Main content

Cover Versions

The Listening Service explores the art of the cover version. Does the meaning of a piece change when it's 'covered'? Is all classical music one big cover version?

The Listening Service explores the art of the cover version: what happens when one composer 'covers' the art of another? Why was it common practice for Baroque composers to recycle their own work and 'borrow' from their colleagues on a regular basis? And what of musical traditions like folk and jazz where key pieces or 'standards' are covered by multiple artists? Tom Service talks to Baroque expert Berta Joncas and folk star Eliza Carthy to get some answers.

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 20 Aug 2021 16:30

Music Played

  • Dolly Parton

    I Will Always Love You

    Performer: Whitney Houston.
    • I Will Always Love You.
    • Arista.
  • Charles Gounod

    Meditation sur le 1er prelude de Bach 'Ave Maria'

    Singer: Jessye Norman. Orchestra: Lyon Opera Orchestra. Conductor: Lawrence Foster.
    • Jessye Norman at Notre-Dame.
    • Philips.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Winter 2 (The Four Seasons)

    Composer: Max Richter. Performer: Daniel Hope. Performer: Raphael Alpermann. Orchestra: Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin. Conductor: AndrΓ© de Ridder.
    • DG.
  • Dolly Parton

    I Will Always Love You

    • Jolene.
    • RCA.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude and Fugue in C major BWV.846 (The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1)

    Performer: Sir AndrΓ‘s Schiff.
    • Decca.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.5 in C sharp minor (Adagietto)

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • CBS.
  • ±ΚΓ©°ω΄Η³ΩΎ±²Τ

    Viderunt Omnes

    Choir: The Hilliard Ensemble.
    • ECM.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Sinfonia, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Solomon)

    Ensemble: Gabrieli Players. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
    • Archiv.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Lascia ch'io pianga (Rinaldo)

    Singer: Sandrine Piau. Ensemble: Europa Galante. Conductor: Fabio Biondi.
    • Handel: Arie e Duetti D'Amore; Europa Galante.
    • Naive.
    • 3.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Sarabande from Almira Dance Suite

    Performer: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto No. 7 in A minor RV522, L'estro armonico

    Performer: L'Arte dell'Arco.
    • BRILLIANT CLASSICS.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto in A minor (after Antonio Vivaldi) BWV 593

    Performer: David Goode.
    • SIGNUM.
  • George Frideric Handel

    I rage, I melt. I burn; O ruddier than the cherry (Acis and Galatea)

    Singer: John Tomlinson. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: David Parry.
    • John Tomlinson - Great Operatic Arias.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.
  • Louis Armstrong

    West End Blues

    • Louis Armstrong - Hot Five & Hot Seven.
    • Giants of Jazz.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Requiem in D minor compl SΓΌssmayr

    Performer: Susan Addison. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Singer: Barbara Bonney. Singer: Hans Peter Blochwitz. Singer: Willard White. Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists.
    • Mozart: Requiem K626/Kyrie K341: Monteverdi Choir/John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Philips.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Requiem K.626

    Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists.
    • Mozart: Requiem K626/Kyrie K341: Monteverdi Choir/John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Philips.
  • George Frideric Handel

    He hath borne our griefs from Messiah

    Performer: The Sixteen. Performer: Harry Christophers.
    • HYPERION.
  • George Frideric Handel

    And with his stripes from Messiah

    Performer: The Sixteen. Performer: Harry Christophers.
    • HYPERION.
  • Eliza Carthy

    Worcester City

    • Anglicana.
    • Topic Records.
  • Fairport Convention

    Come All Ye

    • Liege & Lief.
    • Island Records.
  • Jon Boden

    Gallant Hussar

    • A Folk Song A Day.
    • www.afolksongaday.com.
  • Eliza Carthy

    The Gallant Hussar

    • Rough Music.
    • Topic Records.
  • Simon & Garfunkel

    Scarborough Fair/Canticle

    • Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits.
    • Sony BMG.
  • Martin Carthy

    Scarborough Fair

    • New Electric Muse: The Story Of Folk Into Rock CD1.
    • Castle Music Ltd.
  • Franz Schubert

    ErlkΓΆnig D.328

    Singer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau. Performer: Gerald Moore.
    • EMI.
  • Franz Schubert

    ErlkΓΆnig, D 328

    Performer: Oleg Maisenberg. Music Arranger: Franz Liszt.
    • DG.
  • Hope Lies Within

    Erlkonig

    • Hope Lies Within.
    • Hope Lies Within.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Ricercar from Musical Offering BWV1079

    Performer: Robert Kohnen.
    • DEUTSCHE HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Ricercar a 6 (A Musical Offering BWV.1079)

    Music Arranger: Anton Webern. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • Boulez conducts Webern: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 13.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 7, Allegretto

    Performer: London Classical Players. Performer: Sir Roger Norrington.
    • EMI.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 7, Allegretto

    Performer: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Performer: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
    • TELDEC.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 7, Allegretto

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Performer: Wilhelm FurtwΓ€ngler.
    • EMI.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony No. 38, Presto

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Performer: Karl Bohm.
    • DG.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 6 Nov 2016 17:00
  • Sun 8 Jul 2018 17:00
  • Sun 15 Aug 2021 17:00
  • Fri 20 Aug 2021 16:30

Why do we call it 'classical' music?

Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).

Six of the world's most extreme voices

From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.

Watch the animations

Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.

When does noise become music?

We like to think we can separate β€œnoise” from β€œmusic”, but is it that simple?

Podcast