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
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
Brand new old music in this episode: a great forgotten symphony by a composer forgotten for around 150 years, Emilie Mayer. It’s memorable, tuneful and inventive – a real discovery! Listening time 48’… Listen
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
Mozart’s music is brilliant, right? Even people who claim to know nothing about music say that. Well, it’s true! In this Divertimento the 16 year-old Mozart really hits the spot with a piece of perfection, delight and joie de vivre. Listening time 20mins… Listen
Eternal source of light divine is three beautiful and brilliant minutes of Handel, as effective at setting us up for the day as any yoga routine (though you can do that too of course)! It’s a quietly awe-filled salute to the sun. Listening time 10mins… Listen
In his Cello Suites, JS Bach catapulted the instrument into the solo spotlight and discovered new worlds of sound and possibilities, full of riches to explore. Nominally it’s dance music but its depth and beauty bring us stillness and solace. Listening time 25 mins… Listen
Brilliant and meaningful, North by Southwest may have been the initial name for Billy Strayhorn’s Suite for The Duo, a brilliant, late work for horn and piano: it’s a title that suggests confusion and conflicting ideas about the dying composers direction of travel. It’s a great piece: virtuosic but raw and written with a total understanding of both horn and piano and what they can do.
It’s a longer episode than normal because (amazingly) I was able to speak with Willie Ruff, the horn play for whom it was written. Willie, now in his nineties, joined me from his home in Alabama and he talked about his life and career, the Mitchell-Ruff duo, Strayhorn and how Suite for The Duo came to life. (37 mins)
… Listen
Heat, danger, emptiness and space. Plenty of all of this in Peter Sculthorpe’s excellent Kakadu – inspired by northern Australia but featuring universal themes of humanity, life, death, and timelessness. Listening time c22 mins… Listen