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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

Composer of the Week: Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998): Episode 4

Episode 4

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), Episode 4

Donald Macleod on Schnittke's battles with ill-health. With the disturbing Faust Cantata.

Donald Macleod and Russian music expert Alexander Ivashkin explore Schnittke's battles with ill-health. Featuring the terrifying Faust Cantata.

Donald Macleod presents a celebration of the music of the USSR's last great composer, Alfred Schnittke. 

As a new era of openness dawned in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the West was finally able to meet this shy, brilliant composer in person. Yet - with tragic irony - just as Schnittke was at last able to enjoy the public acclaim he deserved, he was struck down by the first of a series of crippling strokes.

Donald is joined by Alexander Ivashkin, the composer's friend and biographer, to discuss Schnittke's life and works during this period. Featuring a complete performance of one of his greatest - and most terrifying - works: the disturbing Faust Cantata.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod celebrates the work of Alfred Schnittke, the USSR's last great composer

Donald Macleod and Russian music expert Alexander Ivashkin explore the work of Alfred Schnittke, the USSR's last great composer. He was an enigmatic man and had a very individual musical style

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Composer of the Week

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

Episode 4

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