Composer of the Week
Sunday to Friday at 9 am
Tune in on Sunday mornings at 9am or Monday nights at 7pm for a half hour introduction to the week's featured composer. The presenters share their great depth of knowledge on the subject, and play musical examples to guide you through. This introductory audio is also available on demand
Then, on every weekday morning between 9 and 10 o'clock, we play a selection of the composer’s works chosen to illustrate the subject.
Sunday, 15 April 2012: Unsung Heroes of the Prix de Rome (1803-1968)
Audio from Sunday 15 April 2012
Not all audio is available due to copyright restrictions.
- 09:15 Composer of the Week - Unsung Heroes of the Prix de Rome
Steve Danby explores the work of some of the lesser known winners of the prestigious Prix de Rome composition award (51′00″)
9am Sunday 15 April and 7pm Monday 16 April 2012
Between 1803 and 1968, numerous great French composers won the Prix de Rome: a contest run by the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, which offered a first prize of a two year residency at the Villa Medici in Rome (right). Alongside the many great composers who won; numerous totally obscure composers won the Prix de Rome too. (Image by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra)
What caught Steve Danby’s attention was that quite a few really big names didn’t win the Prix de Rome. So in this programme he asks the question: Who was good enough to beat Hector Berlioz, Maurice Ravel or Olivier Messiaen?
We used music from the following recordings in the programme:
BERLIOZ: Roman Carnival Overture - Detroit SO Paul Paray Mercury 434 328
ROGER-DUCASSE: Pastorale in F - Joseph Nolan (org) ASV CD DCA 1175
SAVARD: Morceau de concours - Reinhold Friedrich (tpt), Thomas Duis (pno) – Capriccio 67 152
RABAUD: Dances from Marouf - Rheinland-Pfalz Phil/ Leif Segerstam - Marco Polo 8.223503
DUPONT: Sombre et douloureux, from Poeme - Francois Kerdoncuff (pno), Quatuor Louvigny - Timpani 1C 1072
LEFEBURE: Suite, Op 57, mvt 2 - Aulos-Wind Quintet - Koch Schwann 310 087
BERLIOZ: Death of Cleopatra - Janet Baker (mezzo), London SO/ Alexander Gibson - EMI 562788
SAINT-SAENS: Pres du bucher en flamme... from Ivanhoe – Marina De Liso (mezzo), Flemish Radio Choir, Brussels Phil/ Hervé Niquet – Glossa GCD 922 210
BAZIN: Je pense à vous - Roberto Alagna (ten), London Voices, Covent Garden Orch/ Bertrand de Billy - EMI 5 57012
PARAY: Sanctus-Benedictus from Joan of Arc Mass - Frances Yeend (sop), Frances Bible (mezzo), David Lloyd (ten), Yi-Kwei-Sze (bass), Rackham Symphony Choir, Detroit SO/ Paul Paray - Mercury 432 719
TARREGA arr Nokia: Grande Valse excerpt (Nokia cell phone tune)
L BOULANGER: M12 L Boulanger_Faust et Helene - Chandos CHAN 9745
HILLEMACHER: M13 Hillemacher_Gavotte tendre - Lynn Harrell (cello), Bruno Canino (pno) - Decca 425 611
PALADIHE: M14 Paladilhe_Psyché - Renee Fleming, Fred Hersch (pno), Bill Frisell (gtr) - Decca 998 0602
Information
On Sunday at 9am we introduce the featured composer. Then every weekday morning we play a selection of the composer’s works. The introductory audio is also available on demand.
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Composer of the Week
Audio Library
There are 53 audio items in the programme library
- Richard Wagner Bicentenary (1813-1883)
- Wagner In Perspective (1813-1883)
- The Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago
- Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813 – 1888)
- Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758)
- Leos Janacek (1854-1928)
- Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
- Witold Lutosławski (1913 - 1994)
- Programme Library
