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Essential Classics

Music: Classical

Refresh your morning with a great selection of classical music

Refresh your morning with a great selection of classical music, presented by Georgia Mann.

Essential Classics: Tuesday - Rob Cowan with Kasper Holten

Monday - Rob Cowan with Kasper Holten

11/04/2017

Tuesday - Rob Cowan with Kasper Holten

BBC Radio 3 - Essential Classics, Tuesday - Rob Cowan with Kasper Holtensearch

Artist of the Week: tenor Franco Corelli, featured in music by Mascagni and Leoncavallo.

With Rob Cowan. Including Musical challenge; Music in Time: Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead; Artist of the Week: tenor Franco Corelli, featured in Mascagni and Leoncavallo.

9am   
Rob sets the tone and mood of the day's programme with a range of music to intrigue, surprise and entertain.   

9.30am 
Take part in today's musical challenge: which location is being depicted in this piece of music? 
  
10am
Rob's guest this week is Kasper Holten, the departing Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Kasper's passion for opera began aged nine after hearing Bizet's Carmen and he went on to train with directors such as Harry Kupfer, John Cox and David Pountney. Aged 27 he was appointed Artistic Director of Royal Danish Opera, where he directed productions of Weber's Der Freischütz, Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre and Wagner's Ring Cycle; he held the position for 11 years. In 2011 he became the youngest ever Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he has since directed Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Szymanowski's Król Roger as well as overseeing successes such as George Benjamin's Written on Skin. As well as discussing his work as a director and his life, Kasper shares some of his favourite classical music.

10.30am 
Music in Time: Modern 
Today Rob's in the early 20th century exploring music inspired by visual art. Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead was inspired by a black and white reproduction of Arnold Böcklin's painting of the same name. 

Double Take  
Rob explores the nature of performance by highlighting the differences in style between two interpretations of the Tritsch-Tratsch Polka by J. Strauss II - one conducted by George Szell and one by Willi Boskovsky. 

11am
Artist of the Week: Franco Corelli 
Rob's Artist of the Week is the tenor Franco Corelli, one of the most famous and feted tenors of the 20th century. Growing up in Italy, Corelli was set to be a naval engineer like his father, but when a musical friend heard him sing, he was encouraged to attend a conservatoire. It wasn't completely plain sailing for Corelli, but he was determined, and even taught himself by listening to recordings of Enrico Caruso and Beniamino Gigli. He made his La Scala debut alongside Maria Callas and enjoyed a successful international career thereafter; he made over 250 appearances at New York's Metropolitan Opera alone. Corelli's repertoire included most of the major tenor roles in operas by composers such as Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Giordano, and Bizet - we'll hear Corelli in well-loved arias from Aida, Tosca, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Andrea Chénier and Carmen during the week, as well as popular arias such as Granada, and excerpts from Verdi's Requiem and Rossini's Petite messe solennelle. 

Mascagni 
Cavalleria Rusticana: "Mamma, quel vino è generoso" 
Franco Corelli (tenor) 
Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma 
Gabriele Santini (conductor) 

Leoncavallo 
Pagliacci: "Recitar...Vesti la giubba" 
Franco Corelli (tenor) 
Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milan 
Lovro van Matacic (conductor).

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