In this programme
Andre Previn
The 1971 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show immortalised André Previn in the minds of many British viewers, but his career has taken him on a colourful journey of performance, conducting and composing. Now celebrating his 75th birthday with a return to the London Symphony Orchestra, he will be appearing in five concerts in his various guises, and collaborating with his fifth wife, the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, in a concerto written specially for her. Tom talks with Previn about his Hollywood film scores, the orchestras he has conducted and his recent focus on composing.
For more information about Previn, visit his website.
You can hear Previn conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in a programme of Korngold, Strauss, Ravel and his own music from a concert recorded last week at London's Barbican Hall on BBC Radio 3's Performance on 3 on Monday 13th June.
A Picture of Britain
A Picture of Britain
In a collaboration between Tate Britain and the BBC, the inspiration of the British landscape for native artists is explored through a new exhibition at Tate Britain and in a new BBC One series, A Picture of Britain, presented by David Dimbleby. The landscape is equally important to British pastoral composers including Elgar, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Delius and others, but the dismissive description of a 'cowpat' school suggests music of sentimental nostalgia or naïve nature-painting. According to conductor Mark Elder there is much more to it. He explains his own championing of the music and Tom discusses the role of music in reflecting landscape with pianist David Owen Norris and composer Anthony Payne.
You can see the second episode of David Dimbleby's series on BBC One at 9pm on Sunday 12th June. The exhibition at Tate Britain runs from 15th June to 4th September.
The Cricket Recovers
Richard Ayres' first opera, The Cricket Recovers, is perhaps his most ambitious commission to date. A British composer, based in Holland, Ayres has drawn inspiration for his opera from stories by Toon Tellegen, Holland's equivalent of Roald Dahl. The main characters in the opera are a depressed cricket and an elephant obsessed with climbing trees, but unable to stop falling out. The surreal story is in keeping with the absurdities of Richard Ayres' own imagined biography in which he claims to be 'undergoing an intensive training for the Indian Government sponsored manned flight to Mars'. Tom went to the first full rehearsal of the opera to find out about the quirky drama of Ayres' music.
The Cricket Recovers premieres in Aldeburgh on Friday 10th June, with further performances on 16th and 17th June, and can then be seen at the Almeida in London from 29th June.
Karol Szymanowski
The music of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski inspires adjectives like mystical, liquid and enigmatic. His work fuses elements of folk song with the Western opulence of Strauss and Debussy. However, with the exception of occasional performances of his violin concertos, string quartets, or his opera, King Roger, much of his repertoire is rarely heard. As the Wigmore Hall celebrates Szymanowski's chamber music in a new season of his music, Tom asks Polish music expert Adrian Thomas, biographer Alistair Wightman, singers Joan Rodgers and Piotr Beczala and pianists Piotr Anderszewski and Artur Pizarro what it is that defines Szymanowski's music.
The Szymanowski Festival at Wigmore Hall runs from 18th to 25th June.
Music
Andre Previn
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, First Movement
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn
Deutsche Grammophon 474 500-2
Tr 1
Andre Previn
A Streetcar Named Desire
San Francisco Opera and Orchestera, Andre Previn
Deutsche Grammophon, 459 366 2
CD 2 Tr 3
Mozart
Piano Concerto K491, Allegro
Andre Previn, Wiener Philharmoniker
Philips 412 524 1
Tr 1
Andre Previn
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Last Movement
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn
Deutsche Grammophon 474 500-2
Tr 3
Szymanowski
Violin Concerto no 1 op35, first movement.
Thomas Zehetmair, CBSO, Simon Rattle
EMI 5 55607 2
Tr 1
Szymanowski
Piano Sonata No.3 Op.36, First Movement
Piotr Anderszewski
EMI 454 730 2
Tr 4
Szymanowski
Stabat mater, Op. 53
CBSO & Chorus, Simon Rattle
EMI 5 55121 2
Tr 3
Szymanowski
Nokturn I tarantela op.28: Tarantela.
Piotr Plawner
Dux 0287
Tr 6
Szymanowski
Metopes op 29@ Calypso
Piotr Anderszewski
EMI 454 730 2
Tr 9
Szymanowski
Das Grab des Hafis
Urszula Kryger, Reinild Mees
Channel Classics CCS19398
CD3 Tr19
Szymanowski
Symphony no 3 op27, Song of the Night
CBSO & Chorus, Simon Rattle
EMI 5 55121 2
Tr 11
Bax
Tintagel
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Lyrita SRCD 231
T4
Vaughan-Williams
Norfold Rhapsody no2 in D minor
London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox
Chandos Chan 10001
Tr1
Holst
Egdon Heath op.47
London Symphony Orchestra Andre Previn
EMI 5 62615 2
Tr 13
Elgar
Symphony no2, Allegro Vivace e nobilmente
Halle Orchestra, James Loughran
ASV CD QS 6087
Tr1
Britten
Four sea Interludes, Op33a
London Symphony Orchestra Andre Previn
EMI 5 62615 2
Tr 13
Elgar
Cello Concerto in A minor, First Movement
Jacqueline du Pre
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli
EMI CDC 7 47329 2
Tr1
Waughan-Williams
On Wenlock Edge
Ian Bostridge, London Philharmonic, Bernard Haitink
EMI 5 56762 2
Tr 6
