Composer Larry Sitsky is a charming sort of thorn in the side of the Australian music scene, and he’s about to turn 90. In this conversation recorded at the 2024 Canberra International Music Festival, he doesn’t hold back. 

New York based trumpeter Chloe Rowlands divides her time between playing with art brass quartet the Westerlies, and with groups like Fleet Foxes and the 8-Bit Big Band. She’s visiting both edges of Australia when she collaborates with the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra and the Sydney Conservatorium’s Equity in Jazz Program. 

Larry Sitsky’s The Compleat Busoni is published by ANU Press.

Chloe Rowlands performs a free concert at Sydney Conservatorium of Music on Thursday 5 September, 6.30-8.30pm. 

Chloe performs two shows in Perth with WA Youth Jazz Orchestra, in the Progressions 2024 Showcase and at The Ellington Jazz Club. 

Music heard in the show:

Title: When All of This is OverComposer: Chloe RowlandsArtist: The WesterliesAlbum: Songbook Vol. 2Label: The Westerlies Music

Title: Piano Concerto No. 1 – The Twenty-Two Paths of the Tarot; vi. The LoversComposer: Larry SitskyArtist: Roger Woodward, David Porcelijn, Adelaide Symphony OrchestraAlbum: A Concerto CollectionLabel: ABC Classics 481 1322

Title: Sonatina Seconda Composer: Ferruccio BusoniArtist: Marc-André Hamelin (piano)Album: Busoni Late Piano MusicLabel: Hyperion CDA67951

Title: Violin Concerto No. 3 ‘I Ching’ – The Eight Kua (Trigrams); i. WaterComposer: Larry SitskyArtist: Jan Sedivka, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Lyndon-GeeAlbum: Australian ConcertosLabel: Australian Music Unit AMU4

Title: Arch (Fantasia No. 4)Composer: Larry SitskyArtist: Larry Sitsky (piano)Album: Contemporary Australian PianoLabel: Move M3066

Title: Blue and Red HorsesComposer: Adriene LenkerArtist: The WesterliesAlbum: Songbook Vol. 1Label: The Westerlies Music

Title: Tifa’s ThemeComposer: Nobuo UematsuArtist: The 8-Bit Big Band, Chloe Rowlands (flugelhorn)Album: Album 4 – Game ChangerLabel: 8-Bit 

Title: LaurieComposer: Chloe RowlandsArtist: The WesterliesAlbum: Wherein Lies the GoodLabel: The Westerlies Music

Technical production by Emrys Cronin, Isabella Tropiano, and John Jacobs

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Romano Crevici has been playing violins made by Harry Vatiliotis for decades. Now drawing to the end of their respective careers, Harry has made one final instrument, which will be Romano's last violin too. The process, challenged by sore joints, thin skin, and Harry's caring responsibilities to the love of his life Maria, have been captured in a moving film called The Last Violin by Carla Thackrah. Romano and Carla are in the studio with the titular violin.

Andrew Robertson's The Journeyman Suite is music about making music—documenting the realities and career arc of a jobbing musician. Big band music presents big possibilities for colour and texture and the composer tells Andrew Ford about writing for this intergenerational band, and why he added a string quartet.

The Last Violin is being screened on SBS on Sunday 15 September and will be available on SBS On Demand after that.

You can contact Romano Crivici here if you own an instrument made by Harry Vatiliotis. 

AR Big Band's The Journeyman Suite is out now on ABC Jazz.

 Romano Crivici and Carla Thackrah with the last violin.

Music in this program:

Title: String Quartet No. 4 ‘Undercurrents’Artist: Elektra String QuartetComposer: Romano CriviciAlbum: Ebb & FlowLabel: ABC Classics ABCL0015D

Title: Let it Go Artist: Allie OsborneComposer: Romano CriviciAlbum: The Vatiliotis Collection: music from The Last ViolinLabel: No-Self Records

Title: Ecstasy of CloudsArtist: Elektra String QuartetComposer: Romano CriviciAlbum: Flat EarthLabel: ABC Classics 4657042

Titles: Blow; Torment; The one less travelled by...; The BalladierArtist: AR Big Band & String QuartetComposer: Andrew RobertsonAlbum: The Journeyman Suite Label: ABC Jazz ABCJ0031D

Title: Symphony for Big Band; 3rd Movement Artist: AR Big BandComposer: Andrew RobertsonAlbum: The Journeyman Suite Label: ABC Jazz ABCJ0031D

Technical production by Emrys Cronin, Isabella Tropiano, and John Jacobs

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

In 1961, the first elected leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was assassinated just months after the country’s newfound independence. Unbeknownst to themselves, US jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Dizzie Gillespie, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln played an unlikely role in his death. Belgian director Johan Grimonprez joins us on The Music Show to explain the bizarre link between jazz and the CIA involvement in this Congolese coup, detailed in his new documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, playing as part of Melbourne International Film Festival. 

Sinking Cities is a new work from jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger Rafael Karlen. It laments the 2019 flooding of 12,000-year old Türkish city Hasankeyf (one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world) to make way for a controversial dam. Karlen, who has never been to Türkiye, explains to Andrew Ford why this issue inspired him to write a large-scale piece of music for string orchestra, choir and saxophone.

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, directed by Johan Grimonprez is showing as part of Melbourne International Film Festival on 12 + 24 August, and New Zealand International Film Festival on 15 + 17 August.

Rafael Karlen's album Sinking Cities is out now on ABC Classic.

Technical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor

The Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

With a voice comfortable singing baroque repertoire and world premieres, Roderick Williams is one of the most sought-after baritones in the UK. He’s also an arranger and composer (he wrote music for King Charles’ coronation), but tells Andrew Ford that his most important label is ‘musician’. He’s in Australia for concerts at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the Newcastle Music Festival, and with the Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.

“We who believe in freedom cannot rest, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes” — Bernice Johnson Reagon (from the lyrics to Ella's Song)

The pioneering US civil rights activist, composer, scholar and singer Bernice Johnson Reagon died last week at the age of 81. The vocal group she founded, Sweet Honey In The Rock, has elevated the voices and music of Black women in America for decades. We'll hear again from a Music Show interview from the eve of the 2000 US election where Reagon explains what drives her, and how singing and protest are so intertwined. 

Roderick Williams' Australian performance dates:

Friday 26 July - ACFM Opening Night Concert - Festival FeelingsSaturday 27 July - AFCM Ray Golding Sunset Series 1 -Spanish SunsetSaturday 27 July - AFCM Governor's Gala - Angels, Demons and other Nasties...Sunday 28 July - AFCM SPECIAL EVENT Sunday Night Concert - SchubertiadeMonday 29 July - AFCM Concert Conversations 2 withAlexandra Raikhlina, Christian-Pierre La Marca, Roderick Williams, Umberto Clerici and Stephen JohnsonWednesday 31 July - Roam with the Adelaide Symphony OrchestraThursday 1 August - AFCM Ray Golding Sunset Series 4 - Brothers in LoveThursday 1 August - AFCM Evening Concert 3 - Baroque TemptationsSaturday 3 August - AFCM Ray Golding Sunset Series 6-Distant BelovedSaturday 3 August - AFCM Closing Concert - Festival FarewellSunday 4 August - AFCM After PartyFriday 23 August - Newcastle Music Festival masterclassFriday 23 August - Newcastle Music Festival recital Thursday 29 August - Fauré's Requiem with the MSOSaturday 31 August - Fauré's Requiem with the MSO Sunday 1 September - Siobhan Stagg and Roderick Williams in recital

Music in this show:

Title: Ella's SongComposer: Bernice Johnson ReagonArtist: Sweet Honey In The RockAlbum: BreathsLabel: Cooking Vinyl COOK 008

Title: The ShepherdComposer: Roderick Williams, words William BlakeArtist: Roderick Williams and Susie AllanAlbum: Vaughan Williams: A Birthday GarlandLabel: SOMM Recordings SOMMCD 0683

Title: Be Thou My Vision, Triptych for OrchestraComposer: Roderick WilliamsArtist: The Coronation Orchestra, Sir Antonio Pappano conductorAlbum: The Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla: The Official AlbumLabel: Decca 5574786

Title: When I was one-and-twentyComposer: George Butterworth, words A. E. Housman, arr. Roderick WilliamsArtist: Roderick Williams, Hallé Orchestra, Mark ElderAlbum: A Shropshire Lad: English Songs Orchestrated by Roderick WilliamsLabel: Hallé CDHLL7559

Title: We Are The OnesComposer: Bernice Johnson Reagon, words June JordanArtist: Sweet Honey In The RockAlbum: ...Twenty-Five...Label: Rykodisc RCD 10451

Title: Ballad of the Broken WordComposer: Toshi ReagonArtist: Sweet Honey In The RockAlbum: Still On The JourneyLabel: EarthBeat! 9 42536-2

Technical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor

The Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Kamilaroi and Tongan singer and musician Radical Son (AKA David Leha) has just released his second album, a full decade after his debut. Called Bilambiyal (The Learning) it demonstrates his growth as a songwriter with a knack for weaving personal stories alongside wider reflections on culture, community and Country. He's also a masterful collaborator, bringing in the voices of legends Frank Yamma and Emma Donovan and a crack team of producers to build out the album's lush sound.

Christopher Cerrone's Nervous Systems is an aural exploration of systems; from flesh and blood, to tides and oceans, to the brutalist architecture of Pier Luigi Nervi. With the original work barely dry on the score, Omega Ensemble have commissioned a new arrangement that brings new colour to this sonic landscape. Chris joins us on The Music Show to discuss this work, as well as mentoring, opera, and dystopian insect drones.

Radical Son's second album Bilimbiyal (The Learning) is out now, and he performs at CLANCESTRY Festival in Brisbane on 31 July.

Christopher Cerrone's new arrangement of Nervous Systems will be played as part of Omega Ensemble's Alchymia, with two shows playing at ACO Pier 2-3 in Sydney July 27. 

Music in this program:

Title: ElderArtist: Radical Son, Jida GulpililComposer: Andrew Robinson, David Bridie, David Leha, Jida Gulpilil, Marcus LongfootAlbum: Bilambiyal (The Learning)Label: Wantok Musik

Title: Dhuwan Baraay YuligiArtist: Radical SonPerformed live in the RN Breakfast studio 

Title: Yuluwirri Wandabaa (The Rainbow Dreaming)Artist: Radical Son, Emma Donovan, Frank YammaComposer: David Bridie, David Leha, Marcus LongfootAlbum:  Bilambiyal (The Learning)Label: Wantok Musik

Title:  Nervous SystemsArtist: CIM New Music Ensemble (Greg Hamilton – clarinet, Kayla Bryan – violin, Minchae Kim – violin, Tristan Wilson – viola, Annamarie Wellems – cello)Composer: Christopher CerronePerformed live on Sunday, November 12, 2023 at Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music

Title: Scene 7: The Murdered Man, Channeled by a MediumArtist: Metropolis Ensemble and full vocal castComposer: Christopher Cerrone, Stephanie FleischmannAlbum: In a GroveLabel: Independent -- ICR028

Title:  The Insects Became MagneticArtist:  Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester BerlinComposer:  Christopher CerronePerformed live by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

Technical production by Russell Stapleton and Ann-Marie Debettencor

Produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Brett Dean and Matthew Jocelyn's Hamlet (2017) has been one of the most successful operas of recent years with performances at the Glyndebourne Festival, the Adelaide Festival, New York's Metropolitan Opera and the Bavarian State Opera. Now it comes to the Sydney Opera House in its original production by Neil Armfield, with the tenor Allan Clayton, who created the role of Hamlet, perhaps singing it for the last time. Brett Dean and Allan Clayton join Andrew Ford to talk about the opera's origins and its connection to Shakespeare's play.

New York-based jazz bassist and composer Linda May Han Oh is back in Australia for a string of concerts with her husband, the Cuban American pianist Fabian Almazan, as well as the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra (a nice full circle moment for the Perth-raised musician). She speaks to Andrew Ford about switching between electric and upright bass, incorporating her voice in compositions, and the environmental themes behind her piece Ephemeral Echoes which has just earned her a nomination at the forthcoming 2024 Art Music Awards. 

Hamlet runs from 20 July - 9 August at the Sydney Opera House. 

Linda May Han Oh performs 21 July at the Sydney Opera House, and 22 July at Church St Studios in Sydney.

Music in this program:

Title: Act I; Scene 4, ...or not to be (Live)Composer: Brett Dean, words William Shakespeare, libretto Matthew JocelynArtist: Allan Clayton, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Nicholas CarterAlbum: Brett Dean: Hamlet (Recorded Live at the Met, June 4 2022)Label: The Metropolitan Opera (digital release)

Title: Spring Symphony, Op. 44, Part II. Waters aboveComposer: Benjamin BrittenArtist: Allan Clayton, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon RattleAlbum: Britten: Spring Symphony, Sinfonia da Requiem, the Young Person's Guide To the OrchestraLabel: LSO Live LSO0830

Title: Act I; Scene 4, Get thee to a nunnery (Live)Composer: Brett Dean, words William Shakespeare, libretto Matthew JocelynArtist: Allan Clayton, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Nicholas CarterAlbum: Brett Dean: Hamlet (Recorded Live at the Met, June 4 2022)Label: The Metropolitan Opera (digital release)

Title: Wring from him the cause (from Gertrude Fragments) Composer: Brett DeanArtist: Lotte Betts-Dean, Andrey LebedevRecording supplied by Brett Dean

Title: Firefly, from Ephemeral Echoes (Live)Composer: Linda May Han OhArtist: Linda May Han Oh, Steve Richter, Iain Robbie, Genevieve Wilkins, Fabian Almazan, Ben VanderwalLive recording from Perth Festival 2023, with thanks to Finding Our Voice

Title: HatchlingComposer: Linda May Han OhArtist: Linda May Han OhAlbum: The Glass HoursLabel: Biophilia Records

Title: ArchComposer: Vijay IyerArtist: Vijay Iyer, Tyshawn Sorey, Linda May Han OhAlbum: CompassionLabel: ECM 2760

Technical production by Russell Stapleton

Produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

This program contains strong language throughout. 

Before Madonna brought voguing into the limelight, the queer community had been quietly putting on balls and celebrating this form of expression since the 1970s. Far from the ballroom of waltzes and tangos, queer ballroom is an artform, a community, a form of protest and its very own genre of music. You might have seen the seminal documentary Paris is Burning, or seen ballroom referred to on RuPaul’s Drag Race, or seen the drama Pose – but even if ballroom is brand new to you, Australia’s unique queer community has created its very own style of ball – and the music you’ll hear there.

You’ll hear from US “king of vogue” Dashaun Wesley, as well as local icons Xander Khoury (overall father of the House of Silky), DJ Mirasia (overall mother of the House of Silky), and multi-hyphenate artist Jamaica Moana.

Thanks to ABC Arts for their interview with Jamaica Moana, featured in this episode.

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Andrew Gurruwiwi leads the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band in what they call 'Yolŋu funk', a mix between reggae, heavy metal, and funk in language from across the region. Andrew tells us about his music-making, his career as a radio presenter, and explains the stories behind some of the tracks on the band's dynamic debut album, Sing Your Own Song.

"He basically invents the rules of jazz. He shows you 'this is how to play a solo, this is how to sing, this is how to phrase, this is how to tell a story, this is how to swing. Ok, this is jazz. And now I'm going to break all those rules.'" - Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong

Towards the end of the 1960s Louis Armstrong's performances were hit-and-miss. Plagued by health issues and pushing 70, the veteran entertainer was determined to keep playing, singing and touring, despite calls from his doctors to slow down. But in 1968, with a burst of vitality, he performed for BBC TV with hits spanning his remarkable five decades in music. This included What A Wonderful World, a song that had made him a household name just weeks prior. The concert recording of Armstrong's "last great performance" has been rediscovered, and now released as live album Louis In London. Ricky Riccardi is Director of Research Collections at the Louis Armstrong House Museum and joins Andy to talk about the great trumpeter and why we're still talking about him over 50 years after his death.

You can hear the Louis In London album in full on ABC Jazz program Jazztrack Live this Saturday 20 July at 4pm.

Music heard in the program:

Title: A Kiss To Build A Dream OnComposer: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Oscar Hammerstein IIArtist: Louis ArmstrongAlbum: Louis In London Label: Verve 602465686128

Title: Bare Necessities Composer: Bruce Reitherman and Phil HarrisArtist: Louis ArmstrongAlbum: Louis In London Label: Verve 602465686128

Title: When It's Sleepy Time Down SouthComposer: Clarence Muse, Leon René and Otis RenéArtist: Louis ArmstrongAlbum: Louis In London Label: Verve 602465686128

Title: Gatjumak (Dance Battle), Go To Sleep (The Legend of Ŋamini Baŋ Baŋ), Wata MäwiComposer: Andrew GurruwiwiArtist: Andrew Gurruwiwi BandAlbum: Sing Your Own SongLabel: Gaga Music

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

First Nations listeners are advised that this program contains the names and voices of people who have died.

At the start of NAIDOC Week, The Music Show explores the legacy of the late Ruby Hunter – short in stature, a giant in music, and a mentor and parental figure to so many First Nations musicians in subsequent generations. We’ll hear Ruby from the archives, and catch up with Emily Wurramara and Dan Sultan, both of whom have sung a tribute to Ruby Hunter alongside their fantastic new albums.

Dan Sultan reunites with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra  to perform 12 & 13 July, before playing Yabaardu in Ceduna SA on 19 July.

Emily Wurramara is performing at Live in the Gardens on 13 November.

Music in this program

Title: Kurongk Boy, Kurongk GirlArtist: Ruby HunterAlbum: Thoughts WithinLabel: Mushroom – MUSH32309.2

Title: Proud, Proud WomenArtist: Ruby HunterAlbum: Thoughts WithinLabel: Mushroom – MUSH32309.2

Title: Midnight BluesArtist: Emily WurramaraComposer: Bed Edgar, Caiti Baker, Emily Blinter (Wurramara), James MangohigAlbum: NARALabel: ABC Music

Title: Lordy LordyArtist:  Emily Wurramara, Tasman KeithComposer: Emily Blinter (Wurramara)Album: NARALabel: ABC Music

Title: It’s OkayArtist:  Ruby HunterAlbum: Feeling GoodLabel: Mushroom – MUSH332672 

Title: True LoversArtist:  Ruby HunterAlbum: Feeling GoodLabel: Mushroom – MUSH332672 

Title: Nobody Knows Artist:  Dan SultanAlbum: BlackbirdLabel: Liberation Music – LMCD0238

Title: Ringing in My Ears Artist:  Dan SultanComposer: Chris Collins, Dan Sultan, Joel QuartermainAlbum: Dan SultanLabel: Liberation Music – LRCD0040

Title: Chance to Lose Control Artist:  Dan SultanComposer: Dan Sultan, Joel QuartermainAlbum: Dan SultanLabel: Liberation Music – LRCD0040

Title: Sister YappaArtist: Ruby HunterRecorded live at WOMADelaide 1995

Technical production by Russell Stapleton

Produced on Gadigal, Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung and Gundungurra Country

Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya comes to Opera Australia to conduct Puccini’s Il trittico, a rare triptych of operas which span tragedy, farce, and religious fervour. Lidiya is at home with the operatic canon but she’s also conducted a swathe of new opera world premieres. She joins Andy to talk about finding the same passion for the music through new and old works.

Three of India's most revered instrumentalists have formed trio Triveni. Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain (who's played with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Béla Fleck) joins Kala Ramnath's singing violin and Jayanthi Kumaresh's Saraswathi veena. The musicians drop by the studio in the midst of a whirlwind Australian tour to talk about their shared language of improvisation and how they seamlessly blend North (Hindustani) and South (Carnatic) Indian musical traditions.

Il trittico is on at the Sydney Opera House until 19 July. 

Triveni perform in Melbourne on Friday 5 July and Sydney on Sunday 7 July.

Music in this program:

Live concert recording: Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore, India 2022Artist: Zakir Hussain - tabla, Jayanthi Kumaresh - veena, Kala Ramnath - violin

Title: O Mio Babbino Caro (from Gianni Schicchi)Composer: Giacomo PucciniArtist: Victoria De Los Angeles, Orchestra Del Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma, conducted by Gabriele SantiniAlbum: The Very Best Of Victoria De Los AngelesLabel: EMI Classics 5 75888 2

Title: Now, at the BeginningComposer: Ricky Ian Gordon, libretto Frank BidartArtist: Jennifer Zetlan, Nathan Gunn, Aeolus Quartet, Evan Premo, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya Album: Ellen WestLabel: Shiny Bright Things

Title: Forty Days and Forty NightsComposer: Kamala Sankaram, libretto Jerry DyeArtist: Chicago Opera Theater, conducted by Lidiya YankovskayaAlbum: Taking Up SerpentsLabel: Chicago Opera Theater digital release

Live concert recording: Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore, India 2022Artist: Zakir Hussain - tabla, Jayanthi Kumaresh - veena, Kala Ramnath - violin

Technical production by Russell Stapleton and Richard Girvan

Produced on Gadigal, Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung and Gundungurra Country

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this program contains the names and voices of people who have died.

Neal Peres Da Costa’s most recent recordings include a Mozart piano concerto and a Robert Schumann song cycle, each using a model of piano its composer would have recognised. But as he explains on today’s show, there’s much more to this music than getting the instrument right – there’s also the matter of historical style. Mozart would have expected his soloists to embellish their music and Schumann’s singers would have been more melodramatic than their modern counterparts. Can modern ears adjust to this? 

And... Croeso i Rhaglen Cerddoriaeth! Jenny M Thomas might be best known to Music Show audiences for her band Bush Gothic, but this time she’s back with The Côr of the Matter, a Welsh language choir based in Naarm/Melbourne. Jenny joins Andy to delve into the complex and contradictory darkness and warmth of Cymru/Wales and its culture.

The late Ruby Hunter first performed in public at Bondi Pavilion in 1988, and an array of great artists are now coming together to that same venue to play tribute to her in a concert called Proud, Proud Woman. Emily Wurramara and Dan Sultan are part of it and talk about her legacy. 

Neal Peres Da Costa plays with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra for a Night in Versailles, 5 – 14 July in Sydney and Melbourne.

The Côr of the Matter performs at Melbourne Welsh Church on 6 July

Bush Gothic performs at Selby Folk Club on 5 July and at Port Lounge 23 August

Music heard in the show:

Title: MyfanwyComposer: Joseph ParryArtist: Rhos Male Voice ChoirAlbum: Music from the Welsh Mines, Songs of Peace & GoodwillLabel: Moochin’ About 

Title: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488; II. AdagioComposer: Wolfgang Amadeus MozartArtist: Neal Peres Da Costa, Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra/Rachael BeesleyAlbum: Heavenly MozartLabel: ABC Classics 197190404852

Title: Dichterliebe, Op. 48; No. 1, Im wunderschönen Monat MaiComposer: Robert SchumannArtist: Koen van Stade, Neal Peres Da CostaAlbum: Schumann: DichterliebeLabel: Deux-Elles DXL1193

Title: Concerto for Four Keyboards in A minor (after Vivaldi), BWV1065 - II. LargoComposer: Johann Sebastian BachArtists: Kenneth Gilbert (harpsichord), Lars Ulrik Mortensen (harpsichord), Nicholas Kraemer (harpsichord), The English Concert/Trevor Pinnock (director/harpsichord)Album: JS Bach: The Concertos for 3 and 4 HarpsichordsLabel: DG Archiv 4000412

Title: MyfanwyComposer: Joseph ParryArtist: Jenny M Thomas, The Côr of the MatterCourtesy of Jenny M Thomas

Title: Si hwi hwiComposer: Trad.Artist: Jenny M Thomas, The Côr of the MatterRehearsal recording courtesy of Jenny M Thomas

Title: Proud, Proud WomanArtist: Ruby HunterAlbum: Thoughts WithinLabel: White – MUSH32309.2

Title: It’s OkayArtist: Ruby HunterAlbum: Feeling GoodLabel: Mushroom Records - MUSH332672

Technical production by John Jacobs and Michelle Barry

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

British singer songwriter Grace Petrie has an EP called “There’s No Such Thing As A Protest Singer” – but if there was such a thing she would definitely be one of the preeminent ones. Her musical career started in the early years of the UK Conservative Party’s now 15 years in government, and she’s railed against injustice throughout those years. She’s on The Music Show to talk about hope, activism, and cynicism and to play live in studio.

Unsound is a Polish festival with an adventurous spirit. Co-director Mat Schulz has made Adelaide Unsound's Australian home for the past ten years, and he joins us on The Music Show to talk about the genesis of the festival, the similarities between jazz and grimy electronica, and why he was accused of Satanism.

Unsound Adelaide runs from 19 - 20 July at Dom Polski Centre, Adelaide SA.

Grace Petrie tours Australia from 25 September to 4 October playing Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. More details here. 

Music heard in the show:

Title: Pandemonium InstituteComposer: Lee GambleArtist: Lee GambleAlbum: Diversions 1994-1996 Label: Independent

Title: King & Country Composer: Grace PetrieArtist: Grace PetriePerformed Live in The Music Show studio

Title: Fixer UpperComposer: Grace PetrieArtist: Grace PetrieAlbum: Build Something BetterLabel: The Robots Needs Home Collective TRNHC013

Title: Black Tie Composer: Grace PetrieArtist: Grace PetriePerformed Live in The Music Show studio

Title: Our Good Deeds Will Lead to a Better Life for the Next GenerationComposer: TraditionalArtist: Yeshi, Bhutan BalladeersAlbum: Your Face Is Like the Moon, Your Eyes Are StarsLabel: Independent

Title: CruisingComposer: Bendik GiskeArtist: Bendik GiskeAlbum: CracksLabel: Smalltown Supersound STS381

Title: Yuangan (Dugong)Composer: Fred Leone, Sam PankhurstArtist: YirindaAlbum: YirindaLabel: Chapter Music CH187LP

Title: Concerto for Four Keyboards in A minor (after Vivaldi), BWV1065 - II. LargoComposer: Johann Sebastian BachArtists: Kenneth Gilbert (harpsichord), Lars Ulrik Mortensen (harpsichord), Nicholas Kraemer (harpsichord), The English Concert/Trevor Pinnock (director/harpsichord)Album: JS Bach: The Concertos for 3 and 4 HarpsichordsLabel: DG Archiv 4000412

Technical production by John Jacobs and Michelle Barry

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Land

Good times and bum times, she’s seen them all and she’s here: Geraldine Turner, lynchpin of the Australian music theatre scene from 1970s repertory to the current run of The Mousetrap, reflects on her massive career (so far), her love of Sondheim, and Judy Garland.

Geraldine Turner is performing in The Mousetrap until 15 September. 

Music heard in the program:

Title: I’m Still Here (Follies)Composer: Stephen SondheimArtist: Geraldine TurnerAlbum: Great Australian Voices: Geraldine TurnerLabel: Désirée Records - GAV 008

Title: Down With LoveComposer: music Harold Arlen, lyrics Yip HarburgArtist: Geraldine TurnerAlbum: Great Australian Voices: Geraldine TurnerLabel: Désirée Records - GAV 008

Title: All That Jazz (Chicago)Composer: music John Kander, lyrics Fred EbbArtist: Geraldine TurnerAlbum: Great Australian Voices: Geraldine TurnerLabel: Désirée Records - GAV 008

Title: Sondheim Medley: The Little Things You Do Together (Company) - We're Gonna Be Alright (Do I Hear A Waltz-) - Could I Leave You (Follies)Composer: Stephen Sondheim, Richard RogersArtist: Geraldine TurnerAlbum: Great Australian Voices: Geraldine TurnerLabel: Désirée Records - GAV 008

Title: It Never Was YouComposer: music Kurt Weill, lyrics Maxwell AndersonArtist: Judy GarlandAlbum: That’s Entertainment!Label: Capitol Records - CDP 7 48426 2

Title: Being Alive (Company)Composer: Stephen SondheimArtist: Geraldine TurnerAlbum: Great Australian Voices: Geraldine TurnerLabel: Désirée Records - GAV 008

The Music Show Is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Technical production by Bethany Stewart and Nathan Turnbull

Sixty years ago The Fab Four toured Australia for the first and last time. Greg Armstrong is the co-author of When We Was Fab - Inside The Beatles' Australasian Tour 1964. He takes us behind the scenes of the tour— the promoters who lucked out by signing the band up before the height of their fame, the late inclusion of the Adelaide shows, the band's unprecedented reception in the streets, and how Australia's music scene was left permanently changed when it was all over. 

Our thanks to all of the listeners who got in touch with us about their memories of the 1964 Australian tour. In this episode we hear from Gillian, Maggie, Jane, Paul, Robert, Geoff, Geraldine, Dianne, Pauline and Chris.

Music heard in the show:

Title: It Won't Be LongArtist: The BeatlesComposer: Lennon-McCartneyAlbum: With The BeatlesLabel: Parlophone PMCO 1206

Title: I Want To Hold Your HandArtist: The BeatlesComposer: Lennon-McCartneyAlbum: (Single)Label: Parlophone A8103

Title: MiseryArtist: The BeatlesComposer: Lennon-McCartneyAlbum: Please Please MeLabel: Parlophone PMCO 1202

Title: Roll Over BeethovenArtist: The BeatlesComposer: Chuck BerryAlbum: With The BeatlesLabel: Parlophone PMCO 1206

Title: Can't Buy Me Love (Live in Melbourne 1964)Artist: The BeatlesComposer: Lennon-McCartneyABC Recording

Title: (Let's Have A) PartyArtist: Johnny ChesterComposer: Jessie Mae RobinsonAlbum: Rocker 1961-1966Label: ScreenSound Australia CD/SSA/3C0026

Title: Long Tall SallyArtist: The BeatlesComposer: Enotris Johnson, Robert Blackwell, Richard PennimanAlbum: (Single)Label: Parlophone GEP 8913

Title: She Loves YouArtist: The BeatlesComposer: Lennon-McCartneyAlbum: (Single)Label: Parlophone A8093

Title: LotusArtist: The TwilightsComposer: Terry BrittenAlbum: The Way They PlayedLabel: Raven Records RVCD-364

Title: Twist And Shout (Live in Melbourne 1964)Artist: The BeatlesComposer: Bert Berns, Phil MedleyABC Recording

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country.

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite

American composer Caroline Shaw’s latest album, a collaboration with Sō Percussion, is called Rectangles and Circumstance. It’s a collection of ten songs run through with words by Emily Dickinson, Emily Bronte, William Blake and Christina Rossetti, as well as Caroline herself. She joins Andy from her home in the US to talk about her collaborators and her co-poets.

German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt takes the role of guest director, soloist, and conductor in his first tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Nestling Haydn’s jubilant Cello Concerto in C major amongst works by significantly more angular composers like Kurtag, Veress and Xenakis, he joins Andy on The Music Show to map out his versatile and prolific life on the concert platform and beyond.

Music heard in the show: 

Title: Partita for 8 Voices i. AllemandeComposer: Caroline ShawArtist: Roomful of TeethAlbum: Partita for 8 VoicesLabel: New Amsterdam

Title: Sing On, And So, The Parting Glass, and To MusicComposer: Caroline Shaw, Sō PercussionArtist: Caroline Shaw, Sō PercussionAlbum: Rectangles and CircumstanceLabel: Nonesuch

Title: Cello Concerto in C Major; iii. FinaleComposer: Joseph HaydnArtist: Nicolas Altstaedt, Australian Chamber OrchestraCourtesy of the ACO

Title: Atlas; iii. Perpetuum Mobile – Ladon the DragonComposer: Helena WinkelmanArtist: Nicolas Altstaedt, Lockenhaus ArtistsAlbum: CreationLabel: Alpha ALPHA861

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Land.

This week on the Music Show, we take a look into the archives to an interview with the late, great Clive James. Andy spoke to Clive back in 2003 about what it was like writing for the song and the stage, and they discussed some of Clive's favourite pieces of musical poetry — from Stephen Sondheim to Aretha Franklin. 

As ever, we’re indebted to Penny Lomax and Maureen Cooney for producing the first thirtyish years of this show from which to draw this archive.

Technical production from Roi Huberman and Nathan Turnbull. 

The Music Show is produced on Gadigal land and Gundungurra country.

Three authors on music from The Music Show archives.

Margaret Atwood spoke to Andrew Ford back in 2003, after the transformation of her novel The Handmaid’s Tale into an opera by Danish composer Poul Ruders.

Andrea Goldsmith joined Andy on stage for the 2013 Melbourne Writers’ Festival after her novel The Memory Trap invoked Beethoven amongst other composers. Live performance from Zoe Knighton and Amir Farid.

And Anna Goldsworthy is a concert pianist as well as a writer. Her two lauded volumes of memoirs were followed up by her debut novel Melting Moments in 2020, when she spoke to Andy about how music inspired the structure of the book.

Music in the show:

Track: Prologue and “The Wall, from The Handmaid's TaleComposer: Poul RudersArtist: Royal Danish Opera Company & Royal Danish OrchestraAlbum: The Handmaid's TaleLabel: Dacapo 8.224165-66

Track: Cello sonata No. 4 in C major (Op. 102, No. 1)Composer: Ludwig van BeethovenArtists: Zoe Knighton and Amir FaridPerformed live on The Music Show at Melbourne Writers’ Festival

Track Title: Moment Musicaux Nos 1 and 3, Op 94Artist: Paul LewisComposer: Franz SchubertAlbum: Schubert Piano Sonata D.845, "Wandererfantasie" D.760, 4 Impromptus D.935, Moments Musicaux D.780Label: Harmonia Mundi ‎– HMC902136.37

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country.

Technical production by Nathan Turnbull. 

The Music Show goes Deep Inside the Blues with photographer and writer Margo Cooper, who’s assembled a beautiful book of photographs and interviews with blues musicians from Chicago to the Mississippi Delta. She joins Andy on The Music Show to outline a sprawling, searching and ultimately living tradition, plus interviews with Blues legends from the Music Show archive.

Deep Inside the Blues is published by University Press of Mississippi. 

Archive interviews heard in the show:

Cedric Burnside, 2016 and 2019

Billy Boy Arnold, 2006

Buddy Guy, 1996

Music heard in the show:

Title: Mannish BoyArtist: Muddy WatersAlbum: Hard AgainLabel: Blue Sky Records

Title: Messin’ with the KidArtist: Buddy Guy & Junior WellsAlbum: Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play The BluesLabel: Rhino Records

Title: Hard TimesArtist: Cedric Burnside & Trenton AyersLive in The Music Show studio

Title: Damn Right I’ve Got the BluesArtist: Buddy GuyAlbum: Damn Right I’ve Got the BluesLabel: Silvertone

Title: Shake the BoogieArtist: Sonny Boy Williamson (I)Album: Million Years of Blues Vol. 4Label: Quadromania

Title: Born With ItArtist: Cedric Burnside ProjectAlbum: I Be TryingLabel: Single Lock Records

Title: The Blues Is Alive and WellArtist: Buddy GuyAlbum: The Blues Is Alive and WellLabel: Silvertone Records

Title: Bo DiddleyArtist: Bo DiddleyAlbum: single releaseLabel: Checker Records

Title: Whiskey, Beer and ReefaArtist: Billy Boy ArnoldLive on The Music Show from Wangaratta Jazz Festival

Title: We Made ItArtist: Cedric BurnsideAlbum: Benton County RelicLabel: Single Lock

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country.

Technical production by Isabella Tropiano. 

Indie-rock veterans Deerhoof are set to make their first appearance in Australia in a decade, and drummer Greg Saunier joins us on The Music Show to discuss their journey. With a repertoire spanning nineteen albums and a diverse range of styles, Greg talks to us about politics, conceptual art, and his own foray into solo work for the first time in the band's long career. 

Soprano Anna Fraser sings brand new contemporary opera, renaissance chant, and Schubert… under water. She’s also the curator of the sadly land-based concert IMPOSTO, where her eclectic tastes bring together not only disparate repertoire but disparate composer/performers too – she’s joined by singer Jane Sheldon, baryton player Laura Vaughan, and koto player Satsuki Odamura – and there’s music based on everything from Sylvia Plath to a jellyfish.

And do you remember The Beatles’ 1964 tour of Australia? Beatles superfan and co-author of When We Was Fab: Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 will be joining us to talk about the phenomenon — but we want your memories too! 

Were you at one of 1964 Beatles' concerts? Did you catch a glimpse of them on the street? Send us your memories via email at: musicshow_rn@abc.net.au

Performance details:

Deerhoof

12 June, Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne, VIC13 June, VIVID Sydney, Machine Hall, Sydney, NSW14 June, The Zoo, Brisbane, QLD15 June, The Jive Bar, Adelaide, SA16 June, The Milk Bar, Perth, WA

Anna Fraser

14 June, IMPOSTO: Sympathetic Resonance Vibrations, Woodburn Creatives Redfern

Technical production by Bella Tropiano

The Music Show is produced on Gadigal Land and on Gundungurra Country

Ziggy Ramo returns to The Music Show with a new album that’s more than just an album. Human? will be released later this year but right now the only way you can hear it is through QR codes in his book of the same name. 

It’s a new and beautifully contradictory sound for Ziggy, blending folk (with guest vocals from Vonn) and his signature rap, precipitated by Ziggy picking up the guitar for the first time in the wake of his 2021 single Little Things. 

Ziggy joins Andy to talk about the project (which spans the album, the book, and a related exhibition), an exploration of dark histories and big questions. 

Human? A Lie That Has Been Killing Us Since 1788 (the book) is out now via Pantera Press. 

Human? (the album) is out via Ramo Records in July.

Tracks from the album heard in the show:

Banamba

Little Things

April 25 (Black Thoughts and Human? versions)

Sorry

Shame

Human

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite on Gadigal Country.

Artist Jeremy Deller first made the connection between acid house music and brass bands back in 1995. The project that emerged, ACID BRASS, brings community bands together in raucous live events. Deller says he was “liberated by brass bands” – since then he’s won the Turner Prize, made conceptual, installation and video art across the world, and represented the UK at the Venice Biennale. Now he brings ACID BRASS to Melbourne’s Rising festival, and he talks to Andy about what music has given his art practice, and what his art has given his music.

Bach’s St John Passion is not his most famous Passion oratorio – often eclipsed by the St Matthew Passion, this earlier work is wilder and more extravagant. John O’Donnell is getting ready to conduct Accademia Arcadia, Ensemble Gombert, and a cast of soloists in a period instrument performance of the Passion to mark its 300th anniversary.

Composer, artist, and archaeologist Victoria Pham joins us on The Music Show to talk about her latest bio-installation Listening Gardens ii - soil fields showing at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery. Her work crosses the boundaries of music and sound in order to communicate otherwise-unheard symphonies of nature. She leans on her background as a biological anthropologist to create a mushroom opera, an orchestral Boeing 747, and draught conservation plans told through synthesisers. 

Performance dates:

Jeremy Deller

1 - 16 June, ACID BRASS, Rising Festival Melbourne. Full details of free performance locations here.

Bach's St John Passion 

8 + 9 June, Bach's St John Passion, Woodend Winter Arts Festival. St Ambrose Church Templeton St, Woodend.

Victoria Pham

4 May - 23 June, Listening Gardens ii -- Soil Fields, Season One: Terrestrial. Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite

This episode of the music show was produced on Gadigal Land and on Gundungurra Country

Errollyn Wallen’s memoir Becoming a Composer is a look into the mind of the composer as well as the life of one. Born in Belize but now based in the far-flung north of Scotland, where she sometimes inhabits a lighthouse, she works at a brisk pace, composing prolifically for orchestra, chamber ensemble, choir, and over twenty operas.

Her major public commissions have included music for The Last Night of the Proms, the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and she joins us from her home in the Orkney Islands to talk about Becoming a Composer, and becoming a composer.

Music heard in the show:

Title: Horseplay i. Dark and mysteriousArtist: The Continuum Ensemble/Philip HeadlamComposer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: The Girl In My AlphabetLabel: Avie AV0006

Title: DervishArtist: Matthew Sharp (cello), Dominic Harlan (piano)Composer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: The Girl In My AlphabetLabel: Avie AV0006

Title: Sojourner TruthArtist: Madeleine Mitchell (violin), Errollyn Wallen (piano)Composer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: Violin ConversationsLabel: Naxos 8574560

Title: Cello ConcertoArtist: Matthew Sharp (cello), Ensemble X, Nicholas KokComposer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: PhotographyLabel: NMC NMCD221

Title: Boom BoomArtist: Palaver Strings, Nicholas PhanComposer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: A Change is Gonna ComeLabel: Azica Records 71365

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Technical Production by Simon Branthwaite and Tegan Nicholls

Playwright, screenwriter, and actress Kate Mulvany has been commissioned with the task of writing the lost prologue for the first true English opera, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She joins Andy on The Music Show to chat about getting into the head of the queen of Carthage, and what it was like writing for opera for the first time. 

Independent hip-hop label Elefant Traks has had a huge cultural impact on the Australian music industry, and in 2024 after 26 years they are wrapping up operations. Back in 2018 we chatted to Tim Levinson and L-Fresh the Lion for Elefant Traks 20th birthday, and we're bringing it back for this week's show as the label begins preparations for their farewell concerts.

Plus, a new release of an old tune by Louis Armstrong, recorded live at the BBC. 

Technical production by Tegan Nichols and Simon BranthwaiteThis episode of the music show was produced on Gadigal Land and Gundungurra Country.

Performance dates:

Dido and Aeneas by Pinchgut Opera:

30 May, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 7pm1 June, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 2pm2 June, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 5pm3 Jun, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 7pm

Elefant Traks:

26 May, Elefant Traks 25th Anniversary – The Finale, Sydney Opera House, 7:30pm8 June, Elefant Traks: 25 The Finale, Open Season at the Tivoli Brisbane, 7pm15 June, Elefant Traks 25th Anniversary – The Finale, Melbourne Recital Centre, 3pm and 7:30pm

Friend of The Music Show Kate Fagan’s new book of poetry is entitled Song in the Grass and it’s full of music. She returns to the show to talk about the book, the relationship between her musical and poetic writing, and her enduring connection to folk artists Peggy Seeger and Lisa O’Neill. 

The ABC’s iconic old News theme is new again: a new version by sound designer David McDonald puts a fresh lick of paint on Peter Wall and the late Tony Ansell’s 1980s bulletin soundtrack. David and Peter join Andy to talk about what makes a news theme work. 

Song in the Grass is published by Giramondo Books. Kate launches the book at Margaret Whitlam Galleries in Parramatta on 29 August. 

Music heard in the show: 

Title: Majestic FanfareArtist: Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Stuart ChallenderComposer: Charles WilliamsAlbum: Classic ABC TV & Radio ThemesLabel: ABC Classics 4724462

Title: ABC News ThemeArtist: Tony Ansell & Peter WallComposer: Tony Ansell, Peter WallAlbum: Classic ABC TV & Radio ThemesLabel: ABC Classics 4724462

Title: JJJ News ThemeComposer: Paul McKercher, John JacobsCourtesy of Triple J

Title: Gotta Get Home By MidnightArtist: Peggy SeegerComposer: Peggy SeegerAlbum: First FarewellLabel: Red Grape Music

Title: All Of This Is ChanceArtist: Lisa O’NeillComposer: Lisa O’NeillAlbum: All Of This Is ChanceLabel: Rough Trade Records

Title: ABC News ThemeArtist: Tony Ansell & Peter WallComposer: Tony Ansell, Peter WallAlbum: Classic ABC TV & Radio ThemesLabel: ABC Classics 4724462

Title: ABC News Theme (Pendulum Remix)Artist: Pendulum, Tony Ansell & Peter WallComposer: Tony Ansell & Peter WallAlbum: Pendulum Remix (single)Label: single release

Title: ABC News Theme (2024)Composer: Tony Ansell, Peter Wall and David McDonaldCourtesy of the ABC

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Technical production by Bethany Stewart and Nathan Turnbull

Omar Musa is an author, artist, poet, and woodcutter making music and art from Borneo to Brooklyn. He is back in Australia to talk about his latest album The Fullness. His third album touches on the environment, culture, religious identity, and mortality. He creates poetry from a spoken-word background, melding hip-hop, jazz, and electronic sounds with earnest lyricism. 

Gillian Dooley joins us on The Music Show to talk about her latest book She Played and Sang, which explores the music of Jane Austen. From Haydn piano sonatas to Scottish folk songs, Gillian gives us a sense of what not only Elizabeth Bennett and the Dashwoods were playing in their parlour, but also Jane Austen herself. 

Also new music from Leila and Sean Shibe

Performance Dates -- Omar Musa

4 May – 2 June All My Memories Are Mistranslations, Humble House Gallery Canberra, 2 August ACO Up Close: Omar Musa and Mariel Roberts, ACO Pier 2-3 - The Nielson, 7pm

Gillian Dooley -- She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and Music, Manchester University Press

Australian tenor Stuart Skelton returns to The Music Show as he prepares to sing Mahler’s Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde) with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Looking over his increasingly heroic career from oddball roles like the titular Peter Grimes to the pantheon of Wagner’s men, Stuart reflects on growing into his voice, and what he learned from the conducting and musical leadership of the late Andrew Davis.

Story of Another Soul is a “decolonial dreaming of new futures that seeks truth in the roots of improvisation”, from Meanjin/Brisbane based spoken word poet Huda Fadlelmawla and jazz trumpeter, composer and producer Reuben Lewis. They join Andy to talk about the process of improvisation in which words and music come together.

Stuart Skelton performs Mahler’s Song of the Earth with the Australian Chamber Orchestra until 26 May.

Story of Another Soul is out now via Life Before Man.

Title: These StoriesComposer: Reuben Lewis, Huda FadlelmawlaArtist: Huda The Goddess & Reuben LewisAlbum: Story of Another SoulLabel: Life Before Man

Title: Das Lied von der Erde; i. Das Trinklied von Jammer der ErdeComposer: Gustav MahlerArtist: Stuart Skelton, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon RattleAlbum: Das Lied von der ErdeLabel: BR Klassik 900172

Title: “Now the Great Bear and Pleiades” from Peter GrimesComposer: Benjamin BrittenArtist: Stuart Skelton, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward GardnerAlbum: Peter GrimesLabel: Chandos CHSA5250

Title: “Take me away, and in the lowest deep there let me be” from The Dream of GerontiusComposer: Edward ElgarArtist: Stuart Skelton, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew DavisAlbum: The Dream of GerontiusLabel: Chandos CHSA5140

Title: When People Ask You, BreakComposer: Reuben Lewis, Huda FadlelmawlaArtist: Huda The Goddess & Reuben LewisAlbum: Story of Another SoulLabel: Life Before Man

Title: Love So DeepComposer: Omar MusaArtist: Omar MusaAlbum: The FullnessLabel: Monkeycat Music

The Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Technical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor

Andrew is at the Canberra International Music Festival, where we get to catch up with an Australian who lives in the UK, a Belgian who tours the world, and another Belgian who lives in Australia.

Lotte Betts-Dean, Aussie mezzo-soprano now based in London, makes a trip home to perform a series of form-expanding vocal works from composers like Michael Finnissy, one of the masters of so-called "new complexity". 

Belgian jazz pianist Bram de Looze invites The Music Show into the Belgian Embassy where he's staying with the two resident llamas to talk about where improvisation and composition meet for him, and what he's taken from jazz idols like Hank Jones, Keith Jarrett and Thelonious Monk. 

And CIMF Artistic Director Roland Peelman looks back on his ten years leading the festival, the joys and tribulations of wearing multiple hats, and the particular way the city of Canberra has shaped the festival. 

Look out for Bram De Looze on ABC Jazz’s Jazztrack Live in June.

Music heard in the show:

Title: Spotting GatewaysArtist: Bram de LoozeLive in Canberra – courtesy of ABC Jazz

Title: Blessed Be IArtist: Lotte Betts-Dean, Marsyas TrioComposer: Michael FinnissyAlbum: Alternative ReadingsLabel: Divine Art MEX77102

Title: Botany BayArtist: Lotte Betts-Dean, Marsyas TrioComposer: Michael FinnissyAlbum: Alternative ReadingsLabel: Divine Art MEX77102

Title: parallaxis formaArtist: Lotte Betts Dean, Explore EnsembleComposer: Catherine LambAlbum: 3 Compositions for Voices and EnsembleLabel: Another Timbre at-215CD

Title: BowArtist: Bram De LoozeComposer: Bram De LoozeAlbum: Spotting GatewaysLabel: Independent release

Title: Monk’s MoodArtist: Bram De Looze, Joey Baron, Robin VerheyenComposer: Thelonious MonkAlbum: MiXMONKLabel: UCJ

Technical production by Simon BranthwaiteRecorded on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country.

Rainbow Chan returns to The Music Show to discuss her latest audio-visual project, The Bridal Lament. In an attempt to preserve her mother's mother tongue, Rainbow has spent the last five years researching and learning the Weitou language, an endangered Cantonese dialect, through learning traditional bridal laments. Rainbow talks to Andy about the defiant tradition of performing these laments in the face of arranged marriages, and her process of learning the language through song from the 'grannies' preserving it. 

You might think Broadway composer George Gershwin and pioneer of 12-tone music Arnold Schoenberg would have had little in common, but when Gershwin arrived in Beverly Hills in August 1936, he found Schoenberg (who had fled Nazi Germany in 1933), was his neighbour. Gershwin was in the last year of his life, but during that time the two composers played tennis together every week. They also admired each other’s music - and Schoenberg admired Gershwin’s business acumen. When Gershwin asked Schoenberg for lessons, the older man enquired how much Gershwin earned, suggesting he should the one taking lessons from Gershwin. When George Met Arnold is the title of a film/concert from pianist Simon Tedeschi and conductor/violist Roger Benedict with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and they’ll be in the music studio to 

This week’s show was recorded on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country and produced on Gadigal Land.

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite.

Bringing huge amounts of energy, musicianship and a sense of humour to the Australian folk scene is Apolline. They chat to Ce Benedict about their trio's unusual line up (fiddle, cello, bass), their approach to arranging and layering tunes, and having varied musical influences—from jazz to Scandi folk and Eurovision. They'll also perform two sets of tunes live in The Music Show studio.

American jazz pianist and singer Blossom Dearie would have turned 100 this week. We revisit a delightful interview from 1995 (one of the first Andrew Ford ever recorded), where he gets a strong telling off for suggesting that she played chords like Thelonious Monk. 

And we hear new music from Tessa Bird, Cedric Burnside, and Allysha Joy.

Norwegian trumpet player Tine Thing Helseth returns to The Music Show as she prepares to play with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She talks to Andy about the peculiarities of trumpet concertos, about composers writing for her versus writing for her instrument, and about expanding her musical life to include playing and writing.

Maanyung is a proud Aboriginal man with strong connections to Gumbaynggir and Yaegl nations. His songwriting comes from Language and Country – he’s a surfer, a youth worker and a songwriter and he’s released a string of singles in the last few years. He’s on The Music Show to talk about saltwater, sand, and sound.

Plus new music from Charlie Grey and Joseph Peach.

The Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Land

Technical production by Roi Huberman and Tim Symonds

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, VIC

Music 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 CHSA5180

Title: 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 4525982

Title: Enigma Variations; x. NimrodComposer: Edward ElgarArtist: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)Album: The Queen’s Diamond JubileeLabel: Warner Classics 2564660472

Title: 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 NMCD050

Title: Brigg Fair (An English Rhapsody)Composer: Frederic DeliusArtist: Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)Album: Delius Orchestral WorksLabel: Chandos CHAN10742

Title: Love Will Be RebornComposer: Martha WainwrightArtist: Martha WainwrightAlbum: Love Will Be RebornLabel: Pheromone Records

Title: Dinner at EightComposer: Rufus WainwrightArtist: Martha WainwrightAlbum: Love Will Be RebornLabel: Pheromone Records

Title: Tell My SisterComposer: Kate McGarrigleArtist: Martha WainwrightAlbum: Love Will Be RebornLabel: Pheromone Records

Title: Being RightComposer: Martha WainwrightArtist: Martha WainwrightAlbum: Love Will Be RebornLabel: Pheromone Records

Title: There Is Power In A UnionComposer: Billy BraggArtist: Billy BraggAlbum: Talking With the Taxman About PoetryLabel: Cooking Vinyl COOKCD304

The Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Technical 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 studio

Title: Three Little Pieces, Op. 11Composer: Anton WebernArtist: Timo-Veikko Valve (cello) and Aura Go (piano)Performed Live in The Music Show studio

Title: 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 Classic

Title: The Letter Burning; We Were Smuggling People’s Lives; Crepuscle; Engelchen NowArtist: Alison CottonAlbum: EngelchenLabel: Feeding Tube Records LAUNCH339R

Title: CrepuscleComposer: Jules MassenetArtist: Amelita Galli-CurciAlbum: Amelita Galli-Curci Volume OneLabel: The Rubini Collection GV.578

Title: As The Trees Have Always KnownArtist: Melanie HorsnellAlbum: As The Trees Have Always Known (Single)Label: Independent release

Technical Production by Russell Stapleton and John Jacobs

The 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 SFW40256

Title: Waterloo SunsetArtist: Ann SavoyComposer: Ray DaviesAlbum: Another HeartLabel: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW40256

Title: Walk Away ReneeArtist: Linda Ronstadt, Ann SavoyComposer: Bob Calilli, Mike Brown, Tony Sansome Album: Adieu False HeartLabel: Vanguard 79808-2

Title: Stolen CarArtist: Ann SavoyComposer: Bruce SpringsteenAlbum: Another HeartLabel: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW40256

Titles: 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

Harnessing looping pedals, percussion and vocal manipulation, Tune-Yards make a very big sound for a core membership of two people. It's been ten years since the experimental pop project released their third album Nikki Nack and creepy hit Water Fountain. Songwriter and singer Merrill Garbus is on The Music Show to talk about the duo's complex rhythms, vocal athleticism, and how to play with words.

What does it take to start your own record label in this economy? Andrew Ford chats to two people who did just this—Coco Eke was involved in the early days of First Nations label Bad Apples and pianist and composer Nat Bartsch's new label Amica focuses on 'kind' music. We find out what exactly a record label does, why they still have a role in the age of streaming, and what success can look like for an independent artist.

Nat Bartsch launches her new album Forever Changed on Saturday 16 November.

Tune-Yards' 10th anniversary Deluxe Edition of Nikki Nack is out now via 4AD/Remote Control Records.

And you can find more information about the Bush Music Fund here.

Music in the program:

Title: Heart AttackComposer: Merrill GarbusArtist: Tune-YardsAlbum: I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private LifeLabel: 4AD 0052

Title: Water FountainComposer: Merrill Garbus, Nate BrennerArtist: Tune-YardsAlbum: Nikki NackLabel: 4AD CAD3414CD

Title: Water Fountain (Live)Composer: Merrill Garbus, Nate Brenner, arranged by Kristopher FultonArtist: Vancouver Youth Choir

Title: BiznessComposer: Merrill Garbus, Nate BrennerArtist: Tune-YardsAlbum: w h o k i l lLabel: 4AD CAD3106

Title: Hey LifeComposer: Merrill Garbus, Nate BrennerArtist: Tune-YardsAlbum: Nikki NackLabel: 4AD CAD3414CD

Title: PowaComposer: Merrill GarbusArtist: Tune-YardsAlbum: w h o k i l lLabel: 4AD CAD3106

Title: hypnotizedComposer: Merrill Garbus, Nate BrennerArtist: Tune-YardsAlbum: sketchy.Label: 4AD 4AD0309

Title: Hope (for orchestra)Composer: Nat BartschArtist: Budapest Art Orchestra, conducted by Peter PejtsikAlbum: (Single)Label: Amica AMI006

Title: Na​-​kalamandjardaComposer: Rona Lawrence and Jodie KellArtist: Ripple Effect BandAlbum: (Single)Label: Independent

The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, Turrbal and Yuggera Country

Technical production by Russell Stapleton and Bethany Stewart

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 release

Title: Dances in the Canebrakes No. 1; Nimble FeetArtist: Tonya LemohComposer: Florence PriceAlbum: I Dream A WorldLabel: ABC Classic

Title: Mangrove InletArtist: Duo WindborneComposer: improvised by Rodney Waterman and Ryan WilliamsAlbum: Venus Bay Fireside SessionsLabel: Independent release

Three improvised pieces performed live in The Music Show studio by Duo Windborne – Rodney Waterman and Ryan Williams

Title: The Bonny Miller (trad)Performed live by Coral Reid in The Music Show studio

Clog dances “Sam Sherry’s Beginner Hornpipe”, and “Mrs. Willis’s Rag” demonstrated by Coral Reid in The Music Show studio

Title: Road to PoyntonComposer: Rob HarbronPerformed live by Coral Reid in The Music Show studio

Title: 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” Camilleri

This 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 program

Title: (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 1009

Title: Ain't Got No HomeArtist: Clarence 'Frogman' HenryComposer: Clarence HenryAlbum: Ain't Got No HomeLabel: Chess CHD 9346

Title: McPancakeArtist: ApollineComposer: Stuart Morison, John Morris Rankin, Jonathan BerkahnAlbum: Home Home EPLabel: Blythe Records

Title: Finlandia, Op. 26 Artist: Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Jorma Panula conductorComposer: Jean SibeliusAlbum: The Very Best of SibeliusLabel: Naxos 8.552135-36

Title: 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, 2022

Title: 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 1490

Title: MetamorphosenComposer: Richard StraussArtists: Berlin Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwängler (conductor)Album: Wilhelm Furtwängler: An Anniversary TributeLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 477 006-2

Title: A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46Composer: Arnold SchoenbergArtists: Günter Reich (narrator), BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez (conductor)Album: Boulez - SchoenbergLabel: Masterworks G010003768085J

Title: 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 RCID18056928

Technical production by Bethany Stewart on Gadigal Land

The 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 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

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 4864553

Title: … sofferte onde serene…Artist: Maurizio PolliniComposer: Luigi NonoAlbum: Maurizio Pollini: 20th CenturyLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 4779918

Title: Boulez: Piano Sonata No. 2Artist: Maurizio PolliniComposer: Pierre BoulezAlbum: Maurizio Pollini plays Prokofiev, Boulez, Webern and StravinskyLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 4192022

Title: Preludes Op. 28; No. 24, Prelude in D Minor, Allegro AppassionatoArtist: Maurizio PolliniComposer: Frédéric ChopinAlbum: Maurizio Pollini: ChopinLabel: Deutsche Grammophon 4779908

Title: Goldberg Variations BWV988: Aria; extracts from other movementsArtist: Víkingur ÓlafssonComposer: J.S. BachPerformed live in studio

Title: The Quiet WaysArtist: Emily BarkerAlbum: Fragile As Humans (out 3 May)Label: Independent release

Technical production by Virginia Read and John Jacobs

The 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: Columbia

Title: I'm The Greatest StarComposer: Jule Styne, lyrics Bob Merrill Artist: Barbara StreisandAlbum: Funny Girl (Original Broadway Cast)Label: Capitol Records W 2059

Music 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 4817995

Title: River Mountain SkyComposer: Maria GrenfellArtist: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin NortheyRecording: Courtesy of ABC Classic

Music in Teho.:

Title: Jokivarren Polska & FlikuleeriComposer: Esko JärveläArtist: Teho.Album: Not A Violin DuoLabel: Independent

Title: TähtisilmävalssiComposer: Konsta JylhäArtist: Teho.Album: (E2 + ε + V) x I3 = PLabel: Independent

Music 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 Ranger

Rawhide

The Twilight Zone (Bernard Herrmann)

The Twilight Zone (Marius Constant)

Peter Gunn

Hawaii Five-0

The Man from U.N.C.L.E

Mission, Impossible

Get Smart

The Jetsons

The Flintstones

Gilligan’s Island

All In The Family

Cheers

Hill Street Blues

The West Wing

Pride & Prejudice

Jeeves & Wooster

Deadwood

The Sopranos

Game of Thrones

Succession

White Lotus

The West Wing (closing credits)

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Technical 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 Garrett

Titles: 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 Davies

Title: Overture, from Così fan tutteComposer: MozartArtist: La Petite Bande, conduted byt Sigiswald KuijkenAlbum: Mozart: Così fan tutteLabel: Brilliant Classics 99555

Title: Breaking The Waves (excerpt)Composer: Missy Mazzoli, libretto Royce VavrekArtist: Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Steven Osgood with soprano Kiera Duffy

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country

Technical 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 Tigers

Title: ErasureComposer: Corinne Bailey RaeArtist: Corinne Bailey RaeAlbum: Black RainbowsLabel: Thirty Tigers

Title: Before The Throne Of The Invisible GodComposer: Corinne Bailey RaeArtist: Corinne Bailey RaeAlbum: Black RainbowsLabel: Thirty Tigers

Music in Ju Ben:

Title: Sema MaiComposer: Peni Tupou Roqara (Ju Ben)Artist: JU BENAlbum: Tauyavu EPLabel: VTBOP Music/Precise

Music 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 6095

Title: 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 6095

Title: Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)Composer: Brian Eno, Christopher Frantz, David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina WeymouthArtist: Angélique KidjoAlbum: Remain In LightLabel: Kravenworks

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite, Nathan Turnbull and Harvey O'Sullivan

The 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 Club

Music 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 SIGCD173

Artists: Marita Napier, Yvonne Minton, Jess Thomas, Siegmund Nimsgern, Kenneth Bowen and Gunter Reich (narrator), BBC Symphony Orchestra & ChorusConductor: Pierre BoulezLabel: Sony Music SM2K 48 459

Eleanor McEvoy performs live in The Music Show studio two songs from her album Gimme Some Wine:

South Anne Street

The Spanish Word for Love

At the end of the show:

Title: Carbon FootprintArtist: Veronique Serret feat. William BartonIndependent single release

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite, Nathan Turnbull and Harvey O'Sullivan

The Music Show was produced this week on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Kaurna Country

Legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock returns to The Music Show. He’s a bandleader, a composer and a professor, and at the age of 84 he’s got one of the longest living memories in the jazz world. He joins Andy to remember collaborators like Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter, and to ask whether jazz can be a path towards peace. 

Tenzin Choegyal is a Tibetan multi-instrumentalist, and as he shares Tibetan music and story around the world he’s become a sort of activist by default. His new album Whispering Sky is the product of slow, experimental recording process across Australia, Japan, Canada and the UK which blends the voices of international collaborators with his nomadic Tibetan roots. 

Herbie Hancock is in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in October. 

Whispering Sky is out now via 4000 Records.

Music heard in the show:

Title: Kailish Roof of the WorldArtist: Tenzin Choegyal feat. Tony White and Evie Composer: Tenzin ChoegyalAlbum: Whispering SkyLabel: 4000 Records

Title: The Sorcerer Artist: Miles Davis (trumpet), Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), Tony Williams (drums)Composer: Herbie HancockAlbum: SorcererLabel: Columbia CK 65 680

Title: Visitor from NowhereArtist: Herbie Hancock & Wayne ShorterComposer: Herbie Hancock & Wayne ShorterAlbum: 1 + 1Label: Verve Records 537 564-2

Title: RiverArtist: Corinne Bailey Rae (vocals), Herbie Hancock (piano), Wayne Shorter (soprano sax), Lionel Loueke (guitar), Dave Holland (bass), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums)Composer: Joni MitchellAlbum: River: The Joni LettersLabel: Verve Records – B0009791-02

Title: Dolma Whispering SkyArtist: Tenzin Choegyal feat. Taro Terahara and Manao DoiComposer: Tenzin ChoegyalAlbum: Whispering SkyLabel: 4000 Records

Title: Gyallu Tibetan AnthemArtist: Tenzin Choegyal feat. Matt Antal and Metta StringsComposer: TraditionalAlbum: Whispering SkyLabel: 4000 Records

Title: Jampa A Big HugArtist: Tenzin Choegyal feat. Hico Natsuaki and Tenzin KunsangComposer: Tenzin ChoegyalAlbum: Whispering SkyLabel: 4000 Records

The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, Turrbal and Yuggera Country

Technical production by Russell Stapleton and Bethany Stewart

An hour with two Irish living legends, singer songwriter Lisa O’Neill and concertina master Cormac Begley. Both stalwarts of the Irish traditional music scene, they united for an intense, wailing version of All the Tired Horses which was used in the final moment of Peaky Blinders.

They play live and talk to Andy about what tradition means, how new writing can sing alongside the old songs, and the highs (piccolo) and lows (bass) of having a concertina collection.

Including live performances of:

All the Tired HorsesThe Green Groves of ErinTo WarOld NoteWhen Cash Was KingO’Neill’s March/Croppy Croppy

Technical production by Tom Henry, Tim Symonds, Olivia Aquilina and Ann-Marie Debettencor

WOMADelaide technical crew Alex Mollison, Jess Wolfendale, Jamie Mensforth, Cambell Lawrence, Alex Hadden, Jared Jackson, Greg Pickle, Ryan O'Dea

With special thanks to Tiki Menegola and Tayla Carlaw

The Music Show was produced this week on Gadigal and Kaurna Country

The Music Show is back on Kaurna Land at Adelaide's Botanic Park for WOMADelaide 2024, a festival celebrating music from all over the world.

Marta Pereira da Costa was the first woman to make a career as a Fado guitarist. From Lisbon, Portugal, she gave up a career as a civil engineer to pursue the music full time and keep Portugal’s major musical tradition alive.

The Good Ones formed in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda as a way of processing, healing and finding hope. There is a universality to their sound—fingerpicked acoustic guitar, simple percussion and haunting harmonies, which is deeply affecting even if we don't speak Kinyarwanda.

Katanga Junior grew up in Tanzania's mountainous region of Arusha, but he now calls Mparntwe/Alice Springs home. His style ranges from acoustic folk to hip hop to reggae, and he brings a unique sound and perspective to the vibrant music scene of Central Australia. 

Performed live by Marta Pereira da CostaTerraDia de Feira

Performed live by The Good OnesThe FarmerMon Cheri

Performed live by Katanga JuniorKwenye MaishaMapenzi Business

Technical production by Tom Henry, Tim Symonds, Olivia Aquilina and Ann-Marie Debettencor

WOMADelaide technical crew Alex Mollison, Jess Wolfendale, Jamie Mensforth, Cambell Lawrence, Alex Hadden, Jared Jackson, Greg Pickle, Ryan O'Dea

With special thanks to Tiki Menegola and Tayla Carlaw

The Music Show was produced this week on Gadigal and Kaurna Country

Windborne are a vocal quartet from New England in the US. Their tagline is 'old songs, bold harmonies' and their varied repertoire puts Corsican polyphony next to 17th Century English protest songs. They’ve found a huge following online in recent years, thanks in part to a performance outside of Trump Tower. They’re in the country for a string of local shows and festival appearances and they perform live in our music studio.

Yorta Yorta musician and storyteller Allara is also in our studio this week. Allara brings her poetry to life armed with a double bass, looping pedal and electronics. She chats to Andy about learning her Yorta Yorta Language and the enduring legacy of her old bandmate Archie Roach (she’s performing on the Archie Roach Foundation stage at this year’s Port Fairy Folk Festival). 

Windborne live in The Music Show studio (ABC: Ellie Parnell)

With sixteen albums and five Grammys under her belt, Angélique Kidjo doesn’t need much of an introduction. She’s back in Australia to perform songs from her 2021 album Mother Nature as well as gems from her catalogue that highlight her infectious energy, dazzling array of influences and multi-language pop music. Supporting most of her tour is Maatakitj (the stage name of Noongar song-maker, composer, and academic Clint Bracknell). In this special double-header interview Angélique and Clint reflect on performing in languages most of their audience don’t understand, whether music can be an ambassador, and why it’s more important than ever for us to dance. 

Mezzo-soprano Anna Dowsley makes her home in Germany’s opera houses these days, but she’s back on her home soil for a run of concerts with the pianist Michael Curtain, tackling a body of work called Cabaret Songs by American composer William Bolcom and the late “theatre poet” Arnold Weinstein. Even though they were written in the 70s and 80s, these songs have something distinctly 1930s about them, but also a sharp contemporary wit. Anna and Michael join Andy in studio to play selections from Cabaret Songs live and delve into this eccentric collection.