Every weeknight from 8pm to 10pm, John Suchet presents ‘The Classic FM Concert’, a two-hour long programme featuring the finest recordings of the music you love, performed by orchestras, choirs and soloists from across the globe.
The exciting new evening show offers a mix of the very best classical music from Monday to Friday, and will play some of the featured symphonies and concertos in their entirety.
The programme opens with a seasonal favourite, Waldteufel’s waltz Les Patineurs in a particularly playful recording by one of the world’s most succseful classical musicians, André Rieu. With Christmas shopping in full swing, the programme contains two pieces originally written as gifts. First, Jacqueline du Pré plays Haydn’s Cello Concerto No.1, written as a present for the godfather of his son; later we hear Wagner’s gift to his wife after the birth of their son, Siegfried’s Idyll.
There’s also a walk through the Cotswolds thanks to the music of Holst, a suite of music from The Snow Maiden by Tchaikovsky, and the perfect Christmas carol to accompany any festive activities.
Émile Waldteufel
Les Patineurs Op. 183
André Rieu conducts the André Rieu Orchestra
In Dulci Jubilo
Anon
Organ: Daisy Fancourt
Howard Goodall conducts the Enchanted Voices
Joseph Haydn
Cello Concerto No.1 in C major
Cello: Jacqueline du Pré
Daniel Barenboim conducts the English Chamber Orchestra
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
The Snow Maiden – Suite
Kristjan Järvi conducts the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
Richard Wagner
Siegfried Idyll
Bernard Haitink conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Anon
‘Deck the hall with boughs of holly’
Organ: Jonathan Vaughn
Matthew Owens conducts the Wells Cathedral Choir
Gustav Holst
Symphony in F major Op. 8
(‘The Cotswolds’)
JoAnn Falletta conducts the Ulster Orchestra
Ludwig August Lebrun
Oboe Concerto No.7 in F major
Oboe: Kurt Meier
Howard Griffiths conducts the Royal Northern Sinfonia
As we’re well into Advent, John includes lots of Christmas music favourites this week. He opens today’s programme with a traditional Ukrainian carol, which has seen huge popularity in the last few years because of its atmospheric use in numerous TV adverts: Carol of the Bells. Holst is usually heard at this time of year for his carol ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, but today we celebrate gift-giving, with his St Paul’s Suite, written in tribute to the St Paul’s Girl’s School.
The gift-giving continues with Liszt’s Christmas Tree Suite, which he dedicated to his first grandchild, and there’s an excerpt from Handel’s Messiah, re-orchestrated by Andrew Davis.
Mykola Leontovych
Carol of the Bells
Robert Prizeman conducts Libera & a studio orchestra
Frederick Delius
Sleigh Ride
John Rutter conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Gustav Holst
St. Paul’s Suite Op. 29 No.2
Richard Hickox conducts the City of London Sinfonia
George Frederic Handel
‘Worthy is the Lamb’
(From Messiah)
Andrew Davis conducts the Toronto Symphony Orchestra & Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
Patric Standford
A Christmas Carol Symphony
Gavin Sutherland conducts the City of Prague Philharmonic
Helen Habershon
Winter Arrives
Anthony Halstead conducts London Primavera
John Goss
‘See Amid the Winter’s Snow’
Organ: Huw Williams
Malcolm Archer conducts the St Paul’s Cathedral Choir
Franz Liszt
The Christmas Tree Suite
Gavin Sutherland conducts the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
John has a full programme of festive treats, perfect for an evening of tree-decorating and Christmas card-writing. To begin, music from a seasonal classic that is nearly 300 years old, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, before a favourite by Berlioz, who was born on this day in 1803.
Elsewhere, there’s a new recording of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake from Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Philharmonia Orchestra, recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall in November 2019; a symphony of carols arranged by Victor Hely-Hutchinson; and we also enjoy John Williams’ score to the seasonal film favourite Home Alone.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Christmas Oratorio BWV.248 – Sinfonia
Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts Concentus Musicus, Vienna
Hector Berlioz
The Shepherd’s Farewell
(From L’enfance du Christ)
Benjamin Nicholas conducts the Choir of Merton College, Oxford and Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake: Suite
Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra
Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Carol Symphony
Gavin Sutherland conducts the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
John Williams
‘Somewhere in my Memory’
(from the film Home Alone)
Christopher Bell conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Sergei Prokofiev
Winter Bonfire Op. 122 – Suite
José Serebrier conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Paisley Abbey Boy Choristers
The seasonal celebrations continue with a firm festive favourite: A Christmas Overture by Nigel Hess. John then embarks on a seasonal tradition; a trip to the theatre, but from the comfort of our own homes. Richard Bonynge directs the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Chopin’s Les Sylphides, and we hear a suite of music from Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely performed opera Christmas Eve.
John also shines the spotlight on star violinist Joshua Bell, who celebrates his 53rd birthday today, with his virtuosic performance of Schumann’s Violin Concerto.
Nigel Hess
A Christmas Overture
John Rutter conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Frédéric Chopin
Les Sylphides
Richard Bonynge conducts the National Philharmonic Orchestra
George Frederic Handel
‘For unto us a child is born’
(from Messiah)
Stephen Cleobury conducts the Brandenburg Consort and Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
Christmas Eve Suite
Neeme Järvi conducts the Scottish National Orchestra
Richard Storrs Willis
‘It came upon the midnight clear’
Joseph Jennings conducts Chanticleer
Robert Schumann
Violin Concerto in D minor Op. Posth.
Violin: Joshua Bell
Christoph von Dohnanyi conducts the Cleveland Orchestra
This evening’s programme begins with one of the most recognisable melodies associated with Christmas, the ‘Troika’ from Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé, before the centrepiece of the evening: Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, performed by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge under the great David Willcocks.
We stay seasonal with a selection of music from festive films, including a nostalgic arrangement for string quartet of the music from Howard Blake’s perennial hit The Snowman, and there’s music from The Polar Express by Alan Silvestri.
John also marks another event, as former child prodigy Sarah Chang celebrates her 40th birthday, with her recording of Paganini’s virtuosic Violin Concerto No.1.
Sergei Prokofiev
Troika
(from Lieutenant Kijé Op. 60)
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Frédéric Chopin
Etude in A minor Op. 25 No.11
(‘Winter Wind’)
Piano: Leif Ove Andsnes
Howard Blake
The Snowman – Suite
Paavo String Quartet
Benjamin Britten
A Ceremony of Carols Op. 28
Soloists: James Clark, Julian Godlee & Osian Ellis
David Willcocks conducts the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Philip Lane
Old Christmas Music
Gavin Sutherland conducts the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
John Rutter
Nativity Carol
John Rutter conducts the City of London Sinfonia & Cambridge Singers
Niccolò Paganini
Violin Concerto No.1 in D major Op. 6
Violin: Sarah Chang
Wolfgang Sawalisch conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra
Alan Silvestri
The Polar Express: Suite
Alan Silvestri conducts a studio orchestra
John takes us across the pond tonight for a toe-tapping Christmas celebration from the Boston Pops Orchestra under Keith Lockhart, joined by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and recorded live at Boston Symphony Hall in 2011. We hear popular seasonal favourites including ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ and Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, alongside traditional hymns like ‘Hark! The Herald Angel’s Sing’.
The rest of the programme continues to focus on Boston as Seiji Ozawa conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a suite of music from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and Issac Stern performs Beethoven with the same orchestra.
