Music Matters

17 February 2007

Saturday 17 February 2007 12:15-13:00 (Radio 3)

Tom Service investigates the stories behind this week's headlines in the music world. He meets the pianist Alice Herz-Sommer, who at 103 years old still plays daily.

And celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of one of the best loved and most hated buildings in the country - the Barbican Centre. Tom asks what should our arts centres be today - bastions of cutting edge urban design or monuments to a fading culture?

Duration:

45 minutes

In this programme

Barbican Centre
At the heart of London's post-war Barbican complex is an arts centre which is as controversial as it is successful. This year, the Barbican Centre celebrates its 25^th Anniversary. When it opened in 1982, the Centre divided opinion - for some, it was a dark, ugly, concrete-clad monstrosity. For others, it was a futuristic vision, integrating everything from an art gallery, cinema, music library, concert hall and theatre. Tom visited the Centre to talk with the architecture writer and former resident Jonathan Glancey, the first Director, Henry Wrong, the current Artistic Director, Graham Sheffield and cellist Francis Saunders who performed in the London Symphony Orchestra's first ever concert as orchestra in residence.

International arts centres
While the Barbican Centre and the South Bank Centre have been undergoing extensive redevelopment schemes, the concept of giant arts complexes has spread internationally, with plans for a glamorous new venue in Abu Dhabi. However, what is the function of these hubs, and what does the future hold for such palaces of the arts? Tom is joined by three of the people who run some of the biggest institutions in the world - Sir John Tusa, Managing Director of the Barbican; Michael Lynch, Chief Executive of the South Bank Centre and Deborah Borda, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, to assess the role of such organisations both internationally and as providers for the local community.

Howard Skempton
The composer Howard Skempton is 60 this year and has established himself as one of the pioneers of British experimental music. He formed the legendary Scratch Orchestra with Cornelius Cardew, and in addition to composing, he is also an accordionist and pianist, writing many of his piano and accordion miniatures for himself and his friends to perform. His orchestral work, Lento, catapulted him to cult status in the early 90s and his compositions continue to fascinate.
Tom talks with Howard about the apparent simplicity and unique subtlety of his music.

You can hear Skempton's string quartet, Tendrils, on Radio 3's Hear and Now at the end of March and BBC Radio 3 has commissioned a new song cycle for tenor and orchestra that will be premiered in September this year.



Alice Herz Sommer
103 year-old Alice Herz-Sommer has had a remarkable life. Now living in London after years in Israel and before that Prague, she was in Terezin, the Nazi concentration camp, when her husband was transported and died in Poland and her mother was sent away. Throughout, music has been her salvation, her constant companion and consolation. Even today, she practices for three hours every morning. Tom spent an afternoon with Alice at her home and was overwhelmed by her optimism. Her biography, A Garden of Eden in Hell, will be published in the summer by Pan Macmillan.

Music Matters

Episode and Playlist Information

• 3 March 2007
• 17 February 2007
• 4 February 2007
• 21 January 2007
• 7 January 2007
• 10 December 2006
• 3 Dec 06 Ned Rorem

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