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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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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: Thursday - Rob Cowan with Colin Salmon

Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Colin Salmon

11/05/2017

Thursday - Rob Cowan with Colin Salmon

BBC Radio 3 - Essential Classics, Thursday - Rob Cowan with Colin Salmon

Artist of the Week: Charles Dutoit, featured conducting Haydn's Symphony No 82.

With Rob Cowan. Including Musical challenge; Music in Time: La Comtessa de Dia; Artist of the Week: Charles Dutoit, featured conducting Haydn's Symphony No 82.

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: can you name the television show or film that featured this piece of classical music?  

10am
Rob's guest this week is the actor Colin Salmon. Colin is best known for playing M's Chief of Staff in three James Bond films and for his roles in action-horror films such as Resident Evil and Alien vs. Predator. He made his feature debut in the TV series Prime Suspect 2 and recent credits include Limitless for CBS and Henry IX for UKTV. Colin had a very musical childhood playing the trumpet in a Salvation Army band and he still considers music as more than just a hobby. He's played at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and he combined music with acting in his role for the BBC's adaption of Alexander McCall Smith's The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. As well as discussing his acting work, Colin shares his passion for classical music choosing a selection of his favourite works. Across the week we'll hear music by composers including Prokofiev, Richard Strauss and Gershwin.

10.30am  
Music in Time: Medieval 
Rob heads back to the Medieval period, looking at the mysterious life and music of the twelfth-century trobairitz (female troubadour) known as La Comtesse de Dia. 

Double Take 
Rob explores the nature of performance by highlighting the differences in style between two performances of the Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's ballet, Romeo and Juliet, with recordings conducted by Riccardo Muti and Mstislav Rostropovich. 

11am 
Rob's Artist of the Week is the Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit. In 1977, Dutoit became the Artistic Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) - a position he held for some twenty-five years. During his tenure, he raised the orchestra's recording profile and reputation significantly, making it one of the leading orchestras in the French-speaking world. While he's best-known for his association with the OSM, Dutoit has also conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. He is celebrated in particular for his recordings of the Romantic repertoire, and during the course of the week we'll hear him conduct Ravel's Mother Goose, Dutilleux's violin concerto L'arbre des songes (with soloist Isabelle van Keulen), Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Haydn's Symphony No.82 'The Bear' and Chopin's Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, with Dutoit's former wife, Martha Argerich, as soloist. 

Haydn 
Symphony No. 82 'The Bear' 
Sinfonietta de Montreal 
Charles Dutoit (conductor).

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