In the final episode before the summer, Carl looks at a pivotal moment in musical tonality; Wagner's 'unplayable' Tristan und Isolde.
This week's episode focuses in on an aria from Giuseppe Verdi's groundbreaking opera La Traviata.
What would you do if you were asked to write music for a prestigious awards ceremony? Brahms clearly took it to mean 'Write music for a student party'. Which is exactly what he did. Here is his Academic Festival Overture.
It's two for the price of one this week. Or is it? Alessandro Marcello may have written a beautiful oboe concerto, but it's Johann Sebastian Bach we have to thank for it's popularity!
Back from his break, Carl looks at Robert Schumann's Symphony in C major which he wrote at a particularly painful time of his life.
On a completely different note (and tone and genre), Carl looks at American Composer George Gershwin's opera 'Porgy and Bess'.
This week, the longest river of the Czech Republic is the subject, thanks so Bedrich Smetana's gripping tone poem all about his homeland.
This week, Carl talks about Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite based on the Middle Eastern tales 'One Thousand and One Nights'.
This week, Piano concertos are back on the menu, this time written by Beethoven. It's his 5th and last Concerto, entitled 'Emperor'.
Elgar's beloved orchestral work is the subject of this weeks episode in which Carl explores the last segment - the composer's self-portrait.
This week, solo piano is on the repertoire, as Carl looks at the music revolutionary, Franz Liszt.
A relatively unrecognised work when it was performed, Mendelssohn's 5th symphony was written in honour of the Confession of Augsburg, a pivotal moment in the life of Martin Luther.
This week, Carl looks at Czech Composer Antonin Dovrak's infamous work, his 'New World' Symphony.
This week comes the 'Händel Largo' with which Carl talks about the raw beauty of something so simplistic.
This week, Carl talks about the music of Dame Ethel Smyth, regarded as the 'Forgotten Woman of Classical Music'.
Mozarts prime time from the last episode gives way to his darkest hours in this episode where Carl looks at the last piece he ever wrote.
This week, Carl chooses a movement from Mahler's 1st symphony with a very familiar tune.
In the first episode of 2021, Carl talks about classical music's greatest foodie, Rossini. And talks about his energetic opera overtures!
This weeks episode focuses on Beethoven's intense work scored for 2 violins, viola and cello.
In this extra-terrestrial episode, Carl discusses the piece that British composer Gustav Holst is most famous for: his tribute to the planets!