Merlin Sheldrake
Michael Berkeley meets the fungi expert Merlin Sheldrake.
Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist and writer with a mission: to make us look at and understand fungi. While weβre familiar with mushrooms, truffles and toadstools, there are millions of varieties of fungi all around us; in the soil, in our bodies, in the air we breathe - and only 6% of them have been identified.
Merlinβs book βEntangled Life: how fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futuresβ, was an international best-seller. It caught the eye of the Icelandic singer and musician Bjork, who recently released an IMAX film with Merlin, which she narrates. Itβs called Fungi: the web of life, and follows Merlin to the Tarkine rainforest in Tasmania, on a quest to find an incredibly precious blue mushroom.
Merlin's choices include works by Chopin, Tallis, Bach and Purcell.
Last on
Music Played
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
Kommt ihr TΓΆchter helft mir klagen (St. Matthew Passion)
Choir: Choir of Kingβs College, Cambridge. Choir: King's College School Choir. Ensemble: Academy of Ancient Music. Conductor: Stephen Cleobury.- Bach: St. Matthew Passion.
- Kings College Cambridge.
- 101.
-
FrΓ©dΓ©ric Chopin
Nocturne in G major, Op 37 No 2
Performer: Nelson Freire.- Nelson Freire: Chopin, The Nocturnes.
- Decca.
- 2.
-
Thomas Tallis
Miserere nostri
Choir: The Rodolfus Choir. Conductor: Ralph Allwood.- Time and Its Passing.
- Signum Records.
- 16.
-
The BabenzΓ©lΓ© people of The Central African Republic
Women gathering mushrooms
- The Extraordinary Music of the BabenzΓ©lΓ© Pygmies.
- Ellipsis Arts.
- 1.
-
Bill Evans & Jim Hall
My Funny Valentine
- Undercurrent.
- Green Corner.
- 1.
-
Henry Purcell
Music for a while (Oedipus)
Singer: Alfred Deller. Performer: William Christie. Performer: Wieland Kuijken.- Purcell: Music for a While.
- HARMONIA MUNDI.
- 12.
Broadcast
- Sun 14 Jan 2024 12:00ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
What makes Boogie-woogie piano legend Jools Holland tick?
11 things we learned from Harry Enfieldβs Private Passions
Archive Unlocked: Two Decades of Private Passions
Michael Berkeley introduces memorable interviews from Private Passions' archives.
Podcast
-
Private Passions
Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical loves and hates