Marking the centenary of his death, Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Hubert Parry.

Donald begins with the story of Parry's early years, rooted at Highnam Court in Gloucestershire, before looking at the period he was centred around Orme Square in London, the home of his teacher and mentor Edward Dannreuther. We hear about Parry’s connection with the long-running Three Choirs Festival: Parry’s father, Thomas Gambier Parry, was energetic and generous in his efforts to ensure the Festival’s survival, and the Three Choirs was to prove an important platform for his son’s music. Another hugely important institution to Parry was the Royal College of Music - in time, he would become Director of the College and an inspiration to the next generation of composers. We finish with the final years of Parry’s life, during World War One, when Parry's most enduring composition, Jerusalem, was first performed at the Queen’s Hall in London.

Music featured:

I was Glad

Presenter: Donald Macleod

For full tracklistings, 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 Hubert Parry: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000nl6

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 Sergei Rachmaninov’s years in America.

Reluctant even to visit at first, and once there always more than a little homesick, this proudly Russian composer in fact lived in the United States of America for 25 years, from the end of the First World War until his death in 1943. His life there was principally that of a virtuoso performer, not a composer; and Rachmaninov gave recitals for presidents, recorded discs for Thomas Edison, and felt obliged to rattle off his “hated” Prelude in C sharp minor for concert audiences wherever he went.

All this week, Donald looks at Rachmaninov’s equivocal relationship with his adopted homeland. Rachmaninov’s first toured the USA in 1909, but it was only when he fled the 1917 revolution that he had to properly adjust to life as a concert pianist there. His intense performing schedule left him exhausted – we hear about the year 1926, which dedicated solely to composition, and how he found productive solace during his in summers in Switzerland. Although Rachmaninov was slow to embrace his adopted country, never really learning proper English and always looking back longingly to mother Russia, he did come to love the United States, and eventually, in the final year of his life, became a citizen. By then he’d become immersed in American cultural life, relishing jazz music and even admiring Mickey Mouse’s take on his ubiquitous Prelude.

Music featured:

Presenter: Donald Macleod

For full tracklistings, 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 Rachmaninov: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000hb7

Donald Macleod explores the friendships, influences and struggles in the life and work of Ernest Chausson.

In this episode, Donald Macleod looks at the cultural advantages of Chausson’s family circle, fostering his passion for art which he indulged at home and on his travels. He uncovers Chausson’s musical friendships with Debussy and Franck, and his struggles to create – the torment of writing a symphony, and how enchanted forests, myths and legends inspired his rare forays into the world of theatre.

For full tracklistings, 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 Chausson: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000092k

Donald Macleod explores the strange, brilliant and occasionally nightmarish world of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke.

The music of Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) is like being lost in a hall of mirrors. Staring back at you is the whole of music history - from Bach to modern pop via tangos, Soviet work songs, Gregorian chant and Viennese waltzes - refracted and distorted, and woven together to create a uniquely personal style. Thrilling, grotesque, occasionally nightmarish - Schnittke creates a world where everything has a hidden meaning. Beethoven's Fifth suddenly springs terrifyingly out of the darkness in the midst of an otherwise chaotic symphony. Or a cheap Russian pop song appears inexplicably amidst a Baroque chorale. Schnittke's world of suppressed meanings perfectly captured life under the cosh of Soviet Communism. All this week, Donald Macleod unpicks the strands of a musician often seen as the heir to Shostakovich - and perhaps the last truly great composer of the 20th century.

Donald begins by exploring the connections - musical, psychological and spiritual - between Alfred Schnittke and the great titan of Soviet music, Dmitri Shostakovich. He then unravels the term "polystylism", which Schnittke himself coined to describe his fusing of wildly eclectic styles - from Bach to pop to hypermodernism to Tchaikovsky. We hear about Schnittke’s intense fame in the 1970s, and how his turn to a deeply devout musical style shocked the avant-garde and won him a whole new spectrum of admirers. Donald takes us through Schnittke’s most rollicking and significant year – 1985 – which saw the creation of five acknowledged masterpieces and the first of several crippling strokes. Seemingly, Schnittke’s mortality drove him to create ever more shattering music in his final years - to compose to the very bitter end, in the face of almost unimaginable physical challenges.

Music featured:

Concerto Grosso No 1 (arr. for flute, oboe, harpsichord, prepared piano and strings) (2nd mvt)

For full tracklistings, 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 Schnittke: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bcpr22

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Italian experimental composer, Luciano Berio

Donald Macleod unravels the rich musical legacy of a composer known almost exclusively for one iconic work: the "Canon in D".

Donald Macleod joins the Oscar winning film composer Rachel Portman in her studio in London, to chat about her life and music for film and the concert platform.

Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of the man who is almost universally recognised as Finland's greatest ever composer – Jean Sibelius.

Donald and Marina Frolova-Walker look at the lives and masterpieces of the musicians.

Donald Macleod in conversation with composer Alexander Goehr at his home near Cambridge