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Front Row: Don McCullin; Martin Freeman; albums of the year

Don McCullin; Martin Freeman; albums of the year

13/12/2012

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Don McCullin; Martin Freeman; albums of the year

Martin Freeman interviewed on The Hobbit, and musical recommendations from 2012.

John Wilson presents musical picks of the year from pop to classical, Martin Freeman on his role as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, and the creation of the Listening Project Symphony.

With John Wilson.

Photographer Don McCullin was on Front Row earlier this year talking about an exhibition of some of his most famous photographs of conflict, from Vietnam to Iraq. He said then that - at the age of 75 - his days on the frontline were over. But this morning The Times newspaper published new McCullin photographs of life on the streets of Alleppo, Syria, taken over the last few days. He explains why he decided to go back.

Martin Freeman discusses playing Bilbo Baggins in the first of the trilogy of films that form the screen-version of Tolkien's classic, The Hobbit. The story focuses on events 60 years before The Lord Of The Rings, when Bilbo was still a young hobbit. Martin reflects on how he'll cope with the possibility that he'll forever be identified with this role.

Gemma Cairney, Suzy Klein and Kate Mossman look back at 2012 in music, choosing their CDs of the year and talking about the importance of record labels, the role of technology and the Olympic opening ceremony.

Since the start of 2012, The Listening Project has been collecting conversations between friends and family throughout the country. To mark its first year, composer Gary Carpenter has been commissioned to set fragments of the conversations to music. The result is The Listening Project Symphony which receives its premiere on Radio 4 tomorrow evening. Gary discusses how he approached creating music to fit the words.

Producer Ellie Bury.

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