Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Music

John Lennon was a world famous and influential singer/songwriter and former member of the Beatles. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive: Tonight, broadcast on BBC TV, 18 June 1965 (featuring Kenneth Allsop); The World of Books...

Join Donald Macleod, presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week, as he brings Beethoven vividly to life: from his childhood in Bonn to how he won over the aristocratic music circles of Vienna, from the creation of his timeless works to the tragic loss of his hearing - and everything in between.

Marty Cullen’s song and story-filled odyssey around Ulster Ireland’s northernmost province has a rich history of music and storytelling. From the towering mountains of the borderlands, to the barren hills of Donegal; tales of things human and mythical are told through poetry, recitation and...

Brought to you by Penguin. Explore how music has changed our world through 50 pieces across classical, folk and world traditions with BBC presenter Tom Service, in this official Radio 3 compendium. Music transports us and defines us. As a form of expression, it has been passed down through oral...

In interviews ranging from 1968 to 2009, Paul McCartney talks about touring the UK with Wings (which was then a new band); a mid-70s offer to re-form the Beatles; the early days of the Beatles, and their final break-up. He also discusses his solo albums; receiving the freedom of the City of...

Distinguished guests nominate a great musician for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives For 20 years, Great Lives has been a linchpin of Radio 4, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. In it, a household name is invited to choose one of their heroes to discuss...

Frances Fyfield and Clemency Burton Hill explore the tales and tribulations revealed in the hand-written music of artists including Bach, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, Stravinsky, Schubert, Rachmaninov and Chopin. Joined by world-leading musicians and musical experts, they investigate the stories behind the manuscripts for famous songs like 'On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring', and some of the best known operas and shows of all time including The Barber of Seville, The Pirates of Penzance and Madame Butterfly.

From the moment her second album, No D--k's as Hard as My Life, was released, the world took notice of country music singer Tina C. Grammy Award-winning singer, international peace icon, US presidential hopeful and poster girl for American democracy, Tina C. is the living embodiment (and what a body) of soft power. Now, in these seven sensational radio shows, she's here to recruit you to her world view. You can run, but you can't hide from Tina C....

Playwright, actor, singer, songwriter, poet, and scriptwriter, Sir Noël Coward used his "talent to amuse" to spectacular effect for almost 60 years. Sir Laurence Olivier, Lord Mountbatten, and Joyce Carey are just some of the voices heard paying tribute to the elegant star in this audio...

In this major BBC Radio 4 series, James Naughtie uncovers the roots of our music and reveals the soundtrack to our own history. The history of classical music is inextricably linked with the places it was written, its purpose and its patrons as well as with politics, war and social change. From the earliest music of the monasteries to the court and church music of the Renaissance and Reformation and beyond, composers have always changed with the times.

Jeremy Summerly tells the story of the Christmas Carol in England in these illuminating and delightful programmes. The Christmas carol is as popular now as it was when singers celebrated the birth of Edward III in 1312. But the journey it has taken is unique in music history. Here Jeremy Summerly follows that journey from medieval times to the present day. It's a story that sees the carol veer between the sacred and secular, in a tradition that has always had one foot in the pub and another in the church.