Monsters of Music with Tom Allen

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Comedian Tom Allen and guests explore the scandalous lives of classical music's legends.

Join comedian Tom Allen and celebrity guests as they explore the scandalous lives of classical music's legends to work out if they were angelic geniuses... or grade A monsters.

Welcome to Monsters of Music where comedian Tom Allen and celebrity guests dig into the scandalous lives of classical music's legends. With the help of conductor and classical music expert Ben Gernon, our guests unearth the facts to decide whether these classical characters were angelic geniuses or grade-A monsters.

Monsters of Music with Tom Allen: Alma Mahler The Heartbreaker with Arlene Phillips

Alma Mahler The Heartbreaker with Arlene Phillips

BBC Sounds - Monsters of Music with Tom Allen, Alma Mahler The Heartbreaker with Arlene Phillips

A composer, heartbreaker, socialite and antisemite. Who was the real Alma Mahler?

An unreliable narrator, antisemite and even a creepy doll, who was the real Alma Mahler? Choreographer and presenter Arlene Phillips finds out to place Alma on the monster scale.

Alma Mahler was one of the most complicated composers of the 20th Century. History remembers her as a heartbreaker, an antisemite and an unreliable narrator, but was there more to her story than meets the eye? 
From the husband who stopped her from composing so she could be a homemaker, to the bitter ex-lover who made a lifesize doll of her then decapitated it in rage, Mahler's life was filled with shocking stories. So in this episode choreographer and TV presenter Arlene Phillips joins Tom and Ben to analyse the truths and myths behind Alma's life to place her on the monster scale.

Listen only on BBC Sounds.

Produced by Audio Always 
Producer: Rufaro Faith Mazarura 
Exec Producer: Jo Meek 
Sound Design: Craig Edmondson

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Speech content commissioned primarily for BBC Sounds

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Alma Mahler The Heartbreaker with Arlene Phillips

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