Sam Anning's earthenware and Beethoven's Missa solemnis at 200

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this program contains the name of someone who has died.

Melbourne double bassist Sam Anning’s latest album is dedicated to Archie Roach. The album’s title Earthen comes from a remark Roach made from his hospital bed about instruments being ‘earthenware’—coming from the earth, carrying music and then returning to the earth. The septet on this record is made up of Anning's friends and long-term collaborators and he reflects on writing for specific people rather than instruments, and how tragedy and grief can become jazz.

Two hundred years ago, Beethoven was almost completely deaf, pushing fifty, and working on his massive – and final – 9th Symphony. He also completed (years behind schedule) the biggest of his sacred works, his Missa solemnis. On the 200th anniversary of its first performance, Peter Tregear is presenting the mass in its full liturgical context at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, and he joins Andy to unpack what makes the piece “profoundly humanistic” and a little less religiously zealous than you might imagine.

Music in Sam Anning:

Titles: Rise Up Lights; Strangers featuring Kyrie Anderson; Transitive States featuring Julien Wilson; Uvalde featuring Kyrie Anderson; Moonland featuring Carl MackeyArtist: Sam AnningComposer: Sam AnningAlbum: EarthenLabel: Earshift Music EAR075

Music in Peter Tregear:

Titles: Missa solemnis in D major, Op. 123: Kyrie; Agnus Dei; Dona Nobis Pacem; Credo In Unum DeumArtist: Laura Aikin, Bernarda Fink, Johannes Chum, Ruben Drole, Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Concentus Musicus Wien, conducted by Nikolaus HarnoncourtComposer: BeethovenAlbum: Beethoven: Missa Solemnis in D Major, Op. 123Label: Sony Classical 0889853135929

Title: Missa In Tempore Belli, ‘Paukenmesse’ In C Major (Hob.XXII:9; 1796): Agnus DeiArtist: Kirsten Sollek, Richard Lippold, Ann Hoyt, Daniel Neer, Trinity Choir, Rebel Baroque Orchestra, Composer: HaydnAlbum: Mariazellermesse (Missa Cellensis) / Paukenmesse (Missa In Tempore Belli)Label: Naxos 8.572124