On this programme
Harrison Birtwistle
Even though he turned 70 this year, Harrison Birtwistle shows no sign of losing his radical edge. He's still a figure who divides opinion: for some, an abrasive iconoclast; for others, he's quite simply the most important living British composer. Tom has been talking to Birtwistle's friends, family and collaborators to create a portrait of the man behind the music. Is he as uncompromising and austere as his music -and as difficult to work with as his reputation suggests? Find out what Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Gillian Moore, Adam Birtwistle, Peter Hall, Christoph von Dohnanyi, and Pierre Boulez think.
Acoustics
Laurence Kirkegaard is the architect and acoustician whose task it is to renovate the acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall. It may have been the flagship building of the Festival of Britain in 1951, but the hall has always had a controversial acoustic. Kirkegaard has been asked to liven things up, just as he did at the Barbican Centre in London recently, but he's also got to stay within the restrictions of working in a listed building. It's a delicate challenge. Tom will be joined live by the Times critic Hilary Finch and the architecture writer Jonathan Glancey to talk about the aesthetics of acoustics: is it a science or an art-form?
Magnus Lindberg
Finland has produced an outrageously large number of the most famous performers and composers on the scene today. Finnish composers have strived to create a genuinely modern Finnish music and one of the most significant composers around is Magnus Lindberg. Tom will be talking to him live on Sunday's.
