The Listening Service Podcast
1) What's the point of Listening?
Isn’t it great to be able to listen to so much music, to be able to search and scroll and find anything you want…? Or to have tracks suggested for you without even thinking about it…? Or is it? Perhap...Show More
2) Needle Drop: the power of classical music in film
Tom Service discovers the mighty musical power of needle drop - the use of pre-existing music in film soundtracks.From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Barbie, from The Shining to Maestro, Tom listens in to s...Show More
3) Impassioned argument: Elizabeth Maconchy's string quartets
"For me, the best music is an impassioned argument". So said one of Britain's greatest 20th-century composers, Elizabeth Maconchy. Who?? Despite her many awards and medals - including a damehood in...Show More
4) Songs of the Moon
Many of the most instantly recognisable works in classical music are inspired by the Earth’s moon – Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune’, Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’, Dvořák’s ‘Song to the Moon’. Tom Service ...Show More
5) 'Pathétique'
Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony is given the subtitle "Pathétique", the use of the French word removing some of the negative connotations that the word pathetic has in English, which is the literal transla...Show More
6) Turangalila!
It made Pierre Boulez want to vomit: Francis Poulenc thought it was atrocious: and Igor Stravinsky said all you needed to write it was enough manuscript paper. But its composer wrote all 80 minutes of...Show More
7) Jumping Fleas: the rise and rise of the Ukulele
Tom Service explores the world of the Ukulele, from the Hawaiian Royal Court of King Kalakaua to Blackpool Pier with George Formby, the Royal Albert Hall where hundreds of ukulele players performed Be...Show More
8) Resolutions
The word 'resolution' has several meanings. It can refer to something that has been settled or resolved. It can infer a desire to do something differently or to behave in a changed way - as in a New Y...Show More
9) New York, New York!
Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's Tom Service, exploring the musical life of The Big Apple, from its underground scene to John and Yoko's loft and Superman's skies. He roams The City That Never Sl...Show More
10) The Trombone Section
At the back row of the orchestra, usually three in number, sit the trombone section, but why three and how long have they been there? Tom Service reflects on their history and the ways in which they a...Show More