The Listening Service Podcast
Rethink music with The Listening Service. Tom Service presents a journey of imagination and insight, exploring how music works
Episodes to download
-
![]()
Is Classical music fashionable?
Sunday
Is classical music in fashion? Who's listening and what are they actually listening to?
-
![]()
HIPP to be Square
Sun 30 Aug 2020
Historically informed performance practice, or HIPP: what is it and why?
-
![]()
Is it canon?
Sun 9 Aug 2020
The classical music canon - who decides what's in and what's out? And can it change?
-
![]()
The Goldberg Variations
Sun 26 Jul 2020
Tom Service unlocks mysteries of Bach's towering keyboard work The Goldberg Variations.
-
![]()
-
![]()
Music and breathing
Sun 28 Jun 2020
How is the rhythm and physicality of our breathing reflected in music?
-
![]()
The musical universe of Maurice Ravel
Sun 14 Jun 2020
Tom Service scopes the musical world of one of his favourite composers, Maurice Ravel.
-
![]()
Wagner’s Ring Cycle: the Ultimate Box Set Binge
Sun 31 May 2020
Tom Service explores classical music’s ultimate binge-listening box set - The Ring.
-
![]()
-
![]()
-
![]()
Lisztomania
Sun 19 Apr 2020
Tom Service explores the music of Franz Liszt, with help from pianist Mariam Batsashvili.
-
![]()
Close Harmony
Sun 29 Mar 2020
Tom Service explores the world of Close Harmony and Barbershop singing.
-
![]()
More than the score
Sun 16 Feb 2020
Why are there so many ways to perform the same piece of music? What is interpretation?
-
![]()
-
![]()
The music of Kaija Saariaho
Sun 26 Jan 2020
Tom Service takes a journey through the music of the Finnish-born, Paris-based composer.
-
![]()
Beethoven Unleashed: Getting to grips with Beethoven
Sun 19 Jan 2020
He's the most famous composer in western music, but what makes Beethoven Beethoven?
-
![]()
Texture
Sun 12 Jan 2020
Tom Service considers an often overlooked but vital element of music: its texture.
-
![]()
How to love new music
Sun 5 Jan 2020
All noise and no good tunes? Tom Service bangs the drum for contemporary classical music.
-
![]()
Parapapampam
Sun 22 Dec 2019
It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. Why is there so much cheesy Yuletide music?
-
![]()
Why backing vocals matter
Sun 8 Dec 2019
Backing singers and opera choruses - so much more than eye candy and human scenery!
-
![]()
-
![]()
The Great Highland Bagpipe
Sun 17 Nov 2019
Tom Service goes in search of the Great Highland Bagpipe.
-
![]()
How to compose music
Sun 10 Nov 2019
Where do you start? How do you carry on? What do you need to know?
-
![]()
The Real Red Priest
Sun 3 Nov 2019
Tom Service goes beyond the cliches to explore the music of Antonio Vivaldi.
-
![]()
Turn up the volume, dial up the drama
Sun 20 Oct 2019
Dynamics are crucial to the dramatic effect of music. Tom Service adjusts the volume.
-
![]()
The Simple Truth
Sun 13 Oct 2019
When is less more, and less less? How hard is it to achieve meaningful musical simplicity?
-
![]()
Prog Rock - apotheosis or nadir?
Sun 6 Oct 2019
Tom Service looks at Prog Rock, and asks: apotheosis of rock music, or vapid pomposity?
-
![]()
Al-Andalus: What makes music sound Spanish?
Sun 29 Sep 2019
Tom Service looks for the essence of Spain in the music of later centuries.
-
![]()
-
![]()
Why do we call it 'classical' music?
Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).
Six of the world's most extreme voices
From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?
How did the number 12 revolutionise music?
How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.
Why are we all addicted to bass?
Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.
Watch the animations
Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.
When does noise become music?
We like to think we can separate “noise” from “music”, but is it that simple?
