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

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Saturday Classics

Music: Classical

A view of classical music from a range of presenters; themed series and one-off programmes

A personal view of classical music from a range of presenters. Authored, themed mini-series and one-off programmes offer a chance to share the musical interests of the presenters.

Saturday Classics: Great Conductors

Saturday Classics: Great Conductors: Episode 1

Episode 1

Great Conductors

BBC Radio 3 - Saturday Classics, Great Conductors, Episode 1

James Jolly introduces recordings by major conductors from the Cold War period.

James Jolly considers what makes a conductor 'great', introducing recordings by Fritz Reiner, George Szell, Eugene Ormandy, Pierre Monteux, Bruno Walter and John Barbirolli.

Our perception of a great conductor is not only shaped by the skill for great music making but by the ability to grab the public's attention and imagination. In two programmes James Jolly revels in the music making of some of the giants of the art who have thrived in an age of mass media. 

For the first of two programmes, James begins his reflection with a choice of outstanding recordings by conductors from the East and West, who were at their height during the period of the Cold War. Including a triumvirate of Hungarians in America: Fritz Reiner, George Szell and Eugene Ormandy; veterans such as Pierre Monteux and Bruno Walter; Carlo Maria Giulini and John Barbirolli in Europe; and Yevgeny Mravinsky in the Soviet Union.

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.

James Jolly on the music of conductors who have thrived in an age of mass media

James Jolly explores the music-making of some of the great conductors who have thrived in an age of mass media

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