Watching the Radio – Soprano Sendungen von Ö1

Joyce, Anna, Nuria, and Miah

If you have the kind of trouble I have finding programmes on BBC Radio 3, and you can’t access U-toob* at work, you can at least listen to the broadcast from the Last Night of the Proms on my new favorite radio station, Austria’s Ö1. Of course, it’s a great listen, plus it’s fun to hear the Austrian announcer pronounce “Last Night of the Proms” perfectly, then stumble over “DiDonato.” The program is on 7 Tage, and is available for a few more days online or on your mobile Ö1 app.  

While you are there, you can also hear the Britten War Requiem from the Großen Festspielhaus Salzburg, as performed on August 18 by Anna Netrebko, Ian Bostridge, Thomas Hampson, and Antonio Pappano leading the Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

If your taste runs to earlier music, Ö1 has a weekly program for you, too: Alte Musik - neu interpretiert. This week features baroque opera arias sung by soprano Nuria Rial, and countertenor Xavier Sabata, accompanied by Enrico Onofri and the Academia 1750. This was first broadcast yesterday, which should give us a few more days to listen.

And the pièce de résistance (for me) is Miah Persson in her Schubertiade Schwarzenberg 2013 recital, singing Schubert (mostly the usual suspects, including Der Hirt auf dem Felsen), Schumann (Frauenliebe und Leben), and Grieg (Op. 48). She is accompanied by Roger Vignoles.** 

Meanwhile, back at BBC Radio 3, I did manage to stumble across a couple of intriguing programmes:

The Verdi Requiem from the 2013 Edinburgh International Festival with Erin Wall, Karen Cargill, Bryan Hymel, Eric Owens, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Donald Runnicles. 

Górecki’s depressing but lovely Symphony No 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) from the 2013 Proms, with soprano Ruby Hughes and Osmo Vänskä leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra.


*Eyes has very helpfully posted links on her blog for quite a few of the video clips.

**I heard a rumor that Anja Harteros was originally scheduled in this recital slot (Schubertiade 2013 - Anja Harteros / Wolfram Rieger 02.09.2013, Mon - 20:00) I’m  sorry Anja couldn’t make it, but pleased that Miah was available to make her Schwarzenberg debut.)