Main content

Tom Service on listening to slow music, composing slow music and playing slow music. He investigates what happens when our music goes slow.

Listening to slow music, composing slow music and playing slow music - what happens when our music goes slow? Tom Service asks if going slow means making a chilled-out, super-relaxed, concentration-free zone or if slow music is more focused, more intense, more dramatic, more emotionally and intellectually compelling than music that goes fast. This week's witnesses helping him find the answers are composer Thomas Ad猫s and novelist AL Kennedy.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 20 May 2022 16:30
成人快手 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Music and breathing

Next

The Goldberg Variations

See all episodes from The Listening Service

Music Played

  • Leonard Cohen

    Slow

    Performer: Leonard Cohen.
    • Columbia.
    • 88875014292.

  • George Gershwin

    Rhapsody in blue vers. for 2 pianos & orchestra [1926]

    Conductor: Andr茅 Previn. Orchestra: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
    • Philips.
    • 4126112.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Concerto (K.622) in A major, arr. R Rumbelow for clarinet and wind ensemble

    Conductor: Jeffrey Tate. Performer: Thea King. Performer: English Chamber Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.
    • CDA66199.

  • Jules Massenet

    Thais - comedie lyrique in 3 acts

    Performer: Andrew Litton. Performer: Joshua Bell. Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • decca.
    • 444802-2.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Quartet no. 2 in D major for strings

    Performer: Borodin Quartet.
    • CHANDOS.
    • CHAN9965.

  • Kenny G

    Songbird

    Performer: Kenny G.
    • Arista.
    • 07822-18991 2.

  • Samuel Barber

    Adagio for string orchestra, arr. from 2nd mvt of String Quartet

    Orchestra: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • EMI.
    • 7 494632.

  • Edvard Grieg

    Concerto in A minor Op.16 for piano and orchestra

    Performer: Andrew Litton. Performer: Sir Stephen Hough. Performer: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.
    • CDA67824.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Symphony no. 2 in E minor Op.27

    Performer: Andr茅 Previn. Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Telarc CD80113.
    • Telarc CD80113.

  • Thomas Ad猫s

    Arcadiana for string quartet

    Performer: Endellion Quartet.
    • EMI.
    • 724357227124.

  • Park Jai Sang

    Gangnam Style

    Composer: Yoo Keon Hyung. Performer: PSY.
    • YG ENTERTAINMENT.
    • NA.

  • Anton Bruckner

    Symphony no. 8 in C minor

    Conductor: Zubin Mehta. Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • BPHR1902848.
    • BPHR1902848.

  • 脡liane Radigue

    Occam river I for birbyne and viola

    Performer: Carol Robinson. Performer: Julia Eckhardt.
    • Shiiin eer1.
    • Shiiin eer1.

  • Olivier Messiaen

    Turangalila-symphonie

    Conductor: Juanjo Mena. Performer: Cynthia Millar. Performer: Steven Osborne. Performer: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDA67816.

  • Henryk Miko艂aj G贸recki

    Symphony no. 3 Op.36 (Symphony of sorrowful songs) for soprano and orchestra

    Conductor: David Zinman. Performer: Dawn Upshaw. Performer: London Sinfonietta.
    • ELEKTRA/NONESUCH.
    • 7559--79282 2.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Suite no. 3 in D major BWV.1068 for orchestra

    Performer: Capella Istropolitana. Conductor: Jaroslav Kr膷ek.
    • Naxos 8552242.
    • Naxos 8552242.

  • Joaqu铆n Rodrigo

    Fantasia para un gentilhombre for guitar and orchestra

    Conductor: Yannick N茅zet鈥怱茅guin. Performer: Milo拧 Karadagli膰. Performer: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • DG.
    • 4810811.

  • Johann Pachelbel

    Canon and gigue in D major for 3 violins and continuo

    Conductor: Herbert von Karajan. Performer: Frank Maus. Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • DG E4775954.
    • DG E4775954.

  • Edward Elgar

    Variations on an original theme ('Enigma') Op.36 for orchestra

    Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Georg Solti. Conductor: Georg Solti.
    • Decca.
    • 4667102.

  • Gabriel Faur茅

    Apres un reve (Op.7`1), arr. Casals for cello & piano [orig. voice & piano]

    Performer: Bruno Canino. Performer: Lynn Harrell.
    • Decca.
    • 4756016.

  • Italian Traditional Bagpipe Musicians

    Pastorale in D major [17th C]

    • Lyrichord.
    • LAS7343.

  • Max Bruch

    Concerto no. 1 in G minor Op.26 for violin and orchestra

    Conductor: Sakari Oramo. Performer: Daniel Hope. Performer: Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • DG.
    • 477 9301.

  • William Lawes

    Consort suite 'for the violls' a 5 no. 3 in C minor [VdGS.74-7]

    Performer: Jordi Savall. Performer: Hesp猫rion XXI.
    • Alia Vox.
    • Alia Vox AV9823 A+B.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Brandenburg concerto no. 6 in B flat major BWV.1051

    Performer: Reinhard Goebel. Performer: Musica Antiqua K枚ln.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 4472882.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Concerto no. 21 in C major K.467 for piano and orchestra

    Performer: Mitsuko Uchida. Performer: The Cleveland Orchestra.
    • DECCA.
    • 4783539.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Sonata no. 8 in C minor Op.13 (Pathetique) for piano

    Performer: Stephen Kovacevich.
    • PHILIPS 478 8662.
    • PHILIPS 478 8662.

  • Joseph Haydn

    The Seven last words of our Saviour on the Cross H.20.2 for soloists, chorus and orchestra, arr. from orch. version, H.20.1a

    Performer: Casals Quartet.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • HMC902162.

  • Morton Feldman

    String quartet II

    Performer: FLUX Quartet.
    • MODE.
    • mode-112.

  • Howard Skempton

    Lento

    Orchestra: 成人快手 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth.
    • NMC.
    • NMC NMCD005.

  • Thomas Ad猫s

    Asyla for orchestra

    Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Performer: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
    • EMI 6 97588 2.
    • EMI 6 97588 2.

  • Samuel Barber

    Quartet in B minor Op.11 for strings

    Performer: Emerson String Quartet.
    • DG.
    • DG 435864-2.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Sonata no. 32 in C minor Op.111 for piano

    Performer: Stephen Kovacevich.
    • EMI.
    • CDC7545992.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 12 Jul 2020 17:00
    成人快手 Radio 3
  • Fri 17 Jul 2020 16:30
    成人快手 Radio 3
  • Sun 15 May 2022 17:00
    成人快手 Radio 3
  • Fri 20 May 2022 16:30
    成人快手 Radio 3

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 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?

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 鈥渘oise鈥� from 鈥渕usic鈥�, but is it that simple?

Podcast