Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Monday - Rob Cowan with Nitin Sawhney

With Rob Cowan. Five Reasons to Love Bach Organ Works; musical challenge; Artist of the Week: cellist Steven Isserlis, featured in Haydn's Cello Concerto in C, H VIIB 1.

9am
Rob presents '5 reasons to love... Bach organ works'. Throughout the week Rob puts Bach's organ works centre stage, showcasing their complexity, and the virtuosity required to perform them. He highlights their flashes of humour, as well as their gravitas and sheer power, plus the way Bach often reinvented pre-existing works. Rob hand-picks recordings by organists including Helmut Walcha, Simon Preston and Ton Koopman.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: identify a piece of music played backwards.

10am
Rob's guest this week is Nitin Sawhney. A composer, producer, songwriter, DJ and multi-instrumentalist, Nitin is one of the 91Èȱ¬'s Ambassadors for the new Ten Pieces project. His musical credentials include collaboration with artists from Sir Paul McCartney to the London Symphony Orchestra. As a child Nitin trained as a classical pianist, moving on to classical and flamenco guitar and learning to play sitar and tabla. He has since toured the world with his band, and recorded nine studio albums, winning accolades for his amalgamation of styles including jazz, flamenco, electronica and classical Indian ragas. He has composed for theatre, film, television and video games with credits including writing the BAFTA-winning soundtrack for The Human Planet, scoring ad campaigns for brands such as Yves Saint Laurent and Nike and writing a new score for Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger. Nitin will be sharing a selection of his favourite classical music with Rob, every day at 10am.

10.30am Ten Pieces
The 91Èȱ¬ has just launched the new Ten Pieces for secondary schools, opening up the world of classical music to children and inspiring them to respond creatively to what they hear. As part of Radio 3's Ten pieces season, Rob recommends music that complements this exciting selection of works.

11am
Rob's featured artist is the cellist Steven Isserlis. A musician who wears his considerable virtuosity lightly, Isserlis has received worldwide acclaim for his technique, musicianship and command of the instrument. Throughout the week Rob presents recordings by Isserlis including an elegant interpretation of Haydn's Cello Concerto No.1, a lyrical performance of Grieg's Cello Sonata and a rendition of Prokofiev's Cello Concerto that captures the bittersweet language of the work.

Haydn
Cello Concerto in C, H.VIIB:1
Steven Isserlis (cello)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Roger Norrington (conductor).

3 hours

Music Played

  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: STEVEN ISSERLIS

    • Sulkhan Tsintsadze

      Chonguri

      Performer: Steven Isserlis.
      • RCA.
  • 5 REASONS TO LOVE: BACH ORGAN WORKS

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542

      Performer: Peter Hurford.
      • DECCA.
  • Hildegard von Bingen

    O viridissima virga

    Choir: Gothic Voices. Director: Christopher Page.
    • HYPERION.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    5 Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Franz Liszt

    Hungarian Rhapsody No.6, ‘Carnival in Pesth’

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Antal Doráti.
    • MERCURY LIVING PRESENCE.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Flute Concerto in D major RV.428 'The Goldfinch'

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Orchestra: Australian Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Tognetti.
    • EMI.
  • Richard Wagner

    Lohengrin (Act 3 Prelude)

    Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Christian Thielemann.
    • DG.
  • NITIN SAWHNEY'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Trad.

      Raga Bhairavi

      Performer: Hariprasad Chaurasia. Performer: Shiv Shankar Ray.
      • NIMBUS.
  • NITIN SAWHNEY'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Claude Debussy

      Arabesque no.1 in E major

      Performer: Pascal Rogé.
      • ONYX.
  • NITIN SAWHNEY'S CHOICE NO.3

    • Toumani Diabaté

      Jarabi (Passion)

      Performer: Derek Gripper. Music Arranger: Derek Gripper.
      • NEW CAPE RECORDS.
  • Leonard Bernstein

    Prelude, Fugue and Riffs

    Performer: Benny Goodman. Ensemble: Columbia Jazz Combo. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • SONY.
  • Aaron Copland

    Clarinet Concerto

    Performer: Benny Goodman. Orchestra: Columbia Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Aaron Copland.
    • CBS.
  • Robert Fuchs

    Etwas langsam, sehr innig (Nine Fantasy Pieces, Op.74 No.2)

    Performer: Pinchas Zukerman. Performer: Marc Neikrug.
    • BIDDULPH.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: STEVEN ISSERLIS

    • Joseph Haydn

      Cello Concerto in C, H.VIIB:1

      Performer: Steven Isserlis. Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Sir Roger Norrington.
      • RCA.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Saeviat tellus inter rigores, HWV 240

    Singer: Annick Massis. Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
    • ARCHIV.
  • Igor Stravinsky

    Scherzo fantastique, Op.3

    Orchestra: CBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Igor Stravinsky.
    • SONY CLASSICAL.

Recording Rewind

The music played:

Wagner
Lohengrin, Act III: Prelude 
Philadelphia Orchestra
Christian Thielemann (conductor)
DG

Broadcast

  • Mon 28 Sep 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.