Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Franz Schubert’s short life spanned a crucial period in music history as the elegant, classical stylings of Mozart and Haydn were giving way to the drama and passion of the romantic era. Schubert came...
5 Feb 202154min
Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792)
In a first for Composer of the Week, Donald Macleod surveys the life and music of Joseph Martin Kraus. Kraus has been called the Swedish Mozart; he was born in the same year as Mozart, in 1756, and su...
29 Jan 20211h
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
This week Donald Macleod reflects on five aspects of Tchaikovsky. The rich vein of fairy tale and fantasy, his love of literature and his long-standing love-affair with Italy. Also, the composer’s rel...
22 Jan 20211h 3min
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Donald Macleod explores Grieg's music through the places from which he took inspiration.On 9th September 1907, it’s estimated that some forty to fifty thousand people turned out to pay their respects ...
1 Jan 20211h 4min
Beethoven Unleashed: In Perspective
Donald Macleod introduces personal highlights of his year-long celebration of BeethovenDonald Macleod embarks on the final week of his year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Lu...
18 Dec 20201h 44min
George Benjamin (b 1960)
Donald Macleod is joined by Sir George Benjamin to discuss his musical influencesComposer of the Week marks the sixtieth birthday of the celebrated British composer Sir George Benjamin. This week, Ben...
11 Dec 20201h 16min
Beethoven Unleashed: Pain and Persistence
This week, Donald Macleod reaches the final chapters of his year-long biography of Beethoven. The composer’s remaining years, 1825-1827, were marred by failing health and a traumatic family crisis but...
4 Dec 20201h 34min
Beethoven Unleashed: Freedom and Joy
Conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, joins Donald Mcleod to discuss Beethoven’s symphoniesThey have been described as “the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man”, “an expressio...
20 Nov 20201h 23min
