The Music Show

It's been forty years since the 1984–5 United Kingdom miners' strike and The Music Show has dug into the archives for a special program looking at the role that music played in this political, industrial and personal struggle. From Peggy Seeger to Paul Weller, Billy Bragg to brass bands—there's music supporting the striking miners, songs tormenting strikebreakers and tracks referencing (and sometimes sampling) National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of East Anglia John Street guides us through the history and music of this divisive time, plus we hear interviews from the ABC archives with folklorist A L Lloyd, singer songwriter Billy Bragg, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, folk singers Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger and composer David Lumsdaine.

For over fifty years, Sir Andrew Davis (1944–2024) was one of the world's busiest conductors, He conducted in the opera house and the concert hall and his repertoire ranged from Bach to Birtwistle. In the mid 1970s, he became chief conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, then took on Glyndebourne Opera, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago - always for long stretches. From 2012 to 2019 he was chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and thereafter the orchestra's conductor laureate. He died this week at the age of 80, and we remember him in the company of Benjamin Northey, the MSO's principal conductor, and listen to excerpts from some of Sir Andrew's Music Show interviews.  Martha Wainwright returns to Australia, playing old and new songs. She dips into her family’s discography as well as her experiences of rebirth over the last few years in her latest album, Love Will Be Reborn, which was accompanied by a memoir that looks back at a life of joy, grief and family.Martha Wainwright is on tour around Australia:Wednesday, May 8 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane, QLDThursday, May 9 – Anita’s Theatre, Wollongong, NSWFriday, May 10 – City Recital Hall, Sydney, NSWSaturday, May 11 – Civic Theatre, Newcastle, NSWSunday, May 12 – Blue Mountains Theatre, Blue Mountains, NSWTuesday, May 14 – The Gov, Adelaide, SAThursday, May 16 – Odeon Theatre, Hobart, TASFriday, May 17 – Recital Centre, Melbourne, VICSaturday, May 18 – Capital Theatre, Bendigo, VICMusic heard in the show:Title: Symphony No. 9 in E minorComposer: Ralph Vaughan WilliamsArtist: Bergen Philharmonic, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)Album: Symphony No. 9Label: Chandos CHSA5180Title: Your RockabyComposer: Mark-Anthony TurnageArtist: Martin Robertson (saxophone), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)Album: Turnage: Your Rockaby; Night Dances; Dispelling The FearsLabel: Argo 4525982Title: Enigma Variations; x. NimrodComposer: Edward ElgarArtist: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)Album: The Queen’s Diamond JubileeLabel: Warner Classics 2564660472Title: The Mask of Orpheus; 3 Orphic Hymns – Hymn of CatharsisComposer: Harrison BirtwistleArtist: BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, Martyn Brabbins (conductor), Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)Album: The Mask of OrpheusLabel: NMC NMCD050Title: Brigg Fair (An English Rhapsody)Composer: Frederic DeliusArtist: Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)Album: Delius Orchestral WorksLabel: Chandos CHAN10742Title: Love Will Be RebornComposer: Martha WainwrightArtist: Martha WainwrightAlbum: Love Will Be RebornLabel: Pheromone RecordsTitle: Dinner at EightComposer: Rufus WainwrightArtist: Martha WainwrightAlbum: Love Will Be RebornLabel: Pheromone RecordsTitle: Tell My SisterComposer: Kate McGarrigleArtist: Martha WainwrightAlbum: Love Will Be RebornLabel: Pheromone RecordsTitle: Being RightComposer: Martha WainwrightArtist: Martha WainwrightAlbum: Love Will Be RebornLabel: Pheromone RecordsTitle: There Is Power In A UnionComposer: Billy BraggArtist: Billy BraggAlbum: Talking With the Taxman About PoetryLabel: Cooking Vinyl COOKCD304The Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra CountryTechnical production by John Jacobs

Beethoven's five sonatas for cello and piano span his career - two from the beginning, one from the middle and two from his late period - so they provide a good framework for talking about the composer. Timo-Veikko Valve and Aura Go have recorded them alongside the complete music for cello and piano by Anton Webern (three works, together lasting under ten minutes) and they'll be in the studio to talk about them and play excerpts. Alison Cotton is a London-based experimental artist whose viola/drone/voice/soundscape-rich music is very hard to pigeonhole. Her new album Engelchen (meaning 'little angels') follows the incredible story of British opera-loving sisters Ida and Louise Cook who helped save 29 Jewish people before the start of World War II. The sisters used their love of attending operas as a guise for travelling to Germany, where they actually met refugees and helped smuggle their valuables out of the country. Items like jewellery, furs and watches were sold in the UK to help fund their owner's safe passage. The sisters would do things like restitch British labels to the German coats to avoid suspicion from the Nazi border guards... who thought they were just spinsters dressed in finery returning from a weekend trip to the opera. Timo-Veikko Valve and Aura Go are performing at ACO Up Close: Beethoven Arranged on 20 April in Sydney and 22 April in Melbourne.Alison Cotton’s Engelchen is out now.Music in the show:Title: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69; ii. ScherzoComposer: Ludwig van BeethovenArtist: Timo-Veikko Valve (cello) and Aura Go (piano)Performed Live in The Music Show studioTitle: Three Little Pieces, Op. 11Composer: Anton WebernArtist: Timo-Veikko Valve (cello) and Aura Go (piano)Performed Live in The Music Show studioTitle: Cello Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 No. 1; ii. Adagio – Tempo d'andante – Allegro vivaceComposer: Ludwig van BeethovenArtist: Timo-Veikko Valve (cello) and Aura Go (piano)Album: Beethoven Cello Sonatas, Webern Works for Cello & PianoLabel: ABC ClassicTitle: The Letter Burning; We Were Smuggling People’s Lives; Crepuscle; Engelchen NowArtist: Alison CottonAlbum: EngelchenLabel: Feeding Tube Records LAUNCH339RTitle: CrepuscleComposer: Jules MassenetArtist: Amelita Galli-CurciAlbum: Amelita Galli-Curci Volume OneLabel: The Rubini Collection GV.578Title: As The Trees Have Always KnownArtist: Melanie HorsnellAlbum: As The Trees Have Always Known (Single)Label: Independent releaseTechnical Production by Russell Stapleton and John JacobsThe Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Land

In Southern Louisiana, a few hours from New Orleans, Ann Savoy has spent a lifetime studying, playing and collecting Cajun music. She's best known for her trio Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, her duet album with Linda Ronstadt Adieu False Heart, and touring and playing festivals with the Savoy Family Band. Ann has just released her first ever solo album, Another Heart, which pays tribute to her early musical loves, the English and American singer songwriters of the 1960s and 70s, but with a Cajun twist.Pianist and composer Wilbur Whitta has released Wildfire, his debut album as bandleader. During the midst of a NSW tour, Wilbur joins Andrew on The Music Show to explain the blend of improvisation and composition on the album, writing for a quartet with two horns and no bass, and about the importance of having mentors in jazz.Music in the show:Title: Two Step D'AmédéArtist: Savoy-Doucet Cajun BandComposer: Marc SavoyAlbum: Two-Step D'AmédéLabel: Arhoolie Records CD-316 Title: Cajun Love SongArtist: Ann SavoyComposer: Ann SavoyAlbum: Another HeartLabel: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW40256Title: Waterloo SunsetArtist: Ann SavoyComposer: Ray DaviesAlbum: Another HeartLabel: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW40256Title: Walk Away ReneeArtist: Linda Ronstadt, Ann SavoyComposer: Bob Calilli, Mike Brown, Tony Sansome Album: Adieu False HeartLabel: Vanguard 79808-2Title: Stolen CarArtist: Ann SavoyComposer: Bruce SpringsteenAlbum: Another HeartLabel: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW40256Titles: Leave To Enter; Pizza; Not Interested; RED; Sea LegsArtist: Wilbur Whitta piano and keyboards, Tom Avgenicos trumpet, Jack Stoneham saxophone, Alex Inman-Hislop drumsComposer: Wilbur WhittaAlbum: WildfireLabel: ABC Jazz ABCJ0026D

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