SkyArts.co.uk – 30th April, 2010

Why have some pieces of classical music been used time after again in adverts, films opera and dance? What is it about their melody, orchestration, instruments or interpretation that provide power or a particular emotion?

Inviting viewers to approach classical music with a fresh pair of ears, actor, screenwriter and director Richard E Grant discusses familiar, popular and iconic pieces of classical music on Sky Arts 2 HD.

Over the course of his 30-part series, he delves into the mystery and magic of The Nutcracker, Mozart’s Piano Concerto 21, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, Barber’s Adagio and Strauss’s Zarathustra.

Here’s what’s coming up on this series of Richard’s top-list of the worlds greatest music:

Episode 1

Richard starts the series with three great performances that have a royal flavour and a dash of patriotic fervour: Handel’s Water Music, Jean Sibelius’ Karelia Suite in three movements and Sir Edward Elgar’s Land Of Hope And Glory.

King George 1 asked Handel to compose a new work for a special Summer concert to be held on the River Thames – the result was his famous Water Music. Essential Classics shows the performance of two movements from the second suite of Handels’ Water Music conducted by Sir Roger Norrington with the Orchestra of the Age Of Enlightenment.

Jean Sibelius is without doubt the greatest composer Finland has ever produced. The Karelia Suite is a cry for Finnish independence – and the opening movement is one of the best known in modern classical music.

The finale of this first episode is Elgar’s Land Of Hope And Glory recorded during the Last Night of the Proms at the Albert Hall in 1996 with a roaring encore!

Episode 2

Essential Classics looks at exotic and tempestuous dance with a sumptuous performance by the modern classical tango Astor Piazzolla. The Argentinian composer became known for playing the Bandoneon, a type of concertina with an essential role in the Tango Orchestra in Uruguay and Argentina. Richard E Grant introduces a piece by Piazzolla called Milonga Del Angel, featuring Bandoneon, Guitar, Piano, Cello and Violoncello.

Grant also features the ever-popular Bolero by Ravel. Originally composed for a ballet, the Bolero is almost always performed as a stand alone orchestral piece.

Despite dismissing his own work, describing the Bolero as a “a masterpiece- without any music in it,”, it become one of the best known pieces of classical music. When listening to this extraordinary performance imagine gliding on ice – it was used by Ice Skaters Torvill And Dean in their 1984 triumph at the Winter Olympics.

Episode 3

Grant shares two great pieces of classical music that have been famously used again and again on the big screen: Johan Strauss 11’s The Blue Danube and Bach’s Toccata and Fuge in D Minor.

Do you remember the space station in Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey as it majestically orbits earth in a dazzling celestial waltz? The atmospheric soundtrack was Johan Strauss 11’s The Blue Danube, composed in 1866 and performed on Essential Classics by the BBC Northern Orchestra.

If have ever watched Hammer Horror films with an archetypal ‘scary organ’ theme, then the chances are that Bach’s Toccata and Fuge in D Minor is what you are hearing. Essential Classics shows a performance of Bach’s dramatic music, which has also been used in a range of films from Schindler’s List to Trainspotting.

Episode 4

Music from two of the worlds most performed symphonies from the 19th century: Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

Beethoven’s famous 5th symphony was written in 1807 and 1808 after an intense period in his life while living in Vienna. The composer was in the midst of a passionate relationship with a young widow called Josephine and was also coming to terms with his worsening deafness. Despite adversity, Beethoven produced some monumental works in these turbulent years.

The Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony was composed in 1893 and is said to be performed more than any symphony by any other composer, including Beethoven. Grant introduces a 1984 performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Episode 5

An episode where you can hear a complete performance of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, inspired by the famous bard Shakespeare.

Tchaikovsky’s first version of Romeo and Juliet was completed in 1869. Since then the overture’s famous love theme has been used in many TV shows and films. The performance introduced by Grant is from the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Britten at the 21st Aldeburgh Festival.

Episode 6

Two quintessentially English composers are featured: Benjamin Britten and Sir Edward Elgar.

The episode begins with a complete performance of Benjamin Britten’s 4 Sea Interludes from the Royal Albert Hall. Britten’s music describes the changing mood of the sea, from calm to chaos, and in turn reflects the turbulent and tortured mind of Peter Grimes; a fisherman accused of murdering his apprentice.

The final performance featured in Richard E Grant’s Essential Classics is Enigma Variations, written in 1899 by Sir Edward Elgar. The core of the Elgar’s 14 Variations – an impassioned adagio – never fails to stir emotions and is played every year at the Cenotaph in London on Remembrance Day.

Episode 7

Richard reveals Mars The Bringer Of War from Holst’s The Planets Suite as one of his essential classics, along with The Lark Ascending by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Episode 8

Richard E Grant devotes the whole programme to Mussorgsky’s piano suite – Pictures at An Exhibition. The Russian composer wrote the piano suite in June 1874 and it has since become one of the mainstays of the classical repertoire with an opening theme you’ll find familiar.

Mussorgsky’s original piano composition was orchestrated by French composer Maurice Ravels. Grant introduces a performance of Ravel’s orchestral version, beginning at the famous Great Gate Of Kiev – probably the best known movement of the whole suite.

Episode 9

Featuring Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

Episode 10

A performance from one of the most powerful and famous war symphonies ever written: Shoshtakovich’s Leningrad Symphony.

Composed and performed during the Second World War in the midst of the two-year siege of Leningrad, it is said to perfectly capture the terror of a city under siege and set the tone and feel for all war music to come. Shoshtakovich’s score was about unstoppable momentum, slavery and spiritual exhaustion. Essential Classics plays one of the four movements; a section of the mesmerising invasion march, a clattering score that repeats and builds incessantly.

Episode 11

Richard introduces Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

Episode 12

Stravinsky’s Rites Of Spring has become one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century, Richard introduces a performance from 2004 conducted by Valery Gergiev.

The second piece of dance music could not be more different; The Underworld by Jacques Offenbach. Composed in 1858, The Underworld features the wildly intoxicating Can-Can in Act 4, when the Gods on Mount Olympus decide to dance together.

Episode 13

Richard shares his love of Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre and introduces Concerto De Aranjuez, possibly Rodrigo’s best-known work. Also featured is Gustav Mahler’s 5th Adagietto.

Episode 14

Piano Concertos from Mozart and Rachmaninov.

Episode 15

Richard highlights La Fille Aux Cheveux De Lin (Girl With The Flaxen Hair) by French composer Achille-Claude Debussy, and introduces a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5.