Alfred Brendel plays Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto in Munich

Mark Forrest continues his week of specially recorded music and performances from the UK and Europe. Today we hear another treasured archive recording of Alfred Brendel playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich. There’s more piano music from one of the prize winners from the 2024 Leeds Piano Competition too: the Chinese pianist Junyan Chen, who plays Couperin & Messiaen in a concert recorded last month at London’s Wigmore Hall. And, to end the programme, conductor Nil Venditti joins the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Including:

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G, Op.58
Alfred Brendel (piano)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis (conductor)

John Pickard: Ave maris stella
BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin (conductor)

Heinrich Biber: Passacaglia in G minor (The Guardian Angel)
Veronika Eberle (violin)

William Grant Still: Afro-American Symphony
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Minasi (conductor)

Francois Couperin: Les Baricades; Le Tic-toc-choc ou les maillotins; Les ombres errantes; Les tricoteuses
Junyan Chen (piano)

Olivier Messiaen: Preludes: La Colombe; Un reflet dans le vent
Junyan Chen (piano)

Robert Schumann: Manfred Overture, Op.115
Croatian Radiotelevision Orchestra
Gyorgy Gyorivanyi (conductor)

Franz Schubert: String Trio in B flat, D. 471
Mondrian Ensemble

Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Nil Venditti (conductor)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".