Composer of the Week celebrates the 90th birthday of Arvo Pärt, one of the world’s most-performed and recognisable living composers. A composer who had the courage to defy Soviet edicts, to spend years searching for answers, to invent a personal language that pivots on past and present, on sound, silence and clarity. This week, Kate Molleson explores Pärt’s landmark works and extraordinary story in conversation with his son Michael.

Music Featured:

The Deer’s Cry

Presented by Kate Molleson

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Arvo Pärt https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002g1r7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores Tchaikovsky’s life away from home. He spent significant parts of his peak years travelling or staying with friends, and a remarkable amount of his music was composed whilst staying with friends, on holiday or concert tours, or sometimes as a fugitive on the run. This evolved into a full decade of rootless wandering, which is peculiar given his frequent homesickness for Russia.

Music Featured:

Overture in C Minor

Presented by Donald Macleod

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ftlt

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod delves into the life and music of Welsh composer, Grace Williams.

Music Featured:

Elegy for Cynddylan

Presented by Donald Macleod

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Grace Williams (1906-1977) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002f7dd

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life of maverick composer Erik Satie, the inventor of “furniture music”, whose innovations delighted and divided France. Satie's compositions – and their peculiar annotations – were a revolution, paving the way for a new generation of musical rebels, including Les Six. He was just as odd in his day-to-day life, known for his quirky fashion and dramatic outbursts, he always kept a hammer in his pocket for fear of muggers and once even founded his own church.

Music Featured:

Allegro

Presented by Donald Macleod

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Erik Satie (1866-1925) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002dy5k

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson meets Gavin Bryars, the celebrated and much-loved composer whose kaleidoscopic career defies categorisation. As an inveterate collaborator, Bryars has worked alongside figures as diverse as Brian Eno, Tom Waites, the Hilliard Ensemble, Mainz Opera and Faroese singer-songwriter, Eivør Pálsdottír. He has collected a lifetime’s-worth of amazing stories along the way, and Kate invites Gavin to share some of the many surprising twists and turns in his journey from experimental outsider to concert hall favourite.

Music Featured:

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Presented by Kate Molleson

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Gavin Bryars https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002djt7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod investigates the life of a Renaissance genius, Giovanni da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) was one of the most influential composers in European classical music. With his countless masses, motets and madrigals, infused with a deep sense of spirituality and musical beauty, Palestrina was named the 'Saviour of Church Music' at a revolutionary time when Rome was rewriting the rules of music composition. But what do we know about this mysterious character, between historical fact and hagiographic myth? Donald Macleod follows the clues, to try and reconstruct the story of a fascinating composer, on the (approximately) 500th anniversary of his birth.

Music Featured:

Sicut cervus

Presented by Donald Macleod

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002d7cq

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod traces the musical development of Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn. Whilst Fanny’s famous brother Felix Mendelssohn’s career flourished, the equally talented Fanny was often held back by the conventions of the period and at times, by her own brother.

Music Featured:

Das Jahr, H-U 385

Presented by Donald Macleod

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002cym9

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores Beethoven’s endeavours to become the guardian of his brother’s son Karl - a relationship which from the start was built upon rocky foundations.

Music Featured:

Allegro and Minuet, WoO 26 (Excerpt)

Presented by Donald Macleod

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002cbw3

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson explores the maverick spirit, fierce passions and phenomenal twilight years of Leoš Janáček

Leoš Janáček was a true Czech original. He heard music in the way people talk on the streets, loved the local and made it universal - pouring his “speech melodies” into pioneering, devastating operas, and writing some of the most intimate confessionals in instrumental music. His life also came with a major plot twist – after years of toiling away unappreciated, he suddenly found fame in his 60s. Instead of winding down, Janáček revved up. This week, Kate Molleson explores his maverick spirit, his fierce passions, and the phenomenal flood of inspiration of his twilight years.

Music Featured:

Sinfonietta (Fanfare)

Presented by Kate Molleson

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Leos Janacek (1854-1928)

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod colours in Bruch’s life story and reveals the breadth of his output

“Only true melody outlasts all changes and shifts of time” – so said this week’s composer, Max Bruch, the creator of what may be the world’s best-loved violin concerto. But Bruch would hate us to think of him as a one hit wonder. He even came to resent the very sound of his first Violin concerto, the only piece by which he’s often remembered. This week, Donald Macleod colours in Bruch’s life story and reveals the breadth of his output, including some of his lesser-heard music.

Music Featured:

Frühlingslied, Op 7 No 5 (arr. for violin and piano)

Presented by Donald Macleod

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Max Bruch (1839-1920) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002br0d

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z