Music Matters

BBC Radio 3

The stories that matter, the people that matter, the music that matters

  1. 03/09/2024

    Aurora Orchestra's Winterreise, Kerry Andrew, and Women at the Piano

    Tom Service talks to pianist and writer, Susan Tomes, about her new book Women and the Piano - a History in 50 Lives. Those lives include well-known names today, from Clara Schumann to Nina Simone, but also many women like Marianne Martinez who have been eclipsed from previous histories of pianists. Tom and Susan discuss how women went from being the Queens of the piano in domestic settings to being excluded from public performances and conservatoires during the development of the concert piano. Pianist, Lucy Parham, talks to Tom too about the impact that Susan's book has had on her, and she talks about life today for female pianists. The Afghan Youth Orchestra is embarking on its first UK tour - Breaking the Silence. Currently exiled in Portugal, the young musicians live and study, having escaped the Taliban’s censorship of music. The orchestra's founder, Dr Ahmad Sarmast and two of his violinists, Sevinch Majidi and Ali Sina Hotak, talk to Tom about their hopes of keeping Afghanistan's situation on the international radar through their music, which fuses traditional and Western instruments into a bold new sound. Tenor Allan Clayton and Aurora Orchestra join forces in a new and highly imaginative theatrical production of Hans Zender's composed interpretation of Schubert's Winterreise. Tom Service finds out more when he visits them in rehearsal. He talks to Allan alongside Aurora's conductor Nicholas Collon and creative director Jane Mitchell about Zender's interpretation of Schubert's original song-cycle. Tom Service also talks to Kerry Andrew, multi-talented composer, singer, performer and writer. Kerry's third novel, We are Together Because, is out now and Tom talks to them about how music infuses their writing. Tom also talks to Kerry about their last album - Hare - Hunter - Moth - Ghost - recorded as You Are Wolf and in which they turn folk songs and myths inside out.

    44 min
  2. 03/02/2024

    Joyce DiDonato, Caroline Potter on Boulez, Szymanowski's Harnasie

    Presented by Tom Service. This week, Tom talks to the American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato about her life in music, and her creative mission to challenge the status quo. From her work in refugee camps, to her long relationship with the maximum security prison SingSing in New York State, as well as in concert halls and opera stages, DiDonato confounds expectations of an international classical artist. She talks about the joy of engaging differently with young audiences, and of recording and touring projects like Eden, which makes real connections with the natural world and includes the publishing of new music for anyone to sing. Conductor Edward Gardner and artist Ben Cullen Wiliams talk about their reimagining of Szymanowski's ballet Harnasie: a story of love, bandits, and how the robbers of the Tatra mountains in Poland win out over the civilisation below. Also featuring filmed choreography by Wayne MacGregor, the production has received its premiere in Katowice and comes to London this month, and uses human and digital intelligence to form a kinetic, sculptural video installation opening a portal to new worlds of dance. And Caroline Potter reveals the mission behind her new book, 'Pierre Boulez: Organised Delirium', which aims to change perceptions about the French composer. A leading figure of the musical avant-garde in the mid-20th century, Boulez is known for the mathematical and structural elements of his music, but Caroline Potter places just as much importance on the influences in his early career from the worlds of literature, magic, surrealism and the music of other cultures.

    44 min

Ratings & Reviews

3.7
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

The stories that matter, the people that matter, the music that matters

More From BBC

You Might Also Like