Explore every episode of the podcast Composer of the Week Podcast

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of the 18th century composer Joseph Bologne

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of a musician also remarkable for his sporting prowess. Joseph Bologne’s story throws a light on the political turbulence affecting France in the 18th century, and on the legacy of colonialism and slavery.

Bologne is celebrated as the first composer of African descent to attain widespread acclaim in Europe.

Donald is joined by Olivette Otele, distinguished Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery at SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Music Featured:

String Quartet in G minor, Op 1, No 3 (2nd mvt, Rondeau) Symphonie Concertante in A major, Op 10, No 2 Violin Concerto in D major, Op 3, No 1 Symphony in G major, Op 11, No 1 Quartetto concertans No 4 in F major (2nd mvt, Rondeau) String Quartet in D major, Op 1, No 6 Lolli: Violin Concerto No 2 in C major, Op 2 (1st & 3rd mvt) Violin Concerto in A major, Op 5, No 2 (1st mvt, Allegro Moderato) Symphonie Concertante in C major, Op 9, No 1 Violin Concerto in G major, Op 8, No 2 (3rd mvt, Rondeau) Keyboard Sonata No 2 in A major with obbligato violin (1st mvt, Allegro moderato) Ernestine (Scena) Symphonie Concertante in E flat, Op 13, No 1 L’Amant anonyme (excerpt) Quartetto concertans No 3 in C major (2nd mvt, Rondeau: Moderato) Symphonie Concertante, Op 6 No 2 in B-flat major, G 038 Violin Concerto in C major, Op 5 No 1 (2nd & 3rd mvts) Haydn: Symphony No 85 in B-flat major, Hob I:85, "La reine" (The Queen): (1st mvt, Adagio - Vivace) String Quartet in G minor, Op 14 No 6 (1st & 2nd mvts) String Quartet in C minor, Op 1 No 4 (2nd mvt, Rondeau) Concertante Quartet in G minor, Op 15 No 2 Violin Concerto in A major, Op 7 No 1 Symphonie Concertante in F major, Op 10 No 1 String Quartet in C Major, Op 1 No 1 (2nd mvt, Rondeau: Tempo di minuetto; Grazioso)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Audio Wales & West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George (1745-1799) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021jym

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the world of Ethel Smyth through five love affairs

British composer Dame Ethel Smyth was one of the early 20th century’s most original cultural voices. A prodigious musical talent who was best known for her operas, she was a force of nature, an unapologetic eccentric who didn’t suffer fools gladly, and a rule-breaking, trail-blazing feminist. Alongside music, she was an accomplished sportswoman, and her driven and playful nature - as well as her endurance - would not only shape her career but her personal life too. This week, Donald Macleod explores Smyth’s story through what she termed her “passions” – the key all-consuming relationships that changed the course of her life, and how they were a necessary force for her creativity.

Music Featured:

Fête Galante (Overture/Sarabande) Aus der Jugendzeit! Kom, süsser Tod Lieder, Op 4 No 2, Schlummerlied Violin Sonata (3rd mvt, Romanze) Variations on an Original Theme (of an Exceedingly Dismal Nature) String Quintet, Op 1 (3rd-5th mvts) Piano Suite in E major 2nd mvt, Bourree) Piano Trio (3rd mvt, Scherzo) 4 Songs (No 2, The Dance) Serenade in D major (3rd & 4th mvts) Der Wald (excerpt) The Wreckers Overture Lieder, Op 4 No 4 “Nachtreiter” Klavierstück in E major Cello Sonata in C minor (1st & 2nd mvts) The Wreckers, Act II (Prelude “On the Cliffs of Cornwall” (arr. for winds) ) Mass in D (Gloria) Fête Galante (excerpt) Violin Sonata (2nd mvt) March of the Women The Boatswain’s Mate (excerpts) Possession (Three Songs, No 2) String Quartet in E minor (3rd & 4th mvts) Soul’s Joy, Now I am Gone Two Interlinked French Melodies from Entente Cordiale Odelette (Four Songs, No 1) Mass (Sanctus / Benedictus) The Prison (Nos 14-16) Double Concerto for Horn and Violin (2nd mvt, Elegy)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales & West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00219n7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson sets out so show us why Elizabeth Maconchy deserves much more of our attention

Elizabeth Maconchy is surely the greatest composer of string quartets ever to emerge in the British Isles; and yet her music is often ignored in favour of lesser works by more famous British composers. So says Maconchy’s biographer, Erica Siegel, who joins Kate Molleson to explore the life and works of this key figure in Britain and Ireland’s musical story. Across the week, Kate and Erica set out to show us why Maconchy deserves much more of our attention. We’ll hear stories of personal crises, public apathy and outrageous institutional sexism, and how Maconchy met each challenge with characteristic grace and perseverance. Her works fizz with invention and purpose and she described her own music as “impassioned argument”.

Music Featured:

String Quartet No 2 (4th mvt) Clarinet Quintet (3rd & 4th mvt) Four Shakespeare Songs (No 1, Come Away, Death) The Land - A Suite for Orchestra Concertino No 2 for Piano and String Orchestra String Quartet No 1 (4th mvt) Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra (2nd mvt) Oboe Quintet Sonata for Viola and Piano String Quartet No 3 Nocturne Dialogue for Piano and Orchestra (2nd & 4 mvts) Two Dances from Puck Fair String Quartet No 5 (2nd & 3rd mvt) Concertino for Bassoon and String Orchestra String Quartet No 7: (4th mvt, Scherzo I) Proud Thames Overture The Sofa (excerpts) The Departure (excerpts) Serenata Concertante There is no rose Trittico Epyllion Morning, Noon and Night String Quartet No 13 'Quartetto Corto'

Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Chris Taylor for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yyf6

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the richly evocative musical landscape of Ottorino Respighi

This week, we’re invited to explore the richly evocative musical landscape of Ottorino Respighi. The colourful inventiveness of his most popular music was often inspired by images, places or stories, like his trio of ‘Tone Poems’: Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome, and Roman Festivals. These works and others were frequently championed by celebrated conductor, Arturo Toscanini, and Respighi rose to become one of the leading Italian composers of the twentieth century. He remains hugely popular with orchestras and audiences today. Respighi’s trademark orchestral brilliance betrays the influence of his Russian mentor, Rimsky Korsakov. He was also fascinated by early music and sometimes incorporated antique styles into his works. In this series, Donald Macleod explores Respighi’s life and music from different perspectives, including his associations with Bologna, Rome and the USA, the important presence of his wife, Elsa, and also his complicated relationship with Toscanini.

Respighi was born in Bologna in 1879, and the city would have a lasting influence upon the composer, even after he’d moved to Rome. It was here, as a young man, that Respighi first discovered his interest in the music of the Renaissance and Baroque, which would have a great impact on his future compositions. Also in Bologna, he began performing in the Theatre Orchestra, a job which eventually led him to St. Petersburg where he encountered, Rimsky-Korsakov. Bologna also boasted a number of second-hand bookshops, where Respighi enjoyed spending his time. Over the years he amassed several thousand volumes, some of which inspired operas and songs.

Music Featured:

Adagio con variazioni, P. 133 Violin Sonata in B minor, P. 110 (Moderato) Burlesca per Orchestra, P. 59 Notte. P. 55a Nebbie, P. 64 Aretusa, P. 95 Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No 1, P. 109 (Balleto detto “Il conte Orlando”) Il tramonto, P. 101 Fountains of Rome, P. 106 Violin Sonata in B minor, P. 110 (excerpt) Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No 2, P. 138 (Danza Rustica) Pines of Rome, P. 141 Concerto Gregoriano, P. 135 (Finale) Belfagor overture, P. 140 Poema autunnale, P. 146 Deità silvane, P. 147 No 1 (excerpt) Trittico botticelliano, P. 151 Gli uccelli, P. 154 (The Hen) Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3, P. 172 (excerpt) Prelude and Fugue in D major, P 158 (after J.S. Bach’s BWV 532) Notturno, P. 44 Roman Festivals, P. 157

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014npm

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Edward Gregson and Alan Bush

This week, Donald Macleod is in conversation with British composer, Edward Gregson, who offers a fascinating window into his own story and also the life and work of his mentor, Alan Bush. We’ll see how both composers have made significant contributions to Britain’s musical story, and we explore the events that led to the very different trajectories of their careers.

Edward Gregson knew that classical music would be his life after encountering Brahms’s music as a teenager. He studied composition with Alan Bush, and his natural instinct for melody and brilliant orchestral colour have made him a popular choice with audiences and performers across the world. He also prides himself in rising to a challenge, including taking on the leadership of one of Britain’s major musical conservatoires.

In the early part of the twentieth century, Alan Bush seemed destined to become of the regular stalwarts of Britain’s music scene, alongside his contemporaries William Walton and Michael Tippett. It was not to be. Bush's conversion to communism put him at odds with the British establishment and sent his career in a very different direction. His story is intriguing and frustrating in equal measure but, Edward argues, Bush’s ever-present political agenda shouldn’t detract from the intrinsic quality of his music.

Music Featured:

Gregson: Concerto for Orchestra (III. Toccata) Gregson: Quintet for Brass, (1st mvt) Gregson: Music for Chamber Orchestra (I. Lento maestoso) Gregson: Connotations Gregson: Six Little Pieces for piano (Nos. 1-4) Gregson: The Kings go Forth (I. The Church) Bush: Concert-Piece for cello and piano (opening) Bush: Relinquishment Bush: Dialectic Bush: Piano Concerto (extract) Bush: Symphony No 1 (1st mvt) Gregson: Stepping Out Gregson: Violin Concerto (2nd mvt) Gregson: Shadow of Paradise Gregson: Make a Joyful Noise Gregson: Clarinet Concerto (Part 1) Bush: Three Concert Studies (I. Moto Perpetuo) Bush: Violin Concerto (II. Andante espressivo) Bush: Symphony No 2, ‘The Nottingham Symphony’ (III. ‘Castle Rock’ & IV ‘Goose Fair’) Bush: Voices of the Prophets (Nos. 1-3) Bush: Africa - Symphonic movement for piano and orchestra (extract) Gregson: Symphony in two movements (I. Toccata) Gregson: String Quartet No 1 (1st mvt) Bush: Symphony No 4, ‘Lascaux Symphony’ (II. ‘The Children’) Gregson: Dream Song

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Taylor for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Edward Gregson (b 1945) and Alan Bush (1900-1995) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014g7k

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores Elgar's own belief that he was an outsider from British society

Elgar is the composer we turn to in times of national celebration, of pride (Pomp and Circumstance Marches) and of public grief (Nimrod). He mingled with royalty and was made a knight of the realm, seemingly a pillar of the Edwardian and early 20th Century British establishment. And yet, for most of his life he felt himself to be a misfit. This week, Donald Macleod explores some of the reasons for that sense of unbelonging.

Music Featured:

Chanson du matin My love dwelt in a northern land Serenade for Strings (I. Allegro piacevole) Sea Pictures (I. Sea Slumber Song; II. In Haven (Capri); III. Sabbath Morning at Sea) Variations on an Original Theme “Enigma” (Var.7 (Troyte) – 14 (Finale - EDU)) Bavarian Dance No.1 From the Bavarian Highlands (V. On the Alm) The Dream of Gerontius, Part 2: “I see not those false spirits” … “Praise to the holiest” Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 in D The Apostles, Part 2, Scene 4: The Betrayal, In Gethsemane There is Sweet Music Introduction and Allegro In Smyrna Symphony No.1 in A flat (I. Andante (Nobilmente e semplice) – Allegro) Pomp and Circumstance March No.4 in G The Wand of Youth Suite (I. Fairies and Giants) Violin Concerto in B minor (I. Allegro) Piano Quintet in A minor (II. Adagio) Cockaigne (In London Town) – Overture Nursery Suite (I. Aubade; VI. The Merry Doll) Violin Sonata in E minor (III. Allegro non troppo) Cello Concerto in E minor Pomp and Circumstance March No.5 in C

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Graham Rogers

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Edward Elgar (1857-1934) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001408x

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod lifts the veil on neglected yet prolific composer, Marianna Martines

Marianna Martines lived and worked in Vienna alongside some of classical music’s greatest names. She was tutored by Haydn, played piano duets with Mozart, corresponded with Padre Martini and Farinelli, and was frequently invited to perform for the Imperial Court. For nearly forty years, she was mentored by Metastasio, Europe’s most celebrated opera librettist. Martines became a significant personality in Viennese cultural circles, with her works regularly performed in the city and commissions and honours coming her way from across Europe. This week, Donald Macleod is joined by Dr Jeremy Llewellyn to lift the veil on this long neglected yet prolific and highly celebrated composer and discover the unique perspective her story provides on cultural life in Vienna during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Music Featured:

Dixit Dominus (excerpt) Keyboard Concerto in E Joseph Haydn: Symphony No 1 in D Sonata in E for harpsichord Sonata in A for harpsichord WA Mozart:Missa solemnis in C minor, K139 Overture in C Sonata in G for harpsichord (Allegro brillante) Come le limpide onde (excerpt) Keyboard Concerto in A Dixit Dominus (excerpt) Keyboard Concerto in G Il primo amore Sonata in G for harpsichord (Allegro assai) La Tempesta Santa Elena al Calvario (excerpt) Il nido degli amori WA Mozart: Sonata for two pianos in D, K448 (Allegro con spirito) Orgoglioso fiumciello

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC Cymru Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Marianna Martines (1744-1812) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013s39

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod reflects on Franz Liszt's Hungarian story - he spent little time there and couldn't speak the language but just how important to his music was the land of his birth?

Music Featured:

Hungarian Rhapsody No 8 in F sharp minor Die Drei Zigeuner Symphonic Poem: From the Cradle to the Grave Fantasy on Motifs from Beethoven's 'Ruinen von Athen' Variation on a Theme of Diabelli Hungarian Rhapsody No 10 in E - 'Preludio' Hungarian Rhapsody No 5 in E minor 'Heroide-elegiaque' Six Grandes Etudes de Paganini - No 6 "La Campanella" Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Themes Hungarian Rhapsody No 15 'Rakoczy March' Arbeiterchor Symphonic Poem - 'Hungaria' Liebestraum No 1 'Hohe Lieb' 'Magyarok Istene' (version for organ) 2 Légendes - No 2 'St Francois de Paule marchant sur les flots' Hungarian Coronation Mass - II. 'Gloria' Hungarian Rhapsody No 9 in flat 'Pesther Carnival - II. Finale presto Piano Concerto No 2 in A Hungarian Rhapsody No 6 in D flat Hungarian Rhapsody No 4 in d minor (orchestal arrangement) Die Legende von der Heiligen Elisabeth - Part 2 ("Death of Elisabeth"; "Chorus of Angels") Hungarian Portraits - "Mosonyi Grabgeleit" Cardas Macabre (arr. for Hungarian folk instruments) Seven Sacramenta - Responsories V. 'Extreme unctio' Hungarian Rhapsody No 11 in a minor

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Wines

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Franz Liszt (1811-1886) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013hz8

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully was the most influential French composer of the 17th Century, a key figure in the court of Louis XIV. This week, Donald Macleod explores how Lully rose from humble origins in Italy to become the most powerful musician in France, a story of lies, ambition and intrigue.

Music Featured:

Phaëton, LWV 61, Overture Le Carnaval, LWV 52, Overture Le Carnaval, LWV 52 (Air “Son dottor per occasion”) Dies Irae, LWV 64/1 Dances - Les noces de village, LWV 19 (excerpts) Psyché, LWV 56 (Finale) Atys, LWV 53, Overture Anon - Les Nuits Ballet: Ouverture Ballet royal de Flore, LWV 40 (excerpt) Ballet royal des amours déguisés, LWV 21 (Air “Ah! Rinaldo, e dove sei?”) L’amour malade, LWV 8 Jubilate Deo - Motet de la paix, LWV 77/16 Alcidiane, LWV 9, Ouverture Armide, LWV 71 (End of Act II) Ballet Naissance de Venus, LWV 27 (excerpt) Le Triomphe de l’amour, LWV 59 (excerpts) Miserere, LWV 25 Les Plaisirs de l'île enchantée, LWV 22 (Divertisment No 5) Le Carrousel de Monseigneur, LWV 72 (Marches Militaires) La Princesse d’Elide, LWV 22 (Quand l’amour a nos yeux) Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, LWV 43 (excerpt) Psyché, LWV 45, Act I “Deh, piangete al pianto mio” Cadmus et Hermione, LWV 49 (Marche pour le sacrifice; ‘C'est vainement que l'on espère’) Te Deum, LWV 55 (Sinfonie and Te deum laudamus) Thesée, LWV 51 (end of Act V) La Bourgeois Gentilhomme, LWV 43 (La cérémonie turque) Armide, LWV 71, Overture De Profundis, LWV 62 (Requiem aeternum)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00137m6

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod chats to composer Errollyn Wallen about her life and work

Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen has been called a “renaissance woman of contemporary music”. She’s a remarkably versatile and prolific composer, pianist and songwriter and one of our most in-demand musical voices today. She was the first black woman to have a piece performed at the Proms in 1998 and her music opened the 2012 Paralympic games. She's even been performed in space, aboard NASA’s STS115 mission. Wallen writes in a kaleidoscopic range of styles; her music constantly crosses and re-crosses musical boundaries and it brims over with a sense of adventure and delight. This week, Donald Macleod gets to know Errollyn as she dials into his studio from her Scottish lighthouse where she retreats to concentrate on her work.

Music Featured:

I Wouldn’t Normally Say It’s a Quarter to Nine Percussion Concerto (2nd movement – excerpt) Louis’ Loops Photography NNENNA My Granny Sarah Woogie Boogie Dervish Concerto Grosso Horseplay (1st and 2nd movements) In Our Lifetime TIGER Lines It all depends on you (excerpt) The Girl in My Alphabet Three Ships (IV – Some Trouble) Red (Homage to Rodrigo) Greenwich Variations What’s Up Doc? Daedalus Five Postcards About Here Tree Of Crumpling Rocks Are you worried about the rising cost of funerals? (i. beehive; iv. guru) Peace on Earth Jerusalem, our clouded hills gun gun gun Mighty River Cello Concerto (excerpt) See That I am God

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Errollyn Wallen https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00131m7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod delves into the operas of Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini was man of the theatre to his fingertips. Born in Lucca in 1858, into a distinguished family of church musicians, Puccini was never destined to follow in his forebears’ footsteps. His fate was sealed when as a teenager he walked thirty miles to hear Verdi’s Aida. He knew immediately that theatre was his calling and from that point on he wrote almost exclusively for the stage.

A perfectionist and an often unreasonable taskmaster, Puccini agonised over each of his operas. Beginning with Manon Lescaut, the opera that launched Puccini internationally, this week Donald Macleod follows the off and the on-stage dramas of La Boheme, Tosca, Madam Butterfly, La fanciulla del West, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Il tabarro and the opera he left incomplete at his death in 1924, his final masterpiece, Turandot. The stories on stage are interleaved with events in his personal life, from an early scandal over his affair with a married woman and some very dodgy skulduggery in his business dealings, to the suicide of one of his servants, a tragedy of such proportion, he was plunged in to a deep depression, haunted by the events for the rest of his life.

This week, Donald Macleod celebrates a composer whose music expresses every human emotion, there's a host of landmark recordings, including the voices of Jonas Kaufmann, Angela Gheorghiu, Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna. We'll hear Mimì's touching calling card from La Boheme, in the classic Victoria de los Angeles version, while Renato Scotto pours all Madam Butterfly's hopes into the heart-breaking Un bel dì. There's the raw pain of Sister Angelica mourning her dead son, and the dark desperation of a jealous husband in Il tabarro. On Wednesday Callas and Gobbi’s anguished, sadistic torture scene in Tosca still has the power to shock us as much as it did on its first night in 1900. It's high stakes and nail-biting tension in La fanciulla del West as Minnie trades the life of her outlaw lover on the outcome of a card game. Joan Sutherland’s icy Princess Turandot, a magnificent pairing with Luciano Pavarotti’s Prince Calaf comes on Friday along with a certain aria made famous by the 1990 world cup, heard here in the hands of another Puccini specialist, Jussi Björling.

Music Featured:

Manon Lescaut, Act 1: Donna non vidi mai Le Villi, Act 1: Preghiera: Angiol di dio Messa di Gloria (Credo) Crisantemi Manon Lescaut, Act 2: Dispettosetto questo Riccio!; In quelle trine morbide Manon Lescaut, Act 4: Sola, perduta, abbandonata; Fra le tue bracce amore La Bohème, Act 1: Mi chiamano Mimì La Bohème, Act 1: Pensier profondo!; Legna!; Si può Capriccio sinfonico La Bohème, Act 3: Donde lieta uscì; Dunque è proprio finita….Addio, dolce svegliare Tosca, Act 1 (excerpt) Tosca, Act 1: Ah! Finalmente (excerpt) Vissi d’arte, Act 2 (excerpt) Tosca, Act 2 (excerpt) Tosca, Act 3 (excerpt) Madama Butterfly, Act 1 (excerpt) Madama Butterfly, Act 1: Viene la sera; Vogliatemi bene Gianni Schicchi (O mio babbino caro) Gianni Schicchi (excerpt) Il tabarro (Nulla silenzio!) La fanciulla del West, Act 1 (excerpt) La fanciulla del West, Act 2: Una partita a poker! Suor Angelica (excerpt) Turandot (Nessun Dorma) Madam Butterfly, Act 2: Un bel dì vedremo Madam Butterfly, Act 2: Una nave da guerra; Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio; Or vieni ad adornar Turandot, Act 1: In Questa Reggia; Ascolta straniera; Gloria o vincitore! La Boheme, Act 4: Fingevo dormire

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012rn4

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores Mozart’s prolific final years.

Five years before Mozart’s premature death aged 35, the composer felt at the top of his game. He was performing regularly in Vienna and his music was beloved throughout the city. However, the Austro-Turkish War between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire would soon have a negative impact on Mozart’s prospects, along with changing musical taste in the Austrian capital. The nobility had more important things to do than hold concerts and commission new music. Money was in shorter supply. As a composer for hire, Mozart had to change tack and write chamber music for publication and for performance in middle class homes, rather than concertos for the nobility.

Music Featured:

Horn Concerto No 4 in E flat major, K 495 (I. Allegro maestoso) Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor, K 491 (I. Allegro) Sonata for Piano 4 Hands in F major, K 497 (I. Adagio - Allegro di molto) Symphony No 38 in D major, K 504 “Prague” (I. Adagio – Allegro) Symphony No 39 in E flat major, K 543 (I. Adagio – Allegro) Adagio in B minor, K 540 Divertimento in E flat major, K 563 (II. Adagio) Clarinet Quintet in A major, K 581 (II. Larghetto) Piano Sonata No. 17 in B flat major, K 570 (I. Allegro) Gigue in G major, K 574, "Leipziger Gigue" Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K 492, Act 1 (excerpt) Symphony No 41 in C major, K 551, "Jupiter” (II. Andante cantabile) Don Giovanni, K 527, Act II (excerpt) Così fan tutte, K 588 (excerpts) Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620, Act II: Allegro Ave verum corpus, K 618 6 German Dances, K 600 (No 1 in C Major; No 3 in B-Flat Major; No 6 in D Major) Kyrie in D minor, K 341 Piano Concerto No 27 in B flat major, Op 17, K 595 (I. Allegro) String Quintet No 6 in E flat major, K 614 (I. Allegretto di molto, IV. Allegro) Fantasia in F minor for mechanical organ, K 608 (arr. for wind quintet) La Clemenza di Tito, K 621, Act I: Quintetto con poro) Clarinet Concerto in A major, K 622 (I. Allegro, II. Adagio) Requiem in D minor, K 626 (completed by F.X. Sussmayr)(except)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Iain Chambers

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012pn0

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns once said “I produce music as an apple tree produces apples.” In his day, that fruit was gobbled up all across Europe where the composer was acclaimed as the greatest of all French musicians. Liszt called him the greatest organist in the world. Yet in France, and in his home city of Paris, he was not always so highly regarded, despite his strong bond with his homeland. This week, as we mark the centenary of his death, Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of Saint-Saëns, charting the changing relationship with France of one of the greatest musicians that the country has ever produced.

Music Featured:

Samson and Delilah, Op 47 (Bacchanale) Le Soir Piano Quintet in A minor, Op 14 (III. Presto) Le muse et la poete, Op 132 Piano Trio No 2 in E minor, Op 92 (I. Allegro non troppo) Symphony in F major “Urbs Roma” (II. Molto Vivace) Fantaisie in D-flat major, Op 101 Tarantella in A minor, Op 6 The Carnival of the Animals (Aquarium; The Swan; Finale) Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor, Op 22 Danse Macabre, Op 40 Marche Heroique, Op 34 (2 piano version) Phaeton, Op 39 Allegro appasionato in B minor, Op 43 Le Deluge, Op 45 (Prelude) Requiem, Op 54 (Sanctus; Benedictus; Agnus Dei) Reverie Henry VIII, Act 2: “Reine! Je serai reine!” Symphony No 3 in C minor, Op 78 “Organ Symphony” (Finale) Suite Algerienne, Op 60 Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op. 167 (III. Lento) Ascanio – Act V, Scene 2: Tableau 7 (excerpt) Desir de l’orient Piano Concerto No 5 in F, Op 103 'Egyptian' (III. Molto Allegro) L’Assassinat du duc de Guise, Op 128 Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor, Op 28 Calme des nuits, Op 68, No 1

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012gl1

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

In 1773, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach sat down to record his life story. He’d been asked to write it down for a new book on German music and it made him one of the first composers to produce an autobiography. This week, Donald Macleod follows the composer’s story, using Bach’s own account as his guide. Bach’s words provide fascinating insights into the things he considered most important but it’s possible that what he chose to leave out is even more revealing.

Music Featured:

L'Aly Rupalich, Wq 117 No 27 Symphony for Strings and Continuo in G major, Wq 182 No 1 Fantasia for keyboard in C major, Wq 61 No 6 Trio Sonata in B minor, Wq 143 Keyboard Concerto in G major, Wq 3 Symphony in G major, Wq 173 (1st mvt) Trio Sonata in A Minor, Wq 148 Sonata in A minor, Wq 132 (1st mvt) Cello Concerto No 3 in A major, Wq 172 (2nd & 3rd mvts) Sonata in E minor, Wq 49 No 3 Magnificat in D, Wq 215 (1, Magnificat anima mea Dominum; 5, Fecit potentiam; 10. Sicut erat in principio) Keyboard Sonata in E flat major, Wq 52 No 1( 2nd & 3rd mvts) Sonata in C minor ‘Sanguineus and Melancholicus’ Wq 161 No 1 Phyllis and Thirsis, Wq 232 (excerpt) Sinfonia in B-Flat Major, Wq 182 No 2 (3rd mvt) 30 Geistliche Gesänge mit Melodien, Book 2, Wq 198: (Nos 2 & 8) Die Israeliten in der Wüste, Wq 238 (extract from Part 1) Symphony in B minor, Wq 182 No 5 Rondo in E Major, Wq 58 No 3 Rondo in F Major, Wq 57 No 5 Sonata in D Minor, Wq 57 No 4 (2nd mvt) Quartet in G Major, Wq 95 (3rd mvt) Heilig, Wq 217 Keyboard Sonatina in D Major, Wq 109 Freye Fantasie in F sharp minor, Wq 80

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Taylor for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for CPE Bach (1714-1788) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yr0r

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod is joined by the composer Mark-Anthony Turnage

Mark-Anthony Turnage is a man with a reputation for shaking up the world of British classical music - a composer with a distinctive and rebellious creative voice. His work vividly fuses influences of jazz, soul and contemporary pop with music that remains boldly and defiantly avant-garde. It’s music that packs a punch, yet whose visceral impact accompanies a deep lyricism and emotion. Over four decades, Turnage’s work has tackled social commentary: domestic violence, drug abuse, and the refugee crisis. But he’s also a composer with a subversive streak, with an opera exploring the life of former Playboy model Anna-Nicole Smith, and orchestral pieces inspired by his beloved Arsenal football club and pop superstar Beyoncé.

Music Featured:

Greek, Act 1: Breakfast Quartet On Opened Ground (1st mvt) Night Dances (3rd mvt, Nocturne) Greek, Act 1: Prologue and Wine Bar Music; Act 2: Journey to the Sphinx… Three Farewells (All Will Be Well) Blood On The Floor (Blood On The Floor) Set To Three Screaming Popes Twice Through The Heart (Part Two) Your Rockaby (excerpt) True life stories (Tune for Toru) The Silver Tassie, Act 1: Oh Bring To Me A Pint Of Wine Slide Stride The Silver Tassie, Act 2, Scene 2 (excerpt) The Silver Tassie, Act 4 Scene 3 Scorched (Let’s Say We Did) Remembering (4th mvt) Hammered Out From The Wreckage Anna Nicole, Act 1 (excerpt) Texan Tenebrae Twisted Blues With Twisted Ballad (Reflections on “Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin) Milo, for solo cello Piano Concerto (2nd mvt, "Last Lullaby For Hans") UNDANCE (excerpts) Concerto for Two Violins "Shadow Walker" (2nd & 3rd mvts) Speranza (4th mvt, Tikvah)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Steven Rajam, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Mark-Anthony Turnage (b 1960) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00126xb

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

As part of his 80th birthday celebrations in 2010, Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim looked back over his life and work, with Donald Macleod. The result is a fascinating retrospective of half a century of creativity, with the artist himself as tour guide. Along the way, he explodes a few myths about the inner workings of musical theatre.

Sondheim starts by talking about his childhood, his parents' divorce, his near-adoption by the Hammerstein family and his apprenticeship with Oscar Hammerstein, the lyricist of Oklahoma! Then there's the rollercoaster ride of his early career: his first, abortive Broadway show; two amazing breaks, when he was commissioned to write the lyrics for first West Side Story, then Gypsy; his unhappy collaboration with Richard Rogers; and his major creative breakthrough with Company, a musical with situations and characters but no conventional plot, and the first appearance of characteristic Sondheim subject-matter - the virtual impossibility of forming good relationships. As one British critic observed, "It is extraordinary that a musical, that most trivial of forms, should be able to plunge as Company does, with perfect congruity, into the profound depths of human perplexity and misery.".

Next, and in typical Sondheim fashion, Stephen expands the notion of what the musical could be, with razor-sharp language and cracking tunes to boot: Follies, in which a reunion of Ziegfield-style Follies stars in a derelict theatre becomes a metaphor for the death of the American dream; A Little Night Music, a musical about relationships written almost entirely in waltz-time, that spawned Sondheim's most famous song, 'Send in the Clowns'; and Pacific Overtures, a 'kabuki musical' with an all-Japanese cast - an exploration of the 19th-century westernization of Japan, seen from the Japanese perspective.

Sweeney Todd is widely regarded as Sondheim's masterpiece, an extraordinarily powerful work which he has modestly described as "a small and scary evening about the need for revenge.". Sweeney Todd was a huge success and is widely performed today, from schools (in a special educational edition) to opera houses. Whereas Merrily We Roll Along, failed to catch the public mood. It is a tale of disintegrating friendships and compromised idealism, narrated, in a characteristic structural twist, backwards. Despite a marvellous score, it remains Sondheim's biggest flop to date. Among other topics, Sondheim also discusses his long-time collaboration with director Hal Prince, the logistics of working with an orchestrator, and the heart attack he suffered in 1979, just three weeks after the opening of Sweeney.

Next, the musical that grew out of a painting; a tangled web of fairytales; and a positively murderous show about the assassins, and would-be-assassins, of US presidents. The painting in question is Seurat's hugely famous A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and the work it inspired was the Pulitzer-prize-winning Sunday in the Park with George, a deeply personal show about the joys and the costs of creation. The fairytales are the ones familiar to every child, but in Into the Woods they are woven together in an extraordinarily intricate way, before completely unravelling in the second act. Assassins caused a huge furore when it was unveiled in 1990, not least because it happened to coincide with the opening salvo of the first Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm - under such circumstances, a show that climaxed with the assassination of JFK was bound to be interpreted as deeply unpatriotic. Sondheim also talks about the logistics of mounting a Broadway production, and the pleasures of "trancing out" during the creative process.

Finally, Passion, a kind of reversal of the Beauty and the Beast myth, which Sondheim has described as "one long rhapsody, a straightforward, non-ironic love story"; The Frogs, a contemporary take on Aristophanes originally staged in the swimming pool at Yale University (with Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver in the chorus line); and Road Show, a musical about the Mizner brothers which proves the old adage that "musicals aren't written, they're re-written" - it's currently in its fourth incarnation.

Donald Macleod explores a crucial decade in Sibelius’s life

The 1910s were a crucial decade in Sibelius’s life. He would write some of his greatest works during these ten years, including his fourth and fifth symphonies and the beginnings of his sixth. Sibelius’s meditations on the symphony and its role in his creative life are a recurring theme in the week’s programmes.

This period also reflects Sibelius’s life in microcosm, including his battles with alcohol and indebtedness; his need for the stimulus of foreign travel, and the periods of creative inertia, which would decisively return during his later years.

We travel around the world with Sibelius, returning to Finland at the outbreak of the first world war, which would have a major impact on his life and work, not least with the Finnish Civil War of 1918 and Finland’s subsequent independence: these were formative events for Sibelius.

We also home in on Sibelius’s personal life and relationships during the 1910s, including his money troubles coming to a head, and the return of alcohol to his life from 1917, after years of abstinence.

Music Featured:

In memoriam, Op 59 (revised version 1910) Symphony No 4 in A Minor, Op 63 (1st & 2nd mvts) String Quartet in D Minor, Op 56, "Voces Intimae" (2nd & 3rd mvts) Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op 47 (3rd mvt) Kallion kirkon kellosavel (The Bells of Kallio Church), Op 65b Two Serenades Op 69 Rakastava (The Lover), Op 14 Piano Sonatina in F-Sharp Minor, Op 67, No 1 Luonnotar (Daughter of Nature) Op 70 Barden (The Bard), Op 64 Lemminkainen Suite, Op 22 (4th mvt) The Oceanides, Op 73 6 Partsongs, Op 18 (version for mixed chorus) (Nos 1, 3, 4 & 6) Two Pieces for Violin and Orchestra, Op 77 Jokamies (Everyman), Op 83 Symphony No 5 in E-Flat Major, Op 82 Drömmarna (The Dreams), JS 64 Jaakarien marssi (Jager March), Op 91a (version for orchestra) Humoresques for Violin and Orchestra, Op 87 Oma maa (Our Native Land), Op 92 Symphony No 6 in D Minor, Op 104

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Iain Chambers

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011rwj

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod and guest, Kevin Le Gendre follow the jazz adventures of Carla Bley

One of the most original voices in jazz, composer, arranger, performer and band-leader Carla Bley has been determinedly pursuing her own musical path for more than sixty years. Her back catalogue of some fifty plus recordings tell the story of a musician who's responded in her own unique style to all the current trends, from free and experimental jazz in the 60s and 70s to 80s soul, blues and R&B. In later decades, she's written for and created big bands recalling the musical landscapes of Count Basie and the Duke and in the last 20 years, she's refined a distilled, intimate style for smaller chamber ensembles, in particular performing in a Trio with her life partner, bassist Steve Swallow and the British saxophonist Andy Sheppard. Little wonder then, her fellow musicians affectionately call Bley 'Countess Bleysie' and 'Bleythoven'. Featuring a selection of recordings suggested by Carla Bley, Donald Macleod and Kevin Le Gendre follow Bley's musical adventuring from her early days writing for Paul Bley and Gary Burton, to her latest album for the Carla Bley Trio, released in 2020.

Music Featured:

King Korn Carla Bley/Paul Bley: Ictus Donkey Ida Lupino Escalator Over the Hill (Hotel Overture; Why; Little pony soldier) Walking Batterie Woman Dreams so Real Blunt Object Silent Spring Reactionary Tango in 3 parts Song sung Long Útviklingssang Walking Batteriewoman (vers. for piano and bass) Wildlife (Horns; Paws without Claws; Sex with Birds) The Girl Who Cried Champagne Lawns The Girl Who Cried Champagne ( Part 1) Fleur Carnivore Strange Arrangement Who Will Rescue You? On The Stage In Cages Doctor Wrong Key Donkey And then one Day Vashkar Wildlife

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Cymru Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Carla Bley (b 1936) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011lmc

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of composer, Luigi Cherubini

An octogenarian when he died in 1842, Cherubini's long life places him alongside three giants of the age, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. When he was born in 1760, Mozart was four years old, and Haydn was in his thirties. Beethoven was born a decade after Cherubini. Standing among these luminaries, all of whom he admired, Cherubini was a composer, conductor, teacher, administrator, theorist and music publisher, who enjoyed a much higher standing in his own lifetime than his present day reputation might suggest. Beethoven and latterly Wagner are just two of a long list of notables who hugely admired his music. These days it's perhaps through his masses that many people come to his music, so it may be a surprise to discover that he followed the fashion of his day, and produced a considerable number of successful operas. This week Donald Macleod follows Cherubini's progress from his Florentine childhood to Paris, where he was to settle and see his theatrical ambitions realised, in addition to taking on the directorship of the Paris Conservatoire, a position which gave him considerable influence over successive generations.

Music Featured:

Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuna, Overture Il Giocatore:, Intermezzo Mass in F minor (Chimay) (excerpt) Sonata for harpsichord no 3 in B flat major Nemo gaudeat in festo septem dolorum BV virginis a 8 voci Il Giulio Sabino, Sinfonia (3rd mvt) Horn sonata No 2 in F major Symphony in D major (1st mvt, Largo – Allegro) Mass No 2 in D minor (Kyrie) Il Giulio Sabino, Act 1: Aria, I mesti affetti miei Overture in G major Lodoïska, Act 1: Aria, Triomphons avec noblesse Démophon, Overture Lodoiska, Act 2 (excerpts) Eliza, ou Le voyage aux glaciers du Mont St. Bernard, Overture Clytemnestre, recit Aux lois d’Agamemnon Marcia per il signore Baron di Braun Faniska, Overture Chant sur la mort de Joseph Haydn (excerpt) Les deux journées, ou le porteur d’eau, Act 2 (excerpt) Medea, Act 3 Finale Les Abencérages, Overture Anacréon, Overture Requiem No 1 in C minor (excerpt) String Quartet No 2 (1st mvt, Lent – Allegro) Requiem No 2 in D minor for male chorus & orchestra (Agnus Dei)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Cymru Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011bml

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

To mark Sofia Gubaidulina’s 90th birthday, Donald Macleod and Gerard McBurney explore five different aspects of her progressive and distinctive music. Gubaidulina has been living in Germany since 1992 and is still busy composing today. When she was born in 1931 in Tatarstan, the Soviet Union was under Stalinist rule. Up until her emigration, she worked as a composer under the strictly regulated conditions determined by Soviet cultural policies. This week, we get an insight into the life of a composer behind the Iron Curtain, as Gubaidulina developed her own creative path, un-swayed by any hint of ideological pressure.

Music Featured:

Musical Toys Allegro rustic for flute and piano Offertorium Piano sonata (1st mvt, Allegro) Pantomime for Double Bass and piano Seven words for Cello, Bayan and Strings (Est ist Vollbracht) 5 Etudes for harp, double bass and percussion (Nos 1, 4 & 5) Vivente – non vivente Artyomov: Archipelagos of Sounds in the Ocean of Time (excerpt) Sheptalki Concordanza Johannes Passion (The word) Rejoice! Sonata for Violin and Cello (5th mvt, Listen to the small voice within) Stimmen….. Verstummen (8th Mvt) In Croce Alleluja (Vjeruju (Credo); Da ispolnjatsja usta maja: quarter note) Hommage to Marina Tsvetayeva for a capella chorus (The Day’s burden has sunk beside the Waves) Rubaiyat Galgenlieder (excerpt) Hommage a TS Eliot (excerpt) Garden of joy and sorrow for flute, harp, spoken voice ad lib. (excerpt) Glorious Percussion (excerpt) Hour of the Soul (1976/1988) for solo percussionist, mezzo-soprano and large orchestra (excerpt) Canticle of the Sun (excerpt) In Tempus Praesens for violin and orchestra (excerpt) Quasi hoquetus

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Cymru Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Sofia Gubaidulina (b 1931) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00113yq

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod tries to get to the heart of JS Bach’s character, warts and all.

Johann Sebastian Bach, who is now almost universally recognised as one of the giants of classical music, was not always so celebrated. In his own lifetime he received some public recognition but this contrasted with his regular complaints of unjust humiliations at the hands of his contemporaries and his employers. Was the composer hard done by or were these problems of his own making?

This week, Donald Macleod tries to get to the heart of Bach’s character, warts and all, through five different periods in the composer’s life. We’ll be hearing from some of Bach’s most glorious music, as Donald ponders what the composer’s character might mean for our understanding of the man and his art.

Music Featured:

St Matthew Passion, BWV 244, “Wir setzen uns mit Tranen nieder” Solo Violin Sonata No 1 in G minor, BWV 1001 (I, Adagio) Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 Passacaglia and fugue in C minor, BWV 582 Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11, “Ach bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben” Ein Feste Berg ist unser Gott, BWV 80 (Opening Chorus) Coffee Cantata, BWV 211, “Hat man nicht mit seinen Kindern” Capriccio in E Major, BWV 993 Violin Concerto No 1 in A minor, BWV1041 Sonata in A minor, BWV 965, after Reincken Suite No 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 – Overture Toccata & Fugue in F major, BWV 540 Christen, atzet diesen Tag, BWV 63, "Höchster, schau in Gnaden an" Prelude & Fugue in E flat major, BWV 852 from The Well-Tempered Clavier Brandenburg Concerto No 6 Lute Suite in E minor, BWV 996 (Bourée) Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott, BWV 127 Suite No 1 in G major for solo Cello, BWV 1007 Ich habe genug, BWV 82 - "Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen" Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder, BWV 135 “Weicht, all’ihr Ubeltater” Fantasia in G, BWV 572 Orchestral Suite No 3 (Air) Mass in B minor, BWV 232 (Gloria in excelsis & Et in terra pax) Musical Offering , BWV 1079 (Sonata for Flute, Violin and Continuo) The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (Contrapunctus XIV)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010g9g

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod attempts to unravel the enigmatic, remarkable story of Julius Eastman and his music.

When this week’s composer died homeless and alone in 1990, almost no one knew, not even his friends, and his work threatened to disappear with him. Julius Eastman had lit up America’s contemporary music scene as a spellbinding performer and a visionary composer whose music is difficult to pigeonhole. A gay, black man in the predominantly white world of new music, Eastman was often misunderstood. His musical voice fused minimalism with pop and the avant-garde, and was inextricable from his identity politics - a sound that was provocative then and remains so today. He collaborated with luminaries such as Pierre Boulez, Peter Maxwell Davies and Meredith Monk but also faced many struggles, leading to his premature and tragic decline. This week, Donald Macleod shares his long-overdue story, with insights from American baritone Davone Tines, a performer and champion of Eastman’s music.

Music Featured:

Stay On It (excerpt) Piano 2 (1st movement) Gay Guerrilla If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (excerpt) Colors (extract) Ensemble Tra I Tempi Michael Veltmann, conductor Meredith Monk: Dolmen Music (Men’s Conclave – WaOhs) Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King (Scotch Bonnet, Spanish March) Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan D’Arc Colors Joy Boy Stay On It Fugue No 7 Arthur Russell: Instrumentals, Part I Dinosaur L: No, Thank You! Femenine (Part 1 – Prime) Evil N***** Touch Him When Piano 2 (2nd movement) The Holy Presence of Joan of Arc Buddha Femenine (Final section, Must Return)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced in Cardiff by Amelia Parker

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Julius Eastman (1940-1990) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00106ny

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod follows Wagner's journey towards building the Bayreuth Festival.

This week, Donald Macleod follows Wagner on his decades-long journey to realise his dream of building his own music theatre, and establishing a festival there dedicated to his music. We see how Wagner’s revolutionary ideas and vaulting ambition struggled against the reality of securing supporters, raising finances, and inspiring audiences.

Music Featured:

Das Rheingold, Scene 1: “Lugt, Schwestern! Die Weckerin lach in den Grund” Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Tannhäuser: Act 3 Scene 1: “Allmächt’ge Jungfrau, hör mein Flehen!” and Scene 2 “O du, mein holder, Abendstern” Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III Tristan and Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod Das Rheingold: End of Scene 3 “Ohe! Ohe! Schreckliche Schlange…“ Die Walküre: Act 2, “Hinweg! Hinweg! Flieh die Entwihte!...” Tannhauser: Act 2 Finale Lohengrin: Act 3, “In fernem Land” Das Rheingold, Scene 4, Finale (Entry of the Gods into Valhalla) Lohengrin: Act 3, “Treulich geführt ziehet dahin” (Bridal March) Tristan and Isolde: Act 2, “O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe…” (Love duet) Die Walküre, Act 3 opening (The Ride of the Valkyries) Siegfried: Act 3, “Mit zerfochtner Waffe wich mir der Feige” Gotterdämmerung: Prologue, Sunrise and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey Siegfried: Act 3, “Heil dir, Sonne! Heil dir, Licht!” (Brünhilde’s awakening) Die Walküre: Act III, Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music Götterdämmerung: Siegfried’s Funeral March Götterdämmerung: "Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort“ (Brunhilde’s Immolation Scene) Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Act 3, Scene 5 “Morgenlich Leuchtend” (Walther’s Prize Song) Parsifal: Prelude to Act 1 Parsifal: Act 1, Entry to the knight’s castle Meistersinger: Act 3, Scene 4, “Selig wie die Sonne” (Quintet) Parsifal: Act 2, Scene 2 (Klingsor’s magic garden) Parsifal – Good Friday Music

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Taylor, for BBC Cymru Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Richard Wagner (1813-1883) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010040

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Béla Bartók.

Music Featured:

For Children Piano Concerto No 3 Contrasts Hungarian Sketches Kossuth 14 Bagatelles, Nos 4 & 5 Piros Alma / Red Apple 44 Duos for Two Violins (No 44, Transylvanian Song) Allegro Barbaro Romanian Folk Dances for Orchestra Transylvanian Dance String Quartet No 2 (i Moderato; ii Allegro molto capriccioso) Orchestral Suite No 2 (ii Allegro scherzando) Three Hungarian Folk Tunes The Miraculous Mandarin Suite Village Scenes (i Wedding; ii Lullaby) Dance Suite Two Portraits (ii One grotesque – Presto) Out of Doors (iii Musettes; iv The Night's Music; v The Chase) Piano Concerto (i Allegro moderato; ii Andante) Cantata Profana Mikrokosmos Bulgarian Rhythm No 1 (Vol 4, No 113) Study in Chords (Vol 3, no 69) Perpetuum Mobile (Vol 5, No 135) Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion Sixth String Quartet (iii Mesto – Burletta – moderato; iv Mesto) Sonata for Solo Violin (i Tempo di ciaccona) Concerto for Orchestra (v Finale)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Martin Williams, for BBC Cymru Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Béla Bartók (1881-1945) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ztnr

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod tracks the scandalous life of Achille-Claude Debussy

In the music of Claude Debussy there have been said to run dangerous and destructive currents. His radical works did forge a path which would redefine music in the 20th Century, but his beautiful music runs contrary to his shocking personal life. The Scottish soprano Mary Garden said of him, “I honestly don’t know if he ever loved anybody really. He loved his music – and perhaps himself.” The lies and duplicity, deception and debt left other unfortunate people in their wake, with Debussy unrepentant throughout. In the aftermath of these scandals, Debussy was disowned by his friends, and by most of Parisian society, but the notoriety he gained only seemed to heighten his appeal with audiences. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod tracks the scandalous life of Achille-Claude Debussy and tries to reconcile his appalling behaviour with his transcendent music.

Suite Bergamasque (3rd mvt, Claire de Lune) La Mer (2nd mvt, Jeux de vagues) Ariettes Oubliee (No 5, Green) Images for Orchestra (No 2, Iberia) Mélodies de Jeunesse (No 3, Les Papillons) Recueil Vasnier, L 53 (Romance – Silence ineffable) Printemps (2nd mvt, Modere) Danse bohemienne Deux Arabesques Rodrigue et Chimene (excerpt) (arr. Smith & orch. Denisov) La damoiselle élue (Chorus: La damoiselle élue s’appuyait) Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune Proses Lyriques (No 3, De fleurs) Prelude – La Fille aux cheveux de lin 3 Chansons de Bilitis Fetes Galantes (Claire de Lune) Trois Nocturnes Images, L 110 (No 2, Hommage a Rameau) Estampes (No 2, La soiree dans Grenade) Pelléas et Mélisande, Act III (excerpt) Rhapsodie for saxophone and orchestra L’isle joyeuse Danse Sacrée et Danse Profane La Mer (3rd mvt. Dialogue of the Waves) Children’s Corner (Cakewalk) 5 Poemes de Charles Baudelaire (No 3, Le Jet d’eau) The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (Act V: Paradise) Jeux, L 126 Sonata for flute, viola and harp, L 137 (Finale) La chute de la maison Usher, L112 (excerpt) (completed and orchestrated by R Orledge) Syrinx

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Claude Debussy (1862-1918) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ygtn

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores some of the challenges Telemann faced as he struggled for success

Georg Philipp Telemann was one of the most celebrated musicians of the 18th century. In Europe, his fame eclipsed that of his close contemporaries Handel and Bach and he left behind him a vast legacy of works. This week, Donald Macleod turns the spotlight on this often forgotten musical superstar, exploring the many challenges he met, the influence of his family and friends and the composer’s involvement in promoting his own music.

Music Featured:

Concerto in E minor for recorder, flute, strings and continuo, TWV52:e1 (Presto) Sonata for violin and basso continuo in G, TWV 41:G1 (Allegro & Adagio) Ouverture Suite in A minor, TWV 55:a2 Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu, TWV 6:6 (Tod! Wo ist dein Stachel?) Seig der Schönheit, TWV 21:10 (excerpt) Trumpet Concert, TWV 51:D7 (Adagio) Germanicus (Rimembranza crudel) Concerto for 2 violins in G, TWV 52:G2 Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G2 (excerpt) Brockes Passion, TWV 5:1 (excerpt) Overture Suite in G, TWV 55:10 “Burlesque de Don Quixotte” (excerpt) Flute Quartet in A minor, TWV 43:a3 Herr, ich habe lieb die Stätte deines Hauses, TWV 2:2 Concerto for Oboe in C minor, TWV 51:c1 Trio in G minor, TWV 42:g5 (Essercizii musici) Trio in G major, TWV 42:G11 (Vivace) Das Seliges Erwägen, TWV 5:2 (excerpt) Concerto for 2 Oboes and Bassoon in C, TWV 53:C1 (Concerto alla Francese) Quartet No 10 in B minor, TWV 43:h2 (excerpt) Deus judicium tuum, TWV 7:7 Violin Concerto in D, TWV 51:D10 (Vivace) Quartet in G, TWV 43:G2 Fantasie in A minor, TWV 33:19 Fantasie in E minor, TWV 33:4 Ouverture-Suite in C, TWV 55:C3 (Wassermusik) (excerpt) Ino, TWV 20:41 (excerpt)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zbym

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod turns his attention to Rachmaninov’s great choral works

Rachmaninov has been seen as the last great champion of Russian Late Romanticism. He was a celebrated pianist and conductor, as well as a composer, and his musical legacy includes his hugely popular piano concertos. This week, Donald Macleod turns his attention to Rachmaninov’s great choral works and his story during the periods in which they were composed. These choral masterpieces are both sacred and secular, and include the cantata Spring, the choral symphony The Bells, Three Russian Songs, the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, and the iconic All-night Vigil. Donald explores what inspired Rachmaninov while he was writing this music, including creative collaborations, beautiful poetry, and places in Russia and abroad.

Music Featured:

How Fair this Spot, Op 21, No 7 Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor, Op 18 (Adagio sostenuto) Suite No 2 for two pianos, Op 17 Spring, Op 20 Before my window, Op 26, No 10 Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor, Op 30 (Allegro ma non tanto) Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op 31 No’s 6-10 Etudes-tableaux, Op 33, No 8 (Moderato) Lilacs, Op 21, No 5 The Muse, Op 34, No 1 It Cannot Be, Op 34, No 7 The Bells, Op 35 Piano Sonata No 2 in B flat minor, Op 36 (Allegro molto) Vocalise, Op 34, No 14 All-night Vigil Op 37 (excerpt) To Her, Op 38, No 2 Daisies, Op 38, No 3 A-u!, Op 38, No 6 Piano Concerto No 1 in F sharp minor, Op 1 (Allegro vivace) Kreisler, arr. Rachmaninov, Liebeslied Piano Concerto No 4 in G minor, Op 40 (Allegro vivace) Three Russian Songs, Op 41 All-night Vigil Op 37 (excerpt)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zbym

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod and Andrew Graham-Dixon build a picture of music and art in Josquin's time

The humanist Cosimo Bartoli described Josquin as the Michelangelo of Music. A master of polyphonic choral writing, Josquin was as widely admired in his own lifetime as posthumously. While Josquin was a dominant force in music, the Franco-Flemish area with which he’s associated, also produced some remarkable painters, who, like Josquin and his fellow composers, exported their style, technical accomplishments and influence across Europe. This week, to mark the 500th anniversary of Josquin’s death, Donald Macleod visits the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square with art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon, to build a picture of Josquin’s music and the places he lived and worked, which also stimulated painters to produce equally outstanding Art. To accompany the series the paintings they discuss can be viewed on the Radio 3 website.

Considering his standing, it’s surprisingly difficult to map Josquin’s life. His birthdate was possibly 1450 or perhaps 1455 and it’s thought he was a choirboy at the collegiate church of St. Géry in Cambrai. Documents show he died in 1521, by which time he was probably in his seventies. He spent his last years as provost of the Collegiate church of Notre Dame in Condé sur l’Escaut, a town near Saint Quentin, right on the border with what’s now Belgium. In between times, Josquin may have had an association with the royal courts of King René in Aix-en Provence and Louis XI of France, before working for the influential Sforza family in Milan and becoming the first maestro di cappella for Ercole d’Este in Ferrara.

Music Featured:

Ave Maria …virgo Serena Missa l’ami Baudichon (Credo) Adieu mes amours Nymphes des Bois, arr. Ariel Abramovich, Anna Maria Friman, John Potter, Lee Santana Pater noster La Bernardina Guillaume se va chaufer O bone et dulcissime Jesu Illibata dei virgo nutrix Memor esto verbi tui, “Psalm 118” Que vous madame Petite camusette Baises moy ma doulce’amye Adieu mes amours Tu solus qui facis mirabilia Fama malum Vultum tuum deprecabuntur (Intermerata virgo; Ora pro nobis virgo) Qui velatus facie fuisti Missa L’homme arme super voces musicales (Sanctus) Missa fortuna Alma Redemptoris mater / Ave regina Missa l’homme armé sexti toni (Gloria) Missa La sol fa re mi (Credo) Domine non secundum peccata Stabat Mater a 5 El grillo Inviolata, integra et casta es Virgo salutiferi genitrix a 5 Missa Hercules Dux Ferriae (Sanctus; Benedictus) Praeter rerum serium Miserere mei Deus secundum

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Josquin and Art https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000z63f

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Antonín Dvořák.

In an era overloaded with brooding and overwrought, Romantic sensibilities, Antonín Dvořák’s music shone with grace and joy and humanity. Audiences were enchanted and adopted Dvořák as one of the 19th century’s most beloved composers. He was especially in demand in Britain and the USA, and enjoyed successful visits both countries. Dvořák was never happier, though, than at home in his native Bohemia, listening to the birds singing, feeding his pigeons, and indulging in a bit of train spotting, too.

Music Featured:

Cigánské melodie, Op 55 No 4 (Songs my mother taught me) Slavonic Dances Op 46 (excerpt) Hussite Overture, Op 67 Violin Concerto in A minor, Op 53 (Finale) Symphony No 6 in D, Op 60 (Scherzo) Stabat Mater, Op 58 (excerpt) Symphony No 7 in D minor, Op 70 (excerpt) Terzetto, Op 74 (Tema con variazioni) Slavonic Dances, Op 72 No 2 (Dumka) Piano Quintet in A major, Op 81 (excerpt) Symphony No 8 in G major, Op 88 (excerpt) Carnival Overture, Op 92 Piano Trio No 4 in E minor, Op 90 (Dumky) Symphony No 9 in E minor, Op 95 “From the New World” (excerpt) String Quartet No 12 in F, Op 96 (excerpt) Cello Concerto in B minor, Op 104 (Finale) Humoresque in G flat, Op 101 No 7 The Water Goblin, Op 107 Song to the Moon, Op 114 (Rusalka) (1900) String Quartet No 13 in G, Op 106 (excerpt)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ycqy

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod in conversation with award winning American composer Jennifer Higdon.

If you were to ask Jennifer Higdon what her biggest musical influence might be, she’s more likely to cite Lennon and McCartney than Bach or Beethoven. Born in 1962 in New York, the soundtrack of her childhood was the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and Peter Paul and Mary, the Rolling Stones, and reggae. A move to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to a farmhouse in rural Tennessee, added bluegrass and country music. It wasn’t until Higdon was in her teens that her musical curiosity directed her towards classical music. Formal studies followed, and she began to compose when she was 21 years old. Coming to classical music later on, has been, according to Higdon, a significant factor in her own musical language. She’s now one of the most performed living American composers. Having just completed her second opera and a concerto in the past year, Higdon is much in demand, with commissions on her books that take her right up to 2024.

Recorded at the end of May, speaking to Donald Macleod from Articulate Studios in Philadelphia, USA, in an extended interview Jennifer Higdon gives a fascinating insight into her life and her musical preoccupations. Starting with strings on Monday, they move on to vocal writing, the influence of colour on music, the natural world and writing concertos, an area which has now become something of a speciality.

Music Featured:

Dance Card (No 5, Machina Rockus) String Poetic (II: Nocturne, arr for cello and piano) String Poetic (III: Blue Hills of Mist) Echo dash Voices Viola Sonata (II: Declamatory) Concerto for Orchestra (2nd mvt) Love Sweet (No 2, The Giver of Stars; No 5, A Fixed Idea) O magnum mysterium The Singing Rooms (III: The Interpretation of Dreams (excerpt); IV: Confession) Cold Mountain (Chorus: Our Beautiful Country) A Quiet Moment Love Came Down Blue Cathedral (excerpt) Scenes from the Poet’s Dreams (No 4, In the Blue Fields they sing) City Scape (III: Peachtree Street) Blue Cathedral Piano Trio (I: Pale Yellow; II: Fiery Red) City Scape (II: River sings a song to trees) Scenes From the Poet’s Dreams (II: Summer Shimmers Across the Glass of Green Ponds) Autumn Music Secret & Glass Gardens (excerpt) Splendid Wood (excerpt) All Things Majestic (I: Teton Range) Violin Concerto (III: Fly Forward) Concerto 4-3 for String trio and Orchestra (I: The Shallows) Percussion Concerto (excerpt) Zaka (excerpt) Concerto for Orchestra (3rd mvt) Harp Concerto (III: Lullaby)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced in Cardiff by Johannah Smith

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Jennifer Higdon (born 1962) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000y70t

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla was not well suited to the role of national musical icon. He was at his happiest, living a simple, monkish existence in his spartan Granada villa; fussing over his music in pleasant isolation or enjoying the company of a few close friends. He was generous but withdrawn, quietly and devotedly religious, and had a horror of being dragged into the violent political conflicts that wracked Spain during the first half of the twentieth century. Falla’s enormous talent and unique musical voice meant he was thrust into the very centre of cultural life, despite himself. He was compelled to navigate his way alongside some of music’s most colourful and potent characters, and through momentous historical events.

Music Featured:

La Vida breve (Intermezzo from Act 1) Allegro de concierto Siete canciones populares Españolas No 7 Polo La Vida Breve (Act 2) Nancy Fabiola Herrera, mezzo-soprano (Salud) Cristina Faus, mezzo-soprano (La Abuela) Aquiles Machado, tenor (Paco) José Antonio López, baritone (Tío Sarvaor) Raquel Lojendio, soprano (Carmela) Josep Miquel Ramon, baritone (Manuel) Sequndo Falcón, flamenco (El Cantaor) Gustavo Peña, tenor (Una voz en la fraqua) El Amor Brujo: Ritual Fire Dance (arr. Falla for piano) El pan de Ronda que sabe a verdad Oración de las madres que tienen a sus hijos en brazos El corregidor y la molinera (extract) El Amor Brujo (complete) Noches en los jardines des España, III. En los jardines de la Sierra de Cordoba Siete canciones populares Españolas: No 1 El paño moruno Noches en los jardines des España, I. En el Generalife Fantasia Bética El sombrero de tres picos (Part II) Harpsichord Concerto Soneto a Córdoba El retablo de maese Pedro Psyche Homenaje “Le tombeau de Debussy” Balada de Mallorca Atlántida: La Salve en el Mar Homenajes El sombrero de tres picos (Part I)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced in Cardiff by Chris Taylor

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xr43

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod pulls back the curtain on Berlioz’s greatest obsession

Donald Macleod explores the women who shaped Hector Berlioz’s life and work

Hector Berlioz was one the most innovative and rebellious musicians of 19th century France. He was a man of unwaveringly high expectations, in his wider life as well as his music. As the quintessential Romantic, one friend said that love was the “alpha and omega of his existence”. This week Donald Macleod looks at Berlioz through the passions and relationships that shaped who he was and what he created, exploring the romantic obsessions of an especially obsessive man. We’ll also hear a movement of his Symphonie Fantastique each day – Berlioz’s best known work, and the musical embodiment of his most powerful infatuation.

Music Featured:

Marche Funèbre pour la dernière scène d‘Hamlet (Tristia, Op 18) Irlande (La belle voyageuse) Romeo et Juliette – Scène d’amour Lelio – Choeur d’ombres Symphonie Fantastique (1st movement – Reveries – Passions) Fleuve du Tage Tempest Fantasy Symphonie Fantastique, arr. Liszt for piano (2nd movement) Harold in Italy (1st movement - “Harold aux montagnes”) Requiem: Lacrimosa Chanson de Brigands (Lelio) Symphonie Fantastique (3rd movement - Scene aux champs) Benvenuto Cellini: Overture La Mort d’Ophélie Marche Hongroise Nuits d’été (1. Villanelle, 5. Absence) Symphonie Fantastique (4th movement – Marche au supplice) L’Enfance du Christ, Part II : La fuite en Egypte Béatrice et Bénedict, Act II No 10 : “Dieu, que viens j’entendre?....Il m’en souvient “ Au Cimetière (Nuits d’été) Rêverie et caprice for violin Les Troyens : Act IV, Nos 34b-37 ("O blonde Ceres…Nuit d’ivresse") Le dépit de la bergère, H. 7 Symphonie Fantastique (5th movement – Songe d’une nuit de sabbat)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced in Cardiff by Amelia Parker

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xlhc

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the musical life of Benjamin Britten

Music Featured:

Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (Nos 7 & 8) Phantasy Quartet Nocturne (On This Island) Ballad of Heroes (2nd mvt) Suite for Violin and Piano (Lullaby; Waltz) Hymn to St Cecilia Calypso Young Apollo for Piano and Strings Violin Concerto in D minor (1st & 2nd mvt) An American Overture Ceremony of Carols (Nos 7 & 8) Peter Grimes, Prologue Peter Grimes, “Old Joe has gone fishing” Four Sea Interludes, Op 33a Dark Tower (extract) Oliver Cromwell (Folk Song Arrangements) The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra Peter Grimes, “Embroidery in Childhood” Albert Herring, “Albert the Good” Saint Nicolas (excerpt) Noye’s Fludde, “It is good for to be still” Lachrymae (reflections on a song by John Dowland) Canticle ii: Abraham and Isaac Nocturnal after John Dowland (Passacaglia) War Requiem, Requiem aeternam War Requiem, Sanctus Symphony for cello and orchestra (2nd mvt) Third Suite for Cello(Passacaglia) Death in Venice (excerpt) String Quartet No 3, Op 94 (3rd & 4th mvts)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Martin Williams

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xd01

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

This week, Donald Macleod explores Purcell’s work during his short life in the context of the turbulent times in which he lived. This was a period of intense political and social change, encompassing three different monarchies, the plague, the great fire of London, and the arrival of another deadly pandemic.

Music featured:

Blow up the trumpet in Sion, Z10 Welcome, vicegerent of the mighty king, Z340 Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei, Z135 Sonata a 4 No 4 in D minor, Z805 Theodosius, or The Force of Love, Z606 Morning Service in D, Z232: Te Deum Rejoice in the Lord alway, Z49 “Bell Anthem” Lord, What is Man? Z192, "A Divine Hymn" Thou wakeful shepherd, Z98 "A Morning Hymn" Now that the sun hath veiled his light, Z193, "An Evening Hymn on a Ground" Morning Service in D, Z232: Jubilate Deo I was glad when they said unto me, Z19 Now does the glorious day appear Z332 (opening chorus) Love’s goddess sure was blind, Z331 (excerpts) From hardy Climes and dangerous Toils of War Z325 (excerpts) March and Canzona in C minor, Z860 Dido and Aeneas, Z626 (excerpts) The Fairy Queen, Z629 (excerpts) The Indian Queen, Z630 (excerpts) King Arthur, Z628, "The British Worthy" (excerpts) The Prophetess, or The History of Dioclesian, Z629 (excerpt) Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, Z. 860i Incassum Lesbia, incassum rogas, Z83 Play Music for Abdelazer (excerpts) From Rosy Bowers

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Iain Chambers

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Henry Purcell (1659-1695) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000x6k2

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of the 19th-century French singer, pianist, composer and influential society figure, Pauline Viardot.

“When I want to do something, I do it in spite of water, fire, society, the whole world”, an indicator if ever there was one, of the inner steel of this week’s composer.

Born in 1821, Pauline Viardot possessed an array of exceptional qualities. As one of the opera stars of her age, she was admired from Paris to St Petersburg as a sublime interpreter of Rossini, Bellini, Handel and Gluck. Beyond her incomparable voice, her twice weekly artistic salons were a high point in Parisian cultural life. She knew, and was admired by Chopin, George Sand, Delacroix, Liszt, Fauré, Tchaikovsky, and Saint-Saëns to name but a few. While having, according to Saint-Saëns, an unnecessarily modest view of her talent, she was also an accomplished composer. A talented linguist with five languages at her command, her compositions include a substantial body of songs, one or two instrumental works and a series of highly appealing operettas.

This week Donald Macleod will be exploring different facets of her extraordinary life. We’ll be hearing from a range of Viardot’s compositions as well as some of the operatic roles she made famous. He’ll be examining her role in Parisian cultural circles, and her friendships with leading writers among them Charles Dickens, and in particular Ivan Turgenev, and composers such as Berlioz, Saint-Saens, Meyerbeer and Gounod, all of whom created roles specifically for her incredible voice.

Music Featured:

Les filles de Cadix Scène d’Hermione, Act IV: Je ne t’ai point (pas), Cruel? Manuel Garcia Snr: La figlia dell’aria: È non lo vedo…. Son regina Liszt: El Contrabandista Rondo Fantastique sur Un Thème Espagnol, S.252 Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act 2, Don Basilio! Cosa veggo? …… briconi, birbanti Rossini: Otello, Act 3, Sc 1, Canzone del Salice: Assisa a pie d'un salice Madrid Hai luli Six Morceaux (I Romance; II Bohèmienne; III: Berceuse) Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Act 2, Ah! qual colpo inaspettato! Plainte d’amour (Mazurka in F sharp minor, Op 6, No 1) L’Oiselet (Mazurka Op 68, No 2) La Séparation (Mazurka no 14 in G minor Op 24, No 1) Rossini: La Cenerentola, Overture 3 Mörike Songs (no 1. In der Frühe; No 2. Nixe Binsefuss) Berçeuse-cosaque Golden glow of the mountain peaks Do not sing, my beauty, to me Rossini: Il barbiere di siviglia, Act 1, No 5,Una voce poco fa Le dernier sorcier, Act 1, No 1 Par ici; No 2 Chanson de Lelio; No 3 Romance de la Reine 12 songs of Pushkin, Fet and Turgenev (No 1, Tsvetok) 5 poems of Lermontov & Turgenev (No 1, Na zare) 10 poems of Pushkin, Lermontov, Koltsov, Tyutchev and Fet (No 3, Ya lyubila yego) 12 poems of Pushkin, Fet and Turgenev (No 4, Polunochnyye obrazy) Bellini: La sonnambula, Act 1 (excerpts) Évocation Le dernier sorcier, Act 2 Finale Gounod: Sapho, Act 3, O ma lyre immortelle…. Saint-Saens: Samson et Dalila, Act 1, Printemps qui commence (Dalila, The Old Hebrew) Meyerbeer: Le prophète, Act 5 Sc 2, 3 & 4 Fauré: Puisqu’ici-bas toutes âme Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, Act 2, O sink herneider, Nacht der liebe Brahms: Alto Rhapsody Violin Sonatina in A Minor (Allegro finale) Cendrillon (excerpts) Gluck, ed Berlioz: Orphée, Act 1, Sc 4, Amour, viens rendre à mon âme

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Pauline Viardot and Her Circle https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wysc

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the key influences and music of Edvard Greig.

Donald Macleod looks at the people and places that had a significant impact on Edvard Grieg’s life and work, meeting Norwegian fiddlers, folksong collectors and nationalist firebrands along the way. From Henrik Ibsen, who commissioned Grieg to write his most famous work, to the composer's wife Nina, for whom he wrote all his songs, this week Donald explores the key influences on the composer’s outlook and development.

Music Featured:

Holberg Suite: I. Praeludium Symphonic Dances (3rd & 4th mvts) Piano Concerto No 1 (2nd & 3rd mvts) Peer Gynt Suite No 1 Lyric Pieces Book 1: IV Elves’ Dance Violin Sonata No 1 in F major (3rd mvt) In Autumn Funeral March for Richard Nordraak (arr for orch by Johan Halvorsen) Ballade Hjertets melodier: III Jeg Elsker Deg 6 Songs, Op 25 (No 2, En Svane & No 4, IV Med en Vanlilje) Violin Sonata No 2 (3rd mvt) Piano Concerto No 1 (1st mvt) 6 Songs Op 39 (No 4, Millom Rosor) 6 Songs Op 39 (No 5 Veng en ung Hustrus Bare) arr. for choir 6 Songs Op 48 (No 4, Zur Rozenheit & No 6, Ein Traum) Two Elegaic Melodies Springar after Kristian Lund Album Leaves, Op 28 (No 4) String Quartet Op 27 (3rd & 4th mvts) The Mountain Thrall 12 Melodies Op 33 (No 9) 19 Norwegian Folk Tunes Op 66 (excerpts) Norwegian Dances, Op 35 (Nos 3 & 4) Lyric Pieces Op 43 (No 3, In my homeland) Violin Sonata No 3 (1st mvt) Wedding Day at Troldhaugen Peer Gynt Suite No 2 Haugtussa (Nos 6-8) Stimmungen Op 73

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Megan Jones for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001y2c0

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Robert Simpson - once described as "Britain's most important composer since Vaughan Williams", and "one of the century's most powerful and original symphonists" - was a man of integrity, a champion of lesser-known composers, and a man who lived his own life by strict principles: pacifism, socialism and what he called "anti-pessimism". This week, in Simpson's centenary year, Donald Macleod looks back at the life and work of Robert Simpson - from his childhood in the Salvation Army, to his experiences as a conscientious objector during the Second World War. He explores Simpson's writings on music and on life, and his time working at the BBC, before his break from the Corporation and from this country. Along the way we'll hear from Simpson's considerable body of work, which included no fewer than 11 Symphonies and 15 String Quartets.

Music Featured:

Symphony No 4 (II. Presto) In Media Morte in Vita Sumus Energy (IV. Allegro molto; V. Presto vivo) Symphony No 6 (excerpt) Canzona for Brass Symphony No 1 (excerpt) String Quartet No 10 “for peace” (III. Molto Adagio) Symphony No 5 (Canone II – Adagio) Piano Sonata (III. Allegro Vivace) Allegro Deciso for String Orchestra The Four Temperaments (I. Scherzo (Sanguine); II. Intermezzo Allegro (Phlegmatic)) Symphony No 3 (II. Adagio – Andante – Allegretto) String Quartet No 6 (I. Adagio) Symphony No 8 (II. Scherzo) Michael Tippett, His Mystery Variations on a theme by Carl Nielsen Eppur si muove for organ (Ricercar) String Quartet No 13 (IV. Andante) Symphony No 9 (excerpt) Quintet for Clarinet, Bass Clarinet and String Trio (I. Adagio tranquillo) Symphony 7 (excerpt) Vortex

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Robert Simpson (1921-97) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wkyc

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores some of the many turning points in Fauré’s career

Gabriel Fauré’s story begins during the second half of the 19th century, when the musical world was dominated by the heavily romantic voices of composers like Wagner, Brahms and Liszt. Fauré became a key protagonist in a musical revolution that opened audiences ears to new modes of expression - modern, refined and utterly French. As a composer, and as a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, he left a huge legacy on the music of the twentieth century. This week Donald Macleod explores some of the many turning points in Fauré’s career, and how those events affected his life and his art.

Music Featured:

Tarentelle, “Aux cieux la lune monte et luit” Op 10, No 2 Violin Sonata No 1 in A, Op 13 Élégie in C minor, Op 24 Berceuse, Op 16 Après un rêve, Op 7, No 1 Automne, Op 18 No 3 Poème d’un jour, Op 21 No 1-3 Souvenirs de Bayreuth Piano Quartet No 1 in C minor, Op 15 Ballade in F sharp, Op 19 Les roses d’lspahan, Op 39, No 4 Papillon, Op 77 Pavane, Op 50 Clair de lune, Op 46, No 2 Spleen Op 51, No 3 Mandoline, Op 58, No 1 Requiem, Op 48 Le parfum impérissable, Op 76, No 1 Dolly Suite, Op 56 Fantaisie, Op 79 Pelléas et Mélisande, Op 80 Nocturne No 6 in D flat, Op 63 Cantique de Jean Racine, Op 11 Le Chanson d’Ève, Op 96, No 1-5 Pénélope (Prelude) Violin Sonata No 2 in E minor, Op 108 (Andante) Masques et bergamasques, Op 112

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w2x8

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Robert Schumann’s early training was focused towards his ambition to become a celebrated concert pianist, but a hand injury quickly put that career option out of reach. Schumann turned instead to composition and put all that piano study to good use, writing many important works for his own instrument. This week, Composer of the Week unpacks the moments in Schumann’s life when he was creating some of his most famous and notable piano works, including one of the most iconic Romantic pianos concertos of all time.

Music Featured:

So wahr die Sonne scheinet, Op 37 No 12 (from Zwölf Gedichte aus Liebesfrüling) Symphony in G minor, WoO 29 (Zwickau) Allegro in B minor, Op 8 Carnaval, Op 9 Kreisleriana, Op 16 No 8 (Schnell und spielend) Fantasy in C, Op 17 No 1 Drei Gesänge, Op 31 Kinderszenen, Op 15 Myrthen, Op 25 No 1 (Widmung) Symphony No 1 in B flat, Op 38 (Spring) (excerpt) Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op 26 No 5 (Finale) Piano Quintet in E flat, Op 44 The Merry Peasant, Op 68 No 10 (from Album für die Jugend) Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 54 Symphony No 2 in C major, Op 61 (Scherzo) Piano Trio No 1 in D minor, Op 63 (excerpt) Manfred Overture, Op 115 Drei Fantasiestücke, Op 111 Missa Sacra in C minor, Op 147 (Gloria & Credo) Introduction and Allegro, Op 134

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Robert Schumann (1810-1856) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vy3d

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

This week, Donald Macleod explores Aaron Copland’s most productive decade, and features some of his best loved works in full. During this time Copland hit his prime. He became recognised as America’s leading composer, winning the Pulitzer Prize in Music and an Academy Award for his work in Hollywood.

He toured Europe and South America, absorbing diverse influences from each, and composed key works including his Symphony No.3, Appalachian Spring, Lincoln Portrait, Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo.

We get a sense of how Copland’s personal and professional interests developed over the 1940s and learn about his friendships and challenges during and in the aftermath of World War II.

Music Featured:

John Henry: A Railroad Ballet for Orchestra Quiet City Piano Sonata Our Town Music for Movies Lincoln Portrait Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes Danzón Cubano - (version for 2 pianos) Las Agachadas (The Shake-Down Song) Sonata for violin and piano Fanfare for the Common Man Appalachian Spring Suite (version for 13 instruments) Letter From Home The Red Pony Suite Third Symphony (2nd & 3rd mvt) The Heiress Suite Preamble for a Solemn Occasion Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson (Nos 4, 5 & 12) An Outdoor Overture (version for wind ensemble) Four Piano Blues Clarinet Concerto

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Iain Chambers

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Aaron Copland (1900-1990) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vplc

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores five aspects of Satie

This week, Donald Macleod looks at Satie as a trailblazer and humourist as well as his penchant for composing in threes, his copious, playful and highly idiosyncratic writings and his serious side.

Music featured:

Trois Gymnopédies (No 1, Lent et douloureux) Trois Sarabandes (No 2) uspud – ballet chrétien (3rd act) Le piège de Méduse Relâche – ballet instantanéiste Vexations (très lent) Embryons desséchés (No 1, ‘d’Holothurie’ – Allez un peu) Parade (ballet réaliste) Sports et divertissements La Belle Excentrique – fantaisie sérieuse Cinéma – entr’acte symphonique de Relâche (reduction for piano duet by Darius Milhaud) Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté Pièces froides Choses vues à droite et à gauche {sans lunettes} Trois Gnossiennes Trois mélodies Trois Morceaux en forme de poire, for piano 4 hands Première pensée Rose+Croix Messe des pauvres (Kyrie eleison) Quatre Ogives The Dreamy Fish Avant-dernières pensées Sonatine bureaucratique Mercure – ‘Poses plastiques’ in 3 tableaux by Picasso Cinq Nocturnes Socrate (Pt 1, Portrait de Socrate) Socrate (Pt 2, Les Bords d’Illissus) Socrate (Pt 3, Mort de Socrate) ‘Les Anges’ (Trois mélodies)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Barstow

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Erik Satie (1866-1925) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vgtw

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores Chopin’s time in Britain

Chopin made just two trips to Britain, both in later life. These visits are often portrayed as a disaster - a calamitous mistake of no worth to Chopin which hastened the composer’s death. This week, Donald Macleod explores these two trips in depth, during which the virtuoso pianist gave six of the thirty public concerts he gave during the whole of his life, and also made many private appearances meeting the great and the good of British society.

Music Featured:

Mazurka No 47 in A minor, Op 68 No 2 Etude in C sharp minor, Op 10, No.4 “Torrent” Etudes, Op 25 (Nos 3, 10 & 12) Variations on “La Ci Darem la mano”, Op 2 (version for piano and orchestra) Impromptu No 1 in A flat, Op 29 Scherzo No 2 in B-flat minor, Op 31 Mazurka in F minor, Op posth. 68, No 4 (Andantino) Barcarolle, Op 60 Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Mazurka No 16 in A flat major, Op 24, No 3 Mazurka No 18 in C minor, Op 30, No 1 Mazurka No 19 in B minor, Op 30, No 2 Mazurka No 31 in A flat major, Op 50, No 2 3 Waltzes, Op 64 Prelude in C sharp minor, Op 45 Fantasy on Polish Airs, Op 13 Ballade No 2 in F, Op 38 Piano Concerto No 1 (I. Allegro Maestoso) Two Nocturnes, Op 55 Mazurka No 44, Op 67, No 1 Wiosna, Op 74, No 2 Krakowiak, Op 14 Nocturne Op 37, No 2 Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano (II. Scherzo) Berceuse in D flat major, Op 59 Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor, Op 21 (III. Allegro Vivace) Ballade No 4 in F minor, Op 52 Sonata No 2 in B flat minor, Op 35 Etudes, op.25 No 1 & No 2 17 Polish Songs, Op 74, No 13 “Nie ma czego trzeba” (I Want What I Have Not)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v86m

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles

Donald Macleod surveys the string quartets of Joseph Haydn.

From his opus 0 and opus 1 of the 1750s to his unfinished opus 103 of 1803, Haydn’s 68 string quartets span the major part of his compositional life. While he wasn’t the inventor of the form, he’s fully deserving of the epithet, the “father of the string quartet” as he elevated the form to new heights. It’s his ideas that take the quartet from its 18th century antecedents to the conventions that are rather more familiar to us today. The conversational textures he created redefined the relationship between the four instruments. Always aware of his surroundings, and other musical influences, he used ideas and rhythms from folk music, dance, opera, the instrumental concerto and other genres for larger forces. He established a sequence of movements, and within them, adapted sonata form, as well as making use of the minuet-trio, the variation, the rondo and fugue forms. Original, serious, yet with his trademark, irresistible humour never too far away, Haydn’s quartets make up a unique body of work that justly receive both admiration and appreciation. Across the week Donald Macleod enjoys a masterclass in string quartet writing from one of the great masters of the form. His survey of Haydn includes complete performances of opus 50 no 4 - a quartet written for a King in the grandest of styles, the brilliant and theatrically inspired op 64, no 2, and the spritely and playful Lark Quartet. The versatile composer produced opus 71 no 2 with the largest of concert spaces in mind, and the series concludes with the second of Haydn’s opus 76 quartets, the last complete set he wrote, and widely regarded as being among the supreme accomplishments of his career.

Music featured: String Quartet in E flat, op 33 no 2 ("The Joke") The Seven Last Words of Christ Hob XX.2 arr. for string quartet String Quartet, op 54 no 1 in G Symphony no 98 Symphony no 94 in G major (Surprise) String Quartet, op 50 no 4 in F sharp minor Symphony in G, Hob 1 no 8 (Le soir) Piano Trio no 40 in F sharp minor, Hob.XV:26 Symphony no 92 (Oxford) String Quartet, op 64 no 6 in E flat major l’anima del filosofo String Quartet no 56 in E flat major op 71 no 3 Hob III: 71:1 String Quartet op 54 no 3 Symphony no 92 in G major, Hoboken I/92, (Oxford symphony) Quartet op 64 no 5 in D major (The Lark) Miseri noi! Misera patria! (Cantata), Hob.XXIVa:7 String Quartet no 50 in B flat major, Opus 64 no 3 3 German dances IX:12 - version for 3 part string orchestra (excerpt) Quartet in C, no 72, opus 74 no 1 Symphony no 99 String Quartet, Op. 71 No. 2 in D major Piano Sonata in E flat major, Hob XVI:49 (written 1789, pub 1790) String Quartet no 59 in D major op 74 no 3 (Rider) String Quartet in G major, Op 76 No 1 Recollection Hob. XXVIa:26 Symphony No. 101 in D major 'The Clock' Berenice che fai? String Quartet, Op. 76 No. 2 in D minor 'Fifths'

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced in Cardiff by Johannah Smith

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v1sr

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Maurice Ravel is one of France’s most enigmatic, original and beloved composers. While less prolific than some of his contemporaries, Ravel was a master of detail - his works are elegant and exquisitely crafted, and precision was a guiding force in both his creativity and personality. He is often linked with impressionism for his painterly approach to orchestration and vivid soundworlds of his piano writing, but his distinctive voice bears influences from the baroque, to the exotic, to jazz. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod drops five pins on the map of Ravel’s life story, discovering the places that were important to him and what they reveal about his character.

Music featured:

Habanera Pavane pour une infante defunte Alborada del Gracioso (Miroirs) Piano Trio Don Quichotte a Dulcinée D’Anne jouant de l’espinette Jeux d’eau String Quartet (1st and 2nd movements) Miroirs (III. Une barque sur l‘océan; V. Vallée des cloches) Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet Valses nobles et sentimentales, or Adélaïde (I. Modéré – tres franc) Trois beaux oiseaux Deux mélodies hébraïques (I. Kaddisch) Le Tombeau de Couperin La Valse Daphnis et Chloé: Part III (Lever du jour) Sonatine (II. Mouvement de minuet) Violin Sonata in G major Piano Concerto in G major Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré Ma Mere L’Oye Suite Tzigane L'enfant et les sortilèges: Duo miaulé (Cat Duet) Bolero

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced in Cardiff by Amelia Parker

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tdt2

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

This week, Donald Macleod looks at Handel’s life and work during an important decade of his life. The 1730s saw Handel create some of his best-loved works, but also saw him fall out with singers and patrons in London, endure a stroke and attendant poor mental health, and mourn the death of one of his chief supporters, Queen Caroline.

Music Featured:

Esther HWV 50b (revised version 1732) (excerpts) Trio Sonata in C Major, HWV 403 Acis and Galatea, HWV 49 (Act I: Aria: Hush, ye pretty warbling quire) Concerto Grosso in D major Op. 3 No. 6 HWV 317 Orlando, HWV 31: Act II ScXI (Ah! Stigie larve; Vaghe pupille) Arianna in Creta HWV 32 (Act 2, Scene 12: Aria-Andante “Son qual stanco pellegrino”) Concerto Grosso in G Major, Op. 6, No. 1, HWV 319 Ariodante HWV 33 (excerpts) Deborah HWV 51 (excerpts) Alcina HWV 34 (Ombre Pallide) Alexander’s Feast HWV 75 (Part 1: Air and Chorus: Bacchus, ever fair and young; The many rend the skies (Chorus) Harp Concerto in B-flat major, Op. 4 No. 6 HWV 294 Organ Concerto Opus 4 No. 1 in G minor, HWV 289 (I. Larghetto, e staccato; IV. Andante) Atalanta HWV 35 (Act II Scene 2: Aria: Lassa! ch'io t'ho perduta) Arminio HWV 36 (Act III: Mira il ciel, vendrai d’Alcide) Giustino HWV 37 (Act I: Aira: Un vostro sguardo; Act II: Duet: Mio bel tesoro!) Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No.3 in E minor HWV 321 Il trionfo del Tempo et del Disinganno HWV 46ª (Part 2: Aria: Lascia la spina) Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline: The Ways of Zion do Mourn: (Introduction and Chorus: The Ways of Zion Do Mourn) Serse HWV 40 (excerpts) Saul, HWV 53 (Act III Scene 5) Organ Concerto in F major (No. 13), “The Cuckoo and the Nightingale” HWV 295 (1st & 2nd mvts) Trio Sonata Op. 5 No. 6 in F major HWV 401 (4th, 5th & 6th mvts) Israel in Egypt HWV 54 (excerpts)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Iain Chambers

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t5w7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of the English composer Ruth Gipps.

Ruth Gipps was born in Bexhill-on-Sea in 1921. Her Swiss-born mother was an accomplished pianist and, recognising her daughter’s aptitude, taught her piano from an early age. Gipps was four years old when she gave her first public performance, at Grotrian Hall in London. It was from that moment on, she said later, that she knew without a shadow of a doubt, that playing the piano was her job and that she wanted to be a composer.

A highly gifted and versatile musician, on 25th March 1945, Gipps took part in a public concert as the soloist in Glazunov’s Piano Concerto before re-joining the woodwind section of the City of Birmingham Orchestra as an oboist for the premiere of her first symphony. Four more symphonies were to follow. But a troublesome injury to her hand, which she had sustained in childhood, brought her career as a concert pianist to an end in the 1950s. By this stage she had achieved some notable successes as a composer. The recipient of several composition prizes, an early high point was the selection of her orchestral work “Knight in Armour” by Sir Henry Wood for the Last Night of the Proms broadcast in 1942.

Awarded a doctorate in music in 1947, Gipps held teaching posts at London’s Trinity College of Music, the Royal College of Music and Kingston Polytechnic and did terms as Chair of both the Composers’ Guild and the newly founded British Music Information Centre. There’s little doubt though that Gipps faced considerable gender discrimination in several of the fields in which she excelled. On discovering her enjoyment of conducting, she overcame this by founding two orchestras, the London Repertoire Orchestra in 1955, and then the Chanticleer Orchestra.

A composition pupil of Vaughan Williams, Gipps defined her music as, “a follow-on from her teacher, Bliss and Walton, the three giants of British music since the Second World War.” While all these composers can be heard in her music, her music has its own distinctive and original qualities. Publicly outspoken, Gipps remained firmly anti-modernist. She regarded 12-tone music, serial music, electronic music and avant-garde music as utter rubbish. From the late 1950s the musical establishment felt her music was out of step with the times, and they bypassed her work. She did have some admirers, including Sir Arthur Bliss, whom she had first met in 1942, who continued to support and admire her music but in general it fell to her own resourcefulness to get her music heard, arranging performances, which she would then conduct with her own orchestras.

Across the week Donald Macleod is joined by Victoria Rowe, the keeper of Gipps’ archive and her daughter-in-law. Together they build a picture of Gipps as a child performer, a young student, an educator, a conductor and a composer. The series features specially recorded material from the BBC’s performing groups, including Gipps’ second, third and fourth symphonies. There’s also a brand-new recording of Cringlemire Garden, for string orchestra, and two more new releases, both of which explore her chamber music. All three recordings are planned for release later this year, to mark the centenary year of her birth.

Music Featured:

The Fairy Shoemaker The Kelpie of Corrievreckan Op 5b Quintet Op 16 Piano Concerto in G minor Op 34 Clarinet Concerto in G minor Op 9 (III: Vivace) Symphony No 2 (excerpt) Knight in Armour Rhapsody in E flat Op 23 Jane Grey Fantasy Op 15 Sonata Op 45 (4th movt) Cringlemire Garden Seascape for 10 wind instruments An Easter Carol Op 52 Gloria in excelsis Op 62 Symphony No 3 (3rd & 4th movts) Symphony No 4 Op 61 (II: Adagio – piu mosso – Tempo I (Adagio)) Sonata for cello and piano, Op 63 (excerpt) Theme and Variations, Op 57a Symphony No 4 Op 61 (1st movt) Horn Concerto, Op 58 David Pyatt, horn Octet for Wind, Op 65 (2nd movt: Waltz) Opalescence, Op 72 Pan and Apollo, Op 78 Wind Sinfonietta, Op 73 Symphony No 4, Op 61 (IV: Finale)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Ruth Gipps (1921-1999) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sxbl

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Johannes Brahms, the bearded and magisterial Romantic composer, could certainly do grandeur when required. But really, he was more interested in what music meant in ordinary life - how it can whisper, joke and console. He was a man who tried to find a place to belong all his life, wrote for the people closest to him, and that fondness is writ large in his music. This week, Kate Molleson focuses on Brahms at home, revealing the subtle sides of this sometimes brawny composer – the tender heart behind the famous beard - through the music he wrote for himself and his friends to play.

Music Featured:

Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op 52a No 1 Ballade in G minor, Op 118 No 2 Sandmännchen WoO 31, No 4 (Children’s Folk Songs) Scherzo in E flat minor, Op 4 An die Nachtigall, Op 46 No 4 Vier Gesänge für Frauenchor, Op 17 Piano Quartet No 1 in G minor Op 25 (3rd mvt – Andante) Einförmig ist der Liebe Gram, Op 113 No 13 Sonata in C major (4th mvt) FAE Sonata (3rd mvt – Scherzo) Piano Trio, Op 8 (3rd mvt – Adagio) Geistliches Lied, Op 30 Intermezzo, Op 117 No 2 Sextet No 2 (1st mvt – Allegro non troppo) Waltz in A flat Six Quartets, Op 112 (No 1, Sehnsucht) Piano Quartet No 2 in A major (3rd mvt – Scherzo) Ein Deutsches Requiem: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen; Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit Geistliches Wiegenlied Piano Concerto No 2 (3rd mvt - Andante) Wiegenlied, Op 49 No 4 Romance in F major, Op 118 No 5 String Quintet in F (1st movement) Wie Melodien zieht es mir; Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer Violin Sonata in A major (1st mvt) Clarinet Quintet (1st movement) Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op 52: Ein kleiner hübscher Vogel Hungarian Dance in D major, WoO1 No 18 Wo ist ein so herrlich Volk, Op 109 No 3 Denn es gehet dem Mennschen (Serious Songs, Op 121 No 1) Intermezzo in E flat major, Op 117 No 1 Intermezzo in B minor, Op 119 No 1 Piano Trio No 1 (1st mvt – Allegro con brio) Double Concerto for violin and cello (2nd mvt – Adagio) Intermezzo in A major, Op 118 No 2

Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xvy4

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of the young Richard Strauss

During Richard Strauss’s lifetime the sound and form of music altered radically. He was born at the tail end of the 19th century and saw the emergence of twelve tone music and atonality from younger composers like Arnold Schoenberg and his pupil Alban Berg. Strauss belonged to a previous generation and his music came to be regarded as conservative in style, but at the start of his career, Strauss had been seen as something of a modernist, breaking the mould with his series of innovative orchestral tone poems, and with the dissonant soundworld of operas such as Salome and Elektra.

This week Donald Macleod follows the young Strauss’s pathway leading up to and including the tone poems, seeing how an immersion in music across his formative years influenced his ideas about orchestral writing, as well as opening up opportunities that helped him to establish a professional career as a conductor.

Featured music:

Oboe Concerto in D (3rd mvt: Allegro (excerpt)) Festmarsch in E flat major, Op 1 Horn Concerto No 2 in E flat major AV 132 (III: Rondo (Allegro molto) Symphony No 1 in D minor TrV 94 (II: Andante) Concerto for violin in D minor (I: Allegro) Concert Overture in C minor Op 80 TrV125 Suite in B flat major Op 4 (III: Gavotte. Allegro) Symphony No 2 in F (I: Allegro ma non troppo) Burlesque in D minor for piano and orchestra 8 Gedichte aus "Letzte Blätter", Op 10, TrV 141 (No. 3, Die Nacht) Aus Italien op 16 (1887) (I: Auf der Campagna) 5 piano pieces Op 3 (IV: Allegro) Serenade in E flat Op 7 for 13 wind instruments Piano Quartet in C minor Op 13 TrV 137 (IV: Finale Vivace) Tod und Verklärung, Op 24 TrV 158 Morgen! Op 27 Overture to Act 2, Guntram (excerpt) Prelude to Act 1, Guntram Also sprach Zarathustra, Op 30 , TrV 136 Gesang der Apollopriesterin Op 33 Ein Heldenleben, Op 40 (Ein Held) Freundliche Vision Op 48 No 1 Violin Sonata in E flat Op 18 (II: Improvisation – Andante cantabile) Ein Heldenleben Op 40 (excerpt) Der Abend, Op 34

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Richard Strauss (1864-1949) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000spn0

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Felix Mendelssohn was one of the most gifted and versatile musicians the world has ever seen. As a child prodigy he was likened to Mozart and he grew to become one of the most famous and beloved composers in Europe, during the middle of the 19th century. His life was cut tragically short, at the age of 38, while he was at the very height of his powers. This week, Donald Macleod focuses on the final five years of Mendelssohn’s life, and follows the composer through his extremely hectic work schedule which undoubtedly contributed to his early demise.

Music Featured:

Lied ohne Worte in E minor, Op 62 No 3 (Trauermarsch) Paulus, Op 36 (excerpt) Cello Sonata No 2 in D, Op 58 A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op 61 (excerpt) O for the wings of a dove! (From Hear My Prayer) Lieder ohne Worte in B flat, Op 62 No 2, 5-6 Lieder ohne Worte in E flat, Op 67 No 1 Violin Concerto in E minor, Op 64 Organ Sonata No 5 in D, Op 65 Wenn sich zwei Herzen scheiden, Op 99 No 5 Lieder ohne Worte in C, Op 67 No 4 Lieder ohne Worte in A, Op 85 No 5 Lieder ohne Worte in D, Op 102 No 2-3 Piano Trio No 2 in C minor, Op 66 Athalie, Op 74 (Overture & War March) Lied ohne Worte in D minor (Reiterlied) Rondo Brilliant in E flat, Op 29 Lauda Sion, Op 73 Nachtlied, Op 71 No 6 Jubilate, Op 69 Symphony No 3 in A minor, Op 56 “Scottish” (Vivace non troppo & Adagio) String Quartet in F minor, Op 80

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000shr0

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod finds connections between Mozart’s operas and the composer’s own life

Born in 1756, the theatre was a life-long passion for Mozart. Starting at the tender age of just 11, in the space of 22 years he produced an astonishing 24 theatrical works. His destiny was to follow in his father’s footsteps, as a court musician. Instead, by 1781, after a disagreement over his frequent absences from court, Mozart parted ways with his employer, the Elector of Cologne. He left Salzburg and servitude behind, to set himself up in Vienna, a thriving centre for music. The following year he triumphed with his comic singspiel, Die Entführung aus dem Serail. The succession of works that followed include many of the mainstays of operatic repertory, among them The Magic Flute, which was completed in the year of his death, at the age of 35 in 1791.

This week Donald Macleod finds connecting points between the characters Mozart created for the stage and the composer's own experiences in life. He examines how Mozart struggled to be a dutiful son, and how he tackles honour and duty in Idomeneo, Lucio Silla and Mitridate. The ideas of enlightenment that influenced Mozart's own views find expression in the balance of power he depicts between servants and the ruling classes in The Marriage of Figaro. The composer’s thorny path to marriage with Constanze also finds him examining the complexities of love in Die Enführung aus dem Serail and Così fan tutte. Donald ends with Mozart's masterly representation of temptation and evil, as characterised by the ultimate bad boy Don Giovanni and the scheming and manipulative Queen of the Night.

Music Featured:

Overture to Le nozze di Figaro Le nozze di Figaro, Act 1: Cinque, dieci …. Se vuol ballare, Signor Contino La finta giardiniera, Act 1: Appena mi vedon Così fan tutte, Act 1: Scene 3 (excerpt) Don Giovanni , Act 1: Notte e giorno faticar Don Giovanni, Act 1: Ah! Chi mi dice mai...Madamina, il catalogo è questo Don Giovanni, Act 1: Champagne Aria Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Act 2: Martern aller Arten Le nozze di Figaro, Act 2: Esci ormai, garzon malnato …Signore! Cos’è quell’stupore? Le nozze di Figaro, Act 3: Hai già vinto la causa….. Vedró, mentr’io sospiro Don Giovanni, Act 1: Finale, Riposate, vezzose ragazze La clemenza di Tito, Act 1: Parto, parto Die Zauberflöte, Act 1: Bei mannern, weiche Liebe fühlen Idomeneo, Act 1: Estinto e Idomeneo ….tutte nel cor vi sento ..Pieta! Numi pieta! Così fan tutte, Act 1: Finale, Ah che tutta in un momento … Dammi un bacio Le nozze di Figaro, Act 2: Porgi Amor Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Act 2: Wenn der Freude Tränen fliessen … Ach Belmonte! ach mein Leben! Don Giovanni, Act 1: O sai che l’onore Lucio Silla, Overture Lucio Silla, Act 1: Dall sponda tenebrosa; E tollerare io posso; Il desio di vendetta Mitridate, Rè di Ponto, Act 2: Lungi da te, mio bene La Clemenza di Tito, Act 1: Come ti piaci imponi La Clemenza di Tito, Act 2: Deh per questo istante solo; Ove s’intese mai più contumace; Se all’impero, amici Dei Die Zauberflöte, Act 2:Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Act 1: Solche hergelauf’ne Laffen Le nozze di Figaro, Act 1: La Vendetta… via, resti servita Idomeneo, Act 3: Ha vinto amore …. d’Oreste, d’Aiace Die Zauberflöte, Act 1: Finale, Wie stark ist nicht dein zauberton ...Es lebe Sarastro! Sarastro soll leben Don Giovanni, Act 2: Finale II, Già mensa è preparata ... Ah dov’è il perfido?

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s8w7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z