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Programme information

Saturday 10th August to Friday 16th August 2019

WEEK 33

PERFECT PITCH with KARTHI GNANASEGARAM

Starts Saturday 10th August, 9pm to 10pm

Tonight, Classic FM launches a new, four-part series, celebrating the worlds of sport

and classical music, in the company of a range of special guests.

Hosted by sports broadcaster and regular Classic FM presenter Karthi Gnanasegaram, Perfect Pitch will showcase the very best classical music associated with sport – from composers and regular tennis partners Gershwin and Schoenberg to the ‘Dance of the

Knights’ from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

Karthi’s first guest – on this, the opening day of the football season – is Ian Wright. He shares his passion for classical music and explains the role it’s played in his life over an

outstanding career as a footballer and pundit. Classic FM is available across the UK on 100-102 FM, DAB digital radio and TV, at

ClassicFM.com, and on the Classic FM and Global Player apps.

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WEEK 33 SATURDAY 10TH AUGUST 3pm to 5pm: MOIRA STUART’S HALL OF FAME CONCERT Join Moira Stuart for her weekly concert programme, celebrating the pieces voted into the world’s biggest poll of classical music tastes: the Classic FM Hall of Fame.

We start with Rossini’s most famous overture, before a Handel aria sung by Classic FM’s very own Aled Jones. There’s also a performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto by superstar violinist Nicola Benedetti, an iconic Strauss waltz, and Bach’s most famous work for the organ. Gioachino Rossini William Tell – Overture Herbert von Karajan conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra George Frideric Handel Did you Not Hear My Lady? (‘Silent Worship’) Baritone: Aled Jones Studio Orchestra Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor Opus 64 Violin: Nicola Benedetti James MacMillan conducts the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Alexander Borodin In the Steppes of Central Asia Neeme Jarvi conducts the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Johann Strauss (II) By the Beautiful Blue Danube Opus 314 Daniel Barenboim conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Peter Maxwell Davies Farewell to Stromness Piano: Peter Maxwell Davies Dmitri Shostakovich Jazz Suite No.2 Riccardo Chailly conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach Toccata & Fugue in D minor BWV.565 Organ: William McVicker

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SATURDAY 10TH AUGUST 5pm to 7pm: SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES with ANDREW COLLINS It’s another double bill on Saturday Night at the Movies, as Andrew presents the best scores from two giants of film music from the late 20th century: James Horner and Michael Kamen.

From Michael Kamen, Andrew will feature his acclaimed score to the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, as well as lesser-known cues from The Iron Giant, The Dead Zone and Die Hard II: Die Harder.

From the prolific James Horner, who scored more than 100 films, Andrew features selections from the first movie to put him in the spotlight: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He’ll follow this with the haunting and minimalist score to A Beautiful Mind, before featuring the score for the highest-grossing film of all time: James Cameron's Avatar. And of course, no celebration of James Horner would be complete without his ever-popular music for Braveheart and Titanic. 7pm to 10pm: COWAN’S CLASSICS with ROB COWAN Tonight, Rob travels beyond the Classic FM Hall of Fame with a showpiece composed by Chopin when he was just twenty-years old: his Piano Concerto No. 1.

Rob’s Artist of the Week, meanwhile, is the young British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, who we’ll hear performing Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Also featured on the programme is the singer Anna Motto, with Puccini’s standout soprano aria ‘Si, mi chiamano Mimi’ from La bohème. Rob concludes with a piece perfect for a late summer evening: the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams. 9pm to 10pm: PERFECT PITCH with KARTHI GNANASEGARAM (1 / 4) Tonight, Classic FM launches a new, four-part series, celebrating the worlds of sport and classical music, in the company of a range of special guests. Hosted by sports broadcaster and regular Classic FM presenter Karthi Gnanasegaram, Perfect Pitch will showcase the very best classical music associated with sport – from composers and regular tennis partners Gershwin and Schoenberg, to the ‘Dance of the Knights’ from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (better known to season ticket holders at the Stadium of Light as the entrance music for Sunderland AFC).

Broadcast just weeks after the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and to coincide with the start of the Premier League, the Ashes and the Rugby World Cup, each programme will feature classical music choices and interviews with some of our best-loved sporting legends.

Across the course of the series, we’ll be joined by guests including Andy Murray, Annabel Croft, and Sir Clive Woodward. Karthi’s first guest – on this, the opening day of the football season – is Ian Wright. He shares his passion for classical music and explains the role it’s played in his life over an outstanding career as a footballer and pundit. Plus, why did Ian’s pre-match routine always involve listening to the music of Brahms, and how did Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro become his favourite opera?

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SUNDAY 11TH AUGUST 3pm to 5pm: CHARLOTTE HAWKINS This afternoon, Charlotte’s Young Classical Star is the French-Spanish guitarist Thibaut Garcia.

Born in 1994, Garcia is rapidly becoming one of the most in-demand guitarists of his generation; this afternoon, Charlotte features a recording from his latest album. 7pm to 9pm: DAVID MELLOR Tonight, David celebrates the world of Russian Light Music. The highlights include a great version of Midnight in Moscow, made famous by Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen. There will also be a chance to hear Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, as David showcases their lighter side, and we’ll enjoy extracts from Glinka’s opera Russlan and Ludmilla. 9pm to 10pm: EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CLASSICAL MUSIC with CATHERINE BOTT Tonight, Catherine reveals the composers who weren’t quite so lucky in love. Featuring the music of Brahms, Haydn and Tchaikovsky, we’ll discover two composers who fell in love with the same woman and ponder the reasons why over fifteen women refused to marry Beethoven.

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MONDAY 12TH AUGUST 8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT – FRIENDS, FAMILY AND FANS Tonight, Jane Jones looks at the ties of friendship and comradery between composers. We start with Dvorak’s Carnival Overture and end the programme with music by his friend and supporter, Brahms, of whom he said: “I don’t believe there is another musician of his stature in the whole world”.

We also celebrate the connection between two composers who never met: Schubert and Schumann. Schumann greatly admired Schubert, and renewed public interest in him after rediscovering some of his works in Vienna. He even claimed to have been visited by the ghost of Schubert, who dictated a musical theme to him as he slept. We hear this mysterious theme in Schumann’s Ghost Variations, played by Igor Levitt.

Other highlights tonight include music by two talented and supportive siblings: Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Antonin Dvorak Carnival Overture Opus 92 Christoph Eschenbach conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Franz Schubert Ave Maria D.839 Andrea Bocelli Vladimir Fedoseyev conducts the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra Robert Schumann Variations in E-flat major on an Original Theme WoO.24 (‘Ghost Variations’) Piano: Igor Levit

Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No.5 in D major Opus 107 Edward Gardner conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Fanny Mendelssohn Introduction & Capriccio in B minor Piano: Darya Volkova

George Frideric Handel Concerto Grosso in A major Opus 6 No.11 Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Concentus Musicus Vienna

Johannes Brahms Serenade No.1 in D major Opus 11 Bernard Haitink conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

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TUESDAY 13TH AUGUST 8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT – LEFT-HANDERS DAY To celebrate Left-Handers Day, Jane Jones presents a selection of music written and performed by famous southpaws.

We start with Rachmaninov, before hearing performances from two modern-day left-handers: Nicola Benedetti and Daniel Barenboim. Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach was also left-handed – much to the concern of his father, Johann Sebastian – and our evening ends with music by a famously ambidextrous composer: Mozart, and his Notturno in D major. Sergei Rachmaninov Vocalise Opus 34 No.14 Paavo Jarvi conducts the Orchestre de Paris

Antonio Vivaldi Violin Concerto in D major RV.208 Violin: Nicola Benedetti Christian Curnyn conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Johannes Brahms Symphony No.4 in E minor Opus 98 Daniel Barenboim conducts Staatskapelle Berlin

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Keyboard Concerto in D major Wq 43 No.2 Piano: Anastasia Injushina Ralf Gothoni conducts the Hamburger Camerata

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Notturno in D major K.286 Jordi Savall conducts Le Concert des Nations

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WEDNESDAY 14TH AUGUST 8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT – BRITISH FAVOURITES Tonight, Jane Jones presents the best of British: a selection of music by the nation’s favourite composers, all performed by great British orchestras.

We start in London with Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture, performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and honorary Scouser Vasily Petrenko. Wales is represented by Sir Karl Jenkins’ Palladio, and the programme also features Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Greensleeves, and Hamish MacCunn’s musical depiction of the Scottish Highlands: The Land of the Mountain and the Flood.

Edward Elgar Cockaigne Overture Opus 40 Vasily Petrenko conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Karl Jenkins Palladio London Philharmonic Strings

Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Greensleeves Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Gerald Finzi Clarinet Concerto in C minor Opus 31 Clarinet: David Campbell Nicholas Collon conducts the Aurora Orchestra

Hamish MacCunn The Land of the Mountain and the Flood Alexander Gibson conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

William Walton Crown Imperial Louis Fremaux conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

John Garth Cello Concerto No.1 in D major Cello: Richard Tunnicliffe Avison Ensemble

William Henry Monk Abide With Me Graham Ross conducts the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge

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THURSDAY 15TH AUGUST 8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT – NATIONAL RELAXATION DAY Sit back, relax and enjoy the music. It’s National Relaxation Day, so tonight, Catherine Bott has the perfect programme of chilled-out music to help you unwind at the end of the day.

Jules Massenet Thais – Meditation Violin: Nicola Benedetti Daniel Harding conducts the London Symphony Orchestra

Gregorio Allegri Miserere Nigel Short conducts Tenebrae

Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Pinchas Zuckerman conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Arvo Part Spiegel im Spiegel Clarinet: Michael Collins Piano: Michael McHale

Richard Wagner Siegfried Idyll Bernard Haitink conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Max Bruch Romance Opus 42 Violin: Salvatore Accardo Kurt Masur conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

John Field Piano Concerto No.6 in C major Piano: Miceal O’Rourke Matthias Bamert conducts the London Mozart Players

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FRIDAY 16TH AUGUST 8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT – TELL-A-JOKE DAY Why couldn’t the string quartet find their composer? He was Haydn.

To celebrate Tell-a-Joke Day, Catherine Bott presents a programme full of musical comedy, beginning with the overture to one of Rossini’s most famous comic operas: The Barber of Seville, which was also famously used in Looney Tunes.

Lars Vogt plays all the right notes in the right order in Grieg’s Piano Concerto, and we have a laugh with Mozart’s A Musical Joke. There’s also music from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and a Haydn string quartet known as ‘The Joke’.

Giaochino Rossini The Barber of Seville – Overture Antonio Pappano conducts the National Academy of St Cecilia Orchestra

Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor Opus 16 Piano: Lars Vogt Simon Rattle conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart A Musical Joke K.522 Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts Concentus Musicus Vienna

Johann Strauss (II) By the Beautiful Blue Danube Opus 314 Riccardo Muti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Joseph Haydn String Quartet in Eb major Opus 33 No.2 (‘The Joke’) Emerson String Quartet

Amilcare Ponchielli Dance of the Hours Marcello Viotti conducts the Munich Radio City Orchestra Leroy Anderson The Typewriter Leonard Slatkin conducts the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

Sergei Rachmaninov Prelude in C# minor Opus 3 No.2 Piano: Vladimir Ashkenazy