RTÉ lyric fm 96-99fm Where Life Sounds Better
The Lyric Feature
Friday, 7-8pm
The Lyric Feature presents original documentaries and music specials.
You can now access previous Lyric Feature documentaries, features and music specials in our programme archives.
To access the 2012 archive, click here
To access the 2011 archive, click here
To access the 2010 archive, click here
To access the 2009 archive, click here
A Childhood in Berlin, 1927-1938 25th May 2012
This programme brings to life in readings, interviews and music the extraordinary story, recounted in an unpublished autobiography from 2007, of the late Max Newman's experience of growing up in a Jewish family in Nazi Germany. The book readings relate how a happy and carefree childhood was turned upside down as friends, neighbours, schoolmates and teachers rejected and persecuted the family when the Nazis' policies began to take effect. They also reveal the remarkable philosophy of those family members who managed to escape, including notably Max Newman himself, who decided to make his first and only return visit to his former home in Berlin shortly before his death in 2008. Archive interviews from surviving family members and new interviews add the vital perspective of Max Newman's descendants' present-day outlook. The musical illustrations - a mixture of popular music of the time in early Nazi Germany, Jewish folk-songs, and classical masterworks - are selected from the very many musical allusions in the book.
For more information on Max Newman see http://www.achildhoodinberlin.com/
Dublin International Piano Competition
Ian Fox presents the second of a four-part series celebrating 25 years of the Dublin International Piano Competition. From the initial idea - during a game of bridge - it has developed into one of the top five piano competitions in the world, renowned for its world class winners and the repertoire choice it gives to competitors.
Programme 4: Dublin International Piano Competition 2012
Listen to the programme
Ian Fox concludes this four-part series celebrating 25 years of the Dublin International Piano Competition with a review of the 2012 event. This year's winner Nikolay Khozyainov will also feature.
Programme 3: Winners Galore - Friday 11th May
Listen to the programme
Ian meets previous winners including Max Levinson, Romain Descharmes, Pavel Nersessian and Alexei Gorlatch.
Programme 2: The Irish Angle - Friday 4th May
Listen to the programme
Ian discovers how the competition helps Irish pianists and composers.
Programme 1: How it All Began - Friday 27th April
Listen to the programme
Ian meets co-founder and jury chairman John O'Conor, competition administrator Ann Fuller and the first winner Philippe Cassard.
Strauss' Four Last Songs - Friday April 20th
Listen to the programme
Music played in the programme
'Leaving on a High Note': Alexander Sendtner explores Strauss's motives, the historical context and the music of his Four Last Songs, including interpretations by Irish soprano Orla Boylan and legendary recordings by Gundula Janowitz and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
Towards the end of his life and shortly after World War II, the German composer Richard Strauss returned to his beloved genre of Lieder. He composed one of his finest works: the Four Last Songs, four Romantic poems set for his favourite 'instrument', the soprano voice, and full orchestra. They are Richard Strauss's final work, his farewell to the world. Within the sombre, reflective mood of the songs Strauss is looking back at his own life and on the intimate, if often tempestuous, partnership he had with his wife and life-long muse, the opera singer Pauline de Ahna. Neither would live to see the songs' premiere. In the Four Last Songs Strauss shows once more his compositional mastery as the poems reveal themselves in their foreboding of death and the celebration of life.
Producer: Gail Henry
Series Producer for RTÉ lyric fm: Olga Buckley
Production Co-ordinator: Eoin O Kelly
Child's Play - Friday 13th April
Listen to the programme
Recorded in Kampala, Uganda this radio feature illustrates how music and performance is influencing the community and lives of former 'street children' in this troubled and chaotic city.
With strong musical themes the programme examines how two special schools and one unique charity cater for the marginalised in Ugandan society through expert guidance and the supply of second hand classical instruments.
Written and Produced by Michael O'Kane.
Made with the support of the 'Simon Cumbers Media Fund'.
www.simoncumbersmediafund.ie
The Passion of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Listen to the programme
Renegade, rebel, drunk, genius, failed son and a man born out of time, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is an enigmatic figure in western classical music. What was it like being the eldest son of a superstar? Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was trained by his father, Johann Sebastian, to be a working musician and composer just like him. Yet Friedemann, a brilliant improviser, struggled to make his mark and ended his days in poverty. Writer and musician Linda Neil unravels the mystery behind some of the myths and stories about this composer and makes some surprising discoveries about aspects of music-making that have been lost in history. Guests include Friedemann's latest biographer, Professor David Schulenberg, organist and performer Jeannine Jordan, composer and improviser John Rodgers and musician and musicologist Anthony Burr.
Producer: Linda Neil
Production Coordinator: Eoin O Kelly
Series Producer: Olga Buckley
From the Darkness
Listen to the programme
Ina Boyle (1889-1967) was a major Irish composer of the early 20th century, yet she has been almost completely forgotten. The daughter of a Church of Ireland clergyman, she lived all her life in Enniskerry, County Wicklow. She achieved some major successes early in her career - she is the only female composer included in the Carnegie Collection of British Music - and studied with Vaughan Williams, who regarded her highly. However, she often had to struggle to get her music performed or published and lived out her final years alone in the large house in Enniskerry, an increasingly eccentric figure, still doggedly writing her music. Much of her work has never been published or performed in public and this programme includes the first ever recordings of several songs performed by mezzo soprano Sonya Keogh, accompanied on piano by David Brophy.
An independent production for RTÉ lyric fm by Claire Cunningham of Rockfinch Ltd. The programme was made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland's Sound and Vision Broadcasting Funding Scheme.
RTÉ Lyric fm producer: Celia Donoghue
Series Producer: Olga Buckley
Spring: Sweet Days
Listen to the programme
Spring is in the air. To celebrate the end of dark Winter and the arrival of the season of light and rebirth, John S. Doyle presents his collection of songs, stories, poems and voices from the RTÉ Sound Archive that summon up the idea of Spring. John is familiar to RTÉ Radio One listeners as a presenter of It Says in the Papers and his programmes on Autumn and Winter were broadcast last year on RTÉ lyric fm.
Producer: Sinéad Wylde
Series Producer for RTÉ lyric fm: Olga Buckley
Production Co-ordinator: Eoin O Kelly
Judging Eliza: La Reina del Paraguay
Listen to the programme
Dedicated to the Irish diaspora in South America
How did a young woman from Charleville in Cork become notorious as one of the most wicked women in the world? In 'Judging Eliza: La Reina del Paraguay' documentary maker Susan Cahill tells the incredible story of 'Madama Lynch', the Cork-born first lady of Paraguay. This documentary brings listeners on a fascinating journey through the life and legacy of one of the most infamous women in history featuring unique on-location interviews with Irish, French and Paraguayan historians and commentators.
An independent production for RTÉ lyric fm by Susan Cahill and made with the support of the Sound & Vision Broadcasting Funding Scheme, a Broadcasting Authority of Ireland initiative.
RTELyricfm producer: Eoin O Kelly
Series Producer: Olga Buckley
The Lure of Ecuador
Listen to the programme
London GP and mountaineer Dr David Ratcliffe continues his nature conquests with a climb of three volcanoes in Ecuador, the small and immensely picturesque country in South America right on the Equator. His journey is a vivid picture of a land that is bathed in history and legend, much of it centered around its stunning landscape of smoking volcanoes and the traditional arts and crafts of its passionately independent people. The programme is illustrated with music ranging from baroque music of Ecuador, traditional and local musical works, as well as the music of religious gatherings and the improvisations and dances at the annual Mama Negra Festival.
A Jon Tolansky production for RTE lyricfm
Production Coordinator Eoin O Kelly
Series Producer: Olga Buckley
Sunlight and Shadow: The Composer Frederick May
Listen to the programme
Described as 'a gentle, difficult, combative soul', Frederick May composed against a personal background of deafness and mental illness. He 'led the way for the rest of us' according to Brian Boydell and his Prison Songs and String Quartet are both groundbreaking works. After studying in London and Vienna he returned to Dublin, but his later years are shrouded in obscurity. With contributions from Garech Browne, Seoirse Bodley, John Kinsella, Colm Tóibín, George Morrison and archive interviews with the composer himself.
Presented by Máire Nic Gearailt.
(First broadcast: 10th June 2011)
The critically acclaimed CD 'Sunlight and Shadow: The Orchestral Works of Frederick May' is available nationwide and online from www.rte.ie/shop
Producer RTÉ lyric fm: Celia Donoghue
Series Producer for RTÉ lyric fm: Olga Buckley
Production Co-ordinator: Eoin O Kelly
The Musical Tour: Hungary
A musical voyage in the footsteps of Liszt, Kodaly, Bartok and others in this engaging tour through the major musical locations in Hungary and adjoining states. Featuring anecdotes, music and interviews with local guides and experts. Composer, teacher and raconteur Gerry Murphy brings the locations, people and music alive in his own engaging way.
Producer : Brian McIvor
Producer RTE lyricfm : Celia Donoghue
Prodcution Coordinator: Eoin O Kelly
When: Friday, 7-8pm
Producer: Olga Buckley
Production Co-ordinator:
Eoin O Kelly
Email: features.lyricfm@rte.ie
Follow us on Twitter
|
