Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach’s life throws a light on the political turbulence and identity within 19th century Europe. He struggled to break into the musical establishment of Paris, but he didn’t struggle with creating a dazzling array of work for the theatre. His 98 stage works established and defined what operetta was, paving the way for modern musical theatre. Music Featured: Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann), Act III: Barcarol...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Donald Macleod explores Mendelssohn’s experience in the British Isles Mendelssohn’s relationship with Britain began when he was 20 years old, when London became the first stop of his Grand Tour. This week Donald Macleod explores the composer's experiences in Britain, considering the mark he left on musical life in these islands, the works he wrote here, and what he got up to in the course of the ten visits he made across his lifetime. Mendelssohn took inspiration from the scenery, but he also go...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Kate Molleson talks to Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Caroline Shaw At the age of just 30, in 2013 American composer Caroline Shaw made the headlines when she became the youngest person to win a Pulitzer Prize for her vocal work "Partita for Eight Voices". It's a mind blowing, joyous celebration of every sound and technique the human voice can achieve. The unexpectedly gained Pulitzer could have pigeon-holed Shaw's future career, as a "composer", but central to her identity as a creator is the...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 27 min
The 19th century was an exciting time for classical musicians. Urban centres across Europe and the New World were expanding rapidly, creating a profitable music circuit for touring performers – particularly if you had the talent and star-power to attract audiences in large numbers! A new breed of performer began to emerge: extraordinary virtuosos whose dazzling abilities made them into international sensations. Liszt, Chopin, Clara Schumann and Paganini are among the names best remembered today ...
Dec 29, 2023•1 hr 6 min
“I’ve always loved carols,” Vaughan Williams wrote to Cecil Sharp in 1911. Despite being called a “most determined atheist” by Bertrand Russell at University, and in later life “a cheerful agnostic”, the composer never lost his love for Christmas. It dated back to childhood memories of singing carols from Stainer and Bramley’s Christmas Carols New and Old at his home at Leith Hill Place, Surrey. As an adult, his lifelong passion for the Christmas period was demonstrated in his music - the Fantas...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Donald Macleod explores the life and music of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck German composer, Engelbert Humperdinck, became an international celebrity with his music for the stage. His lasting hit was his opera, Hansel and Gretel. There were other huge successes too. Die Heirat wider Willen (The Reluctant Marriage) was highly praised after its premiere at the Royal Opera in Berlin, and Humperdinck took 19 curtain calls in London for his stage work Das Wunder (The Miracle). In New York, at...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 3 min
This week, Donald Macleod marks the beginning of the season of Advent by exploring Christmas music and stories from the Middle Ages. Christmas celebrations encompassed a great variety of colourful traditions and musical occasions during medieval times. Peasants and nobles alike could look forward to many weeks of festivities, from Advent at the start of December, right through to Candlemas on 2nd February. Some of those customs we still recognise and celebrate today. Many are now lost or signifi...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Ned Rorem was an American composer and writer, and was hailed by some as the greatest art-song composer of his time. Writing over 500 songs, his music has been described as Neoromantic, leaning at times towards a more lyrical nature. Early musical influences upon Rorem were Margaret Bonds, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland and also Arthur Honegger. After a period of living in Paris where he associated with members of Les Six, as well as frequent trips to Morocco, Rorem eventually settled back in the...
Dec 01, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Kate Molleson and Kevin Le Gendre dive into the lives and music of John & Alice Coltrane Coltrane is a name you’re likely to have heard, even if you know little to nothing about jazz. More than half a century after his death, saxophonist and composer John Coltrane is hailed as a giant of American cultural history, and one of 20th-century music’s greatest visionaries. But he’s not the only Coltrane. His wife, Alice, was an accomplished keyboardist and harpist who made revolutionary music in h...
Nov 17, 2023•1 hr 22 min
Donald Macleod surveys the spell Shakespeare cast on Berlioz's life and music Berlioz burst onto the musical stage of 19th century Paris determined to break the mould of France’s elegant and refined classical style. He wanted to create music that could be bombastic, barbaric and grotesque, as well as sentimental, scintillating and sorrowful. In this, he was inspired by writers as much as fellow musicians. He was captivated by stories and crowded his imagination with the tales of Virgil, Scott, G...
Nov 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Donald Macleod explores Beethoven’s life through his most iconic works Beethoven remains one of the most lauded composers in history, famed for both his music, and for his personal triumph as a musician over the adversity of his catastrophic hearing loss. Donald Macleod takes five of Beethoven’s most iconic works, spread out through the composer’s life, and tracks the journey of each of them. Through these stories, Donald discovers both the pieces’ direct importance to the composer, and also fin...
Nov 03, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Donald Macleod surveys the life and music of the elusive French composer, Edouard Lalo Even if you know the name, it's possible you might not be able to place the French composer Edouard Lalo date-wise. He was born in Lille in 1823. Berlioz was his senior in age by some twenty years, Saint-Saëns twelve years his junior. Lalo has a direct contemporary in the shape of César Franck, another composer who preferred to stay out of the limelight. As a musician, Lalo cut an independent path, preferring ...
Oct 27, 2023•57 min
Kate Molleson explore the life and music of Afro-Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia Composer of the Week shines the spotlight on the Afro-Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia. Hailed by some as the Father of Brazilian Classical Music, and compared by others to Mozart and Haydn, this series delves into the life and music of this once hugely prolific and popular composer. Born in Rio de Janeiro, both his parents were children of slaves. Thanks to his exceptional musical talents...
Oct 06, 2023•1 hr 27 min
Donald Macleod marks Composer of the Week's 80th anniversary Composer of the Week has been produced in Cardiff since 1999 so it's fitting that Donald is celebrating Welsh composers in this anniversary series. Following on from a live concert given in the BBC's Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay, with the BBC Singers, Donald continues the story of Welsh music with programmes featuring music by Grace Williams, Hilary Tann, Morfydd Owen, Dilys Elwyn-Edwards and Rhian Samuel. This quintet of composers we...
Sep 29, 2023•1 hr 25 min
Donald Macleod celebrates 80 years of "Composer of the Week" with a concert of music by Grace Williams and Hilary Tann, curated by Welsh music historian Rhian Davies, and performed by the BBC Singers in Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay. Donald, together with Welsh music specialist Geraint Lewis and conductor and broadcaster Gwawr Owen, considers the part these two composers play in the history of Wales' vibrant choral tradition. Composer of the Week has been produced in Cardiff since 1999 so it's f...
Sep 29, 2023•27 min
Donald Macleod surveys the life of Girolamo Frescobaldi and the musical spectacle of Rome Girolamo Frescobaldi established the keyboard style that would dominate Europe in the Baroque era. His life throws a light on the nepotism and patronage at the heart of Italy in the 17th century, and how it created extraordinary music and spectacle.... breaking the bank in the process. Donald Macleod and his guest Robert Quinney, Director of the Choir of New College, Oxford, explore Frescobaldi's story alon...
Sep 22, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Donald Macleod is joined by Odaline de la Martinez to explore the life and music of Carlos Chavez Carlos Chávez was both a rebel and an educator. Born in a Mexico on the brink of revolution, he would go on to single-handedly revolutionise Mexican music and culture, filling his compositions with indigenous Aztec stories and sounds. Many cite Aaron Copland as an influence on Chávez, but the truth may have been the reverse. While Copland was championing American music in the States, Chávez was figh...
Sep 15, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Kate Molleson shares stories of Handel’s music at summer soirees across the British Isles When he arrived in London in 1712, German-born George Frideric Handel was already one of Europe’s most exciting musical minds. Over the next decades he would not only carve a living for himself, but transform British musical life, from the opera stage to the choir stalls, and hardwire his legacy into our culture. This week, Kate Molleson tells the stories of five summer soirees from across his life in the B...
Sep 08, 2023•59 min
Donald Macleod explores how the rise and fall of Light Music in Britain The names of the composers of British Light Music - Coates, Ketèlby, Farnon, Dring or Tomlinson - might not be as well known as those of Mozart, Beethoven or Bach, but some of their music will be just as familiar to most listeners, and it still provides the soundtrack to many people’s everyday lives through, among other things, the theme music to their favourite TV and radio programmes. Over the course of this week, Donald M...
Sep 01, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Donald Macleod celebrates the programme’s 80th anniversary with highlights from 10 memorable interviews Composer of the Week is one of the longest-running strands on the BBC, first heard on the airwaves during the Second World War on the 2nd of August 1943. The first to be featured was Mozart – and today, the programme tells the stories of well-known and rediscovered composers across classical music, jazz, contemporary and beyond. Donald Macleod celebrates its 80th anniversary with highlights an...
Aug 04, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Donald Macleod celebrates the programme’s 80th anniversary with highlights from 10 memorable interviews Composer of the Week is one of the longest-running strands on the BBC, first heard on the airwaves during the Second World War on the 2nd of August 1943. The first to be featured was Mozart – and today, the programme tells the stories of well-known and rediscovered composers across classical music, jazz, contemporary and beyond. Donald Macleod celebrates its 80th anniversary with highlights an...
Aug 04, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Kate Molleson explores the spry and subtly surprising music of Germaine Tailleferre Kate Molleson revels in the spry and subtly surprising music of Germaine Tailleferre, with guests Barbara Kelly and Caroline Potter. Germaine Tailleferre first made a splash in the heady atmosphere of 1920s Paris. She was part of a lively, bohemian scene in which poetry and exhibitions went hand in hand with performances of new music. Her career was given a bump start by the eccentric older composer, Eric Satie. ...
Jul 28, 2023•1 hr 20 min
Composer of the Week explores the life and music of Samuel Barber, who is only considered one of the most expressive representatives of the Romantic trend in 20th century classical music, as well as one of the most frequently performed American composers. His most famous score is his early Adagio for Strings; some of his other breakthrough include his Piano Sonata, and the opera Vanessa. Barber began studying piano from the age of six and started to compose from the age of seven. He went on to t...
Jul 21, 2023•1 hr 2 min
This week, Donald Macleod marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, the greatest British musician of his age. Donald is joined all week by Byrd expert Kerry McCarthy to explore Byrd’s story and reveal a composer of determined ambition and powerful convictions. Those who encountered him, found Byrd could be a difficult adversary as well as a loyal friend. Donald also visits Essex to discover what remains of Byrd’s legacy in the places where he felt most at home, and to see how the...
Jul 07, 2023•1 hr 22 min
Donald Macleod explores the life and music of George Gershwin Music Featured: Rhapsody in Blue Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off Swanee Our Love is Here to Stay Lullaby Somebody Loves Me Suite from Blue Monday (arr. Jeanneau) A Foggy Day Overture from Primrose Fascinating Rhythm Piano Concerto in F Three Preludes (arr Heifetz) S’Wonderful The Man I Love (arr. Percy Grainger) Nice Work If You Can Get It How Long Has This Been Going On American in Paris But Not For Me Blah Blah Blah Embraceable You S...
Jun 30, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Donald Macleod explores the life and music of the ‘English Bach’ Composer of the Week explores the life and music of the ‘English Bach’, Johann Christian Bach, whose blending of German technique with Italian lyricism, in his music, made him not only the leading composer in London but a favourite too with the likes of Mozart. He was the youngest son of J.S. Bach, and the first of Bach’s numerous sons to visit Italy where he had lessons with Padre Martini. J.C. Bach spent much time composing sacre...
Jun 23, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Rossini, born in Italy in 1792, began writing music at the age of 12. His first opera was performed when he was eighteen and he wrote 37 more in the span of 20 years. Then, at the peak of his fame, the composer suddenly disappeared from the public eye. What led him to this moment? This week, Donald Macleod traces Rossini's career, from his humble beginnings as the son of a horn player, learning to write music in order to s...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Kate Molleson explores the life and music of Domenico Scarlatti Domenico Scarlatti was well placed to build himself a glittering career in the music business. He was prestigiously talented and born into a family with powerful connections in the music business. His home city of Naples was a major centre for the fashionable new art form of opera. But there were challenges, too. Competition was fierce and musicians often found their fates helplessly tied to the fickle fortunes of their aristocratic...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Kate Molleson explores the life of György Ligeti with guest, Danny Driver Known to millions through the film director Stanley Kubrick's use of his music in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ligeti's music reflects the seismic events taking place in central Europe in the mid-twentieth century - shifting borders, war, totalitarianism and for many, exile. These harrowing experiences all made a deep imprint on him and his music. He was born in 1923 into a Jewish Hungarian family in an area that had become part...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Donald Macleod explores Tchaikovsky's music with Sir Matthew Bourne and Dame Monica Mason Tchaikovsky is responsible for some of the world’s best loved and best known ballets. His music for Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker has become so popular and ubiquitous that we’re as likely to hear it in the concert hall, or accompanying a TV ad, as in the theatre. But this week, Donald Macleod is on a mission to take Tchaikovsky back to his dancing roots, in the company of two of British ...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 14 min
