Presented by Jonathan Swain.

Smetana Overture: The Kiss Overture; Three Dances (The Bartered Bride) - Cleveland Chorus and Orchestra, conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi

7.30 Granados Valses Poeticos - Alicia de Larrocha (piano)

7.45 Hindemith Clarinet Concerto - Ulrich Mehlhart (clarinet), Frankfurt Radio SO, conductor Werner Andreas Albert

8.00 Haydn String Quartet in F minor, Op 55 No 2 (Razor) - Salomon Quartet

8.29 Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2 in G minor - Vadim Repin (violin) Halle Orchestra, conductor Kent Nagano

Mahler's Symphony No 6 in A minor by Stephen Walsh. lain Burnside on new releases of Christmas music, from
Michael Praetorius to Benjamin Britten.
Revised repeat tomorrow 11.15pm A Mahler Festival begins Monday
7.30pm

Trad, arr Willcocks Quelle est cette odeur agréable? Trad, arr Ribo El Noi de la
Mare
Ives, arr Echols A Christmas Carol
Billings A Virgin unspotted Chanticleer
10.28 Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas
Carols
Choir of Westminster
Cathedral
Waynflete Singers Bournemouth SO, conductor David Hill
10.43 Britten A Boy Is Born
St Paul's Cathedral
Choristers
Holst Singers, conductor Stephen Layton

Wilhelm Kempff 's 1951-56 cycle of Beethoven sonatas for Deutsche Grammophon has just appeared on CD. Bryce Morrison reviews the set together with some of Kempff's concerto recordings.
11.35 Beethoven Sonata in G. Op 14 No 2
Wilhelm Kempff (piano) Producers Clive Portbury and Patrick Lambert Discs

Michael Berkeley 's guest this week is John Bird , one of Britain's celebrated comic actors. His selection ranges from piano music by Bach, Beethoven,
Schumann and Debussy to works by Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Boulez. A Classic Arts production

Christopher Cook talks to five of Hollywood's young screenwriters.

Paul Attanasio wrote Quiz Show and Disclosure, adapted from Michael Crichton's novel about a corporate manager who accuses his female boss of sexual harrassment.

In the first of two programmes,
Tommy Pearson investigates the wealth of music written by British composers to be played by children. Britten, Hoist and Judith Weir are among the composers featured in a concert recorded at the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama, and there's the runner-up from Radio 3's competition to find younger composers writing music for children today. The winning piece is featured in next week's programme. Producer Gautam Rangarajan

While Gustav Hoist's choral hymns from the Sanskrit Rig Veda are famous, his settings for solo voice and piano are less well known. A chance to enjoy their first ever complete recording, by Ruth Peel (mezzo) and David Owen Norris (piano). Producer David Gallagher
See also tomorrow 11.00pm and Wednesday 7.00pm

With Geoffrey Smith.
Discs
Address: Jazz Record Requests, [address removed]
Fax: [number removed]

With Ivan Hewett. This week, the history and repertoire of the countertenor, a new book which asks what comes after "modern music", and why the Abbey Road
Studios were restored to their sixties glory.
Producer Anthony Sellors
Repeated tomorrow 12.15pm

Die Meistersinger yon
Nurnberg Richard Wagner s epic comic opera in three acts is a human tale of passion, intrigue and love, plus an affirmation of the power of great German art. Sung in German.
Philip Cokorinos (bass), LeRoy Lehr (bass). Richard Vernon (bass), Rene Pape (bass)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York/James Levine. Act
6.25 Massive Reductions
In the days before radios and record players, the public got to know
Wagner's music by playing it on the piano. David Huckvale investigates. Rpt
6.55 Act 2
7.55 The Opera Quiz
Edward Downes puts the questions to opera buffs Carolyn Abbate, Lotfi
Mansouri and Father Owen
Lee.
8.30 Act 3
In association with the Texaco
Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network and the EBU

Novelist Paul Bailey and critic Kate Kellaway scour the bookshelves again in search of their Book of the Month and pick out some publishing highlights of the past year.
Producer Abigail Appleton

Giant Steppes
Saxophonist and composer Diane McLoughlin 's 18-piece band was recorded in concert during the festival in the Purcell Room. The performance is introduced by Chris Parker , and during the interval he talks to
Diane McLoughlin about bands (including Di's New
Outfit), her compositions (for television, films and bands) and her educational activites at Lewisham College. Producer Derek Drescher