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Music: Classical

A thorough look at the week's classical music releases, plus news and recommendations.

A thorough look at the week's classical music releases, plus news and the Radio 3 Disc of the Week recommendation.

Record Review: Why Music? The Key to Memory

14/10/2017

Why Music? The Key to Memory

BBC Radio 3 - Record Review, Why Music? The Key to Memory

Andrew McGregor with a live Purcellian Building a Library.

Jeremy Summerly joins Andrew McGregor live for a 'blind' Building a Library discussion and the results of an experiment on if the 'reminiscence bump' dictates favourite recordings.

with Andrew McGregor

Live from Wellcome Collection as part of Why Music? The Key to Memory, a weekend of events, concerts and discussions exploring the implications of music's unique capacity to be remembered.

0930
Conductor, academic, broadcaster and record producer Jeremy Summerly joins Andrew live for a 'blind' Building a Library discussion comparing recordings of Purcell's glorious Coronation Anthem 'My Heart is Inditing' (Z30). Neither Jeremy nor Andrew will have been told which recording is which, either in their preparation or as they listen live on air, in an attempt to bypass any preconceptions and compare performances in a different light. 

1000
The reminiscence bump refers to the period in your life which you remember most, 15 to 21. Most people's musical tastes are dictated by the reminiscence bump, as cognitive neuropsychologist Catherine Loveday's research has established. Catherine (one of the weekend's resident experts) and her team at University of Westminster have researched listeners' favourite classical music recordings to establish if they too come from that period in their lives and chats to Andrew about her findings.*

*In September, we asked our listeners to name their favourite recordings of the following eight pieces. They were directed to a University of Westminster link where Catherine Loveday's students compiled and assessed the responses.
Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Handel Messiah
Bach St Matthew Passion
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Stravinsky The Firebird
Holst The Planets
Mahler Symphony No. 5
Mozart Symphony No. 41 'Jupiter'.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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