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Episode details

Radio 3,27 Dec 2025,56 mins

SeriesIn the Beginning

The Sea

Music Matters

Available for 23 days

James MacMillan and guests explore how composers capture the ocean’s power, mystery, and ecological themes. Topics include orchestration techniques in La Mer, the sea as a symbol of divine creation in Vaughn William’s A Sea Symphony, and minimalist approaches to vastness in John Luther Adams Become Ocean, highlighting music’s connection to nature. Former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams reads his own poetry which is written to evoke a rising spring of creative inspiration.

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Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    Quickening: Living Water
    Quickening: Living Water
    James MacMillan
  3. 2.
    Four Sea Interludes from 'Peter Grimes', Op. 33a: Dawn
    Four Sea Interludes from 'Peter Grimes', Op. 33a: Dawn
    Benjamin Britten
  4. 3.
    An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV267
    An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV267
    Johann Sebastian Bach