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Private Notes
Built around the earliest, until now unseen, footage of the Clash in concert, filmed by Julien Temple as they opened the infamous Roxy club in a dilapidated Covent Garden on January 1st 1977, this show takes us on a time-travelling trip back to that strange planet that was Great Britain in the late 1970s and the moment when punk emerged into the mainstream consciousness.
Featuring the voices of Joe Strummer and the Clash from the time, and intercutting the raw and visceral footage of this iconic show, with telling moments from the BBC's New Year's Eve, Hogmanay and New Year's Day schedules of nearly 40 years ago, it celebrates that great enduring British custom of getting together, en masse and often substantially the worse for wear, to usher in the New Year.
New Year's Day is when we collectively take the time to reflect on the year that has just gone by and ponder what the new one might hold in store for us. Unknown to the unsuspecting British public, 1977 was of course the annus mirabilis of punk. The year in which the Clash themselves took off, catching the imagination of the nation's youth. As their iconic song, 1977, counts us down to midnight, we'll share with them and Joe Strummer, in previously unseen interviews from the time, their hopes and predictions for the 12 months ahead.
This Radio 2 In Concert is all about Ed Sheeran. He was 2014's biggest selling artist and is currently being dubbed as Britain's biggest export since Downton Abbey. 2015 is already shaping up very nicely with three Grammy nominations and three nights at Wembley stadium in July, which will be his biggest solo shows to date.
At just 16-years-old, Sheeran left his Suffolk home and school to embark on a journey of tirelessly gigging for three years around London pubs and clubs - the work paid off; he is now 23 and arguably one of the most successful solo artists around the world. The singer-songwriter has collaborated with Pharrell Williams, toured with Taylor Swift, performed with Elton John and has written for One Direction.
He performs hits from his multiplatinum selling albums, + and X to an audience at an intimate setting of The Radio Theatre in the heart of London.
In December 2014, the BBC's historic Radio Theatre opened its doors to Coldplay, one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world. The Grammy award-winning group perform a selection of classic tracks from their big-selling catalogue through to their sixth album Ghost Stories. For a band accustomed to playing to many thousands, this intimate gig in front of a few hundred is a must-see event.
A whistlestop tour of rock from over the water, taking in some of the finest Irish rock offerings from the early 70s to the present day, as captured on a variety of BBC shows from The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops to Later... with Jools Holland.
Kicking off with Thin Lizzy's 1973 debut hit Whiskey in the Jar, the programme traces Irish rock's unfolding lineage. Performances from guitar maestro Rory Gallagher, Celtic rock godfathers Horslips and John Peel favourites the Undertones feature alongside rivals Stiff Little Fingers, with their Top of the Pops performance of Nobody's Hero, followed by post-punk U2's 1981 debut UK performance of I Will Follow from The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Then there is Sinead O'Connor's debut single performance of Mandinka, and the Pogues play the Ewan MacColl classic Dirty Old Town from 1986. Into the 90s, there is the Frank and Walters and Therapy? on Top of the Pops, along with early performances on Later...with Jools Holland from Ash and the Divine Comedy.
There is rockabilly with Imelda May's debut hit Johnny Got A Boom Boom, and then bang up to the moment is Cavan's the Strypes and Hozier, whose Take Me To Church completes this hit-driven tour through Irish rock.
Celebrating the men whose vocal stylings have carried the torch for soul across six decades. It showcases the rarely-seen but infectious Brenton Wood's Gimme Little Sign and offers the velvet voice of Curtis Mayfield singing Keep On Keeping On. There are groundbreaking artists from the '60s to the noughties, with performances from Billy Preston, Bill Withers, Billy Ocean, Alexander O'Neal, Barry White, Bobby Womack and many more.
The sisters are truly doing it for themselves in this celebration of the legendary female singers whose raw emotional vocal styles touched the hearts of followers worldwide. Featuring the effortless sounds of Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Gladys Knight, Randy Crawford, Angie Stone, Mary J Blige and Beyonce, to name a few.
The Queens of Soul presents the critically acclaimed and influential female singers who, decade by decade, changed the world one note at a time.
Archive compilation celebrating the incredible body of work by Detroit's finest songwriting teams and artists for perhaps America's greatest ever record label, Motown.
This compilation of Motown covers spans the 1960s to the present day and features: Paul Weller and Amy Winehouse with I Heard It Through the Grapevine on Jools's Hootenanny; Roberta Flack's version of Stevie Wonder's Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer from an early edition of the OGWT; early adopter Dusty Springfield with Nowhere to Run on her '60s BBC TV show; and The Flying Lizards with Barrett Strong's Money (That's What I Want) from Top of the Pops in 1979.
Of course, there are quite a few '80s hit covers from the decade that rediscovered Motown as a hitmaking machine, many of them from Top of the Pops including Kim Wilde's You Keep Me Hangin' On and Paul Young's 1983 Number 1 with Marvin Gaye's 1962 b-side, Wherever I Lay My Hat.
Then it's on into the '90s with Mercy Mercy Me from the late lamented Robert Palmer and Mariah Carey's take on the Jackson Five's I'll Be There. Plus, of course, Phil Collins but, rightly or wrongly, not with You Can't Hurry Love but with his 21st-century reading of Stevie Wonder's Blame It on the Sun from Later with Jools.
Documentary telling the amazing story of how a group of reclusive Rhineland experimentalists called Kraftwerk became one of the most influential pop groups of all time. It is a celebration of the band featuring exclusive live tracks filmed at their Tate Modern shows in London in February 2013, interwoven with expert analysis, archive footage of the group going back to 1970, newsreel of the era and newly shot cinematic evocations of their obsessions. With contributions from techno pioneer Derrick May, Can founder Holger Czukay, DJ and remixer Francois Kevorkian, graphic design guru Neville Brody, writer Paul Morley, band photographer Peter Boettcher, Tate Modern curator Caroline Wood and others.
The opening concert of the 2015 Celtic Connections festival, featuring the world premiere performance of Martyn Bennett's final masterpiece, Grit.
Presented by Mary Ann Kennedy, this programme brings you to the heart of the action at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall where Greg Lawson conducts his own arrangement of this ground breaking album. Featuring guest appearances from David Hayman, Karen Matheson, Rab Noakes and many more.
Compilation of some indelible hits by artists we hardly heard from again, at least in a chart sense. Featuring Peter Sarstedt's Where Do You Go To My Lovely? a number one in 1969, a hit he never really matched, Trio's 1982 smash Da Da Da, Phyllis Nelson's 1985 lovers rock-style classic Move Closer, and the New Radicals' 1999 hit You Get What You Give.
We travel through the years selecting some of your favourite number ones and a few others that came close, revealing what's happened to the one-hit hitmakers since and exploring the unwritten laws that help make sense of the one-hit wonder phenomenon.
A celebration of Placido Domingo, the world's most famous tenor, through four decades of performance highlights from the BBC film archives. Featuring great arias from Aida, Die Walkure, Simon Boccanegra and Pagliacci, as well as appearances on Wogan and Parkinson, including an unforgettable Moon River with Henry Mancini at the piano.
Huw Stephens presents seminal Welsh band Manic Street Preachers, performing live at Cardiff Castle as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of their acclaimed, landmark album The Holy Bible.
They play the poetic and visceral album in full - plus a set of their greatest hits - in front of a sell-out audience of 9,000 fans.
This 90-minute BBC Music Day special features highlights of that live performance, together with documentary content about the The Holy Bible (which featured and was largely written by band member Richey Edwards, before his disappearance in February 1995), including exclusive interviews with James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore.
BBC Music Day culminates in a live gala concert from City Halls in Glasgow presented by Katie Derham and Ken Bruce, which is simulcast on Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio Scotland and the Asian Network. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is joined by an exciting cross-genre line-up of artists including tenor Noah Stewart, violinist Jack Liebeck, pop legends Lulu and Deacon Blue, Bhangra artist Jaz Dhami, Scots folk star Claire Hastings, harpist Catrin Finch and jazz pianist Jamie Cullum. They perform music with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Richard Balcombe.
Music includes:
Bernstein: Overture Candide
Steve Sidwell: God Only Knows (new arrangement)
Augustin Lara: Granada - Noah Stewart (tenor)
Frederick Loewe: My Fair Lady
Deacon Blue: Hipster (new arrangement by Martin Williams)
Catrin Finch: Tros Y Garreg
Jaz Dhami: Aane se uske aaye bahaar
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto (1st movement) - Jack Liebeck (violin)
Rimsky Korsakov: Procession of the Nobles
INTERVAL
Lulu performs three songs from the outdoor stage at BBC Pacific Quay in anticipation for her City Halls visit in Part Two of the concert.
Deacon Blue: Long Window to Love (new arrangement by Martin Williams)
Puccini: Recondita Armonia (Tosca) - Noah Stewart (tenor)
Catrin Finch: Solstice
Claire Hastings: Let Ramensky Go
Bernstein: Mambo (West Side Story)
Massenet: Meditation (Thais) - Jack Liebeck (violin)
Jaz Dhami: Mitayva
Mark London: To Sir with Love
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Richard Balcombe (conductor).
A portrait of Amy Winehouse the artist threaded together from extracts from interviews she gave to the BBC for a variety of documentary projects including the Jazz and Soul Britannia series on FOUR, much of which material is previously unbroadcast, blended with performances from across her career, including some which are also previously unbroadcast and unseen.
Winehouse had a strong relationship with many parts of the BBC from when she launched herself as an artist back in 2004. In her short musical career, the North London native changed the landscape of modern pop culture, won countless awards, achieved critical acclaim and garnered global success before tragically dying at the tender age of 27. On the eve of the release of Asif Kapadia’s Amy documentary film which explores Winehouse’s life and death, here is an exploration of her music and her influences in her own words.
Consisting performances and interviews entirely from the BBC archives this film celebrates Amy’s music, her influences, her challenges as an artist and her eternal brutal honesty in her own words. Featuring exclusive unseen and rarely seen songs from her triple platinum selling album Frank and revered Grammy winning album Back To Black, this programme pays homage to the tattooed rebellious rock & roll spirited songstress who wrote smart, sad, soulful and original pop songs that became instant classics and inspired a generation.
Filmed live in front of an audience for BBC Radio Scotland's The Quay Sessions. Featuring special guest Johnny Lynch alias the Pictish Trail.
Highlights from BBC Music at the Quay, BBC Scotland’s pop-up festival which featured over 60 artists across five days from Pacific Quay in Glasgow - with BBC Music Day at its heart.
The festival showcased an eclectic range of genres and artists – from emerging new talent to established acts – recorded for BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Introducing, The One Show and BBC Radio 2’s Ken Bruce Show, amongst others.
Artists include chart-topper James Bay, Fife star KT Tunstall, Scottish supergroup Texas, pop royalty Lulu, The Voice winner Stevie McCrorie, Glasgow duo Honeyblood, folk ensemble Blue Rose Code, Latin-Scots fusion act Salsa Celtica, legendary guitarist Andy Fairweather Low with his Low Riders, and folk icon Donovan.
Filmed live for BBC Radio Scotland's The Quay Sessions with Edith Bowman.
Kate Adie meets BBC Cardiff Singer of the World patron Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. In front of an audience at the Wales Millennium Centre they talk about her career and find they have some surprising similarities in their lives.
Having lost her singing voice and all hopes of returning to the stage, Connie Fisher has an opportunity to give a concert at the London Palladium, the scene of her triumph as Maria in The Sound of Music. She agrees to attempt one last concert.
A celebration of rock 'n' roll in the shape of a compilation of classic artists and songs, featuring the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Dion and Dick Dale who all featured in the Rock 'n' Roll America series, alongside songs that celebrate rock 'n roll itself from artists such as Tom Petty (Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll), Joan Jett (I Love Rock 'n' Roll) and Oasis (Rock 'n' Roll Star).
Compilation of Cilla Black's 60s pop star years and moments from her self-titled series.
Compilation of the best duets from Andy Williams's 1960s variety show. Including Over the Rainbow with Judy Garland, and Andy at the piano with Ray Charles for What'd I Say.
Errol Brown, who died aged 71 in May 2015, was probably the most famous and ubiquitous black British pop star of the 70s and early 80s. He co-founded Hot Chocolate with Tony Wilson in 1970 and the band went on to have a hit every year between 1971 and 1984.
This compilation of BBC performances and rare interview extracts celebrates Errol and Hot Chocolate, showcasing their top ten hits alongside rarely seen early performances and cult fan favourites.
We journey through over 15 years of chart smashes showcasing all the infectious numbers - Every 1's A Winner, Emma, So You Win Again and It Started With a Kiss - and of course, The Full Monty scene-stealer You Sexy Thing, a song that was in the charts in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
There are reminders of just how many top ten moments they had, with Girl Crazy and No Doubt About It, the hit that got away Mindless Boogie, and their first appearance on BBC television with Love is Life. Hot Chocolate were that rarity, a 70s British pop band who largely wrote their own tunes and arrangements and a mixed race band who perhaps inadvertently helped foster an early sense of British multi-culturalism. In Errol, they had a frontman who was not only a great singer, songwriter and frontman, but also resolutely and undemonstratively always himself, at ease in his own skin.
A look back through the archives at some of the classic tunes from the world of indie music through the 80s and early 90s including the likes of Joy Division, Depeche Mode, the Smiths, Cocteau Twins, Primal Scream and many more.
Charismatic conductor and composer Andre Previn looks back at some of his greatest television moments, from thrilling performances of orchestral favourites by Mozart and Berlioz to his classic comedy encounter with Morecambe and Wise.
Elton John and his band perform live at Cornwall’s Eden Project on 16th June 2015.
This was the first time Elton John had performed in Cornwall for thirty years. He last performed in the county at the Cornwall Coliseum which was recently demolished.
Elton’s performance was a highlight of the fourteenth year of the Eden Sessions. He performed many of his iconic hits and album tracks including Candle in the Wind, I’m Still Standing, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Crocodile Rock.
Documentary exploring the rise and fall of the most visionary period in British music history: five kaleidoscopic years between 1965 and 1970 when a handful of dreamers reimagined pop music.
When a generation of British R&B bands discovered LSD, conventions were questioned. From out of the bohemian underground and into the pop mainstream, the psychedelic era produced some of the most ground-breaking music ever made, pioneered by young improvising bands like Soft Machine and Pink Floyd, then quickly taken to the charts by the likes of the Beatles, Procol Harum, the Small Faces and the Moody Blues, even while being reimagined in the country by bucolic, folk-based artists like the Incredible String Band and Vashti Bunyan.
The film is narrated by Nigel Planer with contributions and freshly-shot performances from artists who lived and breathed the psych revolution - Paul McCartney, Ginger Baker, Robert Wyatt, Roy Wood, the Zombies, Mike Heron, Vashti Bunyan, Joe Boyd, Gary Brooker, Arthur Brown, Kenney Jones, Barry Miles, the Pretty Things and the Moody Blues.
A compilation from the depths of the BBC archive of the creme de la creme of 1960s British psychedelic rock from programmes such as Colour Me Pop, How It Is, Top of the Pops and Once More with Felix.
Featuring pre-rocker era Status Quo, a rustic-looking Incredible String Band, a youthful Donovan, a suitably eccentric performance from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, a trippy routine from Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity, a groovy tune from the Moody Blues, a raucous rendition by Joe Cocker of his version of With a Little Help From My Friends and some pre-Wizzard Roy Wood with the Move.
Plus classic performances from the likes of Procol Harum, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and the Who.
A feast of cover versions of Bob Dylan songs from the BBC archives, with classic tracks old and new and some surprises from the 1960s to the present.
From the essential folk queen Joan Baez to punk princess Siouxsie and the Banshees, from the Hollies to Adele, taking in the likes of Julie Felix, Richie Havens, Bryan Ferry and KT Tunstall along the way, the programme reflects Dylan's long career of writing extraordinary songs and the fascination of other artists with them.
Peter, Paul and Mary's sublime The Times They Are A-Changin' rubs shoulders with the close harmony of Cliff Richard and the Nolan Sisters' smooth interpretation of the protest classic Blowin' in the Wind. The Blues Band's energetic 1980s updating of Maggie's Farm contrasts with Tom Jones's powerful rootsy What Good Am I?
A treat for the Dylan fan and the Dylan novice alike.
Compilation celebrating some guitar band performances at the BBC that feature some of the best female musicians in rock. Beginning with the oft-forgotten American group Fanny performing You're the One, it's a journey along rock's spectrum from the 1970s to now.
The selection includes the powerful vocals of Elkie Brooks on Vinegar Joe's Proud to Be a Honky Woman, the mesmerising poetry of Patti Smith's Horses and the upbeat energy of the Go-Go's on We Got the Beat.
Mighty basslines come courtesy of Tina Weymouth on Psycho Killer and Kim Gordon on Sugar Kane, whilst we trace the line of indie rock from the Au Pairs through Lush, Elastica and Garbage to current band Savages.
From Buddhist Monk to Rock Star is the incredible story of triumph over adversity for the singing ex-monk, who 10 years ago fled his life in a Tibetan monastery, trekking for 18 days, 250 miles, to pursue a life where he could freely express himself. After settling in the UK, Ngawang performed as a highly sought after singer amongst the Tibetan Diaspora in Europe but was picked up by BBC Radio 3 in April 2015 in the inaugural year of a BBC Introducing World Music scheme.
In this intimate documentary portrait Ngawang speaks openly about his life and career, the pain of exile from his country and family and the central role that music plays in his life. This film tells Ngawang’s incredible story through a mix of interviews, archive footage and behind the scenes access along with live performances from Radio 3, Womad festival and the O2.
From BBC Introducing artist to performing at the Dalai Lama’s public talk at the O2 Arena in just 6 months – This is the story of Ngawang Lodup’s remarkable rise
Intimate one-off concert at the BBC's Radio Theatre. Sam Smith and his band perform hits including Money on My Mind, Like I Can, Latch, Stay With Me and Leave Your Lover.
David Gilmour plays two new songs alongside a couple of Pink Floyd classics.
Ellie Goulding joins Annie Mac at the BBC Maida Vale Studios to perform tracks from her forthcoming album ‘Delirium’ including ‘Love Me Like You Do’ and new single ‘On My Mind’.
Smash hits from 60 years of great cover versions in performance from the BBC TV archive. Reinterpretations, tributes and acts of subversion from the British Invasion to noughties X Factor finalist Alexandra Burke. Artists as varied as the Moody Blues, Soft Cell, Mariah Carey and UB40 with their 'retake' on someone else's song - ultimate chart hits that are, in some cases, perhaps even better than the original.
Arguably the Beatles alongside Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys introduced the notion of 'originality' and self-generating artists writing their songs into the pop lexicon in the 60s. One of the most fascinating consequences of this has been the 'original' cover version, a reinterpretation of someone else's song that has transformed it into pop gold with a shift of rhythm, intent and context. The pop cover has proved a remarkably imaginative and durable form and this compilation tracks this pop alchemy at its finest and most intriguing.
On the eve of the release of their first album of new music material in nearly 15 years, Jeff Lynne's ELO grace the stage of the BBC's intimate Radio Theatre in London.
David Gilmour, the voice and guitar of Pink Floyd performs live at The Royal Albert Hall in 2006. Performing tracks from his solo album 'On An Island' and a selection of hits from throughout Pink Floyd's 40 year career, David Gilmour is joined on stage by David Bowie, Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright and Guy Pratt who joined Pink Floyd on two world tours along with John Carin, Phil Manzanera and Robert Wyatt.
In this one-off BBC Music exclusive, Adele performs some of her world-famous classic tracks, as well as eagerly awaited new material, accompanied by her band in front of a live studio audience. Plus host Graham Norton talks to Adele about her career and extraordinary life to date. There's also some fun to be had as Adele gets up close and personal with some of her biggest fans. The show includes Adele's first television performance of Skyfall since the 85th Academy Awards in February 2013, where she won Best Original Song for the theme music to the 23rd James Bond film.
The BBC's Radio Theatre is the venue for this concert from four-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Seal.
After having a meteoric rise to fame in the 90s and selling over 30 million albums, Seal is back with his new atmospheric album 7. This is his 9th studio album and sees him reunited with producer Trevor Horn.
Seal has had a remarkable career that spans more than two decades and has released a string of hits that included Killer, Crazy and Kiss From A Rose. Expect an evening of old songs and new from this specially shot concert for BBC Radio 2, presented by Jo Whiley.
A unique concert staged at the Royal Festival Hall celebrating the music of the legendary songwriter and performer Burt Bacharach. Some of Burt's most famous songs are performed by a stellar line-up of artists including Alfie Boe, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Shaun Escoffery, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Hayward, Michael Kiwanuka, Laura Mvula and Joss Stone. Burt himself also performs accompanied by his band. During the concert Burt chats to Michael Grade about the art of songwriting and shares the stories behind some of his best-loved hits.
Music legends Coldplay perform an amazing set of hits and new tracks, at an exclusive one-off intimate show in East London for Annie Mac.
Stepping to the stage this evening is Noel Gallagher. The creative force behind Oasis, a band formed by his brother Liam, they went onto score 8 UK number one singles, 8 UK number one albums and defined the world of Britpop in the 90s. At the time, Noel penned a vast number of classic hits including Wonderwall, Don't Look Back In Anger and Champagne Supernova.
However the band split in 2009 and since 2010 Noel Gallagher has been working alongside his High Flying Birds, but for this performance he returns to the Radio Theatre to perform an acoustic set of songs from his back catalogue and second solo album Chasing Yesterday, another number one album released earlier this year and one that has seen him gain further critical acclaim and collaborate with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of smash hit I'm Not in Love, the original members of 10cc - Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme - reunite to tell their story. The documentary shares the secrets to some of their most successful records, from the writing and the recording to the tours and the tensions.
With contributions from an impressive array of music industry legends including 10cc's band manager Harvey Lisberg, lyricist Sir Tim Rice, broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, legendary producer Trevor Horn, Stewart Copeland (the Police), Graham Nash (the Hollies) and Dan Gillespie Sells (the Feeling), not only does this film highlight the diversity of these four brilliant musicians' songwriting talent, but it also delves into the influence they had, as well as the politics beneath their acrimonious split in 1976, at the height of their fame.
Relive the year in music - starting with Queen + Adam Lambert rocking Big Ben as the new year rolls in, then venturing to the 6 Music Festival in Tyneside, VE Day celebrations in Horse Guards Parade, and a music-filled summer at Glastonbury, the Proms, Reading and Radio 1's Big Weekend. To round off the year, we feature exclusive concerts from Radio 2, and showcase new talent at the Mercury Prize and the BBC Music Awards.
Including performances by Queen + Adam Lambert, the Maccabees, Alfie Boe, Taylor Swift, Skepta, Florence + the Machine, Lionel Richie, Jules Buckley and the Heritage Orchestra, Mumford & Sons, Nicola Benedetti, Sam Smith, Rod Stewart, Benjamin Clementine, Adele and Jack Garratt.
On Thursday 10 December, the music world once again unites for the star-studded BBC Music Awards, which will be hosted by Chris Evans and Fearne Cotton.
The event takes place at Birmingham's Genting Arena from 1600-1800.
BBC One, Radio 1, Radio 2 will come together for a celebration of an amazing year in music with spectacular performances and surprising collaborations from some of the biggest names in the business, hot new talent alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Awards on the night will include British Artist of the Year, International Artist of the Year and Song of the Year plus a special award for a BBC Introducing artist. This year there will be a new award – Live Performance of the year, which will be given to the band or artist who has delivered THE stand out live moment of 2015.
Amongst performances from the biggest and most iconic names in music, a special place will be reserved for one of BBC Introducing’s hottest talents.
Mark Radcliffe presents a look at the highs and lows of band life - the creative tension that produces great music and the pressures that come with success and fame, and pull most bands apart. Radcliffe lifts the lid on the main reasons why bands break up and the secrets of bands that manage to stay together.
Featuring live performances from their first gig they've done in the UK since their line-up change, Kele Okereke and the band will be playing some brand new, unheard music as well as some of the classics.
Lauren Laverne will also be catching up with Kele on life since the band announced during Latitude 2013 that they would be taking a break.
This show is part of the 6 Music Live series that has been coming to Maida Vale since 2012, with the likes of Richard Hawley, Foals and Paul Weller.
In what's fast becoming a tradition, Bryan Adams becomes the latest musician to perform on New Year's Eve in Central London, following in the footsteps of Gary Barlow, and Queen and Adam Lambert. The Canadian rocker blasts out his greatest hits to an excited capacity crowd, only pausing to take a break for the chimes of Big Ben and the traditional fireworks display over the Thames. Expect to hear songs including Run to You, Summer of '69, Everything I Do (I Do it for You) and Can't Stop This Thing We Started.
All too often, every great female rock musician has to answer a predictable question - what is it like being a girl in a band?
For many, the sight of a girl shredding a guitar or laying into the drums is still a bit of a novelty. As soon as women started forming their own bands they were given labels - the rock chick, the girl band or one half of the rock and roll couple.
Kate Mossman aims to look beyond the cliches of fallen angels, grunge babes and rock chicks as she gets the untold stories from rock's frontline to discover if it has always been different for the girl in a band.
Rock legend and tour bus aficionado Rick Wakeman takes us on a time-travelling trip through the decades in this first-hand account of rockers on the road from the late 1950s to the 80s and beyond.
It's an often bumpy and sometimes sleepless ride down the A roads and motorways of the UK during the golden age of rock 'n' roll touring - a secret history of transport cafes, transit vans, B&Bs, sleepless roadies and of loved ones left at home or, on one occasion, by the roadside. And it's also a secret history of audiences both good and bad, and the gigs themselves - from the early variety package to the head clubs, the stadiums and the pubs.
This is life in the British fast lane as told by Rick and the bands themselves, a film about the very lifeblood of the rock 'n' roll wagon train. With members of Dr Feelgood, Suzi Quatro, the Shadows, the Pretty Things, Fairport Convention, Happy Mondays, Aswad, Girlschool, the Damned and many more.
Pioneering the journey from rhythm and blues to funk, James Brown forever changed the face of American music. Mr Dynamite follows the story of Brown as he escaped his impoverished southern roots to become the biggest name in soul music and one of the most important music talents of the 20th century.
This captivating film utilises never-before-seen concert footage, interviews with Brown from a variety of sources and recent insights from band members and others who knew the singer to tell the remarkable story of the supremely gifted and enormously influential American musical icon. Mick Jagger is among those who recall his magnetic showmanship - first catching Brown's act from the balcony of the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, only to have Brown steal the spotlight when they performed on the same Los Angeles television show.
Beyond musical talent, the film documents how Brown played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement, whilst later endorsing Richard Nixon, whose politics chimed with his own entrepreneurship.
To mark the 40th anniversary of Bohemian Rhapsody, this documentary digs deep into archive to tell the story of Queen as it follows their journey from a struggling band gigging at pubs and colleges to the moment they captured the UK's hearts and minds with what was to become one of - if not the - greatest song of all time.
Queen's formative years have never been explored in such detail. With a wealth of unseen interviews, recently unearthed rushes of Queen's first ever video and outtakes from the recording sessions of Bohemian Rhapsody itself, this is the unique story of early Queen, told by the band themselves.
This documentary completes the final part of the trilogy alongside Days of Our Lives and Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender.
It's simple. It's real. It's raw. It's what happened.
Genesis filmed in November 1981 on the Abacab tour in North America, originally released on VHS to coincide with the live album of the same name. It has only ever been released on DVD in the limited edition box set The Movie Box 1981-2007. Originally filmed in 16mm, the footage has now been fully restored and is being reissued as a standalone DVD and Blu-ray for the first time.
The show focuses on tracks from the Duke and Abacab albums, and the tracks are intercut with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the band members. As ever with Genesis, the show is visually stunning and it captures the band in their transition from their progressive days in the 70s through to the hugely successful pop/rock act they became from the mid-80s onwards.
The Ecstasy of Gold
Fuel
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Battery
King Nothing
Ride the Lightning
The Day That Never Comes
The Memory Remains
The Unforgiven
Sad But True
Turn the Page
Wherever I May Roam
One
Master of Puppets
Fade to Black
Seek & Destroy
Whiskey in the Jar
Nothing Else Ma\tters
Enter Sandman
Mumford & Sons return to the Reading Festival after their last performance there back in 2010, taking to the Main Stage as the first headliners of the weekend.
Setlist: Snake Eyes, I Will Wait, Little Lion Man, Below My Feet, Wilder Mind, Awake My Soul, Believe, Tompkins Square Park, Lover of the Light, Thistle & Weeds, Ghosts That We Knew, The Cave, Roll Away Your Stone, Broad-Shouldered Beasts, Ditmas, Dust Bowl Dance, Hot Gates, The Wolf
Selected archive performances from a variety of Mercury Prize winners on a mixture of BBC shows down the years.
Previous winners have included Primal Scream, M-People, Portishead, Roni Size, Dizzee Rascal, Elbow, Arctic Monkeys and James Blake, to name but a few.
The Mercury Music Prize launched in 1992 and 2015 will see its 24th winner.
Opening night coverage from the Tartan Heart Festival in Beauly, presented by Fiona MacKenzie and Niall Iain MacDonald. Among the acts leading the coverage are Scotland's most famous twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid, better known as seminal band the Proclaimers. Other bands featured are the Correspondents and Keston Cobblers Club.
Coverage from the second night of the Tartan Heart Festival in Beauly, presented by Fiona MacKenzie and Niall Iain MacDonald. The running order includes a headlining performance from iconic band Manic Street Preachers. In a career spanning almost thirty years, the Welsh outfit continue to challenge and excite. The previous year's album Futurology demonstrated that members James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore still possess the ability to produce critically acclaimed music whilst maintaining widespread popular appeal. Other featured performers include Idlewild, Eddi Reader and Hayseed Dixie.
Highlights from the last day of Scotland's celebrated Belladrum Tartan Heart music festival, presented by Fiona MacKenzie and Niall Iain MacDonald. The headlining act for the night are indie rockers Kaiser Chiefs. Since 2003, the Leeds band has recorded a slew of hit records including singles Ruby, Never Miss A Beat and I Predict A Riot. The band is currently working on their sixth studio album, from which they released the single Falling Awake earlier in the year. To add to the eclectic mix of music are performances from the Stranglers, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and Villagers.
Horrorshow
Vertigo
The Delaney
Can't Stand Me Now
Campaign of Hate
Time for Heroes
Music When the Lights Go Out
Begging
What Katie Did
Gunga Din
Boys in the Band
The Ha Ha Wall
You're My Waterloo
Last Post on the Bugle
Death on the Stairs
Tell the King
Anthem for Doomed Youth
The Good Old Days
Fame and Fortune
Up the Bracket
What a Waster
Don't Look Back Into the Sun
I Get Along
U2 - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE - Live In Paris captures the Irish band's groundbreaking tour as it returns to the French capital for two very special shows.
Staged in the round, the iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour features multiple performance areas plus a state-of-the-art 100-foot LED screen suspended above a 118-foot walkway running the length of the arena floor. The concert film showcases U2's latest album Songs of Innocence, featuring new fan-favourites Iris, Cedarwood Road and Song for Someone, as well as hits from across their career, including I Will Follow, Pride (In the Name of Love), Vertigo, Sunday Bloody Sunday and Bullet the Blue Sky.
Lauren Laverne hosts an all-star discussion from London's iconic 100 Club, asking if rock 'n' roll is in crisis and what it now means in the 21st century. Can rock 'n' roll still be as dangerous and subversive as the original or has it become more about lifestyle and decoration? Joining Lauren are Savages' lead singer Jehnny Beth, Dr John Cooper Clarke and former Animal Eric Burdon. Featuring original contributions from Noel Gallagher, Dave Grohl, Sleaford Mods and Alabama Shakes. Music from Mercury-winning Young Fathers and Matthew E White.
A compilation from the depths of the BBC archive of the creme de la creme of 1960s British psychedelic rock from programmes such as Colour Me Pop, How It Is, Top of the Pops and Once More with Felix.
Featuring pre-rocker era Status Quo, a rustic-looking Incredible String Band, a youthful Donovan, a suitably eccentric performance from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, a trippy routine from Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity, a groovy tune from the Moody Blues, a raucous rendition by Joe Cocker of his version of With a Little Help From My Friends and some pre-Wizzard Roy Wood with the Move.
Plus classic performances from the likes of Procol Harum, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and the Who.
Biography of iconic rock balladeer Roy Orbison told through his own voice, casting new light on the triumphs and tragedies that beset his career. Using previously unseen performances, home movies and interviews with many who have never spoken before, the film reveals Orbison's remote Texas childhood, his battles to get his voice heard, and how he created lasting hits like Only the Lonely and Crying.
The film follows Roy's rollercoaster life, often reflected in the dark lyrics of his songs, from success to rejection to rediscovery in the 80s with the Traveling Wilburys supergroup. It uncovers the man behind the shades, including interviews with his sons, many close friends and collaborators like Jeff Lynne, T Bone Burnett, Bobby Goldsboro and Marianne Faithfull.
Throughout Status Quo's six decades of rockin' and double denim, they have notched up 65 hit singles, sold over 100m records worldwide and have spent 415 weeks in the British singles chart, so it's no wonder Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt were awarded OBEs in 2010 for their services to music. And now, in a rare departure from their usual heads-down and boogie approach, they've gone acoustic! Autumn 2014 saw the release of their 31st studio album and, in a complete departure from their usual rock sound, they transformed many of their legendary songs into acoustic, stripped-down versions. To celebrate this unique enterprise, they then performed many of the songs live at north London's legendary Roundhouse. Sitting down! This concert features many of their classic tracks including Pictures of Matchstick Men, Down Down, What You're Proposing, Whatever You Want, Marguerita Time, Rockin' All Over the World and many more, performed with a string section, percussion, accordion, backing vocals and a front line of five acoustic guitars. Throughout the show Francis and Rick reminisce about taking this bold step and remind us of some of the stories behind some of their classic songs.
Great pop records are the soundtrack to our lives, and that is why number one hits hold a totemic place in our culture. This film goes in search of what it takes to get a number one hit single, uncovering how people have done it, and the effect it had on their lives. As the exploration moves through the decades, the goal is to trace the various routes that lead to the top of the singles chart and discover the role played by art, science, chance and manipulation in reaching the pinnacle of pop.
Documentary which celebrates the role of the cover version in the pop canon and investigates what it takes to reinvent someone else's song as a smash.
Through ten carefully chosen cover versions that whisk us from the British Invasion to a noughties X Factor final, this film journeys over five decades to track how artists as varied as the Moody Blues, Soft Cell, Puff Daddy and Alexandra Burke have scored number 1s with their retake on someone else's song. Each of the ten classic cover versions has its own particular tale, tied not only into its musical and cultural context but also the personal testimony of the artists, producers and songwriters whose lives were changed in the process.
Narrated by Meera Syal, it explores the stories behind such iconic hits as House of the Rising Sun, Respect, Tainted Love, I'll Be Missing You and Hallelujah, with contributors including John Cale, Gloria Jones, Marc Almond, Rick Rubin, Faith Evans and British singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot.
The cover version has always been a staple of the pop charts. Yet it's often been viewed as the poor relation of writing your own songs. This film challenges and overturns that misconception by celebrating an exciting, underrated musical form that has the power to make or break an artist's career. Whether as tribute, reinterpretation or as an act of subversion, the extraordinary alchemy involved in covering a record can create a new, defining version - in some cases, even more original than the original.
Since the release of the Bat Out of Hell album, Meat Loaf has possessed the kind of international status that few artists obtain. His larger-than-life persona and performances are fuelled by a passion for theatre and storytelling. This candid profile reveals the man and his music through his own testimony and from the accounts of those closest to him.
Meat Loaf's life story is one of epic proportions - he survived a childhood of domestic violence only to face years of record company rejection before eventually finding global fame. Along the way he experienced bankruptcy, health scares, bust-ups and one of the greatest comebacks of all time. All this and more is explored in the film, which features behind-the-scenes footage of his Las Vegas residency, plus plans for a new album featuring songs by Jim Steinman.
The film also revisits the Dallas of Meat Loaf's early years and includes insights from his high school friends, who reveal how Meat really got his famous moniker.
After his mother died, Meat Loaf fled Texas for the bright lights of LA. He sang in itinerant rock bands, but no-one would give him a recording contract. By 1969 he was broke and disillusioned. His break would take the form of a musical. He was offered a part in Hair, having been invited to audition whilst working as a parking attendant outside the theatre. Shortly afterwards he met Jim Steinman and the road to success really began. Yet the Hair gig was the beginning of an enduring love affair with theatre that is reflected in his singing persona today.
His first album, the now legendary Bat Out of Hell, was initially rejected by scores of record companies, yet went on to spend a staggering 485 weeks in the UK charts. The whole album is a masterwork of storytelling that Meat Loaf and Steinman worked on for four years and then battled to get heard. Meat Loaf and those who worked on the album - from Todd Rundgren to Ellen Foley - reflect on the songs, and celebrate the alchemy that resulted
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert delivering a raucous celebration of rock 'n' roll on The River tour of 1980. Filmed on November 5 at the former ASU Activity Center (now Wells Fargo Arena) in Tempe, part of metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, in front of an enthusiastic 10,000-strong audience. Starting with the album's meditative title track, the concert opens up into a celebratory stomp culminating in that E Street Band staple Jungleland, and taking in rock 'n' roll anthems from The River including Hungry Heart, Cadillac Ranch and You Can Look (But You'd Better Not Touch).
Tracks performed:
The River
Cadillac Ranch
Hungry Heart
Sherry Darling
Ramrod
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
Drive All Night
I'm A Rocker
Jungleland
The fifth Peel lecture was introduced by Mark Radcliffe and delivered by musician Brian Eno during the Radio Academy's Radio Festival at the British Library on 27 September 2015. He commented:
"(Peel) had a profound effect on my musical life and indeed my becoming a musician at all....His career as a non-musician who altered the course of music has been an inspiration to me and forms the basis of this talk."
His lecture attempted a definition of art:
"I want to talk about two questions tonight. The first one is, is art a luxury? Is it only a luxury or does it do something for us beyond that? And the second question is, is there a way that you can create a situation in which the arts flourish. If you think they’re important, perhaps you should be encouraging them in some way. So those are the two things I’m going to address: now to address those I have to come round it in quite a long way around. Essentially I think we need to rethink how we talk about culture: rethink what we think it does for us and what it actually is."
It was broadcast on BBC 6 Music and BBC4.
On a sunny day in September 2015, Rod Stewart took to the stage in London's Hyde Park to bring to a close BBC Radio 2's annual Festival in a Day. In front of 50,000 people, Rod delivered not his usual stadium set but a bespoke selection of hits from his back catalogue spanning his career, including Gasoline Alley, Angel, In a Broken Dream and The Killing of Georgie (Part 1 & 2), plus Faces classics such as Ooh La La and the blues standard Rollin' and Tumblin', a number that Rod used to perform with Long John Baldry back in the day. To close the set, Rod brought on his old pal guitarist Jim Cregan to help him perform his 1978 hit I Was Only Joking.
All in all, a memorable and unique concert that is unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.
Sam Smith tells the story behind his James Bond song, Writing's On The Wall. He sits down with Nick Grimshaw to discuss the number one track; the first Bond theme to achieve that accolade.
Sam discusses how he was first approached, how he set about writing the track, what influences were at play, and the special place an achievement like this has in his heart.
Along the way we hear from Disclosure, Naughty Boy, Jimmy Napes (co-writer of the song), David Arnold (Bond music legend), as well as many of the Radio 1 family.
Concert specially recorded for BBC Four on 24 June 2015 at the Empress Ballroom Blackpool, where Jools Holland and his band were joined by special guests Rumer, Marc Almond and Ruby Turner.
The concert celebrates the golden age of big band music from the 1930s to 1950s and Jools presents his interpretations of standards from the greats such as Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman.
Highlights include Rumer's joyful Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive, Marc Almond's stunning rendition of Edith Piaf's Hymn Le Amour and singer Ruby Turner's extraordinary vocals.
Compilation of performances and appearances by Nigel Kennedy from the BBC archive, following his music development and career from a seven-year-old child on Town and Around to his virtuoso showstopper Czardas from the Last Night of the Proms 2013.
Featuring interviews with him through the years, and demonstrating a versatility of styles from classical to experimental to a jazz duet with Stephane Grappelli.
Film telling the story of how rock music helped to change Ireland. The 40-year-old story of Irish rock and pop music is grounded in the very different musical traditions of the two main cities of the island, Belfast and Dublin.
This musical celebration charts the lives and careers of some of the biggest selling acts in Irish rock, punk and pop from Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy to The Undertones and U2. From the pioneers of the showbands touring in the late 50s through to the modern day, the film examines their lineage and connections and how the hardcore, rocking sound of Belfast merged with the more melodic, folky Dublin tradition to form what we now recognise as Irish rock and pop.
The film explores where these bands and musicians came from and the influence the political, social and cultural environments of the day had on them and how the music influenced those environments.
With contributions from many of the heavyweights of Irish rock and pop, including U2, Sinead O'Connor and Bob Geldof, it follows their careers as they forged an international presence and looks at how they helped change the island along the way.
Portrait of pianist and composer Daniil Trifonov, who is generating the most extravagant praise from several of the world's top musicians, including Martha Argerich, Valery Gergiev and Christian Thielemann
Tom Service plunges into the life and times of Mozart to try and rediscover the greatness and humanity of the living man in his moment. Mozart's prodigious output and untimely death have helped place him on a pedestal that can often blind us to the unique brilliance of his work in the context of his life and times. Tackling the sentimental tourist industry of Salzburg and the cloying reverence in which Mozart is too often held, Service visits the key cities and rooms in which Mozart lived and worked, plays some of Mozart's original instruments and scores, and gradually uncovers the brilliance and originality of his work as the 18th century turns into the early 19th. There is the prodigious childhood when Mozart was feted as an infant phenomenon around Europe's most glittering courts, and his golden decade in Vienna in which masterpiece followed masterpiece - operas, symphonies, piano concertos, string quartets - as if this short, high-voiced man-child must have been taking dictation from some divine source, until his death at the age of just 35 in 1791. Even more than the music, Mozart's tragic demise sets the seal on his myth. The trajectory of Mozart's life sets the template for the romantic paradigm whose throes we are still in today, which requires our creative heroes to die young to prove that they were too good for this madding world, whether it be Wolfgang Amadeus or Jimi Hendrix. Service travels from London to Vienna and Salzberg, unpicking the living, breathing genius that was Mozart. With Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nicola Benedetti, Paul Morley and others.
In the early 1980s, Culture Club was one of the biggest bands in the world, selling 150 million records worldwide. Formed in London, the band was comprised of Boy George on vocals, Mikey Craig on bass, Roy Hay on guitar and keyboards and Jon Moss on drums. As well as their UK success, the band was huge in the USA - notching up ten top 40 hits. Being part of Band Aid cemented them as stalwarts of the 80s, a band that broke down barriers and left a huge legacy for the stars that came later, before they disbanded in 1986. However, they are a band with a past as colourful as their music. George had a secret affair with his drummer Jon Moss and when they acrimoniously split, the band fell apart and George descended into heroin addiction. Over the years there have been numerous failed attempts to reunite the band. In 2014 Culture Club decided to come back together to record a new album and embark on a UK and US tour. Director Mike Nicholls has unique access, following the band as they first meet in George's London home to write new material. However, it's not long before creative differences and tensions from their past begin to emerge. Faultlines develop further when the band travel to Spain to record the new album, spending two weeks working and living together in a remote recording studio. As the band return to London to prepare for the tour, they suffer a Twitter mauling after their first big public performance on Strictly Come Dancing. Relations are even more strained when George and the band sign to separate managers and a sudden illness threatens the whole reunion. The film looks at the band's troubled past, examining the themes of success, fame and ego, and reveals the personalities behind one of the most iconic bands of all time.
"I want to make people cry even when they don't understand my words." - Edith Piaf This unique film explores the story of the lyric-driven French chanson and looks at some of the greatest artists and examples of the form. Award-winning singer and musician Petula Clark, who shot to stardom in France in the late 1950s for her nuanced singing and lyrical exploration, is our guide. We meet singers and artists who propelled chanson into the limelight, including Charles Aznavour (a protégé of Edith Piaf), Juliette Greco (whom Jean-Paul Sartre described as having 'a million poems in her voice'), Anna Karina (muse of Jean-Luc Godard and darling of the French Cinema's New Wave), actress and singer Jane Birkin, who had a global hit (along with Serge Gainsbourg) with the controversial Je t'aime (Moi non plus), and Marc Almond, who has received great acclaim with his recordings of Jacques Brel songs. In exploring the famous chanson tradition and the prodigious singers who made the songs their own, we continue the story into contemporary French composition, looking at new lyrical forms exemplified by current artists such as Stromae, Zaz, Têtes Raides and Etienne Daho, who also give exclusive interviews. The film shines a spotlight onto a musical form about which the British are largely unfamiliar, illuminating a history that is tender, funny, revealing and absorbing.
The story of Blue Note Records, the jazz label that was home to such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. In 1939 Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, who had emigrated from Nazi Germany to New York, 'discovered' an American art form which at the time received little serious attention from mainstream America - jazz music. Without money or connections and speaking little English, they began to record practically unknown musicians, following their own taste and judgement. Today the list of artists who recorded for their label reads like a who's who of jazz. A portrayal of the rise of modern jazz, the film explores a very special friendship in exile and uncompromising artistic excellence. Told by the musicians, friends, associates and fans of the Blue Note recordings from all walks of life, it recreates an era of American cultural history and is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made about jazz.
La traviata is the world's most popular opera. Its arias are instantly recognisable and have become staples for opera houses across the globe. Yet at its London premiere in 1856, La traviata was denounced for bringing 'the poetry of the brothel' to the stage and unleashing uncomfortable truths on Victorian society. Historian Amanda Vickery and Radio 3 presenter Tom Service reveal the extraordinary story behind the opera's first night in London and its scandalous heroine, the courtesan Violetta Valéry, whose dramatic life and tragic death were based on real-life characters and events. Tom and Amanda's journey goes from the luxury of the Parisian demi-monde to the teeming streets of Victorian London, where prostitution was seen as a threat to society itself. Amanda explores the story of Marie Duplessis, a highly-prized courtesan whose life inspired the play on which the opera was based, whilst Tom discovers how Verdi, on a visit to Paris with his mistress soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, seized this risqué story for the subject of his new masterpiece. Together, Amanda and Tom follow the opera's journey to London and examine how its incendiary premiere marked a historic moment in which art confronted reality, redefining the role of the opera diva forever. Scenes from Verdi's masterpiece have been specially recreated for the film alongside location photography in Venice, Milan, Paris and London.
Documentary following celebrated Estonian composer Arvo Pärt as he works with director Robert Wilson on a unique theatre production of Adam's Passion. The work exemplifies Pärt's distinctive style, formed from simple, rich tonal material. The film examines Pärt's methodology and explores the spiritual themes that have preoccupied him throughout his life.
Filmed over the course of four years, award-winning director Phil Grabsky follows one of the world's greatest pianists, Leif Ove Andsnes, as he attempts, in a series of sold-out worldwide performances, to interpret one of the greatest sets of works for piano ever written - Beethoven's five piano concertos. However, Concerto is more than a portrait of a famous musician on tour - it is an exploration into Ludwig van Beethoven's life as revealed by these five masterworks. The relationship between the composer and his world is mirrored by the relationship between the pianist and orchestra in these concertos. The film seeks to reveal Beethoven in a way rarely seen before and bears witness to what is increasingly being regarded as one of the greatest interpretations ever of these five great pieces of music. Considered one of the top pianists of the age, Leif Ove Andsnes offers rare insights into the mind of a world-class pianist and access to his personal and professional life. Andsnes gives an insight into the world of a contemporary classical musician. Against the wonderful background of Leif Ove playing these five pieces, we also peel back the many myths of Beethoven's life - from prodigious talent in Vienna to greatest composer alive by the time he wrote the fifth concerto. Perhaps above all, it is the fresh new biography of Beethoven that is most revealing.
It is a quarter of a century since the death of Leonard Bernstein, composer, conductor and icon of 20th-century music. This programme features 50 years of great archive performances and interviews, some unseen since their original broadcast, including music from West Side Story, Elgar's Enigma and Beethoven.
A Julien Temple film about the Strypes, the young Irish band from Co Cavan bringing blistering R&B and rock 'n' roll to a whole new generation. The film explores the band's evolution from toddlerhood, when they first began playing together, through the hard work and twists of fate that have catapulted them straight out of their small rural hometown to screaming crowds. Theirs is a success story of the digital age. Born in the late 90s, the boys have never known a world without computers and smartphones. Going on the same musical coming-of-age quest as their early heroes, the Beatles, Stones and Kinks, they searched out the origins of R&B and the wellspring of the blues to produce their own distinctive, hard-edged sound. A deeply human story of four young childhood friends, with a profoundly shared passion and goal, as they become adults in the world of 21st-century rock 'n' roll success. The film is produced by Parallel Films and Elton John's Rocket Pictures.
Journalist Kate Mossman explores the unique relationship between artist and fan, from the Beatles to One Direction and her own evolving fascination with Queen.
In 1975, the Bay City Rollers were on the brink of global superstardom. The most successful chart act in the UK with a unique look and sound were about to become the biggest thing since the Beatles. Featuring interviews with Les McKeown and other members of the classic Bay City Roller line-up, and using previously unseen footage shot by members of the band and its entourage, this is the tale of five lads from Edinburgh who became the world's first international teen idols and turned the whole world tartan.
Three British bands defined the British Invasion of 1964 which changed America. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Dave Clark Five. Fifty years later this film tells the story of the Dave Clark Five, their emergence from working-class Tottenham, their unique sound, their close friendship, their self-managed business philosophy and the youthful exuberance with which they captured the USA. Testifying to the lasting impact of the band and what made them unique in an era of brilliant, game-changing creativity, Dave Clark's two-hour documentary features newly-filmed interviews with Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, Sir Ian McKellen, Stevie Wonder, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Springsteen, Steven van Zandt of the E Street Band, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Whoopi Goldberg, Dionne Warwick and Twiggy. Interwoven throughout, boyhood fan Tom Hanks's inspirational and moving speech at the DC5's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2008 explains what five guys from north London and the Tottenham Sound meant to Hanks's generation. As well as barnstorming live and TV performances by the DC5, the film weaves archive interviews with band members alongside extraordinary footage of the DC5 on tour and in the studio and also features rare TV footage from the legendary Ready Steady Go! series, where the DC5's fellow pop pioneers the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Dusty Springfield, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding highlight a time of unparalleled excitement and innovation. This film captures the youth, innocence and zany zest of the swinging 60s and the Dave Clark Five's driving role in those years. And beyond the 60s? Unseen archive interviews and performances with Sir Laurence Olivier and Freddie Mercury feature among the rare footage telling the story of TIME, the spectacular, innovative and visionary rock musical with which producer and entrepreneur Dave Clark reinvented London's live music th
In the late 70s Chalkie Davies was a photographer at the New Musical Express, taking pictures of bands like Thin Lizzy, the Clash, the Sex Pistols and many more. Now, as his first major exhibition opens at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, and showing as part of BBC Music Day, he looks back on an extraordinary life, and old friends like Elvis Costello reflect on how Chalkie's images are so enduring. Chalkie Davies was born in Sully just outside Cardiff and his first job was as an engineer at Heathrow Airport. But he was always a keen amateur photographer and when he won a camera club competition in 1973 the door opened onto a career in rock 'n' roll. He was allowed in to take pictures on the last night of David Bowie's legendary Ziggy Stardust tour and the results were so good he never looked back. Joining the New Musical Express in the mid-70s, he was in the right place at the right time and became a favourite amongst the punk and new wave bands including the Clash, The Specials, Squeeze and Elvis Costello. Chalkie's pictures summed up the era and many are classics of rock and roll photography. But by the mid-80s he'd become disenchanted with the music business, where image mattered more than music. The death of his close friend Phil Lynott, leader singer of Thin Lizzy, led Chalkie to quit rock music. For 25 years Chalkie's collection of rock images remained hidden away until an invitation from the National Museum of Wales led him to bring them out for a new generation. This documentary follows Chalkie as he prepares for the exhibition, revisits his childhood haunts and reflects on an extraordinary career. There are contributions from many of the musicians he photographed including Elvis Costello, Chris Difford of Squeeze, songwriter Nick Lowe, the Specials mainman Jerry Dammers and punk poet John Cooper Clarke.
A landmark open-air staging by Aldeburgh Music of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, on the very place and beach that inspired the opera.
With the North Sea and sky as a dramatic backdrop and a first-rate cast and orchestra, this inspired production was one of the most talked about cultural events of Britten's centenary celebrations in 2013.
The opera is renowned for its visceral beauty and moving portrayal of a small seaside community struggling to accept the fisherman Peter Grimes, whose young apprentices have disappeared in suspicious circumstances.
