The Listening Service

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

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Podcasts

Music: Classical

An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service

Rethink music with The Listening Service. Tom Service presents a journey of imagination and insight, exploring how music works

The Listening Service: What's in a Name?

What's in a Name?

BBC Radio 3 - The Listening Service, What's in a Name?

Tom Service on the often baffling language of classical music naming and numbering.

Tom Service translates the often baffling language of classical music naming and numbering.

A listener asks: "What makes a concerto different from a suite?  A bagatelle from a caprice?  On my way to work once, Radio 3 Breakfast played a gentle, quiet piece, with chords languidly spread into arpeggios.  Aha, I thought; this is a nocturne.  But no, it was an etude."

So when is a song not a song? Tom Service tackles the complicated world of classical musical titles, catalogue numbers and naming conventions.

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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