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Blend and Decoration

Episode 1 of 3

Singer Nora Fischer celebrates the huge variety of sounds the human larynx can produce in three diverse and fascinating playlists.

In a series of three shows, Nora Fischer celebrates what the voice can do with a fabulously diverse playlist of tracks from around the world and across the centuries.

She listens to raw and passionate Bulgarian and Scandinavian singing alongside the profound warmth of Russian basses. She compares the ethereal angst of the voice of the last castrato to the effect of the longest high tenor C in classical music. And she sets the twisting ornamental lines of an 18th-century Handel opera aria next to the runs perfected by Whitney Houston and BeyoncΓ©.

In this first episode, Nora listens to the way singers blend their voices, from an unearthly mystic unison in a piece by medieval composer Hildegarde of Bingen to the multi-track digital mixing of singer-songwriter James Blake. She also listens to the way singers and composers can add twists, turns, trills and runs to a vocal line for maximum effect - whether it’s in an Indian rag, an ornate aria from Italian baroque master Barbara Strozzi, or a powerful RnB ballad.

A Tandem Production for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

59 minutes

Last on

Sun 5 Sep 2021 23:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Vespers of 1610 (opening)

    Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Vespers of 1610 (opening)

    Ensemble: La TempΓͺte. Conductor: Simon‐Pierre Bestion.

  • Parween Sultana

    Rasiya Mohe Bulaaye (Thumri)

    Performer: Begum Parveena Sultana. Performer: Shri Shantaram Jadhav.

  • Ira Tucker

    My Time Ain't Long

  • Caroline Shaw

    Courante from Partita for 8 Voices

    Ensemble: Roomful of Teeth.

  • Thomas Tallis

    Spem in Alium

    Ensemble: Taverner Consort. Choir: Taverner Choir. Conductor: Andrew Parrott.

  • Hoyt S. Curtin

    The Flintstones

    Composer: Jacob Collier. Performer: Jacob Collier.

  • James Blake

    Meet You In The Maze

    Performer: James Blake.

  • Hildegard von Bingen

    Responsory: O felix anima

    Ensemble: Anonymous 4.

  • Frank Martin

    Sanctus from Mass for Double Choir

    Choir: RIAS Chamber Choir. Conductor: Daniel Reuss.

  • Hristo Todorov

    Svatba (The Wedding)

    Choir: Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir.

  • Barbara Strozzi

    Lagrime mie from Diporti di Euterpe

    Performer: Romina Basso.

  • Stephen Schwartz

    When you believe

    Performer: Whitney Houston. Performer: Mariah Carey.

  • Jody Breeze

    All Night

    Composer: Andre Allen. Composer: Dean Brown. Composer: August Anthony Alsina. Performer: BeyoncΓ©.

  • George Frideric Handel

    O had I Jubal's Lyre from Joshua (Part 3)

    Singer: Kathleen Battle. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.

  • Karin Rehnqvist

    I himmelen

    Choir: Swedish Chamber Choir. Conductor: Simon Phipps.

  • Gustav Mahler

    "Alles Vergangliche" - End of Finale of Symphony No. 8

    Performer: Eberhard Kraus. Singer: Edith Mathis. Singer: Martina Arroyo. Singer: JΓΊlia Hamari. Singer: Norma Procter. Singer: Donald Grobe. Singer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau. Singer: Franz Crass. Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Choir: Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir. Conductor: Rafael KubelΓ­k.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 6 Dec 2020 23:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Sun 5 Sep 2021 23:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3