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Dancing about Architecture

Was whoever said 'writing about music is like dancing about architecture' onto something? Or, in its own way, can writing about music be just as inspirational as music itself?

Despite barbed quips about the impossibility of writing about music, people have been at it, successfully, for thousands of years, from Plato in ancient Greece until today. Many composers, too, have felt the need to set down in writing their musical credos; composers like Berlioz and Debussy have themselves been great writers about music. And then, what about the literary representations of music in passages which so clearly and evocatively describe what it's like to listen to music, which manage to articulate the emotions music so readily arouses but we find so hard to describe?

So is writing about music really like dancing about architecture? No, says Tom Service. But clunky, not-quite-worked through metaphors are definitely best avoided.

David Papp (producer)

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 28 Jan 2022 16:30
±«Óătv Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony no. 7 in C major Op.105

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • LSO0552.

  • Jimmy Cox

    Jimmy Cox: Nobody Knows When Your Down And Out

    Performer: Bessie Smith.
    • Universal.
    • 20th Century Pop 1925-1977 CD1.

  • Anton Bruckner

    Symphony no. 8 in C minor

    Performer: Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Sergiu Celibidache (1912 - 1996).
    • Warner Classics.
    • 9029519480.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony no. 41 in C major K.551 (Jupiter)

    Performer: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: René Jacobs.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMC-901958.

  • Arnold Schoenberg

    Chamber symphony no. 1 in E major Op.9

    Performer: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 4575622.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Romeo et Juliette - symphonie dramatique Op.17 for soloists, chorus and orchestra

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • lso-0003.

  • Gustav Holst

    The Planets - suite Op.32

    Performer: ±«Óătv Philharmonic. Conductor: Andrew Davis.
    • CHANDOS.
    • CHSA5086.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

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

    Performer: Monteverdi Choir. Performer: Orchestre RĂ©volutionnaire et Romantique. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Archiv.
    • E4470742.

  • Claude Debussy

    Children's corner for piano

    Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
    • Chandos.
    • CHAN10467.

  • Richard Wagner

    Tristan und Isolde - opera in 3 acts

    Performer: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 9029524247.

  • Richard Wagner

    Tristan und Isolde - opera in 3 acts

    Performer: Margaret Price. Performer: Brigitte Fassbaender. Performer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau. Performer: Anton Dermota. Performer: Kurt Moll. Performer: RenĂ© Kollo. Performer: Werner Gotz. Performer: MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig. Performer: Staatskapelle Dresden. Conductor: Carlos Kleiber.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • E4775355.

  • Richard Wagner

    Das Rheingold [Part 1 of 'Der Ring des Nibelungen']

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Klaus Tennstedt.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 2435686165.

  • Paul Hindemith

    5 Pieces Op.44 No. 4 for string orchestra

    Performer: Barbara Jane Gilby. Performer: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Werner Andreas Albert.
    • CPO.
    • 999 3012.

  • Joseph Haydn

    The Creation [Die Schopfung] H.21.2

    Performer: Genia KĂŒhmeier. Performer: Sophie KarthĂ€user. Performer: Toby Spence. Performer: Dietrich Henschel. Performer: Markus Werba. Performer: Les Arts Florissants. Performer: William Christie.
    • ERATO.
    • 3952352.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Eternal source of light - birthday ode for Queen Anne

    Performer: Elin Manahan Thomas. Performer: Crispian Steele‐Perkins. Performer: Armonico Consort. Conductor: Christopher Monks.
    • SIGNUM.
    • SIGCD 289.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Serenade in B flat major K.361 for 13 wind instruments

    Performer: Maurice Bourgue Wind Ensemble.
    • Pierre Verany.
    • PV 793031.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Mass in B minor BWV.232

    Performer: Dunedin Consort. Conductor: John Butt.
    • LINN.
    • CKD354.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Carlos Kleiber.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 447 4002.

  • John Dowland

    In darknesse let mee dwell [pub. in 'A musical banquet', 1610]

    Performer: Mark Padmore. Performer: Elizabeth Kenny.
    • Hyperion.
    • CDA67648.

  • György Ligeti

    Atmospheres

    Performer: Ligeti Project. Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Jonathan Nott.
    • TELDEC.
    • 8573 882612.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cantata no. 106 BWV.106 (Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (Actus tragicus))

    Performer: Mårta Kurtåg. Performer: György Kurtåg.
    • ECM.
    • 4535112.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 23 Jan 2022 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 28 Jan 2022 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

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