18 Aug 2013

Donald Tovey (1875-1940)

From Composer of the Week, 9:00 am on 18 August 2013
Donald Tovey

Donald Tovey Photo: Divine Art Records

 

Donald Tovey is best known for his musicological essays. But Tovey viewed himself foremost as a composer.

In this programme, Peter Shore, a cousin of Tovey's who has become an expert on his works, introduces us to Tovey's output as a composer.

We also hear of Tovey's life, the sometimes meddlesome influence of his mentor and teacher Sophie Weisse and his varied career... including as an idiosyncratic broadcaster.

Music Details:

TOVEY arr Shore: Air for strings - strings of the Ulster Orchestra/ George Vass (Toccata TOCC 0038)
BACH: C minor prelude - Alice Neary (cello), Gretel Dowdeswell (piano) (Private)
TOVEY: Elegiac Variations - Alice Neary (cello), Gretel Dowdeswell (piano) (Toccata TOCC 0038)
TOVEY: Piano Concerto in A - Steven Osborne (piano), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/ Martyn Brabbins  (Hyperion CDA 67023)
TOVEY: Symphony in D mvt 1 - Reid Symphony Orchestra/ Donald Tovey (Symposium 1352)
TOVEY: Symphony in D, 1st mvt  - Malmö Opera Orchestra/ George Vass (Toccata TOCC 0033)
TOVEY: Sonata Eroica Op. 29 Allegro moderato e pesante ma con fuoco - Robert Atchison (violin) (Guild GMCD 7352)
TOVEY: The Bride of Dionysus  - Sally Silver (sop), Michael Bundy (bari), Belfast Philharmonic Choir, Ulster Orchestra/ George Vass (Dutton Epoch CDLX 7241)
TOVEY: conjectural ending to Bach’s Contrapunctus XIV from The Art of Fugue - Donald Tovey (pno) (BBC)
TOVEY: Cello Concerto 1 - Allegro moderato - Alice Neary (cello), Ulster Orchestra/ George Vass (Toccata TOCC 0038)
TOVEY: The Bride of Dionysus - Sally Silver (sop), Michael Bundy (bari), Belfast Philharmonic Choir, Ulster Orchestra/ George Vass (Dutton Epoch CDLX 7241)

Further information:

For a full biography, photos, a list of works and recordings, visit Peter Shore's website.

Books: Mary Grierson, Donald Francis Tovey; a biography based on letters, London, 1952.