Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
TODAY’S RADIO
Edinburgh International Festival
11AM, RADIO 3
The superstar violinist Nicola Benedetti returns to her Scottish homeland for this lively concert of music by Vivaldi and Telemann. Nicola brings a gypsy spirit to the opening piece – Vivaldi’s Concerto In D. The concert includes Telemann’s quirky Alster Overture-Suite, which evokes cannon shots, birdsong and animal noises, then closes with Vivaldi’s lush Dresden Concerto.
Natural Histories
11AM, RADIO 4
Otters like to splash around at the water’s edge, making slides and playing with stones, just for the fun of it. It is one of the characteristics that make these sleek animals – equally at home on land and in the water – so engaging. Through books, music and myth, Brett Westwood follows their web-footed trail in his series on nature’s influence on human culture and society.
Great Lives
4.30PM, RADIO 4
The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen knew that careful preparation and the right equipment were essential for a successful expedition. His meticulous planning enabled him to become the first explorer, with undisputed claims, to have reached both the North and the South Poles. The writer Erica Wagner tells Matthew Parris why she thinks the austere Amundsen should be given an entry in the Great Lives archives.
The Full Works Concert
8PM, CLASSIC FM
In an inspired piece of programming for an August evening in a long, hot summer, Classic FM takes us to the river. Jane Jones opens her selection with the flowing lyricism of Smetana’s Vltava, followed by bass-baritone Willard White’s resonant recording of Deep River. Delius’s lovely Summer Night On The River is also on the bill, plus a recording of Elgar’s Severn Suite by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Will Young Essential R&B
9PM, RADIO 2
Will Young plays a selection of tracks that, in his view, come under the heading ‘rhythm and blues’. Fans of Bo Diddley, B.B. King and Professor Longhair might purse their lips at a selection that includes a track from the Spice Girls.