Composer of the Week

Donald Macleod presents a celebration of the music of the USSR's last great composer, Alfred Schnittke. As a new era of openness dawned in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the West was finally able to meet this shy, brilliant composer in person. Yet - with tragic irony - just as Schnittke was at last able to enjoy the public acclaim he deserved, he was struck down by the first of a series of crippling strokes. Donald is joined by Alexander Ivashkin, the composer's friend and biographer, to discuss Schnittke's life and works during this period. Featuring a complete performance of one of his greatest - and most terrifying - works: the disturbing Faust Cantata.