Programme information
Saturday 13th March to Friday 19th March 2021
WEEK 11
MOTHER’S DAY on CLASSIC FM
Sunday 14th March, 7am to 9pm
On Sunday 14th March, Classic FM is broadcasting a number of special programmes to celebrate Mother’s Day.
From 7am, Aled Jones plays the world’s greatest music and listener dedications, with Bill Turnbull picking up the baton from 10am for more Mothering Sunday requests from listeners. Then, in Smooth Classics at Seven – and in addition to her Young Classical Star feature – Charlotte Hawkins shares a beautiful selection of classics perfect for any mothers, grandmothers and aunts treating themselves to a laid-back evening.
Classic FM is available across the UK on 100-102 FM, DAB digital radio and TV, on Global Player on your smart speaker (“play Classic FM”), iOS or Android device and at ClassicFM.com.
1 WEEK 11
SATURDAY 13TH MARCH
4pm to 7pm: MOIRA STUART’S HALL OF FAME CONCERT
There are two great romantic concertos on display in today’s programme. The first is Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, which premiered on this day in 1845, heard in a sparkling performance from Nicola Benedetti, and later Benjamin Grosvenor takes to the stage in an award-winning recording of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2.
Elsewhere, Strauss Jr’s most famous work, By the Beautiful Blue Danube Opus, in a live recording from the Vienna New Year’s Concert 2021, which was performed to no audience for this the first time in its 81 years.
Johann Strauss Jr By the Beautiful Blue Danube Opus 314 Riccardo Muti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Edward Elgar Introduction & Allegro for Strings Opus 47 Colin Davis conducts the London Symphony Orchestra
Leo Delibes Flower Duet (from the opera Lakmé) Sopranos: Karine Deshayes and Patricia Petibon Yves Able conducts the Lyon Opera Orchestra
Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor Opus 64 Violin: Nicola Benedetti James MacMillan conducts the Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Jean Sibelius Andante Festivo Andrew Davis conducts the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Karl Jenkins Adiemus Stephen Layton conducts Polyphony
Frederic Chopin Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor Opus 21 Piano: Benjamin Grosvenor Elim Chan conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Ronald Binge Sailing By Ronald Corp conducts the New London Orchestra
Continued…
2 SATURDAY 13TH MARCH
4pm to 7pm: MOIRA STUART’S HALL OF FAME CONCERT
Continued…
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty Seiji Ozawa conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Johann Sebastian Bach Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major BWV.1068 Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Richard Addinsell Warsaw Concerto Piano: Daniel Adni Kenneth Alwyn conducts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
7pm to 9pm: SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES with ANDREW COLLINS
Andrew presents a programme of music from films inspired by travel, picking the best film scores to transport listeners around the globe.
Starting with Victor Young's score to the whistle-stop Around the World in 80 Days, then visits to the snowy hills of The Grand Budapest Hotel scored by Alexandre Desplat, Athens with Alberto Iglesias' score to The Two Faces of January, New York with Bernstein's music to West Side Story, and Hans Zimmer's score to The Lion King set on the African plains.
9pm to 10pm: DAVID MELLOR’S MELODIES
It’s the perfect evening for dancing, as David marks the centenary of the tango king, Astor Piazolla, who was born on 11th March 1921 in Argentina. He plays some of Piazolla’s greatest compositions including his Libertango, Chiquilin de Bachin and a great new recording of one of his biggest hits: Oblivion.
3 SUNDAY 14TH MARCH
7am to 10am: ALED JONES
Join Aled for a special Mothering Sunday programme, full of the world’s greatest music and listener dedications. It’s also the final day of Great British Orchestras Week, so in the Classic FM Hall of Fame Hour at 9am, Aled plays one of his favourite recordings from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
10am to 1pm: BILL TURNBULL
Bill reads out more Mothering Sunday requests to help make the day special, alongside the perfect chilled music for a Sunday morning.
4pm to 7pm: JOHN HUMPHRYS
There’s music fit for a celebration this afternoon, as John plays one of classical music’s most famous thank you notes; Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture, composed in response to an honorary degree. Bernard Haitink conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
There’s also another recording from a Welsh Male Voice Choir, as John features a performance of a piece based on a poem by one of the 20th century’s leading Welsh writers, Waldo Williams. The Fron Male Voice Choir sing Tangnefeddwyr, meaning 'peacemakers’
7pm to 9pm: SMOOTH CLASSICS AT SEVEN with CHARLOTTE HAWKINS
Charlotte celebrates Mothering Sunday with a beautiful selection of classics perfect for any mothers, grandmothers and aunts treating themselves to a laid-back evening.
She also shines the spotlight on the British-Turkish concert pianist Lara Melda as her Young Classical Star. Lara was born in London in 1993 to Turkish parents where she began playing the piano at the age of six, inspired by her sister Melis. She studied at The Purcell School for Young Musicians and continued her studies at the Royal College of Music where she was a Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Scholar and graduated with first class honours. Tonight Charlotte plays music from Lara’s 2020 album Chopin.
4 SUNDAY 14TH MARCH
9pm to 10pm: JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER’S RISING STARS (3 / 5)
The world-renowned cellist presents the third episode in his series celebrating the brightest young stars in classical music; thirty musicians under the age of thirty.
Julian discovers a multi-award winning cellist from Azerbaijan, who’s teamed up with pianist Anna Fedorova for his album Russian Masters. From it, Julian plays Jamel Aliyev’s own arrangement of a lively passage from Borodin’s opera Prince Igor.
He also introduces an organist and conductor who in 2016 became the youngest person to hold the position of Director of Music at an Oxbridge College. At the age of 21, Anna Lapwood took charge at Pembroke College, Cambridge and Julian features a performance from the College Choir she founded, with Anna directing from the organ.
Finally, one of Britain’s biggest rising stars performs the music of Elgar, as Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays his world-famous Cello Concerto alongside the London Symphony Orchestra.
5 MONDAY 15TH MARCH
8pm to 10pm: THE CLASSIC FM CONCERT with JOHN SUCHET: A CLASSIC FM EXCLUSIVE – THE OXFORD PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
To begin the week, John presents the first radio broadcast of a concert given by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by founder Marios Papadopoulos, which was recorded, socially distanced, at London’s Hellenic Centre in October 2020.
There’s a selection of favourites on offer, including Tchaikovsky’s Mozartian Serenade for Strings, and the Symphony No.29 by Mozart himself, written in the composer’s late teens. Elsewhere, Charlotte Scott is the soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.3, and the orchestra play a world premiere recording by Libby Croad.
Johann Pachelbel Canon in D major
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No.29 in A major K.201
Johann Sebastian Bach Orchestral Suite No.3 in G major BWV 1068 – Air
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings in C major Opus 48
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Violin Concerto No.3 in G major K.216 Violin: Charlotte Scott
Libby Croad Suite for String Orchestra
Marios Papadopoulos conducts the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra
6 TUESDAY 16TH MARCH
8pm to 10pm: THE CLASSIC FM CONCERT with JOHN SUCHET
One of Bruch’s lesser-known concertos features, as John showcases Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.2, which was premiered at London’s Crystal Palace by the great Pablo de Sarasate. This evening it’s performed by Itzhak Perlman, joined by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta.
There’s also a critically acclaimed recording of Brahms’ Symphony No.2, and Shostakovich’s Ballet Suite No.3, which features music from his two ballets The Human Comedy and The Limpid Stream.
Ludwig van Beethoven Egmont Overture Opus 84 Christian Thielemann conducts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
Johann Joachim Quantz Flute Concerto in G major Flute: Patrick Gallois Peter Schreier conducts the CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra
Johannes Brahms Symphony No.2 in D major Opus 73 Daniel Barenboim conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Max Buch Violin Concerto No.2 in D minor Opus 44 Violin: Itzhak Perlman Zubin Mehta conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Dmitri Shostakovich Ballet Suite No.3 Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
7 WEDNESDAY 17TH MARCH
8pm to 10pm: THE CLASSIC FM CONCERT with JOHN SUCHET: ST PATRICK’S DAY
John marks St Patrick’s Day with a special Irish themed programme. To begin, one of the most instantly recognisable traditional Irish melodies, Danny Boy, before a piano concerto by a composer so successful in his day that he is mentioned by name in Tolstoy’s War and Peace: John Field. There’s also a moving performance of Stanford’s Irish Rhapsody No.3 from cellist Raphael Wallfisch, and a suite of music from one of Ireland’s most famous theatrical exports, Bill Whelan’s Riverdance.
Anon Danny Boy Nigel Kennedy directs the English Chamber Orchestra from the violin
John Field Piano Concerto No.6 in C major Piano: Micael O’Rourke Matthias Bamert conducts the London Mozart Players
Phil Coulter Home away from home James Galways directs the Irish Philharmonia from the flute
Bill Whelan Riverdance: Symphonic Suite David Brophy conducts the RTE National Symphony Orchestra
Charles Villiers Stanford Irish Rhapsody No.3 in D major Opus 137 Cello: Raphael Wallfisch Vernon Handley conducts the Ulster Orchestra
Anon (Arr. Leroy Anderson) The Minstrel Boy Arthur Fiedler conducts the Boston Pops Orchestra
Herbert Hamilton Harty In Ireland Proinssias O’Duinn conducts the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
8 THURSDAY 18TH MARCH
8pm to 10pm: THE CLASSIC FM CONCERT with JOHN SUCHET
In honour of Rimsky-Korsakov’s birthday, John plays a piece which probably holds the record for most well-travelled symphony: Symphony No.1, which was written on a three- year world cruise while the composer was in the Russian navy.
Later, the programme takes listeners from the high seas to cosmopolitan Italy, as the Orchestra of the National Academy of St Cecilia perform Respighi’s The Fountains of Rome.
Before then, music by a composer who inspired Rimsky-Korsakov; an award-winning recording of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1 from Stephen Hough with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Leonard Bernstein Candide – Overture Leonard Bernstein conducts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1 in C major Opus 15 Piano: Stephen Hough Hannu Lintu conducts the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Alice Mary Smith Andante for Clarinet and Orchestra Clarinet: Angela Malsbuy Howard Shelley conducts the London Mozart Players
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov Symphony No.1 in E minor Opus 1 Dmitri Kitaienko conducts the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Joseph Haydn Adagio Cantabile in G major Pavel Gomziakov directs the Gulbenkian Orchestra from the cello
Ottorino Respighi The Fountains of Rome Daniele Gatti conducts the Orchestra of the National Academy of St Cecilia
William Lloyd Webber Serenade for Strings Richard Hickox conducts the City of London Sinfonia
9 FRIDAY 19TH MARCH
8pm to 10pm: THE CLASSIC FM CONCERT with JOHN SUCHET: THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING
Tomorrow marks the first day of astronomical spring, so to celebrate new life and fresh beginnings John presents an evening of music to acknowledge the new season.
Opening the programme, the most famous musical depiction of spiring by Vivaldi, heard in a definitive recording by Nigel Kennedy. The centrepiece of the evening is a full performance by the Staatskapelle Dresden of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ symphony, which describes a cheerful walk through the countryside through all weathers, before a gift of flowers by Delibes and a piano miniature by Fanny Mendelssohn.
Antonio Vivaldi Four Seasons Opus 8 – Spring Nigel Kennedy directs the English Chamber Orchestra from the violin
Ludovico Einaudi Primavera Piano: Ludovico Einaudi
Frederick Delius On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring Owain Arwel Hughes conducts Camerata Wales
Frank Bridge Spring Song Cello: Sheku Kanneh-Mason Heath Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No.6 in F major Opus 68 (‘Pastoral’) Colin Davis conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden
Leo Delibes Flower Duet (From Lakme) Sopranos: Karine Deshayes & Patricia Petibon Yves Abel conducts the Lyon Opera Orchestra
Fanny Mendelssohn March (From Das Jahr) Piano: Lauma Skride
Alexander Glazunov The Seasons Opus 67 – Spring Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
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