91Èȱ¬

In the fifth episode of this six part series, writer and satirist Chris Addison (The Thick Of It, Veep) explores how composers have used music to engage with some of the biggest ideas throughout time - in the world of philosophy. 5/6

Chris has selected tracks demonstrating that music has often been used as a space to challenge or delve into philosophical concepts. This programme features pieces by Erik Satie, Benjamin Britten, Emilie Mayer, Leonard Bernstein, and more.

In this series, Chris Addison - himself a classical music devotee, keen amateur choral singer and opera buff - takes listeners on a tour of how composers have used their music to question, parody, and challenge power and ideas over the years. Classical music can amplify power, but it can also undermine it - satirising and thumbing the nose of the status quo. Composers have used classical music to critique, undermine and even lampoon - often in cleverly nuanced, surprising ways that reconnect us to the flawed humans - and shared humanity - beneath the pomposity. Each episode in this series takes a big idea, and illustrates it with a playlist of entertaining and diverse music spanning the entire history of Western classical music.

Leonard Bernstein: Candide – Overture
London Symphony Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein (conductor)

Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question
Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra
Gerhard Samuel (conductor)

Erik Satie: Socrate No. 1 Portrait De Socrate
Barbara Hannigan (soprano), Reinbert de Leeuw (piano)

Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra I: Sonnenaufgang, Ii: Von Den Hinterweltlern, Iii: Von Der Grossen Sehnsucht
Berlin Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan (conductor)

Richard Wagner: Parsifal – Act III: Höchsten Heiles Wunder!
Berlin Philharmonic
Chorus of Deutsche Oper Berlin
Herbert von Karajan (conductor)

Emilie Mayer: Faust Overture in B minor
Kölner Akademie
Michael Alexander Willens (conductor)

Benjamin Britten: War Requiem – Dies Irae
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)

Leonard Bernstein: Candide – The Best Of All Possible Worlds
Daniel Evans, Simon Russell Beale, Alex Kelly, Simon Day, Elizabeth Renihan
(National Theatre Production)

Produced by James C Taylor
An Overcoat Media Production for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3