Composer of the Week Podcast Folgen

James P. Johnson is known as the Father of Stride Piano, and composed the most iconic work that captures the essence of the Roaring Twenties, the Charleston. Both pianist and composer, he not only wrote jazz but also music for theatrical shows, symphonic works and opera too. He performed alongside jazz greats such as Fats Waller, Willie The Lion Smith and Sidney Bechet, and also collaborated with George Gershwin as well. Johnson was an early pioneer in the recording industry, and made many studio recordings as a soloist and with his own jazz band. Yet despite all of this, his name has been largely forgotten today. One possible reason for this is that being a transitional figure between ragtime and jazz, he’s been hard to categorise. This week, Donald Macleod will explore five periods in Johnson’s life where Johnson strove to achieve a different role: recording artist, theatre composer, performer and teacher, and also a Tickler - a ragtime saloon pianist.Music featured: Charleston Carolina Shout Fascination Concerto Jazz A Mine Caprice Rag Empty Bed Blues Daintiness Rag Twilight Rag Steeplechase Rag There’s No Two Ways About Love My Sweet Hunk O’Trash Charleston Alabama Stomp My Headache My special friend is back in town Lonesome Swallow Guess who’s in town Victory Stride Drums Harlem Strut Snowy Morning Blues Keep off the grass Havin’ a ball A Porter’s Love Song to a Chambermaid Toddlin’ Home Runnin’ Wild Medley After Tonight Old Fashioned Love If I could be with you Jingles I Need Lovin’ Yamekraw, A Negro Rhapsody Backwater Blues Charleston Stop That Dog Lock and Key Sweet Mistreater Don’t Cry Baby Riffs You’ve Got to be Modernistic Sippi Charleston American Symphonic Suite Put Your Mind Right On It Go Harlem A Porter’s Love Song to a Chambermaid Hungry Blues Harlem Hotcha Ain’tcha Got Music Harlem Symphony Lonesome Reverie Gut Stomp Blues for Fats You Can’t Lose a Broken Heart CharlestonPresented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC WalesFor 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 James Price Johnson https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p7mrAnd 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 Ludwig van Beethoven’s life through the years of 1822-1824 – a period during which the composer completed his greatest late masterpieces. It was also a time at which Beethoven became acutely aware of his own mortality, struggling with both his dwindling finances and his deteriorating health, and sought help from, among others, his brother Johann and a new secretary - Anton Schindler.Composer of the Week is returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.Music Featured:Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 (II. Molto Vivace – Presto) Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Sanctus - Pleni sunt cœli - Osanna Music for Consecration of the House, WoO. 98 Fidelio, Op.72 - O namenlose Freude! Piano Sonata no 32 in C minor, Op.111 Bundeslied, Op. 122 “In allen guten Stunden” String Quartet in E-flat major, Op.127 (I. Maestoso – Allegro) Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Credo: Credo - Et Incarnatus Est Bagatelles, Op 119 nos. 1-6 Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Gloria Gratulations Menuett, WoO 3 Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Credo: Et ressurexit Opferlied, Op.121b Diabelli Variations, Op.120 (Nos 30, 32 & 33) Symphony no. 9, Op.125 (I. Allegro ma non troppo) Ta ta ta, WoO162 Consecration of House Overture, Op.124 Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Agnus Dei: Dona Nobis Pacem Waltz in E-flat major, WoO 84 Symphony no.9, Op.125 (III. Adagio molto e cantabile) Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 'Tempest' - III. Allegretto Missa Solemnis, Op.123 – Kyrie: Kyrie Eleison Der Kuss, Op.128 Symphony No. 9, Op.125 (IV. Presto - Allegro ma non troppo) Bagatelles for piano, op.126Presented by Donald McleodProducer: Sam PhillipsFor 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 Beethoven Unleashed: Titan https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p01cAnd 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 steps into the French baroque with Desmarets and BoismortierDonald Macleod discovers the stories of two very colourful figures of the French baroque, Henri Desmarets and Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.Born a generation apart, Boismortier and Desmarets are perhaps lesser known figures of the French baroque, but together they provide a fascinating picture of life and music-making in the reigns of the Sun King and Louis XV after him.Boismortier’s success came from what seems to be a natural ability to keep his finger on the pulse: his music followed all the latest trends and styles. He made a small fortune supplying music to the amateur market. They were works that fall cleverly under the fingers, and he advanced his profits by publishing them for any number of different combinations of instruments. That’s not to say he didn’t dip his toe into deeper waters: he wrote cantatas, motets and stage works, of which the comic opera about Don Quixote is probably the best known. After a golden career in 1753 at the age of 63, Boismortier retired to enjoy life on a beautiful estate 45 minutes outside Paris.That kind of material comfort was not to be Henri Desmarets’s destiny. Born in 1661, he started out as a page at the Sun King’s court. What was shaping up to be a promising career fell off the tracks after he eloped with one of his pupils. Her furious father got an order for his arrest, arranged for him to be attacked in the street, and dragged him through the courts. The furore finally ended when the couple fled into exile. In his absence Desmarets was condemned to death. He eventually settled at the Court of Lorraine. There’s little doubt his fall from grace had a detrimental effect on his reputation. His operas and masses show him to be a talented and innovative composer. He was one of the very first composers known to have written for double choir and orchestra.Music Featured: Boismortier: Trio sonata in D, op 37 no 3 (I. Allegro) Desmarets: Mass for Two Choirs and Two Orchestras: Kyrie Desmarets: La Diane de Fontainebleau (excerpt) Boismortier: Flute sonata in B minor op 44/2 Desmarets: Te Deum (excerpt) Desmarets: La Diane de Fontainebleau – Marche Desmarets: La Diane de Fontainebleau (excerpt) Boismortier: Bassoon Concerto, Op 21 Boismortier: Les quatre saisons, Op. 5 (Cantata no 4: Hyver) Desmarets: De Profundis Desmarets: Didon (Act 5, Sc 1) A Nocte Temporis Desmarets: Théagène et Chariclée (Act 4, sc 1) Desmarets: Mass for 2 choirs and 2 orchestras (excerpt) Boismortier: Troisième suite de piéces de clavécin Boismortier: Les voyages de l’amour (Act 4, sc 2) Boismortier: Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse (First divertimento) Desmarets: Les amours de Momus (Lieux charmants) Desmarets: Usquequo Domino (Psalm XII) (excerpt) Desmarets: Vénus et Adonis (Act 3 Sc 3, excerpt) Desmarets: Vénus et Adonis (Act 5, sc 5 to 8, excerpt) Boismortier: : Exaudiat te Dominus (Psalm 19) Boismortier: Daphnis et Chloé (Act 3, excerpt) Boismortier: Daphnis et Chloé (Act 2, Sc 3, excerpt) Desmarets: Domine ne furore Boismortier: Concerto for 5 flutes in A minor, Op 15/2 Desmarets: Circé: Sommeil - Ah! Que le sommeil est charmantPresented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor 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 Desmarets and Boismortier https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nvblAnd 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