Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns once said “I produce music as an apple tree produces apples.” In his day, that fruit was gobbled up all across Europe where the composer was acclaimed as the greatest of all French musicians. Liszt called him the greatest organist in the world. Yet in France, and in his home city of Paris, he was not always so highly regarded, despite his strong bond with his homeland. This week, as we mark the centenary of his death, Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of Saint-Saëns, charting the changing relationship with France of one of the greatest musicians that the country has ever produced.

Music Featured:

Samson and Delilah, Op 47 (Bacchanale)

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 Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012gl1

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 is joined by the composer Mark-Anthony Turnage

Mark-Anthony Turnage is a man with a reputation for shaking up the world of British classical music - a composer with a distinctive and rebellious creative voice. His work vividly fuses influences of jazz, soul and contemporary pop with music that remains boldly and defiantly avant-garde. It’s music that packs a punch, yet whose visceral impact accompanies a deep lyricism and emotion. Over four decades, Turnage’s work has tackled social commentary: domestic violence, drug abuse, and the refugee crisis. But he’s also a composer with a subversive streak, with an opera exploring the life of former Playboy model Anna-Nicole Smith, and orchestral pieces inspired by his beloved Arsenal football club and pop superstar Beyoncé.

Music Featured:

Greek, Act 1: Breakfast Quartet

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 Mark-Anthony Turnage (b 1960) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00126xb

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

As part of his 80th birthday celebrations in 2010, Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim looked back over his life and work, with Donald Macleod. The result is a fascinating retrospective of half a century of creativity, with the artist himself as tour guide. Along the way, he explodes a few myths about the inner workings of musical theatre.

Sondheim starts by talking about his childhood, his parents' divorce, his near-adoption by the Hammerstein family and his apprenticeship with Oscar Hammerstein, the lyricist of Oklahoma! Then there's the rollercoaster ride of his early career: his first, abortive Broadway show; two amazing breaks, when he was commissioned to write the lyrics for first West Side Story, then Gypsy; his unhappy collaboration with Richard Rogers; and his major creative breakthrough with Company, a musical with situations and characters but no conventional plot, and the first appearance of characteristic Sondheim subject-matter - the virtual impossibility of forming good relationships. As one British critic observed, "It is extraordinary that a musical, that most trivial of forms, should be able to plunge as Company does, with perfect congruity, into the profound depths of human perplexity and misery.".

Next, and in typical Sondheim fashion, Stephen expands the notion of what the musical could be, with razor-sharp language and cracking tunes to boot: Follies, in which a reunion of Ziegfield-style Follies stars in a derelict theatre becomes a metaphor for the death of the American dream; A Little Night Music, a musical about relationships written almost entirely in waltz-time, that spawned Sondheim's most famous song, 'Send in the Clowns'; and Pacific Overtures, a 'kabuki musical' with an all-Japanese cast - an exploration of the 19th-century westernization of Japan, seen from the Japanese perspective.

Sweeney Todd is widely regarded as Sondheim's masterpiece, an extraordinarily powerful work which he has modestly described as "a small and scary evening about the need for revenge.". Sweeney Todd was a huge success and is widely performed today, from schools (in a special educational edition) to opera houses. Whereas Merrily We Roll Along, failed to catch the public mood. It is a tale of disintegrating friendships and compromised idealism, narrated, in a characteristic structural twist, backwards. Despite a marvellous score, it remains Sondheim's biggest flop to date. Among other topics, Sondheim also discusses his long-time collaboration with director Hal Prince, the logistics of working with an orchestrator, and the heart attack he suffered in 1979, just three weeks after the opening of Sweeney.

Next, the musical that grew out of a painting; a tangled web of fairytales; and a positively murderous show about the assassins, and would-be-assassins, of US presidents. The painting in question is Seurat's hugely famous A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and the work it inspired was the Pulitzer-prize-winning Sunday in the Park with George, a deeply personal show about the joys and the costs of creation. The fairytales are the ones familiar to every child, but in Into the Woods they are woven together in an extraordinarily intricate way, before completely unravelling in the second act. Assassins caused a huge furore when it was unveiled in 1990, not least because it happened to coincide with the opening salvo of the first Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm - under such circumstances, a show that climaxed with the assassination of JFK was bound to be interpreted as deeply unpatriotic. Sondheim also talks about the logistics of mounting a Broadway production, and the pleasures of "trancing out" during the creative process.

Finally, Passion, a kind of reversal of the Beauty and the Beast myth, which Sondheim has described as "one long rhapsody, a straightforward, non-ironic love story"; The Frogs, a contemporary take on Aristophanes originally staged in the swimming pool at Yale University (with Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver in the chorus line); and Road Show, a musical about the Mizner brothers which proves the old adage that "musicals aren't written, they're re-written" - it's currently in its fourth incarnation.

Donald Macleod and guest, Kevin Le Gendre follow the jazz adventures of Carla Bley

One of the most original voices in jazz, composer, arranger, performer and band-leader Carla Bley has been determinedly pursuing her own musical path for more than sixty years. Her back catalogue of some fifty plus recordings tell the story of a musician who's responded in her own unique style to all the current trends, from free and experimental jazz in the 60s and 70s to 80s soul, blues and R&B. In later decades, she's written for and created big bands recalling the musical landscapes of Count Basie and the Duke and in the last 20 years, she's refined a distilled, intimate style for smaller chamber ensembles, in particular performing in a Trio with her life partner, bassist Steve Swallow and the British saxophonist Andy Sheppard. Little wonder then, her fellow musicians affectionately call Bley 'Countess Bleysie' and 'Bleythoven'. Featuring a selection of recordings suggested by Carla Bley, Donald Macleod and Kevin Le Gendre follow Bley's musical adventuring from her early days writing for Paul Bley and Gary Burton, to her latest album for the Carla Bley Trio, released in 2020.

Music Featured:

King Korn

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 Carla Bley (b 1936) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011lmc

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 and work of composer, Luigi Cherubini

An octogenarian when he died in 1842, Cherubini's long life places him alongside three giants of the age, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. When he was born in 1760, Mozart was four years old, and Haydn was in his thirties. Beethoven was born a decade after Cherubini. Standing among these luminaries, all of whom he admired, Cherubini was a composer, conductor, teacher, administrator, theorist and music publisher, who enjoyed a much higher standing in his own lifetime than his present day reputation might suggest. Beethoven and latterly Wagner are just two of a long list of notables who hugely admired his music. These days it's perhaps through his masses that many people come to his music, so it may be a surprise to discover that he followed the fashion of his day, and produced a considerable number of successful operas. This week Donald Macleod follows Cherubini's progress from his Florentine childhood to Paris, where he was to settle and see his theatrical ambitions realised, in addition to taking on the directorship of the Paris Conservatoire, a position which gave him considerable influence over successive generations.

Music Featured:

Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuna, Overture

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 Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011bml

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

To mark Sofia Gubaidulina’s 90th birthday, Donald Macleod and Gerard McBurney explore five different aspects of her progressive and distinctive music. Gubaidulina has been living in Germany since 1992 and is still busy composing today. When she was born in 1931 in Tatarstan, the Soviet Union was under Stalinist rule. Up until her emigration, she worked as a composer under the strictly regulated conditions determined by Soviet cultural policies. This week, we get an insight into the life of a composer behind the Iron Curtain, as Gubaidulina developed her own creative path, un-swayed by any hint of ideological pressure.

Music Featured:

Musical Toys

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 Sofia Gubaidulina (b 1931) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00113yq

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 and work of Béla Bartók.

Music Featured:

For Children

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 Béla Bartók (1881-1945) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ztnr

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 some of the challenges Telemann faced as he struggled for success

Georg Philipp Telemann was one of the most celebrated musicians of the 18th century. In Europe, his fame eclipsed that of his close contemporaries Handel and Bach and he left behind him a vast legacy of works. This week, Donald Macleod turns the spotlight on this often forgotten musical superstar, exploring the many challenges he met, the influence of his family and friends and the composer’s involvement in promoting his own music.

Music Featured:

Concerto in E minor for recorder, flute, strings and continuo, TWV52:e1 (Presto)

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 Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zbym

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 turns his attention to Rachmaninov’s great choral works

Rachmaninov has been seen as the last great champion of Russian Late Romanticism. He was a celebrated pianist and conductor, as well as a composer, and his musical legacy includes his hugely popular piano concertos. This week, Donald Macleod turns his attention to Rachmaninov’s great choral works and his story during the periods in which they were composed. These choral masterpieces are both sacred and secular, and include the cantata Spring, the choral symphony The Bells, Three Russian Songs, the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, and the iconic All-night Vigil. Donald explores what inspired Rachmaninov while he was writing this music, including creative collaborations, beautiful poetry, and places in Russia and abroad.

Music Featured:

How Fair this Spot, Op 21, No 7

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 Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zbym

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 and work of Antonín Dvořák.

In an era overloaded with brooding and overwrought, Romantic sensibilities, Antonín Dvořák’s music shone with grace and joy and humanity. Audiences were enchanted and adopted Dvořák as one of the 19th century’s most beloved composers. He was especially in demand in Britain and the USA, and enjoyed successful visits both countries. Dvořák was never happier, though, than at home in his native Bohemia, listening to the birds singing, feeding his pigeons, and indulging in a bit of train spotting, too.

Music Featured:

Cigánské melodie, Op 55 No 4 (Songs my mother taught me)

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 Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ycqy

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