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PODCAST

Classical For Everyone

Five hundred years of incredible music. No expertise is necessary. All you need are ears. If you"ve ever been even slightly curious about classical music then this is the podcast for you.

music music history

All Episodes

01:12:00

An Exaltation of Bachs

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/04/11

Music written by people related to the composer Johann Sebastian Bach. That may seem an odd way put a show together. If you were to make a playlist of the greatest hits of people related to Taylor Swift, it would be a very short list. But if you ever wanted to get into a complicated debate about nature versus nurture, the Bach clan of what is now northern Germany would be an interesting place to start. Somewhere between twenty and thirty relatives of Johann Sebastian Bach wrote music still recorded

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01:20:14

Conductors 1 – Antal Dorati

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/04/05

Why a conductor? The outcomes of the complicated relationships conductors have with orchestras and ensembles, with record companies and the public; and with composers living and dead, are in themselves interesting… but for the purposes of this show it is the recorded legacy that matters and Antal Dorati's ranks amongst the finest of his generation. Dorati (1906 - 1988) was a Hungarian Jew who was able to escape Europe as World War Two commenced and he made the USA his home for much of the rest of

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44:55

Sunday Night Special … Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/03/29

The name comes from the night of the week when for some of us, the frustrations of insomnia hit the hardest… and because my preferred antidote is getting lost in some music. Of course this series is for everyone… but it is perhaps intended a little more for those of you whose sleep has been troubled. The idea of the special is to play just one piece, uninterrupted and in its entirety… with a few minutes of background explained at the end of the episode. This month… Johannes Brahms Fourth Symphony

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01:18:58

Solace… Music To Hold You

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/03/27

I was listening to the conductor Joshua Weilerstein's podcast 'Sticky Notes' the other day. It was an episode on Ludwig van Beethoven's 8th string quartet. He was playing the second section and he described the music as having a sense of 'consolation'… and there was something about that which really struck me. So I started looking into music connected to the idea of consolation but the more I delved the more I realised that wasn't quite what I was hearing in the Beethoven. For me it was not about

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01:27:55

Music for Shakespeare… Dreams, Lovers and Ghosts

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/03/19

The relationship between classical music and William Shakespeare's writing is one of the longest and most productive partnerships in the history of either art form. Composers have been drawn to Shakespeare's plays for four centuries and there is a vast amount of music to choose from. For this episode I have nine pieces, but only from four plays which suggests that some of the plays are perhaps more beloved by composers than others… Music from composers responding to 'A Midsummer Night's Dream',

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01:14:47

Joseph Haydn: The Early Years.

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/03/15

Haydn's music is in no way neglected or forgotten but I wonder if, because he lived a long life, during which he achieved significant success and seemed free of personality disorders, he is a little taken for granted. The creative artist dying at the height of his or her powers, or never recognised in their lifetime, or plagued by psychosis all seem to have an extra attraction for us. And Haydn was born a couple of generations before the 'artist as hero' cult began to emerge. For most of his working

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01:20:44

More Brilliant Women.

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/03/07

I did an episode of music by women composers back in November based around a CD Box release by the record label 'Brilliant Classics' and called it 'Brilliant Women'. No prizes for imagination but it was clear and accurate. So, I am going to keep things simple and call this show 'More Brilliant Women'. I could also call it 'music I am genuinely extremely excited to play for you that just happens to be written by women'. But that would be a little cumbersome. What I can say is this is just fabulous

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01:25:47

Mozart… Farewell Salzburg, Hello Vienna

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/02/27

Here is the third Classical For Everyone podcast featuring the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I've done an episode on the music Mozart wrote in the last year of his life, 1791, back in June and one focused on 1786 last October. This one is still going to use the 'year in the musical life' theme but it will be a little looser… covering the year or so on each side of the pivotal moment in Mozart's life and career where he left Salzburg and moved to Vienna in 1781. It gives me a chance to play you

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01:02:38

Sunday Night Special 7… Henryk Górecki's Symphony No....

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/02/23

The name comes from the night of the week when for some of us, the frustrations of insomnia hit the hardest… and because my preferred antidote is getting lost in some music. Of course this series is for everyone… but it is perhaps intended a little more for those of you whose sleep has been troubled. The idea of the special is to play just one piece, uninterrupted and in its entirety… with a few minutes of background explained at the end of the episode. This month… Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3 –

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01:22:12

The Ballets Russes… Firebirds, Fauns and Fighting

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/02/19

Much of the 20th century orchestral music that today dominates concert halls and recording studios started as music for ballets. And the best of it started with the Ballets Russes company; which was largely the creation of one man… the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev. It is hard to think of another instance where one man, who was not a composer, has had such an outsize influence on what has come down to us as great and lasting music. And I'm going to play you a selection of that music… from

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01:25:04

Beethoven's 9th Symphony

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/02/09

It's Classical For Everyone's 1st Birthday, so here's a personal favourite. This was the first time a choir and soloists had been added to a 'symphony'. Choral and orchestral music had been combined before but at the time there were quite rigid expectations of what a 'symphony' should be. That said there was a fascination amongst some parts of the Viennese audience with the way Ludwig van Beethoven seemed to be frequently tearing down traditions and replacing them with what somehow very often seemed

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01:22:09

Very Old (Incredible) Music

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/02/05

If from time to time you happen to listen to a podcast with the subtitle 'Five Hundred Years Of incredible Music' then it would be a reasonable expectation to hear some five hundred year old music. I've played a few pieces from the 1500s and 1600s but as you might expect the focus of the show has been sort of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi onwards… call it from the early 1700s until today. That means I've left out a good 175 years of music. This episode is going to be a step

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01:14:00

The Music of Philip Glass

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/01/31

On the day this episode is released, the American composer Philip Glass celebrates his 89th birthday. In a career now lasting well over five decades he has somehow achieved two extraordinarily rare things for a contemporary composer of classical music... a prolific amount of creative output and a degree of broad popularity. For the next hour and a quarter please enjoy a quick survey of five decades of great music… films, operas, concertos, quartets… and an unfairly small section of solo piano music

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01:19:20

Recent Discoveries

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/01/25

Only be taken in the very personal sense of… recent discoveries by me. Not that I actually discovered anything. In my ongoing mission to keep the production of CDs alive, I came across music I didn't know and thought that you, my fine listeners, might enjoy. Incidentally, I was chatting with my friend Claude about the episode and his comment was that my title sounded much more dignified than "Music from Last Month's Credit Card Statement." And I urge you not to be discouraged by the idea of

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01:09:43

Stormy Weather

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/01/19

Representing the weather with music is probably an ancient practice. In our earliest superstitions the percussive blasts of thunder would probably have been mimicked to either flatter or placate the spirit world. And perhaps whoever was organising the noisy tributes to the sky gods got something of the same thrill as composers might when they decide to use the weather for inspiration. In the next hour I'm going to give you a sort of chronological meander through what a handful of composers have done

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43:26

Sunday Night Special 6… Cesar Franck's Symphony in D...

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/01/10

The name comes from the night of the week when for some of us, the demon of insomnia hits the hardest… and because my preferred antidote is getting lost in some music. Of course this series is for everyone… but it is perhaps intended a little more for those of you whose sleep has been troubled. The idea of the special is to play just one piece, uninterrupted and in its entirety… with a few minutes of background explained at the end of the episode. This month… Cesar Franck's Symphony in D minor from

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01:16:37

Antonio Salieri – An Injustice Redressed

Classical For Everyone ·

2026/01/09

Antonio Salieri was born near Verona in 1750 but lived most of his life in Vienna. And in the 1780s he was possibly the most successful composer in Europe… writing the music for over forty operas. Later in life he taught Schubert and Liszt. He worked with Beaumarchais and da Ponte, and Goethe was a fan. But if today the name Salieri is even vaguely familiar… it is not because of his music… it is because of a rumour implicating him in the death at a young age of another Vienna-based composer. Time to

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01:05:40

Sunrise (Music for The New Year)

Classical For Everyone ·

2025/12/31

Classical Music for New Years Eve seems to be dominated by nineteenth century Viennese waltzes and eighteenth century music for fireworks. All nice stuff but I wasn't after something for New Years Eve. I wanted music for New Years Day. And that led to thoughts about renewals, beginnings, clean slates, optimism and second chances. And mysteriously that line of thought led to the idea of dawn and sunrise. So in the next hour and a bit there will be music about that very pretty time of the day... from

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01:25:21

Music For Young People (and their grown-ups)

Classical For Everyone ·

2025/12/28

Sorcerers, Toys, Wolves, Volcanoes and Fossils. Music for young people… but why them… and why now? In some parts of the world people are having a bit of a holiday as this episode goes out… and you may have your children… or nephews, nieces or grandchildren lying around your home or stuck with you in your car. This is music for them. It can be enjoyed by anyone… but this is a collection of music that can be great early experiences of classical music for young people. Music from Michael Haydn, Paul

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01:23:14

Holiday Music (You Can Actually Listen To)

Classical For Everyone ·

2025/12/19

In this episode there will be an amount of Christmas music from the western tradition… which I think you might have to expect from a podcast with the word 'classical' in the title but this is not really a celebration of mangers, shepherds, wise men or difficult to explain conceptions… though I have to confess, some shepherds snuck their way in. A certain amount of the music is just there for the sheer joy of it. Music that has a festive feel and in some instances has a certain holiday exuberance

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80 results

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