Beauty – What is it?

What is beauty and whay do we crave it? What is the relationship between art and beauty?

• 23 mins

Director's Choice – the Louvre

Pierre Rosenberg, president-director of the Louvre, takes listeners on a guided tour

• 23 mins

Beauty – Who believes in it now?

When was the Western idea of beauty overturned – and why don't we believe in it anymore?

• 24 mins

Writers' Workshop – Memoirs

Martin Amis and Lisa Appignanesi explore the process of memoir writing

• 23 mins

Guy de Maupassant – Master of the Short Story

Life and work of Guy de Maupassant, the 19th-century French writer

• 23 mins

Beauty – Is it making a come-back?

Could beauty make a come-back in contemporary art?

• 23 mins

How Henry IV touched an Elizabethan nerve

Royal succession was a real concern for the first audiences of Shakespeare's Henry IV

• 23 mins

The New Generation of Novelists

Three of the new generation of novelists discuss their work

• 23 mins

Protest and succeed – interview with David Hare

David Hare talks about his career, from politically-driven protester to feted playwright

• 23 mins

Writers' Workshop – the Radio Play

Exploring the process of writing radio plays

• 24 mins

Stranger than Fiction – the Life of Martin Amis

Interview with author Martin Amis about why he felt he need to write his memoir Experience

• 23 mins

Writing the world with Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh talks about his latest novel, The Glass Palace, a 20th-century family saga

• 23 mins

Slave Narratives

How writers have conveyed the injustices and truths of the lives of slaves in America

• 23 mins

Why do Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas still matter?

Why is the work of contentious philiosopher Friedrich Nietzsche still relevant?

• 24 mins

Robert Schumann's Symphony No 3

A close examination of the Rhenish, the last symphony composed by Schumann

• 23 mins

Slave Narratives: Part 2

How slaves fought for their own emancipation

• 23 mins

A Bach Pilgrimage: Part 3

The life and work of JS Bach, from 1708 when he moved to Weimar

• 24 mins

A Bach Pilgrimage: Part 2

The life and work of composer J S Bach, from 1703 when he was an organist at Arnstadt

• 24 mins

George Balanchine

A profile of the American choreographer and co-founder of New York City Ballet

• 23 mins

Felix Mendelssohn

A profile of the composer's prodigious talent, influences and early life.

• 23 mins

Swedish choregrapher Mat Ek

The life and work of the leading dancer, choregrapher and stage director

• 23 mins

The Barbaric Comedies

Frank McGuinness' version of three plays by the Spanish playwright Ramón del Valle-Inclán

• 24 mins

Beethoven and Copeland symphonies

An examination and comparison of two symphonies written 150 years apart

• 23 mins

A Bach Pilgrimage: Part 4

The life and work of JS Bach, from 1717 when he worked for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen

• 24 mins

Strauss' Don Quixote

An examination of Strauss' tone poem based on the character created by Miguel de Cervantes

• 24 mins

With Great Pleasure: Donald Woods

The South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist introduces his favourite prose

• 24 mins

Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto

A close examination of the Norwegian composer's Piano Concerto

• 24 mins

Video games

How the video game industry is threatening traditional entertainment such as cinema and TV

• 23 mins

Chaucer

A profile of the first great poet to write in English, 600 years after his death

• 24 mins

Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu interview

The tenor and his soprano wife talk about their chemistry on and off stage

• 24 mins