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Thursday - 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: Gershwin: Piano Concerto.

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: identify a piece of music played backwards.

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.
Gershwin
Piano Concerto
Andr茅 Previn (piano)
Andr茅 Kostelanetz and His Orchestra.

3 hours

Music Played

  • Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    Waltz in A flat major, Op.64 no.3

    Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • DECCA.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI

    • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

      Swan Lake Scenes (No.10 & 11) Danse espagnole No.21

      Conductor: Leopold Stokowski. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra.
      • DECCA.
  • 5 REASONS TO LOVE鈥ACH鈥橲 48 PRELUDES & FUGUES

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Prelude and Fugue in E major Bk 2 No.9

      Performer: Ralph Kirkpatrick.
      • ARCHIV.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Variations on Bei M盲nnern from Mozart鈥檚 鈥楾he Magic Flute

    Performer: Wilhelm Kempff. Performer: Pierre Fournier.
    • DG.
  • Giuseppe Baldassare Sammartini

    Oboe Sonata No 5 in G minor

    Performer: Paolo Pollastri. Performer: Gaetano Nasillo. Performer: Giovanna Losco.
    • TACTUS.
  • Josef Suk

    Love Song (no 1 of 6 Pieces op 7)

    Performer: Margaret Fingerhut.
  • Recording Rewind

    • Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Amilcare Ponchielli & Neville Marriner

      Dance of the Hours (La Gioconda)

      • EMI.
  • STELLA RIMINGTONS CHOICES

    • Antonio Vivaldi

      Concerto in G major for 2 mandolins, RV 532

      Performer: Paul O鈥橠ette. Performer: Robin Jeffrey. Orchestra: The Parley of Instruments. Director: Peter Holman.
      • HYPERION.
    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Wachet Auf: Opening Chorus

      Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Orchestra: Monteverdi Orchestra. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
      • ARCHIV.
  • George Gershwin

    The George Gershwin song-book for piano, That certain feeling [from 'Tip-toes']

    Performer: Richard Rodney Bennett.
    • Gershwin/Kern etc: That certain feeling: Richard Rodney Bennett.
    • CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI

    • Jean Sibelius

      The Swan of Tuonela (Four Legends Op. 22 No. 2)

      Performer: Bobby Bloom. Conductor: Leopold Stokowski. Orchestra: Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra.
      • EMI.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Silent Worship (Tolomeo)

    Performer: Heddle Nash. Performer: Gerald Moore.
  • Jehan Alain

    Litanies for organ [1937]

    Performer: Jean-Louis Gil.
    • Grandes Toccatas For Organ.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 13.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Winter from the Four Seasons Op 8 No 4

    Performer: Charles Spinks. Performer: Hugh Bean. Conductor: Leopold Stokowski. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra.
    • DECCA.
  • Essential Choice

    • George Gershwin

      Piano Concerto in F major

      Performer: Andr茅 Previn. Conductor: Andr茅 Kostelanetz. Orchestra: Andrei Kostelanetz and his Orchestra.
      • THE INTENSE MEDIA.
  • Franz Schubert

    An die untergehende Sonne D 457

    Performer: Rudolf Jansen. Singer: Elly Ameling.
    • PHILIPS.
  • Zolt谩n Kod谩ly

    Dances of Gal谩nta

    Orchestra: Seattle Symphony. Conductor: Gerard Schwarz.
    • DELON.

Broadcast

  • Thu 19 Feb 2015 09:00

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