What is the Full Works Concert?
Throughout the day on Classic FM, we unashamedly feature individual movements or sections of classical favourites on our programmes. Realistically, much as we’d all love to have the time to enjoy a complete Mahler symphony or a Mozart piano concerto from start to finish whilst doing the school run, in reality most of us can only hope to catch a few minutes of our favourite music at that time of day.
By 8pm, though, when the commute has been done, the children have been put to bed and the drinks have been poured, there’s a little more time to enjoy the finer things in life.
So, between 8pm and 10pm, we give you the opportunity to enjoy the full works, exactly as the composer intended, from start to finish. It’s a chance to get to know even better the pieces of music you love from elsewhere; if, for example, you love the beautiful ‘Adagietto’ from Mahler’s Symphony No.5, made famous in the film Death and Venice, wouldn’t it be great to hear it in the context of the whole symphony? Or if you only remember a few bars of your favourite piece by Beethoven, how do you fancy hearing it in its glorious, original 40-minute incarnation?
Although lots of the performances we feature on The Full Works Concert are taken from studio recordings, very often we also profile specially-recorded concerts – anything from our own Classic FM Live concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall through to intimate church performances of choral music by contemporary composers. It’s a chance to indulge and treat yourself at the end of a busy day, discovering a wealth of rarely-heard music alongside complete performances of the established favourites. Unabridged - the full monty - completely unedited. However you describe it, The Full Works Concert is well worth a listen.