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The Middle
From taking the middle ground to the mid-life crisis, Middle England to middle managers, to being a middle child - is occupying a position in the middle out of fashion?Anne McElvoy hosts Radio 4's ideas discussion programme and her guests this week for a middling conversation are:Journalist Catherine Carr. Her new book Who's the Favourite?: The Loving, Messy Realities of Sibling Relationships explores being a middle child and the relevance of birth orderWriter and broadcaster Mark Lawson, who has written novels set in middle EnglandSymeon Brown, home affairs correspondent at Channel 4 news, whose forthcoming book is The Good, the Black and the Boujee: The Story of Britain's New Black Middle ClassAdrian Wooldridge, journalist, author and Global Business Columnist at Bloomberg Opinion. His recent book is entitled Centrists of the World Unite! The Lost Genius of Liberalism.andClaire Ainsley, former adviser to Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute.Producer: Eliane Glaser
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Béla Bartók was regarded as one of Hungary’s greatest composers. His fellow countryman, the pianist Andras Schiff, called him “one of the giants in the history of music.” But he was also one of the founders of what we now call ethnomusicology, spending much of his time immersed in peasant life, collecting folk songs. As around him Europe was torn apart by conflict, Bartók found relief in rural life and took inspiration from these traditional tunes, incorporating them into his own compositions.Music featured:Romanian Folk DancesRhapsody for piano, Op. 1, BB36a, Sz. 26Kossuth Symphonic Poem Sz21Szekely Folksong, BB 34, "Piros alma"3 Hungarian Folksongs from Csik, BB 45b, Sz. 35aEight Hungarian FolksongsAllegro Barbaro14 BagatellesFor ChildrenViolin Concerto No. 1, BB48a, Sz 36: Andante sostenuto7 Sketches, BB 54, Sz. 44Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11Four Dirges, Op. 9aThe Wooden Prince, Sz. 60Village Scenes, Sz. 795 songs Op. 15Hungarian Folksongs (5), for voice & orchestra, BB. 108, Sz. 10144 Duos for Two Violins, BB 104, Sz. 98Out of Doors, Sz. 81Mikrokosmos, Book VString Quartet No. 6, Sz 114Piano Concerto No. 3, BB 127, Sz. 119Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Alice McKee for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor 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/m002vl6f 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
Vivaldi's The Four Seasons
Charlotte Gardner's personal recommendation from recordings of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons
James Aldred, cameraman and writer
James Aldred is an Emmy award-winning documentary wildlife cameraman and filmmaker who has collaborated with David Attenborough on projects such Planet Earth, The Life of Mammals and Our Planet. He often finds himself suspended from ropes or on platforms high up in the rainforest canopy, capturing shots of rarely-seen animals and birds, including orangutans, gibbons and eagles.He recalled some of his treetop adventures - and the many dangers he’s faced - in his first book, The Man Who Climbs Trees. His second, Goshawk Summer, detailed his experience of filming a family of goshawks in the New Forest during lockdown. It went on to win the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing. His most recent book, A Wagon in the Woods, returns to the New Forest and is about his painstaking restoration of an old horse-drawn wagon he once played in as a child. James picks music by Borodin, Wagner, Mahler, Bach and John Barry.
Weapons, real and symbolic
How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history?Joining Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's round table discussion programme about ideas are:The former soldier and politician Tobias EllwoodThe sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponryThe Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European EmpiresThe historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and RiflesandHailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames.Producer: Eliane Glaser
Weapons, real and symbolic
How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history?Joining Matthew Sweet are:The former soldier and politician Tobias EllwoodThe sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponryThe Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European EmpiresThe historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and RiflesandHailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames.Producer: Eliane Glaser
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Camille Saint‑Saëns, a composer whose career was shaped as much by personality and circumstance as by precocious talent. Raised in Paris by strong‑minded women who recognised his gifts early, Saint‑Saëns grew into a formidable pianist and an alert observer of the musical world around him. He moved easily through the city’s salons, where reputations were made, ideas exchanged, and music absorbed as a social force as much as an art. Alongside influential relationships, including a lasting creative bond with Gabriel Fauré, Saint‑Saëns was drawn into a life increasingly shaped by travel.Music featured includes:Danse macabre, Op. 40Calme des nuits (Deux Chœurs, Op. 68 No. 1)Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75Oratorio de Noël, Op. 12 (Movements 1–4)Symphony No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 2Tarantelle in A minor, Op. 6Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14Violin Concerto No. 1 in A major, Op. 20Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22Le timbre d’argent (extract)Marche héroïque, Op. 34La jeunesse d’Hercule, Op. 50A Voice by the Cedar TreeRomance in C major, Op. 48Romance, Op. 36Le Déluge: PreludeSamson et Dalila: “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix”Requiem, Op. 54 (extracts)Suite algérienne, Op. 60: PréludeÉtienne Marcel: Ballet Music (extracts)Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 33Le carnaval des animauxOboe Sonata in D major, Op. 166Presented by Donald MacleodProduced by Ellie Ajao for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor 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/m002v8nk.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.
Respighi's La Boutique Fantasque
Conductor Ben Gernon picks his favourite recordings of Respighi's La Boutique Fantasque.
Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu, chemist
Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu has dedicated her career to studying nanoparticles, finding ways to carry medicines to parts of the body that are notoriously hard to reach, such as the back of the eye and the brain, while causing fewer side-effects.She’s Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at University College London, President of Wolfson College Cambridge and was appointed a DBE in the King’s New Years Honours List last year.She’s also written a book called Chain Reaction: the Wondrous Chemistry of Everyday Life, in which she blends explanations of the science that surrounds us with moments of personal memoir. Ijeoma's music list includes Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach and Johann Strauss.Presenter Michael BerkeleyProducer Clare Walker
Purity
From spiritual cleanliness to purity spirals: Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including David Aaronovitch; Catherine Coldstream, author of Cloistered – My Years as a Nun; Linda Woodhead, Professor of the Sociology of Religion at King's College, University of London; Izabella Scott, author of The Bed Trick; and Louise Brangan, author of The Fallen: The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence. They’ll be discussing ideas of purity in political ideology, religion, anthropology and the experiences of teenage girls.Producer Luke Mulhall
Program schedule of BBC Radio 3