Main content

The Borrowers

From medieval masses to sampling, doing new things with other people's music is where true originality is to be found, says Tom Service.

Taking other people's music and using it for your own purposes might look like the very opposite of creative originality. But down the centuries, from the parody masses of the middle ages and the habitual borrowings of the Baroque, through to 21st-century digital sampling, the greatest musical minds have done just that.

Tom Service looks into the hows, whys and copyright pitfalls of musical borrowing with the help of legal expert and historian Olufunmilayo Arewa and composer and sound designer Pascal Wyse.

David Papp (producer)

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 19 Nov 2021 16:30
±«Óătv Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Klezmer

Next

How to listen to...Erik Satie

See all episodes from The Listening Service

Music Played

  • Guillaume Dufay

    Missa L'homme arme for 4 voices

    Performer: The Hilliard Ensemble. Conductor: Paul Hillier.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.
    • 9029 652686.

  • Mac Miller

    Mac Miller: Diablo

    Performer: Mac Miller.
    • Larry's Record Shop.
    • unknown.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Circus polka for orchestra

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas.
    • RCA.
    • G010000267924N.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Octet in E flat major Op.20 for strings

    Performer: Seattle Chamber Music Octet. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • ONYX.
    • ONYX-4060.

  • Oxford Camerata

    L'homme arme for unaccompanied voices

    Conductor: Jeremy Summerly.
    • NAXOS.
    • 8.554297.

  • Tallis Scholars

    Missa L'homme arme super voces musicales for 4 voices

    Conductor: Peter Phillips.
    • Gimell.
    • CDGIM 019.

  • Tallis Scholars

    Missa L'homme arme sexti toni for 4 voices

    Conductor: Peter Phillips.
    • Gimell.
    • CDGIM 019.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    7 Variations on 'God save the King' in C major WoO.78 for piano

    Performer: CĂ©dric Tiberghien.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMC 901775.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in A minor RV.522, Op.3`8 for 2 violins and orchestra

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Performer: Brecon Baroque.
    • Channel Classics.
    • CCSSA-36515.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto in A minor BWV.593 for organ, arr. from Vivaldi's Op.3`8 (RV.522) [orig. 2 vn & orch]

    Performer: Ton Koopman.
    • NOVALIS.
    • 1500202.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto a due cori no. 1 in B flat major HWV.332

    Performer: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: Gottfried von der Goltz. Conductor: Petra MĂŒllejans.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • HMM 905272.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Messiah

    Conductor: Justin Doyle. Performer: Julia Doyle. Performer: Roderick Williams. Performer: Thomas Hobbs. Performer: Timothy Meade. Performer: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin. Performer: RIAS Chamber Choir.
    • PENTATONE.
    • PTC 5186853.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Requiem in D minor K.626, compl. Sussmayr

    Performer: Johannes Weisser. Performer: Marie‐Claude Chappuis. Performer: Maximilian Schmitt. Performer: Sophie KarthĂ€user. Performer: RIAS Chamber Choir. Performer: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: RenĂ© Jacobs.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMM 902291.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Wellingtons Sieg or Die Schlacht bei Vittoria Op.91 (Battle symphony)

    Performer: Cappella Aquileia. Conductor: Marcus Bosch.
    • CPO.
    • 555302-2.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony no. 9 in C major D.944 (Great)

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: IvĂĄn Fischer.
    • CHANNEL CLASSICS.
    • CCSSA-31111.

  • Franz Liszt

    Fantasia on themes from 'Le nozze de Figaro' and 'Don Giovanni' S.697 for piano, compl. various

    Performer: Chiyan Wong.
    • LINN.
    • CKD 561.

  • Camille Saint‐SaĂ«ns

    Le Carnaval des animaux

    Performer: Martha Argerich. Performer: Lilya Zilberstein. Performer: Andrey Baranov. Performer: Enrico Fagone. Performer: Corrado Giuffredi. Performer: Lyda Chen. Performer: Gregorio Di Trapani. Performer: Alfred Rutz. Performer: Michael Guttman. Performer: Alexandre Debrus.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.
    • 2564 631220.

  • Claude Debussy

    En blanc et noir for 2 pianos

    Performer: Martha Argerich. Performer: Stephen Kovacevich.
    • Philips.
    • 478-4804.

  • Richard Strauss

    Metamorphosen AV.142 for 23 solo strings

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 447-422 2.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Le Baiser de la fee [The fairy's kiss] - ballet

    Performer: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Oliver Knussen.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 449-205-2.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    6 Songs Op.6

    Performer: Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Performer: Ivari Ilja.
    • DELOS.
    • DE-3393.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Le Baiser de la fee [The fairy's kiss] - ballet

    Performer: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Oliver Knussen.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 449-205-2.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Agon - ballet

    Performer: Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Gustavo Gimeno.
    • PENTATONE.
    • PTC 5186 650.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    The Firebird - ballet

    Performer: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Josef Krips.
    • TESTAMENT.
    • SBT 1122.

  • Afrika Bambaattaa & Soulsonic Force

    PLANET ROCK

    • Tommy Boy Music.
    • TBLP 1007.

  • Madonna/Shep Pettibone

    VOGUE

    • Sire.
    • W-9851CD.

  • Britney Spears

    Lucky

    • Jive.
    • 9251022.

  • Bruno Mars

    Finesse

    Composer: Christopher Brody Brown. Composer: James Fauntleroy. Composer: Jeremy Reeves. Composer: Jonathan Yip. Composer: Philip Lawrence. Composer: Ray McCullough. Composer: Ray Romulus. Performer: Bruno Mars. Performer: Cardi B.
    • Atlantic.
    • USAT21602944.

  • Duran Duran

    A VIEW TO A KILL

    • Parlophone.
    • EJ-2403491.

  • Shadow

    MIDNIGHT IN A PERFECT WORLD

    Performer: DJ Shadow.
    • MO WAX.
    • MWCD-059.

  • David Axelrod

    The Human Abstract

    Performer: David Axelrod.
    • CAPITOL RECORDS.
    • SKAO-338.

  • Pascal Wyse

    tic-tac-toe

    Performer: Pascal Wyse.
    • Touch Music/Fairwood Music UK Ltd.
    • unknown.

  • Luciano Berio

    Sinfonia for 8 solo voices and orchestra vers. 1969 [5 movements]

    Performer: Electric Phoenix. Performer: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • DECCA.
    • 425 8322.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 14 Nov 2021 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 19 Nov 2021 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

Why do we call it 'classical' music?

Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).

Six of the world's most extreme voices

From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.

Watch the animations

Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.

When does noise become music?

We like to think we can separate “noise” from “music”, but is it that simple?

Podcast