Episodes

  • Lyric for Strings – George Walker

    Lyric for Strings – George Walker
    Jun 29 2024
    In this episode, I listen to the African American composer's Lyric for strings and think about the difference between music that evokes emotions and music that works through them.
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    20 mins
  • Joy and Learning in Brahms' Second Symphony

    Joy and Learning in Brahms' Second Symphony
    May 7 2024
    Brahms' second symphony is, as commentators agree, "serene, full of warmth, and brimming with optimism." The philosopher, Roger Scruton, writes that great music does not simply express a state - serenity, warmth, optimism – it interrogates it. In this podcast I explore his idea, and its – and the symphony's – profound relationship to life.
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    33 mins
  • A passion for life: Dvorak's cello concerto

    A passion for life: Dvorak's cello concerto
    Mar 16 2024
    In this podcast I explore the idea that Dvorak redeems the problems of life – specifically the problem of his homesickness for Czechoslovakia – not by solving them but by turning them into music.
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    24 mins
  • What's the deal with Mozart's Jupiter symphony?

    What's the deal with Mozart's Jupiter symphony?
    Jan 24 2024
    Commentators seem unable to praise the Finale of Mozart's 41st symphony enough, containing, "they say," the greatest 30 seconds of music ever written. I thought I'd work out why – and I'm not so sure I agree.
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    19 mins
  • In Dulci Jubilo

    In Dulci Jubilo
    Dec 23 2023
    In this podcast I explore the relationship of carols to the magic of Christmas.
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    14 mins
  • Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony

    Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony
    Dec 1 2023
    When I first rehearsed this music I could make no sense of it! So I made a podcast. Now I find parts of the Carol Symphony quite moving.
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    17 mins
  • Mahler's First Symphony – Movement 1

    Mahler's First Symphony – Movement 1
    Apr 30 2023
    Journey to "where no [person] has gone before" or an early morning walk? Chamber music or symphony of gigantic proportions? Mark and Matthew listen to key moments from a work haunted by themes of joy, unrequited love and death.
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    25 mins
  • Louise Farrenc's 2nd Symphony

    Louise Farrenc's 2nd Symphony
    Nov 14 2022
    Matthew and Mark discover the classical in the romantic.
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    22 mins