The Essay: My Life in Music

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The Essay: My Life in Music: The Lamb by John Tavener

The Lamb by John Tavener

My Life in Music

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, My Life in Music, The Lamb by John Tavener

Visits to a bird hide are accompanied by this song for singer-songwriter Kitty Macfarlane.

Visits to a bird hide on the Steart Marshes are accompanied by this haunting song for folk singer-songwriter Kitty Macfarlane.

Away from the concert platform, five musicians write about the music that has shaped their personal lives.

Folk singer-songwriter Kitty Macfarlane recalls multiple visits made over time to a bird hide on the Steart Marshes. High up, overlooking panoramic views of the Bridgwater Bay, Kitty always had Tavener’s haunting song The Lamb playing as a soundtrack in her mind.  The meeting of the natural world of the bay and the man-made intervention of Hinkley Point nuclear power station was mirrored by the juxtaposition of innocence and experience in William Blake’s words to this song. Tavener’s music accompanied Kitty’s coming-of-age acceptance of the duality of life.

Producer: Rosie Boulton
A Must Try Softer Production

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.

Five musicians write about the music that has shaped their personal lives.

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