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Michael Berkeley talks to former Cabinet minister Michael Portillo, who since leaving the political arena in 2005 has enjoyed a wide-ranging career in journalism and broadcasting, from presenting TV discussion programmes and documentaries to chairing the 2008 Booker Prize judging panel.

Many of his musical choices could be said to have a political edge, from Wagner's Ring cycle to Shostakovich's 13th Symphony and Puccini's opera Tosca

M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer - pub OUP)
Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet
BBQ BBQ 003 T10
Dur: 25s

Puccini: The end of Act 1 of Tosca
Tito Gobbi (Scarpia)
Angelo Mercuriali (Spoletto)
Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan/Victor de Sabata
Tosca EMI 567756-2 CD1 T16
Dur: 4m 25s

Sibelius: Symphony 4 in A minor, Op 63 (last movement, Allegro)
Philharmonia Orchestra/Herbert von Karajan
Sibelius EMI 566600-2 T5
Dur: 9m 23s

Wagner: Part of Wotan's lament from Die Walküre, Act II scene 2
John Tomlinson (Wotan)
Anne Evans (Brünnhilde)
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra/Daniel Barenboim
Wagner Die Walküre TELDEC 4509-91186-2 CD2 T11-12
Dur: 4m 28s

Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, D804 (3rd movement: Menuetto, Allegretto)
The Lindsays
Schubert String Quartets ASV CD DCA 593 T3
Dur: 6m 56s

Richard Strauss: Frühling (first of the Four Last Songs)
Jessye Norman (soprano)
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Kurt Masur
Richard Strauss PHILIPS 464 742-2 T1
Dur: 4m 43s

Shostakovich Symphony No 13 Babi Yar (excerpt from 4th movement Fears, beginning 'Eta stala sevodnya dalyokim...')
Vitaly Gromadsky (bass)
Moscow PO/Kirill Kondrashin
Shostakovich Symphony No 13 RUSSIAN DISC RD CD 11 191 T4 (recording of 1st perf)
Dur: 2m 36s

Falla: El Amor Brujo (The Dance of the Game of Love - the last section)
Colette Boky (soprano)
Montréal Symphony Orchestra/Charles Dutoit
Falla DECCA 410 008-2 T3
Dur: 4m 1s.

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