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What's in a Name?

Tom Service translates the often baffling language of classical music naming and numbering.

A listener asks: "What makes a concerto different from a suite? A bagatelle from a caprice? On my way to work once, Radio 3 Breakfast played a gentle, quiet piece, with chords languidly spread into arpeggios. Aha, I thought; this is a nocturne. But no, it was an etude."

So when is a song not a song? Tom Service tackles the complicated world of classical musical titles, catalogue numbers and naming conventions.

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 29 Apr 2022 16:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Don Giovanni (Overture and 19 numbers), arr. Triebensee for wind octet

    Performer: Budapester Bläserensemble.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • QUI903008.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Etudes-tableaux Op.33 for piano

    Performer: Boris Giltburg.
    • Naxos.
    • 8.573629.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Capriccio for piano and orchestra vers. rev.1949

    Performer: Alexej Gorlatch (1988). Performer: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Conductor: Alondra de la Parra.
    • SONY.
    • G0100033544236.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Valse-caprice no. 1 in A major Op.30 for piano

    Performer: Kathryn Stott.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDS 44601/4.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Capriccio in B flat major BWV.992 (Sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo) for keyboard

    Performer: Claire‐Marie Le Guay.
    • Mirare.
    • MIR 264.

  • Philip Glass

    Einstein on the beach - opera

    Performer: Philip Glass Ensemble. Conductor: Michael Riesman.
    • SONY.
    • SM4K 87970.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Suite no. 1 in G major BWV.1007 for cello solo

    Performer: Steven Isserlis.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDA-67541/2.

  • Ólafur Arnalds

    Olafur Arnalds: TREE

    Performer: Ólafur Arnalds.
    • DECCA.
    • 00602438832842.

  • John Barry

    Out of Africa - music for the film

    Performer: Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
    • Varese Sarabande.
    • VSD 5816.

  • Max Bruch

    Concerto no. 1 in G minor Op.26 for violin and orchestra

    Performer: Janine Jansen. Performer: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • DECCA.
    • 475-8328.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied - motet BWV.225

    Performer: Monteverdi Choir. Performer: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • SDG.
    • SDG716.

  • Franz Schubert

    An die Musik D.547

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau. Performer: Gerald Moore.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 477 8999.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Le Nozze di Figaro - opera in 4 acts K.492

    Performer: Staatskapelle Dresden. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • RCA.
    • 74321566982.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Water music - suite in G major HWV.350

    Performer: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.
    • ARCHIV.
    • 4717232.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Suite in D major HWV.341 for orchestra

    Performer: Alison Balsom. Performer: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.
    • EMI CLASSICS.
    • 50999 440329 2 0.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    12 Studies Op.10 for piano

    Performer: Sonya Bach.
    • Rubicon.
    • DRC1042.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie fantastique Op.14

    Performer: Les Siècles. Conductor: François‐Xavier Roth.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMM902644.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie fantastique Op.14

    Performer: Les Siècles. Conductor: François‐Xavier Roth.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMM902644.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony no. 7 in C major Op.105

    Performer: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: John Storgårds.
    • Chandos.
    • CHAN 108093.

  • Maddalena Fagandini

    Maddalena Fagandini: Time Beat

    Performer: BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
    • Mute Phonic.
    • 3CD.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Concerto no. 1 in D minor Op.15 for piano and orchestra

    Performer: Stephen Kovacevich. Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • Philips.
    • 00028947854043.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Concerto in D major Op.77 for violin and orchestra

    Performer: Hilary Hahn. Performer: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • SONY.
    • SK-89649.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Trio in A minor Op.114 for clarinet or viola, cello and piano

    Performer: Thea King. Performer: Karine Georgian. Performer: Clifford Benson.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDA-66107.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Symphony no. 2 in D major Op.73

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 435 6832.

  • Nico Muhly

    Nico Muhly: Etude 1

    Performer: Nadia Sirota.
    • New Amsterdam.
    • WAM016.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 24 Apr 2022 17:00
    BBC Radio 3
  • Fri 29 Apr 2022 16:30
    BBC Radio 3

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