Saturday Classics

Cerys Matthews takes us on a personal guided tour of the musical world, taking in Bellini and Blind Snooks Eaglin, Max Richter and the Rhos Male Voice Choir, with poetry too from Rumi, Dylan Thomas and W B Yeats.

Conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier chooses music from Paris in the Belle Époque as part of "Debussy's Paris" marking the 100th anniversary of the death of Debussy this weekend. His choices include music by Maurice Ravel, Paul Dukas, Florent Schmitt, Jacques Offenbach, Camille Saint-Saens, Lili Boulanger, and Claude Debussy.1.30-1.40 Debussy's Paris 4: "The Paris Expositions and Art Nouveau" Georgia Mann continues her journey through fin-de-siècle Paris at the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais with French art curator Emanuel Coquery and a look at the impact of the Great Paris Expositions and the explosion of the Art Nouveau.

Rosalind Plowright introduces the music that has been most influential on her life and operatic career. Including John Ogdon playing Beethoven, Maria Callas singing Puccini and Bernhard Klee conducting Mahler.

Baritone Roderick Williams chooses music concerned with different modes of transport, including works by Schubert, Wagner, Stanford, Liszt, Honegger, Vaughan Williams and John Adams.

Clarinettist Julian Bliss, who plays both classical and jazz clarinet, chooses pieces that show the influence of jazz on classical music. With compositions by Gershwin, Bartok, Bernstein, Copland and Stravinsky, who once agreed to write an 'easy-listening' piece for the Paul Whiteman band.

To mark Australia Day on 26th January, Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra Richard Tognetti chooses some of his favourite pieces and performers, including works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Grainger, Lutoslawski, Peter Sculthorpe and Brett Dean.

The composer, pianist and producer Max Richter introduces some of the music that has inspired him.

The trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth with her personal choices, including music that inspired her when she was growing up in Norway.

Baritone Sir Thomas Allen shares some of his favourite musical moments: works by Beethoven, Wagner and Humperdinck; treasured voices such as Nicolai Ghiaurov in Verdi's Don Carlo and Kenneth McKellar in Handel's Messiah; and festive treats, including Finzi's Christmas Scene, In Terra Pax.

Soprano Ailish Tynan explores the effect different languages have on songs and vocal works. Ailish feels that words are the foundation blocks to unlocking a song, and explores the fascinating way different languages (English, French, German) very often dictate the style of a song or vocal work. Her music choices include Reynaldo Hahn's Bach-flavoured A Chloris, the Irish folk-song The Last Rose of Summer, Handel's Messiah and the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, as well as works by Stanford, Poulenc and Carl Orff.