Composer of the Week Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation

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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: Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation: Stephen Sondheim and Judith Weir

Stephen Sondheim and Judith Weir

Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation, Stephen Sondheim and Judith Weir

Donald Macleod kicks off a week of 80th anniversary highlights from the archives.

Donald Macleod celebrates the programme’s 80th anniversary with highlights and behind-the-scenes stories from composer interviews. Today, Stephen Sondheim and Judith Weir.

Donald Macleod revisits conversations with musical theatre legend Stephen Sondheim and Master of the King’s Music, Judith Weir.

Composer of the Week is one of the longest-running strands on the BBC, first heard on the airwaves during the Second World War on the 2nd of August 1943. The first to be featured was Mozart – and today, the programme tells the stories of well-known and rediscovered composers across classical music, jazz, contemporary and beyond. Donald Macleod celebrates its 80th anniversary with highlights and behind-the-scenes stories from his encounters with some of our greatest living composers. Across the week, he looks back on ten memorable interviews from his nearly 25 years in the presenter’s chair, showcasing the range of musical styles and personalities he’s encountered. 

Today, Stephen Sondheim tells Donald about his early misadventures on Broadway, and Judith Weir gives us an insight into her routine and the role of the composer in the 21st century.

Stephen Sondheim: Pretty Little Picture (from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum)
Stephen Sondheim, piano and vocals

Stephen Sondheim: Pretty Little Picture (from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum)
Zero Mostel (Pseudolus) 
Brian Davies (Hero) 
Preshy Marker (Philia)

Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim: Everything’s Coming Up Roses (from Gypsy)
Ethel Merman (Rose)

Stephen Sondheim: Free (from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum)
Zero Mostel (Pseudolus)
Brian Davies (Hero)

Stephen Sondheim: There’s Always a Woman (from Anyone Can Whistle)
Madeline Kahn (Cora)
Bernadette Peters (Fay Apple)
American Theatre Orchestra
Paul Gemignani, conductor

Judith Weir: Variations For Judith, No 5
Melvyn Tan, piano

Judith Weir: Vertue for chorus
Gonville and Caius College Choir
Geoffrey Webber, conductor

Judith Weir: Piano Quartet (1st movement)
Schubert Ensemble

Judith Weir: Airs from Another Planet for wind quintet and piano (excerpt)
Lontano
Odaline de la Martinez, conductor


Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and West

Composer of the Week: Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation

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 presents a week of 80th anniversary highlights from the archives.

Donald Macleod celebrates the programme's 80th anniversary with highlights and behind-the-scenes stories from composer interviews.

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Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation

Stephen Sondheim and Judith Weir

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