The intensity, joy, heartbreak and thrills of great sporting moments are almost unmatchable… except by those in great music. The magic of the Olympics is transformed by the alchemist John Williams into four minutes of musical, life-affirming perfection. Olympic Fanfare and Theme is one of my favourite Williams pieces, and that’s really saying something! (Listening time 11′)… Listen
After three years ‘vegetating’ in New York, Béla Bartók produced a handful of late great pieces. A dying man’s birthday gift to his wife, his often easygoing and playful last piano concerto is, perhaps, my favourite concerto of all time… Listening time 35 mins.… Listen
American composer Amy Beach was so popular that her followers held ‘Beach Clubs’ to play and listen to her music!
Her Quartet for strings is lean and powerful, as well as being a great jump-off to the world of string quartets: a place fraught with danger for the players, where composers go to bare their souls. Take a listen and join the Beach Club! (21 mins)… Listen
Three musical geniuses really make the magic come alive in Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s classic, Nutcracker. (38 mins)… Listen
George Gershwin spent two hectic weeks on holiday in Cuba and returned with a case full of percussion instruments, latin spirit and musical inspiration. Total listening time c14 mins… Listen
Erich Korngold was one of the composers who invented the sound of Hollywood – and his music for The Sea Hawk (a 1940 Errol Flynn swashbuckler) is passionate, exhilarating and hugely influences our very ideas of what film music should sound like. [36 mins]… Listen
A wonderfully exhilarating and punchy fusion from the writer of West Side Story. Here’s my intro: And the music is here, with video: And here on Spotify: If you liked this please comment below!
A simply stunning, jazzy clarinet concerto. Quintessentially American! Here’s the introduction: And then the music, with the excellent Martin Fröst as soloist, here: and here: