Restoration

Available for over a year

Katie Derham delves into the surprising connections between classical music and and gardening, with guests who have a passion for both. It takes knowledge, passion and imagination to bring lost spaces and lost music back to life. In this episode of Music in Bloom, Katie meets two people doing just that, returning to the 16th century to explore a castle garden and discovering how a musicologist is making it possible to perform lost music from 450 years ago. John Watkins shows Katie around the restored gardens at Kenilworth Castle, which were created by Robert Dudley for a visit by Queen Elizabeth I in 1575. He explains the unusual sources used to recreate the gardens, and how important the soundscape is to the space. Magnus Williamson is Professor of Early Music at the University of Newcastle, and has worked restored Elizabethan part books. It needs a dash of archaeology, a lot of research, and a musical ear to work out how to fill in the musical gaps. Producer: Sofie Vilcins