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Tuesday - Rob Cowan with Stella Rimington

With Rob Cowan. Including Five Reasons to Love Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues; Artist of the Week: Leopold Stokowski; Rob's Essential Choice: Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 3, Op 30.

With Rob Cowan and his guest Dame Stella Rimington.

9am
A selection of music including '5 Reasons to Love... Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues'. Rob picks favourite recordings from Bach's innovative 'Well Tempered Clavier' collection, and shows how they succeed equally well when played on harpsichord, piano or clavichord, including a fine performance by Tatiana Nikolaeva of the Prelude in C from Book 1 - the one attempted by beginner pianists everywhere.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: spot the theme linking three pieces of music and identify the missing fourth.

10am
Rob's guest this week is former MI5 chief turned best-selling author, Dame Stella Rimington. The first woman to be promoted to the rank of Director of a Service branch, since retiring from the Service in 1996 Stella has published a number of novels set in the world of counter-terrorism and intelligence. Stella will be sharing a selection of her favourite classical music, including works by Bach, Vaughan Williams, and Kodaly, every day at 10am.

10.30am
Rob's featured artist is the charismatic conductor Leopold Stokowski, who is perhaps best known for conducting the sound track of Walt Disney's animated film Fantasia. There'll be stunning recordings of Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture Hamlet, and the Love Music from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, plus Rob will introduce several of Stokowski's many stylish orchestral transcriptions, including Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky, and Debussy's Clair de Lune, played by Stokowski's own symphony orchestra.

11am
This week Rob showcases 20th century piano concertos.
Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto in D minor op 30
Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano)
Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy (conductor).

3 hours

Music Played

  • Ottorino Respighi

    Italiana (Ancient Airs and Dances Suite no.3)

    Orchestra: I Solisti Veneti. Conductor: Claudio Scimone.
    • ERATO.
  • 5 REASONS TO LOVE鈥ACH鈥橲 48 PRELUDES & FUGUES

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 850

      Performer: Wanda Landowska.
      • RCA.
  • Frederick Delius

    The Walk to the Paradise Garden (A Village Romeo and Juliet)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: John Barbirolli.
    • EMI.
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Hungarian Dance and Flight of the Bumble Bee

    Performer: Henryk Szeryng. Performer: Charles Reiner. Composer: Johannes Brahms. Music Arranger: Kreisler.
    • MERCURY.
  • Antoine Reicha

    Andante arioso in E flat

    Ensemble: Philharmonisches Bl盲serquintett Berlin.
    • BIS.
  • Emmanuel Chabrier

    贰蝉辫补帽补

    Orchestra: Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse. Conductor: Michel Plasson.
    • EMI.
  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Trio in E minor (Tafelmusik)

    Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque.
    • HMC.
  • Find The Fourth

    • Richard Wagner

      Ride of the Valkyries (Die Walk眉re)

      • DECCA.
  • STELLA RIMINGTON'S CHOICES

    • George Frideric Handel

      Concerto No. 2 in G minor for oboe

      Performer: Sarah Francis. Ensemble: London Harpsichord Ensemble.
      • UNICORN-KANCHANA.
    • John Gay

      Youth鈥檚 The Season Made for Joys (The Beggar鈥檚 Opera)

      Singer: Adrian Thompson. Ensemble: The Broadside Band. Director: Jeremy Barlow. Music Arranger: Johann Christoph Pepusch.
      • HYPERION.
    • Henry Purcell

      Halcyon Days

      Conductor: Anthony Lewis. Singer: Jennifer Vyvyan. Orchestra: Philomusica of London.
      • L'OISEAU-LYRE.
  • trad arr Shankar

    Gat Kirwani

    Performer: Ravi Shankar.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Toccata in D minor

      Orchestra: Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leopold Stokowski.
      • EMI.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Laudamus te (Mass in C minor)

    Performer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Laudamus te (Mass in C minor, K 427)

    Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Zubin Mehta.
    • The Art of Anne Sofie von Otter.
    • Deutsche Grammaphon.
    • 18.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI

    • Franz Liszt

      Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 in C sharp minor

      Orchestra: RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leopold Stokowski.
      • RCA.
  • ESSENTIAL CHOICE

    • Sergey Rachmaninov

      Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op. 30

      Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy. Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Eugene Ormandy.
      • RCA.
  • Francis Poulenc

    Litanies 脿 la Vierge noire

    Choir: Choir of King鈥檚 College, London. Director: David Trendell.
    • DELPHIAN.

Broadcast

  • Tue 17 Feb 2015 09:00

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