BBC Radio 4 LW

Key Matters

Music: Classical

Ivan Hewett explores how different musical keys seem to have distinct characteristics

Ivan Hewett explores how different musical keys seem to have distinct characteristics and create specific moods

Key Matters: Series 2

Key Matters: Series 2: Episode 4: F Major

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Episode 4

Episode 4: F Major

Series 2

F Major

BBC Radio 4 - Key Matters, Series 2, F Major

Ivan Hewett talks with French horn player Roger Montgomery about the key of F major.

Ivan Hewett talks with French horn player Roger Montgomery about the key of F major and its association with pastoral music and hunting sounds.

Ivan Hewett explores the question of why certain musical keys have become associated with particular moods. For example, why is A major almost always employed by composers to write optimistic, even ecstatic music? And how has E minor become the key of choice for portraying menace and tragedy? 

In this programme, French horn player ,Roger Montgomery explains why F major is traditionally associated with pastoral and hunting sounds.

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Episode 4: F Major

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