Mozart celebrated – radio highlight of 2007

Mozart would easily make any Music for Grown-Ups Top 10, possibly a Top 5. His genius is apparent across his vast catalogue, from great church music to the top operas, exquisite piano concertos to rousing symphonies. In another age, he’d have been The Beatles and Dylan and Miles Davis rolled into one.

BBC Radio 3 has been running its landmark series, Composer Of The Week, every weekday, for many years. Over five days, it explores the art of musicians, both celebrated and virtually unknown, with effortless expertise. Presenter Donald Macleod is a fine educator.

Composer Of The Week is one of only a handful of radio programmes I’d miss if it ceased. I’ve been listening to it for years, but have never heard any Mozart programming.

Well, from Monday 3 to Friday 7 December, Composer Of The Week is finally covering Mozza. While all five programmes are must-record, the pick of the bunch is Thursday, which covers Wolfie’s Freemason links, hence The Magic Flute, with great French soprano Natalie Dessay as Queen Of The Night.

The five programmes are broadcast each day on BBC Radio 3 at 1200-1300, repeated 2045-2145. And they’re streamed on the web, and then archived for seven days after broadcast.

This is the Music for Grown-Ups radio highlight of 2007: it simply doesn’t get any better than this!

www.bbc.co.uk/radio3



Gerry Smith