Music Matters Folgen

Tom Service takes a look at the influence of horn player Dennis Brain in his centenary year - We hear from two of today's leading horn players Ben Goldscheider, who is releasing an album centred around Brain's legacy, and Sarah Willis who talks us through some iconic Dennis Brain recordings. Plus we speak to retired horn player Andrew McGavin, who played second horn to Dennis in the Philharmonia in the 1950s, for some first hand memories of the legend that was Dennis Brain.As live music venues start to open their doors to audiences with the easing of COVID restrictions we take a look at the issues surrounding physical access for disabled and neurodiverse audiences. We speak to Susanne Bull, founder of 'Attitude is Everything', Andrew Miller co-founder of the UK Disability Arts Alliance, #WeShallNotBeRemoved and audience ambassador Vivien Wilkinson about the issues and also the potential for a hybrid form of concert going that includes live streaming.As part of Mental Health Awareness Week writers Horatio Clare and Stephen Johnson reflect on how music, literature, art and nature have helped them through some of the darkest times imaginable, and Alex Smalley updates us on the results of The University of Exeter's Virtual Nature Experiment.Composer Gerard McBurney and Ann McKay from the BBC Symphony orchestra pay tribute to composer Anthony Payne.Producer: Martin Webb

Kate Molleson is joined by the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja as she releases two new albums of works by Schoenberg and Francisco Coll. She explains why the music education system should encourage young minds, and tells us why vulnerability is vital on the concert stage.As the trustees of Mills College announce their decision to close admissions to the college’s courses, Kate learns about the school’s legacy of training musically free thinkers with the flautist, composer, and a former co-director of the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, Maggi Payne, as well as the cultural journalist Geeta Dayal.We hear from the Grammy-nominated musician and scholar Benjamin Lapidus about the recent launch of his new book New York and the International Sound of Latin Music, 1940-1990. The ethnomusicologist Lucy Duran and the band leader, composer and pianist Gilberto ‘Pulpo’ Colón describe the unique sound world of the Big Apple.And, Kate talks to lecturer Helen Reddington, author of a new book She's at the Controls: Sound Engineering, Production and Gender Ventriloquism in the 21st Century, and is joined by sound engineers Jo Langton and Úna Monaghan to discuss the role of female studio professionals in the UK music industry.

Tom Service talks to two world-class conductors of today, Sir Antonio Pappano and Sir Simon Rattle, as they swap roles at the London Symphony Orchestra, and looks back at one of music history's first great conductors, Richard Wagner.Four weeks ago, Sir Antonio Pappano was announced as the new Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra - he will leave his current role of Music Director at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in 2024. Pappano also has a continuing role at the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - and it’s from the Orchestra’s home in Rome that he speaks to Tom about his early life growing up in London, his plans for the LSO, and his thoughts on conducting during lockdown.Richard Wagner was one of the great conductors of his day, and he wrote extensively about the about the philosophy as well as the technique of conducting. Chris Walton has made a new translation of Wagner's Essays on Conducting - writings which influenced generations of conductors for the next hundred years, and that still resonate with conductors today. Wagner's orchestral players used to say that they felt he was watching them all the time - Chris will be revealing why he thinks this might be so.Sir Simon Rattle shocked the musical world in January when he announced that he would be graduating his role as Music Director at the London Symphony Orchestra to take a lifetime position as their Conductor Emeritus, and joining the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra. He speaks to Tom about his relationship with the two ensembles, reflects on Wagner’s conducting legacy, and discusses the struggles of musicians during lockdown as well as the LSO’s recent special concert with and in support of freelance musicians.,He reveals who his number one composer is.Tom pays tribute, too, to the German mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, who died last weekend at the age of 93, He introduces a highlight from his visit to her for Music Matters in 2016, where she made a fascinating comparison between some of the great conductors she had worked with.