Music Matters

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Music Matters: Max Richter

Max Richter

BBC Radio 3 - Music Matters, Max Richter

Max Richter, the WNO production of Migrations and a new book on Inca music reimagined.

Max Richter on his new version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Welsh National Opera new production, Migrations, Aghan diaspora in concert; and a new book on Inca music reimagined.

Tom Service talks to composer Max Richter about his latest project, ‘The New Four Seasons’, a new version of his critically acclaimed take on Vivaldi's piece, played this time on period instruments by Chineke! Orchestra and soloist Elena Urioste. Why period instruments and what new did he learn from the experience? 

We visit Welsh National Opera, in Cardiff, to see rehearsals for the epic production of Migrations, to open this month, exploring the good and bad of both humans’ and birds’ movements across centuries - from a slave in Bristol, to NHS doctors arriving from India, to the challenges refugees face today. Tom hears from composer Will Todd and some of the 6 librettists, among them Sir David Pountney, Eric Ngalle Charles, Shreya Sen-Handley and Miles Chambers.

There’s news of a concert next month called ‘Looking Forward: the Orchestral Music of Afghanistan’, blending traditional folk instruments with Western instruments, featuring the Oxford Philharmonic and Afghan soloists. The repertoire includes new pieces by Afghan composers, in exile or still living in hiding. Tom talks to curators of this event, the conductor Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey and composer and conductor Arson Fahim, and also to two of the composers taking part: flute virtuoso Zalai Pakta, who's in Kabul, and Elaha Soroor, who lives in the UK.

Vera Wolkowicz talks to Tom about her book Inca Music Reimagined, published this month, examining how South America looked to the ancient past, in the early 20th-Century, to rebuild national cultural identities, in a fascinating cultural process. We learn about the opposing approaches by two composers in Perú: Daniel Alomía Robles and José María Valle Riestra, and also how popular music appropriated this legacy.

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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