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Countertenor Michael Harper with a musical traffic jam and a dance of the dead

Michael Harper reveals familiar and unfamiliar works in a new light, from solo Bach to Saint-Saëns’s Danse Macabre.

Countertenor Michael Harper is Principal Vocal Study Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music. He kicks his musical selection off with the reedy sound of the crumhorn, before sharing music by Nigerian composer Fela Sowande. There’s also vocal music with Leontyne Price singing the Libera Me from Verdi’s Requiem, art songs by Undine Smith Moore and Henri Duparc, and a choral miniature by Vicente Lusitano.

Michael’s other choices include movements with well known melodies from Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 and Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet, composer Julia Perry evoking the traffic in New York, and piano music by Rachmaninov that reminds him of birds in flight.

Plus, Jimi Hendrix reimagined for string quartet.

A series in which each week a musician explores a selection of music - from the inside.

A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3

1 hour, 56 minutes

Last on

Sat 13 Jan 2024 13:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Anonymous

    Den IIII., I. Ende VI. Ronde

    Music Arranger: Tielman Susato. Ensemble: Convivium Musicum Gothenburgense.
    • NAXOS.

  • Fela Sowande

    African Suite for Harp and Strings (I. Joyful Day. Allegro giocoso)

    Orchestra: New Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Trevor Harvey.
    • NAXOS.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Etude-Tableaux Op. 39 No. 5 in E flat minor

    Performer: Natalie Hinderas.
    • ORION.

  • Josquin des Prez

    Mille regretz

    Ensemble: Profeti della Quinta.

  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Requiem (VII. Libera me)

    Singer: Leontyne Price. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Fritz Reiner.
    • REGIS.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cello Suite No. 6, BWV 1012 (IV. Sarabande)

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma.
    • SONY.

  • Undine Smith Moore

    Love let the wind cry... How I adore thee

    Performer: Vivian Taylor. Singer: Pamela Dillard.
    • KOCH RECORDS.

  • Talvin Singh

    Light

    • ISLAND RECORDS.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Trio in C major for two oboes and cor anglais, Op. 87 (III. Menuetto. Allegro molto)

    Performer: Heinz Holliger. Performer: Andrea Bischoff. Performer: Marie-Lise Schüpbach.
    • PROSPERO CLASSICAL.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Danse macabre, Op. 40

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • SONY.

  • Vicente Lusitano

    Heu me Domine

    Ensemble: Huelgas Ensemble. Conductor: Paul Van Nevel.
    • SONY.

  • Julia Perry

    Short Piece for Orchestra

    Orchestra: Imperial Philharmonic of Tokyo. Conductor: William Strickland.
    • NEW WORLD.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 for clarinet and strings (III. Andantino - Presto non assai)

    Performer: Karl Leister. Ensemble: Amadeus Quartet.
    • DG.

  • Henri Duparc

    Phidylé

    Performer: Dalton Baldwin. Singer: Jessye Norman.
    • PHILIPS.

  • Kronos Quartet

    Purple Haze

    • NONESUCH.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Horn Concerto No. 4, K. 495 (III. Rondo. Allegro vivace)

    Performer: Felix Klieser. Orchestra: Camerata Salzburg.
    • BERLIN CLASSICS.

  • Chou Wen‐chung

    Landscapes

    Orchestra: Peninsula Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Thor Johnson.
    • NEW WORLD.

Broadcast

  • Sat 13 Jan 2024 13:00
    BBC Radio 3

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