BBC National Orchestra of Wales

From Duke Ellington’s playful jazz arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet, via the blues and tomfoolery of Ravel’s piano concerto with the orchestra's former Composer in Association Huw Watkins as soloist, to Prokofiev’s fantastical retelling of Cinderella. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor David Danzmayr lead this afternoon's dance in a concert recorded in January at Swansea's Brangwyn Hall.
American Romantic George Chadwick wrote music full of orchestral colour and wide dynamic range. We'll hear that colour palate as Andrew Constantine conducts the orchestra in his symphonic ballad Tam O'Shanter. In a new CD recording, the BBC NOW help to put the name of Alexander Veprik back on the musical map. He was regarded as a star in the young Soviet generation of composers that included Shostakovich, but fell out of favour as a victim of Stalin's anti-Semitic policies and was sent to the Gulag. His 'Five Little Pieces' play with the Jewish melodies that accompanied Veprik, who was born near Odessa, throughout his life. Richard Wagner's love letter to Mathilde Wesendonck, whose poems he set whilst working on the opera Tristan und Isolde, is sung by soprano Jenufa Gleich.
Presented by Hannah French.

2pm
Ellington: Nutcracker suite after Tchaikovsky
Ravel: Concerto in G major for piano and orchestra
Prokofiev: Cinderella, op. 87 (highlights)
Huw Watkins, piano
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
David Danzmayr, conductor

3.15pm
Chadwick: Tam O'Shanter - symphonic ballad
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Andrew Constantine, conductor

3.35pm
Veprik: 5 Little pieces, op. 17
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Christoph-Mathias Mueller, conductor

3.50pm
Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder
Jenufa Gleich, soprano
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Fabrice Bollon, conductor