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Episode details

Radio 3,22 Jan 2026,176 mins

Robert Schumann’s 2nd Symphony

Classical Live

Available for 28 days

Linton Stephens showcases the best performances by BBC orchestras, choirs, ensembles and other great performing groups from Europe and around the globe. Throughout the week we are spending time in the spectacular Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, with a series of recordings made in the eye-catching 2017 concert hall by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. Today, they play a pair of symphonies: Robert Schumann’s 2nd and Arthur Honegger’s 3rd, the ‘Liturgical’, a powerful piece written in the aftermath of the Second World War. Plus former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, baritone Konstantin Krimmel, joins the orchestra for Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Songs of Travel, settings of poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. Our ensemble in focus this week is Belgium Baroque group Vox Luminis. We’ll hear more from their concert from last year's Salzburg Festival: an oratorio by Giacomo Carissimi based on the Old Testament story of Jeptha. 1pm Ralph Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel Konstantin Krimmel (baritone) NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Andris Poga (conductor) Joseph Haydn Piano Trio in A flat major Esther Hoppe (violin) Christian Poltéra (cello) Hiroki Sakagami (piano) Robert Schumann Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 67 NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Anja Bihlmaier (conductor) Nadia Boulanger 3 Pieces for Cello and Piano Anastasia Kobekina (cello) Jean-Selim Abdelmoula (piano) Arthur Honegger Symphony No. 3, ‘Liturgical’ NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Andris Poga (conductor) Giacomo Carissimi Historia di Jephtha [The Story of Jephtha] Vox Luminis Lionel Meunier (conductor) To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".

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Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    Songs of Travel (version for voice and orchestra)
    Songs of Travel (version for voice and orchestra)
    Ralph Vaughan Williams
  3. 2.
    Keyboard Trio No. 27 in A flat, Hob. XV:14
    Keyboard Trio No. 27 in A flat, Hob. XV:14
    Joseph Haydn
  4. 3.
    Requiem in F Minor, C 8 - Dies Irae
    Requiem in F Minor, C 8 - Dies Irae
    Heinrich Biber
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