was an unmitigated turkey. Gluck quit the French capital in dismay and returned to Vienna, where he lived out his remaining years. Exploring Gluck's last works, including Armide, Iphigenie en Tauride and Echo et Narcisse. |
| 2024 | 01 | A Boy From Bohemia | 20240923 | Donald Macleod explores the beguiling music and colourful life of a composer who influenced almost every opera composer that followed him - from Mozart to Berlioz to Wagner. Today, he unravels Gluck's early years growing up in Bohemia. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. We begin with the composer's early years amongst the shifting boundaries of 18th century central Europe - born in what is now Bavaria, raised in Czechia, and before long a fixture in Vienna. Donald explores the parallel rise of a poet that would prove pivotal in Gluck's work - and many others' - Pietro Metastasio - and we begin our exploration of “Orpheus and Eurydice” with Gluck's first version of the opera, written for the Vienna stage in 1762. Dance of the Blessed Spirits (Orfeo ed Eurydice) Pygmalion, director Raphaël Pichon Non hai cor per un'impresa (Ipermestra, Wq 7) Daniel Behle, tenor (Danao, King of Argos) Armonia Atenea, conductor George Petrou Sperai vicino il lido (Demofoonte, Wq 3) Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor (Timante) Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm Se in campo armato (La Sofonisba, Wq 5) Sonia Prina, soprano (Siface) laBarocca, conductor Ruben Jais Nobil onda (La Sofonisba, Wq 5) Orfeo ed Euridice (1762 Vienna version): Scene 1 (opening) Fatma Said, soprano (Amore) Jakub Józef Orliński, countertenor (Orfeo) Il Giardino d'Amore Choir, Il Giardino d'Amore, conductor Stefan Plewniak M'opprime, m'affanna (La Sofonisba, Wq 5) Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod explores the effervescent music of a composer who changed opera forever An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. Donald Macleod explores the beguiling music and colourful life of a composer who influenced almost every opera composer that followed him - from Mozart to Berlioz to Wagner. Today, he unravels Gluck's early years growing up in Bohemia. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. We begin with the composer's early years amongst the shifting boundaries of 18th century central Europe - born in what is now Bavaria, raised in Czechia, and before long a fixture in Vienna. Donald explores the parallel rise of a poet that would prove pivotal in Gluck's work - and many others' - Pietro Metastasio - and we begin our exploration of “Orpheus and Eurydice” with Gluck's first version of the opera, written for the Vienna stage in 1762. Dance of the Blessed Spirits (Orfeo ed Eurydice) Pygmalion, director Raphaël Pichon Non hai cor per un'impresa (Ipermestra, Wq 7) Daniel Behle, tenor (Danao, King of Argos) Armonia Atenea, conductor George Petrou Sperai vicino il lido (Demofoonte, Wq 3) Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor (Timante) Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm Se in campo armato (La Sofonisba, Wq 5) Sonia Prina, soprano (Siface) laBarocca, conductor Ruben Jais Nobil onda (La Sofonisba, Wq 5) Orfeo ed Euridice (1762 Vienna version): Scene 1 (opening) Fatma Said, soprano (Amore) Jakub Józef Orliński, countertenor (Orfeo) Il Giardino d'Amore Choir, Il Giardino d'Amore, conductor Stefan Plewniak M'opprime, m'affanna (La Sofonisba, Wq 5) Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod explores the effervescent music of a composer who changed opera forever An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. | |
| 2024 | 02 | The Wanderer | 20240924 | Donald Macleod unravels Gluck's multifarious travels in Europe in the mid 18th century - including a trip to London and a meeting with the great George Frideric Handel. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. Gluck led a highly itinerant life in the 1740s, writing operas wherever he went and trying to curry favour with courts across Europe: from Vienna, to Milan, to Paris - to London. He chose a difficult moment to visit England - a Jacobite rebellion was raging in the North - but had a series of memorable encounters with both the royal family and the most famous composer in the land, Handel (who later snarkily commented that Gluck “knew no more about counterpoint than his cook did”). The Velvet Underground: Venus In Furs (excerpt) Qual ira intempestiva - Oggi per me non sudi; Oggi per me sudi (La Contesa de'numi, Wq 14) Daniel Behle, tenor Armonia Atenea, conductor George Petrou Trio Sonata no I in C Major (1st mvt) Musica Antiqua Köln, director Reinhard Goebel Ciascun siegua il suo stile...Maggior follia non v'e (La Semiramide riconosciuta, Wq 13) Cecilia Bartoli, soprano (Ircano) Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conductor Bernhard Forck Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. (1774 Naples version) (end of scene 1; scenes 2-3) Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor (Orfeo) Amanda Forsythe, soprano (Euridice) Emőke Baráth, soprano (Amore) I Barocchisti, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, conductor Diego Fasolis Misera, dove son - ; Ah! non son io (Ezio, Wq 15) Joyce DiDonato, soprano (Fulvia) Il Pomo d'Oro, condutor Maxim Emelyanychev Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod unravels Gluck's multifarious travels in Europe, including a trip to London An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. Donald Macleod unravels Gluck's multifarious travels in Europe in the mid 18th century - including a trip to London and a meeting with the great George Frideric Handel. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. Gluck led a highly itinerant life in the 1740s, writing operas wherever he went and trying to curry favour with courts across Europe: from Vienna, to Milan, to Paris - to London. He chose a difficult moment to visit England - a Jacobite rebellion was raging in the North - but had a series of memorable encounters with both the royal family and the most famous composer in the land, Handel (who later snarkily commented that Gluck “knew no more about counterpoint than his cook did”). The Velvet Underground: Venus In Furs (excerpt) Qual ira intempestiva - Oggi per me non sudi; Oggi per me sudi (La Contesa de'numi, Wq 14) Daniel Behle, tenor Armonia Atenea, conductor George Petrou Trio Sonata no I in C Major (1st mvt) Musica Antiqua Köln, director Reinhard Goebel Ciascun siegua il suo stile...Maggior follia non v'e (La Semiramide riconosciuta, Wq 13) Cecilia Bartoli, soprano (Ircano) Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conductor Bernhard Forck Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. (1774 Naples version) (end of scene 1; scenes 2-3) Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor (Orfeo) Amanda Forsythe, soprano (Euridice) Emőke Baráth, soprano (Amore) I Barocchisti, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, conductor Diego Fasolis Misera, dove son - ; Ah! non son io (Ezio, Wq 15) Joyce DiDonato, soprano (Fulvia) Il Pomo d'Oro, condutor Maxim Emelyanychev Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod unravels Gluck's multifarious travels in Europe, including a trip to London An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. | |
| 2024 | 03 | Viennese Master | 20240925 | Donald Macleod explores how Gluck finally became a fixture of Vienna's musical scene, and explores the Paris version of his most famous work, Orpheus and Eurydice. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. After years of criss-crossing Europe, by the late 1750s Gluck was mostly settled in Vienna, where he was a favourite of the Empress Maria Theresia. He'd also married and was enjoying a happy domestic life. Donald Macleod explores one of the sunniest periods of Gluck's career, and delves into the radically different version of Orpheus and Eurydice Gluck prepared for the tastes of the Paris stage when he took his masterpiece to the French capital in 1774. Dance of the Furies (Orphee et Eurydice: Act 2, Scene 1) Les Musiciens du Louvre, conductor Marc Minkowski Tremo fra dubbi miei (La Clemenza di Tito, Wq 16) (Act 3) Cecilia Bartoli, soprano (Vitellia) Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conductor Bernhard Forck Son lungi e non mi brami (Le Cinesi, Wq 18) Daniel Behle, tenor (Silango) Armonia Atenea, conductor George Petrou Berenice che fai (Antigono, Wq 21) Cecilia Bartoli, soprano (Berenice) Orphee et Eurydice (Act 2, Scene 2) Richard Croft, tenor (Orphée) Mireille Delunsch, soprano (Eurydice) Marion Harousseau, soprano (L'Amour) Claire Delgardo-Boge, soprano (Une ombre heureuse) Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod explores how Gluck finally became a fixture of Vienna's musical scene. An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. Donald Macleod explores how Gluck finally became a fixture of Vienna's musical scene, and explores the Paris version of his most famous work, Orpheus and Eurydice. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. After years of criss-crossing Europe, by the late 1750s Gluck was mostly settled in Vienna, where he was a favourite of the Empress Maria Theresia. He'd also married and was enjoying a happy domestic life. Donald Macleod explores one of the sunniest periods of Gluck's career, and delves into the radically different version of Orpheus and Eurydice Gluck prepared for the tastes of the Paris stage when he took his masterpiece to the French capital in 1774. Dance of the Furies (Orphee et Eurydice: Act 2, Scene 1) Les Musiciens du Louvre, conductor Marc Minkowski Tremo fra dubbi miei (La Clemenza di Tito, Wq 16) (Act 3) Cecilia Bartoli, soprano (Vitellia) Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conductor Bernhard Forck Son lungi e non mi brami (Le Cinesi, Wq 18) Daniel Behle, tenor (Silango) Armonia Atenea, conductor George Petrou Berenice che fai (Antigono, Wq 21) Cecilia Bartoli, soprano (Berenice) Orphee et Eurydice (Act 2, Scene 2) Richard Croft, tenor (Orphée) Mireille Delunsch, soprano (Eurydice) Marion Harousseau, soprano (L'Amour) Claire Delgardo-Boge, soprano (Une ombre heureuse) Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod explores how Gluck finally became a fixture of Vienna's musical scene. An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. | |
| 2024 | 04 | Opera's Radical | 20240926 | Donald Macleod looks at Gluck's revolutionary innovations in both ballet and opera - ideas which would influence composers for generations after. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. By the mid 1760s, Gluck's creative mind was ablaze with transformative new ideas about how music and drama should work together: ideas he poured into not just opera, but ballet - in collaboration with the celebrated choreographer Gasparo Angiolini. Donald Macleod takes up the tale, whilst also exploring a version of Orpheus and Eurydice prepared by one of 18th century French music's biggest names (and admirers of Gluck), Hector Berlioz. Don Juan (selection) Le Concert Des Nations, conductor Jordi Savall Divinités du Styx (Alceste, Wq 37) Dame Janet Baker, mezzo soprano (Aleceste) English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard O Del Mio Dolce Ardor; Le Belle Immagini (Paride ed Elena, Wq 39) Magdalena Kozena, mezzo soprano (Paris) Prague Philharmonia, conductor Michel Swierczewski Vous essayez en vain - Par la crainte; Adieu, conservez dans votre âme (Iphigénie en Aulide, Wq 40) Dame Janet Baker, mezzo soprano (Iphigénie) Orphee et Eurydice: Act 3 (opening) (1859 Berlioz edition) Jennifer Larmore, mezzo-soprano (Orphee) Dawn Upshaw, soprano (Eurydice) Chorus of San Francisco Opera, Orchestra of San Francisco Opera, conductor Donald Runnicles Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod looks at Gluck's revolutionary innovations in both ballet and opera. An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. Donald Macleod looks at Gluck's revolutionary innovations in both ballet and opera - ideas which would influence composers for generations after. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. By the mid 1760s, Gluck's creative mind was ablaze with transformative new ideas about how music and drama should work together: ideas he poured into not just opera, but ballet - in collaboration with the celebrated choreographer Gasparo Angiolini. Donald Macleod takes up the tale, whilst also exploring a version of Orpheus and Eurydice prepared by one of 18th century French music's biggest names (and admirers of Gluck), Hector Berlioz. Don Juan (selection) Le Concert Des Nations, conductor Jordi Savall Divinités du Styx (Alceste, Wq 37) Dame Janet Baker, mezzo soprano (Aleceste) English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard O Del Mio Dolce Ardor; Le Belle Immagini (Paride ed Elena, Wq 39) Magdalena Kozena, mezzo soprano (Paris) Prague Philharmonia, conductor Michel Swierczewski Vous essayez en vain - Par la crainte; Adieu, conservez dans votre âme (Iphigénie en Aulide, Wq 40) Dame Janet Baker, mezzo soprano (Iphigénie) Orphee et Eurydice: Act 3 (opening) (1859 Berlioz edition) Jennifer Larmore, mezzo-soprano (Orphee) Dawn Upshaw, soprano (Eurydice) Chorus of San Francisco Opera, Orchestra of San Francisco Opera, conductor Donald Runnicles Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod looks at Gluck's revolutionary innovations in both ballet and opera. An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. | |
| 2024 | 05 | The Baton Passes | 20240927 | Donald Macleod explores Gluck's final years - a time of Viennese culture wars, and friendships with Mozart and Salieri. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. By the 1770s, a new generation of composers were taking Vienna by storm with their own musical innovations - themselves influenced hugely by Gluck's music. Donald Macleod ends the week by exploring Gluck's encounters with the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his rival Antonio Salieri, and tells the strange tale of an 18th century culture war between supporters of Gluck's operas and those of his supposed sworn enemy, Niccolo Piccini. Gluck (arr Schubert) Rien de la nature (Echo et Narcisse) Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano) Armide (Act 5 opening) Mireille Delunsch, soprano (Armide) Charles Workman, tenor (Renaud) Les Musiciens du Louvre, Chorus Of Les Musiciens Du Louvre, conductor Marc Minkowski Iphigenie en Tauride, Wq 46 (excerpts) Susan Graham, soprano (Iphigenie) Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket De Profundis Festivalchor Musica Franconia & La Banda, conductor Wolfgang Riedelbauch Orphee et Eurydice (1774 Paris edition): Act 3 (finale) Juan Diego Flórez, tenor (Orphée) Alessandra Marianelli, mezzo-soprano (Amour) Ainhoa Garmendia, soprano (Eurydice) Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Coro Sinfonico de Madrid, conductor Jesús López Cobos Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod explores Gluck's final years and friendships with Mozart and Salieri. An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. Donald Macleod explores Gluck's final years - a time of Viennese culture wars, and friendships with Mozart and Salieri. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he's known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck's dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions. By the 1770s, a new generation of composers were taking Vienna by storm with their own musical innovations - themselves influenced hugely by Gluck's music. Donald Macleod ends the week by exploring Gluck's encounters with the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his rival Antonio Salieri, and tells the strange tale of an 18th century culture war between supporters of Gluck's operas and those of his supposed sworn enemy, Niccolo Piccini. Gluck (arr Schubert) Rien de la nature (Echo et Narcisse) Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano) Armide (Act 5 opening) Mireille Delunsch, soprano (Armide) Charles Workman, tenor (Renaud) Les Musiciens du Louvre, Chorus Of Les Musiciens Du Louvre, conductor Marc Minkowski Iphigenie en Tauride, Wq 46 (excerpts) Susan Graham, soprano (Iphigenie) Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket De Profundis Festivalchor Musica Franconia & La Banda, conductor Wolfgang Riedelbauch Orphee et Eurydice (1774 Paris edition): Act 3 (finale) Juan Diego Flórez, tenor (Orphée) Alessandra Marianelli, mezzo-soprano (Amour) Ainhoa Garmendia, soprano (Eurydice) Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Coro Sinfonico de Madrid, conductor Jesús López Cobos Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West Donald Macleod explores Gluck's final years and friendships with Mozart and Salieri. An informative guide to composers' lives and their music. |