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The Key to Keys

Keys, major and minor. There seem to be an awful lot of them, but why? And what are they? How has their significance and meaning changed over time? Tom Service wants to know!

What is a key? In western music, if all the intervals and possible chords in every scale in any major key are the same (and ditto for every scale and chord in every minor key), why do we need 12 major keys and 12 minor ones? What have keys meant to composers down the centuries and has that changed? Are keys now so last-century (or even before that)? What even is a key? Why is the Pythagorean Comma important and what even is it?

So many questions... To attempt some answers, Tom Service enlists the help of harpsichord maker and tuner Andrew Wooderson, harpsichord player Masumi Yamamoto and musicologist Katy Hamilton.

David Papp (producer)

Available now

31 minutes

Last on

Fri 28 Aug 2020 16:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Take That

    Back for Good

    • RCA.
    • 74321-27909 2.

  • Lizzo

    Juice

    • Virgin EMI Records.
    • 3778233.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Sonata in C major K.545 for piano

    Performer: Karl Engel.
    • teldec.
    • 2564656137.

  • Stevie Wonder

    Superstition

    • Universal.
    • 981446-4.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude and fugue from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, bk.1 no. 24 in B minor BWV.869

    Performer: Sir András Schiff.
    • decca.
    • 4806352.

  • William Byrd

    Lavolta (2) MB.28.91 for keyboard

    Performer: Masumi Yamamoto.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude and fugue from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, bk.1 no. 1 in C major BWV.846

    Performer: Masumi Yamamoto.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony no. 40 in G minor K.550

    Conductor: René Jacobs. Performer: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • HM901959.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Le Nozze di Figaro - opera in 4 acts K.492

    Conductor: René Jacobs. Performer: Núria Rial. Performer: Concerto Köln.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • HMC901818/20.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Partita no. 3 in E major BWV.1006 for violin solo

    Performer: Rachel Podger.
    • CHANEL.
    • CCSSEL2498.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cantata no. 29 BWV.29 (Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir)

    Conductor: Philippe Herreweghe. Performer: Collegium Vocale Gent Orchestra.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • hm-1106.

  • Franz Schubert

    4 Impromptus D.899, Op.90 for piano

    Performer: Katy Hamilton.

  • Johannes Brahms

    6 Pieces Op.118 for piano

    Performer: Katy Hamilton.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 10 Feb 2019 17:00
    BBC Radio 3
  • Sun 23 Aug 2020 19:00
    BBC Radio 3
  • Fri 28 Aug 2020 16:30
    BBC Radio 3

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