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Image credit: Philp Gatward

Following the death of composer Harrison Birtwistle at the age of 87, Kate talks to two people who knew his work intimately and who were amongst his personal friends: the Observer’s classical music critic Fiona Maddocks, and Professor of music at the University of Oxford, Jonathan Cross – both of whom have written books with and about Harry, as he is affectionately known. Together with Kate, they listen to conversations between Tom Service and Harry from the Music Matters archives, and discuss Birtwistle’s desire to express a music that existed in his head but which he’d never heard anywhere, as well as his lifelong fascination with myths, his compositional process, and his legacy.

Kate speaks to the virtuoso violinist and music director, Fabio Biondi, as he releases a new album showcasing the strings quartets of the lesser-known Italian composer Claudio Monza. She hears how Monza was an influence on Mozart when he travelled to Milan, and discusses virtuosity with Fabio Biondi, as well as his belief, too, that music should be prioritized in our concert halls and recording studios over personality.

The American psychologist, musician, and record producer, Daniel Levitin, and author, Jude Rogers, join Kate to discuss her new book – The Sound of Being Human: How Music Shapes Our Lives – in which she explores how music has the power to shape different versions of ourselves.

And, the journalist Nina Kropotkine-Watson reports on the world premiere of Oleksandr Shchetynsky’s Lacrimosa at Lviv Organ Hall – a piece the composer wrote for the Luhansk Regional Philharmonic who recently sought refuge in the city from the conflict’s frontline in eastern Ukraine.