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6 November 2005Sunday 6 November 2005 17:45-18:30 (Radio 3) A new book about the composer Olivier Messiaen claims to explore the world that Messiaen himself was at pains to keep hidden. Tom Service talks to the authors. Duration:45 minutes In this programmeEnd of La Dolce Vita? Italian Opera in crisis.
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The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi's plans to cut a third of the Italian culture budget have caused uproar in Italy 's arts community. The Culture Minister, Rocco Buttiglione, has threatened to resign if the cuts are enforced and La Scala also cancelled a performance of Rossini's Barber of Seville in protest. The cuts would be particularly catastrophic for the opera houses as they depend so heavily on state subsidy. But is the situation really as dire as it seems, or has Italian opera become too complacent? David Willey, the BBC Rome Correspondent, reports on the crisis and Rocco Buttiglione explains his standpoint. 
How did an orchestra assembled in a small city in Ohio become one of the most successful American orchestras of the 20 th Century? As Performance on 3 celebrates the work of the Cleveland Orchestra this week, the conductors behind the evolution of this orchestra explain their own approaches towards working with the ensemble. George Szell, Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnanyi and the current music director, Franz Welser-Most create a picture of an orchestra which goes from strength to strength. 
Created in the 15 th Century, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge , has achieved international fame in the 20 th century through its annual Christmas Eve Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. The Choir embodies the purity and perfection of the English choral tradition. Following the recent bequest of recordings of the Choir to the British Library, Tom visited the Chapel of King's College and talked with Sir David Willcocks, who directed the choir from 1958-1974, and the tenor John Potter, a former King's chorister, to find out what it is that makes the 'King's sound' so special. 
