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Episode details

Radio 3,18 Sep 2026,30 mins

Classical music for your journey

Classical Mixtape

Expires on Sunday 7:30pm

Beginning with a haunting motet by James MacMillan (and featuring an incredible solo treble), tonight鈥檚 mixtape continues with perhaps the most tragic prelude in all opera: Verdi鈥檚 La Traviata. A sublime, wordless aria from the French Baroque come courtesy of Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre, followed by sung aria from the same period, as bass-baritone Christopher Purves demonstrates his extraordinary vocal range in music by Handel. We finish in the twentieth century with a pair of contemporary composers who followed very different paths: a prelude by Rachmaninov, and the gentle conclusion of Schoenberg鈥檚 Verkl盲rte Nacht (Transfigured Night).

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Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    Christus vincit
    Christus vincit
    James McMillan
  3. 2.
    La Traviata (Act 1 Prelude)
    La Traviata (Act 1 Prelude)
    Giuseppe Verdi
  4. 3.
    Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor: V. Aria
    Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor: V. Aria
    脡lisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
  5. 4.
    "Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori" (Aci, Galatea e Polifemo)
    "Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori" (Aci, Galatea e Polifemo)
    George Frideric Handel
  6. 5.
    Prelude in D major, Op 23 No 4
    Prelude in D major, Op 23 No 4
    Sergey Rachmaninov
  7. 6.
    Verklarte 鈥疦acht鈥���(conclusion)
    Verklarte 鈥疦acht鈥���(conclusion)
    Arnold Schoenberg