S2.E38. A mixed bag of high octane stuff! Weber Der Freischutz Overture, Verdi Rigoletto, Chopin Scherzo 3, Britten Soirees Musicales.

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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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I hope you're ready for some browsing music this week, because everything on the menu today is fairly high octane stuff. And it's also quite a mixed bag. Let's start appropriately with an overture. Carl Maria von Weber can take the credit for putting German opera on the world stage. Hitherto the Preserve of the Italians. He wrote ten of them, and only very few of them are ever performed. But some of the overtures feature regularly as standalone works. I know we've listened to Oliante before, so we'll start today with the overture of what's considered to be the first German romantic opera. The Freishooter. The Freeshooter. It's the tale of a young man who's promised the hand of a princess if he can win a shooting contest. Inevitably, there's another guy who has his eyes on the same prize and tries to sabotage his rival's gun. But his plan backfires quite literally as it happens with the apparently magic bullet ricochets and inflicts a mortal blow on himself. After a couple of minor pitches, the right result is achieved. The overture captures the uncertainty and the serves the plot. But ultimately Weber is a master of joyful music, and Carl Kleiber, considered by his peers to be the best on the podium, extracts all of this with his characteristic free reign on the tempo. The orchestra is the Berlin Staatskapella. It's worth giving you the briefest outline of where we are in the opera because you'll see how good Verdi is in conveying the emotions which are overwhelming Rigoletto. He's a court jester for a sexually indiscriminate Duke of Mantua, who has taken unhealthy liking for a young lady called Gilda, and has arranged for her to be kidnapped by his courtiers for his personal gratification. The trouble is Gilda is Rigoletto's daughter, and no one knows it, although I don't suppose it would have made the slightest difference to the two. The violins tell you straight away that he is in a state of sorrowful bewilderment, but the courtiers are unaware of his anguish and continue to mock him in their usual way. Rigoletto becomes increasingly agitated and loses it, accelerating to an outburst with the words Neophilia, my daughter whereupon the courtiers learn for the first time what they've done. He then launches into this rage. Again you can hear it so clearly orchestration with the words, courtiers, vile damned race demanding her return. And when that approach gets him nowhere, Verdi shifts her mood, and Rigoletta tries another tack, pleading with her asking for their pity. Cheryl Mills, an American baritone born in 1935, was one of the very best in this and other Verdi roles. Here is that emotional scene with the ambrosian opera chorus and non-symphony chorus conducted by Richard Bonning.

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Sono felice che nulla vuoi cuocessi, questa notte, questa notte si offulma il colpo, so dormito sempre, voi dormiste, avrò tu sogna, la serve so.

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Dimmi tu dove l'anno nascosta, e là, rivero, e là, rivero, e là, rivero, signor.

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Pardon, Chopin wrote four scherzos for the piano, and it's almost impossible to decide a favourite.

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A while back, we listened to his second, and today I want to turn to his third, which, if you really push me, I'd have to say is my favorite. It's dauntingly difficult. The opening moment is the first time. Then comes this noble theme with large chords in the middle of the piano, which are so brilliant they have in the truth that were contrasted with these downward splashes of freshness. It's almost as if Tinkerbell from Peter Pan has appeared out of nowhere and scattered some magical pexidust to cheer us up. On the piano here is Maurizio Polini. In the past, I demand the fact that I yet to hear a chef on television admit to detesting a particular food. I just don't believe it's possible to find absolutely everything out of the way. But when it comes to arrangements of other people's out of the registers, I mean the evening based on the firewall. The source of the final melody was driving you mad until it finally became religious music that is often applied to the act of the name of the country join architecture. Britain's wonderful and original orchestration all adds up to a respectful version of Rustini's work.