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

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Discovering Music

Music: Classical

Programme which examines a different piece of music each week

Programme which examines a different piece of music each week, looking at the musical form or the composer's style, and exploring the many things contributing to the overall experience

Discovering Music: Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

20/06/2010

BBC Radio 3 - Discovering Music, Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Stephen Johnson examines Mahler's Song of the Earth with the Manchester Camerata.

Stephen Johnson examines Mahler's Song of the Earth through the chamber version performed by the Manchester Camerata and Douglas Boyd, with singers Jane Irwin and Peter Wedd.

Stephen Johnson examines the ideas and meaning of Mahler's great symphony of song, Das Lied von der Erde, through the chamber version made by Arnold Schoenberg and Rainer Riehn after Mahler's death. For superstitious reasons, Mahler would not call it his Symphony No 10 (too many composers in the past had died while writing a tenth symphony) and Mahler's own frail health at the time strengthened his fatalistic instincts.

The Song of the Earth, is based on translations of Chinese poems, and as Stephen explains, there is a strong Eastern philosophical influence throughout the entire work. 

Stephen's workshop is illustrated by the Manchester Camerata and Douglas Boyd, with singers Jane Irwin and Peter Wedd, and the programme was recorded as part of the Manchester Mahler celebrations at the start of 2010.

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.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Discovering Music

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3