Beginnings
Tom Service explores how to get a piece of music off to a good start. What does the beginning of a piece tell us about the culture around it and the expectations of listeners.
The Listening Service - an odyssey through the musical universe with Tom Service. Join him on a journey of imagination and insight, exploring how music works.
Each week, Tom aims to open our ears to different ways of imagining a musical idea, a work, or a musical conundrum, on the premise that "to listen" is a decidedly active verb.
How does music connect with us, make us feel that gamut of sensations from the fiercely passionate to the rationally intellectual, from the expressively poetic to the overwhelmingly visceral? What's happening in the pieces we love that takes us on that emotional rollercoaster? And what's going on in our brains when we hear them?
When we listen - really listen - we're not just attending to the way that songs, symphonies, and string quartets work as collections of notes and melodies. We're also creating meanings and connections that reverberate powerfully with other worlds of ideas, of history and culture, as well as the widest range of musical genres. We're engaging the world with our ears. The Listening Service aims to help make those connections, to listen actively.
So where do we start? This inaugural programme takes "Beginnings" at its theme - how do you begin a piece of music?
Tom looks at a cornucopia of opening bars - from classical to pop, to see how composers grab our attention, and go on to keep us listening. With thoughts from composer Anna Meredith on the terror of the blank page, tune in and rethink music with The Listening Service..
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Clips
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How do you start a piece of music?
Duration: 02:53
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Neil Brand's Top Pop Intros
Duration: 04:24
Music Played
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Rodgers and Hammerstein
Do Re Mi
Performer: Julie Andrews.- The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack Recording.
- RCA.
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Edvard Grieg
Concerto for piano and orchestra (Op.16) in A minor, 1st Mvt.
Performer: Stephen Kovacevich. Performer: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Colin Davis.- Grieg, Schumann: Piano Concertos.
- NEWTON.
- 1.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony no. 3 (Op.55) in E flat major "Eroica", 1st movement
Performer: Berlin Philharmonic String Quintet. Performer: Claudio Abbado.- Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9.
- DG.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Christmas Oratorio BWV 248
Orchestra: Concentus Musicus Wien. Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.- J. S. BACH Weihnachtsoratorium.
- TELDEC.
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Giuseppe Verdi
La forza del destino (Overture)
Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.- Verdi: 7 Overtures.
- DECCA.
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Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 1, 1st Mvt.
Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: George Szell.- Mahler Symphony 1.
- SONY.
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Louis Armstrong
West End Blues
- West End Blues.
- Pickwick.
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NiccolΓ² Piccinni
Iphigenie en Tauride, Overture
Orchestra: Orceshra dellβEnte Artistico Teatro Petruzzelli. Conductor: Donato Renzetti.- Iphigenie en Tauride.
- WARNER.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 31 in D major, K.297, 1st Mvt.
Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Performer: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.- Mozart: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
- TELDEC.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 31 in D major, K.297, last Mvt.
Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Performer: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.- Mozart: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
- TELDEC.
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Anna Meredith
Nautillus
Performer: Anna Meredith. -
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Anna Meredith
The Vapours
Performer: Anna Meredith.- Varmints.
- Moshi Moshi Records.
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Joseph Haydn
The Creation
Orchestra: Concentus Musicus Wien. Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.- The Creation.
- BMG.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony no. 9 (Op.125) in D minor "Choral", 1st movement
Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Performer: Herbert von Karajan.- Symphony No. 9 'Choral'.
- DGG.
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Richard Wagner
The Ride of the Valkyries (Die WalkΓΌre)
Orchestra: Staatskapelle Dresden. Conductor: Donald Runnicles.- Der Ring des Nibelungen.
- TELDEC.
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Richard Wagner
Prelude to Das Rheingold
Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Performer: Georg Solti.- Rheingold.
- DECCA.
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Derek and the Dominos
Layla
- Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
- Atco Records.
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Pharrell Williams
Happy
- G I R L.
- i am OTHER.
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ABBA
Dancing Queen
- Arrival.
- Polar Music International.
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The Beatles
Strawberry Fields Forever
- Magical Mystery Tour.
- Parlophone.
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Edvard Grieg
Morning Mood (Peer Gynt, Op.23)
Orchestra: San Francisco Symphony. Conductor: Herbert Blomstedt.- Grieg - San Francisco Symphony.
- DECCA.
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David Bowie
'Heroes'
- Heroes.
- RCA Records.
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Antonio Vivaldi
The 4 Seasons: Spring (Violin Concerto in E, RV269)
Performer: La Serenissima. Performer: Adrian Chandler.- Vivaldi: The Four Seasons.
- AVIE.
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Led Zeppelin
Stairway To Heaven
- Led Zeppelin IV.
- Atlantic.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Le Nozze di Figaro - (K.492), Overture
Performer: Staatskapelle Dresden. Performer: Colin Davis.- Staatskapelle Dresden.
- RCA.
Contact The Listening Service
Broadcast
- Sun 1 May 2016 17:00ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
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Podcast
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The Listening Service
An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service
