Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Monday - Sarah Walker with Simon Russell Beale

With Sarah Walker. 5 Reasons to Love the Countertenor Voice; Building a Library: Wagner: Die Meistersinger; Artist of the Week: Simon Preston, featured in Ives, Palestrina and Bach.

Discover definitive recordings of the greatest classical music with your trusted guide, Sarah Walker. Her guest this week is the actor Simon Russell Beale.

9am
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... the countertenor voice'. As part of Radio 3's Classical Voice season, Sarah offers a selection of music that showcases the qualities of the countertenor voice. She shares works that display its virtuosity and lyrical, plangent beauty, courtesy of countertenors including Philippe Jaroussky, Andreas Scholl and Alfred Deller.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge and identify the place associated with a well-known work.

10am
Sarah's guest this week is the actor Simon Russell Beale. One of the greatest talents of British theatre, Simon has taken on roles including Shakespeare's King Lear and Timon of Athens at the National Theatre, and is currently starring in Steve Waters' Temple at the Donmar Warehouse. He has also received accolades for his work in television and film, including the popular spy drama Spooks. As part of Radio 3's Classical Voice season, Simon talks to Sarah about his early life as a chorister and shares a selection of his favourite classical music, every day at 10am.

10.30am
Sarah features the Building a Library recommendation from last Saturday's CD review

Wagner
Die Meistersinger

11am
The organist and conductor Simon Preston is Sarah's artist of the week. Preston is widely renowned as a virtuoso organist, as well as being an acclaimed conductor specialising in sacred choral music. Sarah will be sharing a selection of his finest recordings for organ across the week, ranging from Bach to Charles Ives, as well as performances that showcase Preston conducting choral works by composers including Purcell, Palestrina and Haydn.

Ives
Variations for organ on 'America'
Simon Preston (organ)

Palestrina
Tu es petrus
Choir of Westminster Abbey
Simon Preston (conductor)

Bach
Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543
Simon Preston (organ).

3 hours

Music Played

  • Fran莽ois Couperin

    Le Tic-Toc-Choc (Ordre no.18)

    Performer: Alexandre Tharaud.
    • Alexandre Tharaud - Autograph.
    • Erato.
    • 13.
  • Niccol貌 Paganini

    Caprice No. 24

    Performer: Brodsky Quartet. Music Arranger: Paul Cassidy.
    • Chandos.
    • CHAN10761.
  • 5 Reasons To Love: counter-tenors

    • Johann Adolf Hasse

      Fra l'orror della tempesta (Siroe, re di Persia)

      Singer: Franco Fagioli. Orchestra: Il Pomo d鈥橭ro. Conductor: Riccardo Minasi.
      • 狈础脧痴贰.
  • Joachim Raff

    Orchestral Prelude to Shakespeare鈥檚 The Tempest

    Orchestra: Swiss Romande Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme J盲rvi.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Henry Purcell

    Fairest isle (King Arthur)

    Singer: V茅ronique Gens. Orchestra: Les Arts Florissants. Conductor: William Christie.
    • Erato.
  • Artist Of The Week: Simon Preston

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV645

      Performer: Simon Preston.
      • DG.
      • 4694202.
  • Claude Debussy

    Marche 茅cossaise

    Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • DG.
  • Henry Purcell

    The Fairy Queen Z.629 (Act 4 Symphony)

    Orchestra: Le Concert des Nations. Director: Jordi Savall.
    • ALIA VOX.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Venetian Gondola Song (Songs Without Words book 1 Op.19)

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Mendelssohn: Lieder Ohne Worte: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 6.
  • Simon Russell Beale: Choice 1

    • Thomas Tallis

      O nata lux de lumine

      Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
      • SDG.
  • Simon Russell Beale: Choice 2

    • Anton Bruckner

      Symphony No 7 in E; 3rd mvt, Scherzo

      Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.
      • DG.
  • Claude Debussy

    Premiere rhapsodie for clarinet and orchestra

    Performer: Franklin Cohen. Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • DG.
  • Building A Library Recommendation

    • Richard Wagner

      Die Meistersinger - Act III, scene II

      Singer: thomas stewart. Singer: S谩ndor K贸nya.
      • Arts.
  • Artist Of The Week: Simon Preston

    • Charles Ives

      Variations for organ on 鈥楢merica鈥

      Performer: Simon Preston.
      • ARGO.
  • William Boyce

    Symphony No 2 in A major

    Orchestra: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.
    • Archiv.
  • Fran莽ois Devienne

    Flute Concerto no.7 in E minor (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Orchestra: Kammerorchester Basel. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • WARNER.
  • Francis Poulenc

    3 Mouvements Perpetuels

    Performer: Pascal Rog茅.
    • Poulenc: Piano Music.
    • DECCA.
    • 16-18.
  • Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

    Tu es petrus

    Choir: Choir of Westminster Abbey. Conductor: Simon Preston.
    • ARCHIV.
  • Ermanno Wolf鈥怓errari

    Danza napolitana (I gioielli della Madonna Suite)

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Jos茅 Serebrier.
    • Italia!.
    • ASV.
    • 15.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV543

    Performer: Simon Preston.
    • DG.
    • 4694202.
    • 5.

Mapping The Music

Spain

Purcell
King Arthur, Z. 628, Act V: Fairest Isle 5:06
Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Richard Egarr (harpsichord)
Pamela Thorby (recorder)
Tabea Debus (recorder)
Bojan 膶i膷i膰
Stephen Pedder
Julia Kuhn viola (violin)
Mark Levy (viola da gamba)
William Carter (theorbo)
WIGMORE HALL LIVE

Broadcast

  • Mon 22 Jun 2015 09:00

Our Classical Century

Our Classical Century

Radio 3 explores 100 key musical moments that shaped us, from 1918 to the present day.

Time Travellers: the podcast

Time Travellers: the podcast

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough presents quirky tales gathered from the corners of history.