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Front Row: Jean Michel Jarre and Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Jean Michel Jarre and Sir John Eliot Gardiner

09/09/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Jean Michel Jarre and Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Jean Michel Jarre on his 150-date world tour, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner on Monteverdi.

Jean Michel Jarre talks to Mark Lawson about his career since Oxygene in 1976. Sir John Eliot Gardiner discusses his Monteverdi Vespers. And the world's most expensive books.

Jean Michel Jarre - composer, performer and music producer in instrumental electronic, synth and ambient pop music, as well as a creator of outdoor music spectaculars - had his first mainstream success in 1976 with the album Oxygene. He has since sold an estimated 90million albums and singles, and holds the world record for the largest ever audience at an outdoor event. He was also the first western musician to be allowed to perform in the People's Republic of China. 
As his 150-date world tour - which kicked off in May last year - arrives in the UK and Ireland, Jean Michel Jarre talks to Mark Lawson about how technology has changed, the benefits of instrumental music, and why he likens a crowd to a lover.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of Monterverdi's Vespers with a performance at the BBC Proms. He made his Proms debut in 1968 conducting his Monteverdi Choir in this piece. Tomorrow they will be joined by the period instrumentalists of the English Baroque Soloists with the additional brass forces of His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts.

What are the world's most expensive books? 
John James Audubon's Birds of America became the world's most expensive book 10 years ago at $8.8m. As a leading auction house prepares to auction a copy - its director of books and manuscripts considers what influences large price tags for books.

As the school year begins writer Alan Bennett, rap artist Dizzee Rascal, playwright Peter Shaffer and actor Todd Carty reflect on how their education has inspired their artistic output.



Producer Jerome Weatherald.

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