RADIO CHOICE

MILES JUPP herds a gaggle of wits into the studio for the first show in the new series of THE NEWS QUIZ (RADIO 4 (FM), 6.30PM), the panel game based on the week’s news.

BRAHMS’S Variations On The St Anthony Chorale is a lovely piece that takes a theme from Haydn and dances it through the orchestra. The theme is thought to have come from a pilgrims’ hymn and may be very ancient indeed. It will come up fresh in tonight’s concert from the BBC PROMS 2017 (RADIO 3, 7.30PM), given by the Vienna Philharmonic, which concludes with Beethoven’s vigorous Symphony No 7.

AT ONLY six years old, Mary Lou Williams (pictured) helped to support her family with her piano playing. By the time she was 13, she was a regular in one of Duke Ellington’s

bands. She arranged music for big bands, wrote hundreds of compositions, ran choirs and worked hard for charities. FRIDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT

(RADIO 2, 8PM) includes a warm tribute to Mary Lou.

THIS week in Verona’s Roman amphitheatre, friends of the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti gathered to remember the big man with the big voice. THE LUCIANO PAVAROTTI 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT (CLASSIC FM, 8PM) featured a stellar lineup led by Placido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Andrea Bocelli and Jose Carreras.