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The Magical Forest

Enter the magical musical world of the forest. It's charming, mysterious, beautiful and scary - Tom Service is your guide.

Enter the magical musical world of the forest. It's charming, mysterious, beautiful and scary. Tom Service is your guide as he explores the magical role of the forest in music, from the Romantic charms of Schubert songs to the nightmarish spirits of Weber's FreischΓΌtz opera, and beyond to the symbolic psychological forests of Schoenberg's Erwartung and Sibelius's Tapiola. He also talks to sound artist Jez Riley French about his close-up recordings of forests, which bring us the truly wild sounds of un-romanticised nature.

Available now

31 minutes

Last on

Sun 21 Oct 2018 17:00

Music Played

  • John Walter Bratton

    Teddy BearsΒ’ Picnic

    Performer: Henry Hall & His Orchestra.
    • EMI.
  • Carl Maria von Weber

    Der FreischΓΌtz: Act 2: Wolfs Glen Scene

    Performer: Staatskapelle Dresden. Performer: Colin Davis.
    • Decca.
  • Arnold Schoenberg

    Erwartung

    Performer: Jessye Norman. Performer: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Performer: James Levine.
    • Philips.
  • Richard Wagner

    Forest Murmurs (from Siegfried)

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Performer: Georg Solti.
    • Decca.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Tapiola

    Performer: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Performer: Leif Segerstam.
    • Ondine.
  • Jez riley French

    Tree, Northumbria

    Performer: Jez riley French.
    • Private Recording.
  • Anna Friederike Potengowski

    Improvisation for mammoth ivory flute

    Performer: Anna Friederike Potengowski.
    • Delphian.
  • Franz Schubert

    Waldesnacht D.708

    Performer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Performer: Bengt Forsberg.
    • DG.
  • Phoebe Riley Law

    Forest Manifesto

    Performer: Phoebe Riley Law.
    • Private Recording.
  • Jez riley French

    Fence Dawn Chorus

    Performer: Jez riley French.
    • Private Recording.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Tapiola

    Performer: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Performer: Leif Segerstam.
    • Ondine.

Broadcast

  • Sun 21 Oct 2018 17:00

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