Cultural Exchange

By BBC Radio 4

Cultural Exchange episodes

May 29, 2013 Lady Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Fraser chooses an oil painting by J.M.W. Turner, full title The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up (1839), depicting a ship that played a crucial part in the Battle of Trafalgar. Presented by Mark Lawson.
The interview is followed by selected clips from the BBC archive: Charles Saumarez Smith and Louise Govier on Turner’s masterpiece;Historian Adam Lambert and Graeme Fife uncover HMS Temeraire’s role in the Battle of Trafalgar of 1805; Lady Antonia Fraser and fellow historian Margaret MacMillan discuss the intricacies of writing history; A reading of Sir Henry Newbolt's rousing poem The Fighting Temeraire.
Full details available on the Front Row website.
18 min
May 29, 2013 Nicholas Hytner
Nicholas Hytner – Director of the National Theatre – chooses the Finale from Act II of The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. Plus archive interviews with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Elvis Costello and Sir Georg Solti. Go to Front Row's Cultural Exchange website for full details.
16 min
May 24, 2013 Angela Gheorghiu
Angela Gheorghiu chooses a diva from a previous generation, Virginia Zeani (pictured below), and in particular her recording of Qui la Voce from Bellini's opera I Puritani. Presented by John Wilson.
Archive clips include Alice Coote on the sacrifices needed to maintain an operatic career, Angela Gheorghiu on emotional turmoil; Cecilia Bartoli and the legendary diva Maria Callas.
For full archive information, visit the Front Row website
18 min
May 23, 2013 Nigel Kennedy
Violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy chooses the song Black and Blue, composed by Fats Waller and performed by Louis Armstrong. Plus archive from Louis Armstrong himself, Ken Clarke on Fats Waller, and Michael Parkinson. Go to Front Rowâ€™s Cultural Exchange website for full details.
15 min
May 23, 2013 Mary Beard
Classicist Mary Beard chooses the sculpture Laocoon and His Sons. Plus archive interviews including Seamus Heaney on Virgil, Ralph Fiennes as Aeneas, and the story of the Trojan Horse. Go to Front Row’s Cultural Exchange website for full information.
17 min
May 22, 2013 AS Byatt
A.S. Byatt chooses The Red Studio (1911) by the French artist Henri Matisse. Presented by Mark Lawson. Plus archives interviews with Matisse himself from 1951, Matisse’s biographer Hilary Spurling, artist Patrick Herron and A.S. Byatt on literature. Go to Front Row’s Cultural Exchange website for full details.
16 min
May 20, 2013 David Walliams
Actor and writer David Walliams chooses Harold Pinter's play No Man's Land. Presented by Mark Lawson.
The interview is followed by selected clips from the BBC archive: Pinter himself on his relationship with the audience and his famous pauses; an extract from his 1978 play Betrayal; Pinter's widow Lady Antonia Fraser on writer about her husband; Rob Brydon on meeting Pinter and Diane Abbott and Michael Billington on Pinter's pacifism.
19 min
May 17, 2013 Alison Balsom
Alison Balsom chooses the St Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach. She tells John Wilson why the recording by Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent (Harmonia Mundi) is particularly special to her.
The interview is followed by selected highlights from the BBC archives: John Eliot Gardiner on a life spent with JS Bach; the story of the man whose life was saved by the St Matthew Passion; Vaughan Williams on performing baroque music; Alison Balsom on the physical challenges of playing the trumpet and James Naughtie on the score of the St Matthew Passion
24 min
May 16, 2013 Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp chooses The Razor's Edge as his favourite work. Based on Somerset Maugham's novel, the Oscar nominated film stars Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power as an American World War One pilot searching for meaning in life. Presented by John Wilson.
The interview is followed by selected highlights from the BBC archive: Somerset Maugham reflecting on his success; Kingsley Amis on Maugham and Selina Hastings on the secret life of Somerset Maugham.
Full archive details are available on the Front Row website
17 min
May 15, 2013 Will Self
Will Self chooses GK Chesterton's detective story The Man Who Was Thursday, published in 1908. Presented by Mark Lawson.
The interview is followed by selected clips from the BBC Archive: GK Chesteron on eating beef with mustard; Richard Ingrams and Denis Conlon on The Man Who Was Thursday and Father Brown and a report on the campaign to have GK Chesterton canonised.
Futher information is available on the Front Row website
20 min

About Cultural Exchange

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Creative minds talk about the cultural work that inspires them, an arts project for BBC Radio 4. Each Cultural Exchange podcast contains the curator’s recommendation.