Main content

Song Cycles and Concept Albums

Tom Service explores the connections between song cycles in classical music and concept albums in pop and rock music.

Tom Service explores the world of the song cycle - from the tortured passions and existential angst of Beethoven and Schubert's protagonists in 19th-century Vienna, to Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole's ebullient takes on the genre with the birth of the concept album, and Kate Bush's groundbreaking experimental pop suite The Ninth Wave.

Our witness today is composer Emily Hall whose work Life Cycle, written with Toby Litt for singer Mara Carlyle, explores the theme of motherhood.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 20 Oct 2023 16:30

Music Played

  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise - song-cycle D.911

    Performer: Mark Padmore. Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMU907484.
  • Kate Bush

    Kate Bush: The Ninth Wave - Hello Earth

    Performer: Kate Bush.
    • EMI.
    • CDP 7 46164 2.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    An die ferne Geliebte Op.98

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau. Performer: JΓΆrg Demus.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 463 5072.
  • Nat King Cole

    Ray Rasch/Dotty Rayne: Wild is Love

    • Capitol Records.
    • CDP 7243 8 28511 2 7.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    An die ferne Geliebte Op.98

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau. Performer: JΓΆrg Demus.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 463 5072.
  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise - song-cycle D.911

    Performer: Mark Padmore. Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMU907484.
  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise - song-cycle D.911

    Performer: Mark Padmore. Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMU907484.
  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise - song-cycle D.911

    Performer: Mark Padmore. Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMU907484.
  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise - song-cycle D.911

    Performer: Mark Padmore. Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMU907484.
  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise - song-cycle D.911

    Performer: Mark Padmore. Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMU907484.
  • Nacio Herb Brown

    Nacio Herb Brown: Paradise

    Performer: Frank Sinatra.
    • Columbia.
    • CK 62100.
  • Jimmy Campbell

    Jimmy Campbell: Try a Little Tenderness

    Performer: Frank Sinatra.
    • Columbia.
    • CK 62100.
  • Nat King Cole

    Ray Rasch/Dotty Rayne: Wild is Love

    • Capitol Records.
    • CDP 7243 8 28511 2 7.
  • Nat King Cole

    Ray Rasch/Dotty Rayne: Hundreds and Thousands of Girls

    • Capitol Records.
    • CDP 7243 8 28511 2 7.
  • Nat King Cole

    Ray Rasch/Dotty Rayne: Wild is Love

    • Capitol Records.
    • CDP 7243 8 28511 2 7.
  • Emily Hall

    Emily Hall: Life Cycle - Look at My Child

    Performer: Mara Carlyle. Performer: Emily Hall.
    • Bedroom Community.
    • unknown.
  • Pink Floyd

    Pink Floyd: Another Brick in the Wall Part 2

    • Columbia (2).
    • C2K 36183 P 164.
  • Kate Bush

    Kate Bush: The Ninth Wave - And Dream of Sheep

    Performer: Kate Bush.
    • EMI.
    • CDP 7 46164 2.
  • Kate Bush

    Kate Bush: The Ninth Wave - Under Ice

    Performer: Kate Bush.
    • EMI.
    • CDP 7 46164 2.
  • Kate Bush

    Kate Bush: The Ninth Wave - Waking the Witch

    Performer: Kate Bush.
    • EMI.
    • CDP 7 46164 2.
  • Kate Bush

    Kate Bush: The Ninth Wave - Hello Earth

    Performer: Kate Bush.
    • EMI.
    • CDP 7 46164 2.
  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise - song-cycle D.911

    Performer: Mark Padmore. Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMU907484.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 10 Apr 2022 17:00
  • Fri 15 Apr 2022 16:30
  • Sun 15 Oct 2023 17:00
  • Fri 20 Oct 2023 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