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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The Listening Service Extra 12 of 12 - Schoenberg’s Compositional Vision
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Tom explores how Schoenberg hears the music that he is going to write.
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The Listening Service Extra 11 of 12 - Twelve-tone music and its reception
Thu 29 Dec 2016
We hear Schoenberg on the reception of his music in America, Europe.
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The Listening Service Extra 10 of 12 - Do the correct notes matter?
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Tom looks at Schoenberg’s plea to musicians to play the correct notes in his String Trio.
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The Listening Service Extra 8 of 12 - Alban Berg
Thu 29 Dec 2016
We listen to Schoenberg’s praise of his pupil, Alban Berg...
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The Listening Service Extra 7 of 12 - Expressive Melodies
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Tom looks at Schoenberg’s demonstration of how to harmonize a melody to maximum effect...
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The Listening Service Extra 6 of 12 - Twelve Tones
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Schoenberg’s distillation and defence of his theory of composition with 12 tones...
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The Listening Service Extra 5 of 12 - Boiling Water
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Schoenberg’s experience in the new atonal world...
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The Listening Service Extra 4 of 12 - Schoenberg’s IDEA
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Schoenberg’s conception of what the “idea” of a piece of music really was...
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The Listening Service Extra 3 of 12 - Dissonance
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Tom explores what Schoenberg meant by the dissonance and how he broke free from tonality.
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The Listening Service Extra 2 of 12 - Heir to the German Mainstream
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Tom looks at why Schoenberg felt a strong lineage from Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Bach
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The Listening Service Extra 1 of 12 - Who am I?
Thu 29 Dec 2016
Schoenberg’s objection to being dubbed a “famous theoretician and controversial musician”
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?
