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
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What's the point of Listening?
Sun 31 Mar 2024
Tom Service reflects on digital listening and how it impacts our relationship with music.
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Needle Drop: the power of classical music in film
Sun 10 Mar 2024
Tom Service discovers the power of using pre-existing classical music in films.
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Impassioned argument: Elizabeth Maconchy's string quartets
Sun 3 Mar 2024
Tom Service surveys the 13 extraordinary string quartets of Elizabeth Maconchy.
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Turangalila!
Sun 21 Jan 2024
Tom Service travels deep into Olivier Messiaen's epic Turangalila Symphony.
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Jumping Fleas: the rise and rise of the Ukulele
Sun 14 Jan 2024
Tom Service explores the world of the Ukulele with virtuoso Taimane Gardner.
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New York, New York!
Sun 10 Dec 2023
Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's Tom Service, exploring the music of The Big Apple.
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The Trombone Section
Sun 26 Nov 2023
What is the role of the trombone section in orchestras, and why do they come in threes?
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The Old Testament of Music
Sun 19 Nov 2023
Tom Service explores JS Bach's extraordinary The Well-Tempered Clavier.
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In it to win it
Sun 5 Nov 2023
Tom Service explores the enduring, worldwide appeal of classical music competitions.
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Unripe Cherries: Brahms's Symphony No 4
Sun 22 Oct 2023
Tom explores one of the most popular works of all time, Brahms's Symphony No 4 in E minor.
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What's the Point of Symphonies?
Sun 10 Sep 2023
What exactly is a symphony, and are they just a thing of classical music's past?
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All American Ives?
Sun 25 Jun 2023
What links baseball, life insurance and American art music? Charles Ives does!
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Surround Sound: Tallis's Spem in alium
Sun 18 Jun 2023
Tom Service surrounds himself in Tallis's 40-part Renaissance masterpiece.
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Artificial intelligence and music
Sun 4 Jun 2023
Tom Service programmes himself into the matrix of musical artificial intelligence.
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Secret Music: Byrd's Masses
Sun 14 May 2023
How did William Byrd come to compose three mass settings when celebrating mass was banned?
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All the King's Music
Sun 7 May 2023
Tom Service assesses the history of the post of master of the king's (or queen's) music.
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Once upon a time... The Fairy-tale Operas of Judith Weir
Sun 23 Apr 2023
Tom Service delves into the deep (and often dark) worlds of Judith Weir's dramatic works.
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Wild Isles: Wild Music
Sun 9 Apr 2023
Tom Service explores musical evocations of wilderness and the natural world.
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Stravinsky, the puppet master: Petrushka
Sun 26 Mar 2023
Tom Service delves into the extraordinary world of Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka.
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Here Comes the Bride
Sun 19 Mar 2023
Tom Service with a guide to music written for and performed at weddings.
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Bluebeard's Castle: Enter at Your Peril
Sun 12 Mar 2023
Tom Service intrepidly explores Bluebeard's Castle, Bartok's one-act symbolist opera.
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?
