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Friday - Rob Cowan with Jocelyn Bell Burnell

With Rob Cowan. Including Musical challenge; Music in Time: Sibelius's Symphony No 6; Artist of the Week: Arturo Toscanini, featured conducting Elgar's Enigma Variations.

9am
Rob sets the tone and mood of the day's programme with a range of music to intrigue, surprise and entertain.

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge. Two pieces of music are played together. Can you identify them?

10am
Rob's guest this week is the astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Whilst still completing her PhD at Cambridge University Jocelyn made what is considered one of the greatest astronomical discoveries of the twentieth century. She discovered Pulsars, small stars near the end of their life-cycle which emit radio signals, pulses. Uncovering Pulsars has unlocked many doors in the field of astrophysics, validating and enabling many other notable scientists. Jocelyn has since become a role model for young students and female scientists throughout the world, and when she became professor she doubled the number of female Physics professors in the UK. As well as discussing her life and work, Jocelyn has chosen a selection of her favourite classical music.

10.30am
Music in Time: Modern
Rob ventures into the Modern period to explore Sibelius' Symphony No.6, an icy landscape captured in sound.

11am
Rob's Artist of the Week is the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. Considered one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was admired for his faithfulness to the score as well as for the incendiary thrust he brought to his interpretations. His career began sooner than perhaps he might have expected. Whilst on tour in South America as an Assistant Chorus Master he was called upon to conduct Verdi's Aida after three other conductors were either booed-off by the audience or rejected by the cast; Toscanini was only 19, but he conducted the whole opera from memory. He went on to be a leading opera conductor, entrusted with the world premieres of Puccini's La Bohème and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and he was Principal Conductor at La Scala, Milan twice during his career. He spent much of his working life in America, leading the Metropolitan Opera, the NBC Symphony Orchestra - an orchestra created for him - and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also the first non-German conductor to appear at Bayreuth. This week Rob's chosen his interpretations of Elgar's Enigma Variations, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Debussy's Iberia, part of Wagner's Götterdämmerung and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 with Vladimir Horowitz.

Elgar
Variations on an Original Theme 'Enigma'
91ȱ Symphony Orchestra
Arturo Toscanini (conductor).

3 hours

Music Played

  • Jean Sibelius

    Andantino in A JS38

    Performer: Jaakko Kuusisto. Performer: Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic. Performer: Taneli Turunen.
    • BIS.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Rondo a Capriccio, Op.129 'Rage over a Lost Penny'

    Performer: Evgeny Kissin.
    • RCA.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: ARTURO TOSCANINI

    • Niccolò Paganini

      Moto Perpetuo

      Music Arranger: Arturo Toscanini. Orchestra: NBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Arturo Toscanini.
      • RCA.
  • Edward Elgar

    As Torrents in Summer (Scenes from The Saga of King Olaf)

    Choir: Cambridge University Chamber Choir. Conductor: Christopher Robinson.
    • NAXOS.
  • Otmar Mácha

    Variations on a Theme by and on the Death of Jean Rychik

    Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Karel Ančerl.
    • IMG.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Fantasia in C major H.17.4 for piano

    Performer: Alfred Brendel.
    • Philips.
  • Arcangelo Corelli

    Trio sonata in A major, Op 4 No 3

    Ensemble: Avison Ensemble.
    • LINN.
  • Leos Janáček

    Sokol Fanfare, from Sinfonietta

    Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Antonín Dvořák

    Rondo in G minor Op.94 for cello and piano

    Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • HYPERION.
  • JOCELYN BELL BURNELL'S CHOICE NO.1

    • Sergey Rachmaninov

      Vespers, Op.37 (Glory Be To God)

      Choir: St. Petersburg Chamber Choir. Conductor: Николай Корнев.
      • DECCA.
  • JOCELYN BELL BURNELL'S CHOICE NO.2

    • Arvo Pärt

      Spiegel im Spiegel

      Performer: Lisa Batiashvili. Performer: Hélène Grimaud.
      • DG.
  • Rob's choice for JOCELYN BELL BURNELL

    • Franz Liszt

      Annees de Pelerinage, Italie: Sonnetto 104 del Petrarca

      Performer: Dinu Lipatti.
      • WARNER CLASSICS.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: MODERN

    • Jean Sibelius

      Symphony No.6 in D minor, Op.104

      Orchestra: San Francisco Symphony. Conductor: Herbert Blomstedt.
      • DECCA.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: ARTURO TOSCANINI

    • Edward Elgar

      Variations on an Original Theme 'Enigma'

      Orchestra: 91ȱ Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Arturo Toscanini.
      • EMI.
  • John Joubert

    Autumn Rain, Op.105

    Performer: Domonkos Csabay. Choir: Domonkos Csabay. Director: Paul Spicer.
    • Somm.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: ARTURO TOSCANINI

    • Samuel Barber

      Adagio

      Orchestra: NBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Arturo Toscanini.
      • RCA.
  • Frédéric Chopin

    Scherzo No.1 in B minor, Op.20

    Performer: Vladimir Horowitz.
    • BMG Classics.

Musical Challenge: Imperfect Harmony

The two clips being played simultaneously were from Dvorak's Cello Concerto & Janacek's Sinfonietta.

Broadcast

  • Fri 24 Mar 2017 09:00

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