Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Tom Phillips

With Rob Cowan. Including Five Reasons to Love Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words; Arvo Part: Fratres; Artist of the Week: David Willcocks, featured conducting Haydn's Nelson Mass.

9am
A selection of music including '5 reasons to love... Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words'. Rob explores the tonal variety, subtle poetry, drama and aria-like expression of Felix Mendelssohn's intimate miniatures, in the hands of pianists including Livia R茅v, Vladimir Horowitz and Ignaz Friedman. He also showcases a pair of songs by Felix's sister Fanny, which demonstrate that her compositions matched his in their charm and originality.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: can you work out which two composers are associated with a particular piece?

10am
Rob's guest this week is the artist Tom Phillips. Tom is renowned for his portraiture, sculpture and collages, including his extraordinary ongoing project A Humument, an altered Victorian novel (the pages of which Tom paints, draws and collages over), 49 years in the making. An illustrator, set designer, librettist, composer, curator and collector, Tom is also the author of Music in Art, a survey of art inspired by music. Tom will be sharing a selection of his favourite classical music, every day at 10am.

10.30am
Rob places Music in Time. Rob focuses on the Modern period and the music of Estonian composer Arvo P盲rt. In Fratres his rich but pure harmonic writing edges towards us with hypnotic consistency.

11am
Rob's Artist of the Week is Sir David Willcocks. Throughout the week Rob pays tribute to Sir David Willcocks: organist, composer, and the most celebrated British choral conductor of his generation, who died in September, aged 95. From 1957 until 1974 he was Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge; under his leadership and training the choir became internationally renowned for its precision, immaculate tuning and pure beauty of tone. Through their annual broadcasts of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and Sir David's dazzling carol arrangements and descants, his name has become indelibly associated with Advent and Christmas. For 38 years he was also the musical director of the Bach Choir, conducting them in some eighty performances of the St Matthew Passion, as well as championing music by contemporary British composers. Rob surveys Sir David's glittering recorded legacy, showcasing some of his most acclaimed interpretations, and unearthing some rare gems.

Haydn
Missa in angustiis, Hob.XXII:II 'Nelson Mass'
Sylvia Stahlman (soprano)
Helen Watts (contralto)
Wilfred Brown (tenor)
Tom Krause (bass)
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Simon Preston (organ)
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir David Willcocks (conductor).

3 hours

Music Played

  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: SIR DAVID WILLCOCKS

    • Antonio Vivaldi

      Gloria in excelsis Deo (Gloria, RV.589)

      Choir: Choir of King鈥檚 College, Cambridge. Performer: Sir Andrew Davis. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Sir David Willcocks.
      • DECCA.
  • 5 REASONS TO LOVE...MENDELSSOHN'S SONGS WITHOUT WORDS

    • Felix Mendelssohn

      Song without Words, Op.19 No.5

      Performer: Bernd Glemser.
      • OEHMS.
    • Felix Mendelssohn

      Song without words, Op.62 No.3 'Trauermarsh'

      Performer: Bernd Glemser.
      • OEHMS.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Blumine (Symphony No.1 in D major - original version)

    Orchestra: Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. Conductor: David Zinman.
    • RCA.
  • Francis Poulenc

    Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon

    Performer: Gareth Hulse. Performer: Ursula Leveaux. Performer: Ian Brown.
    • HYPERION.
  • B茅la Bart贸k

    Stick Dance - No 1 of Romanian Folk Dances, Sz 68

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iv谩n Fischer.
    • PHILIPS.
  • Franz Liszt

    Prometheus

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • PHILIPS.
  • Arcangelo Corelli

    Concerto grosso in F major Op.6`2

    Ensemble: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.
    • ARCHIV.
  • TOM PHILLIPS' CHOICE NO.1

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Prelude (Partita for solo violin in E, BWV1006)

      Performer: Alina Ibragimova.
      • HYPERION.
  • TOM PHILLIPS' CHOICE NO.2

    • Benjamin Britten

      Nocturne (Serenade Op.31)

      Singer: Peter Pears. Performer: Dennis Brain. Orchestra: Boyd Neel String Orchestra. Conductor: Benjamin Britten.
      • DECCA.
  • TOM PHILLIPS' CHOICE NO.3

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd sch枚n (The Magic Flute)

      Singer: Jonas Kaufmann. Orchestra: Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
  • Fran莽ois Couperin

    Les baricades mist茅rieuses (Pieces de clavecin - ordre no. 6)

    Music Arranger: Thomas Ad猫s. Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • Insomnia.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 2.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: MODERN

    • Arvo P盲rt

      Fratres

      Performer: Gil Shaham. Performer: Roger Carlsson. Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme J盲rvi.
  • Michael Tippett

    Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli

    Orchestra: 91热爆 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis.
    • Apex.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: SIR DAVID WILLCOCKS

    • Joseph Haydn

      Missa in angustiis, Hob.XXII:II 'Nelson Mass'

      Singer: Sylvia Stahlman. Singer: Helen Watts. Singer: Wilfred Brown. Singer: Tom Krause. Choir: Choir of King鈥檚 College, Cambridge. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir David Willcocks.
      • DECCA.
  • Franz Liszt

    Ricordanza (Transcendental Study No.9)

    Performer: Olivia Sham.
    • AVIE.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    German Dance No 6 in D major, K 571

    Ensemble: Concentus Musicus Wien. Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
    • Walzer Revolution.
    • Sony.
    • 9.

By Association

Answer: Tippett and Corelli

The music played:

Tippett
Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli
91热爆 Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Davis (conductor)
APEX

Broadcast

  • Wed 2 Dec 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.