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Discovering Music

First broadcast from 20040110 to 20090628.

  • I'm using the composer and piece names as they're listed, so they may not be how you'd usually expect them.
 

Radio 3  Radio 3

241 episodes

 
EpisodeTitleFirst
Broadcast		RepeatedDescription
01 OF 2What Is Fugue?20040501 Charles Hazlewood poses the question 'what is fugue?' in the first of two programmes exploring this mysterious art. Charles and the BBC Concert Orchestra examine fugues by three composers who were inspired by the genius of fugue himself, JS Bach. Mozart, Elgar and Britten all used the technique to create their own masterpieces, years after Bach's death, and today's programme culminates in a performance of Britten's Prelude and Fugue for String Orchestra.
01 OF 3...and All That Jazz20040410 Charles Hazlewood begins a three part exploration of the impact made by jazz and dance music in European music during the 1920s and '30s. Today he is joined by soprano Tara Harrison, tenor Alan Oke and the BBC Concert Orchestra for an audience workshop on the little known but highly personal music Kurt Weill composed for Georg Kaiser's 1933 anti-Third Reich play with music Der Silbersee (The Silver Lake).
02Melody20040110 Today, Leonard and the BBC Philharmonic explore melody. They rewrite a Tchaikovsky melody to prove that composers really do know best, Leonard outlines scale systems used by Debussy in Voiles, and they end the programme by working out how Brahms used one of his greatest melodies in the last movement of his Symphony no 1.
03Harmony20040117 Today, a look at harmony, and those luscious chords that send ripples up the spine. Leonard and the BBC Philharmonic examine some of Beethoven's structures in the Eroica Symphony, Leonard does his own 'Guess the Tune' mystery harmonisation of a popular ballad, and the programme ends with a close look at a work more remembered for its orchestration than for remarkable harmonies - Respighi's Pines of Rome.
04 LASTTone Colour20040124 The last of four programmes in which conductor Leonard Slatkin explores ways of listening with fresh ears to the basic elements of music. Composer Aaron Copland wrote that "timbre in music is analogous to colour in painting". How do composers use tone colour? How would the opening of Beethoven's Fifth sound if he had written it for brass? Leonard and the BBC Philharmonic try out alternative orchestrations to various works, and end with a complete performance of that masterpiece of tone-colour, Rimsky-Korsakov's Cappriccio Espagnol.
 Britten's Sinfonia Da Requiem20040131 The Sinfonia da Requiem (1940) by Benjamin Britten was the outcome of a commission from the Japanese Government, but was rejected by them on account of its CHRISTIAN subject matter. The music is both highly dramatic and personal, being a tribute to the memory of the composer's parents. In this audience workshop session, Charles Hazlewood explores the sources of Britten's inspiration, both personal and musical, and conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a complete performance of what is one of the most personal and controversial British symphonies of the last century.
 Dvorak Overtures20040207 Dvorak originally conceived his three overtures, In Nature's Realm, Carnival and Othello as a philosophical three movement romantic tone poem depicting Nature, Life and Love. Stephen Johnson explores some of the links between the three pieces and the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Matthew Rowe offer a rare opportunity to hear them performed as a sequence.
 Appalachian Spring20040221 The theme of Aaron Copland's 1944 ballet Appalachian Spring is the pioneer spirit of a young couple about to set out on married life in early nineteenth century Pennsylvania. The spring celebration is set in their brand new farmhouse. Copland's music is often described as being among his most American sounding works, not least for the inclusion of the Shaker hymn 'Simple gifts' at its climax. In this audience workshop Charles Hazlewood and members of his chamber orchestra, Excellent Device, search for the connections between the theme and the character of the music.
  20040228 In today's audience workshop, Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra reveal the musical and emotional depths behind two very different birthday serenades. Wagner composed his Siegfried Idyll as a surprise greeting for his wife Cosima which she heard wafting to her room from the stairs on her birthday. He based the work on themes from his latest opera. The young Peter Warlock's boyhood hero was the composer Frederick Delius, whose 60th birthday he marked with a short Serenade for strings, composed in pastiche style, but with his own personal twist.
 Chinese Myths20040306 Stephen Johnson presents a special programme exploring aspects of Chinese music and discusses the themes and ideas behind Chen Yi's Chinese Myths Cantata, which fuses Eastern and Western musical traditions. You can hear a performance of the complete cantata in Thursday's Performance on 3.
 Ragas From Dawn To Dusk20040313 In today's audience workshop, Nishat Khan, one of the world's foremost virtuosos of the sitar, demonstrates how INDIAn classical music works. He explores the rich centuries old heritage of the raga. He reveals how his own family tradition is rooted in the vocal music of INDIA; and he shows how, in this oral tradition, he constructs a musical performance, through improvisation, with his colleagues on tabla (drums) and tampura (drone).
  20040320 In the first of three programmes focusing on Mozart and the classical style, conductor Charles Hazlewood, his period instrument orchestra Harmonieband and pianist Ronald Brautigam perform one of the composer's greatest piano concertos - the D minor Concerto , K466. In this audience workshop, Charles Hazlewood reveals the richness of the invention and the intensity of the emotional thrust of a work that 'almost like no other the child within the mature young man'.
  20040327 Mozart composed what were to be his last three symphonies in just ten weeks during the summer of 1788. Charles Hazlewood and his period instrument orchestra Harmonieband begin this workshop session with the thought that these three final masterpieces form a single span of inspiration, from the imposing slow opening to Symphony No 39 in E flat introduction to the resplendent climax at the end of the Jupiter Symphony, No 41. Today's programme focuses on the Symphony No 39 in E flat.
  20040403 Mozart's Symphony No 40 in G minor was the second of the triptych of symphonies which he completed in the summer of 1788. In today's workshop session, Charles Hazlewood and his period instrument orchestra The Mozart Collective explore the thematic and harmonic intricacies of this the most personal of Mozart's great symphonies.
 And All That Jazz20040417 Charles Hazlewood continues his exploration of the impact made by jazz and dance music in European music during the 1920s and '30s. In today's audience workshop, the focus is on two of the most characteristic examples from FRANCE, Darius Milhaud's ballet La Creaton du Monde and Jacques Ibert's Divertissement, in which he is joined by members of the BBC Concert Orchestra.
 And All That Jazz - Last20040424 Charles Hazlewood concludes his exploration of the impact made by jazz and dance music in European music of the 1920s and 30s, with a profile of the ENGLISH composer Constant Lambert. In today's audience workshop, Charles is joined by pianist David Owen Norris and the BBC Concert Orchestra, for an exploration of two of Lambert's youthful piano works, the Elegiac Blues and the extraordinarily precocious Piano Concerto (No. 1), which he composed as an eighteen year old student. The programme also includes Lambert's arrangement of his friend William Walton's overture Portsmouth Point.
  20040508 Stephen Johnson leads a workshop on the Preludes and Fugues of Bach and Shostakovich, recorded in MANCHESTER last month as part of the Royal Northern College of Music's mini-festival exploring Bach and counterpoint. Stephen is joined by Gary Cooper (harpsichord), who plays extracts from the second book of Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues, and by pianist Alexander Melnikov, who performs four of the set of 24 Preludes and Fugues which Shostakovich composed in homage to Bach.
  20040515 Mahler's youthful song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) is in the spotlight in this workshop session. Composed in the 1880s with piano accompaniment and to his own poems, Mahler seems not to have made the final orchestral version until 1896. Charles Hazlewood is joined by baritone Roderick Williams and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to explore the way the songs evolved and the connection between them and the First Symphony.
 Impressionism20040522 When we think of 'Impressionism' in music we think of late 19th century FRANCE, Ravel and Debussy, but as Stephen Johnson explores in this programme, the origins of impressionism are many.
The programme includes examples performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Kenneth Woods, including a complete performance of Debussy's L'Apres Midi d'un Faune.
 La Mer20040529 Debussy's La Mer - 'The Sea' - is a straight forward title and description of the piece, but he also called it 'Trois esquises symphoniques' - Three Symphonic Sketches. What did Debussy mean by that and how much does it tell us about the kind of music that Debussy was writing? Stephen Johnson probes into the depths of La Mer assisted by members of the BBC NOW conducted by Kenneth Woods.
  20040605 Beethoven's Piano and Cello Sonata in C major, Op 102 No 1, is the focus of today's workshop session, recorded last month at the Royal Northern College of Music during the MANCHESTER International Cello Festival.
Stephen Johnson is joined by cellist Frans Helmerson and pianist Peter Frankl in this exploration of one of the most compact and original of Beethoven's late works.
  20040612 Stephen Johnson considers the 'tragic' nature of Schubert's Fourth Symphony - what did the composer mean by this title and what does it tell us about Schubert?
Musical illustrations and a complete performance of the symphony are provided by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Douglas Boyd.
  20040619 Schoenberg's early masterpiece for strings Verklärte Nacht Op 4, Transfigured Night, is the subject of today's audience workshop, which was recorded last month in the BRISTOL Old Vic Theatre.
Charles Hazlewood is joined by his own chamber orchestra, Excellent Device, and together they reveal how the composer used Richard Dehmel's expressionist poem as the template for one of the musical icons of German late romanticism.
 Vaughan-williams: Mass In G Minor20040626 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Singers for a look at one of the great glories of the ENGLISH choral repertory - Vaughan-Williams' Mass in G minor - in which the composer pays homage to the traditions of Tudor church music while remaining distinctively twentieth century.
 The Firebird 20040703In this audience workshop, recorded last year in the Ulster Hall, Belfast, Charles and the Ulster Orchestra explore the element of story telling which lies behind the colourful score which Stravinsky composed in 1910. The programme includes a performance of the complete suite which the composer assembled in 1945.
 Fairy Tales20040710 The literature of music contains some vivid examples of story telling in music. Charles is joined by an audience of school students for a workshop, recorded last year in the Ulster Hall Belfast, in which he tells the musical stories behind some familiar and less well known fairy tales, including items from Carl Nielsen's incidental music for Aladdin, Ravel's ballet Mother Goose and Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel. The music is performed by the Ulster Orchestra and the Choir of Methodist College.
 Words And Music20040911 To begin a new season of programmes, Charles Hazlewood is joined by mezzo soprano Pamela Helen Stephen, tenor James Gilchrist and the BBC Concert Orchestra for a workshop session exploring the many different ways composer over the past three hundred years have approached the setting of words in opera arias and in song.
Purcell: See, see the many coloured fields ("The Fairy Queen")
Handel: Svegliatevi ne core ("Julius Caesar")
Mozart: Dies bildnis ("The Magic Flute")
Berlioz: Spectre de la rose ("Nuits d'ete")
Britten: Midnight's Bell ("Nocturne")
Finzi: It was a lover and his lass.
 The Four Last Songs20040918 In the 1940's, Richard Strauss entered what has become known as his "INDIAn Summer", writing a series of serene, nostalgic masterpieces. The Four Last Songs were his farewell to composition. In this studio edition, Charles Hazelwood reveals something of their autumnal character, contrasting them with two songs, also composed for Strauss's favourite soprano voice, from much earlier in his career.
Rebecca Evans (soprano)
BBC Philharmonic
Jason Lai (conductor)
Strauss:Morgen; Zueignung; Four Last Songs.
 Beethoven's Symphony No 420040925 It's often been said that the symphonies of Beethoven that really matter are the odd numbered ones, and that the even numbered ones, particularly numbers 2 and 4 are lighter and somehow less challenging.
In this studio edition, Stephen Johnson searches for those qualities of darkness and light, and those innovative touches of orchestration that make Beethoven's Fourth every bit as absorbing to listen to and study as the mighty Eroica and the revolutionary Fifth.
The BBC Philharmonic is conducted by Gianandrea Noseda and Jason Lai 
 The Concerto Grosso And Beyond20041002 In today's audience workshop, Charles Hazlewood and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales explore some of the ways in which composers have combined groups of soloists with the full orchestra.
Charles begins with the baroque master Archangelo Corelli and his Concerto Grosso in F major, Op 6 No 2, continues with the first movement of Mozart's effervescent Sinfonia Concertante for wind soloists and orchestra, K297b, and ends with the witty second movement from Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.
 Bartok's Dance Suite20041009 In this audience workshop from GLASGOW, Charles Hazlewood reveals how Bartok drew on folk traditions ranging from his native Hungary to Romania and North Africa in shaping the musical material of this colourful orchestral masterpiece. The extracts and a complete performance of the Dance Suite are performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
 Gospel Roots!20041016 In this audience workshop, recorded last week, Stephen Johnson is joined by Ken Burton and the LONDON Adventist Chorale to reveal the roots of gospel choral singing. Taking a number of contemporary arrangements and compositions as their starting point, they consider the function of the gospel singing in CHRISTIAN worship and examine how the gospel style evolved through influences and traditions from Africa, from European hymnology, from the spiritual, from jazz and from improvisation.
  20041023 The jazz pianist and composer Julian Joseph looks at the role of the piano in the story of jazz. Following a whistle-stop history of "jazz-piano", Joseph focuses his attention on three major artists - Earl Hines, Duke Ellington and Herbie Hancock, each of whom has had a major influence on Joseph's own music. He then deconstructs their music at the piano offering listeners a fascinating insight into how jazz works; what jazz-piano is; and what some of the musical subtleties are that audiences should listen for - while at the same time evaluating the distinct contribution that each of his three chosen legendary artists has made in the development of piano jazz. The programme ends with Joseph's own "summary": one of his own compositions performed especially for the programme by the Julian Joseph Quartet.
  20041106 Stephen Johnson leads a workshop on the Preludes and Fugues of Bach and Shostakovich, recorded in MANCHESTER earlier this year as part of the Royal Northern College of Music's mini-festival exploring Bach and counterpoint. Stephen is joined by Gary Cooper (harpsichord), who plays extracts from the second book of Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues, and by pianist Alexander Melnikov, who performs four of the set of 24 Preludes and Fugues which Shostakovich composed in homage to Bach.
 Prokofiev's Romeo And Juliet20041113 In his famous ballet music, Prokofiev provides the tragic young lovers with some of his most lyrical and colourful music. In this studio edition, Charles Hazlewood charts the doom laden love of Romeo and Juliet as it is revealed in the evolution of the musical material assembled by Prokofiev in five movements from the second of the three orchestral suites. The performance is given by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Jason Lai 
 Elgar And The Orchestra20041120 Three great British composers of the 20th century died in 1934 - Elgar, Delius and Holst. Over the next three weeks the orchestral music of each of them is put under the microscope. Today conductor Mark Elder and the Halle Orchestra explore the unique sound world of Elgar's orchestra focussing on the extrovert concert overture inspired by an Italian holiday, "In the South".
 Delius And The Orchestra20041127 Frederick Delius was a truly international composer - born in Bradford of German parents, lived for much of his life in rural FRANCE and was greatly inspired painters and landscapes. His orchestral style is also a unique amalgam of sensuous imagery and intuition. Today conductor Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra examine the way Delius's orchestral music works, focusing on three contrasting pieces, "On hearing the first cuckoo in spring", "The walk to the Paradise Garden" and Dance Rhapsody No 2.
 Holst And The Orchestra20041204 Gustav Holst is thought of as a quintessentially ENGLISH composer of the 20th Century. But his ancestry was German and he was as interested in ancient Hindu writings, astrology and mysticism as he was in ENGLISH folk song and literature. Today Stephen Johnson focuses on three of Holst's orchestral landscapes - the Fugal Overture, the Suite "Beni Mora" and his masterpiece "Egdon Heath". The BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Vernon Handley.
 Haydn's Opus 33 Quartets2004121120050521The six string quartets that Joseph Haydn composed around 1781 - his Opus 31 - contain some of his most inspired and innovative music. Stephen Johnson joins the members of the Wihan Quartet in front of an audience at the Jacqueline du Pre Hall in OXFORD to reveal and to revel in the delights of Haydn's musical wit and invention.
 Beethoven String Quartet - "serioso", Op 9520041218 Stephen Johnson joins the members of the Endellion Quartet before an audience at the Djanogly Concert Hall in Nottingham for an exploration of the ideas behind Beethoven's "Serious" Quartet. Strange title - is it really more serious than any of the others?
 The Confession Of Isobel Gowdie20050108 With Stephen Johnson.
In 1662 Isobel Gowdie, from Nairn in Scotland, was strangled at the stake and burned in pitch after having confessed to being a witch and consorting with the devil. Composer James MacMillan was drawn by the dramatic potential of this horrific event to compose what he has described as a "complicated act of contrition - the requiem that Isobel Gowdie never had". James MacMillan joins Stephen Johnson to reveal how the work was composed and the ways in which he has tried to capture the soul of Scotland in music. The composer also conducts the BBC Philharmonic in extracts and a complete performance of the work.
  20050122 Charles Hazlewood focuses on one the great British works for string orchestra of the last century, Tippett's Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli.
Composed in 1953 to celebrate the tercentenary of Corelli's birth, this richly textured work explores, in Corelli's words, "the brilliance of the violin".
Tippett himself described Corelli's adagio as "dark and passionate". In this workshop session, we hear this journey from "the dark to the light", as Charles and his own orchestra, Excellent Device, reveal the extent to which Tippett views the string music of the baroque through distinctly twentieth century eyes.
  20050129 Charles joins the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for a workshop on Estonian composer Arvo Part, whose work has a profoundly spiritual quality.
 Figures In The Garden20050205 Charles Hazlewood joins wind players from the National Orchestra of Wales to explore Jonathan Dove's Figures in the Garden, a serenade for Wind Octet inspired by Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
 Beethoven's Piano And Cello Sonata In C Major, Op 102 No 120050212 , is the focus of today's workshop session, recorded last year at the Royal Northern College of Music during the MANCHESTER International Cello Festival. Stephen Johnson is joined by cellist Frans Helmerson and pianist Peter Frankl in this exploration of one of the most compact and original of Beethoven's late works.
 Schubert's Symphony No 52005021920061104In this workshop session, recorded in Cardiff, Charles Hazlewood and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales explore the ways in which the 19 year old Schubert learned examples from the recent past, especially Mozart's Symphony No 40, to help him fashion this, his most engaging early symphony.
 John Dowland's Lachrymae20050226 Andrew Manze takes a close look at the music and ideas behind the seven pavans from John Dowland's Lachrymae or Seven Teares, published in 1605 for lute and viol consort. The profoundly intimate and expressive music has been described as the renaissance equivalent to Beethoven's late quartets and is performed by the viol group Concordia.
 Chopin's Piano Preludes Opus 2820050305 Stephen Johnson and the Radio 3 New Generation artist Llyr Williams appear before an audience in the Turner Simms Concert Hall in Southampton for an exploration of Chopin's celebrated cycle of Opus 28 Preludes for the piano.
  20050312 With Stephen Johnson.
Bruckner Motets
Anton Bruckner was a devout CHRISTIAN as well as a great composer. He dedicated his own skills to the service of God and the Church. His masses and motets occupy as important a place in his career as the symphonies he composed later in life, as Bruckner authority Stephen Johnson reveals in this workshop session.
Locus iste
Ave Maria (1861)
Vexilla regis
Os justi
Christus factus est (1884)
BBC Singers
Bob Chilcott (conductor).
 Words And Music20050319 Charles Hazlewood is joined by mezzo soprano Pamela Helen Stephen, tenor James Gilchrist, and the BBC Concert Orchestra for a workshop session exploring the many different ways composers over the past 300 years have approached the setting of words in opera arias and in song.
Purcell: See, See the Many Coloured Fields, The Fairy Queen
Handel: Svegliatevi ne core, Julius Caesar
Mozart: Dies Bildnis, The Magic Flute
Berlioz: Spectre de la rose, Nuits d'été
Britten: Midnight's Bell, Nocturne
Finzi: It Was a Lover and His Lass.
  20050326 In this workshop session recorded in the Turner Sims Concert Hall, University of Southampton, pianist David Owen Norris uses a recently restored piano (originally built in 1887) to delve into the musical and symbolic detail in the collection of piano pieces composed by Brahms in 1892, Op 118.
 Schumann Symphony In Dm (1841)20050402 Charles Hazlewood sheds new light on Robert Schumann's Symphony No 4 by exploring the original version of the work, composed in 1841.
In the process, Charles questions the often quoted statement that Schumann could not orchestrate and explores the innovative way in which the composer shaped the work into a single span of invention. The performances are provided by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Douglas Boyd.
  20050409 Charles Hazlewood and his ensemble Excellent Device explore the musical detail behind Richard Strauss's Metamorphosen, a very personal work for 23 solo strings.
 Michael Tippett's Concerto For Double String Orchestra20050416 Tadaaki Otaka and the BBC Symphony Orchestra join Stephen Johnson to examine one of Tippett's most exuberant works.
  20050423 In the late 1920s and early 30s, towards the end of his life, Edward Elgar assembled a number of pages of short sketches and fragments for a Piano Concerto.
Over the past few years, composer Robert Walker has worked on a realisation of those fragments of Elgar, expanding them into a 36-minute work for David Owen Norris to perform. Robert Walker and David Owen Norris examine the process of composing a romantic piano concerto out of the characteristic elements that Elgar left to posterity.
The BBC Concert Orchestra is conducted by David Lloyd Jones.
 Serenades And Symphonies20050430 Charles Hazlewood explores the very different ways in which Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky approached writing for the wind ensemble. He compares the youthful and the mature Strauss through the Serenade and Sonatina No 1, and examines how Stravinsky marshalled his larger forces in the iconic Symphonies of Wind Instruments.
Strauss: Serenade, 1881 and Romance and Minuet, 1943
Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments, 1926
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Douglas Boyd (conductor).
 Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony20050507 Charles Hazlewood delves into the detail of one of the landmarks of European music in the early years of the 20th Century, when Schoenberg was striving to break free from the conventions of traditional tonality. Written for 15 solo instruments the symphony is rich in thematic detail, which took the composer much time and effort to get right. Charles Hazlewood explores Schoenberg's creative journey in a workshop session with his own chamber orchestra Excellent Device.
 The Golden Spinning Wheel20050514 Stephen Johnson joins the members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Neil Thomson for a look at the workings and inspiration behind Antonin Dvorak's fairy-tale inspired tone poem, The Golden Spinning Wheel.
 Bernstein Season - Serenade After Plato's Symposium (1954)20050528 Leonard Bernstein's five movement concerto for violin, strings and percussion is one of his most personal compositions. It was inspired by Plato's Symposium, a discourse on love in all its aspects, and was presented in the form of a series of statements by celebrated guests at a banquet.
In this workshop session Charles Hazlewood explores the relationship between Bernstein's music and the source of his inspiration.
Antje Weithaas (violin)
BBC Concert Orchestra
Charles Hazlewood (conductor).
  20050604 Beethoven's Missa Solemnis
As a prelude to The Beethoven Experience, Charles Hazlewood presents a workshop on the three movements of Beethoven's great choral work, which he grouped together for a concert performance on 1824 - Kyrie, Gloria and Agnus Dei.
Beethoven considered the Missa Solemnis to be his greatest work. A complete performance conducted by Leonard Bernstein can be heard in Performance on 3 next Wednesday, 8th June.
Beethoven: Kyrie; Gloria; Agnus Dei, from Missa Solemnis in D, Op 123
Sarah Fox (soprano)
Sara Fulgoni (mezzo soprano)
Mark Wilde (tenor)
Matthew Hargreaves (baritone)
Tallis Chamber Choir
Harmonieband
Charles Hazlewood (conductor).
 Symphony No 2 In D20050611 In today's workshop session, Charles Hazlewood focuses on perhaps the least heralded of the nine Beethoven symphonies, delving into the detail of this essentially classical work, to reveal its unpredictability, its quixotic character, its serious moments and its many playful passages of humour. Charles is joined by his period instrument orchestra Harmonieband.
 Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 In G20050618 In the last of three Beethoven workshops, Charles Hazlewood and his period instrument orchestra Harmonieband are joined by the Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam to explore the character of this great piano concerto, revealing the extent to which Beethoven was extending the boundaries of the classical concerto form into new and unexpected directions.
 Aldeburgh Festival - Britten's Nocturne20050625 This exploration of the music and imagery of Benjamin Britten's evocative cycle of night poems for tenor, seven solo instruments and strings was recorded earlier this month in Orford PARISh Church. Premiered at the LEEDS Festival in 1958, the work was first heard in Orford during the 1959 Festival. During the workshop Charles Hazlewood, his chamber orchestra and tenor Mark Tucker tease out the detail of the work and also give a complete performance.
Mark Tucker (tenor)
Excellent Device
Charles Hazlewood (conductor).
  20050702 Stephen Johnson joins the members of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Austin and the traditional folk singer Martin Carthy for a look at the imaginative ways in which Percy Grainger and Ralph Vaughan-Williams have used folk song material in their compositions. The programme includes a complete performance of Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus by Vaughan-Williams.
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Martin Carthy (folk singer)
Christopher Austin (conductor).
 Mozart's Last Piano Concerto20050709 In January 1791, Mozart completed what was to be his last piano concerto, K 595 in B flat. In this workshop session, Charles Hazlewood and pianist Ronald Brautigam explore the extent to which Mozart was expanding the boundaries of the classical concerto.
Ronald Brautigam (piano)
BBC Philharmonic
Charles Hazlewood (conductor).
  20050716 In a workshop recorded at the Cheltenham Festival, conductor and presenter Charles Hazlewood, his chamber orchestra Excellent Device and pianist Rolf Hind delve into the vivid musical detail of the piano concerto composed by Russian Alfred Schnittke in 1979.
  20050723 Stephen Johnson joins the pianist Ashley Wass alongside piano students from the Royal Northern College of Music and the Chethams School in Manchester for a look at Beethoven's last published work for solo piano - the Six Bagatelles, Opus 126.
 And All That Jazz - 120050806 Charles Hazlewood begins a three part exploration of the impact made by jazz and dance music in European music during the 1920s and 30s. He is joined by soprano Tara Harrison, tenor Alan Oke and the BBC Concert Orchestra for an audience workshop on the little known but highly personal music Kurt Weill composed for Georg Kaiser's 1933 anti-Third Reich play with music Der Silbersee, (The Silver Lake).
 And All That Jazz - 220050813 Charles Hazlewood continues his exploration of the impact made by jazz and dance music in European music during the 1920s and 30s. In today's audience workshop, the focus is on two of the most characteristic examples from France, Darius Milhaud's ballet La Creation du Monde and Jacques Ibert's Divertissement, in which he is joined by members of the BBC Concert Orchestra.
 And All That Jazz - 320050820 Charles Hazlewood concludes his exploration of the impact made by jazz and dance music in European music of the 1920s and 30s, with a profile of the English composer Constant Lambert, born in 1905.
In the audience workshop, Charles is joined by pianist David Owen Norris and the BBC Concert Orchestra, for an exploration of two of Lambert's youthful piano works, the Elegiac Blues and the extraordinarily precocious Piano Concerto No 1, which he composed as an 18-year-old student. The programme also includes Lambert's arrangement of his friend William Walton's overture, Portsmouth Point.
 Brahms: Variations On A Theme Of Haydn (the St Anthony Choral)2005082720061202Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Grant Llewellyn for a look at Brahms' pioneering set of orchestral variations. Just as Mozart and Beethoven before him had used variation form to demonstrate their skills as performers, so Brahms used the form to show off his skills as a composer.
  20050903 Charles Hazlewood is joined by mezzo-soprano Jane Irwin and the BBC Concert Orchestra for a workshop session and performance on the five songs that Wagner composed to poems by Mathilde Wesendonck.
Mathilde was Wagner's muse; Wagner was her creative mentor. The intensity of their collaboration is enshrined in these five love songs.
 Listening To Webern20050910 As we approach the 60th anniversary of Webern's death, Stephen Johnson takes a close look at the music of this great Austrian figure who still provokes bewilderment in certain quarters. What is there to hear in Webern?
 Elgar And The Orchestra20050917 Three great British composers of the 20th century died in 1934 - Elgar, Delius and Holst. In this programme, conductor Mark Elder and the Halle Orchestra explore the unique sound world of Elgar's orchestra focussing on the extrovert concert overture inspired by an Italian holiday, 'In the South'.
  20050924 Charles Hazlewood joins the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for a workshop exploring the music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, whose music has a profoundly spiritual quality. Much of his work is also underpinned by rigorous mathematical principles and Charles and the orchestra explore these and other techniques in three works: Collage on Bach, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten and Silouan's Song.
 Arvo Part At 7020051001 Stephen Johnson leads a workshop on Part's distinctive approach to the writing of sacred choral music. He is joined by the distinguished choral conductor Paul Hillier and by Estonia's leading professional choir, which has made performing the music of their most famous national composer something of a speciality.
Magnificat
Which was the Son of...
Kanon 3 (Kanon Pokajanen)
Nunc Dimittis
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Paul Hillier (musical director).
 Kind Of Blue20051008 Miles Davis' 1959 album is one of the most significant achievements in the history of post war jazz. Geoffrey Smith dissects the different numbers on the album.
 White Man Sleeps20051015 The composer Kevin Volans achieved early fame with his evocative and unusually scored chamber piece White Man Sleeps, inspired by the traditional music of his native Southern Africa. Stephen Johnson meets the composer with an ensemble of musicians for a special workshop exploring some of the work's ideas.
 Xhosa Songs Of South Africa - 120051022 Charles Hazlewood leads a workshop on the rich and varied musical tradition of the Xhosa people of the Western Cape.
Music Director Dimpho di Kopane talks about the region's unique musical heritage, and there are songs performed by his award-winning music theatre company.
 Xhosa Songs Of South Africa - 2 - North Meets South20051029 In a unique fusion of European themes and ideas with South African spirit and language, the award-winning music and theatre company Dimpho di Kopane performs a selection of music based on productions of The Mysteries, U-Carmen, The Snow Queen and The Beggar's Opera.
 A Soldier's Tale20051105 Samuel West and the ensemble Excellent Device join Charles Hazlewood to explore aspects of Stravinsky's dramatic masterpiece, ahead of a complete performance in the Sunday Gala.
Composed in the years after the First World War, the Soldier's Tale is a masterpiece of brevity and economy, telling the Faustian story of the soldier returning from war to sell his violin - his soul - to the devil. In this workshop, Charles and his small company perform extracts from the complete work.
 The Bernstein Beat20051112 Charles Hazlewood and the Ulster Orchestra are joined by guest Jamie Bernstein for a special edition designed to introduce younger listeners to the music of her father Leonard. This workshop focuses on the rhythmic vitality and the energy of some of Bernstein's dance-based theatre music, with extracts from On the Town, Candide, Mass and West Side Story.
  20051119 Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra explore the key ingredients of the classical symphony, for which Joseph Haydn was predominantly responsible.
They use as their example Haydn's Symphony No 60 in C (Il Distratto) - a six movement work from 1774 fashioned from incidental music which he had composed for an adaptation of a French play - Le Distrait, by Francois Regnard.
Part of a workshop session designed to complement A-Level and Scottish Highers studies.
  20051126 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Briger, and cellist Christian Poltera, for a look behind the notes of Elgar's Cello Concerto.
  20051203 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC SO and conductor Grant Llewellyn in a programme looking at the background and the structure of Rachmaninov's great symphonic tone poem Isle of the Dead.
 Tippett's Songs For Dov20051210 Charles Hazlewood is joined by members of the BBC Philharmonic to unravel the complexities of Tippett's song cycle.
The composer regarded Songs for Dov as one of his most personal works, revealing much about his 'take' on the musical and cultural world of the 1960s. Taking on the demanding role of Dov is tenor Nigel Robson, who sang the work for the composer on many occasions.
 Music From The Russian Ballet20051231 In this workshop session, recorded in St David's Hall, Cardiff, Charles is joined by David Nixon, Artistic Director of the Northern Ballet Theatre, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for an exploration of key moments in the evolution of the Russian Ballet, from the time of ballet-master Petipa and composer Tchaikovsky in the 1870s, to the ground-breaking contributions of impressario Diaghilev and composer Stravinsky in the early years of the 20th century, and the new wave of 'realistic' ballets in the Soviet Union.
The music comes from Tchaikovsky's three ballets, Stravinsky's Petrushka, Gliere's The Red Poppy and Shostakovich's The Golden Age.
  20060107 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Philharmonic orchestra and conductor Yasuo Shinozaki in front of an invited audience to explore some of the mysteries of Sibelius' profound last symphony - the Symphony No 7.
Sibelius: Symphony No 7
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Yasuo Shinozaki (conductor).
 Music And Meaning In The Magic Flute20060121 As a prelude to the opera Live from the Met, Charles Hazlewood leads a workshop recorded in Cardiff in which he explores the music and meaning of Mozart's great singspiel, through three of the principal characters - Pamina, Tamino and Papageno.
Pamina....Aylish Tynan (soprano)
Tamino....James Gilchrist (tenor)
Papageno....Roderick Williams (baritone)
Students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Charles Hazlewood (conductor).
 Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, K3642006012820060916Mozart 'discovered' the sinfonia concertante or concertos involving more than one soloist in Mannheim, played by the fine orchestra there, in 1778. Back in Salzburg a year or so later he wrote one of his own - the Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, which is one of the greatest and most original of all his concertos.
In this workshop and performance, Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with soloists Lesley Hatfield (violin) and Steven Burnard (viola).
 Metamorphosen20060204 Richard Strauss conceived his late masterpiece for 23 solo strings as a memorial for a lost musical culture, particularly the bombing of the Munich Opera House, the scene of so many of his operatic triumphs.
In this workshop session, Charles Hazlewood and his ensemble Excellent Device explore the musical detail behind this very personal work, revealing in the process how strongly the shadow of Beethoven is cast over the music, particularly the Eroica Symphony.
  20060211 Virtually everything that Hector Berlioz composed was inspired by a literary or theatrical idea. Even when he came to write his first symphony, he wrote it with a subtext - An Episode in the Life of an Artist.
Stephen Johnson considers the different components that make up the Symphonie Fantastique, helped along by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier.
 Haydn Trumpet Concerto20060218 Stephen Johnson takes the trumpet concerto as his subject, journeying from the baroque with a concerto by Telemann to Haydn's ground breaking masterpiece. Phillipe Schartz is the soloist who at one point even ventures to play an original keyed bugle - the instrument that inspired Haydn to put pen to paper.
The BBC NOW is conducted by Kenneth Woods.
 Composing For The Silver Screen20060225 Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra are joined by film composer Debbie Wiseman to uncover what's involved in composing music for movies. Featured music used includes extracts from Debbie's own score for Wilde.
Plus some iconic film moments where music carries the drama - the opening scene of On the Waterfront, with music by Leonard Bernstein; the Shower scene from Psycho, with music by Bernard Hermann; and the main theme from Harry Potter, by John Williams.
Composing for the Silver Screen
 Shall We Dance?20060304 Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra reveal the extent to which the forms and styles of classical and modern dance music provided the basis for great works for the concert hall.
We follow the evolution of the modest Minuet into symphonic Scherzo - courtesy of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven; the journey of the Landler into the waltz - with Johan Strauss II and Tchaikovsky; and the transformation of the Habanera into the Tango - from Bizet to Piazolla.
 Shostakovich - 8th Quartet20060311 When Shostakovich wrote his 8th Quartet, he believed it would be his musical valedictory. Stephen Johnson joins members of the Royal String Quartet in Norwich for a closer look at the work.
 Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No 120060318 Written for Mstislav Rostropovich in the early 1960s, Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto quickly established itself as a first division piece in the cellist's repertory. Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Philharmonic - conducted by Lancelot Fuhry, with Swiss cellist Christian Poltera - in an exploration of the personal and practical aspects of this dynamic work.
 A Guide To The Orchestra20060325 In 1947, Benjamin Britten composed his celebrated Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra - in which he 'took the whole orchestra to pieces and then put it back together again' in order to give the listener a better understanding of how it works.
Charles Hazlewood offers the same material as a starting point, and probes the subject a little deeper.
 Schubert's Unfinished20060401 Charles Hazlewood leads the first of two workshops - The Symphonies and Songs of Franz Schubert - which was part of a Schubert A-Level study day recorded a little while ago in Manchester.
Charles is joined by the BBC Philharmonic to explore the sound and structure of Schubert's Unfinished symphony.
 Schubert Lieder20060408 David Owen Norris joins tenor Andrew Kennedy and pianist Christopher Glynn to probe the workings of Schubert lieder. The songs chosen are Die Forelle, Du Bist die Rüh, Doppelganger and Erlkönig.
 Sibelius - The Oceanides And Pohjola's Daughter20060415 Stephen Johnson explores the varied moods and impressions conveyed by Sibelius in two of his greatest tone poems - The Oceanides and Pohjola's Daughter.
The Oceanides is a haunting seascape inspired by his first Atlantic crossing, while Pohjola's Daughter is a vivid fantasy inspired by one of the legends from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.
Performances are provided by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Tecwin Evans.
 Anton Bruckner - Motets20060422 Stephen Johnson explores the motets of Anton Bruckner. His masses and motets occupy as important a place in his career as the symphonies he composed later in life. Featuring the BBC Singers, conducted by Bob Chilcott.
Locus iste
Ave Maria (1861)
Vexilla regis
Os justi
Christus factus est (1884).
 Bruch - Violin Concerto No 120060429 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner and Radio 3 New Generation Artist Alina Ibragimova in front of an invited audience for an exploration into the workings of one of Max Bruch's most inspired compositions.
 Britten - Les Illuminations20060506 Tenor Daniel Norman joins Charles Hazlewood and the strings of the BBC Philharmonic to explore the music meaning of Britten's youthful settings of Rimbaud's poetry.
 Joseph Haydn And The Classical Style20060513 In this workshop session designed to complement A-Level and Scottish Highers studies, Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra explore the key ingredients of the classical symphony.
They use as their exemplar Haydn's Symphony No 60 in C, Il Distratto - a six movement work from 1774, fashioned from incidental music which he had composed for an adaptation of a French play, Le Distrait, by Francois Regnard.
 Poulenc Mass In G20060520 Stephen Johnson takes a look at the workings and influences upon Francis Poulenc's distinctive and virtuosic unaccompanied setting of the mass with the BBC Singers conducted by Bob Chilcott.
 Miles Davis Celebration - Kind Of Blue20060527 Miles Davis' 1959 album Kind of Blue is one of the most significant achievements in the history of post-War jazz. Geoffrey Smith dissects the different numbers on the album to discover what makes them such landmark pieces.
 Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique20060603 Stephen Johnson considers the different components that make up Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, helped along by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier.
 Ravel's Mother Goose20060610 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow for an exploration of the musical thinking behind Ravel's Mother Goose. It's a work that began life as an amusement at the piano, and developed into an orchestral ballet score inspired by the fairy tales of Charles Perrault.
 The Trumpet Concerto20060617 Stephen Johnson looks at the trumpet concerto, journeying from the baroque with a concerto by Telemann to Haydn's ground breaking masterpiece.
Phillipe Schartz is the soloist who at one point even ventures to play an original keyed bugle - the instrument that inspired Haydn to put pen to paper.
 Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire20060624 Recorded at this year's Aldeburgh Festival, Charles Hazlewood delves into Schoenberg's landmark work Pierrot Lunaire, with soprano Claire Booth joining his ensemble Excellent Device.
 Schubert - Symphony No 520060701 Charles Hazlewood and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales explore the ways in which a teenage Schubert learnt from the past to help him fashion his Symphony No 5.
 Mozart - Serenade In Cm, K388.20060708 Charles Hazlewood and members of his ensemble Harmonieband are in the Chapel of Greenwich's Old Royal Naval College to take a closer look at Mozart's Serenade in Cm, K388.
 Mozart's Symphony No 2920060715 Mozart was just eighteen years old when he wrote his 29th Symphony, the work which is regarded by many as a turning point in his development as a composer. Charles Hazelwood delves into this landmark symphony with his ensemble Harmonieband, in the lavish surroundings of Greenwich's Old Royal Naval College Chapel.
 James Macmillan. Sinfonietta20060722 As part of the Cheltenham Festival, Charles Hazlewood and his group Excellent Device are at Cheltenham Town Hall to delve into James MacMillan's 1991 work, Sinfonietta.
 Richard Strauss - Sonatina No 120060805 Charles Hazlewood conducts the sixteen wind soloists of the BBC Concert Orchestra as they delve in the world of Richard Strauss' Sonatina No 1, written when the composer was nearly 80 years old.
 Schoenberg's String Quartet No 22006081220070513Recorded in front of an audience at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge with the Quatuor Parisii and the soprano Rachel Nichols, Stephen Johnson explores the ideas behind one of Arnold Schoenberg's most extraordinary pieces, the Second String Quartet, in which the composer takes the listener on a journey from the music of late romanticism to the expressionism of the early twentieth century.
  20060819 Stephen Johnson faces an invited audience at the Royal Northern College of Music alongside Russian pianist Evgenia Rubinova in a detailed look at Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Sonata.
 Bernstein - Fancy Free20060826 In 1943, Leonard Bernstein was approached by Jerome Robbins, an up-and-coming choreographer, who had an idea for a ballet featuring three sailors on shore leave for 24 hours in wartime Manhattan. The result was Fancy Free, the ballet that launched Bernstein's composing career. Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra delve into the world of this youthful American masterpiece.
 John Adams - The Wound Dresser20060902 Iain Burnside joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Tim Weiss, and baritone Jeremy Huw Williams for a look at John Adams' The Wound Dresser. It's a powerful setting of words by Walt Whitman, inspired by his work in a field hospital during the American Civil War.
 Kurt Weill - Violin Concerto20060909 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and soloist Clio Gould to explore an early work by Kurt Weill - his Violin Concerto. It's a piece in which Weill was influenced by the two main musical minds of the 1920s - Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky.
  20060923 Mezzo-soprano Ann Murray joins Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Philharmonic to explore the tragic music of Mahler's song cycle, Kindertotenlieder.
  20060930 Stephen Johnson and BBC New Generation Artists the Ebène Quartet look at Béla Bartók's second String Quartet, a work he finished in 1917 during the hardships of the First World War.
 Haydn's Symphony No 1002006100720081130Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore Haydn's Symphony No 100 (Military), arguably the greatest and most immediate success of Haydn's career.
Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the world of Haydn's Symphony No 100 in G - 'the military'.
 Copland Clarinet Concerto20061014 David Owen Norris explores Aaron Copland's jazz-infused piece with celebrated American clarinettist Richard Stoltzman.
David Lockington conducts the Northern Sinfonia at the Sage Gateshead.
  20061021 Faure's setting of poems by Paul Verlaine, La Bonne Chanson, is one of the composer's greatest masterpieces.
Stephen Johnson unravels some of its subtleties with baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, Quatuor Parisii and double bass player Stephen Williams.
  20061028 As part of the inaugural year of the BBC Electric Proms, Stephen Johnson explores two electro-acoustic works by Jonathan Harvey, one of the most skilled and imaginative composers using the electronic medium today.
He joins Stephen Johnson in the studio at London's Roundhouse to delve into two pieces that span the last 12 years of his career.
Pianist Clive Williamson and trumpeter Markus Stockhausen are the two solo performers in Tombeau de Messiaen and Other Presences.
  20061111 From the Sage Gateshead, Stephen Johnson joins members of the Northern Sinfonia and conductor Thomas Zehetmair for a workshop on one of Bartok's most popular and original works.
 Bernstein Chichester Psalms20061118 Charles Hazlewood explores Leonard Bernstein's 1964 commission by the cathedrals of Chichester and Salisbury, for a piece set from the Book of Psalms. Chichester Psalms is the work in which Bernstein rediscovered tonality after a brief foray into serialism.
Countertenor William Towers, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Chamber Choir of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama assist Hazlewood in his exploration of this serene masterpiece.
 Poulenc Organ Concerto20061125 Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in an exploration of Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani. Organ soloist is David Goode.
 Sibelius: Tapiola.20061209 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, for a workshop on the great Finnish composer's final orchestral work.
The tone poem Tapiola was inspired by the legends and atmosphere of the great Finnish forests.
  20061216 Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra and soloist David Owen Norris in an exploration of Felix Mendelssohn's second (and lesser known) Piano Concerto.
 Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije20061223 Charles Hazlewood and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales explore Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije.
 Mozart The Improviser20061230 David Owen Norris and pianist Ashley Wass consider the qualities that governed how Mozart improvised at the piano drawing on clues from his published scores.
  20070106 Recorded in front of an audience at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge with the Quatuor Parisii and soprano Rachel Nichols, Stephen Johnson explores the ideas behind one of Arnold Schoenberg's most extraordinary pieces, the Second String Quartet. It takes the listener on a journey from the music of late romanticism to the expressionism of the early 20th Century.
 Sibelius - Symphony No 220070120 Stephen Johnson joins the members of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Stefan Solyom to explore Sibelius' Symphony No 2, one of the great Finnish masterpieces.
  20070127 Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in an exploration of Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet.
 Tchaikovsky's Symphonie Pathetique (first Movement)20070203 Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 6 begins with a section which is as compelling as any tone poem. Charles Hazlewood explores this great movement with the BBC Philharmonic.
 Mozart's Clarinet Concerto20070218 Charles Hazlewood conducts Emma Johnson and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in an exploration of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto.
 Puccini: La Boheme20070225 The great Italian composer is revered as one of music's great tunesmiths, but Catherine Bott reveals there is much more to his art as she explores his Parisian masterpiece with singers Katie van Kooten and Peter Auty. Edward Gardner conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
 William Walton's Cello Concerto20070304 Charles Hazlewood is joined by cellist Matthew Barley and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to explore William Walton's Cello Concerto.
  20070311 Stephen Johnson joins pianist Ashley Wass and piano students from the Royal Northern College of Music and the Chethams School in Manchester to examine Beethoven's last published work for solo piano, Six Bagatelles, Op 126.
 Dvorak - Symphony No 920070318 Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in an exploration of Antonin Dvorak's masterpiece his Symphony No 9, to which the composer gave the subtitle From the New World.
 Shostakovich 8th String Quartet20070325 When Shostakovich wrote his 8th quartet he believed it would be his musical valedictory. Stephen Johnson joins the members of the Royal String Quartet in Norwich for a closer look at the ideas behind this, the composer's most often performed quartet.
 Vaughan Williams Flos Campi2007040120080824Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales with violist Philip Dukes in an exploration of Ralph Vaughan Williams suite for solo viola, small chorus and orchestra.
 Nielsen Flute Concerto20070408 Nielsen composed his witty and imaginative flute concerto for a member of the Danish Wind Quintet, conveying much of the character and personality of the player in the piece. Radio 3 New Generation Artist Sharon Bezalay is the soloist in this workshop with BBC NOW conducted by Ken Woods.
Presented by Stephen Johnson 
 Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto20070415 Stephen Johnson takes a closer look at Carl Nielsen's last major orchestral work, his clarinet concerto, with clarinetist John Bradbury and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Petri Sakari 
 Britten - Sea Interludes And Passacaglia20070422 Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in an exploration of the Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia that Benjamin Britten extracted from his opera Peter Grimes 
 Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1 In E Minor20070429 Stephen Johnson joins pianist Piers Lane and members of BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Kenneth Woods for an investigation into a distinct genre of concerto.
 Handel's Ode For The Birthday Of Queen Anne20070506 Charles Hazlewood is in the heart of Handel's London at St James's, Piccadilly, to explore the maestro's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne. He is joined by soloists Rebecca Outram, Iestyn Davies, Michael George, a small chorus and his period ensemble Harmonieband.
 Mark-anthony Turnage's Momentum And Kai20070520 Charles Hazlewood is joined by cellist Matthew Barley and the BBC Philharmonic to explore the music of contemporary British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage through his works Momentum for orchestra and Kai for solo cello and ensemble.
The programme also includes a look back over a week at Eccles College in Salford, where Matthew, Charles and members of the orchestra worked with amateur groups on their own piece inspired by Turnage's music.
 Haydn Trumpet Concerto20070527 Stephen Johnson takes the trumpet concerto as his subject, journeying from the baroque with a concerto by Telemann, to Haydn's ground breaking masterpiece. Soloist Philippe Schartz at one point even ventures to play an original keyed bugle, the instrument that inspired Haydn to put pen to paper. The BBC NOW is conducted by Kenneth Woods.
 Stravinsky: Symphony In Three Movements20070603 Stephen Johnson is joined by the Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Shelley, for an exploration of some of the ideas behind Stravinsky's wartime orchestral masterpiece.
 Barber Piano Concerto20070610 Stephen Johnson is joined by pianist Andrew Zolinsky and the BBC SO conducted by David Robertson for a look at some of the many contrasting ideas that influenced Samuel Barber's composition of his virtuosic Piano Concerto.
 Beethoven's 6th Symphony20070624 Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in an in-depth exploration of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.
 Beethoven's 7th Symphony20070701 With the help of his period orchestra Harmonieband, Charles Hazlewood delves into a Beethovenian paean to rhythm, his 7th Symphony.
 John Dowland's Lachrymae20070708 Andrew Manze takes a close look at the music and ideas behind the seven pavans from John Dowland's Lachrymae or Seven Teares, published in 1605 for lute and viol consort.
The profoundly intimate and expressive music has been described as the renaissance equivalent to Beethoven's late quartets, and is performed here by viol group Concordia.
 Ravel's Gaspard De La Nuit20070715 Stephen Johnson and Radio 3 New Generation Artist pianist Cedric Tiberghien consider some of the ingredients that define the piano music of Maurice Ravel with particular emphasis on what is arguably the greatest French 'sonata' for the piano, his Gaspard de la Nuit.
 Sibelius's Symphony No 220070722 Stephen Johnson joins the members of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Stefan Solyom to explore Sibelius's Symphony No 2, one of the great Finnish masterpieces.
 Prokofiev's Classical Symphony20070729 Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the world of Prokofiev's Symphony No 1 in D, which was inspired by the classical style of Haydn. The programme also includes movements from Haydn's Symphonies Nos 93, 95, 100 and 101.
 John Adams20070819 Stephen Johnson looks at the music of the award-winning American composer John Adams ahead of the premiere of his new work at the Proms.
There's also another chance to hear Iain Burnside's examination of Adams' The Wound Dresser, a powerful setting of words by Walt Whitman, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, conducted by Tim Weiss.
 Haydn Symphony No 98 And Piano Variations20070826 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Philharmonic and conductor Nicholas Kraemer for an exploration of Haydn's wit and invention in the Symphony No 98 in B flat, and fortepianist Matthew Halls looks at the wonderfully inventive F minor Variations.
 Walton's Cello Concerto20070902 Cellist Matthew Barley joins Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to delve into the world of Walton's bittersweet Cello Concerto.
 Gesualdo's Madrigals20070909 Stephen Johnson is joined by the vocal group Exaudi to take a closer look at the extraordinary music of Carlo Gesualdo.
 Brahms Symphony No 32007091620081026Stephen Johnson explores the workings of Brahms's 'free but happy' Third Symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Douglas Boyd.
 Britten's Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge20070923 Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra examine Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge alongside Bridge's own Three Idylls.
 Monteverdi - L'orfeo20070930 Robert Hollingworth joins a special group of period performers for an exploration of some of the pioneering musical ideas behind the operatic masterpiece.
 Bartok's Music For Strings Percussion And Celeste20071007 Stephen Johnson joins members of the Northern Sinfonia and conductor Thomas Zehetmair for a workshop on one of Bartok's most popular, atmospheric and original works.
 Sibelius: The Swan Of Tuonela, And Night Ride And Sunrise 2007101420080525Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Petri Sakari to explore one of Sibelius' most gripping tone poems, Night Ride and Sunrise, and The Swan of Tuonela, the most famous part of the composer's Lemminkainen Suite.
 Schubert - Octet20071021 Stephen Johnson examines some of the ideas that inspired Schubert's celebrated masterpiece for wind and strings with members of Britten Sinfonia.
 Tallis's Spem In Alium And 40-part Motets20071028 As part of Radio 3's 40th anniversary, Stephen Johnson is joined in the studio by Jeffrey Skidmore, Deborah Roberts and Antony Pitts for an exploration of Thomas Tallis's magnificent 40-part motet Spem in Alium. Including a look at works that may have inspired it and the music which it has itself inspired.
 Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto20071104 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky for an in-depth examination of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, a work originally rejected by its dedicatee, violinist Leopold Auer, as unplayable.
 Schumann's Symphony No 3 (rhenish)2007111120080427Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Thierry Fischer to explore one of Schumann's most joyous symphonies, inspired by the romance of the Rhinelands.
 Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 320071118 Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto clearly owes a debt to the masterly C minor Concerto of Mozart. Standing on the shoulders of a musical giant, what might Beethoven achieve? Charles Hazlewood explores with pianist Andrew Zolinksy and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
 Mark-anthony Turnage's Momentum And Kai20071125 Charles Hazlewood is joined by cellist Matthew Barley and the BBC Philharmonic to explore the music of contemporary British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage through his works Momentum for orchestra and Kai for solo cello and ensemble.
The programme also includes a look back over a week at Eccles College in Salford, where Matthew, Charles and members of the orchestra worked with amateur groups on their own piece inspired by Turnage's music.
 Elgar Cello Concerto20071202 Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Briger, and cellist Christian Poltera for a look behind the notes of one of the best loved cello concertos in the repertory.
 Ligeti Violin Concerto20071209 Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and violinist Ernst Kovacic for an in-depth exploration of Gyorgy Ligeti's Violin Concerto.
Plus Jennifer Martin takes an inside look at a BBC SSO learning programme centred around another challenging work by Ligeti, his Chamber Concerto.
 Schubert's Trout Quintet 20071223 Recorded before the Norfolk and Norwich Music Club, Stephen Johnson explores the structure and background of one of Schubert's best loved chamber pieces, the Trout Quintet, with the Gould Piano Trio and friends.
 Grieg Piano Concerto20071230 Grieg was a great miniaturist who struggled with large scale forms. Stephen Johnson with pianist Ronan O'Hora and the Ulster Orchestra conducted by George Vass put this idea to the test.
  Mozart Dissonance Quartet20080113 In a recording made at the Lake District Summer Music Festival, Stephen Johnson is joined by the Royal Quartet to delve into the world of Mozart's Haydn Quartets and, in particular, the famous Dissonance Quartet.
  Benjamin: Dance Figures20080120 Stephen Johnson meets one of Britain's leading composers, George Benjamin, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra to explore some of the ideas behind his orchestral pieces Dance Figures and Sudden Time.
 Elgar: A Very English Composer? 2008012720080921Charles Hazlewood is joined by the string section of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to explore what makes Elgar such a quintessentially 'English' composer, focusing on his 1905 Introduction and Allegro, and the 1892 Serenade for Strings.
As a contrast, Charles also examines the music of Holst, another English composer who was writing in the early part of the 20th century, looking at his Saint Paul's Suite for string orchestra. Could Holst's style possibly be more authentically English than that of Elgar?
  Britten Sea Interludes And Passacaglia20080203 Charles Hazlewood conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in an exploration of the Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia that Benjamin Britten extracted from his opera Peter Grimes.
  Rimsky-korsakov's Scheherazade20080210 Catherine Bott is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Luke Dollman for an in-depth exploration of Scheherazade, a work inspired by Tales of the Arabian Nights.
 Electronic Music20080217 Alwynne Pritchard takes us on a journey through the rich and colourful landscape of electronic music with composer Jonathan Harvey discussing his Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco and pioneering works by Varese and Stockhausen.
  Ravel's Gaspard De La Nuit20080224 Stephen Johnson and Radio 3 New Generation Artist pianist Cedric Tiberghien consider some of the ingredients that define the piano music of Maurice Ravel with particular emphasis on what is arguably the greatest French 'sonata' for the piano, his Gaspard de la nuit.
  Bartok's Divertimento 20080302 Martin Handley teams up with the strings of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for an exploration of some of the ideas behind Bartok's Divertimento.
 Henri Dutilleux20080309 Stephen Johnson explores some of the ideas behind the music of one of France's leading composers, Henri Dutilleux, focusing on his second Symphony (Le double). Thierry Fischer conducts a performance given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as part of their Discovering Dutilleux festival.
  Spohr's Nonet20080316 Stephen Johnson takes a closer look at two nonets. Paul Allen is in Sheffield's Crucible Studio to explore Louis Spohr's popular Nonet with Ensemble 360, and Stephen delves into Bohuslav Martinu's 1959 Nonet, one of many works the composer wrote in the final year of his life.
  Tango20080323 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the quintet Tango Volcano and members of the BBC Concert Orchestra to explore the world of the tango.
  Schubert's Trout Quintet20080330 Recorded before the Norfolk and Norwich Music Club, Stephen Johnson explores, with the help of the Gould Piano Trio and friends, the structure and background of one of Schubert's best-loved chamber pieces, the Trout Quintet.
  Scriabin's World 20080406 William Mival explores the mystic world and rich harmonies of the eccentric Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. The music includes excerpts from Scriabin's piano sonatas and preludes as well as Prometheus, his large work for choir and orchestra.
  History Of The Serenade - 120080413 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to explore the history of the serenade.
Charles looks at the beginnings of the form, focusing on a serenade by the composer who more than any other shaped the form into a staple of the concert hall - Mozart.
  History Of The Serenade - 2 Last20080420 Charles considers what happened to the form after Mozart and is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to look in depth at two post-Mozartian examples of this music: Dvorak's Serenade for Strings and Martinu's Serenade for Chamber Orchestra.
 Gershwin's Piano Concerto 20080504 Charles Hazlewood is joined by pianist Joanna MacGregor and the BBC Concert Orchestra for an exploration of one of Gershwin's first concert masterpieces - the Piano Concerto. Fresh from his success in the concert hall with Rhapsody in Blue and with his triumphs on Broadway running in tandem, Gershwin consolidated his skills to produce a fully fledged piano concerto for the Boston Symphony.
 Hary Janos20080511 Charles Hazelwood joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra before an audience at Glasgow's City Halls for an exploration of Kodaly's famous Hary Janos, an opera that in the 1920s established the composer as a musician of international standing. Considered a Hungarian 'nationalist' work, it tells the story of a figure who singlehandedly saves the country from Napoleon's army.
And cimbalom player Heather Corbett joins Charles for a profile of the cimbalom, Hungary's national instrument and a prominent feature in Hary Janos. They consider the development of the instrument from the traditional folk dulcimar, and look at how composers as diverse as Liszt, Stravinsky and Boulez have written for it.
 Tavener - The Protecting Veil 20080601 Charles Hazlewood and Matthew Barley are joined by the BBC Philharmonic and cellist Josephine Knight to explore John Tavener's seminal work The Protecting Veil, a piece which Tavener describes as trying to 'capture some of the almost cosmic power of the Mother of God'.
The programme also looks at a BBC Philharmonic learning project focusing on The Protecting Veil, which was run alongside Discovering Music at the University of Salford.
 Mendelssohn Overtures 20080608 Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Benjamin Ellin for an exploration of the musical workings of three of Mendelssohn 'symphonic poems' - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage and The Hebrides.
 Strauss's don Quixote 20080615 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Philharmonic and cellist Peter Dixon to explore Richard Strauss's famous tone poem Don Quixote, based on the Cervantes epic novel. Charles also looks at the relationship between Don Quixote and another of Strauss's great tone poems, Ein Heldenleben.
 Monteverdi's Il Combattimento Di Tancredi E Clorinda 20080622 In a programme made as part of the 2008 Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, Robert Hollingworth and his group I Fagiolini explore the background and music to Monteverdi's operatic scena, The Battle of Tancredi and Clorinda, for which the composer claimed to use a new form of musical expression.
 Kurtag - Scenes From A Novel 20080629 In a programme recorded at the Aldeburgh festival, Stephen Johnson is joined by soprano Maria Husmann and the ensemble Psappha to delve into the musical world of the featured composer of this year's festival - Gyorgy Kurtag. They examine Kurtag's work Scenes from a Novel alongside some of the piano miniatures - Jatekok (Games) and the orchestral work Stele.
 Rimsky-korsakov's Scheherazade 20080706 Catherine Bott is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Luke Dollman for an in-depth exploration of Scheherazade, a work inspired by Tales of the Arabian Nights.
 The Marriage Of Figaro20080713 Stephen Johnson is joined by singers from the Royal Academy Opera and members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with conductor Ewa Strusinska for an exploration of Mozart's musical depiction of character and drama in The Marriage of Figaro.
 Joe Cutler's Music For Cello And Strings And Grieg's Holberg Suite 20080727 Charles Hazlewood joins the BBC Concert Orchestra, cellist Robin Michael and composer Joe Cutler to look at Cutler's own Music for cello and strings and Grieg's From Holberg's Time: Suite in the olden style.
 Brahms: Symphony No 1 20080803 Following BBC Philharmonic chief conductor Gianandrea Noseda's recent peformance of a complete cycle of the Brahms symphonies, Stephen Johnson takes the opportunity to explore the workings of Brahms' watershed First Symphony from the conductor's perspective.
 Schwanengesang 20080810 Baritone Hakan Vramsmo and pianist Julius Drake join Stephen Johnson for an exploration of the musical nuances to be found in Schubert's posthumous song-cycle Schwanengesang, settings of poems by Ludwig Rellstab and Heinrich Heine.
 Messiaen - St Francis Of Assisi20080831 Ahead of next Sunday's broadcast of the complete opera, Alwynne Pritchard explores Messiaen's vast St Francis of Assisi. She is joined by conductor Kent Nagano who worked very closely with Messiaen himself in preparing the original production of the work.
 Borodin - Symphony No 220080914 Stephen Johnson is joined by conductor Andre de Ridder and the BBC Philharmonic to explore some of the many musical ideas that inspired Alexander Borodin's Second Symphony, a work composed by a professional Russian chemist who put pen to paper whenever he felt he had time to spare.
 Schubert: Octet 20080928 Stephen Johnson examines some of the ideas that inspired Schubert's celebrated masterpiece for wind and strings with members of Britten Sinfonia.
  20081005 Charles Hazlewood is joined by his ensemble Excellent Device to explore the music of the waltz king Johann Strauss 
 Grieg Piano Concerto 20081012 Grieg was a great miniaturist who struggled with large scale forms. Stephen Johnson with pianist Ronan O'Hora and the Ulster Orchestra conducted by George Vass put this idea to the test.
 Eighteenth Century Tchaikovsky20081019 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Philharmonic and cellist Robert Cohen to explore two of Tchaikovsky's 18th century-inspired works - the Rococo Variations and the orchestral suite Mozartiana. Tchaikovsky's music appears to embody the romantic passions and storms of the his age, but the composer himself often took solace reflecting idealistically on the sensibilities of the 18th century and in particular on his beloved Mozart.
 Eight Songs For A Mad King20081102 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the composer Peter Maxwell Davies for an in-depth exploration of his iconic music theatre work Eight Songs for a Mad King. With the ensemble Psappha and baritone Kelvin Thomas.
Considered one of the most celebrated and shocking pieces of British music theatre ever written, the work portrays the tragic madness of King George III.
 Vaughan Williams And The Lost Generation 20081109 Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Michael Seal, with violinist Lesley Hatfield and tenor James Gilchrist for an exploration of the English idyll in the light of some of the music to have appeared in the lead-up to the First World War, specifically Butterworth's A Shrophsire Lad and Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge and The Lark Ascending.
 Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 6 20081116 Stephen Johnson explores Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony, with excerpts and a complete performance of the work, from the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins.
First heard in 1948, the symphony's violence and dissonance came as a huge shock after the serenity of Symphony No 5. Vaughan Williams always denied this work was a 'war' symphony but in some passages war imagery is, for many, hard to ignore. The first three movements are wild and complex both rhythmically and harmonically, while the conclusion is a desolate and haunting epilogue.
 Tango20081123 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the quintet Tango Volcano and members of the BBC Concert Orchestra to explore the world of the tango.
It started life as music of the slums of Buenos Aires in Argentina and took on the form of an earthy and sensual dance. The music exudes strong feelings of sensuality, passion and a tragic romantic element. Essentially the music of exiled people, the themes of tangos are often broken love, the sadness for having left a country behind for a new life, as well as a desire and passion for life.
 Messiaen: Quartet For The End Of Time 20081207 Stephen Johnson is joined by members of the Fibonacci Sequence for a detailed exploration of Messiaen's wartime piece Quartet for the End of Time, with pianist Kathron Sturrock, violinist Jack Liebeck, clarinettist Julian Farrell and cellist Benjamin Hughes, before a complete performance of the work, given at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.
In 1941, Messiaen was captured by the German army and held as a prisoner of war at Stalag VIII-A in Gorlitz. It was there, to an audience of about 400 fellow prisoners that he, along with clarinettist Henry Akoka, violinist Jean le Boulaire and cellist Etienne Pasquier, gave the world premiere performance of his eight-movement piece. 'Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension', the composer recalled after the event.
 Elliott Carter At 10020081214 Stephen Johnson travels to New York City to talk to the composer Elliott Carter, who celebrates his 100th birthday in 2008. Focusing on four of his pieces - Elegy, Triple Duo, String Quartet No 5 and Dialogues - Carter delves into the techniques behind his music, together with stories from his life.
 The Play Of Daniel20081228 Stephen Johnson explores the Play of Daniel, one of the earliest pieces of music theatre.
Stephen Johnson is joined by Andrew Lawrence King and members of the Harp Consort to explore the music and ideas in the medieval Play of Daniel, one of the earliest pieces of musical theatre. A 13th-century 'opera' about the prophet Daniel, first executed by young clerics at Beauvais Cathedral, it was performed in the New Year as part of the Feast of Fools and combines burlesque with the mysteries of the Daniel story.
With a complete staged performance of the work, recorded at York Minster as part of the 2008 York Early Music Festival.
 The Art Of Jazz Improvisation 20090104 Julian Joseph discusses the art of improvisation from the 2008 London Jazz Festival.
Pianist and broadcaster Julian Joseph presents the programem from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as part of the 2008 London Jazz Festival.
Performing alongside his own Trio, singer Cleveland Watkiss and the Guildhall Big Band, Julian provides a unique insight into the art of improvisation, using excerpts from jazz standards as well as form his own music, including performances of The Reverend and Mountain of Hope.
 Fung Lam - Unlocking 20090111 Charles Hazlewood with the BBC CO and composer Fung Lam explore his new work Unlocking.
Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra and composer Fung Lam to explore his new work Unlocking. Through conversation and diary entries which Fung recorded during the compositional process, they trace how this work was written from its conception through to the final version of the piece.
Fung was commisioned by the BBC to write a piece for the programme, the first of a series of three works specially commissioned from contemporary composers. Taking inspiration from the exhibition of padlocks at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Fung's piece explores ideas of codes, secrets and locks.
The programme also looks at an education project which composer and animateur Fraser Trainer has been running alongside the composition of Fung's new piece, a project which also took this exhibition as a starting point.
 Beethoven Cello Sonatas 20090118 In a programme recorded at the 2008 Lake District Summer Music Festival in St Martin's College, Ambleside, Stephen Johnson is joined by cellist Colin Carr and pianist Thomas Sauer to explore the first and last of Beethoven's five sonatas for cellos and piano: Op 5 No 1 in F and Op 102 No 2 in D.
The two sonatas fall into the extreme ends of the three periods that Beethoven's music is usually divided into, and Stephen shows how Beethoven develops the relationship between the instruments through them.
An exploration of Beethoven's first and last sonatas for cello and piano.
 Charles Ives 20090125 American conductor David Robertson joins the BBCSO for an exploration of the music of one of his nation's most innovative composers, Charles Ives. He considers the imaginative way Ives evokes a sense of place - in particular his homeland around Boston - and what some of the wider implications of this might be. He focuses on three Ives masterpieces: Central Park in the Dark, The Unanswered Question and Three Places in New England.
There is also a feature about a complementary project created by amateur musicians in London based on some of Ives's musical ideas.
Conductor David Robertson explores ideas of place in the music of Charles Ives.
 Rachmaninov: Third Piano Concerto20090208 In programme recorded in Glasgow's City Halls, as part of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's Russian Winter series, Stephen Johnson explores Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto. Featuring excerpts and a complete performance by pianist Nelson Goerner and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stefan Solyom. As well as considering its great significance in the piano repertoire, Stephen also looks at the many subtleties of the work.
The programme also includes one of four weekly 'Codas' in which conductor and music pyschologist Christopher Gayford looks at some of ways in which humans process music.
Stephen Johnson explores Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto, with pianist Nelson Goerner.
 Beethoven's Fifth Symphony 20090215 Stephen Johnson and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Grant Llewellyn deconstruct Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in a programme that also features examples from the sketches. The Fifth is probably one of the best known works in the classical repertoire, but how much do we understand Beethoven's intentions by it? And how did the composer arrive at the work we know today?
The programme also includes one of four weekly 'Codas' from conductor and music pyschologist Christopher Gayford, exploring our psychological responses to music.
Stephen Johnson and the BBCSO with Grant Llewellyn explore Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
 Ancient Music - Strauss And Respighi 20090222 Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra to explore why certain composers have drawn on the past in their music. He considers movements from a rarely-performed ballet suite by Richard Strauss, his Divertimento, which re-works harpsichord pieces by Francois Couperin.
That's followed by Ottorino Respighi's celebrated suite, The Birds, based on renaissance and baroque harpsichord and lute pieces. The programme also includes the third of Christopher Gayford's Codas - his brief look at some of the psychological aspects of listening to music.
Charles Hazlewood explores pieces by Strauss and Respighi inspired by music from the past.
 Handel Operas20090301 As part of Radio 3's 2009 Handel celebrations, Catherine Bott and Laurence Cummings explore Handelian opera seria - or serious opera. This was the dominant operatic form in the 18th Century, with its own rhetoric and conventions, and would have been widely understood and appreciated then.
With soprano Rebecca Outram and countertenor Andrew Radley, Catherine and Laurence consider examples from a range of different operas by Handel, suggesting ways in which the composer took the operatic conventions of his day and, through his genius, transformed them to create dramatic music of great expressivity and imagination.
The programme also includes the last of Christopher Gayford's Codas - his brief look at some of the psychological aspects of listening to music.
Catherine Bott and Laurence Cummings explore the workings of Handelian 'opera seria'.
 George Benjamin  20090308Stephen Johnson meets one of Britain's leading composers, George Benjamin, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra to explore some of the ideas behind his orchestral pieces Dance Figures and Sudden Time.
Composer George Benjamin talks about his orchestral pieces Dance Figures and Sudden Time.
 Vivaldi's Gloria20090315 Robert Hollingworth explores one of the most famous of all baroque choral works - Vivaldi's Gloria in D, RV 589 - often simply refered to as the Vivaldi Gloria, although the composer made more than one setting. Robert conducts the BBC Singers and St James' Baroque in excerpts and a complete performance of the work, which was given in the Maida Vale Studios in November 2008.
The programme also looks at a collaborative project called Gloria Revisited in which Tim Steiner guided nine A-level students from St Marylebone C of E Secondary School and The Greycoat School in Westminster in a series of workshops. The young composers each wrote a movement inspired by Vivaldi's Gloria.
An exploration of Vivaldi's Gloria with Robert Hollingworth 
 Purcell - Dido And Aeneas 20090322 As part of BBC Radio 3's Purcell celebrations, Stephen Johnson and Nicholas Kraemer examine Purcell's Dido and Aeneas - considered to be the first truly great opera in the English language. Along with members of the Manchester Camerata, and before an audience at the RNCM in Manchester, they examine Purcell's masterpiece in the light of its time and look at some of the musical devices that Purcell employs to create a tightly knit narrative and evoke real tragic human emotions.
The programme includes a complete performance of Dido and Aeneas featuring:
Dido....Carolina Krogius
  • aeneas....philip smith
  • belinda....fleur bray
  • first witch....elise dye
  • nicholas kraemer (director).
    Stephen Johnson and nicholas kraemer offer an insight into purcell's dido and aeneas
  • rncm chorus and manchester camerata
  • sailor....david shaw
  • second witch....soraya mafi
  • second woman....hanna-liisa midwood kirchin
  • sorceress....katie lowe
  • spirit....jenny france
    •  Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 5 20090329 Stephen Johnson explores Vaughan Williams' tranquil Symphony No 5 in D. A work which was begun in 1938, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, and then completed in 1943, its serenity was set against the horrific backdrop of violence taking place throughout Europe at that time. Vaughan Williams conjures tonal images of the English countryside and often alludes to the sounds of Elizabethan polyphony.
    In a recording from Glasgow's City Halls in October 2008, Paul Daniel conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in excerpts and a complete performance of the work.
    Stephen Johnson explores Vaughan Williams' Symphony No 5.
     Haydn Symphony No 98 And Piano Variations  20090405Stephen Johnson joins the BBC Philharmonic and conductor Nicholas Kraemer for an exploration of Haydn's wit and invention in the Symphony No 98 in B flat, and fortepianist Matthew Halls looks at the wonderfully inventive F minor Variations.
    Stephen Johnson and conductor Nicholas Kraemer explore Haydn's wit and invention.
     Handel Week: Ode For The Birthday Of Queen Anne 20090412 Charles Hazlewood is in the heart of Handel's London at St James's Church, Piccadilly, to explore the maestro's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne. He is joined by soloists Rebecca Outram, Iestyn Davies, Michael George, a small chorus and his period ensemble Harmonieband.
    Charles Hazlewood explores Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne.
     Janacek: Glagolitic Mass 20090426 Stephen Johnson explores Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, a cantata for soli, choir, orchestra and organ written in 1926, playing excerpts and the entire work from a recording by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Karel Ancerl.
    The text of the mass is in old Slavonic language: from an early age, Janacek had been passionate about the traditions of the Slavonic peoples.
    Excerpts:
    Janacek: Glagolitic Mass
  • (original version)
  • bavarian radio symphony orchestra and chorus
  • beno blachut
  • cd 2 track 1
    beethoven: missa solemnis
  • chandos chan 9310, trs 2 and 5
    full performance:
    soloists:
  • charles mackerras (conductor)
  • colin davis (conductor)
  • collegium vocale
  • czech philharmonic orchestra
  • czech singers' chorus
  • eduard haken
  • harmonia mundi
  • hmc 901614.15
  • jadwiga rappe (alto)
  • jan-hendrik rootering (bass)
  • jaroslav vodrazka (organ)
    soloists:
  • karel ancerl (conductor)
  • libor pesek (conductor)
  • libuse domaninska
  • luba orgonasova (soprano)
  • michael tilson thomas (conductor)
  • philip herreweghe (conductor)
  • rca 09026 60967 2 cd 1, tr 3
    janacek: taras bulba
  • san francisco symphony 821936-0001-2 cd 2, tr 1
    bach: b minor mass
  • san francisco symphony orchestra
  • the danish national radio symphony orchestra and choir
  • the philharmonia
  • uwe heilmann (tenor)
  • vanguard gcd283052
  • vanguard gcd283052, trs 1-8.
    Stephen Johnson explores janacek's glagolitic mass, playing excerpts and the entire work
  • various tracks
    mahler: alpine symphony no 6 in a minor
  • vc791506-2, tr 10
    janacek: glagolitic mass
  • vera soukupova
  • virgin
    •  Berg Chamber Concerto 20090503 Stephen Johnson joins the members of the Manchester Camerata and their conductor Douglas Boyd for an exploration of Alban Berg's Chamber Concerto, featuring pianist Martin Roscoe and violinist Jack Liebeck as soloists.
    The Concerto was written as a homage to Berg's teacher Arnold Schoenberg on his fiftieth birthday, and it alludes to a close circle of friends and Viennese intellectuals from the mid-1920s, namely Berg, Schoenberg and Berg's friend and fellow Schoenberg pupil Anton Webern. With a wealth of codes and extra-musical references, Berg crafted a compact and technically accomplished work, which is considered one of the great examples of German Expressionism.
    The programme includes a complete performance of the piece.
     Mendelssohn Weekend - Italian Symphony 20090510 Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the history and workings of Mendelssohn's popular 4th Symphony - the Italian, discovering that the composer was torn between two artistic ideals - using music to express the poetic and extra-musical, and creating a taut, pure symphonic construction that would be deemed worthy of a successor to Beethoven.
    Mendelssohn never managed to fully reconcile the two and he remained dissatisfied with his symphony. He withdrew it and it was never published in his lifetime. But that didn't stop it becoming immensely popular and a staple part of the symphonic repertoire.
    In considering the work and its revisions, Charles provides an insight into Mendelssohn's philosophy as a symphonist, as well as the role that Mendelssohn's mentor, Goethe, played in directing the young composer. The programme also features a performance of Mendelssohn's overture inspired by a poem of Goethe, Die Erste Walpurgisnacht.
    Charles Hazelwood explores the history and ideas behind Mendelssohn's Italian symphony.
     Brahms: Symphony No 2 20090517 Stephen Johnson explores Brahms' Second Symphony, with excerpts and a complete performance from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Theodore Kuchar.
    While Brahms's First Symphony took nearly 20 years to complete, his second - in D - was written in only one summer holiday in Portschach, an alpine area by the Wothersee that also inspired Mahler and Berg.
    Stephen Johnson explores Brahms' Second Symphony, with a performance by the BBCNOW.
     Sibelius: The Swan Of Tuonela, And Night Ride And Sunrise  20090524Stephen Johnson is joined by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Petri Sakari to explore Sibelius' tone poem Night Ride and Sunrise, as well as The Swan of Tuonela, the most famous part of the composer's Lemminkainen Suite.
    Stephen Johnson and the BBC Philharmonic explore Sibelius' tone poem Night Ride & Sunrise.
     Haydn Symphonies Nos 22 And 9220090607 Stephen Johnson and the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Nicholas Kraemer, explore two titled Haydn symphonies, considering how the composer's musical imagination was inspired by the day-to-day happenings in his life.
    His symphony No 22 (The Philosopher) is believed to have been inspired by the appearance of a pair of unusual instruments - both cor anglais - at his workplace in Esterhazy. Whatever prompted Haydn to use these rare instruments resulted in a work that remains one of the most popular among his early symphonies.
    Stephen also explores some of the novelties in one of Haydn's later symphonies, the Oxford. It was supposedly composed to celebrate Haydn's honorary degree at the English University, but was in fact slightly reworked and composed a short while earlier.
    Stephen Johnson unpicks Haydn's Symphonies Nos 22 and 92.
     Tansy Davies 20090621 Charles Hazlewood talks to composer Tansy Davies about how she came to create Rift, her new work for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Davies composed the piece alongside a project for schools and colleges in the Watford area, and, taking as her inspiration two musical worlds colliding, she explores a way of combining her new work and the workshop material together.
    Charles Hazlewood and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the music of Tansy Davies.
     Prokofiev Symphony No 520090628 David Nice joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Robertson for an exploration of the ideas and background to Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony. It has been labelled as 'a symphony of the grandeur of the human spirit' ever since the composer used that phrase on Moscow radio around the time of the premiere in 1945. But what kind of grandeur is this - the triumph of the individual or the spirit of Soviet man?
    A Prokofiev authority and biographer, Nice considers the symphony in the light of the time in which it was written, comparing it to other works the composer wrote in the 1940s.