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Money Makes the Music Go Round

Tom Service explores the relationship between money and music, from Prokofiev to the Pet Shop Boys, with economist Felix Martin.

What have the Pet Shop Boys and Prokofiev got in common? How can you sing about not wanting money at the same time as making it? What does it feel like to burn a million pounds? Tom Service explores how our transactional economy underpins centuries of music making from Notre-Dame’s patronage of the polyphonic Perotin, to Beethoven writing a symphony for £100 and Wagner losing over a million on the premiere of his operatic masterpiece The Ring cycle.

Our Listening Service witness today is macroeconomist, fund manager and sometime cellist Felix Martin, who has written the unauthorised biography of money.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 16 Jun 2023 16:30
±«Óătv Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Liza Minnelli & Joel Grey

    Money Makes the World Go Round

    Music Arranger: John Whitehead.
    • MCA.
    • MCLCD-19088.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: West–Eastern Divan Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
    • DECCA.
    • 478 3511.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Messiah

    Performer: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDD-22019.

  • Queen

    ONE VISION

    • EMI.
    • 2779974.

  • Richard Rodgers

    Main Title and Preludium from 'The Sound of Music'

    Performer: John Wilson Orchestra.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.
    • B009B1515Q.

  • Madonna

    Material Girl

    • Sire.
    • 7599-26440-2.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Rondo capriccio in G major Op.129 'Rage over a Lost Penny'

    Performer: Alice Sara Ott.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 477 9291.

  • Pet Shop Boys

    SHOPPING

    • PARLOPHONE.
    • CDP 7-469772 2.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    The Gambler [Igrok] - opera Op.24

    Performer: Mariinsky Orchestra. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.
    • PHILIPS.
    • 454-559 2.

  • Dire Straits

    MONEY FOR NOTHING

    • MERCURY RECORDS.
    • GBF088890016.

  • ABBA

    Money Money Money

    • Polydor.
    • C-517 007-2.

  • Bernard Edwards

    Mo Money Mo Problems

    Composer: Christopher Wallace. Composer: Mason Betha. Composer: Nile Rodgers. Composer: Sean Combs. Composer: Steven Jordan. Performer: The Notorious B.I.G.. Performer: Mase. Performer: Diddy.
    • BAD BOY.
    • 78612730111.

  • Shania Twain

    KA-CHING

    • MERCURY RECORDS.
    • 10385.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 9 in D minor Op.125 (Choral)

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 469 0002.

  • Max Bruch

    Concerto no. 1 in G minor Op.26 for violin and orchestra

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti. Performer: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Jakub Hrůša.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 476-409 2.

  • Richard Wagner

    Die Walkure [Part 2 of 'Der Ring des Nibelungen']

    Performer: Tomasz Konieczny. Performer: Berlin R S O.. Conductor: Marek Janowski.
    • PENTATONE.
    • PTC 5186 407.

  • Early Music Consort of London

    Viderunt omnes fines terrae - gradual for 4 voices

    Conductor: David Munrow.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 477 9178.

  • Henry Purcell

    Suite in G major Z.770

    Performer: London Baroque.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMA-1951327.

  • Steve Reich

    Nagoya marimbas for 2 marimbas

    Performer: Colin Currie. Performer: Sam Walton.
    • EMI.
    • 5722672.

  • London Sinfonietta/John McGlinn

    We're In The Money

    • WARNER CLASSICS.
    • 0724357376358.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 27 Jun 2021 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 2 Jul 2021 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Sun 11 Jun 2023 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 16 Jun 2023 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

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