Monti and Rodrigo

Donald Macleod and guest Yshani Perinpanayagam explore the lives and music of Vittorio Monti and Joaquín Rodrigo, composers who are most famous today for a single work.

Last Easter, Composer of the Week explored the lives of ten composers whose music we adore but mainly only for a lone composition. This week, Donald Macleod makes a second selection of classical ‘One Hit Wonders’ - ten more composers who have been catapulted into the mainstream thanks to the surprising popularity of just one of their pieces. He’s joined by pianist and music director, Yshani Perinpanayagam, to uncover these composers' stories and to share examples of their best music. We’ll hear the familiar hits alongside plenty of captivating music that’s less well-known.

In their final programme, Donald and Yshani struggle to track down even one other work by one of classical music’s most archetypical One Hit Wonders: Vittorio Monti. They also celebrate the fertile musical mind of Joaquín Rodrigo, who produced hundreds of works and won many honours across his 97 years – although, outside of his native Spain, it’s only his Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra that audiences clamour for.

Monti: Czardas
Tasmin Little, violin
John Lenehan, piano

Monti: Noël de Pierrot, Act II, "Ô vous que j'adore"
Aimé Doniat, tenor
Marcel Cariven Orchestra, conducted by Marcel Cariven

Monti: The Whistle
Gilles Apap, violin
The Transylvanian Mountain Boys

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra
Pepe Romero, guitar
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner

Rodrigo: Cancíon y danza
Rodrigo: Serenata española
Artur Pizarro, piano