Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i BBC Music Magazine

There can be few works as wholly part of daily life as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. On hold to your internet provider… navigating the supermarket aisles… and I can’t tell you the number of times my string quartet has performed ‘Spring’ at a wedding reception. Today, the Seasons is as familiar as any song by Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran, but Vivaldi’s programmatic tribute to Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter was just one of many successful works for the composer at the time of its publication 300 years ago. And, as Nicholas Kenyon explains on page 24, for much of its history, the work languished in relative obscurity, only really finding its audience in the 20th century, as tastes, attention spans and a certain Nigel Kennedy provided the perfect confluence of…

Until its destruction in the fire of 1936, the Crystal Palace was one of the world’s most exciting music venues, and its legacy still lives on today, writes Tom Service. They are impassive observers of one of the grandest views in South London, at the top of Crystal Palace Park, with a horizon of Surrey and Kent beneath them: half-adozen terracotta sphinxes, relics of one of the greatest sites of music-making anywhere in the world, from 1854 until 30 November 1936. That’s when the Crystal Palace and its 293,000 panes of glass burned to the ground, and little, apart from the terrace the gigantic structure sat on, survived the inferno. But the sphinxes made it through the blaze, and if they could speak, they would tell us about the jaw-dropping…

Who wrote Oklahoma! and South Pacific? Go on, be brave and put your hand up. It’s not a trick question. The answer is Rodgers and Hammerstein, right? And who wrote The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance? Right again. It was Gilbert and Sullivan. This is an easy quiz, isn’t it? Let’s try one more question. Who wrote Peter Grimes? Sorry, what did you say? Benjamin Britten? I’m afraid I can only give you half a mark. If you answered ‘Rodgers and Hammerstein’ to the first question and ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’ to the second, logic (and fair play) dictates that your answer to the third should have been Britten and Slater. Or even Slater and Britten. At which point you may have some questions for me, along the lines of…

January 1933. Germany’s head of state, President Paul von Hindenburg, grants the position of German Chancellor – equivalent to Prime Minister – to Adolf Hitler. The charismatic leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) party enjoys substantial support – although as yet by no means overwhelming – from the German population. Those who have been voting in their millions for the party see Hitler as the solution to a string of concerns and grievances: mass unemployment, governmental instability, fear of Communism, resentment at the humiliations written into the World War I peace treaty and more. Installed as Chancellor, Hitler proceeds to focus ultimate power into his sole hands. Such a concentration of authority is vital, he insists, if Germany is to meet the daunting challenges it faces. When Hindenburg dies in…

Mozart Le nozze di Figaro (Lorenzo Da Ponte, after Beaumarchais) The pre-Revolutionary conflict of master and servant, the peerless characterisation and tender twists, the expanding ensemble in Act II – perfect. Puccini La bohème (Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa) This sparkly, detailed tearjerker brings out the very best in Puccini. There’s a reason it is performed so widely. Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin (Konstantin Shilovsky and Tchaikovsky, after Pushkin) Another ‘perfect’ opera: the drama, words and music blend into a whole so beautiful it can rip out your heart. R Strauss Der Rosenkavalier (Hugo von Hofmannsthal) This great opera-writing partnership reached its apex in this edgy and gorgeous evocation of old Vienna. Donizetti L’elisir d’amore (Felice Romani) This comedy finds composer and librettist exploring the human heart with a delicious lightness of…

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (conductor) Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Decca 484 4014 Compared to the thrills and spills of the Third and Fifth symphonies, the magic of Beethoven’s Fourth doesn’t always grab listeners quite as instantly – it can be a slow burner, and getting to know the late Haydn symphonies can help. Working out a Building a Library top order is also something of a labour of love, as there are many great recordings out there, with complete duds very few and far between. Many of the finest versions of the Fourth are by those who recorded complete cycles of the symphonies, such as Otto Klemperer in his heyday with the Philharmonia (see right). George Szell’s Beethoven cycle is similarly graced with a superb Fourth, and Bruno Walter’s Indian summer recording with…

Here we are celebrating the 300th anniversary of The Four Seasons on our cover, and a new benchmark recording comes along! Théotime Langlois de Swarte’s effervescent take on Vivaldi’s classic (see opposite) is reason enough to spend some time reacquainting yourself with a work you think you’ve heard all there is to hear of. The same might be said of Bach’s Cello Suites, so do seek out Giovanni Sollima’s new survey (see Instrumental). We’ve also got a Messiah and a ‘Death and the Maiden’ this month, not to mention a legendary recording of La bohème in Andrew McGregor’s archive round-up. Beyond that, we take a trip back to Wolf Hall in my own round-up of Screen gems, where Nosferatu also bares its teeth. And if you think you’ve heard it…

Handel HTailleferre Handel: Harp Concerto; Tailleferre: Harp Concertino Marie-Pierre Langlamet (harp); Berlin Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena  Berlin Phil BHPR25050 (digital) 27:28 mins This short and sweet digital release marries two showpieces for the harp, one very familiar the other rarely performed, and the latter is by far the more interesting one. Handel’s harp concerto was a convivial trifle composed for the ode Alexander’s Feast, and Marie-Pierre Langlamet was captivated by it when she first heard it as a child. She regards it as a masterpiece and sees its architectonic shape in the form of fractals – patterns that repeat forever. She doesn’t regret playing it on a modern instrument – the historically correct one, with its low string tension, would apparently be for her ‘unplayable’, but she relishes the greater dynamic range…

Bartók Ligeti Bartók: String Quartet No. 4; Ligeti: String Quartets Marmen Quartet BIS BIS-2693 67:59 mins The story goes that the young Ligeti travelled to Budapest hoping to study with Bartók, only to find that the great composer had just departed for the US. Bringing the Hungarian pair together now seems a natural choice, and the excellent Marmen Quartet has placed Bartók’s dazzlingly dangerous Quartet No. 4 in between Ligeti’s First and Second, casting intriguing perspective on both composers; even today Bartók can seem the most adventurous, but it’s clear where Ligeti’s rhapsodic quirkiness is rooted. The Marmen Quartet seem to have assimilated the music into their cells The Marmen Quartet’s first album for BIS Records is an auspicious debut, since the four musicians not only navigate some of the…

Bartók Piano Sonata; Violin Sonata No. 1; Solo Violin Sonata Georg Sarkisjan (violin), James Maddox (piano) Coviello COV92420 Bartók’s sonatas are here given pleasing performances by Latvian-Armenian violinist Georg Sarkisjan and Australian pianist James Maddox. While Maddox’s Piano Sonata has vitality and panache, Sarkisjan’s Solo Violin Sonata is occasionally a little ragged. But the two come together in the Violin Sonata with a satisfying mix of passion, thorny energy and murky eeriness. (CS) Corelli Violin Sonatas, Op. 5 Rachel Barton Pine (violin), David Schrader (keyboards), John Mark Rozendaal (cello) and Brandon Acker (guitar) Cedille CDR90000232 (2CD) Featuring a charming array of period instruments, these Corelli recordings showcase Barton Pine’s genuine affinity for the Baroque – she even turns her hand to viola d’amore for the ‘La folia’ Sonata. While her…

Elmer Bernstein, Film Composer – An Authorised Biography  Peter M. Bernstein Rowman & Littlefield 250pp (hb) £25 It’s over 20 years since Elmer Bernstein died, so an official biography is perhaps long overdue. And who better to bring us the great film composer’s story than his own son, Peter Bernstein? Sadly, you wouldn’t know that from this blow-by-blow account of Elmer’s life and work, for at no point does Bernstein Jr. refer to him as ‘Dad’ or ‘Father’; he even goes as far as referring to himself in the third person when he is involved in the events written about. It’s an interesting choice, and the absence of that personal connection ultimately does the book a disservice. What it may lack in intimacy, however, it makes up for in detail.…

King of the Waltz, Dutch musical impresario André Rieu has taken the world by storm with his Johann Strauss Orchestra. Together, they travel the globe, filling arenas with joyful music making to melt even the hardest of hearts. From 2 April to 12 May, they are making a much-anticipated return to the UK, bringing with them opera classics, film themes, romantic ballads and the traditional pieces his loyal audiences have come to expect. My father was a conductor in my home city of Maastricht, and I played in his symphony orchestra for 11 years. I married Marjorie and we had little children, and a mortgage, so I had to stay. But I remember sitting in that orchestra and decided after one week that I did not want to die there.…

Nicholas Kenyon Former Radio 3 controller ‘It was a huge pleasure rediscovering Vivaldi’s Seasons, exploring how their reputation grew so rapidly from quite late in the early music revival. Now they are a worldwide phenomenon in their 300th year!’ Page 24 Jessica Duchen Journalist, author and librettist ‘Where would opera composers be without their librettists? From story structure to open vowels, everything rests on a friendly wordsmith. Having written a few, I love the process… and had some fun looking at the best of the rest.’ Page 44 Terry Williams Writer and artist ‘“Not as good as the Pastoral”, was my verdict on hearing Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony as a 12-year-old. Disappointment, however, has since bloomed into a musical love affair, and for sheer joie-de-vivre, the Fourth has few peers.’ Page…

History was made at this year’s Vienna New Year’s Concert when the programme featured a work by a woman for the first time. Included among traditional favourites by the Strauss family was the Ferdinandus-Walzer by Constanze Geiger, an Austrian composer and pianist who briefly enjoyed a high profile in the mid-19th century before marrying into royalty and largely retiring from both activities. Admittedly, even on this occasion the glass ceiling was not entirely broken, as only the piano score of Geiger’s 1848 waltz survives and an orchestral arrangement was made for the occasion by Wolfgang Dörner. However, 22 years after a sole female violist was first spotted in the male ranks of the Vienna Philharmonic, it’s another indication that this most traditional of events seems to be slowly embracing change.…

In the early months of 1857, Verdi had Shakespeare on his mind, and specifically King Lear. For some years, he had considered writing an opera based on the tragedy, and now he finally seemed close to doing it. A contract had been signed with the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, and Re Lear was scheduled for the 1858 season. But finding the right cast of singers proved impossible, and the project ran frustratingly into the buffers. Gruff and disappointed, Verdi was forced to ‘scrounge around’ for another subject. What he found was Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué (‘Gustav III, or The Masked Ball’), a libretto by Eugène Scribe which the French composer Daniel Auber had set successfully 24 years earlier. Scribe’s partly fictionalised libretto was based on a real…

THIS MONTH Abel Selaocoe cellist/vocalist CONCERT HEAVEN Works by JS Bach, Abel Selaocoe et al Abel Selaocoe & The Bantu Ensemble Koko (London, November 2023) Playing at a club in London called Koko was really beautiful. Often when you play classical music it’s to a certain demographic – people of a certain age and background – so it was really important that everybody from everywhere was there. There was definitely a younger audience, which is amazing. The more I’ve written my own music and created programmes that weave classical in with improvised music, the more that younger and older people come together in one space. These programmes initially felt unusual, but they now feel extremely natural. That day it was a sold-out show with so many different people from so…

‘The first time I was shown how to play Bach on the harpsichord, it gave me goosebumps’ As Bach Collegium Japan celebrates its 35th anniversary, its legendary music director speaks to Amanda Holloway about a lifetime devoted to the great Baroque composer Publicity pictures of Masaaki Suzuki show a sage-like figure, with snow-white beard and shoulderlength hair, smiling slightly as if sharing a private joke with Bach himself. But there’s nothing other-worldly about this practical, passionate musician. Directing Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ) in the St John Passion at a packed BBC Prom this summer, Suzuki was mesmerising – a quicksilver figure coaxing bright, precise rhythms from his small ensemble. He was in good form after a shoulder injury earlier in the year – ‘not a conductor’s injury; I fell on…

‘If music be the food of love, play on,’ wrote Shakespeare. It’s that, over the four centuries since, composers have followed advice to the letter, and often to excess. Take, for example, the young Sibelius who, on becoming engaged to Aino Järnefelt in 1890, felt the need to assure his family that, ‘You must not think that this engagement is like the previous ones.’ Given his track record involving a string of local beauties, each relationship as fleeting as the last, his relatives had every right to be sceptical. As things turned out, he and Aino went on to spend 65 years of married life together. Not, however, that being married prevented other composers from continuing to survey and then play the field, and descriptions of composers who racked up…

Bavarian by birth; Bohemian by upbringing; and acquiring extra musical polish in Italy, where the Milan-based Sammartini kept a watchful (if informal) eye on him, Christoph Willibald Gluck was the ultimate cosmopolitan. An inquisitive go-between straddling the operatic gulf between Italy and France, he later proclaimed that he’d established ‘a universal language of music for all nations… abolishing the ridiculous distinction between national styles in music’. Abolished? Or, more properly, reconciled? Thereby hangs a tale as nuanced as that of his greater claim to fame as a trailblazing pioneer of operatic reform – a case of ‘back to the future’, if ever there was one. Gluck proclaimed that he had established ‘a universal language of music for all nations’ Musically inclined from a young age, Gluck had no wish to…

Massenet Hérodiade Marko Mimica (bass-baritone), Nicole Car (soprano) et al; Deutsche Oper Berlin/Enrique Mazzola  Naxos 8.660540-41 158:29 mins (2CD) Small wonder the Paris Opéra rejected Massenet’s Hérodiade in 1881 convinced it would stir up a theological hornet’s nest by suggesting that Princess Salomé’s all too earthly love for the Baptist will take her to heaven. And French conservatives, keen to maintain their doctrinal fences with the Pope would have read the libretto’s distaste for the ‘Roman’ occupation of Herod’s Judea as Republican Gallicanism. Yet the director of the Opéra rightly admired the work. The libretto may be over-perfumed, but the score is irresistibly lush and Massenet knew exactly how to compose a post-Wagnerian Grand Opéra with more than a hint of Verdi’s Don Carlo, premiered in Paris 15 years earlier.…

Mozart Piano Sonatas in B-Flat Major, in D Major, ‘Dürnitz’ and A Minor; Fantasy in C Minor Ran Jia (piano) Prospero PROSP0108 69:49 mins Alfred Brendel famously remarked that ‘in Mozart, pianists try too hard… and at the same time, often not hard enough.’ Technical mastery is a pre-requisite, certainly, but it should never eclipse an understanding of the semantics and vocabulary of Viennese Classicism. That’s where this exceptional issue proves so rewarding; these cultivated, scrupulously prepared accounts from pianist Ran Jia reveal musical insights and an intellectual probity suggestive of Brendel himself. Mozart’s youthful B flat Sonata, K281, finds close microphone placement affording marginally crisper articulation than in Brendel’s own 2004 Decca version. Ran Jia’s playing impresses with its verve and fluidity of expression, missing little of the confessional…

Rose-tinted view Thank you very much for the January issue feature on Dame Patricia Routledge, a great favourite with my family. Amused by the way her powerful voice was always slightly off key in Keeping Up Appearances, we all enjoyed hearing it given full rein in an episode of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. I once had the good fortune to meet the late Shirley Stelfox, the first to play the part of Hyacinth’s sister Rose, and asked her how the two of them had got on while working together. Shirley would not be drawn other than to say of her co-star, ‘She’s a lady who always knows what she wants.’ From what I’ve just read of Dame Patricia’s many achievements, that would indeed seem to be the case, and good for…

A new project to research and perform Abolition songs and music has been unveiled by the Guildhall School in London. Called Abolition Song and its Legacies, the project will focus on the 65-or-so highstyle airs written from 1788-1830 to promote Abolition and the recognition of the rights of enslaved people at a time when, conversely, Black performers such as violinists George Bridgetower and Joseph Emidy (above) were enjoying great popularity on British stages. As Berta Joncus, the project’s principal investigator explains, ‘In engaging project musicians to perform selected songs and keyboard music across six concerts, we can lift these important artistic contributions off the page.’…

Doriot Anthony Dwyer was one of the first female musicians in a major American symphony orchestra – she served as principal flautist in the Boston Symphony from 1952 until 1990. She also directed a flute seminar at the Tanglewood Institute. While at high school in Kentucky, I was lucky enough to win a full scholarship to Tanglewood. And I brought with me a suitcase full of music I’d been writing to the weekly workshop with Doriot. Doriot was… cantankerous. She was an ambassador for tough love, and we were all terrified to perform for her. She would stand up and say, ‘OK, who wants to play for me today?’ And the room would go quiet. But this one day, I raised my hand and said, ‘I have a piece we’d…

Conductor Domingo Hindoyan nominates the best musical depictions of anger and frustration Domingo Hindoyan began his music training as a violinist and member of the Venezuelan musical education programme El Sistema, before studying conducting at the Haute école de musique de Genève. He is now chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with ensembles ranging from the Orchestre National de France to the Dresdner Philharmonie. In February he conducts the BBC Symphony at the Barbican in Copland’s Symphony No. 3. Verdi Rigoletto – ‘Cortigiani, vil razza dannata’ This aria arrives as Gilda has just been kidnapped by the Duke’s courtiers and Rigoletto turns against the Duke. Until this point, he has felt plenty of bitterness,…

British soprano Carolyn Sampson was introduced to Suzuki by countertenor Robin Blaze two decades ago, and has been the conductor’s soprano of choice for many cantata and choral recordings and performances since. She calls him ‘one of my favourite human beings. He is a delight to work with because he is a very warm person and that comes through in the musicmaking. He approaches the music with respect and takes a lot of care over it.’ What is it like to be one of the few non-Japanese musicians in the ensemble? ‘I always feel welcome. Everyone’s genuinely pleased to be making music together. During rehearsals, Masaaki speaks to all of us in our own language, German, English, Dutch – in fact quite a few orchestra members studied in the Hague…

Despite his ability to write in multiple mediums, it’s opera that has captured Gregory Spears’s heart. ‘When I was in college, opera composition wasn’t as much of a focus as it is now,’ he says. ‘My teachers didn’t write a lot of opera, and it’s a fundamentally difficult artform to study in a college environment, as the works are all so long, so you end up, perhaps, studying an overture, but not the whole work.’ It was only later that Spears found his way into the operatic space. ‘My interest developed after college, but then I absolutely fell in love with it, as I love collaboration and counterpoint – and opera offers the ultimate exercise in counterpoint. It’s multi-dimensional, psychological and emotional. And it’s about a whole community of people.…

Melody Possibly the best-known of all Gluck’s airs, ‘Che farò senza Euridice’ in Orfeo ed Euridice epitomises the natural, disarming simplicity that was the essence of the lyrical ideal for which he strove. A single exaggeration in performance, he insisted, would kill its effect. The chorus In Baroque opera, the chorus was largely confined to expressions of rejoicing at the end of the final Act. Following the example of classical Greek theatre, for Gluck it was there to function as both commentator and participant – whether gracing the Elysian Fields or terrorising the underworld. Scoring Berlioz (pictured below) was a great admirer of Gluck’s orchestration, not just for its sonorities but also for his use of the orchestra to hint at truths beyond the literal text. The French composer quoted…

Beethoven composed his Fourth Symphony during what is often known as his ‘middle period’ – beginning, roughly, in 1803 with his ‘Eroica’ Symphony No. 3, this period of markedly increased experimentation and emotion includes works such as his only opera Fidelio, the ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Appassionata’ piano sonatas and his last three piano concertos. By this stage, his deafness – first referenced in his Heiligenstadt Testament letter of 1802 – was proving an increasingly significant factor while, politically, his former admiration of Napoleon had turned to disgust when, in 1804, the latter declared himself emperor.…

Vivaldi The Four Seasons; Violin Concerto in E major; Concerto for Strings and Solo Violin in G minor; Aria from Nulla in mundo pax sincera* etc; plus works by Lambranzi and Gentili *Julie Roset (soprano); Orchestre Le Consort/Théotime Langlois de Swarte (violin) Harmonia Mundi HMM902757.58 90 mins (2CD) If your heart sinks at the thought of yet another recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, read on: this one is so compelling it will have you on the edge of your seat, as will the companion works on this exhilarating new album. French violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte is one of the brightest young things on the early music scene today and here we’re treated to a triple helping of his versatile talents as he takes on the roles of soloist,…

Gipps Symphony No. 1 etc; Horn Concerto* *Martin Owen (horn); BBC Philharmonic/Rumon Gamba Chandos CHAN20284 75:23 mins The third volume of Chandos’s series exploring Ruth Gipps’s orchestral works does not begin promisingly. Coronation Procession, finished five months before Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 Coronation, contains only the standard-issue sounds of bustle and reverence. Matters improve with Ambarvalia (1988), a graceful pastoral for winds and strings with French overtones and an effective guest appearance by celesta, though one is left pondering why Gipps’s memorial tribute to a fellow composer, Adrian Cruft, took its title from a Roman agricultural festivity rite involving animal sacrifices. Cringlemire Garden (1952), named after a Lake District arboreal museum, is another winning miniature, showcasing her skills as a landscape painter in music. Gipps’s individuality shines through in her…

Beethoven Missa Solemnis Chen Reiss, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Daniel Behle, Tareq Nazmi; Le Cercle de l’Harmonie et al/Jérémie Rhorer Alpha Classics ALPHA1111 71:40 mins This is the second historically informed recording of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis to have appeared within the past 18 months. With four radiantly voiced soloists and the combined forces of Le Cercle de L’Harmonie and the Audi Jugendchorakademie under Jérémie Rhorer’s leadership, this traversal readily surpasses Jordi Savall’s Alia Vox account (with Le Concert des Nations and Capella Nacional de Catalunya), offering superior recorded sound (from a live performance given at the Philharmonie de Paris in April 2024) and an interpretation that’s never less than visionary. Beethoven’s demands pose no obstacle for the excellent Audi Jugendchorakademie The trenchant demands of Beethoven’s monolithic fugues (especially the ‘Et vitam venturi…

February round-up We’ve all been rivetted by Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, the long-awaited sequel to the BBC’s screen adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novels about the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell. Though the attention-grabbing performances kept us rapt, so too did the music by Debbie Wiseman. Her score, at once beautifully spare and drenched in dramatic tension, is distilled on this scintillating album. Soprano Grace Davidson’s atmospheric vocals are a haunting addition to The Locrian Ensemble of London’s sultry, agitated and evocative instrumentals. (Silva Screen SILCD1768) Just as Debbie Wiseman brings a contemporary dramatic edge to Wolf Hall, so too does Caroline Shaw in her score for Leonardo da Vinci. This four-part documentary from Ken Burns gets under the skin of the Renaissance’s greatest polymath, whose famous…

In the introduction to his Complete Erato Recordings (Erato 2173227699), conductor William Christie says he likes to think of the collection as an orchard and each album a tree to be plundered and enjoyed. It’s certainly an abundant harvest, the box including 61 discs of music recorded over 18 years (1994-2011) with Les Arts Florissants – the ensemble he founded in 1979. Christie, whose 80th birthday is the impetus for this release, is a much-venerated champion of Baroque repertoire and that passion is well documented here. Complete works by Charpentier and Handel crown the set, but it’s a rich programme beyond that, including discs devoted to French masters Campra, Couperin, Lully and Rameau, not to mention Italian giants such as Monteverdi. Christie’s love of Classical repertoire is also present and…

FEBRUARY’S RADIO 3 LISTINGS Schedules may be subject to alteration. For up-to-date listings see BBC Sounds and iPlayer 1 SATURDAY 6.30-9am Saturday Breakfast 9am-12noon Saturday Morning 12-1pm Earlier… with Jools Holland 1-2pm Music Matters 2-4pm Record Review 4-5pm Sound of Cinema 5-6pm This Classical Life 6-9.30pm Opera on 3 from New York Met Opera. Verdi Aida. 9.30-10.30pm Music Planet 10.30pm-12.30am New Music 2 SUNDAY 6.30-9am Sunday Breakfast 9am-12pm Sunday Morning 12-1.30pm Private Passions 1.30-3pm Music Map 3-4pm Choral Evensong 4-5pm Jazz Record Requests 5-6pm The Early Music Show 6-7.15pm Words and Music 7.15-8pm Between the Ears East Piano 8-10pm Drama on 3 10-11.30pm Ultimate Calm 11.30pm-12.30am Unclassified 3 MONDAY 6.30-9.30am Breakfast 9.30am-1pm Essential Classics 1-2pm Live from Wigmore Hall 2-4pm Classical Live 4-5pm Composer of the Week Meyerbeer 5-7pm In…

THE QUIZ Can you name the answers to this month’s ten questions…? 1. A self-confident prince tells a 1924 opera’s fearsome title character that if she finds out his name before sunrise, he will accept the death penalty. Name the opera and the prince. 2. What nickname links Schubert’s Fourth and Mahler’s Sixth symphonies? 3. Which composer’s name is thunderously spelt out in an eponymous Prelude and Fugue by Liszt, composed in 1855? 4. The American soprano pictured above was known to many by her nickname of ‘Bubbles’. Who is she? 5. Which conductors had the following nicknames: a) Glorious John; b) Supermac; c) The Screaming Skull? 6. Philip Heseltine was the real name of which British composer? 7. By what name are the following known today: a) Sadler’s Wells…