大象传媒

In the fourth episode of this six part series, writer and satirist Chris Addison (The Thick Of It, Veep) explores how music has been used to comment on religion and challenge its authority.

Chris has chosen tracks that show how composers have handled religion throughout the ages. This programme features music by Leonard Bernstein, Ethel Smyth, Johannes Brahms, Robert Nathaniel Dett, William Byrd, and more.

In this series, Chris Addison - himself a classical music devotee, keen amateur choral singer and opera buff - takes listeners on a tour of how composers have used their music to question, parody, and challenge power and ideas over the years. Classical music can amplify power, but it can also undermine it - satirising and thumbing the nose of the status quo. Composers have used classical music to critique, undermine and even lampoon - often in cleverly nuanced, surprising ways that reconnect us to the flawed humans - and shared humanity - beneath the pomposity. Each episode in this series takes a big idea, and illustrates it with a playlist of entertaining and diverse music spanning the entire history of Western classical music.

Leonard Bernstein: Mass 鈥� Gloria VI. Gloria: 1. Gloria tibi / 2. Gloria in excelsis / 3. Trope: "Half of the People"
Alan Titus (baritone)
Norman Scribner Choir, The Berkshire Boy Choir, Mass Cast Studio Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein (conductor)

Ethel Smyth: The Wreckers 鈥� Overture
Scottish National Orchestra
Sir Alexander Gibson (conductor)

Johannes Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem 鈥� Iv: Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wohnungen
Elizabeth Watts (soprano)
St茅phane Degout (baritone)
London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir
Yannick N茅zet-S茅guin (conductor)

Benjamin Britten: Noye鈥檚 Fludde 鈥� 鈥淲iffe, Come In!鈥�
Owen Brannigan (bass)
Sheila Rex (mezzo-soprano)
David Pinto (boy soprano)
Benjamin Britten (piano)
English Opera Group orchestra, Norman del Mar (conductor)

Margaret Bonds: Credo 鈥� Vii: I Believe In Patience
The Dessoff Choirs
Malcolm J. Merriweather (conductor)

Robert Nathaniel Dett / Traditional: Listen to the Lambs
Nathaniel Dett Chorale
Brainerd Blyden-Taylor (director)

Leos Jan谩cek: Glagolitic Mass 鈥� Gloria
Gabriela Benackov谩 (soprano)
Vera Soukupova (mezzo-soprano)
Franti拧ek Livora (tenor)
Karel Pr暖拧a
Jan Hora
Czech Philharmonic Choir
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Vaclav Neumann (conductor)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli 鈥� Kyrie
Oxford Camerata
Jeremy Summerly (director)

William Byrd: Why Do I Use My Paper, Ink & Pen?
Stile Antico & Fretwork

Produced by James C Taylor
An Overcoat Media Production for 大象传媒 Radio 3