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Composer James MacMillan explores music inspired by the biblical story of creation

James MacMillan and guests explore how composers celebrate nature’s diversity, creatures, and divine creation. Through works like Cantus Arcticus, Symphony of Psalms, and The Carnival of the Animals, they discuss how music captures Earth’s beauty, interconnectedness, and humanity’s responsibility toward the environment.

21 days left to listen

56 minutes

Last on

Last Saturday13:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • James McMillan

    Composed in August

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Choir: Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus. Conductor: Maxim Emelyanychev.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Le carnaval des animaux: XIV. Final

    Orchestra: Les Siècles. Conductor: François‐Xavier Roth.
    • Saint-Saëns: Symphonic Poems - Le Carnaval des Animaux - l'Assassinat du Duc de.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 19.

  • Hildegard von Bingen

    Symphoniae: O quam mirabilis

    Ensemble: Sequentia.
    • Hildegard von Bingen/Ordo Virtutum.
    • Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
    • 3.

  • Manuel de Zumaya

    Albricias, Mortales

    Orchestra: Ex Cathedra. Conductor: Jeffrey Skidmore.
    • Moon, Sun & All Things.
    • Hyperion.

  • William Bolcom

    The Eternal Feminine

    Performer: Marc‐André Hamelin.
    • The Garden of Eden.
    • 2.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    The Isle of the Dead - Symphonic Poem, Op. 29

    Orchestra: Russian National Orchestra. Conductor: Mikhail Pletnev.
    • Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1 & The Isle of the Dead.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 1.

  • Jay Capperauld

    Endlings

    Performer: Danny Driver. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Geoffrey Areesorn-Paterson.

  • Olivier Messiaen

    Quatuor pour la fin du temps: VIII. Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus

    Performer: Janine Jansen. Performer: Lucas Debargue.
    • Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps.
    • Sony.
    • 8.

Broadcast

  • Last Saturday13:00
    BBC Radio 3

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Podcast

  • Music Matters

    The stories that matter, the people that matter, the music that matters