This is part two of our brief and fragmentary exploration of music inspired by artists and their paintings and we open with the aria That was You Know I Want To Help You from composer Bernard Rand's 2010 opera Vincent. Also featured: Hungarian composer Sandor Veress was so taken by the work of Swiss artist Paul Klee that he wrote a seven part suite called Homage to Paul Klee to express his admiration. In his 1990 opera Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara took scenes from the life of Vincent van Gogh starting in the mental hospital at Saint-Rémy, where he painted The Starry Night. The story ..read more

The next three episodes are all about music inspired by artists and their paintings and we start with composer Michael Gordon’s Vincent Van Gogh’s Video Opera. From 1991 this opera is based on letters written by the Dutch master. Also: Claude Debussy's composition The Sea was inspired by Katsushika Hokusai’s masterpiece The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. German composer Max Reger wrote four symphonic poems based on works of Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin. The Play of the Waves pays homage to Bocklin’s painting Playing in the Waves. French composer Henri Dutilleux wrote The Starry Night in 1978 as a res ..read more

This week it’s all about France and we begin with the aria Farewell, Pastourelles from Maurice Ravel's children’s fantasy opera The Child And The Spells. Also featured: Georges Auric Guillaume de Machaut Gabriel Fauré André Jolivet Olivier Messiaen Melanie Bonis ..read more

In the final part of our three-part exploration of the American 20th century we play the music of: George and Ira Gershwin Arnold Schoenberg Leonard Bernstein Harry Partch Samuel Barber John Alden Carpenter ..read more

A radio show and podcast created and first aired at Free FM 89.0, a member of the Community Access Media Alliance Aotearoa/New Zealand. Supported by NZ on Air. freefm.org.nz and @freefm89 on Facebook and Instagram ..read more

Across the course of the American 20th century composers revelled in the possibilities offered by modernity. They explored the landscape, the social milieu, the machines and engines, factories and cities, the chaos, the calm and the uncertainty. They explored the potential of electricity, examined the musical traditions of non-Western cultures pushing out the boundaries of formal art music while reshaping the entirety of its potential. In Part two of our exploration of the American century we play the music of: Scott Joplin Aaron Copland Lou Harrison Ferdinand Rudolph von Grof ..read more

Across the course of the 20th century America became the world’s economic and cultural powerhouse and little happened without something of America being involved, classical music included. With that in mind for the next three episodes we are celebrating the music of the American 20th century. Todays episode features: Gian Carlo Menotti Ellen Zwilich Virgil Thomson Joseph Schwantner George Crumb ..read more

This week's episode opens with the aria Now Grasp Your Daughter from Lou Harrison's 1970 opera Young Caesar. An exploration of the early life of the great Roman Emperor with a particular focus on his love affair with King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, the unabashed theme of gay love was deeply controversial for the time and the opera, though highly acclaimed, struggled to find its feet. Also on the menu: Dutch Recordist Lucie Horsch Chinese American composer Tan Dun Catalonian composer Roberto Gerhard Estonian composer Eduard Tubin ..read more

This episode is all about China and to quote Chinese American pianist and academic Hao Huang: “Western classical music wasn’t introduced to the Chinese public until Christian missionaries came in the 19th century, but it quickly gained popularity and prestige as a symbol of the Western “culture of scientific progress and modernisation.” The rigours of classical training fit the Confucian value of self-cultivation through self-discipline. Confucius believed that the study of music was “an indispensable way to train the mind,” and considered it more important than mathematics and writing. Hau Hu ..read more

This week we play music from composers who died in Nazi death camps. Hans Krasa – murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz Gideon Klein – executed by Nazi soldiers trying to erase evidence from advancing Allied forces. Ilse Weber – murdered alongside with her young son Tommy in the gas chambers at Auschwitz Mordechai Gebirtig – executed in the Krakow ghetto for the crime of being Jewish Pavel Hass – murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz Viktor Ullmann – murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz Erwin Schulhoff – died of tuberculosis at Wülzburg prison while awaiting transportation to a de ..read more