Composer of the Week Podcast Folgen

“Music is a study of my own self and of the human spirit”, so says the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. Her passion for music is all consuming, with the inspiration to compose reflecting the breadth of her interests, in poetry, literature, fine arts, and cinematography to name but a few.One of the foremost composers of our time, Kaija Saariaho was born in 1952 in Helsinki. She studied with the modernist Paavo Heininen, before founding the pioneering “Ears Open” group with fellow composer Magnus Lindberg. Her studies continued in Freiburg with Brian Fernyhough and Klaus Huber at the Darmstadt summer courses, and then at the ground-breaking IRCAM research institute in Paris.Earlier this year Donald Macleod and Kaija Saariaho met up in Paris, the city where she’s made her home since 1982, to talk about five contrasting aspects of her music.Music Included: D’Om le vrai sens (excerpt) Notes on Light for cello and orchestra (II. Fire & III. Awakening) Noa Noa for flute and electronics D’Om le vrai sens, (III. L’Odorat & IV. Le Toucher) Orion for Orchestra (I. Memento mori) Nocturne for solo violin Cloud Trio (IV. Tranquillo ma sempre molto espressivo) Laterna Magica Circle Map (excerpt) Jardin secret II for harpsichord and tape Lichtbogen for nine musicians and live electronics (excerpt) Lonh for voice and electronics Circle Map (V. Dialogue VI. Day and Night) Quatre Instants (excerpt) Quatre instants (II. Douleur – Torment & III. Parfum de l’instant) Nuits, adieux for mixed choir and 4 soloists True Fire for baritone and orchestra (excerpt) Leino Songs L’amour de loin, Act 4 excerpt La passion de Simone for soprano solo, choir, orchestra and electronics (excerpt) Only the Sound Remains (excerpt) L’amour de loin, Act 5Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Cymru 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 Kaija Saariaho https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nbdgAnd 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 follows Ludwig van Beethoven through the years of 1816-1821; a period when the composer was groping towards yet another extraordinary and revolutionary flowering of his creativity. However, something was holding him back. Beethoven had resolved to become the legal guardian of his nephew, Karl, and to remove him from the care of his mother, Johanna. The resulting court battles would rumble on for five years, damaging everyone involved, consuming them all, and distracting Beethoven from his music.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:Piano Sonata No.25, Op.79 (II. Andante & III. Vivace) String Quartet op.95 ‘Serioso’ (III. Allegro assai vivace, ma serioso) Sehnsucht, WoO.146 Cello Sonata Op.102, No.1 Variations on “Ich bin de Schneider Kakadu” by Wenzel Müller, Op.121a Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.16, Op.31 No.1 (I. Allegro Vivace) The Creatures of Prometheus (extracts) Abschiedsgesang WoO.102 Piano Sonata No.30, Op.109 The Miller of Dee WoO.157, No.4 Fugue for Strings Op. 137 Quintet for strings Op.104 (III. Menuetto & IV. Finale) Piano Sonata No.29, Op.106 “Hammerklavier” (II. Scherzo & III. Adagio Sostenuto) National Airs with Variations Op.107, No.5 Wolfgang Schulz, flute Rudolf Buchbinder, piano Bagatelle in Bb, WoO.60 God Save the King, Woo.157, No.3 Namensfeier Overture Op.115 Piano Sonata No.28, Op.101 So oder so WoO.148 Missa Solemnis: Benedictus Bester Magistrat, Ihr friert WoO.177 Tremate, empi, tremate Op.116 Bagatelles Op.119, Nos.7-11 Abendlied unterm gestirnten Himmel WoO.150 March for Military Band WoO.24 (extract) Piano Sonata No.31, Op.110Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips 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 Beethoven Unleashed: Withdrawal https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000n5x6And 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 five guests to explore Beethoven’s wider world. Beethoven’s lifetime was one of tumultuous change. In a week of programmes exploring this wider world around Beethoven, Donald Macleod is joined by five guests to discuss some of the various elements which combined to define the Spirit of the Age – the economy, the wider world of the arts, engineering, medicine and belief.Guests:Professor Nicholas Mathew - Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, an expert on music and politics in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and author of “Political Beethoven”Ruth Padel – Poet, lifelong Soprano and author of “Beethoven Variations: Poems on a Life”Julian Allwood - Professor of Engineering and the Environment at Cambridge UniversityProfessor Herwig Czech – Chair of the History of Medicine at MedUni ViennaDr Aakanksha Virkar Yates - Senior lecturer at the University of Brighton and expert in late nineteenth and twentieth-century British literature 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:Violin Sonata 10 in G major, Op 96 (II. Adagio espressivo) Piano Concerto No 4 in G, Op 58 (I. Allegro Moderato) Symphony No 3 in E flat major “Eroica”, Op 55 (IV. Finale) Piano Sonata No 26 in E flat major, Op 81a “Les Adieux” (II. Abwesenheit) Sonata No 7 in D, Op 10 No 3 (IV. Rondo. Allegro) String Quartet No 1 in F major, Op 18 (II. Adagio affettuoso et appassionato) Fidelio, end of Act I Symphony No 8 in F, Op 93 (III. Tempo di menuetto) An die Ferne Geliebte, Op 98, Nos 2 and 3 The Creatures of Prometheus, Op 43: Act II, No 10 'Pastorale Allegro' 25 Scottish Songs, Op 108 No 7 'Bonnie Laddie, Highland Laddie (2nd version)' Missa Solemnis, Sanctus Symphony No 2 in D major, Op 36 (II. Scherzo - Allegro) 5 Variations on Rule Britannia, WoO 79 Grosse Fuge in B flat, Op 133 (orch. Manuel Hidalgo) Six Variations in D on an original theme “Die Ruinen von Athen”, Op 76 The Heavens are Telling (orchestration of Six Songs, Op 48 No 4 - Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur) Piano Sonata No 29 in B-flat major, Op 106 “Hammerklavier” (I - Allegro) Doktor speert das Tor dem Tod, WoO 189 Trio in E-flat major, WoO 38 (after the Septet, Op 20) (IV. Andante con Variazione) Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II, WoO 87 (VII. Todt, Todt!) Piano Sonata No 23 in F minor, Op 57 “Appassionata” (III. Allegro ma non troppo) Symphony 7 in A major, Op 92 (II. Allegretto) String Quartet No13, Op 130 (V. Cavatina) Symphony No 4 in B flat major, Op 60 (III. Menuett) Piano Sonata No 28, Op 101 (I. Etwas lebhaft und mit der innigsten Empfindung) Der Glorreiche Augenblick, Op136 (Das Auge schaut) Der Freie Mann, WoO 117 Christ on the Mount of Olives, Op 85 (Chor der Krieger: "Wir haben ihn gesehen") Mass in C Major, Op 86 (Sanctus) String Quartet No 15 (III. Molto Adagio)Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Wales For full tracklistings, 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: Spirit of the Age https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mq5xAnd 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