81. La Clemenza di Tito, a Chopin piano concerto, and Poulenc's organ concerto.

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Welcome back to Perfect Pitch with Nick Healy Hutchinson and his fresh approach to the world of classical music. Whether you're an expert or a beginner, old or young. Perfect Pitch has something for everyone.

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So, first things first, have you managed to guess who my new intro voice is? If not, here are a few clues. She's one of our leading actresses, featuring in many popular television series, including, to name just a few, Casplit, Unforgotten, Last Tango in Halifax, and Nika. Ah, I hear you say. Yes, it's Nicola Walker. And I'm completely delighted she is on to me with her voice. Rates of Sunshine have been tedious in the last few weeks. And Let's start, you might remember me saying on a previous podcast, this once failed at the Ray of Sunshine. So let's start today with the overture of one of his less frequently performed operas, La Clemenza di Tito, the Clemenza Tito. The opera was composed in Great Hate to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia. Some day in less than three weeks. The performance began soon after the coronation of 1791, just a few months before Metzard's death. And as we just had one ourselves, it seems as good a time as any to repeat history. We don't know what the king thought of it, but the queen thought it was a German neck. Many others of perhaps greater distinction have been even less tired about it over the years. And I'd be the first to admit that it's not a must see opera. Because appearance, forgive me, is just a little well dull. The music, on the other hand, is not great as you'd expect. So it's certainly one to listen to for the sound alone. Way back in episode two, we listened to one of the auras if we need a reminder of what I'm talking about. The overture to Mozart's opera La Clemenza di Tito, giving hints of struggles and tenderness in the space of just a few minutes, is played here by the Zurich Opera Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Arnonco. In one of them, he performed his first piano concerto. He comes in for a bit of a stick when it comes to orchestration, but that's not entirely surprising when his first and enduring love was the keyboard. The result is that you don't get the sort of dialogues between piano and orchestra which you hear in your concertos of every other composer. It's really all about the piano. But what are we doing? A second of the concerto is a perfect example. And this is what Chopper has to say about it. It's a romance, calm and melancholy, giving the impression of someone looking towards a spot that calls to mind a thousand happy memories. It's a kind of reverie in the moonlight of a beautiful spring evening. That word reverie. Dreamy may be a word overused when it comes to slow movements, but there really isn't a better one in this case. The second movement of Chopin's piano concerto number one is played here by Marta Argerich with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abardo. Francis Poulank. You may remember from a previous episode how he made a very direct reference to his idol in the slow movement of his concerto for two pianos. In the mid-1930s, Poulank embarked on a composition of a concerto for organ with strings and timpani. It was quite an ambitious undertaking, but it had never written for the organ before. So he had some very intense written from its other competitors and a complex organist, or it's do a reflac on all the different colours it could extract from the output. The result is a piece which runs without a pause for just over 20 minutes, but made up of six very different movements. This will be new to many of you, so let me leave you with a few thoughts. The first time I heard this, about 50 years ago, was on the radio in the car with my dad. Neither had heard it before, and didn't have a clue who could have composed it, because there are so many different styles. But I do remember we were completely captivated by it. It's quite possible that you weren't like all of it because of the huge variety, ranging from bark to jazz. But please don't persevere because I guarantee you will have passages which will delight and even amuse you. The opening is pretty terrifying, but the computer has some really frilly moments. So try not to quit before the end. Recordings don't get much more authentic than this. The roof may gave its first performance. And here he is in a 1961 recording under the direction of George Pratt. I'll leave the last words to my new voiceover, and please do listen to Nicola, because the message he has is an important one. And now break herself.

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That's it for this week. Nick will be back again soon. Please rate and comment on any of the previous episodes, and if you like what you hear, take a moment to press the follow button as it helps to spread the word.