Colour and music
Tom Service investigates the link between music and colour. He asks if music can ever be colourful and if so, whether is it the same colour for all of us.
Tom Service listens to the world in glorious technicolor as he investigates the link between music and colour.
We put music and colour together all the time. A piece of music can be 'dark' or 'bright' or we could be singing the 'Blues' - but what does that mean? Professor Jamie Ward - an expert in synaesthesia - is on hand to help. While Tom delves into a world of musical colour from Messiaen and Copland, Scriabin and Ravel to David Bowie and 叠别测辞苍肠茅 to discover whether music can ever be colourful.
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Tom Service examines the phenomenon of synaesthesia.
Clips
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Isaac Newton鈥檚 鈥渙ptickal鈥 theories
Duration: 02:58
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What is synaesthesia?
Duration: 02:09
Music Played
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Claude Debussy
F锚tes (Nocturnes)
Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.- Debussy: Nocturnes/La Mer/Jeux: Boulez.
- Deutsche Grammophon.
- 2.
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Miles Davis
Generique
Performer: Miles Davis Quartet.- The Essential Miles Davis.
- Columbia.
- 9.
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Bee Gees
Stayin' Alive
- Saturday Night Fever [Original Soundtrack].
- Polydor.
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Michael Torke
Green
Performer: Baltimore SO. Performer: David Zinman.- Torke: Colour Music.
- Argo.
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Olivier Messiaen
Trois Petites Liturgies de la presence divine
Performer: Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France. Performer: Myung-Whun Chung.- Trois Petites Liturgies.
- DG.
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Ye
成人快手coming (feat. Chris Martin)
- Graduation.
- Mercury.
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Hector Berlioz
Symphonie Fantastique
Performer: Swedish RSO. Performer: Daniel Harding.- Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique / Daniel Harding.
- HMC.
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Claude Debussy
Preludes - book 2, no.5; Bruyeres
Performer: Marc-Andr茅 Hamelin.- HYPERION.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Mass in B minor BWV.232: Pt.4; Sanctus....Pleni sunt coeli [chorus]
Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.- J.S. Bach - Mass in B minor (II).
- Deutsche Grammophon.
- 10.
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叠箩枚谤办
Venus As A Boy
- Venus as a Boy.
- Elektra.
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Steve Reich
Violin Phase
Performer: Ensemble Modern.- RCA.
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Elton John
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
- Greatest Hits 1970-2002.
- Mercury.
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Camille Saint鈥怱a毛ns
Aquarium (Carnival of the Animals)
Orchestra: Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse. Conductor: Michel Plasson.- EMI.
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending
Performer: Tasmin Little. Orchestra: 成人快手 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis.- WARNER.
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Igor Stravinsky
The Firebird (General Thanksgiving)
Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.- Simon Rattle on EMI Classics.
- EMI Classics.
- 8.
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Fr茅d茅ric Chopin
Prelude in B major, Op 28 No 11
Performer: Martha Argerich.- Chopin: 26 Preludes Scherzo NR. 2 - Martha Argerich.
- Deutsche Grammaphon.
- 11.
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Alexander Scriabin
Prometheus - The Poem Of Fire, Op.60
Performer: Martha Argerich. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.- SONY: 88985320352.
- Sony.
- 2.
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叠别测辞苍肠茅
Crazy in Love (feat. JAY-Z)
- Dangerously In Love.
- Columbia.
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Olivier Messiaen
Couleurs de la cite Celeste
Performer: Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France. Performer: Myung-Whun Chung.- MESSIAEN Trois Petites Liturgies.
- DG.
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Arthur Bliss
Colour Symphony
Performer: 成人快手 National Orchestra of Wales. Performer: Richard Hickox.- Bliss: A Colour Symphony/ Concerto for Violin and Orchestra.
- Chandos.
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Ken Nordine
Lavender
- Colors: A Sensuous Listening Experience.
- Asphodel.
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Prince & The Revolution
Purple Rain
- Prince And The Revolution - Purple Rain.
- Warner.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Flute Concerto - K313
Performer: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Performer: Alison Mitchell.- Mozart: Wind Concertos.
- Linn.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Requiem aeternam (Requiem compl S眉ssmayr)
Singer: Barbara Bonney. Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists.- Mozart: Requiem K626/Kyrie K341: Monteverdi Choir/John Eliot Gardiner.
- Philips.
- 1.
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Giacomo Puccini
Tosca - Act 2; Vissi d'arte [Tosca]
Singer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Lorin Maazel.- Great performances: Kiri Te Kanawa.
- Sony Classical.
- 1.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto no.5 in D major BWV.1050 (3rd mvt)
Orchestra: Concerto Italiano. Conductor: Rinaldo Alessandrini.- J. S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos: Concerto Italiano.
- Naive.
- 6.
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
Concerto in F minor for bass tuba - 2nd movement; Romanza (Andante sostenuto)
Performer: Patrick Harrild. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Bryden Thomson.- Vaughan Williams: The 9 Symphonies: LSO, Bryden Thomson.
- Chandos.
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Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for vln & orch (RV.269) (Op.8`1) "La Primavera" - 1st mvt
Performer: Nigel Kennedy. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker.- Vivaldi: Nigel Kennedy, Berliner Philharmoniker.
- EMI.
- 4.
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Maurice Ravel
Ma mere l'oye - suite vers. for piano duet, Le Jardin feerique
Ensemble: Katia & Marielle Lab猫que.- Maurice Ravel Katia Et Marielle Labeque.
- KML.
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Maurice Ravel
Ma m猫re l'oye (Le jardin f茅erique)
Orchestra: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick N茅zet鈥怱茅guin.- Yannick Nezet-Seguin Ravel Rotterdam Phiharmonic Orchestra.
- EMI.
- 17.
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Franz Schubert
Erlk枚nig D.328
Singer: Matthias Goerne. Performer: Andreas Haeifliger.- Schubert Lieder Volume 7: Erlk枚nig.
- Harmonia Mundi.
- 9.
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Hope Lies Within
Erlkonig
- Hope Lies Within.
- Hope Lies Within.
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Aaron Copland
Variations on a Shaker hymn (Appalachian Spring)
Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antal Dor谩ti.- Copland: Appalachian Spring, Stravinsky: Apollon Musagete: Dorati.
- Decca.
- 6-8.
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Marcel Tournier
Vers la source dans le bois
Performer: Elinor Bennett.- Images and Impressions: Music for Flute & Harp.
- Nimbus.
- 17.
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Olivier Messiaen
Joie du sang des 茅toiles (Turangal卯la-Symphonie)
Performer: Steven Osborne. Performer: Cynthia Millar. Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Juanjo Mena.- Messiaen: Turangalila Symphonie: Osborne/Millar/Bergen Philharmonic Orch/Mena.
- Hyperion.
- 5.
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David Bowie
Sound And Vision
- Low.
- Parlophone.
Broadcasts
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The Listening Service
An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service