The Music Show

Duo Windborne are two of Australia’s finest recorder players: Rodney Waterman and Ryan Williams. Their debut album, Venus Bay Fireside Sessions, is a record of their improvisational partnership. Originally intended to be recorded outside as a direct response to the natural world of Venus Bay, the weather drove them indoors and beside the fire – hence the title. They join Andy in studio with a fraction of their huge instrument collection to talk about their relationship with nature, their collaboration, and mount a defence of their much maligned instrument.Coral Reid is a fiddle player, a clog dancer, and a sword dancer (!) too. She’s an English folk music specialist and she’s brought her violin, her clogs, but sadly no swords into studio to demonstrate some of the traditions that spilled out from the mills, the mines and the pubs of northern England around the Industrial Revolution.Plus new music from Tonya Lemoh and Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion.Duo Windborne launch their album Venus Bay Fireside Sessions on 19 April at Victorian Artists Society in Melbourne.Coral Reid is on tour with the Sofa of Fools across Victoria and NSW until 21 April.Tonya Lemoh’s album I Dream A World is out now via ABC Classic.Music heard in the show:Title: BrownsArtist: Duo WindborneComposer: improvised by Rodney Waterman and Ryan WilliamsAlbum: Venus Bay Fireside SessionsLabel: Independent releaseTitle: Dances in the Canebrakes No. 1; Nimble FeetArtist: Tonya LemohComposer: Florence PriceAlbum: I Dream A WorldLabel: ABC ClassicTitle: Mangrove InletArtist: Duo WindborneComposer: improvised by Rodney Waterman and Ryan WilliamsAlbum: Venus Bay Fireside SessionsLabel: Independent releaseThree improvised pieces performed live in The Music Show studio by Duo Windborne – Rodney Waterman and Ryan WilliamsTitle: The Bonny Miller (trad)Performed live by Coral Reid in The Music Show studioClog dances “Sam Sherry’s Beginner Hornpipe”, and “Mrs. Willis’s Rag” demonstrated by Coral Reid in The Music Show studioTitle: Road to PoyntonComposer: Rob HarbronPerformed live by Coral Reid in The Music Show studioTitle: Rectangles and CircumstanceArtist: Caroline Shaw and Sō PercussionComposer: Caroline Shaw and Sō PercussionAlbum: Rectangles and CircumstanceLabel: Nonesuch (releasing 14 June)Technical production by Tim Jenkins, Tim Symonds, and Hamish “Tim” CamilleriThis episode of The Music Show was produced on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, Gadigal and Gundungurra Land

Benjamin Northey picked up the baton as Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra only a few years after the devastating 2011 earthquake. In a wide-ranging conversation he talks to Andrew Ford about the rebuilding of the musical life of the city (there was a period where the CSO performed at an Air Force museum after many performance venues were damaged). He also looks back on his years learning under the great Finnish conductor Jorma Panula, and why starting his career as a saxophone player put him in perfect stead to be on the podium. And we hear an interview with New Orleans singer and pianist Clarence 'Frogman' Henry. "I sing like a girl and I sing like a frog....." Clarence Henry croaked on his 1956 debut hit Ain't Got No Home, which earned him the nickname of 'Frogman'. In 2000 Andrew Ford crossed the Mississippi to Clarence's home in Algiers, New Orleans and sat down in his garden amongst the decorative frogs for a chat. Clarence Henry died on 7 April 2024 at the age of 87.Music heard in this programTitle: (I Don't Know Why) But I DoArtist: Clarence 'Frogman' HenryComposer:  Paul Gayten and Bobby CharlesAlbum: You Always Hurt The One You LoveLabel: Viking AUSLP 1009Title: Ain't Got No HomeArtist: Clarence 'Frogman' HenryComposer: Clarence HenryAlbum: Ain't Got No HomeLabel: Chess CHD 9346Title: McPancakeArtist: ApollineComposer: Stuart Morison, John Morris Rankin, Jonathan BerkahnAlbum: Home Home EPLabel: Blythe RecordsTitle: Finlandia, Op. 26 Artist: Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Jorma Panula conductorComposer: Jean SibeliusAlbum: The Very Best of SibeliusLabel: Naxos 8.552135-36Title: Symphony in F sharp, Op. 40, ii. Scherzo: Allegro moltoArtist: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Daniel de Borah piano, Benjamin Northey conductorComposer: Erich KorngoldLive recording: Courtesy ABC Classic, 2022Title: Waratah BayArtist: Duo WindborneComposer: improvised by Ryan Williams and Rodney WatermanAlbum: Venus Bay Fireside Sessions Label: Independent

Four pieces of music written in the years after World War II – Strauss’s Metamorphosen, Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, Britten’s War Requiem, and Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony, ‘Babi Yar’  – paint a complicated picture of how European composers memorialised war in Jeremy Eichler’s new book Time’s Echo. Jeremy joins Andy on the show to trace the connections and conflicts in the ways that a German, a Jewish Austrian in exile, an Englishman, and a Russian looked back at the war(s) and the Holocaust.Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance by Jeremy Eichler is published by Faber.Music heard in the show: Title: War Requiem, Op. 66Composer: Benjamin Britten, text by Wilfred OwenArtists: Peter Pears (tenor), Heather Harper (soprano), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Coventry Festival Choir, Boys of Holy Trinity Leamington and Stratford, John Cooper (organ), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Melos Ensemble, Meredith Davies and Benjamin Britten (conductors)Album: Britten War Requiem (recorded live at Conventry Cathedral, May 1962)Label: Testament SBT 1490Title: MetamorphosenComposer: Richard StraussArtists: Berlin Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwängler (conductor)Album: Wilhelm Furtwängler: An Anniversary TributeLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 477 006-2Title: A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46Composer: Arnold SchoenbergArtists: Günter Reich (narrator), BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez (conductor)Album: Boulez - SchoenbergLabel: Masterworks G010003768085JTitle: Symphony No. 13 in B flat minor, Op. 113, ‘Babi Yar’; i. Babi YarComposer: Dmitri ShostakovichArtists: Arthur Eisen (bass), Male Group of Republican Russian Academic Choir Capella, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin (conductor)Album: Shostakovich Complete SymphoniesLabel: Melodiya RCID18056928Technical production by Bethany Stewart on Gadigal LandThe Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Land

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 EAR075Music 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 0889853135929Title: 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

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is most of the way through an international tour that sees him playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations almost a hundred times, including his first ever performances in Australia. He joins Andy in the studio, in front of the piano, to talk about finding infinite variety in those Variations.We remember the late pianist Maurizio Pollini who died this week. “With Pollini things were never simple,” says Víkingur Ólafsson, “Chopin became the musical architect, Stockhausen the poet, Beethoven the philosopher. Many of us became better listeners and players.”Plus new music from Aussie singer-songwriter Emily Barker.Music heard in the show: Title: Goldberg Variations BWV988: Var. 1Artist: Víkingur ÓlafssonComposer: J.S. BachAlbum: Bach: Goldberg VariationsLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 4864553Title: … sofferte onde serene…Artist: Maurizio PolliniComposer: Luigi NonoAlbum: Maurizio Pollini: 20th CenturyLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 4779918Title: Boulez: Piano Sonata No. 2Artist: Maurizio PolliniComposer: Pierre BoulezAlbum: Maurizio Pollini plays Prokofiev, Boulez, Webern and StravinskyLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 4192022Title: Preludes Op. 28; No. 24, Prelude in D Minor, Allegro AppassionatoArtist: Maurizio PolliniComposer: Frédéric ChopinAlbum: Maurizio Pollini: ChopinLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 4779908Title: Goldberg Variations BWV988: Aria; extracts from other movementsArtist: Víkingur ÓlafssonComposer: J.S. BachPerformed live in studioTitle: The Quiet WaysArtist: Emily BarkerAlbum: Fragile As Humans (out 3 May)Label: Independent releaseTechnical production by Virginia Read and John JacobsThe Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

In the 1960s, the Les Girls Revue made Carlotta a star, and earned her the moniker “Queen of the Cross”. In Sydney’s red light district, she made a name for herself before hitting the road – she’d be the first to remind you that Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is at least partially based on her rural tours. Now she’s contemplating (but not committing to) retirement, she looks back at her career as an entertainer with Andrew Ford.  Maria Grenfell is a composer for the concert hall and for film, and also a teacher of composition at the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music. With her follow composer-academics Linda Kouvaras and Natalie Williams she has edited two volumes about the experiences of composing women. She recently sat down with Andrew in her home town of Christchurch to talk about writing for orchestra, teaching, and whether the term 'woman composer' is a help or a hindrance.Teho. is a Finnish fiddle duo made up of Tero Hyväluoma and Esko Järvelä (who are also members of 7-piece folk band Frigg). At the end of a whirlwind Australian tour the pair speak to Andrew about the rich musical history in the Kaustinen region, bringing traditional music into the 21st Century and how they can get such a big sound out of just two violins. Music in Carlotta:Title: Got To Be Real Composer: Cheryl Lynn, David Paich and David FosterArtist: Cheryl LynnAlbum: Cheryl LynnLabel: ColumbiaTitle: I'm The Greatest StarComposer: Jule Styne, lyrics Bob Merrill Artist: Barbara StreisandAlbum: Funny Girl (Original Broadway Cast)Label: Capitol Records W 2059Music in Maria Grenfell:Title: Di Primavera III. With energy and bounceComposer: Maria GrenfellArtist: Claire Edwardes and Karin SchauppAlbum: Women of Note: A Century of Australian ComposersLabel: ABC Classics 4817995Title: River Mountain SkyComposer: Maria GrenfellArtist: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin NortheyRecording: Courtesy of ABC ClassicMusic in Teho.:Title: Jokivarren Polska & FlikuleeriComposer: Esko JärveläArtist: Teho.Album: Not A Violin DuoLabel: IndependentTitle: TähtisilmävalssiComposer: Konsta JylhäArtist: Teho.Album: (E2 + ε + V) x I3 = PLabel: IndependentMusic at the end of the show:Title: No. 1: "Múzika igráyet tak bódro" (Olga, Masha, Irina)Composer: Peter EötvösArtist: Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Lyon, conducted by Kent NaganoAlbum: Eötvös: Three SistersLabel: Deutsche Grammophon E4596942

From the rattling charge of The Lone Ranger to the slick, warbling vocals of White Lotus, music for television has been beckoning us to the couch for the best part of a century.In Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring, Jon Burlingame has charted the history of music for telly in the form of an elegiac sort of look back at the medium as streaming overtook network TV and the 2007 writers’ strike looked to have changed the medium forever. Now a new edition, released in the context of a new and bitterly long writers’ and actors’ strike, may serve as an elegy for the streaming age too.Jon joins Andy from Los Angeles to fire up the cathode ray and listen to the music of the medium, with plenty of memorable tunes in the mix.Featuring themes and music from:The Lone RangerRawhideThe Twilight Zone (Bernard Herrmann)The Twilight Zone (Marius Constant)Peter GunnHawaii Five-0The Man from U.N.C.L.EMission, ImpossibleGet SmartThe JetsonsThe FlintstonesGilligan’s IslandAll In The FamilyCheersHill Street BluesThe West WingPride & PrejudiceJeeves & WoosterDeadwoodThe SopranosGame of ThronesSuccessionWhite LotusThe West Wing (closing credits)The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra CountryTechnical production by Russell Stapleton on Gadigal Country

Peter Garrett has still got a fire in his belly at 70. The True North, his new solo album, tackles similar ground to an Oils record—the climate crisis, politics and addiction to technology, but it's his own songwriting voice out front. The songs contain messages of hope and anger in equal measure. The music is provided by The Alter Egos (which includes Midnight Oil alumnus Martin Rotsey and The Jezabels' Heather Shannon) as well as his daughters Grace and May on backing vocals.Opera Australia is a beast of a company, most famously nestled beneath the sails of the Sydney Opera House but also in Melbourne, and across the East Coast. Programming for multiple cities, venues, audiences and tastes is a massive undertaking that British director Jo Davies took on when she was announced as the new Artistic Director of the company last year. Now with her feet firmly under the table and her inaugural season hitting the stage, she talks with Andy about her programming choices, which see a significant Australian and new opera presence, collaborations with other smaller opera companies, as well as smatterings of musical theatre and a production of Tosca staged at Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena.Music in Peter GarrettTitles: Innocence Parts 1 & 2, Meltdown, Human Playground, Permaglow, EverybodyComposer: Peter Garrett (except Human Playground which was written by Ainslie Wills)Artist: Peter GarrettAlbum: The True NorthLabel: Sony Music 19658844501Music in Jo DaviesTitle: Overture, from Così fan tutteComposer: MozartArtist: La Petite Bande, conduted byt Sigiswald KuijkenAlbum: Mozart: Così fan tutteLabel: Brilliant Classics 99555Title: Breaking The Waves (excerpt)Composer: Missy Mazzoli, libretto Royce VavrekArtist: Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Steven Osgood with soprano Kiera DuffyThe Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra CountryTechnical production by Russell Stapleton on Gadigal Country

It was hard to miss Corinne Bailey Rae’s ubiquitous track from 2006 'Put Your Records On'. And it’s still heard in coffee shops the world over. The English singer songwriter released her fourth studio album late last year and it represented a complete left turn in both sound and subject. Black Rainbows is her first album not on a major label and spans genres like rock, jazz and punk. It's a celebration of Black history and resilience, with each track inspired by books, photographs and objects that Corinne encountered at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago.Ju Ben is a Fijian hip hop artist who won ABC’s Pacific Break competition, and a slot on stage at WOMADelaide. Producer Ce Benedict caught up with him backstage to talk about the song 'Sema Mai' and the messages behind his music.Angélique Kidjo shares the story behind her 2018 album Remain In Light, a track-for-track re-imagining of the Talking Heads’ classic, highlighting the African influences across the record.Music in Corinne Bailey Rae:Title: Peach Velvet SkyComposer: Corinne Bailey Rae, Stephen James BrownArtist: Corinne Bailey RaeAlbum: Black RainbowsLabel: Thirty TigersTitle: ErasureComposer: Corinne Bailey RaeArtist: Corinne Bailey RaeAlbum: Black RainbowsLabel: Thirty TigersTitle: Before The Throne Of The Invisible GodComposer: Corinne Bailey RaeArtist: Corinne Bailey RaeAlbum: Black RainbowsLabel: Thirty TigersMusic in Ju Ben:Title: Sema MaiComposer: Peni Tupou Roqara (Ju Ben)Artist: JU BENAlbum: Tauyavu EPLabel: VTBOP Music/PreciseMusic in Angelique Kidjo:Title: Once In A LifetimeComposer: Brian Eno, Christopher Frantz, David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina WeymouthArtist: Talking HeadsAlbum: Remain In LightLabel: Sire SRK 6095Title: Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)Composer: Brian Eno, Christopher Frantz, David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina WeymouthArtist: Talking HeadsAlbum: Remain In LightLabel: Sire SRK 6095Title: Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)Composer: Brian Eno, Christopher Frantz, David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina WeymouthArtist: Angélique KidjoAlbum: Remain In LightLabel: KravenworksTechnical production by Simon Branthwaite, Nathan Turnbull and Harvey O'SullivanThe Music Show was produced this week on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Kaurna Country

Simone Young, who has just renewed her contract with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for another two years, talks about conducting Gurrelieder for the first time. Schoenberg's late-Romantic extravagance is one of the most sumptuous works of the twentieth century, and one of the biggest - such a concert hall rarity that Simone herself has never heard it live. We also talk about her forthcoming cycles of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung at the theatre Wagner himself built in Bayreuth, Germany.Eleanor McEvoy is one of Ireland’s foremost singer songwriters, and we pick up the conversation where we left it last time—in the midst of an ill-fated tour in March 2020. After nearly two years without touring or playing a single gig, Eleanor released her 16th album, Gimme Some Wine, a lush and introspective record with instrumentation inspired by listening to a wide range of music. She plays two songs from it live in our studio.Eleanor's tour dates:Friday 15 March Blue Mountains Festival, Katoomba, NSWSaturday 16 March Blue Mountains Festival, Katoomba, NSWSunday 17 March Blue Mountains Festival , Katoomba, NSWWednesday 20 March Jack Duggans Irish Pub, Bathurst, NSWThursday 21 March Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham, NSWFriday 22 March Illawarra Folk Club, Wollongong, NSWSaturday 23 March Troubadour Folk, Woy Woy, NSWSunday 24 March , New Lambton Community Centre , NSWWednesday 27 March Merry Muse, Irish Club, CanberraTuesday 2 April Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne, VICWednesday 3 April The Gaelic Club, Sydney, NSW ClubMusic in the show:Extracts from Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder from the following recordings:Artists: Stig Andersen, Soile Isokoski, Monica Groop, Ralf Lukas, Andreas Conrad, Barbara Sukowa, City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, Philharmonia Voices, and Philharmonia OrchestraConductor: Esa-Pekka SalonenLabel: Signum Classics SIGCD173Artists: Marita Napier, Yvonne Minton, Jess Thomas, Siegmund Nimsgern, Kenneth Bowen and Gunter Reich (narrator), BBC Symphony Orchestra & ChorusConductor: Pierre BoulezLabel: Sony Music SM2K 48 459Eleanor McEvoy performs live in The Music Show studio two songs from her album Gimme Some Wine:South Anne StreetThe Spanish Word for LoveAt the end of the show:Title: Carbon FootprintArtist: Veronique Serret feat. William BartonIndependent single releaseTechnical production by Simon Branthwaite, Nathan Turnbull and Harvey O'SullivanThe Music Show was produced this week on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Kaurna Country