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30 minutes of classical inspiration

Half an hour of back-to-back classical music, including works by Bernstein, Lili Boulanger, Handel and Randall Thompson.

Today's half hour sequence begins with the distinctive sound world of Elena Kats-Chernin, with "Eliza's Aria". A Handel Trio Sonata sits alongside pastoral music by George Butterworth, a touching film score by John Williams for the Second World War film "Saving Private Ryan", leading to a strangely haunting setting of the Pie Jesu by Lili Boulanger. There is also an affectionate tribute to "The Big Apple" in an orchestral arrangement of Bernstein's joyous "New York, New York" from the musical "On the Town", a beautiful folk song arrangement by Vaughan Williams, and a thoroughly laid back account of a movement from a symphony by the American composer Randall Thompson.

Producer: Helen Garrison

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8 days left to listen

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 11 Sep 202619:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Elena Kats‐Chernin

    Eliza's Aria (Wild Swans)

    Singer: Jane Sheldon. Orchestra: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ola Rudner.
    • Elena Kats-Chernin - Wild Swans.
    • ABC.
    • 2.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Trio Sonata in E flat major, HWV 382 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Elizabeth Wallfisch. Performer: Anthony Robson. Performer: Richard Tunnicliffe. Performer: Paul Nicholson. Ensemble: Convivium.
    • Handel, Trio Sonatas for Oboe and Violin: Convivium.
    • Hyperion.
    • 12.

  • George Butterworth

    English Idyll No 2

    Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Krišs Russman.
    • BIS.

  • John Williams

    Hymn To The Fallen (Saving Private Ryan)

    Choir: Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: John Williams.
    • Saving Private Ryan.
    • Geffen.
    • 1.

  • Lili Boulanger

    Pie Jesu

    Singer: Isabelle Sabrié. Performer: Francis Pierre. Performer: Éric Lebrun. Performer: Olivier Charlier. Performer: Aude Périn-Dureau. Performer: Magali Demesse. Performer: Raphaelle Semezis. Conductor: Émile Naoumoff.
    • MARCO POLO.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    New York, New York (On the Town)

    Performer: Joshua Bell. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: David Zinman.
    • Sony.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Lovely on the water (Studies in English Folksong)

    Performer: Gerald Peregrine. Performer: Antony Ingham.
    • Folk Tales.
    • Naxos.
    • 101.

  • Randall Thompson

    Largo - second movement of Symphony No 2 in E minor

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • Sony Classical.

Broadcast

  • Fri 11 Sep 202619:30
    BBC Radio 3

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