The Classical Music Pod

Sam chats to composer Eric Whitacre about their experience recording The Sacred Veil together with VOCES8. The 12-movement work is a collaboration between Whitacre and poet-lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri, and comprises texts by Silvestri, Whitacre and Silvestri’s late wife Julie. Its intimate score ‘tells a story of courtship, love, loss and the search for solace’.
Find out more about the piece here: https://ericwhitacre.com/music-catalog/the-sacred-veil
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Featured Clips:
Mov. 1: The Veil Opens
Mov. 11: You Rise, I Fall
Mov. 4: Magnetic Poetry
Mov. 12: Child of Wonder
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Today’s episode is all about geography. Tim talks international competition politics and how Rachmaninov’s disputed legacy ties into the debate. Meanwhile Sam forges a musical map of Middle Earth in a Lord of the Rings analytical pilgrimage. All topped off with a very literal fluffy-dog story. Live long and prosper.
Check out Russia Beyond’s dubious Rachmaninov listicle: https://www.rbth.com/arts/334377-sergei-rachmaninoff-russian-composer
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Music Referenced
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 17, ‘The Tempest’
’Meet the Flintstones’ by Hoyt Curtin
The Open University theme tune
Various themes from Howard Shore’s soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Bear McCreary’s soundtrack to The Rings of Power
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Tim travels to the home of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir for a classical chat. They discuss Icelandic’s musical pedigree, her upcoming role as Featured Artist at the Aldeburgh Festival, her cameo in Todd Field’s Tár and the importance (or unimportance) of a work’s conceptual inspiration in the ears of the listener.
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Featured Clips:
ARCHORA, performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Eva Ollikainen
AIŌN, performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Eva Ollikainen
Ró, performed by CAPUT Ensemble under by Guðni Franzson

Links:
Anna’s website: https://www.annathorvalds.com/
Some info on her upcoming residency: https://www.annathorvalds.com/blog/2022/12/20/featured-artist-at-the-2023-aldeburgh-festival
Andrew Mellor on Iceland as a classical music powerhouse: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/apr/05/iceland-classical-music-symphony-orchestra-uk-tour
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In today's episode Sam and Tim discuss recent concert hall dramas as unionised musicians seize the means of sound production. Meanwhile Sam peers into the gilded musical cages of Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility in the next instalment of his film music series.
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Music Referenced
‘Mars’ from Holst’s The Planets
‘Gallop’ interlude from Shostakovich’s opera The Nose
‘My Father's Favourite’ from Patrick Doyle’s score to Sense and Sensibility
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Tim speaks to the US singer, composer and producer Caroline Shaw. They cover her various composer hats, the upcoming performance of her Four Portraits at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and their shared appreciation for Abba and Fiona Apple.
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Links:
Caroline’s website: https://carolineshaw.com
Some info on Four Portraits: https://www.lyricopera.org/lyric-lately/notes-on-four-portraits/
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