Free the Music with Pekka Kuusisto

Free the music with Pekka Kuusisto

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Music

Musician Pekka Kuusisto searches for new freedoms in performance.

Violinist and composer Pekka Kuusisto explores performing boundaries and beyond in three diverse and fascinating playlists.

Pekka Kuusisto is a solo violinist, conductor, composer and folk musician who can change the way people think about music.

In this three-part series, he muses on how much creative freedom a musician really has, and the complex relationship between improvisation and 'sticking to the plan'. How is a performance dictated by time, place, tradition, learned techniques and mindset? And how can we open the door to wider musical freedom in the future for performers, composers and listeners?

Pekka illustrates his thoughts with a wide selection of music, ranging from Purcell and Paganini to Mahler, Miles Davis and The White Stripes, and he also gets his violin out to create some on-the-spot improvisations.

Free the Music with Pekka Kuusisto: A Time and a Place

A Time and a Place

BBC Radio 3 - Free the Music with Pekka Kuusisto, A Time and a Place

Pekka searches for new freedoms in performance in Vivaldi, Monteverdi and Dolly Parton.

Violinist and composer Pekka Kuusisto muses on improvisation, including a self-destructing Vivaldi concerto, Monteverdi and Dolly Parton’s Jolene as you’ve never heard it before.

Pekka Kuusisto is a solo violinist, conductor, composer and folk musician who can change the way people think about music.

In this three-part series, he muses on how much creative freedom a musician really has, and the complex relationship between improvisation and ‘sticking to the plan’. How is a performance dictated by time, place, tradition, learned techniques and mindset? And how can we open the door to wider musical freedom in the future, for performers, composers and listeners?

Pekka illustrates his thoughts with a wide selection of music, ranging from Purcell and Paganini to Mahler, Miles Davis and the White Stripes, and he also gets his violin out to create some on the spot improvisations.

In this first episode, Pekka muses on improvisation in its many guises. He shares examples of musicians who exhibit freedom in their performances, including a self-destructing Vivaldi concerto, Dolly Parton’s Jolene as you’ve never heard it before, and a Monteverdi song which Pekka is so fond of that he’s tempted to arrange a private performance of it as a birthday present to himself.

A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3

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.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Free the Music with Pekka Kuusisto

A Time and a Place

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3