Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Storytelling, beauty and melancholy in music with composer Isobel Waller-Bridge

Isobel Waller-Bridge chooses a selection of classical music from her point of view as a composer - revealing familiar and unfamiliar works in a new light.

TV and film composer Isobel Waller-Bridge leads us through an intriguing selection of pieces that get her thinking about the power music has to create vivid images and to tell stories.

She finds herself dancing with her eyes closed to Erik Satie before realising how stringed instruments can in their own way mimic the emotional impact of voices. She also discovers how a Finnish landscape full of migrating swans can be captured perfectly in music, and plays a song from 1969 that breaks many of the rules of pop to deliver its beautiful, melancholy message.

A series in which each week a musician explores a selection of music - from the inside.

A Tandem Production for 大象传媒 Radio 3

1 hour, 56 minutes

Music Played

  • Erik Satie

    Gnossiennes No. 3 - Lent

    Performer: Alice Sara Ott.
    • DG.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    'And now, this is how things stood' from Peter and the Wolf

    Narrator: David Bowie. Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Eugene Ormandy.
    • SONY.
  • Isobel Waller-Bridge

    Arise

    • RECORDS DK.
  • Hildegard von Bingen

    Antiphon, O quam mirabilis est

    Ensemble: Anonymous 4.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Number 3 & Number 10 from 10 pieces for wind quintet

    Performer: Philharmonisches Bl盲serquintett Berlin.
    • BIS.
  • Luigi Cherubini

    Symphony in D - 1st movement

    Orchestra: La Scala Philharmonic. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • DECCA.
  • Olivier Messiaen

    Quartet for the End of Time - V - Louange a l'eternite de Jesus

    Ensemble: Gould Piano Trio.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Scott Walker

    It's raining today

    Performer: Scott Walker.
    • MERCURY.
  • Claude Debussy

    Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune

    Performer: Timothy Hutchins. Orchestra: Orchestre symphonique de Montr茅al. Conductor: Charles Dutoit.
    • DECCA.
  • Caroline Shaw

    Plan and Elevation - The Orangery & The Beech Tree

    Ensemble: Attacca Quartet.
    • NONESUCH.
  • Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

    Kyrie from Missa Assumpta est Maria

    Choir: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • CORO.
  • John Tavener

    The Lamb (arranged for strings)

    Orchestra: Brno Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Mikel Toms.
    • VARESE SARABANDE.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto for flutes, strings and continuo in C major, RV533

    Performer: Stephen Preston. Performer: Nicholas McGegan. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music. Director: Christopher Hogwood.
    • DECCA.
  • Leos Jan谩膷ek

    In the Mists - 1st movement - Andante

    Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.
  • Einojuhani Rautavaara

    Cantus arcticus, Op. 61 - Concerto for Birds and Orchestra - III - Swans Migrating

    Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.
    • ONDINE.
  • Trad.

    Houbava Milka (Beautiful Milk)

    Choir: Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir. Choir: Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir.
    • GEGA NEW.
  • George Crumb

    Apparition 6 - The night in silence under many a star

    Performer: Gilbert Kalish. Singer: Jan DeGaetani.
    • BRIDGE.

Broadcasts

  • Sat 6 Jun 2020 13:00
  • Sat 27 Mar 2021 13:00

How to compose music for video games

Eimear Noone, composer of The Legend of Zelda allows us into her world

How to become 鈥 and succeed as 鈥 a conductor

How to become 鈥 and succeed as 鈥 a conductor

Gabriella Teychenn茅 allows us to get inside a conductor's head...