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Press Releases
Radio 4 and 3 tell the story of The Making Of Music
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91Èȱ¬ Radio 4 and 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 are collaborating to take listeners on a journey to discover how history has shaped classical music through the centuries.
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The Making Of Music is a 60-part series which launches across both stations on Monday 4 June
2007 telling the story of how composers and their work reveal our own history.
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James Naughtie presents Radio 4's programme at 3.45pm on weekday
afternoons and this is immediately followed at 4pm by an hour on
Radio 3 during which listeners can enjoy full performances of some
of the works referred to in the earlier programme.
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"This has been a thrilling series to write," says James Naughtie.
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"Music springs from our history – as well as from original minds – and it's in
our bloodstream. Delving into the tradition, and trying to explain how it
came to be what it is, has been exhilarating and exciting.
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"I hope
listeners love it as much as I do."
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The Making Of Music will be transmitted in two parts.
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The first half of
the series leads up to the 91Èȱ¬ Proms and takes the story from the plainchant
of monks in the Dark Ages through the troubadours and princes of the
middle ages to Renaissance courts and cathedrals.
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It charts the birth of
opera in Florence, the musical explosion of grandeur in the court of the
Sun King, the genius of Bach in Leipzig and Handel in London.
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After the
Vienna of Haydn and Mozart comes the rumble of revolution across Europe,
Beethoven and the birth of the Romantic imagination.
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Schubert and the
virtuosi including Chopin, Paganini and Liszt lead to the confident era
summed up in Britain by the Great Exhibition of 1851.
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The final episode
in the first part of the series fittingly takes the listener to the Royal
Albert Hall, on the same day as the first night of this year's 91Èȱ¬ Proms
season.
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The series returns on 10 September after the Last Night Of The
Proms.
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In this second half music and nationalism are now entwined across
Europe, new artistic movements are unleashed and the story moves into the
20th century where wars and politics shape music in extraordinary
ways.
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Mark Damazer, Controller, Radio 4, says: "The Making Of Music is a vivid and stimulating examination of the way
cultural and social forces have influenced classical music and musicians.
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"I am delighted that Radio 4 is being joined by Radio 3 on a project
which I hope will both entertain and delight listeners from both
stations."
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Roger Wright, Controller, Radio 3, says: "This series will be a
fascinating and enlightening journey through the history of western
classical music and will present a unique opportunity for listeners to
gain new insights from this chronological adventure."
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The Making Of Music encompasses revolution and war, religious conflict
and dissent, the shock of the new in art and technology, the genius of
the great composers, and paints a picture of the musical tradition that
is our inheritance and the brilliant soundtrack to our history. Ìý
Radio 4 Publicity
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