Episoder

  • Sam chats to composer Eric Whitacre about their experience recording The Sacred Veil together with VOCES8. The 12-movement work is a collaboration between Whitacre and poet-lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri, and comprises texts by Silvestri, Whitacre and Silvestri’s late wife Julie. Its intimate score ‘tells a story of courtship, love, loss and the search for solace’.

    Find out more about the piece here: https://ericwhitacre.com/music-catalog/the-sacred-veil

    Featured Clips:
    Mov. 1: The Veil Opens
    Mov. 11: You Rise, I Fall
    Mov. 4: Magnetic Poetry
    Mov. 12: Child of Wonder

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  • Today’s episode is all about geography. Tim talks international competition politics and how Rachmaninov’s disputed legacy ties into the debate. Meanwhile Sam forges a musical map of Middle Earth in a Lord of the Rings analytical pilgrimage. All topped off with a very literal fluffy-dog story. Live long and prosper.

    Check out Russia Beyond’s dubious Rachmaninov listicle: https://www.rbth.com/arts/334377-sergei-rachmaninoff-russian-composer

    Music Referenced
    Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 17, ‘The Tempest’
    ’Meet the Flintstones’ by Hoyt Curtin
    The Open University theme tune
    Various themes from Howard Shore’s soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Bear McCreary’s soundtrack to The Rings of Power

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  • Tim travels to the home of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir for a classical chat. They discuss Icelandic’s musical pedigree, her upcoming role as Featured Artist at the Aldeburgh Festival, her cameo in Todd Field’s Tár and the importance (or unimportance) of a work’s conceptual inspiration in the ears of the listener.

    Featured Clips:
    ARCHORA, performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Eva Ollikainen
    AIŌN, performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Eva Ollikainen
    Ró, performed by CAPUT Ensemble under by Guðni Franzson

    Links:
    Anna’s website: https://www.annathorvalds.com/
    Some info on her upcoming residency: https://www.annathorvalds.com/blog/2022/12/20/featured-artist-at-the-2023-aldeburgh-festival
    Andrew Mellor on Iceland as a classical music powerhouse: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/apr/05/iceland-classical-music-symphony-orchestra-uk-tour

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  • In today's episode Sam and Tim discuss recent concert hall dramas as unionised musicians seize the means of sound production. Meanwhile Sam peers into the gilded musical cages of Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility in the next instalment of his film music series.

    Music Referenced
    ‘Mars’ from Holst’s The Planets
    ‘Gallop’ interlude from Shostakovich’s opera The Nose
    ‘My Father's Favourite’ from Patrick Doyle’s score to Sense and Sensibility

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  • Tim speaks to the US singer, composer and producer Caroline Shaw. They cover her various composer hats, the upcoming performance of her Four Portraits at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and their shared appreciation for Abba and Fiona Apple.

    Links:
    Caroline’s website: https://carolineshaw.com
    Some info on Four Portraits: https://www.lyricopera.org/lyric-lately/notes-on-four-portraits/

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  • In our latest instalment: *POW* Sam investigates Batman’s secret musical identity *WHAM* Tim holds the Anglican Church to account in a hard-hitting exposé (not) *ZOINKS* We discuss Ukrainian composer Galina Grigorjeva’s new disc of choral music *ZAP* And yes, another excuse to talk about Star Trek.

    Music Referenced
    ‘The Ritual/Ancient Battle /2nd Kroykah’ by Gerald Fried
    ‘Batman Theme’ by Neal Hefti
    Danny Elfman’s Batman theme
    Shirley Walker’s theme to Batman: The Animated Series
    Main theme from Batman Forever by Elliot Goldenthal
    Hans Zimmer’s score to The Dark Knight
    ‘Journey to the Line’ from Hans Zimmer’s score to The Thin Red Line
    ‘Gollum’s Theme’ from Howard Shore’s score to The Lord of the Rings
    Galina Grigorjeva: Agnus Dei; Prayer; Diptych; In Paradisum; God is the Lord; and Nox vitae, performed by the Estonian National Male Choir under Mikk Üleoja

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  • Sam speaks to soprano Ella Taylor about their upcoming roles in Philip Glass’s Akhnaten at ENO and Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Royal Opera. The conversation turns to Ella’s trepidation at embarking on a new production with a new set of co-workers, what it means to be a trans singer playing trouser roles – and ancient Egyptian trivia.

    Links:
    Trans Voices video: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/video/2022/mar/10/the-uks-first-professional-trans-choir-its-a-joyful-act-of-resistance
    Akhnaten at ENO: https://www.eno.org/whats-on/akhnaten/
    Don Carlo at ROH: https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/don-carlo-by-nicholas-hytner-details
    Shadwell’s Powder Down: https://shadwell.bandcamp.com/album/powder-down

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  • Returning to your ears for the first time this year, the boys bring with them a film-music special. Sam unwraps Carter Burwell’s magnificent score to The Banshees of Inisherin while Tim quizzes Sam on Oscar nominations, German model trains and a certain topless dictator.

    Music Referenced
    John Williams’s soundtracks to Jaws, ET, Schindler’s List, Superman and Star Wars
    Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration
    Carter Burwell’s score toThe Banshees of Inisherin: ‘The Mystery of Inisherin’, ‘Walking Home Alone’
    Bulgarian Women’s Choir: Polegnala E Toudora
    John McCormack: ‘Siciliana / Cavalleria’

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  • Tim speaks to wunder cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason about sibling dynamics, touring in the States and his new album Song. But before all that, Sam gets stuck in a Groundhog Day-inspired time loop while trying to analyse one of the pieces from Sheku’s album: the 12 Variations on ’Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen‘ by Ludwig van Beethoven.

    You can find links to Sheku’s album Song here: https://sheku.lnk.to/SongSo

    Music Referenced
    Beethoven‘s 12 Variations on ’Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’
    ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ from Mozart’s The Magic Flute
    ABBA: ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’
    Beethoven‘s Vestas Feuer
    ‘Notte e giorno faticar’ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni
    Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations in C Major, Op. 120: Variation 22
    Alien Ant Farm: ‘Smooth Criminal’

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  • Sam is back in the interview seat chatting to conductor, producer and arranger Jules Buckley about his upcoming Aretha Franklin Prom with singer-songwriter Sheléa. They talk about he art of arranging, the unquestionable genius of Franklin and Buckley’s relationship with the Proms.

    Aretha Prom Stuff
    Event Page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/eqrcd4
    Watch it on BBC Four/iPlayer (from 27 August): https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001bdx5
    Listen on Radio 3/Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001b5km

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  • Sam chats to one of his mega heroes, the composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall. Together they discuss awards ceremonies, Howard’s pandemic piece Never to Forget, the mixed field of composition and, of course, working with Rowan Atkinson.

    Howard Stuff
    Website: http://www.howardgoodall.co.uk/
    Scores: https://www.fabermusic.com/shop/list?_contributor=Howard%20Goodall&order=sales_desc

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  • A short time ago in a South London bedroom not so far away … CLASSICAL POD. Sam finds new ways of listening, via the early work of John (Coolidge) Adams. He analyses the US composer’s 1973 work for chamber ensemble and tape Christian Zeal and Activity. Meanwhile, Tim quizzes Sam on City of Culture 2025 Bradford, not before a quick pit stop at Iceland’s world-famous Phallological Museum.

    Music referenced:
    Star Wars: Main Theme by John Williams
    Vince Vance & The Valiants: ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’
    The ‘Lacrimosa’ from Mozart’s Requiem
    ‘Make Our Garden Grow’ from Bernstein’s Candide
    Star Wars: Luke and Leia Theme
    ‘March’ from Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges
    Star Wars: Parade of the Ewoks
    ‘The Sacrifice from’ Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
    Star Wars: The Dune Sea of Tatooine
    John Adam’s Christian Zeal and Activity, performed by Edo de Waart and the San Francisco Symphony
    Gavin Bryers’s Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet
    ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’
    The Main Theme from Hustle

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  • Sam chats to Professor and International Chair of Music Education at the Royal Northern College of Music Nate Holder about decolonising the music curriculum – what it means, and what it practically involves – as well as questioning what the goals of music education should be.

    Nate Stuff
    Website: https://www.nateholdermusic.com/
    The Why Music Podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-why-music-podcast
    Books (order here):
    Where Are All The Black Female Composers?
    Where Are All The Instruments?
    Why Is My Piano Black And White?
    I Wish I Didn't Quit: Music Lessons

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  • Sam and Tim emerge from their winter hibernation for a special episode celebrating the musical culture of Ukraine. Six Ukrainian composers and performers share their favourite Ukrainian-composed music, while Sam takes a sideways look at Valentin Silvestrov’s delicate piece for synthesiser, piano and strings The Messenger.

    Big thanks to Antonii Baryshevsky, Anna Fedorova, Pavel Gintov, Victoria Loukianetz, Ivan Nebesnyy and Ludmilla Yurina.

    Donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Appeal

    Via Presto Music, buy one of 14 albums featuring a wide range of Ukrainian repertoire, or a selection of printed music by Ukrainian composers.

    Music referenced:
    Okean Elzy’s ‘We Won’t Give Up the Fight’
    Valentin Silvestrov’s Esquisses de crimée, Op. 8 – 1. ‘The Rocks of Uch-Kosh’, performed by Pavel Gintov
    ‘Song about the Cossack Holota’, performed by Dmytro Hubiak
    Mykola Lysenko’s Byut’ porohy (‘Dniper's Rapids Are Roaring’), performed by the Orchestra of the National Broadcasting Company of Ukraine under Volodymyr Sirenko
    The ‘Emigration Elegy’ by Stefania Turkewich, performed by Pavlo Hunka and Albert Krywolt
    Beethoven’s Variations on Folk Songs, Op. 107 – 7. ‘Schöne Minka’, performed by Leonidas Kavakos and Enrico Pace
    Boris Lyatoshynsky’s Symphony No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 50, performed by the Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra under Theodore Kuchar
    Dmitry Bortniansky’s The Cherubic Hymn, performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Paul Hillier
    The overture to Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer
    Valentin Silvestrov’s Kitsch Music – 1., performed by Vladimir Feltsman
    ‘Summertime’ from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, performed by Golda Schultz and the Metropolitan Opera
    ‘Ot hodit’ son kolo vikon’, performed by Kvitka Cisyk
    Mykola Leontovych’s ‘Shchedryk’
    Peter J. Wilhousky’s ‘Carol of the Bells’, performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
    Ivan Nebesnyy’s How Many Letters to You, performed by Svitlana Hleba and the Lviv Virtuosos Academic Chamber Orchestra under Serhiy Burko
    Valentin Silvestrov’s The Messenger, performed by Iryna Starodub and the Kiev Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra under Dmitry Yablonsky
    Valentin Silvestrov’s ‘La belle Dame sans Merci’, performed by Alexei Lubimov and Alexei Martinov
    The Odessa Opera Chorus performing the National Anthem of Ukraine by Mykhailo Verbytsky
    Victoria Loukianetz performing ‘Ridna Maty Moya’

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  • This Christmas, to celebrate 50 years since Jesus Christ Superstar first opened on Broadway, we’ve dedicated an entire episode to unwrapping its magic. What is it about the rock opera that makes it, as one Times critic wrote, ‘the one masterpiece of Lloyd Webber’s career’? Why, after five decades, does it still give pause for theological thought? And how can one piece of music connect such disparate-seeming artists as Dmitri Shostakovich, Googoosh, Lin Mannuel Maranda, and Kanye West? Featuring interviews with Sirs Tim Rice and Karl Jenkins, Alain Boublil, Peaches and Nico Muhly, this is … The Jesus Christ Superspecial.

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  • NuqneH! In this week’s episode Sam has a good old podcast chat with the founding members of Manchester Collective, Rakhi Singh and Adam Szabo. They discuss unusual programming and widely sourced inspirations – as well as the range of skills a modern musician needs. Qapla'!

    Music referenced:
    Manchester Collective performing Bryce Dessner’s Aheym
    Manchester Collective, Abel Selaocoe & Chesaba performing Ka Bohaleng
    The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir performing Kaval Sviri under Katya Barulova
    Manchester Collective & Mahan Esfahani performing Górecki’s Harpsichord Concerto

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  • Against all the odds, the boys were invited backstage to the Ivors Composer Awards. Tune in to hear them try almost too hard to brand themselves the Ant and Dec of the classical music world. Also – the late, great Victoria Wood in this week’s analysis of Franz Schmidt’s Fourth Symphony, not before some flagrant Handelian recycling.

    Music referenced:
    ’Pizzicato’ from Delibes’s Sylvia
    Sometimes Voices by Alex Paxton, performed by HYPER DUO
    CATAMORPHOSIS by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko
    Caroline Kraabel’s London 26 and 28 March 2020: Imitation: Inversion
    River (O Nodi Re) performed by Zoe & Idris Rahman
    Martin Iddon’s Lampades, performed by Jack Adler-Mckean
    Sarabande from Act 3 of Handel’s Almira
    ‘Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa’ from Handel’s The Triumph of Time and Delusion
    ‘Lascia ch'io pianga’ from Act 2 of Handel’s Rinaldo
    Franz Schmidt’s Symphony No. 4 performed by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under Paavo Järvi

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  • It’s the 50th episode of the Classical Music Pod! We struck gold with today’s guest, composer and bandleader Cassie Kinoshi, who previews her upcoming Aurora Orchestra commission, Three Suns Suite, and discusses how labels and preconceptions can be limiting for musicians.

    Music referenced:
    Seed performing ‘Interplanetary Migration’, written by Cassie Kinoshi
    Seed performing Cassie Kinoshi’s ‘Afronaut’ from the Mercury Award nominated album Driftglass
    If She Could Dance Naked Under Palm Trees by Cassie Kinoshi, performed by the LSO

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  • There’s a French flavour to this week‘s episode as we take the next step in our series of neglected pieces, unwrapping Louise Farrenc’s Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano (with a little help from Adele). We also pay tribute to the composer of the Channel 4 News theme, Alan Hawkshaw, and receive police guidance on where not to practise your flute.

    Music referenced:
    Abba’s ‘Ode to Freedom’
    ‘The Wizard and I’ from Stephen Schwartz‘s Wicked
    Alan Hawkshaw‘s Channel 4 News theme
    Mov. 1 of Louise Farrenc’s Trio for Piano and Flute in E minor, performed by Gian Luca Petrucci, János Devich, Jenő Jandó
    Main theme from James Horner’s soundtrack to The Wrath of Khan
    Adele’s ‘Hometown Glory’
    Alan Hawkshaw‘s Countdown theme

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  • Sam chats to an innuendo-filled Nicky Spence about Jenůfa at the Royal Opera, the ‘vortex of need’ and his rustic roots …

    Catch the Royal Opera’s production of Jenůfa here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFvD7suXk1I&t=969s
    Here’s our episode on Janáček’s Sinfonietta: https://timmyfisher.co.uk/the-classical-music-pod/2020/11/20/mahan-esfahani-janek-and-j-lo

    Music referenced:
    ‘Tim and Sam’s Podcast’, written and performed by Harry Sever
    Nicky Spence in Janáček’s Jenůfa at the Royal Opera House

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