Music Matters Folgen

Kate Molleson heads down to Covent Garden where rehearsals are under way for a new production of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Royal Opera House. She speaks to conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, director Tobias Kratzer and soprano Amanda Forsythe, who sings Marzelline. Fidelio is sometimes considered a problem opera, with its mix of comic and serious, but Kratzer emphasises the deep themes of political revolution and unjust imprisonment, while for Pappano, Beethoven's score opened a new world for German opera, not least for Wagner. Kate also talks to Marta Gardolinska, Young Conductor in Association at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, about the challenges of forging a career as a conductor, and about her love of Polish music. And Music Matters joins the composer Valgeir Sigurdsson and director Stewart Laing as they discuss We Are In Time, a new music-theatre piece for the Scottish Ensemble about a heart transplant. It's a profound exploration of the emotional and scientific aspects of this most risky operation, with the ensemble's string players also taking on dramatic roles and singing. Kate also investigates the effectiveness of mood-based music playlists, with James Foley from Spotify and Hugo Shirley from classical streaming site Idagio - and gets a concert programmer's point of view from Helen Wallace, programme director of King's Place in London. Are mood lists a gateway to the treasures of classical music, or just dumbing down the art form?

As he returns to his native Scotland to conduct the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner’s mighty eighth symphony, Kate speaks to the conductor Donald Runnicles about his relationship with the composer’s music and a lifetime spent making music. Kate visits Xenia Pestova Bennett at Queen Mary University of London to hear about her second album which features a new instrument, the Magnetic Resonator Piano. She tells Kate about her creative responses to the effects that electromagnets can induce on a regular concert grand piano. And marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Henri Veuxtemps, Music Matters hears from the violinist Anne Akiko Meyers – the current custodian of the composer’s famous Guarneri del Gesù violin. She describes the sound characteristics of what is reportedly the world’s most expensive instrument. Kate also catches-up with the author Sophy Roberts to learn about her travels across Siberia in search of the backstories of keyboards scattered across an eleventh of the world’s landmass. From clavichords transported by governors on sledge, through pianos which have weathered the region’s furtive cold, to a keyboard hacked out of a Gulag bunkbed frame, Kate hears how these instruments embody the soul of Siberia.

Music Matters speaks to the violinist Tasmin Little about her involvement in music education, life as a recording artist, and her plans as she prepares to step down from the concert platform after an illustrious career that has spanned more than three decades. Kate Molleson hears from music journalist Philip Clark as he reflects on the time he spent shadowing the Dave Brubeck Quartet during their British tour as well as the epic interview he recorded with the jazz legend – all the subject of his new book Dave Brubeck: A life in time. Philip speaks about Brubeck’s early career, the bandleader’s unique improvisation and compositional styles, and his creative relationships with fellow band members. Two current jazz composers – Liam Noble and Laura Jurd – also share their views about the man who is synonymous with Take Five. Kate also talks to David Dolan and Karen Chan Barrett about their respective research projects using the power of EEG and fMRI scanning techniques to uncover what happens in the brains of musicians and audience members during improvisatory performance. And the subject of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Total Immersion Day at the Barbican later this month, Kate steps into the unique and emotive sound world of the maverick Swedish composer Anders Hillborg as he reflects on his musical style, his abandonment of electronica, and how the compositional process is rewarding but not always necessarily fun!