Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Alan Ayckbourn

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Romantic and 20th-Century Shakespearean Music; Music in Time; Artist of the Week: Marc Minkowski conducts Schubert's Symphony No 9.

9am
My favourite... Romantic and 20th-Century Shakespearean Music. Throughout the week Rob shares a selection of music from the last two hundred years inspired by the plays of the Bard. The line-up includes Korngold and Mendelssohn's musical interpretations of the comedies Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as the Queen Mab Scherzo from Berlioz's choral symphony Rom茅o et Juliette and the conclusion of Verdi's masterful comic opera Falstaff.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: can you remember the television show or film that featured this piece of classical music?

10am
Rob's guest is the Olivier and Tony Award winning playwright and director Sir Alan Ayckbourn. Alan has written eighty plays to date, including Relatively Speaking, How the Other Half Loves, Absurd Person Singular, Bedroom Farce and The Norman Conquests. His plays have been produced in the West End as well as around the world, though Alan is most associated with the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough where he was Artistic Director for many years, and where the majority of his work has been premiered. Alan will be talking about his life in the theatre and sharing a selection of his favourite classical music, including works by Jan谩cek, Tallis and Bart贸k, every day at 10am.

10.30am
Music in Time: Modern
Rob places Music in Time. Today he examines a piece from the Modern era. Scored for solo soprano and orchestra, Abrahamsen's Let Me Tell You offers a contemporary, musical re-working of one of Shakespeare's most tragic heroines: Hamlet's Ophelia.

11am
Rob's artist of the week is the conductor Marc Minkowski. Hailed as one of the finest early music specialists of his generation, Minkowski founded the period-instrument ensemble, Les Musiciens du Louvre. With this much-praised ensemble he has performed and recorded repertoire not only from the Baroque and Classical periods, but also by Romantic composers including Bizet and Wagner. Throughout the week Rob shares Minkowski's distinctive accounts of Charpentier's Te Deum, Berlioz's dramatic Symphonie fantastique, Schubert's final 'Great' Symphony in C major, Handel's cantata Il delirio amoroso (with soloist Magdalena Kozena), and M茅hul's rarely-heard First Symphony.

Schubert
Symphony No. 9 in C major 'Great'
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Marc Minkowski (conductor).

3 hours

Music Played

  • PROMS ARTIST OF THE WEEK: MARC MINKOWSKI

    • Jean鈥怭hilippe Rameau

      Dardanus (Tambourins 1 and 2)

      Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
      • Rameau: Une Symphonie Imaginaire: Musiciens du Louvre/Minkowski.
      • Archiv.
      • 4.
  • MY FAVOURITE...ROMANTIC AND 20TH-CENTURY SHAKESPEAREAN MUSIC

    • Giuseppe Verdi

      Falstaff: conclusion

      Singer: Giuseppe Valdengo. Singer: Herva Nelli. Singer: Nan Merriman. Singer: Clo毛 Elmo. Singer: Frank Guarrera. Singer: Teresa Stich-Randall. Singer: Antonio Madasi. Singer: Gabor Carelli. Singer: John Carmen Rossi. Singer: Norman Scott. Choir: Robert Shaw Chorale. Orchestra: NBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Arturo Toscanini.
      • RCA.
  • Enrique Granados

    Spanish Dance Op.37 No.4 鈥榁illanesca鈥

    Performer: Alicia de Larrocha.
    • DECCA.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Capriccio Italien

    Orchestra: Russian National Orchestra. Conductor: Mikhail Pletnev.
    • PENTATONE.
  • Pablo de Sarasate

    Caprice basque Op.24

    Performer: Leonidas Kavakos. Performer: Enrico Pace.
    • DECCA.
  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Dixit Dominus No.1 a 8, 1640

    Choir: Choir of the King鈥檚 Consort. Orchestra: The King's Consort. Conductor: Robert King.
    • HYPERION.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    7 Variations on 'God save the King' for piano

    Performer: Georges Cziffra.
    • EMI.
  • ALAN AYCKBOURN'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Stefano Landi

      Passacaglia della vita

      Singer: Marco Beasley. Singer: Johannette Zomer. Ensemble: L鈥橝rpeggiata. Director: Christina Pluhar.
      • ALPHA.
  • ALAN AYCKBOURN'S CHOICE NO.2

    • B茅la Bart贸k

      The Miraculous Mandarin (Allegro - Curtain)

      Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antal Dor谩ti.
      • DECCA.
  • ALAN AYCKBOURN'S CHOICE NO.3

    • Ludwig van Beethoven

      Piano Concerto no.1 in C (3rd mvt)

      Performer: Paul Lewis. Orchestra: 91热爆 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ji艡铆 B臎lohl谩vek.
      • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: MODERN

    • Hans Abrahamsen

      Let Me Tell You: Part III

      Singer: Barbara Hannigan. Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Hamlet: Suite, Op.32a (excerpts)

    Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
    • DG.
  • PROMS ARTIST OF THE WEEK: MARC MINKOWSKI

    • Franz Schubert

      Symphony No.9 in C major 鈥楪reat鈥

      Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
      • 狈础脧痴贰.

Heard on Screen

Answer: The King's Speech

The music played:

Beethoven
II. Allegretto (Symphony No.7 in A major)
Vienna Philharmonic
Carlos Kleiber (conductor)
DG

Broadcast

  • Wed 20 Jul 2016 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.