
Limits and Possibilities
Pianist Víkingur Olafsson explores the art of musical transcription and how pieces by composers across the centuries have been reimagined in remarkably creative ways.
Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson approaches music without preconceptions; as he puts it, “Every note we play anywhere, anytime, is a reinterpretation, a transcription.”
In the third and final episode of the series, Víkingur explores how composers from George Crumb, Heinrich Biber and Olivier Messiaen were inspired by sounds of the natural world, from tiny birds to huge whales. We’ll also hear music by Steve Reich reimagined for the harpsichord, Mascagni’s famous Intermezzo in the hands of a steel pan orchestra and Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy given a wild reinterpretation by US vocal supergroup Pentatonix.
A Tandem Production for ѿý Radio 3
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Music Played
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Gregorian chant
Introitus Lux Fulgebit (The Light Will Shine)
Performer: Matan Porat. Music Arranger: Matan Porat. -
Sergey Rachmaninov
Utro (from Op. 4, No. 2)
Performer: Arcadi Volodos. -
Maurice Ravel
Miroirs - La vallee des cloches
Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. -
Steve Reich
Piano Phase for Two Pianos (excerpt)
Performer: Mahan Esfahani. -
հä
3 songs from the county Czik - No. 1
Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson. -
Olivier Messiaen
Catalogue d'Oiseaux: 6 L'alouette Lulu (the woodlark) (excerpt)
Performer: Pierre‐Laurent Aimard. -
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
Sonata Representativa (Frog, hen and cock)
Performer: Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Performer: Anthony Romaniuk. -
George Crumb
Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) - 1st movement
Ensemble: Ensemble für Neue Musik Zürich. -
Pietro Mascagni
Intermezzo (Cavalleria Rusticana)
Orchestra: Desperadoes. -
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - Nutcracker
Ensemble: Pentatonix. -
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
Piece in the Old Style I
Orchestra: Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antoni Wit. -
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
Piece in the Old Style I
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Hanns Eisler
Eislermaterial - Ammut sparet nicht noch Muhe; Allegro assai (excerpt)
Performer: Joseph Bierbichler. Ensemble: Ensemble Modern. -
Edgar Meyer
The Big Cheese (incorporating a Fantasia by William Byrd) (excerpt)
Composer: Béla Fleck. Composer: Mike Marshall. Performer: Béla Fleck. Performer: Mike Marshall. Singer: Edgar Meyer. -
Claude Debussy
La damoiselle elue, L. 62 - Prelude (excerpt)
Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson. Performer: Hania Rani.
Broadcasts
- Sun 25 Oct 2020 23:00ѿý Radio 3
- Sun 21 Mar 2021 23:00ѿý Radio 3