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Wild Isles: Wild Music

Tom Service explores musical evocations of wilderness and the natural world, and goes in search of what makes music truly wild.

Inspired by David Attenborough鈥檚 Wild Isles series, Tom Service goes in search of music that reflects British wildlife and wilderness, and our relationship with it. From the songs of Henry Purcell written whilst wolves still roamed the British Isles to orchestral representations of composers like Hamish MacCunn, Grace Williams and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the score for Wild Isles itself, written by the Oscar nominated film composer George Fenton. But perhaps truly wild music isn鈥檛 music written about wild places: perhaps it's music which has a wildness of spirit, of process, or of uncontrollably organic construction, music that releases the untamed and the untameable, by composers like Peter Maxwell Davies, Brian Eno, and Chris Wood. But where do the real sounds of nature fit into all this 鈥 the sounds of birdsong, bacteria, and fungi鈥?

Our witness today is the award-winning author and naturalist Mark Cocker.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Available now

29 minutes

Music Played

  • George Fenton

    Wild isles - music for the TV series

    Performer: 大象传媒 Concert Orchestra.
    • Shogun Music.
    • USA2P2313851.
  • Henry Purcell

    Hark how the wild musicians sing Z.542 for TTB, 2 violins and continuo

    Performer: La Fenice Ensemble.
    • ARS.
    • DEFG21352501.
  • Hamish MacCunn

    Land of the mountain and the flood - overture Op.3

    Conductor: Martyn Brabbins. Performer: 大象传媒 Concert Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.
    • CDA66815.
  • Grace Williams

    Sea sketches for string orchestra

    Performer: Roy Goodman. Performer: Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
    • CBC.
    • SMCD-5227.
  • Thea Musgrave

    Turbulent landscapes for orchestra

    Conductor: Osmo V盲nsk盲. Performer: 大象传媒 Symphony Orchestra.
    • NMC.
    • GBCML0915302.
  • Chris Watson

    Valle Dei Venti

    Performer: Chris Watson.
    • Fondazione Edmund Mach.
    • 761118-02708.
  • Peter Maxwell Davies

    Symphony no. 2

    Conductor: Peter Maxwell Davies. Performer: 大象传媒 Philharmonic.
    • Collins Classics.
    • 14032.
  • Brian Eno

    Reflection

    Performer: Brian Eno.
    • WARP.
    • WARP280.
  • Chris Wood

    Asparagus

    Performer: Chris Wood.
    • RUFCD012.
    • RUF-CD012.
  • George Fenton

    Wild isles - music for the TV series

    Performer: 大象传媒 Concert Orchestra.
    • Shogun Music.
    • USA2P2313851.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 9 Apr 2023 17:00
  • Fri 14 Apr 2023 16:30

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