Michael Tippett

Composer of the Week

Donald Macleod and Oliver Soden look at Michael Tippett through his intense personal relationships.

Michael Tippett was a particularly absorbent composer, soaking up an incredibly wide range of inspirations and influences from the world around him, and perhaps most often from outside the field of music. His huge intellectual capacity and endless interest in other people combined with immense charisma to make him a personality to which everyone who met him seemed irresistibly drawn. His - often complex - relationships were particularly intense ones, and frequently blurred the lines between professional and personal, artistic and sexual.

This week Composer of the Week looks at some of the people closest to Tippett and asks what influence they had on the life and music of a man whose story has still never been fully told. Joining Donald Macleod to explore sometimes uncharted territory is Oliver Soden, the author of a new - and the first complete - biography of the composer.

Music featured: Where The Bee Sucks from Songs for Ariel A Child of Our Time (Part 1) Byzantium  Purcell arr. Tippett: If music be the food of love  Piano Sonata No 1, 1st movement: Allegro Suite in D for the Birthday of Prince Charles The Heart’s Assurance Variations on an Elizabethan Theme: Lament Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli The Midsummer Marriage Praeludium For Brass, Bells And Percussion Music String Quartet No 1: Lento Cantabile Symphony No 2: Adagio molto e tranquillo Songs for Achilles The Knot Garden: Enough, Enough Tippett: Dance, Clarion Air Piano Concerto – 1: Allegro non troppo Crown of the Year The Blue Guitar The Rose Lake

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Dominic Jewel for BBC Wales

For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Michael Tippett: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00028h7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z