« Tuning in and Tuning out » New Paths to Classical Music: The Orchestra - No 1

In this episode we are talking and thinking about THE ORCHESTRA, as we listen to and reflect on the record 'Sir Adrian Boult introduces The Instruments of the Orchestra, featuring members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra' from 1968. We talk with a professional orchestral musician based in Berlin to learn more about the process of becoming part of an orchestra and what the job entails, as well as reflecting on some of the problematics of these large traditional ensembles when we listen to the only female musician on the record, the harpist.

This show not only thinks about who, how and why we can or should listen to classical music today but also who speaks about it and performs it and how this can be challenged and understood. What perspectives or histories are forgotten from the canon? It looks at the broader context of a composer's work and looks around at what was happening at the time it was written, what has happened since and how we could listen and interpret it today. Where did this music emerge from, what was it doing musically and why could that be interesting ? It eschews traditional ways of talking and educating about classical music and looks for a subversive way round the side door and into the concert hall.