Composer of the Week Podcast Folgen

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of African-American composer William Grant Still (1895-1978). This week Composer of the Week looks at Still’s transformative period of study with mentor Edgard Varèse, the writing of his breakthrough 1st Symphony the ‘Afro-American’, being embraced by the American musical establishment and becoming the first African-American to conduct a major US symphony orchestra, and his uphill struggles to establish himself as a composer of opera. Music featured: Brown Baby Darker America Breath of a Rose La Guiablesse (The She-Devil), ballet Africa, suite for orchestra (1. Land of Peace) Quit Dat Fool’nish Symphony No 1 in A flat, ‘Afro-American’ A Deserted Plantation Kaintuck’, poem for piano and orchestra Blues, Pt 1 Lenox Avenue (The Crap Game; The Flirtation; The Fight; The Law) Symphony No 2 in G minor, ‘Song of a New Race’ (4. Moderately Slow) Out of the Silence (Seven Traceries, No 4) And They Lynched Him on a Tree Old California ‘A Black Pierrot’ (Songs of Separation) Incantation and Dance, for oboe and piano Festive Overture Bells Symphony No 4, ‘Autochthonous’ Whippoorwill's Shoes (Wood Notes) Little Black Slave Child (Troubled Island) Ennanga, for harp, piano and string quartet (1. Moderately fast) Symphony No 3, ‘The Sunday Symphony’ (2. Prayer – very slowly; 3. Relaxation – Gaily) Lyric Quartette Highway One: Act I (extract) Grief (Weeping Angel)Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Barstow 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 William Grant Still: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002cbdAnd 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 Oliver Soden look at Michael Tippett through his intense personal relationships.Michael Tippett was a particularly absorbent composer, soaking up an incredibly wide range of inspirations and influences from the world around him, and perhaps most often from outside the field of music. His huge intellectual capacity and endless interest in other people combined with immense charisma to make him a personality to which everyone who met him seemed irresistibly drawn. His - often complex - relationships were particularly intense ones, and frequently blurred the lines between professional and personal, artistic and sexual. This week Composer of the Week looks at some of the people closest to Tippett and asks what influence they had on the life and music of a man whose story has still never been fully told. Joining Donald Macleod to explore sometimes uncharted territory is Oliver Soden, the author of a new - and the first complete - biography of the composer.Music featured: Where The Bee Sucks from Songs for Ariel A Child of Our Time (Part 1) Byzantium  Purcell arr. Tippett: If music be the food of love  Piano Sonata No 1, 1st movement: Allegro Suite in D for the Birthday of Prince Charles The Heart’s Assurance Variations on an Elizabethan Theme: Lament Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli The Midsummer Marriage Praeludium For Brass, Bells And Percussion Music String Quartet No 1: Lento Cantabile Symphony No 2: Adagio molto e tranquillo Songs for Achilles The Knot Garden: Enough, Enough Tippett: Dance, Clarion Air Piano Concerto – 1: Allegro non troppo Crown of the Year The Blue Guitar The Rose Lake Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Dominic Jewel 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 Michael Tippett: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00028h7And 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 life and work of Franz Liszt through five striking images.Franz Liszt was the most photographed man of the 19th century and the most sculpted man aside from Napoleon - one of the most recognisable figures of his age. Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of the prolific composer and virtuoso pianist through five intriguing images. Through these, he examines the promotion of Liszt as a child prodigy, and how his persona of the ‘dramatic virtuoso’ was created. We also hear about Liszt’s complicated relationships: with women and his friend Richard Wagner, and his frantic threefold existence, living between Rome, Weimar and Budapest.Music featured:50 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli – Variation 24 Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 Transcendental Etude No 4 'Mazeppa' Don Sanche (The Castle of Love): Overture Malédiction Christus Grandes Etudes de Paganini No 3 'La Campanella' Totentanz El Contrabandista – Rondo Fantastique Grand Galop Chromatique Cantata for Inauguration of the Beethoven Monument: Soirées de Vienne No 6 Liebestraum No 3 (Nocturne) Années de pèlerinage: Au lac de Wallenstadt A Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy Harmonies poétiques et religieuses: Cantique d'amour Orpheus Wieder möcht' ich dir begegnen Richard Wagner (arr. Franz Liszt) Tannhäuser: Choeur des Pèlerins Prometheus A Faust Symphony: III. Mephistopheles In Liebeslust The Legend of St Elizabeth: Chorus of the Angels At the Grave of Richard Wagner Legend of St Francis of Assisi: St Francis preaches to the birds Via Crucis (Cruxis): Station VI Hungarian Rhapsody No 9 Nuages Gris Mephisto Waltz No 2 Années de pèlerinage: IV. Au bord d’une source Richard Wagner (arr. Franz Liszt) Tristan und Isolde: LiebestodPresented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips 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 Franz Liszt: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00022znAnd 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