91Èȱ¬

The celebrated conductor Sir Neville Marriner died last week at the age of 92. Best known for his work with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which he founded in 1958, he went on to found the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and became its first Music Director in 1969. He would become Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra, and in the mid-1980s, Principal Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as working with a number of other major ensembles, including the Vienna Philharmonic.

Tom Service presents a portrait of Marriner with interviews from the 91Èȱ¬ archives, from the 1960s to the present day, and his close friend and collaborator, the pianist Murray Perahia, reflects on their working relationship and Marriner’s legacy.

Matthew Kaner is 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3’s Composer in 3, in a partnership with Sound and Music’s Embedded programme. As part of the celebrations for Radio 3’s 70th season, Matthew is writing 10 new pieces over a 70 day period, which can be heard each week on Breakfast.

Matthew’s other current commissions include a new orchestral work for the Lucerne Festival, to be premiered next year. He was invited to workshop the piece at this year’s festival in July – and he made an audio diary of his experience for Music Matters, giving a unique insight into the working life of a young composer.

The violinist Paul Robertson, who died in July, was a founding member of the Medici Quartet.  Robertson also devoted much of his life to study of music’s effect on the mind. Serious illness in 2008 left Robertson in a coma, during which near death experiences connected powerfully with the music he loved. Those experiences form part of a recently published memoir, Soundscapes – A Musician’s Journey through Life and Death.

Tom met Robertson at his home shortly before he died, encountering a man still asking the deepest questions about the power of music on the human soul. In this tribute, we also hear a selection of contributions he made to 91Èȱ¬ programmes, including a conversation with John Tavener for Radio 4, and a discussion about spirituality in Schubert’s music during Radio 3’s Spirit of Schubert.