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Friday - Rob Cowan with Garry Richardson

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Marches; Liszt: Transcendental Studies after Paganini; Artist of the Week: cellist Alban Gerhardt, featured in Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto.

9am
My Favourite... Marches. This week Rob slips on a sturdy pair of boots and steps out to the accompaniment of some of his favourite marches - imperious Mozart, Tchaikovsky's patriotic Marche slave, the humbling Dead March from Handel's dramatic oratorio Saul, the famous Alla marcia that closes Sibelius's Karelia Suite and, most imposing of all, the grief-laden Marche fun猫bre from Berlioz's Grande symphonie fun猫bre et triomphale.

9.30am
Take part in today's challenge: listen to the clues and identify the mystery music-related object.

10am
Rob's guest this week, sharing a selection of his favourite classical music, is the journalist and presenter Garry Richardson, who has been bringing sports news to radio listeners for over thirty years. Garry currently hosts 5 Live's Sportsweek, as well as presenting the sports section of Radio 4's Today programme, and has interviewed leading personalities from Muhammad Ali and David Beckham to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Clinton. Garry will be talking about his career and sharing music by composers including Gershwin, Bach and Verdi every day at 10am.

10.30am
Music in Time: Romantic
Today the spotlight is on the Romantic era and Liszt's Transcendental Studies after Paganini, the digit-defying demands of which pushed pianistic pyrotechnics to the limits on their publication in 1838. Just as Paganini's writing for the violin had redefined what was technically possible on that instrument, Liszt rewrote the piano rulebook, producing works of great charm and brilliance that for many years were unplayable by all but a handful of pianists.

11am
Rob's Proms Artist of the Week is Alban Gerhardt, who ranks among the most sensitive cellists of the younger generation. Gerhardt appears at London's Royal Albert Hall this Wednesday as the soloist in Dvor谩k's Cello Concerto. Throughout the week on Essential Classics we'll hear Gerhardt perform a rich variety of Romantic cello music. The repertoire ranges from the Bachian tones of a Max Reger solo suite and a rarely heard sonata by Alkan, to the subtly-woven sound-world of Faur茅's First Cello Sonata and Enescu's powerful Sinfonia Concertante. Friday's featured work is Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto, an affirmative piece in spite of the composer's declining health and the ever-present menace of Stalin's disapproval.

Prokofiev
Symphony-Concerto in E minor, Op. 125
Alban Gerhardt, cello
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Litton, conductor.

3 hours

Music Played

  • John Philip Sousa

    The Liberty Bell

    Ensemble: Eastman Wind Ensemble. Conductor: Frederick Fennell.
    • Fennell Conducts Sousa Marches.
    • Mercury.
    • 9.
  • Franz Liszt

    Venezia e Napoli: Tarantella, S.162 No.3

    Performer: John Ogdon.
    • SONY.
  • My favourite... marches

    • Hector Berlioz

      Grande symphonie funebre et triomphale, Op.15: I. Marche funebre

      Ensemble: The Wallace Collection. Director: John Wallace.
      • NIMBUS.
  • Igor Stravinsky

    Three Japanese Lyrics

    Singer: Phyllis Bryn鈥怞ulson. Ensemble: Ensemble intercontemporain. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • DG.
  • Giovanni Battista Fontana

    Sonata IV

    Performer: Maurice Steger. Performer: Christian Beuse. Performer: Sergio Ciomei. Performer: Naoki Kitaya.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Steve Reich

    Nagoya marimbas

    Ensemble: Third Coast Percussion.
    • CEDILLE.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Bassoon Concerto in C minor, RV480

    Performer: Robert Thompson. Orchestra: London Mozart Players. Director: Philip Ledger.
    • HERITAGE.
  • Garry Richardson's Choice

    • Modest Mussorgsky

      A Night on the Bare Mountain

      Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Fritz Reiner.
      • Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exchibition and other Russian Showpieces.
      • RCA.
      • 17.
  • Rob's Choice for Garry Richardson

    • Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k

      Symphony No. 4: Scherzo 8:54

      Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Witold Rowicki (conductor).
      • PHILIPS.
  • Music in Time: Romantic

    • Franz Liszt

      Grandes Etudes de Paganini, S.141

      Performer: Nikita Magaloff.
      • DECCA.
  • Amy Beach

    A Mirage (2 Songs Op.100)

    Singer: Emma Kirkby. Ensemble: Romantic Chamber Group of London.
    • BIS.
  • Artist of the Week: Alban Gerhardt

    • Sergey Prokofiev

      Symphony-Concerto in E minor, Op.125

      Performer: Alban Gerhardt. Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Litton.
      • HYPERION.
  • Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    Scherzo no.2 in B flat minor Op.31

    Performer: Martha Argerich.
    • Chopin: 26 Preludes Scherzo NR. 2 - Martha Argerich.
    • Deutsche Grammaphon.
    • 29.

Mystery Object

Answer: the bassoon

Broadcast

  • Fri 5 Aug 2016 09:00

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