S2.E16. Fiendish Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, a love song by Giordanno, playfulness with Haydn Piano Concerto in D; and 2 all time faves by Puccini - O soave fanciulla and Nessun Dorma at last!

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.

Beethoven wrote ten sonatas for the violin. One of the hardest to play is the one dedicated to Rudolf Kreutzer, one of the best violins around when it was composed in 1803, and the name by which it is known today. Actually, it's like the name Star, because Kreutzer himself couldn't stand the pizza and refused to play it. So Bateman gave its first performance with George Bridget. But not for the first time. It left everything to the last minute, which meant that the bridge car had to fight with it, as it made it not having seen it before, and therefore on this occasion without a rehearsal either, which must have made for a rather better breaking event. The three-piece movement takes nearly three-quarters of an hour to play. So we're going to start today by listening to the final movement of the starter, a jubilant pressure. It type permanent on violin and Vladimir Ashkonazi on piano make a superb combination, meaning that this gets along at a relentless pace. Bridgetower and Beethoven fell out over a petty squabble, but the premiere was very well received. So when you listen to this and hear how obviously demanding it is, it can only make you realize that Bridgetower's light reading skills must have been really quite a phenomenal. The Italian mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli has a voice which is individual to her alone and quite a difficult one to describe. She has made the name of the operator handle, Mozart on Martina, particularly, but she is equally accomplished at both ends of a scale. The one thing that stands out is this truly rich sound at the lower end. This is a perfectly lovely song, written by Thomas O'Giordani probably sometime in the 1780s, and we don't know who wrote the copy lyrics. Carl Mio Ben, my dear beloved, is a gushing couple of minutes in which the singer declares undying love. But it's a very pretty tune, and you'd certainly believe the message if it were sung to you like this. Bartoli is accompanied on the piano by Georgi Fisher. Beethoven may have changed the musical world forever. But it simply is impossible to imagine the popularity of either him or Mozart without the existence of Joseph Haydn. It is the first movement of Haydn's kind of concerto indeed. With the Wurttembergish Chamber Orchestra, I'll run conducted by Jurgen. If you're a regular listener to this podcast, you'll know that I don't often play the over-familiar. Because part of the idea is to share music with you which you may not have heard before. But when it is something famous, the purpose is to demonstrate something exceptional. And that's what I want to do now. The opera La Bohème by Puccini is one of the most popular in the repertoire. And the love duet in particular is widely known and performed as a standalone piece. In my humble opinion, there hasn't been a recording to beat the one made by Herbert von Kalian and the Berlin Philharmonic with Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni. And that is quite a provocative thing to say, because the recording is now fifty years old. Pavarotti was singing up to the year before he died at the age of seventy-one. But this recording was in his late thirties and I believe shows his voice at its very finest. To be paired with Mirella Freni, his undoubted equal in her own role, is the icing on the cake. So here are those lovely last tender moments at the end of Act One O Suave Fanchula, O Gentle Maiden Chola Cheris. This is the ultimate well-known piece, familiar to absolutely everybody. And yes, maybe it's a bit surprising that I haven't played it until now. Also by Puccini, this time from his opera Turandot, Nelson Dormer can probably claim to be the most famous operatic aria there is. But once again I'm playing it because this is an exceptional recording. Freddie is joined by the Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Paolo Arivabeni. If you've not heard his voice before, you're in for a treat.