Music Matters

7 May 2006

Sunday 7 May 2006 17:45-18:30 (Radio 3)

As the Royal Opera House prepares to resurrect Franco Alfano's little known opera Cyrano de Bergerac 70 years after its creation, Tom Service asks director Francesca Zambello and conductor Mark Elder whether this is a an undiscovered masterpiece or a justly neglected opera. Cyrano, the nasally well-endowed poet and swashbuckler, may be more familiar to audiences from the silver screen antics of Gerard Depardieu and Steve Martin, however this production is not only the brainchild of Placido Domingo, but he also sings the lead role - one that really does call for 'man-size' tissues.

Cyrano De Bergerac is a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera New York

Plus, a celebration of the life of radical experimental composer and founder of the Scratch Orchestra, Cornelius Cardew, on the 70th anniversary of his birth.

Duration:

45 minutes

In this programme

Cyrano de Bergerac
As the Royal Opera House prepares to resurrect Franco Alfano's little known opera Cyrano de Bergerac 70 years after its creation, Tom asks director Francesca Zambello and conductor Mark Elder whether this is a an undiscovered masterpiece or a justly neglected opera. Cyrano, the nasally well-endowed poet and swashbuckler, may be more familiar to audiences from the silver screen antics of Gerard Depardieu and Steve Martin, however this production is not only the brainchild of Placido Domingo, but he also sings the lead role - one that really does call for 'man-size' tissues.

Cyrano De Bergerac is a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera New York and runs at the Royal Opera House from the 8th to the 27th May

Cornelius Cardew
For many Cornelius Cardew was the leading light of the British experimental movement, but his life was tragically cut short in 1981 by a hit and run incident in London 's East End . On the 70th anniversary of his birth Music Matters talks to those who knew him intimately, and builds a portrait of this enigmatic composer, graphic designer, family man and political activist. Original Scratch Orchestra members Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons remember the heady days of experimentalism and the foundation of the Scratch Orchestra in the 1960s; Stella Cardew talks of life married to the man; and biographer John Tilbury recalls the increasing politicisation of Cardew's outlook and music.

Cornelius Cardew 70th Birthday Anniversary Festival will be held on Sunday, May 7, at Cecil Sharp House, London .

The Selected Correspondence of Aaron Copland
This new compilation of Copland's letters, edited by Elizabeth B Crist and Wayne Shirley offers a fresh glimpse of one of 20th Century America 's most iconic composers. Tom speaks to Professor Crist about the process of unearthing these letters, and conductor Richard Bernas about the new insights into Copland's life this book gives the reader, as well as the effect they have on our appreciation of the man and his art.

The Selected Correspondence of Aaron Copland, edited by Elizabeth B Crist and Wayne Shirley is published by Yale University Press .

Michael Chorost
Although partially deaf, Michael Chorost could still enjoy music - especially Ravel's Bolero. Yet, when he mysteriously lost his already impaired hearing his ability to appreciate music seemed to have disappeared too. Despite the radical treatment he received to cure this partial deafness, he still found that music remained muffled and muted and his beloved Bolero was no longer the Spanish extravaganza he had loved before. This week we hear his amazing story as he charts his rehabilitation into the world of sound and music, and his fight to restore the aural fireworks to Ravel's masterpiece.

Michael Chorost's book Rebuilt is published by Souvenir Press.