This Classical Life

Latest Episodes:

Jess Gillam with... Owain Park Aug 01, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam meets composer Owain Park for a virtual lockdown listening party, with music including Prokofiev, Sam Cooke, Kabantu and JS Bach.

Playlist: Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet Suite - Montagues and the Capulets (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti) Judith Bingham - The Drowned Lovers (Tenebrae, Martha McLorinan, Nigel Short) Sam Cooke - A Change is gonna come Copland: Appalachian Spring (Orpheus Chamber Orchestra) Rebecca Clarke - Lullaby (Helen Callus - viola, Robert McDonald - piano) Kabantu – Ulidzile! Samuel Coleridge Taylor - Petite suite de concert; III. Un sonnet d’amour (Chicago Sinfonietta, Paul Freeman) JS Bach - St John Passion; Chorus: "Herr, Unser Herrscher" (Polyphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Stephen Layton)

Jess Gillam with... Sergio Serra Jul 25, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam and cellist Sergio Serra share the music they love, including Estrella Morente, Pekka Kuusisto, Stan Getz and CPE Bach.

Playlist:

Merula - Ciacconna and harpsichord improvisation (Il Giardino Armonico) Kurt Weill arr. Richard Rodney Bennett - It Was Never You (Barbara Thompson, The Medici Quartet) Dinosaur - Set Free Sibelius - 5 pieces; no. 1 (Pekka Kuusisto, Heini Karkkainen) Estrella Morente - La Gazpacha, La Repompa, La Tia Concha Eddie Sauter - Pan (Stan Getz) C.P.E. Bach - Cello Concerto in A Major, Wq. 172: II. Largo maestoso (Jean-Guihen Queyras, Ensemble Resonanz, Riccardo Minasi) Tchaikovsky - Symphony no. 5 (Op. 64) in E minor, 4th mvt; Finale (Andante maestoso) (Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Evgeny Mravinsky)

Jess Gillam with... Lotte Betts-Dean Jul 11, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam meets with London based Australian mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean for virtual lockdown listening party, in which they are raving to Rachmaninov, marvelling over the voices of Cape Verde’s barefoot diva and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, whilst also enjoying the other worldly dream pop of Cocteau Twins and Mahler’s humongous ‘Symphony of a Thousand’.

Playlist: Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Nikolai Lugansky, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo) Cesária Évora – Sodade Louis Andriessen - M is for Man, Music, Mozart: Einstein song Schubert – String Quintet in C Major, D.956; I. Allegro ma non toppo (Alban Berg Quartett, Heinrich Schiff) Thom Yorke - Suspirium Tobias Hume (d.1645) - The Earle of Salisbury's Favoret ‘Sweet Musicke’ (Jordi Savall, Hespérion XXI) Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll Mahler – Symphony No. 8 in E-Flat Major – ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ Part 1 (Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado)

Jess Gillam with... Ben Goldscheider Jun 27, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam and horn player Ben Goldscheider share the music they love. Today we have some big, bold and brassy music, in the form of Janacek’s Sinfonietta and Haydn’s ‘Hornsignal’ symphony, the calm and space of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s ‘Good morning Midnight’, and then we are taken up to space by Elton John then to the bottom of the Sea by Elgar.

Playlist: Janacek - Sinfonietta, first movement (Simon Rattle, Philharmonia Orchestra) Pink Floyd - The Great gig in the Sky Beethoven - Violin Concerto, 2nd movement (Isabelle Faust (violin) Prague Philharmonia) Miles Davis - Generique Haydn - Symphony no. 31 in D Major, first movement (Academy of Ancient Music) Jóhann Jóhannsson - Good Morning Midnight (Air Lyndhurst String Orchestra, Anthony Weeden, Jóhann Jóhannsson) Elton John – Rocket Man Elgar – Sea Pictures, Op. 37 IV. Where Corals Lie (Janet Baker)

Jess Gillam with... Sam Becker 2 (The Return of Becker) Jun 13, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam welcomes back bassist and flatmate Sam Becker to share some more of the music they love whist in lockdown. This time they choose Britten’s vivid Sea interludes, Pablo Casals’s Song of the Birds and Sam gets all weepy over Mary Poppins feeding the birds!

Playlist: Benjamin Britten - 4 sea interludes – Dawn (Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi) The Platters - Smoke gets in your eyes Pablo Casals - El Cant Dels Ocells (Song of the Birds) (Pablo Casals (cello), Prades Festival Orchestra) Everything Everything - Fever Dream Gavin Bryars - Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet Rimsky Korsakov - Trombone Concerto (Christian Lindberg, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Osmo Vanska) Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins Ravel - Pavane pour une infant (Bertrand Chamayou - paino)

Jess Gillam with... Elsa Bradley Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam and percussionist Elsa Bradley chat about the music they love. Featuring the drama of Mozart's Requiem in D minor, Eugen Cicero injecting some caffeine into CPE Bach's Solfeggio, Arnold Bax’s majestic symphonic poem Tintagel. Plus Elsa goes wild in a field, or maybe just her kitchen, to the Warsaw Village Band, and we have a miniature moment of calm from Isobel Waller-Bridge.

Playlist:

Mozart - Requiem in D minor K.626; Kyrie + Dies irae (English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner) Steve Reich – Tehillim: I. Psalm 19:2-5 (Alarm Will Sound) Eugen Cicero - Solfeggio in C minor by C.P.E. Bach (Wq 117 No. 2, H220) La Boheme; Act 1 ‘Si Mi chiamano Mimi’ (Renata Tebaldi, Orchestra Of The Accademia Di Santa Cecilia) Isobel Waller-Bridge - September Warsaw Village Band - Musicians Are a Playin Louis Armstrong - We have all the time in the world Bax – Tintagel (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Osmo Vanska)

Jess Gillam with... Ella Taylor May 16, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam and soprano Ella Taylor have a ‘virtual’ listening party, with music from Prokofiev, Ella Fitzgerald, Bach and Ella’s favourite track by their favourite band tUnE-yArDs.

Playlist: Prokofiev - Symphony no. 1 (Op.25) in D major "Classical", 4th movement; Molto vivace London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev

tUnE-yArDs - Water Fountain

Gordon, Lang and Wolfe - Shelter: Before I Enter Caroline Shaw (vocals), Martha Cluver (vocals), Mellissa Hughes (vocals), Ensemble Signal, Brad Lubman

Ella Fitzgerald - Misty

George Benjamin - Written on Skin - Part one, scene 6 Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, George Benjamin

Marvin Gaye - Abraham, Martin and John

Bach - Double Violin concerto in D minor - 3. Allegro Isabelle Faust, Akademie fur Alte Musik

Beethoven - Last string quartet, version for String orchestra; III. Lento assai - cantante e tranquillo Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic

Jess Gillam with... Matilda Lloyd May 04, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam and trumpeter Matilda Lloyd chat about the music they love. With works by Tchaikovsky, Charles Ives, Salsa Celtica and Sting!

This week we listened to...

Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) - Kirov Orchestra, Valery Gergiev James MacMillan: O Radiant Dawn - The Sixteen Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question - Orchestra of St. Luke's, John Adams Salsa Celtica: El Agua de la Vida Beethoven: Sonata No 14 in C-sharp minor, Op 27 No 2, ‘Moonlight’; I. Adagio sostenuto - Arthur Rubinstein (piano) Tobias Broström: Dream Variations: III. Déjà vu - Håkan Hardenberger and Colin Currie Sting - Englishman in New York Shostakovich: Piano Concerto in C Minor, Op 35: II. Lento - Largo (live) - Martha Argerich (piano), Sergei Nakariakov (trumpet), Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Alexander Verdernikov

Jess Gillam with... Anne Denholm Apr 18, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam talks to harpist Anne Denholm about the music they love. With epic Finnish grandeur from Sibelius and Rautavaara, a genre-blurring concerto by Gabriel Prokofiev and the simple beauty of Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend.

Music we listened to today...

Sibelius - Finlandia (CBSO, Sakari Oramo) Morten Lauridsen - O Magnum Mysterium (ORA Singers, Suzi Digby) Karl Jenkins - Over The Stone: Double Harp Concerto (Catrin Finch) Carole King - You’ve Got a Friend Einojuhani Rautavaara - Cantus Arcticus Op.61; 3rd mvt; Swans migrating (Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vanska) Afro Celt Sound System - Whirl-y-Reel #2 Ravel - Ma mere l’oye, cinq pieces enfantines V. Le Jardin feerique (Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Yannick Nezet-Seguin)

Jess Gillam with... Alex Baranowski Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

Jess Gillam and composer Alex Baranowski swap tracks and share the music they love, with Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi, Yevgeny Kissin playing Schubert, Goldfrapp and Mazzy Star.

Tracks we listened to today...

Philip Glass – Koyaanisqatsi The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, Michael Riesman

Antonio Vivaldi - Nisi Dominus (mvt 1 nisi dominus) Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor), Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi

Goldfrapp - Lovely Head

Franz Schubert - Fantasy in C major D.760 (Wandererfantasie) for piano Yevgeny Kissin (piano)

Ravel - Melodies Hebraiques, No1 Kaddisch Raphael Wallfisch (cello) Raphael Wallfisch (conductor) BBC NOW

Mazzy Star - Fade into you

Duke Ellington - Nutcracker Suite; Overture

Francis Poulenc - Concerto for piano and orchestra; 1st movement; Allegretto Alexandre Tharaud (piano) London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin

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