91Èȱ¬

The music writer Laura Barton presents a series of meditations on different facets of the music we enjoy - starting with the baritone voice.

Celebrated British singer Roderick Williams has described his role as an operatic baritone as often arriving on stage "with a frown". He shares the characterisation of the baritone voice in opera and classical concert music with Laura, and also reflects, alongside Matt Berninger of the American indie rock band The National, on the wisdom, the masculinity, the melancholy often associated with it, while John Cale (formerly of the Velvet Underground) meditates on the timbre - the fundamentals and frequencies - of the baritone voice.

Music:
Bill Callahan – Riding the Feeling
Leonard Cohen – Chelsea Hotel
Beethoven – An die ferne Geliebte (Roderick Williams)
Verdi – Di provenza il mar (La Traviata) (Dmitri Hvorostovsky)
The National – Sorrow
Johnny Cash – I See a Darkness
Leonard Cohen – Everybody Knows
Smog – Let Me See the Colts
The National – Light Years
John Cale – You Know More Than I Know
Velvet Underground – Venus in Furs
Mark Lanegan – Judas Touch
Gerald Finzi – By Footpath and Stile (Roderick Williams)
The National – Pink Rabbits
Bill Callahan - Pigeons

Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4