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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

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

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

Composer of the Week: Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Composer of the Week: Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): Episode 5

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Episode 5

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Episode 5

Donald Macleod on Britten's late works, including his final opera, Death in Venice.

Donald Macleod focuses on Benjamin Britten's late works, including his final opera, Death in Venice, which features his last major role he would write for his partner, Peter Pears.

Britten had struggled with ill health throughout his life. He put off much needed heart surgery in order to complete his final opera, Death in Venice, premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1973. In the fifth programme Donald Macleod introduces an extract from that work which features the last major role he would write for his life partner Peter Pears, plus a movement from one of his rare late chamber works, the string quartet no.3, and a complete performance of his dramatic cantata Phaedra, sung by its dedicatee, Janet Baker.

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 on two influences in Britten's music: Suffolk and his partner Peter Pears

Donald Macleod explores Benjamin Britten's music in the light of two enduring influences - his life partner, the tenor Peter Pears and his beloved native county of Suffolk

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