Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

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

59 minutes

Last on

Sun 21 Mar 2021 23:00

Music Played

  • 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

  • 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 23:00
  • Sun 21 Mar 2021 23:00