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Shakespeare Day

Music inspired by Shakespeare, including Mendelssohn's overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Arthur Sullivan's incidental music for The Tempest.

As part of Radio 3's day celebrating music inspired by William Shakespeare, Penny Gore presents great concert performances from across Europe and from the 91Èȱ¬ performing orchestras. Today's 3pm highlight is Mendelssohn's overture and incidental music for A Midsummer night's Dream. Also featured, two late 19th-century takes on The Tempest, by Tchaikovsky and Sullivan, and ballet music from Verdi's operatic version of Macbeth.

c2pm
Thomas Arne: Where the bee sucks
Emma Kirkby (soprano)
Academy of Ancient Music
Christopher Hogwood (cond.)

Sullivan: Macbeth – Overture
91Èȱ¬ National Orchestra of Wales
Rumon Gamba (cond.)

c2.25pm
Tchaikovsky: The Tempest – fantasia
91Èȱ¬ Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Alpesh Chauhan (cond.)

c3pm
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Overture; Scherzo; Nocturne; Wedding March
91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra
Jiri Belohlavek (cond.)

c3.30pm
Sullivan: The Tempest – incidental music
91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic
Richard Hickox (cond.)

c4.30pm
Verdi: Macbeth – ballet music
Orchestra of La Scala Milan
Claudio Abbado (cond.)

3 hours, 1 minute

Last on

Wed 8 Nov 2023 14:00

Music Played

  • Thomas Arne

    Where the bee sucks (The Tempest)

    Singer: Emma Kirkby. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music. Conductor: Christopher Hogwood.
    • The pure voice of Emma Kirkby.
    • Decca.
    • 8.
  • Craig Armstrong

    Balcony Scene (Romeo + Juliet)

    Orchestra: Studio Orchestra.
    • Capitol.
  • Leonard Bernstein

    I feel pretty (West Side Story)

    Singer: Deborah Sasson. Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas.
    • Sony.
  • John Rutter

    Blow, blow, thou winter wind (When icicles hang)

    Choir: The Cambridge Singers. Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: John Rutter.
    • Collegium.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Tempest (Fantasia)

    Composer: Alpesh Chauhan. Orchestra: 91Èȱ¬ Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Alpesh Chauhan.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Credo in un Dio crudel (Otello)

    Performer: Paul Daniel. Singer: Bryn Terfel. Orchestra: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Bryn Terfel: Bad Boys; Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 4.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    A Midsummer Night's Dream (Overture, Scherzo, Nocturne and Wedding March)

    Conductor: 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jiří BÄ›lohlávek.
  • Thomas Morley

    O mistress mine

    Singer: Ian Bostridge. Performer: Elizabeth Kenny.
    • Warner.
  • Arthur Sullivan

    The Tempest - incidental music (Op.1)

    Ensemble: 91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • GB91Èȱ¬.
  • Matthew Locke

    The Tempest (Curtain tune)

    Ensemble: Kitgut Quartet.
    • 'Tis too late to be wise.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 3.
  • Henry Purcell

    Halcyon Days (The Tempest)

    Singer: Nancy Argenta.
    • Purcell: Songs and Airs.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 214.
  • Erich Wolfgang Korngold

    Much Ado about Nothing - Suite Op.11 (Intermezzo)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: André Previn.
    • Korngold: Orchestral Works: London Symphony Orchestra/Previn.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 5-8.
  • Otto Nicolai

    Moon chorus (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

    Choir: Wiener Singverein. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel.
    • SONY.
  • William Hargreaves

    The Night I Appeared as Macbeth

    Singer: Martin Connor.
    • TER.
  • Patrick Doyle

    Much Ado About Nothing (Overture)

    Conductor: David Snell.
    • Epic.
  • Gioachino Rossini

    Otello, ossia Il moro di Venezia (Assisa appie d'un salice 'Willow song')

    Singer: Joyce DiDonato. Singer: Roberta De Nicola. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome. Conductor: Edoardo Müller.
    • Colbran, The Muse.
    • VIRGIN CLASSICS.
    • 12.
  • John Bull

    Prelude and In nomine, MB 14 30

    Performer: Simon Preston.
    • Early English Organ Music: Simon Preston.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 7.

Broadcast

  • Wed 8 Nov 2023 14:00