Composer of the Week Podcast Folgen

Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of Samuel Wesley. Samuel Wesley was a child prodigy, and it was the older composer William Boyce who said of the boy that he was the English Mozart, and that he had dropped down from heaven. Wesley’s star speedily ascended to the heights from an early age as both performer and composer, but with issues surrounding his often extreme character, and also his health and morals, this ascendency was not to last. His popularity went in and out of fashion during his lifetime, and trying to secure a permanent position as an organist was something which eluded him for a long time. However, he was one of Britain’s leading musicians, mixed in the highest circles, and was responsible for promoting the largely unknown J. S. Bach to these shores. Towards the end of his life, famous musicians and composers sought Wesley out and even Mendelssohn asked the famed organist Samuel Wesley to play for him. We’re only just beginning to understand Wesley’s importance to the development of British classical music, and many of his substantial works, including numerous concertos for piano, organ, and violin, and large scale works for choir and orchestra, all still remain to be recorded.In this week’s episode, we’ll hear about Wesley’s religious background and fluctuating views, his circle of friends, his virtuosic performance career, his passion for JS Bach, and the mystery surrounding his health.Music featured: Symphony in A major (Brillante) O Lord God most holy Might I in thy sight appear Psalm 42 & 43 Dixit Dominus Preludium, Ariette & Fuga in C minor Symphony in A major Fugue in B minor for Dr Mendelssohn Sinfonia obbligato O sing unto mie roundelaie Voluntary in D Air and Gavotte Violin Concerto No 2 in D major Sonatina Op 4 No 1 Sonatina Op 4 No 2 Duet for the organ Symphony in E flat Arrangement with Variation of Rule Britannia Rondo on God rest you merry, Gentlemen All go unto one place Duet in B flat major (for Eliza) Voluntary in D, Op 6 No 8 Handel Arr. Wesley Rejoice the Lord is King Symphony in D major String Quartet in E flat major (Allegro spiritoso) Confitebor tibi, Domine Voluntary in G minor Ode to St Cecilia (extract) Might I in thy sight appear Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum Symphony in B flat major Fidelia omnia mandata ejus Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC WalesFor 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 Samuel Wesley https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dy1kAnd 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 looks for clues in Beethoven’s early life that point towards the great man he would become.All through 2020, Donald Macleod takes an unprecedented deep dive into the compelling story and extraordinary music of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this uniquely ambitious series, told across 125 episodes of Composer of the Week, Donald puts us inside Beethoven’s world and explores his hopes, struggles and perseverance in all the colourful detail this amazing narrative deserves. Alongside this in-depth biography, Donald will also be meeting and talking to Beethoven enthusiasts and experts from across the world to discover how his music continues to speak to us in the 21st century. Through story and sound, the series builds into a vivid new portrait of this composer, born 250 years ago this year, who made art that changed how people saw themselves and understood the world.This week, Donald looks at Beethoven’s humble beginnings as a child born into a family of court musicians, working for the Archbishop-Elector’s retinue in Bonn, Germany. He showed musical talent early and followed his father and grandfather into the Elector’s employ as soon as he reached his teens. Would he continue to follow the family pattern and retire there too?Music featured: Piano Sonata No 24 in F# major, Op 78 (2nd movement) Fugue in D for organ, WoO 31 Symphony No 6 (movts. IV & V) Violin Sonata Op 30 No 2 (2nd movement) String Quartet Op 18 No 4 (1st and 3rd movements) String Quartet No 13 in Bb, Op 130 (2nd movement) Piano Sonata No 2, Op 2 No 2 (1st and 2nd movements) Symphony No 4 (4th movement) Sonata for cello and piano, Op 102 No 1 (2nd and 3rd movements) Piano Quartet, WoO 36 No 3 Piano Sonata No 19, Op 49 No 1 (2nd movement) Piano Trio, WoO 38 (arr. Alec Frank-Gemmill) Der Mann von Wort, Op 99 24 Variations on "Venni Amore" by Righini, WoO 65 Piano Trio, Op 70 No 2 (3rd and 4th movements) String Quartet, Op 95 (Serioso) (1st movement) Fidelio: Act I (finale) Musik zu einem Ritterballett, Woo 1 12 Variations on 'See the conqu'ring hero comes' by Handel for cello and piano, WoO 45 Rondo a capriccio in G major (Rage over a lost penny) for piano, Op 129 7 Variations on 'Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen', WoO 46 Resignation, WoO 149 String Quartet, Op 59 No 1 (1st movement) Violin Concerto (2nd and 3rd movements)Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Taylor for BBC WalesFor 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: Making a Man https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dpzmAnd 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 myriad influences on the life’s work of Karol Szymanowski.The reshaping of Europe at the end of the First World War had a defining effect on Polish composer Karol Szymanowski. As Europe was being reapportioned, the comfortable world he’d known up to that point disappeared for good. His family’s comfortable and cultured life disappeared, their assets wiped out by the October Revolution. From that point on, Szymanowski ceased to be a man of some privilege, able to compose in the relative seclusion of his family’s estate in what was then part of Ukraine. He needed to support himself and his mother and sisters but he found himself ill-equipped temperamentally to deal with this dramatic change in his lifestyle. He became increasingly weighed down by illness, quite probably tuberculosis. That, coupled with a chain-smoking habit and struggles with alcoholism, were to take their toll. He died in poverty at the age of just 54 in 1937. Across the week, Donald Macleod explores five distinct influences on Szymanowski’s music, starting with his formative years growing up in a family with a passion for the arts. As a young student, his studies in Warsaw led him towards the language of Richard Strauss and Max Reger, while his love of travel directed him towards impressionism, the ancient world and the Orient. Meeting Stravinsky in Paris and hearing the Ballets Russe was another turning point, as was in his later years in particular, his commitment to establishing a national musical voice for the newly formed country of Poland. Music featured: Study in G flat major, Op 4 No 2 The Swan, Op 7 L’île des sirènes (Métopes, Op 29) Violin Concerto No 1, Op 35 Songs of a Fairytale Princess, Op 31 Mazurka, Op 50 No 11 Desires; The infatuated east wind; Dance (Love Songs of Hafiz, Op 26) Concert Overture in E major, Op 12 Piano Sonata No 2 in A major, Op 21 (2nd movement) Symphony No 2 in B flat, Op 19 (1st movement) La fontaine d’Aréthuse (Mythes, Op 30) Sérénade de Don Juan (Masques, Op 34) Demeter, Op 37b String Quartet No 1 in C major, Op 37 (3rd movement) Symphony No 3, Op 27: The Song of the Night Study in B flat minor, Op 4 No 3 Penthesilea, Op 18 Thème varié 'Caprice No 24' (Three Paganini Caprices, Op 40) King Roger, Act 1 (excerpt) King Roger Act 2 (excerpt) Mazurkas, Op 50 Nos 1, 3, 6 Wanda, Op 46b No 5 Whip on the horse, Op 58 No 4 String Quartet No 2 (2nd movement) Harnasie, Op 55 (Tableau 1: In the mountain pasture) Symphony No 4, Op 60, 'Sinfonie concertante' (1st movement) Stabat Mater (excerpt) Mazurka, Op 62 No 1Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC WalesFor 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 Karol Szymanowski https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dj02And 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