The Listening Service Podcast
Rethink music with The Listening Service. Tom Service presents a journey of imagination and insight, exploring how music works
Episodes to download
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Is Classical music fashionable?
Sun 20 Sep 2020
Is classical music in fashion? Who's listening and what are they actually listening to?
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Musical Highs
Sun 13 Sep 2020
Toms Service explores the way composers engineer musical crescendos and climaxes.
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HIPP to Be Square
Sun 30 Aug 2020
Historically Informed Performance Practice, or HIPP: what is it and why?
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Is it canon?
Sun 9 Aug 2020
The classical music canon - who decides what's in and what's out? And can it change?
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The Goldberg Variations
Sun 26 Jul 2020
Tom Service unlocks mysteries of Bach's towering keyboard work The Goldberg Variations.
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Music and breathing
Sun 28 Jun 2020
How is the rhythm and physicality of our breathing reflected in music?
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The Musical Universe of Maurice Ravel
Sun 14 Jun 2020
Tom Service scopes the musical world of one of his favourite composers, Maurice Ravel.
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Wagner’s Ring Cycle: The Ultimate Box Set Binge
Sun 31 May 2020
Tom Service explores classical music’s ultimate binge-listening box set - The Ring.
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Lisztomania
Sun 19 Apr 2020
Tom Service explores the music of Franz Liszt, with help from pianist Mariam Batsashvili.
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The Inbetweeners
Fri 10 Apr 2020
In between the gaps left by the big names lurks many a forgotten great composer...
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Close Harmony
Sun 29 Mar 2020
Tom Service explores the world of close harmony and barbershop singing.
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More Than the Score
Sun 16 Feb 2020
Why are there so many ways to perform the same piece of music? What is interpretation?
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The String Quartet
Sun 2 Feb 2020
Tom Service explores the most celebrated of chamber ensembles, the string quartet.
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The music of Kaija Saariaho
Sun 26 Jan 2020
Tom Service takes a journey through the music of the Finnish-born, Paris-based composer.
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Beethoven Unleashed: Getting to grips with Beethoven
Sun 19 Jan 2020
He's the most famous composer in western music, but what makes Beethoven Beethoven?
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Texture
Sun 12 Jan 2020
Tom Service considers an often overlooked but vital element of music: its texture.
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How to love new music
Sun 5 Jan 2020
All noise and no good tunes? Tom Service bangs the drum for contemporary classical music.
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Parapapampam
Sun 22 Dec 2019
It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. Why is there so much cheesy yuletide music?
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Why backing vocals matter
Sun 8 Dec 2019
Backing singers and opera choruses - so much more than eye candy and human scenery!
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The Great Highland Bagpipe
Sun 17 Nov 2019
Tom Service goes in search of the Great Highland bagpipe.
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How to Compose Music
Sun 10 Nov 2019
Where do you start? How do you carry on? What do you need to know?
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The Real Red Priest
Sun 3 Nov 2019
Tom Service goes beyond the cliches to explore the music of Antonio Vivaldi.
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Turn up the Volume, Dial up the Drama
Sun 20 Oct 2019
Dynamics are crucial to the dramatic effect of music. Tom Service adjusts the volume.
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The Simple Truth
Sun 13 Oct 2019
When is less more, and less less? How hard is it to achieve meaningful musical simplicity?
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Prog Rock - apotheosis or nadir?
Sun 6 Oct 2019
Tom Service looks at Prog Rock, and asks: apotheosis of rock music, or vapid pomposity?
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Al-Andalus: What makes music sound Spanish?
Sun 29 Sep 2019
Tom Service looks for the essence of Spain in the music of later centuries.
Why do we call it 'classical' music?
Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).
Six of the world's most extreme voices
From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?
How did the number 12 revolutionise music?
How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.
Why are we all addicted to bass?
Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.
Watch the animations
Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.
When does noise become music?
We like to think we can separate “noise” from “music”, but is it that simple?
