Donald Macleod explores the life and works of legendary organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. Buxtehude was a musical star in his own time, whom Johann Sebastian Bach walked almost 300 miles just to meet and learn from. Yet, the facts of Buxtehude’s own story are far from straight forward. Doubts remain over so many details in the composer’s life. We can’t even be sure when or where he was born, leading to three different countries claiming him as their own, and for a musician who perhaps ab...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 8 min
Donald explores composer Claudio Monteverdi, one of the most important figures in the development of Western music. As a composer of both secular and sacred music, over the course of his career he worked for court, church and was one of the key figures in the development of opera. Across this week of programmes, Donald Macleod tracks Monteverdi’s career across three cities, from promising child prodigy, through poverty and plague, to his final years in the priesthood, with huge artistic successe...
Aug 05, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Donald Macleod explores Beethoven’s life as a set of themes and variations, beginning with his very first musical excursions in the form in the early 1790s. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) composed piano music in the form of themes and variations across his entire career - from his earliest published work to his late, titanic “Diabelli Variations”, lasting nearly an hour. And Beethoven’s life can itself be seen as a set of variations on a theme: recurring episodes of unrequited love, artistic a...
Jul 29, 2022•58 min
Donald Macleod explores Ravel’s meteoric rise to fame and early chamber music - including a long-lost violin sonata, and a unique arrangement for four ondes martenots. The music of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) is much loved for its remarkable orchestral colours and brilliant virtuosity, heard vividly in works like Bolero, Daphnis and Chloe and Gaspard de la Nuit. But his chamber music, intimate, crystalline, and beautiful, is often overlooked. This week Donald Macleod puts that right, as he introdu...
Jul 22, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Donald Macleod begins the second leg of his “Tour de France” in three weeks focused on French composers across the centuries. This week, Donald introduces us to the remarkable life story and unsung musical innovations of Hélène de Montgeroult. There aren’t many composers who can claim that music saved their life – at least, in the literal sense. But for Hélène de Montgeroult, it was her astounding powers of improvisation that got her out of the stickiest situation imaginable, hauled in front of ...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Donald Macleod begins three weeks focused on French composers, in honour of this month’s ‘Tour de France’ cycle race. "I have followed the theatre since the age of twelve", so said Rameau to a young composer who wrote to him for advice. It's an intriguing insight into a man who didn't produce his first opera until the age of fifty. Quite why it took him that long isn't clear. Up to that point he had been a church musician, following in his father's footsteps, holding a succession of posts mainly...
Jul 08, 2022•1 hr 8 min
Donald Macleod surveys one of the most famed Spanish composers of the Renaissance, Tomás Luis de Victoria. Tomás Luis de Victoria has become the most famed Spanish composer of the Renaissance and ranks alongside Palestrina and Lassus as one of the greatest composers of the 16th century. He was a singer, organist, scholar, teacher, and a priest but it was in composition that he made his most significant impact. His motets, Offices for the Dead and music for Holy Week are admired for their great b...
Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Donald Macleod explores Dvořák’s American years and uncovers what he achieved during his time there. Antonín Dvořák became the first Czech composer to achieve global fame. His gift for transforming the folk styles of his native Bohemia into richly Romantic classical music won him admirers far beyond his homeland. Consequently, Dvořák was approached to leave Europe and serve as director of the newly established National Conservatory of Music in America. His sponsors hoped he would help foster a n...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Donald Macleod explores Handel’s crucial relationship with the British monarchy, and how he and the Georgian Kings helped forge a new sense of British culture and identity. What could be more quintessentially British than a rousing chorus of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus? Or his anthem Zadok the Priest, which has been performed at every British coronation since 1727? Yet, though the composer became was a naturalised British subject, he was born in Germany and kept his German accent all of his life....
Jun 03, 2022•1 hr 19 min
This month, Donald Macleod takes a new look at one of Britain’s best loved composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams, as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season - marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Over the course of four weeks and twenty programmes, Donald will be delving into Vaughan Williams' life story and work in intriguing detail, and he’ll also be talking to some of the leading authorities on Vaughan Williams to share and explore fresh perspectives on a variety of ov...
May 27, 2022•1 hr 21 min
This month, Donald Macleod takes a fresh look at one of Britain’s most popular composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams, as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season - marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Alongside programmes which delve into Vaughan Williams' life story and music in fascinating depth, over the course of four weeks and twenty programmes, Donald will also be talking to some of the leading authorities on Vaughan Williams to share and explore share new perspectiv...
May 20, 2022•1 hr 28 min
All this month, Donald Macleod takes a fresh look at this much loved composer as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season, celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth. He’ll unpack Vaughan Williams' life story in fascinating detail over the course of four weeks and leading authorities on the composer will join him to share their new perspectives. They'll be exploring some of the overlooked aspects of his life and music, as well as the qualities that have left such an enduring imprint...
May 13, 2022•1 hr 20 min
This month, Donald Macleod takes a fresh look at Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the UK’s most significant music figures, as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth. Ralph Vaughan Williams is one of the UK's most significant musical figures. This month, Donald Macleod takes a fresh look at this much loved composer as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth Donald will be telling Vaughan Wil...
May 06, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Donald Macleod and guest Sarah Willis explore some of the greatest “one-hit wonders” in classical music - Johann Pachelbel, Engelbert Humperdinck, Paul Dukas, Gregorio Allegri, Henryk Górecki, Tomaso Albinoni, Giovanni Pergolesi, Pietro Mascagni, Carl Orff and Julius Fučík. Classical music is littered with composers who are famous for just a single piece of music. In a special week of Composer of the Week programmes, Donald Macleod is joined by Berlin Philharmonic horn player Sarah Willis to exp...
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 27 min
Donald Macleod talks to Peter and Emilie Bernstein about their father, award winning Hollywood film composer Elmer Bernstein, who wrote for films during the 1980s and 1990s. Born in 1922, Elmer Bernstein created the music for more than 150 films. His big break was one of Hollywood's biggest pictures, Cecil B DeMille's swan song, the 1955 biblical epic, "The Ten Commandments". At the same time as working on that enormous canvas for DeMille, Bernstein was composing the first in a series of ground-...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr 32 min
Donald Macleod explores Debussy's life as he approaches his thirties. Donald Macleod explores Debussy's life as he approaches his thirties, a challenging period both personally and musically. One of the twentieth century's most original minds, the French composer Claude Debussy has had a profound influence on the course of music. Born in 1862, his precocious talent gained him admittance to the prestigious Paris Conservatoire as a ten year old, one of the youngest pupils in the piano class. There...
Mar 18, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Donald Macleod explores Henriëtte Bosmans' rise to fame as both a pianist and a composer. Henriëtte Bosmans seemed destined for a life in music from the moment of her birth, in 1895. Her father was the principal solo cellist in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and her mother a piano teacher at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Bosmans developed a flourishing career and won international success with her Concert Piece for Violin and Orchestra. As a concert pianist she performed alongside conductor...
Mar 11, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Donald Macleod explores the richly evocative musical landscape of Ottorino Respighi This week, we’re invited to explore the richly evocative musical landscape of Ottorino Respighi. The colourful inventiveness of his most popular music was often inspired by images, places or stories, like his trio of ‘Tone Poems’: Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome, and Roman Festivals. These works and others were frequently championed by celebrated conductor, Arturo Toscanini, and Respighi rose to become one of th...
Feb 25, 2022•56 min
Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Edward Gregson and Alan Bush This week, Donald Macleod is in conversation with British composer, Edward Gregson, who offers a fascinating window into his own story and also the life and work of his mentor, Alan Bush. We’ll see how both composers have made significant contributions to Britain’s musical story, and we explore the events that led to the very different trajectories of their careers. Edward Gregson knew that classical music would be his lif...
Feb 18, 2022•1 hr 23 min
Donald Macleod explores Elgar's own belief that he was an outsider from British society Elgar is the composer we turn to in times of national celebration, of pride (Pomp and Circumstance Marches) and of public grief (Nimrod). He mingled with royalty and was made a knight of the realm, seemingly a pillar of the Edwardian and early 20th Century British establishment. And yet, for most of his life he felt himself to be a misfit. This week, Donald Macleod explores some of the reasons for that sense ...
Feb 04, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Donald Macleod lifts the veil on neglected yet prolific composer, Marianna Martines Marianna Martines lived and worked in Vienna alongside some of classical music’s greatest names. She was tutored by Haydn, played piano duets with Mozart, corresponded with Padre Martini and Farinelli, and was frequently invited to perform for the Imperial Court. For nearly forty years, she was mentored by Metastasio, Europe’s most celebrated opera librettist. Martines became a significant personality in Viennese...
Jan 28, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Donald Macleod reflects on Franz Liszt's Hungarian story - he spent little time there and couldn't speak the language but just how important to his music was the land of his birth? Music Featured: Hungarian Rhapsody No 8 in F sharp minor Die Drei Zigeuner Symphonic Poem: From the Cradle to the Grave Fantasy on Motifs from Beethoven's 'Ruinen von Athen' Variation on a Theme of Diabelli Hungarian Rhapsody No 10 in E - 'Preludio' Hungarian Rhapsody No 5 in E minor 'Heroide-elegiaque' Six Grandes Et...
Jan 21, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully was the most influential French composer of the 17th Century, a key figure in the court of Louis XIV. This week, Donald Macleod explores how Lully rose from humble origins in Italy to become the most powerful musician in France, a story of lies, ambition and intrigue. Music Featured: Phaëton, LWV 61, Overture Le Carnaval, LWV 52, Overture Le Carnaval, LWV 52 (Air “Son dottor per occasion”) Dies Irae, LWV 64/1 Da...
Jan 14, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Donald Macleod chats to composer Errollyn Wallen about her life and work Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen has been called a “renaissance woman of contemporary music”. She’s a remarkably versatile and prolific composer, pianist and songwriter and one of our most in-demand musical voices today. She was the first black woman to have a piece performed at the Proms in 1998 and her music opened the 2012 Paralympic games. She's even been performed in space, aboard NASA’s STS115 mission. Wal...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 27 min
Donald Macleod delves into the operas of Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini was man of the theatre to his fingertips. Born in Lucca in 1858, into a distinguished family of church musicians, Puccini was never destined to follow in his forebears’ footsteps. His fate was sealed when as a teenager he walked thirty miles to hear Verdi’s Aida. He knew immediately that theatre was his calling and from that point on he wrote almost exclusively for the stage. A perfectionist and an often unreasonable taskma...
Dec 31, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Donald Macleod explores Mozart’s prolific final years. Five years before Mozart’s premature death aged 35, the composer felt at the top of his game. He was performing regularly in Vienna and his music was beloved throughout the city. However, the Austro-Turkish War between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire would soon have a negative impact on Mozart’s prospects, along with changing musical taste in the Austrian capital. The nobility had more important things to do than hold concerts a...
Dec 24, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Camille Saint-Saëns Camille Saint-Saëns once said “I produce music as an apple tree produces apples.” In his day, that fruit was gobbled up all across Europe where the composer was acclaimed as the greatest of all French musicians. Liszt called him the greatest organist in the world. Yet in France, and in his home city of Paris, he was not always so highly regarded, despite his strong bond with his homeland. This week, as we mark the centenary of his...
Dec 17, 2021•1 hr 23 min
Donald Macleod is joined by the composer Mark-Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage is a man with a reputation for shaking up the world of British classical music - a composer with a distinctive and rebellious creative voice. His work vividly fuses influences of jazz, soul and contemporary pop with music that remains boldly and defiantly avant-garde. It’s music that packs a punch, yet whose visceral impact accompanies a deep lyricism and emotion. Over four decades, Turnage’s work has tackled soci...
Dec 10, 2021•1 hr 16 min
As part of his 80th birthday celebrations in 2010, Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim looked back over his life and work, with Donald Macleod. The result is a fascinating retrospective of half a century of creativity, with the artist himself as tour guide. Along the way, he explodes a few myths about the inner workings of musical theatre. Sondheim starts by talking about his childhood, his parents' divorce, his near-adoption by the Hammerstein family and his apprenticeship with Oscar Hammerstein, ...
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Donald Macleod explores a crucial decade in Sibelius’s life The 1910s were a crucial decade in Sibelius’s life. He would write some of his greatest works during these ten years, including his fourth and fifth symphonies and the beginnings of his sixth. Sibelius’s meditations on the symphony and its role in his creative life are a recurring theme in the week’s programmes. This period also reflects Sibelius’s life in microcosm, including his battles with alcohol and indebtedness; his need for the ...
Nov 26, 2021•1 hr 13 min
