The Classical Music Pod

Unanswered Questions

The Classical Music Pod

Show Notes

Tim and Sam ask questions of Charles Ives, get to grips with hiphopera and discuss ‘leaning in’ to those uncomfortable elements of the operatic canon with director and librettist Laura Attridge. PLUS they review Alison Balsom’s new disc Royal Fireworks and the City of London Sinfonia at Southwark Cathedral.

More from The Classical Music Pod

May 19, 2023

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’.

Apr 29, 2023

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.

Apr 14, 2023

Tim travels to the home of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir for a classical chat. They discuss Icelandic’s outsized 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.

Mar 31, 2023

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.

Mar 17, 2023

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.

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