Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gesualdo 450, Vaughan Williams

After the news of the death of the Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Petroc Trelawny talks to Nicholas Kenyon and conductor Ivor Bolton about his legacy. They discuss the unique vision of Harnoncourt as a pioneer of the early music movement, and the importance of his ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien, but also the revolutionary impact that his vision had on some of the top orchestras of the world, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. His vision always began with a thorough musicological study of scores, whether in preparing Bach Cantatas or Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and he liked to think of himself as a collaborator with his musicians rather than an autocratic conductor.

More information:
Harnoncourt’s website
Music Matters’s one-to-one interview between Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Suzy Klein
John Butt and Lang Lang remember Harnoncourt on In Tune
Record Review - Disc of the Week: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
© Photo: Marco Borggreve

To mark the 450th anniversary of Carlo Gesualdo's birth, Petroc travels to Naples to explore one of the most notorious composers in history, whose music still sounds radical to audiences today. He speaks to Gesualdo expert Dinko Fabris and Cesare Corsi, the librarian of the Conservatorio di Musica 'San Pietro a Majella', which holds the largest collection of Gesualdo prints in Europe. Petroc also talks to Peter Phillips, the director of the Tallis Scholars, and soprano Clare Norburn, who has written a new play about Gesualdo. 

More information:
CD Review: Gesualdo round-up
Carlo Gesualdo on BBC Music
Clare Norburn's play 'Breaking the Rules'

Petroc reviews a new biography of Vaughan Williams by Keith Alldritt, with the composer Anthony Payne and British music expert Ceri Owen. Drawing on letters by Vaughan Williams that have recently come to light, Keith Alldritt paints a portrait of a radical and visionary composer, whose music reflects a rapidly-changing England from Edwardian times, through two world wars, to the post-war era. The book challenges previous ideas of Vaughan Williams as a composer of English pastoral-style music, and illustrates how connected Vaughan Williams was to English modernism, social causes and politics.