Choral | Just-is-ness | meditative | Music | Singing | transcendent

136. Where the walls of heaven are thin as a curtain: Simon Clark on Talbot, Path of Miracles

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An epic and spiritual adventure for choir, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles captures the hope, the expectation and the moments of overwhelm (both positive and negative) of travellers on the ancient and still popular pilgrimage trail the Camino de Santiago (Way of St James).

Simon Clark, scientist, author and singer joins me to share his passion for the piece and guide us on a journey of musical and maybe spiritual fulfilment! Listening time: podcast 24 mins, music 62’… Listen
Family friendly | Just-is-ness | meditative | Music | Piano

135. Uplifting melancholy and passionate languor: Granados Spanish Dances

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Music that seems to conjure all the tastes, smells and senses of Spain – or my expectations of them (as someone who’s hardly been there): Spanish dances for piano by Enrique Granados. Perfect music if you just want to feel warmer, but it’s also an opportunity to bask (Basque? [sorry]) in some gloriously wistful melancholy that seems to underpin all six of these pieces. Somehow it’s not a melancholy that makes one feel sad – it seems as uplifting and nourishing as the warm sun on a cold winter’s day. Listening time: podcast 12 mins; music 25′.… Listen
Fun | Joyful | Just-is-ness

Not the World Cup of (largely) classical music: revisited! Highlights and talking points

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Not the World Cup was a “glorious celebration of classical and world music” that ran alongside a small men’s football competition in late 2022.
I got together with my friend the conductor and writer Lev Parikian to pick some highlights and talk about a few of the things we learnt – about music, about how we listen and how it makes us feel. (41 mins.)… Listen
Family friendly | Just-is-ness | meditative

134. The sound of the solar system? Kepler: Harmony of the World

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An extraordinary, ambitious, blend of art and science, Johanes Kepler’s Harmony of the World is a 17th century attempt to understand what the then known universe sounded like – on a planetary level! In the 1970s, using the latest technology professors Willie Ruff and John Rodgers were able to make Kepler’s Harmony into music – an extended piece of electronica, hypnotic and thought provoking. (25’+ listening time)… Listen
Just-is-ness | Music | Orchestra | transcendent

130. Talking about a revolution: Webern, Six Pieces for orchestra

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At a time when everything seemed on the brink and the old ways no longer looked fit for purpose, Anton Webern was part of a musical revolution – giving us new ways of hearing music and seeing the world. His six pieces for large orchestra are. Whole worlds compressed into a few minutes of bleak beauty, terrifying dissonance and even more disturbing silence. It’s compelling. Listening time 22mins… Listen