Tippett Night
BBC Radio 3, tx 1st December 2005, 19.30 – 00.00
Presented by Sarah Walker
Produced by Chris Marshall & Martin Cotton

2005 is the centenary of the birth of Michael Tippett. 
Hailed during his lifetime as one of the great composers of the 20th century, his reputation has declined somewhat since his death in 1998. 

During the course of this evening, presenter Sarah Walker and her studio guests, composer Anthony Payne and Professor of English at Oxford Valentine Cunningham, will reassess the man, his work and his musical legacy.

With contributions from many people who knew and worked with Tippett, including his biographer Ian Kemp, John Amis, Dennis Marks, Amelia Freedman, conductors Sir Colin Davis, David Atherton and Mark Elder, fellow-composers Michael Berkeley, Alexander Goehr and Steve Martland, performers Paul Crossley, Peter Cropper, Faye Robinson and David Wilson-Johnson, and critics Bayan Northcott, Andrew Clements and David Cairns.

19.30 Tippett’s Origins
Tippett grew out of a powerful movement in this country with an emphasis on amateurism, artistic democracy and the revival of an idealised historical past.  It gave rise both to the early music movement and to the flourishing of music for amateurs and workers.  

19.45 Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Moscow and Bath Festival Chamber Orchestras, conducted by Rudolf Barshai

20.00 Tippett and Politics
Tippett was closely involved with left-wing politics in the 1930s, and was imprisoned as a conscientious objector during the Second World War. His striving for social inclusion led to some of his most accessible music. John Amis recalls this period of Tippett’s life.

20.30 Purcell: St Cecilia’s Day Ode: ‘Hail, Bright Cecilia’ (excerpt)
April Cantelo (soprano), Alfred Deller and Peter Salmon (counter tenors)
Wilfred Brown (tenor), Maurice Bevan (baritone), John Frost (bass)
Ambrosian Singers, Kalmar Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tippett

20.40 Tippett’s strong pacifist convictions and his horror at what was happening in Central Europe in the 1940s led to the creation of his most famous work.
Tippett: A Child Of Our Time (excerpt)
Faye Robinson (soprano), Sarah Walker (mezzo soprano), Jon Garrison (tenor), John Cheek (bass), City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tippett

21.00 Performing Tippett
Tippett often wrote with specific performers in mind, especially pianist Paul Crossley and the Lindsay String Quartet. The Lindsay’s leader, Peter Cropper, and Paul Crossley discuss the complexities of performing Tippett’s music.

21.35 Tippett and Psychology
Tippett underwent Jungian analysis in 1939, which led him to an acceptance of his homosexual orientation, his emotional needs and his artistic creativity. Ivan Hewett and Professor Simon Goldhill examine how the evolution of an almost mystical aesthetic of art led to the creation of .his first opera, ‘The Midsummer Marriage’.

22.05 The Composer as Writer
Tippett was a prolific writer of essays, books and radio talks. More controversially, he wrote many of his own librettos. Writers Pbilip Hensher and Alice Goodman and critics Bayan Northcott and David Cairns discuss whether Tippett succeeded both as composer and librettist.

22.30 King Priam (Act II)
Thomas Allen (Hector), Philip Langridge (Paris), Norman Bailey (Priam), David Wilson-Johnson (Old Man), Robert Tear (Achilles), Kenneth Bowen (Hermes), Stephen Roberts (Patroclus), London Sinfonietta Chorus and London Sinfonietta, conducted by David Atherton

22.55 Tippett the Radical
Tippett remained a radical all his life.  His left-wing views, his homosexuality, his pacifism, his interest in psychology and  his longing for natural justice led him to embrace new ideas as they appeared – including the sexual revolution, feminism, and New Age spirituality.  His own later work, especially the Third Symphony, sets out to embrace cultural diversity, especially the music of Black America .

23.15 Tippett: Symphony No.3 (excerpt)
Faye Robinson (soprano), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Richard Hickox

23.30   Tippett’s Legacy
Dennis Marks defends Tippett’s achievements against critic Andrew Clements, who has reservations.
Tippett: The Rose Lake (excerpt)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Richard Hickox