Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Thursday - Rob Cowan with Ray Mears

With Rob Cowan. My Favourite Polkas; Music in Time: Elgar: Cockaigne (In London Town); Artist of the Week: Claudio Arrau, featured performing Brahms's Piano Concerto No 2.

9am
My favourite... polkas. Rob shares a selection of his favourite polkas, a dance form that originated in 19th-century Bohemia. He features polkas by Smetana, Shostakovich, Schubert and Rachmaninov, as well as Johann Strauss II's ever-popular Thunder and Lightning Polka.

9.30am
Take part in today's musical challenge: name the classical piece used in a TV programme or film.

10am
Rob's guest is the television presenter and writer Ray Mears. A bushcraft, wildlife and survival expert, Ray has presented shows including Ray Mears' Bushcraft, World of Survival and Extreme Survival. He has broadcast from around the world and recently presented Wild Australia with Ray Mears, and Wild France with Ray Mears. Ray has written books including Vanishing World: A Life of Bushcraft and Northern Wilderness, as well as his autobiography My Outdoor Life. His most recent book, Out on the Land: Bushcraft Skills from the Northern Forest, was released earlier this year. Ray shares a selection of his favourite classical music throughout the week, with choices ranging from Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man to Vaughan Williams' The Wasps and Schubert's Symphony No. 5.

10.30am
Music in Time: Romantic
Rob places Music in Time, looking at the Romantic period, and in particular the way in which the essence of a certain place can be captured in music, with Elgar's popular concert overture Cockaigne (In London Town).

11am
Rob's artist of the week is the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau. A child prodigy, Arrau learned to read music before reading words, and at the age of eleven he could play Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, one of the most difficult works in the piano repertoire. He is known especially for his interpretations of composers from the Classical and Romantic eras, though he was also a champion of Baroque music, and in 1935 he gave a rendition of the entire keyboard works of Bach over twelve recitals. Throughout the week, Rob celebrates the recording legacy of this remarkable pianist, featuring Liszt's Fantasy on Hungarian folk-melodies, Schumann's Humoreske, Schubert's Piano Sonata D.958, Brahms' epic Piano Concerto No. 2, and Debussy's Images (Book II).

Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat
Claudio Arrau (piano)
Concertgebouw Orchestra
Bernard Haitink (conductor).

3 hours

Last on

Thu 22 Dec 2016 09:00

Music Played

  • Edward Elgar

    The Wand of Youth Suite No 1 (Overture)

    Orchestra: Orchestra of Welsh National Opera. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Argo.
  • MY FAVOURITE... POLKAS

    • Sergey Rachmaninov

      Polka Italienne

      Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy. Performer: Vovka Ashkenazy. Performer: Alastair Mackie.
      • DECCA.
  • Alma Mahler-Werfel

    5 songs, 1910: Laue Sommernacht

    Performer: Simon Lepper. Singer: Karen Cargill.
    • LINN.
  • Alma Mahler-Werfel

    5 songs, 1910: Bei dir es traut

    Performer: Simon Lepper. Singer: Karen Cargill.
    • LINN.
  • Edvard Grieg

    Holberg Suite: Prelude & Rigaudon

    Orchestra: Australian Chamber Orchestra. Director: Richard Tognetti.
    • BIS.
  • Judith Weir

    Illuminare, Jerusalem

    Performer: Michael Papadopoulos. Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Conductor: Graham Ross.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Roderick Williams

    O Adonai, O Dux Domus Israel

    Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Conductor: Graham Ross.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Piano Sonata in E flat major, Hob. XVI: 25

    Performer: Marc-Andr茅 Hamelin.
    • HYPERION.
  • Claude Debussy

    Clair de lune orch Caillet

    Orchestrator: Lucien Cailliet. Orchestra: Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Eugene Ormandy.
    • Clair de lune: Music of France: Ormandy.
    • RCA Victor.
    • 5.
  • RAY MEARS' CHOICE

    • Dmitry Shostakovich

      Symphony No. 7 in C Major Op. 60, "Leningrad": I. Allegretto

      Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme J盲rvi.
      • CHANDOS.
  • MUSIC IN TIME: Romantic

    • Edward Elgar

      Cockaigne Overture

      Orchestra: 成人快手 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis.
      • TELDEC.
  • Arnold Bax

    Elegiac trio for viola, flute and harp

    Ensemble: Nash Ensemble.
    • Bax: Nonet/Elegiac Trio etc: The Nash Ensemble.
    • Hyperion.
    • 6.
  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK: CLAUDIO ARRAU

    • Johannes Brahms

      Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat, Op.83

      Performer: Claudio Arrau. Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
      • PHILIPS.
  • Johannes Brahms

    Geistliches Wiegenlied, Op 91 No 2

    Performer: Nils鈥怑rik Sparf. Performer: Bengt Forsberg. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter.
    • DG.

Heard on Screen

Answer: Ocean's Eleven (2001)

The music played:

Debussy (orch. Lucien Cailliet)
Clair de lune
Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy (conductor)
RCA

Broadcast

  • Thu 22 Dec 2016 09:00

Our Classical Century

Our Classical Century

Radio 3 explores 100 key musical moments that shaped us, from 1918 to the present day.

Time Travellers: the podcast

Time Travellers: the podcast

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough presents quirky tales gathered from the corners of history.