Radio 3 in Concert

Wednesday 20th September 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

The Vienna Philharmonic Plays Strauss and Ligeti at the Salzburg Festival.

Franz Welser-Möst conducts the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival in two modern classics by Ligeti and Strauss's Metamorphosen and Also sprach Zarathustra. Presented by Georgia Mann. Ligeti: Atmosphères. Strauss: Metamorphosen. 8.10 Interval music: Pierre-Laurent Aimard - a featured artist at the Salzburg Festival - plays Liszt's Saint Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds and music from György Ligeti's 11-movement Musica ricercata (from CD). Ligeti: Lontano. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op 30, symphonic poem after Nietzsche. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Franz Welser-Möst.

Thursday 21st September 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Messiaen's Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà... at the Salzburg Festival.

Olivier Messiaen's Éclairs sur l'Au-delà... at the Salzburg Festival. Ingo Metzmacher conducts the SWR Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart, in the composer's final masterpiece. Presented by Georgia Mann. Olivier Messiaen: Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà.. (Lightning Over the Beyond..). SWR Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart, Ingo Metzmacher (conductor).

Monday 25th September 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Kirill Petrenko Conducts the Berlin Philharmonic's Season Opening Concert.

Recorded at their new season opening concert, Kirill Petrenko conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in Max Reger's Variations on a Theme by Mozart and Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben. Introduced by Fiona Talkington. Max Reger: Variations on a Theme by Mozart. 8.05 Interval Music (from CD) Mozart: Theme with Variations (Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331). Mitsuko Uchida (piano). 8.20 Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben. Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Petrenko (conductor).

Monday 2nd October 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mahler's Ninth Symphony from the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

Daniel Harding conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Mahler's Ninth Symphony and a short companion piece by young Dutch composer Rick van Veldhuizen. Presented by Fiona Talkington, from the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Rick van Veldhuizen: Mais le corps taché d'ombres; Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Daniel Harding (conductor).

Tuesday 3rd October 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

BBC Philharmonic.

The BBC Philharmonic and chief conductor John Storgards open their new season with Janacek's Sinfonietta. Originally conceived as brass and percussion fanfares for a gymnastics festival, Janacek melds his orchestral sound-world with the rhythm and melody of his native Moravia to create a work in which he celebrates a new-found optimism in national and individual freedom. Dame Sarah Connolly joins the orchestra for six haunting songs by Alma Mahler-Werfel, and the evening is brought to a close with Tchaikovsky's `Pathétique". Presented by Tom McKinney at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. Janacek: Sinfonietta. Alma Mahler-Werfel orch Colin and David Matthews - Die stille Stadt; Laue Sommernacht; Licht in der Nacht, Waldseligkeit; In meines Vaters Garten; Bei dir ist es traut. 8.15 Music Interval. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 6 `Pathétique".
(Live)

Friday 13th October 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Verdi: Requiem in Birmingham.

Kazuki Yamada conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the opening night of a season celebrating the 50th anniversary of the CBSO Chorus. Presented by Miriam Skinner. Evalina Dobraceva (soprano), Karen Cargill (mezzo), Jose Simerilla Romero (tenor), Ashley Riches (bass). CBSO Chorus City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Kazuki Yamada (conductor).

Monday 23rd October 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mozart and Schmidt from the Berlin Philharmonic and Evgeny Kissin.

Fiona Talkington presents as soloist Evgeny Kissin joins the Berlin Philharmonic for a famous piano concerto by Mozart before the orchestra embarks on a rare performance of Franz Schmidt's Symphony No 2. Schmidt's music is heavily influenced by Bruckner, Reger and the young Schoenberg, not least in the vast forces required, and which promise to fill the stage of the Philharmonie for this performance, recorded earlier this month. Before that, star pianist Evgeny Kissin renews his relationship with an orchestra with which he made his debut at the age of 19 under Herbert von Karajan, and the concert opens with a short sinfonia by Marianne von MartÍnez, a favourite pupil of Haydn. Marianne von Martinez: Sinfonia in C. Mozart: Piano Concerto No 23 in A, K 488. Franz Schmidt: Symphony No 2 in E flat. Evgeny Kissin (piano), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Fabio Luisi (conductor).

Monday 30th October 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Monteverdi's Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Fiona Talkington presents Simon-Pierre Bestion directing a performance of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) at the Utrecht Early Music Festival in an imaginative re-creation of the way this great landmark of music history might have been heard at St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Alongside the great choral psalm settings by Monteverdi himself, Bestion includes the Gregorian chants on which they are based, but goes even further by including too songs from a manuscript in the Carpentras library. These anonymous songs reflect the centuries-long oral traditions found throughout the Mediterranean basin, their harmonies and inflections evoking the folk traditions of Italy, Sardinia and Corsica. Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine. Amélie Raison (soprano), Brenda Poupard (alto), Aline Quentin (alto), Axelle Verner (alto), Fanny Châtelain (alto), Francisco Mañalich (tenor), Sébastian Obrecht (tenor), Edouard Monjanel (tenor), René Ramos Premier (baritone), Florent Martin (bass), Eugénie De Mey (baritone and chanter), La Tempête, Simon-Pierre Bestion (conductor).

Thursday 2nd November 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Grace.

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales launches a new series which aims to delve into the largely forgotten works of the greatest Welsh composer, Grace Williams. The concert concludes with her ambitious 2nd Symphony, a work which has long been undeservedly neglected. The first half showcases the Orchestra's Composer Affiliate Sarah Lianne Lewis, with the world premiere of her piece The Sky didn't Fall, which takes inspiration from the opening lines of a Kerry Hardie poem, as well as paying tribute to the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and her suite which she created from her opera Émilie Live from Hoddinott Hall. Sarah Lianne Lewis: The Sky didn't Fall. Saariaho: Émilie (Suite). G Williams: Symphony No 2. Emma Tring (soprano). BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Emilie Godden (conductor), Martyn Brabbins (conductor).
(Live)

Wednesday 15th November 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mozart Concertos at Wigmore Hall.

Violinist Alina Ibragimova and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout join forces with the Basel Chamber Orchestra for two Mozart concertos. Plus, a Haydn symphony and a world premiere. Recorded at Wigmore Hall and introduced by Ian Skelly. Haydn: Symphony No. 52 in C minor. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat K. 271. Jannik Giger: Troisième œil (world premiere). Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A K. 219. Alina Ibragimova (violin), Basel Chamber Orchestra, Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano and director).

Monday 20th November 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Boulanger and Bruckner.

Fiona Talkington presents Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in Bruckner and Boulanger in a concert from this year's Lucerne Festival. Nézet-Séguin is a great advocate of the work of Lili Boulanger, who died in 1918 at the age of only 24. D'un soir triste is a delicate tone painting that marks her farewell to the world. Anton Bruckner described his Eighth Symphony as a mystery, without, however, revealing its secret. Boulanger: D'un soir triste; Bruckner: Symphony No 8 in C minor (Robert Haas edition). Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor).

Tuesday 21st November 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Celebrating Sir John Tavener.

To mark the 10th anniversary of his death, the BBC Singers, conducted by Daniel Hyde, join the Cambridge Music Festival to present some of John Tavener's most famous works, alongside music by those who influenced him, his teachers and pupils, and those who knew him from childhood. Recorded earlier this month at King's College, Cambridge, and presented by Ian Skelly. Lennox Berkeley: Crux fidelis, Op 43.1; John Tavener: Threnos, for solo cello; Judith Weir: Vertue; John Tavener: Svyati; John Rutter: Hymn to the Creator of Light; Olivier Messiaen: La nativité du Seigneur, 1. La vierge et l'enfant; Judith Weir: Ave Regina Caelorum; John Tavener: Cradle Song; Olivier Messiaen: La nativité du Seigneur, 6. Les anges; John Tavener: A Hymn to the Mother of God, First Hymn; Olivier Messiaen: La nativité du Seigneur, 9. Dieu parmi nous; John Tavener: Song for Athene. Natalie Clein (cello), Paul Greally (organ), BBC Singers, Daniel Hyde (conductor).

Thursday 30th November 2023 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mozart: Requiem from Gateshead.

Celebrating 50 years of the Chorus of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, a performance of Mozart's Requiem, preceded by five pieces written in the past five years. Kerensa Briggs' 'A blue and tender flower' was commissioned especially for this concert which was recorded last month at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead. Linton Stephens presents. Joanna Ward: I Cannot Get To My Love. Roderick Williams: Ave verum corpus Reimagined. Oliver Tarney: The Spirit of the Lord. Kerensa Briggs: A blue and tender flower (world premiere). Dove: Sappho Sings. Mozart: Requiem. Mhairi Lawson (soprano), Sophie Harmsen (mezzo), James Gilchrist (tenor), Neal Davies (baritone). Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia, Tim Burke (chorus director), Alison Gill (chorus accompanist). Royal Northern Sinfonia, Stephen Layton (conductor).
(Live)