The Key to Keys
Keys, major and minor. There seem to be an awful lot of them, but why? And what are they? How has their significance and meaning changed over time? Tom Service wants to know!
What is a key? In western music, if all the intervals and possible chords in every scale in any major key are the same (and ditto for every scale and chord in every minor key), why do we need 12 major keys and 12 minor ones? What have keys meant to composers down the centuries and has that changed? Are keys now so last-century (or even before that)? What even is a key? Why is the Pythagorean Comma important and what even is it?
So many questions... To attempt some answers, Tom Service enlists the help of harpsichord maker and tuner Andrew Wooderson, harpsichord player Masumi Yamamoto and musicologist Katy Hamilton.
David Papp (producer)
Last on
Music Played
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Take That
Back for Good
- RCA.
- 74321-27909 2.
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Lizzo
Juice
- Virgin EMI Records.
- 3778233.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sonata in C major K.545 for piano
Performer: Karl Engel.- teldec.
- 2564656137.
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Stevie Wonder
Superstition
- Universal.
- 981446-4.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude and fugue from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, bk.1 no. 24 in B minor BWV.869
Performer: Sir Andr谩s Schiff.- decca.
- 4806352.
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William Byrd
Lavolta (2) MB.28.91 for keyboard
Performer: Masumi Yamamoto. -
Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude and fugue from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, bk.1 no. 1 in C major BWV.846
Performer: Masumi Yamamoto. -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony no. 40 in G minor K.550
Conductor: Ren茅 Jacobs. Performer: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.- Harmonia Mundi.
- HM901959.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Le Nozze di Figaro - opera in 4 acts K.492
Conductor: Ren茅 Jacobs. Performer: N煤ria Rial. Performer: Concerto K枚ln.- Harmonia Mundi.
- HMC901818/20.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Partita no. 3 in E major BWV.1006 for violin solo
Performer: Rachel Podger.- CHANEL.
- CCSSEL2498.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata no. 29 BWV.29 (Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir)
Conductor: Philippe Herreweghe. Performer: Collegium Vocale Gent Orchestra.- HARMONIA MUNDI.
- hm-1106.
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Franz Schubert
4 Impromptus D.899, Op.90 for piano
Performer: Katy Hamilton. -
Johannes Brahms
6 Pieces Op.118 for piano
Performer: Katy Hamilton.
Broadcasts
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Podcast
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The Listening Service
An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service