Harpsichord Concerto

Press, 9 February 1983, Page 21

Harpsichord Concerto

The Concert programme this morning features Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D (BWV 1054) as performed by the English Concert with Trevor Pinnock as director and harpsichord soloist. Also in the programme will be Liszt's song "The Three Gypsies" with mezzo Sylvia Lindenstrand and Janos Solyom (piano) and finally the Chilingirian Quartet perform Wikmanson's String Quartet in E minor Op. 1 No. 2. Alistair Cooke's Songwriters In this series on the National programme, this distinguished broadcaster.

Alistair Cooke, recalls the work of some of the famous songwriters he has known and admired. This afternoon he looks at Cole Porter (18921964). the American composer of innumerable popular songs, and stage and screen musicals for which he almost invariably wrote his own lyrics. He came from a prosperous family and studied music at Harvard, after which he joined the Foreign Legion, returned, married a wife as rich as himself, and lived the life of a complete dilettante until 1928 when he was persuaded to write the music for a revue. "Paris," which was an instant success. He composed some 20 witty and sophistic-

ated stage shows including "Gay Divorce," “Anything Goes." “Kiss Me Kate" and "Can-Can.” Play: Random Moments in a May Garden Written by James Saunders. this elegant domestic study (National) is set within the deceptively simple framework of a trendy middle-aged couple giving a small dinner party for their friends. In the background, hauntingly. is an old Victorian photograph of another family group taken in a May garden, raising the question of transience versus permanence.