Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Sibelius's Finlandia

All week, Elizabeth Alker celebrates the vivid storytelling and sweeping orchestral melodies of the symphonic tone poem. Today, we hear Dukas’s enchanting The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Jean Sibelius’s rousing Finlandia, and we round off the week with Josef Suk’s Fantastic Scherzo.

Our featured artist this week is the Modigliani Quartet, and today they take on the fourth of Beethoven’s early set of six string quartets, recorded in Paris.

Also, we’ll hear exclusive recordings from the world’s largest festival of classical song, the Oxford International Song Festival, with music sung by BBC New Generation Artists Konstantin Krimmel and Andrew Hamilton.

Ottorino Respighi
Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma)
RAI National Symphony Orchestra
Andrés Orozco-Estrada (cond)

Oxford International Song Festival:
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Songs of Travel
Konstantin Krimmel (baritone)
Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano)

Jean Sibelius
Finlandia
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Nicholas Collon (cond)

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet in C minor, Op 18 No 4
Modigliani Quartet

Augusta Holmès
Andromède
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Marie Jacquot (conductor)

Oxford International Song Festival:
Eusebius Mandyczewski
Romanian Songs, Op 7:
Lăcrimioare ‘Maienglöckchen’ (No 3)
Măndrulita ‘Holdes Mädchen’ (No 7)
Cinel-Cinel ‘Rätsel’ (No 14)
Mormântul ‘Das Grab’ (No 16)
Omul singuratic ‘Der Einsame’ (No 18)
Konstantin Krimmel (baritone)
Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano)

Paul Dukas
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig
Paolo Bortolameolli (conductor)

Oxford International Song Festival:
Arnold Schoenberg
4 Lieder, Op 2
Andrew Hamilton (baritone)
Michael Pandya (piano)

Josef Suk
Fantastic Scherzo
Young Southwest German Philharmonic
Friedrich Burckhard (conductor)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".