Ian Rawes (1965-2021) was a sound recordist best known for creating the London Sound Survey, a huge collection of his recordings of the sounds of London.Before his death, Ian was recording the course of the night across the wilder places of East Anglia. He made these field recordings in remote locations across Norfolk and Suffolk, sometimes camping overnight in bird hides to capture the different nocturnal moments.Ian called the project, ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’, and handed the recordings to his friend, composer/producer Iain Chambers, saying that he wanted them to bring about something new. Here, writer Kayo Chingonyi responds to the recordings, and Iain uses both elements to create a new composed sound piece, in tribute to Ian Rawes.We start at sunset: the sounds of wildfowl travel far across the flooded fields of the Ouse Washes in Cambridgeshire. Many are Bewick's and whooper swans spending the winter in the Fens before migrating back to Iceland and Siberia.https://thelondonsoundsurvey.bandcamp.com/album/from-dusk-till-dawn https://www.soundsurvey.org.ukRecordings – Ian Rawes / The London Sound SurveyWords/voice – Kayo ChingonyiComposer/producer – Iain ChambersMixing engineer – Peregrine AndrewsExecutive Producer – Nina PerryAn Open Audio production for BBC Radio 3

Ian Rawes (1965-2021) was a sound recordist best known for creating the London Sound Survey, a huge collection of his recordings of the sounds of London. Before his death, Ian was recording the course of the night across the wilder places of East Anglia. He made these field recordings in remote locations across Norfolk and Suffolk, sometimes camping overnight in bird hides to capture the different nocturnal moments. Ian called the project, ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’, and handed the recordings to his friend, composer/producer Iain Chambers, saying that he wanted them to bring about something new. Here, writer Kayo Chingonyi responds to the recordings, and Iain uses both elements to create a new composed sound piece, in tribute to Ian Rawes. We start at sunset: the sounds of wildfowl travel far across the flooded fields of the Ouse Washes in Cambridgeshire. Many are Bewick's and whooper swans spending the winter in the Fens before migrating back to Iceland and Siberia. <a href="https://thelondonsoundsurvey.bandcamp.com/album/from-dusk-till-dawn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://thelondonsoundsurvey.bandcamp.com/album/from-dusk-till-dawn</a> <a href="https://www.soundsurvey.org.uk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.soundsurvey.org.uk</a> Recordings – Ian Rawes / The London Sound Survey Words/voice – Kayo Chingonyi Composer/producer – Iain Chambers Mixing engineer – Peregrine Andrews Executive Producer – Nina Perry An Open Audio production for BBC Radio 3

From Dusk Till Dawn

A sonic journey into Japan's unique culture of music cafés and listening bars. Places where people come together to indulge in deep listening in audiophile quality, with venues for fans of everything from classical, jazz, to electronic music.This culture has its origins in the time prior to the second world war, when imported records and audio equipment were prohibitively expensive. People began to gather in cafés where, for the price of a cup of coffee, they could listen to rare records on the highest quality gramophones.While the traditional classical and jazz cafés are slowly disappearing, there are new modern listening bars emerging, often concentrating on specific genres and even microgenres of contemporary music, with a focus on the same concept of concentrated and collective listening.Rich in binaural recordings, this radio documentary features the owners and regulars of legendary music cafés, like the classical music cafés Violon in Tokyo, and Musik in Kyoto, the jazz café Downbeat in Yokohama, as well as the DJ-Bar Bridge, a cutting-edge listening bar in Shibuya, Tokyo.Producer: Andreas Hartmann in collaboration with Julia ShimuraTranslation: Krzysztof HonowskiVoice Actors: Peter Becker, Matthew Burton, Ian Dickinson, Riah Knight and Tomas Sinclair SpencerPhoto Credit: Andreas Hartmann

A sonic journey into Japan's unique culture of music cafés and listening bars. Places where people come together to indulge in deep listening in audiophile quality, with venues for fans of everything from classical, jazz, to electronic music. This culture has its origins in the time prior to the second world war, when imported records and audio equipment were prohibitively expensive. People began to gather in cafés where, for the price of a cup of coffee, they could listen to rare records on the highest quality gramophones. While the traditional classical and jazz cafés are slowly disappearing, there are new modern listening bars emerging, often concentrating on specific genres and even microgenres of contemporary music, with a focus on the same concept of concentrated and collective listening. Rich in binaural recordings, this radio documentary features the owners and regulars of legendary music cafés, like the classical music cafés Violon in Tokyo, and Musik in Kyoto, the jazz café Downbeat in Yokohama, as well as the DJ-Bar Bridge, a cutting-edge listening bar in Shibuya, Tokyo. Producer: Andreas Hartmann in collaboration with Julia Shimura Translation: Krzysztof Honowski Voice Actors: Peter Becker, Matthew Burton, Ian Dickinson, Riah Knight and Tomas Sinclair Spencer Photo Credit: Andreas Hartmann

Deep Listening in Japan

The permafrost is a thriving ecosystem, teaming with life, mythology, histories and futures, hidden just below the surface. Yet unlike tropical rainforests or the deep oceans, this frozen expanse rarely appears in the cultural imagination. Curator Sophie J Williamson ventures on a journey to discover the life of the permafrost.In -40° winter of the Canadian Yukon Valley, ancient forests, perfectly preserved by the permafrost, are uncovered by miners and 10,000-year-old grass seeds sprout into life. In the blustery remote Artic town of Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (the world's northernmost settlement) cryomicrobiologists drill boreholes hundreds of meters deep to explore the deepest and oldest of earthly ecologies, bringing to the surface living microbes that are hundreds of thousands of years old. And in unceded Sápmi lands of northern Finland, permafrost mounds decompose into marshy peatlands, while biologists trace the shifting bio- and geoacoustics of a changing ecology.From the piercing-white tundra and the hundreds of thousands of lakes across the vast expanse of Siberia, indigenous folklore emerges from the unknowns of the icy underlands. And scientists in Yakutsk (the world’s coldest city), travel the icy landscapes to discover the stories secreted within the still fleshy, visceral carcasses of mammoths and ancient creatures that are exposed as the millennia-year-old ice thaws.With contributions by Hannu Autto, Jonathan Carruthers-Jones, Tori Herridge, Karen Lloyd, Sanna Piilo, Svetlana Romanova, Nikita Tananaev, Peter von Tiesenhausen, and other members of Sámi, Sakha and Yukagir communities of unceded Sápmi territory and Northern Siberia who prefer not to be named.Specially commissioned spoken word piece by Sata Taas (written and spoken by Al-Yene and Jaangy, with sound design by Karina Kazaryan aka KP Transmission)With excerpts of Jana Winderen's 'Energy Field', 'Listening Through the Dead Zones' and 'Pasvikdalen'. Published by Touch Music.Recorded and curated by Sophie J WilliamsonSound design by Rob MackayProduced by Mark RickardsA Whistledown Scotland Production for BBC 3Imagining the Permafrost is part of the wider arts programme, Undead Matter. Follow on Instagram @undead_matter

The permafrost is a thriving ecosystem, teaming with life, mythology, histories and futures, hidden just below the surface. Yet unlike tropical rainforests or the deep oceans, this frozen expanse rarely appears in the cultural imagination. Curator Sophie J Williamson ventures on a journey to discover the life of the permafrost. In -40° winter of the Canadian Yukon Valley, ancient forests, perfectly preserved by the permafrost, are uncovered by miners and 10,000-year-old grass seeds sprout into life. In the blustery remote Artic town of Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (the world's northernmost settlement) cryomicrobiologists drill boreholes hundreds of meters deep to explore the deepest and oldest of earthly ecologies, bringing to the surface living microbes that are hundreds of thousands of years old. And in unceded Sápmi lands of northern Finland, permafrost mounds decompose into marshy peatlands, while biologists trace the shifting bio- and geoacoustics of a changing ecology. From the piercing-white tundra and the hundreds of thousands of lakes across the vast expanse of Siberia, indigenous folklore emerges from the unknowns of the icy underlands. And scientists in Yakutsk (the world’s coldest city), travel the icy landscapes to discover the stories secreted within the still fleshy, visceral carcasses of mammoths and ancient creatures that are exposed as the millennia-year-old ice thaws. With contributions by Hannu Autto, Jonathan Carruthers-Jones, Tori Herridge, Karen Lloyd, Sanna Piilo, Svetlana Romanova, Nikita Tananaev, Peter von Tiesenhausen, and other members of Sámi, Sakha and Yukagir communities of unceded Sápmi territory and Northern Siberia who prefer not to be named. Specially commissioned spoken word piece by Sata Taas (written and spoken by Al-Yene and Jaangy, with sound design by Karina Kazaryan aka KP Transmission) With excerpts of Jana Winderen's 'Energy Field', 'Listening Through the Dead Zones' and 'Pasvikdalen'. Published by Touch Music. Recorded and curated by Sophie J Williamson Sound design by Rob Mackay Produced by Mark Rickards A Whistledown Scotland Production for BBC 3 Imagining the Permafrost is part of the wider arts programme, Undead Matter. Follow on Instagram @undead_matter

Imagining the Permafrost

The UKs last remaining coal fired power stations are about to close, bringing to an end our use of coal to produce our electricity. West Burton is one of the last coal fired power stations still generating electricity, and Andrew Carter was able to record a soundscape there before it falls silent for ever.West Burton was originally planned to close in September 2022, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine  has extended its operations until the spring of 2023 to help with continuity of supply during the current energy crisis.Andrew's late father was a mechanical engineer, and he worked for the Central Electricity Generating Board, and fifty years ago he took Andrew around Cottam power station – which is just up the road from West Burton – and as you can imagine that tour around the plant left a big impression on an eight year old.As luck would have it, when Andrew was recording at West Burton, he was able to go to Cottam, which he discovered is now in the process of being demolished, and he walked again in his father’s footsteps. It brought back a lot of poignant memories.This soundscape in an operating, and disused coal fired power station is Andrew's homage to his father, before these cathedrals of power are reduced to rubble, capturing, before it’s too late, the sounds that would otherwise be lost to history.A BBC Radio Cumbria production, produced by Andrew Carter

The UKs last remaining coal fired power stations are about to close, bringing to an end our use of coal to produce our electricity. West Burton is one of the last coal fired power stations still generating electricity, and Andrew Carter was able to record a soundscape there before it falls silent for ever. West Burton was originally planned to close in September 2022, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has extended its operations until the spring of 2023 to help with continuity of supply during the current energy crisis. Andrew's late father was a mechanical engineer, and he worked for the Central Electricity Generating Board, and fifty years ago he took Andrew around Cottam power station – which is just up the road from West Burton – and as you can imagine that tour around the plant left a big impression on an eight year old. As luck would have it, when Andrew was recording at West Burton, he was able to go to Cottam, which he discovered is now in the process of being demolished, and he walked again in his father’s footsteps. It brought back a lot of poignant memories. This soundscape in an operating, and disused coal fired power station is Andrew's homage to his father, before these cathedrals of power are reduced to rubble, capturing, before it’s too late, the sounds that would otherwise be lost to history. A BBC Radio Cumbria production, produced by Andrew Carter

Dying Embers: The UK's last Coal Fired Power Stations

In this piece, the fool stands at the edge of the cliff, looking up at the sky.She asks herself, “How did I get here?”And also, “Where am I meant to go?”Part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. The card at the heart of this edition is The Fool.Featuring: Briana GutierrezAdditional voices: Kate Bowen, Cristina Umaña Durán, Hannah Patterson, Ruoyi Shi, Sofija Stefanovic, and Canelo Joaquin Produced by Phoebe WangA Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

In this piece, the fool stands at the edge of the cliff, looking up at the sky. She asks herself, “How did I get here?” And also, “Where am I meant to go?” Part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. The card at the heart of this edition is The Fool. Featuring: Briana Gutierrez Additional voices: Kate Bowen, Cristina Umaña Durán, Hannah Patterson, Ruoyi Shi, Sofija Stefanovic, and Canelo Joaquin Produced by Phoebe Wang A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

The Beach

Filling out a form, Mido is confronted with a series of boxes to tick. Two familiar boxes emerge from the crowd and stand side by side. One says ‘Male’. The other says ‘Female’. Beyond the Box is an intimate and inquisitive immersion into the nature of these boxes and what life is like living beyond them.Developed through a series of facilitated workshops, producer Christina Hardinge invites friend Mido to explore their personal lived experience of being ‘put in a box’. By integrating the therapeutic tools of visualisation and guided imagery with interview, together they imagine new ways of framing this conversation.Christina Hardinge is a Bristol based audio producer and multi-disciplinary artist working creatively in the field of documentary. She has over 10 years experience of telling intimate personal stories rooted in interview; spanning across the mediums of audio, film, theatre and immersive installation. Winner of the Charles Parker Radio Prize and nominee for Prix Europa's Rising Star audio award, her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Short Cuts and exhibited at international festivals.Beyond the Box forms part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. The card at the heart of Beyond the Box is the Death card.Produced by Christina HardingeCo-created by: MidoA Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

Filling out a form, Mido is confronted with a series of boxes to tick. Two familiar boxes emerge from the crowd and stand side by side. One says ‘Male’. The other says ‘Female’. Beyond the Box is an intimate and inquisitive immersion into the nature of these boxes and what life is like living beyond them. Developed through a series of facilitated workshops, producer Christina Hardinge invites friend Mido to explore their personal lived experience of being ‘put in a box’. By integrating the therapeutic tools of visualisation and guided imagery with interview, together they imagine new ways of framing this conversation. Christina Hardinge is a Bristol based audio producer and multi-disciplinary artist working creatively in the field of documentary. She has over 10 years experience of telling intimate personal stories rooted in interview; spanning across the mediums of audio, film, theatre and immersive installation. Winner of the Charles Parker Radio Prize and nominee for Prix Europa's Rising Star audio award, her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Short Cuts and exhibited at international festivals. Beyond the Box forms part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. The card at the heart of Beyond the Box is the Death card. Produced by Christina Hardinge Co-created by: Mido A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

Beyond the Box

feeling body is part of a series of pieces reflecting on the physical and psychological experiences during and after an extended period of illness (long-COVID). The work draws on multiple symbolisms, from The Nine of Swords in the Minor Arcana, to the undercurrent of water, where long baths were a point of solace during the experience of debilitating symptoms. Interspersed with perspectives of internal and external interactions, voiced by the composer in multiple ways as well as a by Kiswahili text-to-speech voice, and with additional sounds from performers Yaz Lancaster (voice, violin) &amp; Michael O’Callaghan (trumpet), the piece blurs the lines between a perspective from the time of illness and one in retrospect, underlining an inevitable consequence of illness: how it arrests, irreversibly, one’s awareness of their living body.feeling body forms part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea.Nyokabi Kariũki is a Kenyan composer and sound artist. Illuminated by musical sensibilities from her African upbringing, Nyokabi shares a unique artistic voice spanning across various genres — from classical contemporary to sound art, film, and explorations into (East) African musical traditions. Her works have been experienced in various contexts around the world, from audio art festivals (including the Hearsay International Audio Festival, where she received the 2021 Hearsay ‘Art’ Award), to performances by acclaimed ensembles like Third Coast Percussion and Cello Octet Amsterdam.Produced and composed by Nyokabi KariũkiA Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

feeling body is part of a series of pieces reflecting on the physical and psychological experiences during and after an extended period of illness (long-COVID). The work draws on multiple symbolisms, from The Nine of Swords in the Minor Arcana, to the undercurrent of water, where long baths were a point of solace during the experience of debilitating symptoms. Interspersed with perspectives of internal and external interactions, voiced by the composer in multiple ways as well as a by Kiswahili text-to-speech voice, and with additional sounds from performers Yaz Lancaster (voice, violin) &amp; Michael O’Callaghan (trumpet), the piece blurs the lines between a perspective from the time of illness and one in retrospect, underlining an inevitable consequence of illness: how it arrests, irreversibly, one’s awareness of their living body. feeling body forms part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. Nyokabi Kariũki is a Kenyan composer and sound artist. Illuminated by musical sensibilities from her African upbringing, Nyokabi shares a unique artistic voice spanning across various genres — from classical contemporary to sound art, film, and explorations into (East) African musical traditions. Her works have been experienced in various contexts around the world, from audio art festivals (including the Hearsay International Audio Festival, where she received the 2021 Hearsay ‘Art’ Award), to performances by acclaimed ensembles like Third Coast Percussion and Cello Octet Amsterdam. Produced and composed by Nyokabi Kariũki A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

feeling body

Marta Medvešek explores a local legend she encounters on her summer vacation in Bol, Croatia – the story of the House in a House. A magical place where imagination meets reality, and fate–possibility.The House in a House forms part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. The card at the heart of The House in a House is The Tower.Marta Medvešek is a Croatian audio producer with a soft spot for helping stories cross language borders. She’s produced work for BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts, Resonance FM, The Allusionist, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and BBC World Service. Since winning the Best European Radio Documentary prize at the 2021 Prix Europa, her piece “Fly or Die” has already traveled to Germany, Sweden, Lithuania, Belgium and Italy.Featuring Ivica Jakšić Čokrić Puko and Mario Borovčić KurirMusic by Kevin KopackaProduced by Marta MedvešekA Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

Marta Medvešek explores a local legend she encounters on her summer vacation in Bol, Croatia – the story of the House in a House. A magical place where imagination meets reality, and fate–possibility. The House in a House forms part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. The card at the heart of The House in a House is The Tower. Marta Medvešek is a Croatian audio producer with a soft spot for helping stories cross language borders. She’s produced work for BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts, Resonance FM, The Allusionist, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and BBC World Service. Since winning the Best European Radio Documentary prize at the 2021 Prix Europa, her piece “Fly or Die” has already traveled to Germany, Sweden, Lithuania, Belgium and Italy. Featuring Ivica Jakšić Čokrić Puko and Mario Borovčić Kurir Music by Kevin Kopacka Produced by Marta Medvešek A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

The House in a House

Researchers Bongani Kona and Catherine Boulle have spent the last year piecing together the story of one woman’s decades-long search to find the remains of her father, a South African political activist who died in 1966. In between visiting old prisons and sifting through archival collections, Bongani begins dreaming about the ghost of his own father, a man he's never met. The quest to uncover the meaning behind these recurring dreams leads to Julia, a spirit medium and healer, who practices one of the oldest forms of divination on the planet – “throwing the bones”. In consultation with ancestral and spirit worlds, Julia deciphers “energy fields within one’s psyche, spirit and soul body.” This is all to bring solace to troubled souls and minds; to “these soft houses in which we live”, as Kei Miller writes, “and in which we move and from which we can never migrate, except by dying.”  Khangela, in isiXhosa, is to look, or to search.Khangela forms part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. The card at the heart of Khangela is The High Priestess.Bongani Kona is a writer, and a lecturer in the department of history at the University of the Western Cape. Catherine Boulle is an audio maker and writer, currently based at the University of Cape Town. Together, Catherine and Bongani won the 2021 Whickers Radio &amp; Audio Funding Award for their documentary about South Africa's Missing Persons Task Team, and the case of James Booi.Produced by Bongani Kona and Catherine BoulleA Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

Researchers Bongani Kona and Catherine Boulle have spent the last year piecing together the story of one woman’s decades-long search to find the remains of her father, a South African political activist who died in 1966. In between visiting old prisons and sifting through archival collections, Bongani begins dreaming about the ghost of his own father, a man he's never met. The quest to uncover the meaning behind these recurring dreams leads to Julia, a spirit medium and healer, who practices one of the oldest forms of divination on the planet – “throwing the bones”. In consultation with ancestral and spirit worlds, Julia deciphers “energy fields within one’s psyche, spirit and soul body.” This is all to bring solace to troubled souls and minds; to “these soft houses in which we live”, as Kei Miller writes, “and in which we move and from which we can never migrate, except by dying.” Khangela, in isiXhosa, is to look, or to search. Khangela forms part of our recurring series of miniature audio-works for Radio 3's home for adventurous radio-making - Between the Ears. In this series, five audio-makers from around the world were invited to choose a card from the tarot deck as a creative prompt for their idea. The card at the heart of Khangela is The High Priestess. Bongani Kona is a writer, and a lecturer in the department of history at the University of the Western Cape. Catherine Boulle is an audio maker and writer, currently based at the University of Cape Town. Together, Catherine and Bongani won the 2021 Whickers Radio &amp; Audio Funding Award for their documentary about South Africa's Missing Persons Task Team, and the case of James Booi. Produced by Bongani Kona and Catherine Boulle A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

Khangela

The joys and horrors of the internet, evoked by stories, sounds and an exciting new electronic and vocal work composed by Kieran Brunt. Opens with an introduction by the composer.30 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee created the very first website. This powerful edition of Between the Ears explores how the internet has dramatically reshaped our lives over the following three decades.In 1990s Glasgow, a young woman in a physics computer lab glimpses a different future for the world - and herself. In Luton, the web awakens a young man’s Sikh identity - a few years on, it will bring him riches. In 2001, a young mother in France finds escape through Wikipedia. Ten years later, an Austrian law student is horrified when he requests his personal data from Facebook…  Over four movements of music and personal stories, the Virtual Symphony moves from sunny optimism to deep disquiet, as our relationship to the internet shifts. Around these stories, composer Kieran Brunt weaves electronic and vocal elements in an exhilarating new musical work commissioned by BBC Radio 3.Kieran Brunt and documentary producer Laurence Grissell worked in close collaboration to produce a unique evocation of the way in which the internet has fundamentally changed how we experience and understand the world.Composer: Kieran BruntProducer: Laurence GrissellInterviewees:Melissa Terras, Harjit Lakhan, Florence Devouard and Max SchremsElectronics performed by Kieran Brunt Vocals performed by Kieran Brunt, Lucy Cronin, Kate Huggett, Oliver Martin-Smith and Augustus Perkins Ray of the vocal ensemble ShardsProgramme mixed by: Donald MacDonald Additional music production: Paul CorleyAdditional engineering:  Ben Andrewes

The joys and horrors of the internet, evoked by stories, sounds and an exciting new electronic and vocal work composed by Kieran Brunt. Opens with an introduction by the composer. 30 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee created the very first website. This powerful edition of Between the Ears explores how the internet has dramatically reshaped our lives over the following three decades. In 1990s Glasgow, a young woman in a physics computer lab glimpses a different future for the world - and herself. In Luton, the web awakens a young man’s Sikh identity - a few years on, it will bring him riches. In 2001, a young mother in France finds escape through Wikipedia. Ten years later, an Austrian law student is horrified when he requests his personal data from Facebook… Over four movements of music and personal stories, the Virtual Symphony moves from sunny optimism to deep disquiet, as our relationship to the internet shifts. Around these stories, composer Kieran Brunt weaves electronic and vocal elements in an exhilarating new musical work commissioned by BBC Radio 3. Kieran Brunt and documentary producer Laurence Grissell worked in close collaboration to produce a unique evocation of the way in which the internet has fundamentally changed how we experience and understand the world. Composer: Kieran Brunt Producer: Laurence Grissell Interviewees: Melissa Terras, Harjit Lakhan, Florence Devouard and Max Schrems Electronics performed by Kieran Brunt Vocals performed by Kieran Brunt, Lucy Cronin, Kate Huggett, Oliver Martin-Smith and Augustus Perkins Ray of the vocal ensemble Shards Programme mixed by: Donald MacDonald Additional music production: Paul Corley Additional engineering: Ben Andrewes

The Virtual Symphony

Innovative and thought-provoking features that make adventurous use of sound and explore a wide variety of subjects. Made by leading radio producers.

Sometimes it is really compelling, from an aural perspective, even when the content is droll like early episodes.  Other times, like today while listening to the M1 Symphony episode I’m just bored. I feel like it is the soundtrack to watching traffic cameras and not really a symphony. It’s sound clips put to original music. I am just slugging through.  It comes out sporadically as well, and is free, so I guess you get what you pay for.

Hit or miss

what? nothing new? just when it was getting compelling it slows to none almost ever

say it ain't so

Between the Ears

Karl Marx's penultimate journey was as a corpse in a coffin being trundled up the very steep hill of Highgate to what should have been his last resting place - a three-guinea plot in Highgate's East Cemetery - in March 1883, buried alongside his wife Jenny von Westphalen. The next year a memorial procession to his grave was turned away, but ever since then the Socialist world and the curious began to beat a path to his gravesite. But then, in 1954, they dug Karl Marx up and turned him into an icon in bronze. Karl Marx, wife Jenny, grandson and housekeeper (who were also buried in the same original plot) were re-interred in a new spot. Exactly 73 years after Karl Marx's death, the famous Marx headstone, sculpted by Laurence Bradshaw, was unveiled on March 14th 1956. Wrote Bradshaw, 'I felt some of the feelings that the old architects of ancient Egypt must have felt when raising a monument of theirs to their heroes, for they had to build on sand, and we had to build on clay and gravel, two rather treacherous substances. Also as a person who has been involved for some troubled time in the socialist movement, I felt there were bound to be some attacks on this tomb'Ever since its unveiling, the Marx memorial has attracted a never-ending flow of people, although as Bradshaw predicted the great bronze head has suffered its ignominies, including an attempt by the far right to blow it to pieces. Alan Dein follows the journey Marx made from death to bronze icon and also travels to Chemnitz, aka Karl Marx Stadt, in the former German Democratic Republic. Here the largest head of Marx in the world stares out across the town square. Once a symbol of East Germany's unofficial capital - now a tourist magnet and a source of unexpected stories.

Karl Marx's penultimate journey was as a corpse in a coffin being trundled up the very steep hill of Highgate to what should have been his last resting place - a three-guinea plot in Highgate's East Cemetery - in March 1883, buried alongside his wife Jenny von Westphalen. The next year a memorial procession to his grave was turned away, but ever since then the Socialist world and the curious began to beat a path to his gravesite. But then, in 1954, they dug Karl Marx up and turned him into an icon in bronze. Karl Marx, wife Jenny, grandson and housekeeper (who were also buried in the same original plot) were re-interred in a new spot. Exactly 73 years after Karl Marx's death, the famous Marx headstone, sculpted by Laurence Bradshaw, was unveiled on March 14th 1956. Wrote Bradshaw, 'I felt some of the feelings that the old architects of ancient Egypt must have felt when raising a monument of theirs to their heroes, for they had to build on sand, and we had to build on clay and gravel, two rather treacherous substances. Also as a person who has been involved for some troubled time in the socialist movement, I felt there were bound to be some attacks on this tomb' Ever since its unveiling, the Marx memorial has attracted a never-ending flow of people, although as Bradshaw predicted the great bronze head has suffered its ignominies, including an attempt by the far right to blow it to pieces. Alan Dein follows the journey Marx made from death to bronze icon and also travels to Chemnitz, aka Karl Marx Stadt, in the former German Democratic Republic. Here the largest head of Marx in the world stares out across the town square. Once a symbol of East Germany's unofficial capital - now a tourist magnet and a source of unexpected stories.

The Plot for Karl Marx

The innovative composer and electronic music pioneer Matthew Herbert physically deconstructs the instruments of a string ensemble while they play one of Beethoven's late string quartets, considered by many to be the epitome of chamber music. In a new commission, with an original performance by the Tippett Quartet, Beethoven's String Quartet in F major Op.135 is lovingly rendered until it starts to decay, collapse and become unrecognisable. The music unfolds with the sounds of the quartet being slowly replaced with the sound of snapping strings, instruments being sawn up, stamped on or burnt. In the end, all we hear are the instruments in a broken and destroyed state, in a piece which raises questions about our perceptions of acoustic instruments, in an age of instant digital reproduction. Matthew Herbert's Requiem is jointly commissioned by BBC Radio 3, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and Centre National de Création Musicale (GMEM) in Marseille, where the sounds of broken instruments were recorded. Part of Radio 3's 70th season, celebrating seven decades of pioneering music and culture since the founding of the Third Programme.

The innovative composer and electronic music pioneer Matthew Herbert physically deconstructs the instruments of a string ensemble while they play one of Beethoven's late string quartets, considered by many to be the epitome of chamber music. In a new commission, with an original performance by the Tippett Quartet, Beethoven's String Quartet in F major Op.135 is lovingly rendered until it starts to decay, collapse and become unrecognisable. The music unfolds with the sounds of the quartet being slowly replaced with the sound of snapping strings, instruments being sawn up, stamped on or burnt. In the end, all we hear are the instruments in a broken and destroyed state, in a piece which raises questions about our perceptions of acoustic instruments, in an age of instant digital reproduction. Matthew Herbert's Requiem is jointly commissioned by BBC Radio 3, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and Centre National de Création Musicale (GMEM) in Marseille, where the sounds of broken instruments were recorded. Part of Radio 3's 70th season, celebrating seven decades of pioneering music and culture since the founding of the Third Programme.

Requiem

You can never see through someone else's eyes, but can we, by stealth, tap into people's visual imaginations?The mind's eye is something most of us take for granted - the 'secret cinema' inside our mind, turning sounds into shapes, characters into faces - it sometimes seems like a sixth sense. For those who have it. Constantly viewing our own personal visuals, we are powerless to control it, and no one else can see it but us. "A man hitting his head with a bible" or "A tree being chopped down"? "A row of frogs" or "The bulging eyes of Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange"Using a series of soundscapes, we hear the visual musings of a range of people: an architect, a school boy, a DJ, an artist amongst them - playing with the way people's own personal experiences influence their mental pictures. But what about those who have no pictures in their brain? "In my late 20's I was on a management course doing a relaxation exercise, and they asked us to imagine dawn. And I thought dawn? Well I know it's pink. But I couldn't see it, I couldn't imagine it." Gill Morgan, doctorFirst recognised, but not named in 1880 by Francis Galton, aphantasia, as Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology Adam Zeman has recently called it, is being explored by neuroscientists around the world. It may affect 2% of the population, and studies have shown that there is a sliding scale of non-imagers. Some barely notice any difference in their relationship with their own personal history, but for others this may include an inability to recall life events. "From talking to close friends it became obvious to me that 'the mind's eye' was not a figure of speech, phrases like, 'it takes you back' exist because that's what they do".Nick Watkins, theoretical physicistEncouraging Radio 3 listeners to become aware of their own 'secret cinema', 'Between The Ears' trepans into the little grey cells that bring imagination to light - giving a glimpse inside the film-reel unspooling in our brains. Contributors: Professor Adam Zeman, Doctor Nick Watkins, Dame Gill Morgan, Michael BywaterThe voices of Susan Aldworth, Francesca Vinti, Luca Goodfellow, Emma Kilbey, Ford Hickson, Ian Goodfellow, Danny Webb and readings by John Dougall and Dilly Barlow. Soundscapes featuring Alexander Frater in Goa in the monsoonArtwork by kind permission of artist Susan Aldworth. Music sourced by Danny Webb. Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

You can never see through someone else's eyes, but can we, by stealth, tap into people's visual imaginations? The mind's eye is something most of us take for granted - the 'secret cinema' inside our mind, turning sounds into shapes, characters into faces - it sometimes seems like a sixth sense. For those who have it. Constantly viewing our own personal visuals, we are powerless to control it, and no one else can see it but us. "A man hitting his head with a bible" or "A tree being chopped down"? "A row of frogs" or "The bulging eyes of Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange" Using a series of soundscapes, we hear the visual musings of a range of people: an architect, a school boy, a DJ, an artist amongst them - playing with the way people's own personal experiences influence their mental pictures. But what about those who have no pictures in their brain? "In my late 20's I was on a management course doing a relaxation exercise, and they asked us to imagine dawn. And I thought dawn? Well I know it's pink. But I couldn't see it, I couldn't imagine it." Gill Morgan, doctor First recognised, but not named in 1880 by Francis Galton, aphantasia, as Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology Adam Zeman has recently called it, is being explored by neuroscientists around the world. It may affect 2% of the population, and studies have shown that there is a sliding scale of non-imagers. Some barely notice any difference in their relationship with their own personal history, but for others this may include an inability to recall life events. "From talking to close friends it became obvious to me that 'the mind's eye' was not a figure of speech, phrases like, 'it takes you back' exist because that's what they do". Nick Watkins, theoretical physicist Encouraging Radio 3 listeners to become aware of their own 'secret cinema', 'Between The Ears' trepans into the little grey cells that bring imagination to light - giving a glimpse inside the film-reel unspooling in our brains. Contributors: Professor Adam Zeman, Doctor Nick Watkins, Dame Gill Morgan, Michael Bywater The voices of Susan Aldworth, Francesca Vinti, Luca Goodfellow, Emma Kilbey, Ford Hickson, Ian Goodfellow, Danny Webb and readings by John Dougall and Dilly Barlow. Soundscapes featuring Alexander Frater in Goa in the monsoon Artwork by kind permission of artist Susan Aldworth. Music sourced by Danny Webb. Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

The Mind's Eye

Before the magic of photography, the dazzle of cinema - there was the diorama.Frenchman Louis Daguerre is known primarily as one of the inventors of photography - but before the magic of light fixed on paper there was the diorama, which some call the precursor to the moving image, and cinema. The Diorama offered the well-heeled audience a glimpse into other worlds… where volcanos would erupt on the hour, Roman ruins explored, mountain peaks ascended… not unlike a modern Las Vegas but in the 1820s.Using light, moving apertures, smoke and mirrors, sound and music, to produce unusually realistic effects, he created a new form of entertainment - immersive, dramatic, sensational, and for a brief period, the wonder of the Western world. From New York to Moscow, Dioramas opened their doors to well-heeled customers who would be so delighted with the ‘realism’ of the created scene, they would frequently ask to be led onto the stage - be it a scene from the Alps, the Battle of Trafalgar, Cowes in the Isle of Wight, or a voyage in search of the North-West Passage. By 1850, nearly all had burnt to the ground, probably due to the large number of oil lamps involved, and the highly flammable nature of the stage props and theatres, but hidden by a Nash façade in Regents Park, London, there stands the last of the Diorama Theatres - a Grade 1 listed building, now sadly empty and awaiting ‘reimagining’.  Architect Marek Wojiechowski, who is developing plans for the long empty building, takes him on a tour backstage. Award-winning writer, drama producer and podcast expert Dr Lance Dann gets a chance to visit the original Diorama before setting off on a kaleidoscopic journey through other influential dioramas. He returns to the Denis Severs House in Spitalfields, where he once helped install a sound scape, to bring this detailed recreation of a Huguenot silk weaver’s house, to life. Does the magic still work? Dr Hetta Howes takes him into the immersive atmosphere of Great St Bartholomew’s Church where the worshippers were once drench is sounds, sights and evocative suggestions, and describes the most suggestible of religious texts – the passion meditations. Intriguingly he hears about The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death - the murder dioramas created by the brilliant and formidable Chicago heiress Francis Glessner Lee - still used today to teach detectives. Susan Marks has spent a decade researching her - her first film was charmingly titled - The Dolls of Murder, and together they try and solve one of her most famous murder scenes - Barn! Dr Sarah Garfinkle helps us understand how our brains fool us, or decide to play along with immersion, whilst Dr Alistair Good, VR games designer, tempts Dann to jump off a tall building, virtually. Finally Dann visits possibly the last genuine Daguerre diorama in the world – in a small village just outside Paris, Bry-Sur-Marne, where the Mayor Jean Pierre-Spillbauer, and local archivist Vincent Roblin, have dedicated much of the last 20 years trying to restore the small but effective diorama at the back of a provincial church.  After contacting Antoine Wilmering at the Getty Foundation, they received a grant of $200,000, matched by the French Government, which saved the last of Daguerre’s dioramas. Producer: Sara Jane HallMusic sourced with the help of Danny Webb.

Before the magic of photography, the dazzle of cinema - there was the diorama. Frenchman Louis Daguerre is known primarily as one of the inventors of photography - but before the magic of light fixed on paper there was the diorama, which some call the precursor to the moving image, and cinema. The Diorama offered the well-heeled audience a glimpse into other worlds… where volcanos would erupt on the hour, Roman ruins explored, mountain peaks ascended… not unlike a modern Las Vegas but in the 1820s. Using light, moving apertures, smoke and mirrors, sound and music, to produce unusually realistic effects, he created a new form of entertainment - immersive, dramatic, sensational, and for a brief period, the wonder of the Western world. From New York to Moscow, Dioramas opened their doors to well-heeled customers who would be so delighted with the ‘realism’ of the created scene, they would frequently ask to be led onto the stage - be it a scene from the Alps, the Battle of Trafalgar, Cowes in the Isle of Wight, or a voyage in search of the North-West Passage. By 1850, nearly all had burnt to the ground, probably due to the large number of oil lamps involved, and the highly flammable nature of the stage props and theatres, but hidden by a Nash façade in Regents Park, London, there stands the last of the Diorama Theatres - a Grade 1 listed building, now sadly empty and awaiting ‘reimagining’. Architect Marek Wojiechowski, who is developing plans for the long empty building, takes him on a tour backstage. Award-winning writer, drama producer and podcast expert Dr Lance Dann gets a chance to visit the original Diorama before setting off on a kaleidoscopic journey through other influential dioramas. He returns to the Denis Severs House in Spitalfields, where he once helped install a sound scape, to bring this detailed recreation of a Huguenot silk weaver’s house, to life. Does the magic still work? Dr Hetta Howes takes him into the immersive atmosphere of Great St Bartholomew’s Church where the worshippers were once drench is sounds, sights and evocative suggestions, and describes the most suggestible of religious texts – the passion meditations. Intriguingly he hears about The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death - the murder dioramas created by the brilliant and formidable Chicago heiress Francis Glessner Lee - still used today to teach detectives. Susan Marks has spent a decade researching her - her first film was charmingly titled - The Dolls of Murder, and together they try and solve one of her most famous murder scenes - Barn! Dr Sarah Garfinkle helps us understand how our brains fool us, or decide to play along with immersion, whilst Dr Alistair Good, VR games designer, tempts Dann to jump off a tall building, virtually. Finally Dann visits possibly the last genuine Daguerre diorama in the world – in a small village just outside Paris, Bry-Sur-Marne, where the Mayor Jean Pierre-Spillbauer, and local archivist Vincent Roblin, have dedicated much of the last 20 years trying to restore the small but effective diorama at the back of a provincial church. After contacting Antoine Wilmering at the Getty Foundation, they received a grant of $200,000, matched by the French Government, which saved the last of Daguerre’s dioramas. Producer: Sara Jane Hall Music sourced with the help of Danny Webb.

Diorama Drama

A meditation on the cultural representation of comas through music, poetry and interviews with the families of people who have a suffered brain injury. There are several thousand people in vegetative or minimally conscious states in the UK and, as medical interventions to save the body improve, numbers are growing. 'What is it like being in such as state?', 'Is she in there?', 'Does he recognize me?' 'What should I do for the best?' 'Is this a meaningful existence, or a state worse than death?' These are the questions that haunt families. Using new research from the York-Cardiff Chronic Disorders of Consciousness Research Centre, this programme asks the inevitable question of whether one would choose to die rather than live in such a state, trapped in a 'fate worse than death'. Not dead, but perhaps not fully alive either. Family members talk with stark honesty about what it is like to have a relative in a coma-like state, unable to speak or do anything for themselves, year after year; their feelings at the bedside and their thoughts about the heart-breaking dilemmas they face. Using words, sounds, music and poetry, the programme explores the surreal and extraordinary situation created by modern medicine's ability to save the body, but not to restore the brain.Produced by Llinos Jones and Professor Jenny Kitzinger. This is a Terrier Productions Ltd programme for BBC Radio 3.Illustration: "Wordless" (detail) by Tim Sanders.

A meditation on the cultural representation of comas through music, poetry and interviews with the families of people who have a suffered brain injury. There are several thousand people in vegetative or minimally conscious states in the UK and, as medical interventions to save the body improve, numbers are growing. 'What is it like being in such as state?', 'Is she in there?', 'Does he recognize me?' 'What should I do for the best?' 'Is this a meaningful existence, or a state worse than death?' These are the questions that haunt families. Using new research from the York-Cardiff Chronic Disorders of Consciousness Research Centre, this programme asks the inevitable question of whether one would choose to die rather than live in such a state, trapped in a 'fate worse than death'. Not dead, but perhaps not fully alive either. Family members talk with stark honesty about what it is like to have a relative in a coma-like state, unable to speak or do anything for themselves, year after year; their feelings at the bedside and their thoughts about the heart-breaking dilemmas they face. Using words, sounds, music and poetry, the programme explores the surreal and extraordinary situation created by modern medicine's ability to save the body, but not to restore the brain. Produced by Llinos Jones and Professor Jenny Kitzinger. This is a Terrier Productions Ltd programme for BBC Radio 3. Illustration: "Wordless" (detail) by Tim Sanders.

Coma Songs

Poet Paul Farley imagines himself a sound-recordist taping the Garden of Eden and recalls the impoverished soundscape of his childhood. Growing on the edge of Liverpool in the 1960s and given a simple cassette recorder for a birthday present he went in search of the sounds of the superbs inspired by the bird song records he borrowed from his local library. He pressed play and record on his Panasonic and eavesdropped on ... What? Not a lot, as it turned out. Instead his imagination went to work: the sound recordist's field notes from the Trojan War, during the Irish Potato Famine, lodged in the trenches of the First World War.... A radio poem with found, remembered and dreamt sounds. Producer: Tim Dee.

Poet Paul Farley imagines himself a sound-recordist taping the Garden of Eden and recalls the impoverished soundscape of his childhood. Growing on the edge of Liverpool in the 1960s and given a simple cassette recorder for a birthday present he went in search of the sounds of the superbs inspired by the bird song records he borrowed from his local library. He pressed play and record on his Panasonic and eavesdropped on ... What? Not a lot, as it turned out. Instead his imagination went to work: the sound recordist's field notes from the Trojan War, during the Irish Potato Famine, lodged in the trenches of the First World War.... A radio poem with found, remembered and dreamt sounds. Producer: Tim Dee.

Play and Record

Is karaoke the modern sea shanty? Containers are the nearly invisible carriers of 90% of the goods on earth – yet we know so little about them, or the people on board. The crew who power globalisation, are unsung heroes. Now we hear them sing, and capture something of that strange, lonely, heroic life.Sea shanties are a relic of the past – today it’s far more likely to be karaoke soothing the soul and powering the arm of the modern sea farer.Instead nearly all ships have a karaoke machine on board - and rumour has it, competition is ferocious. In search of the modern sea shanty, Nathaniel Mann, award winning singer and song collector, who has long avoided taking part in karaoke, boards a state-of-the-art container ship in Gdansk shipyard… the Maribo Maersk, to sing along with the Filipino sea men, ship's cook Valiente, and able-seaman Ariel.  He also ‘plays the ship’ -  discovering acoustic possibilities from the engine room to the Monkey Island (the platform above the bridge), attaching contact microphones which revel the rhythms hidden behind heavy metal walls.He climbs out on the 'catwalk' to watch the stevedores at work, the giant cranes crashing a container into the hold every two minutes, 24 hours a day - until all 18,272 have been shifted - with all the complexity of a game of Tetrus.  The company offers mainly 5 month contracts to the 20 or so sailors on board, and discovering how the team pass those months at sea, Nathaniel hears tales of home-sickness, made even more poignant by the choice of songs the crew prefer to sing.   We hear from an international crew about life at sea in this giant vessel – you can’t even hear the sea from the decks above. Tales of dark skies, longed for loved ones, learning the shape of the world from water - we hear a fluid mix of the sounds of the ship, the crew singing karaoke, and Nathan's own new songs, gleaned from his observations on board. We also hear from Suffolk shanty singers Des and Jed, who wonder if karaoke might be an updated version of an older form of shanty.  About the presenter: Nathaniel Mann is an experimental composer, sound artist, performer and sound designer - known both for his experimental trio Dead Rat Orchestra, and most recently as embedded composer at the Pitt Rivers Museum. He also won the Arts Foundation's 25th Anniversary Fellowship 2018.In 2015 he won the George Butterworth Prize for Composition, and much of his experience as an accomplished and imaginative percussive master, as well as singer, will be integral to this programme - a symphony of singing, the sea, the ships and the songsters.Producer: Sara Jane HallWith thanks to the crew of the Maribo Maersk, especially: Chief Officer: Morten Fløjborg HansenCPT: Stig Lindegaard Mikkelsen2nd Officer: Francis Umbay Dela Cerna4th Engineer: Campbell John DooleyChief Cook: Valiente Panopio PeraltaAB: Ariel Dallarte Martin

Is karaoke the modern sea shanty? Containers are the nearly invisible carriers of 90% of the goods on earth – yet we know so little about them, or the people on board. The crew who power globalisation, are unsung heroes. Now we hear them sing, and capture something of that strange, lonely, heroic life. Sea shanties are a relic of the past – today it’s far more likely to be karaoke soothing the soul and powering the arm of the modern sea farer. Instead nearly all ships have a karaoke machine on board - and rumour has it, competition is ferocious. In search of the modern sea shanty, Nathaniel Mann, award winning singer and song collector, who has long avoided taking part in karaoke, boards a state-of-the-art container ship in Gdansk shipyard… the Maribo Maersk, to sing along with the Filipino sea men, ship's cook Valiente, and able-seaman Ariel. He also ‘plays the ship’ - discovering acoustic possibilities from the engine room to the Monkey Island (the platform above the bridge), attaching contact microphones which revel the rhythms hidden behind heavy metal walls. He climbs out on the 'catwalk' to watch the stevedores at work, the giant cranes crashing a container into the hold every two minutes, 24 hours a day - until all 18,272 have been shifted - with all the complexity of a game of Tetrus. The company offers mainly 5 month contracts to the 20 or so sailors on board, and discovering how the team pass those months at sea, Nathaniel hears tales of home-sickness, made even more poignant by the choice of songs the crew prefer to sing. We hear from an international crew about life at sea in this giant vessel – you can’t even hear the sea from the decks above. Tales of dark skies, longed for loved ones, learning the shape of the world from water - we hear a fluid mix of the sounds of the ship, the crew singing karaoke, and Nathan's own new songs, gleaned from his observations on board. We also hear from Suffolk shanty singers Des and Jed, who wonder if karaoke might be an updated version of an older form of shanty. About the presenter: Nathaniel Mann is an experimental composer, sound artist, performer and sound designer - known both for his experimental trio Dead Rat Orchestra, and most recently as embedded composer at the Pitt Rivers Museum. He also won the Arts Foundation's 25th Anniversary Fellowship 2018. In 2015 he won the George Butterworth Prize for Composition, and much of his experience as an accomplished and imaginative percussive master, as well as singer, will be integral to this programme - a symphony of singing, the sea, the ships and the songsters. Producer: Sara Jane Hall With thanks to the crew of the Maribo Maersk, especially: Chief Officer: Morten Fløjborg Hansen CPT: Stig Lindegaard Mikkelsen 2nd Officer: Francis Umbay Dela Cerna 4th Engineer: Campbell John Dooley Chief Cook: Valiente Panopio Peralta AB: Ariel Dallarte Martin

Container Ship Karaoke

Joe is home from school."How was your day Joe?" asks his mum Emma (the producer of the programme).But Joe, and many like him on the autistic spectrum, can't always find the words to summarise their day, or even make sense of the question. Yet later on, they may come round to offering an answer. So what is happening as they struggle to process what is being asked of them?Through sound and interview, Joe and Emma explore where he and others on the autistic spectrum go to in their minds between the question and a possible answer.Emma finds out that part of Joe's resistance to giving an answer may come from the fact that he's exhausted just from the effort of processing the transition between school and home. Whereas so-called "neurotypical" people find it easy to make sense of the different settings and can see them in a wider context, people with autism often focus on every tiny detail and find it difficult to filter information. So a short walk up the path to the house may be crammed with observations of every blade of grass, or a struggle to understand why some things have changed since they left- the window being open for instance when it wasn't before.And the question itself - "How was your day?" Which part of the day? Does Mummy mean "today" or yesterday? Is it the right question to be asking at all?Emma and Joe hear testimony from others on the autistic spectrum, including the writers Wendy Lawson, Michael Barton and the poet Nicole Nicholson. There are also contributions from Professor Simon Baron-Cohen (Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University), clinical psychologist Andrew McDonnell, speech therapist Robert Bell and Delia Barton, Michael's mother.Producer: Emma Kingsley.

Joe is home from school. "How was your day Joe?" asks his mum Emma (the producer of the programme). But Joe, and many like him on the autistic spectrum, can't always find the words to summarise their day, or even make sense of the question. Yet later on, they may come round to offering an answer. So what is happening as they struggle to process what is being asked of them? Through sound and interview, Joe and Emma explore where he and others on the autistic spectrum go to in their minds between the question and a possible answer. Emma finds out that part of Joe's resistance to giving an answer may come from the fact that he's exhausted just from the effort of processing the transition between school and home. Whereas so-called "neurotypical" people find it easy to make sense of the different settings and can see them in a wider context, people with autism often focus on every tiny detail and find it difficult to filter information. So a short walk up the path to the house may be crammed with observations of every blade of grass, or a struggle to understand why some things have changed since they left- the window being open for instance when it wasn't before. And the question itself - "How was your day?" Which part of the day? Does Mummy mean "today" or yesterday? Is it the right question to be asking at all? Emma and Joe hear testimony from others on the autistic spectrum, including the writers Wendy Lawson, Michael Barton and the poet Nicole Nicholson. There are also contributions from Professor Simon Baron-Cohen (Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University), clinical psychologist Andrew McDonnell, speech therapist Robert Bell and Delia Barton, Michael's mother. Producer: Emma Kingsley.

How Was Your Day Joe?

Imagine a town of harmonica players; sounds a bit surreal?Now 'Between the Ears' gives listeners a chance to hear the harmonica as a truly virtuoso instrument, always an instrument of the people - portable, affordable and playable. Acclaimed poet Kim Addonizio turns harmonica student, heading to blues school with pen, mouth, and a stack of harps at the ready, in search of the sweetest sounds. Trossingen in Germany may be the world capital of harmonicas. Every street echoes to the sound of the harp, and even the downtown hotel is part of the old Hohner Factory. This is where you will find the true aficionados, the hard-core addicts, who come to have lessons with the top players.Kim learns riffs from the world’s top ‘harp’ teachers, Dave Barrett, Steve Baker and Joe Filisko - who customizes harps for  such as Neil Young, blues great Kim Wilson, and jazz phenomenon Howard Levy, and who she wants to persuade to accompany her on his magical harp.She also dreams of being the first woman to jam on stage at the Blues conference... so will her dreams become reality?Producer: Sara Jane Hall

Imagine a town of harmonica players; sounds a bit surreal? Now 'Between the Ears' gives listeners a chance to hear the harmonica as a truly virtuoso instrument, always an instrument of the people - portable, affordable and playable. Acclaimed poet Kim Addonizio turns harmonica student, heading to blues school with pen, mouth, and a stack of harps at the ready, in search of the sweetest sounds. Trossingen in Germany may be the world capital of harmonicas. Every street echoes to the sound of the harp, and even the downtown hotel is part of the old Hohner Factory. This is where you will find the true aficionados, the hard-core addicts, who come to have lessons with the top players. Kim learns riffs from the world’s top ‘harp’ teachers, Dave Barrett, Steve Baker and Joe Filisko - who customizes harps for such as Neil Young, blues great Kim Wilson, and jazz phenomenon Howard Levy, and who she wants to persuade to accompany her on his magical harp. She also dreams of being the first woman to jam on stage at the Blues conference... so will her dreams become reality? Producer: Sara Jane Hall

School for Harmonicas

In a melting magical funnel of musical love (and the odd bit of reverb), musician David Bramwell investigates the unlikely story of how, in 1969, an amateur dramatic production of "Alice Through the Looking Glass", starring a young Martha Kearney, became one of the most sought-after psychedelic records in the world.Sony Award-winning musician David Bramwell heads out over the Downs to Ditchling, Sussex, where Peter Howell and John Ferdinando first met as teenagers - creating the soundtrack for the Ditchling Players' performance of "Alice", using not only musical instruments, but also kitchen appliances and field recordings, utilising the possibilities of the latest domestic recording gadget - a reel-to-reel tape machine.Bramwell travels across the Downs to meet folk chanteuse Shirley Collins and her tales of ghostly morris bells; dives beneath the waters of the Ouse with musician Isobel Anderson; is serenaded on the chalky hillsides by God of Hellfire, Arthur Brown; encounters a modern day Puck of Pook's Hill - poet Sam Walker; and finds out about the Ditchling Players from Ian Clayton, member since 1948, and his son Matthew; before enticing Martha Kearney, the young Alice, to recall the production's eccentric Englishness.For the confused, he grapples with the term 'pastoral psych folk' with former Oz and NME journalist John May, and rare groove aficionado Richard Norris, who moved to Sussex under the influence of this strange piece of musical history.And what became of those two young musicians? One is now a local surveyor - though he still plays in a band - whilst the other went on to re-master the Dr Who theme tune as a member of the Radiophonic Workshop. With music from the original album, and composer David Bramwell, 'White Rabbits in Sussex' is a psychedelic journey of its own, blending experimental studio techniques with music and narrative as we traverse the waterways and bottoms, the beacons and duck ponds of Sussex, in search of the muse. Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

In a melting magical funnel of musical love (and the odd bit of reverb), musician David Bramwell investigates the unlikely story of how, in 1969, an amateur dramatic production of "Alice Through the Looking Glass", starring a young Martha Kearney, became one of the most sought-after psychedelic records in the world. Sony Award-winning musician David Bramwell heads out over the Downs to Ditchling, Sussex, where Peter Howell and John Ferdinando first met as teenagers - creating the soundtrack for the Ditchling Players' performance of "Alice", using not only musical instruments, but also kitchen appliances and field recordings, utilising the possibilities of the latest domestic recording gadget - a reel-to-reel tape machine. Bramwell travels across the Downs to meet folk chanteuse Shirley Collins and her tales of ghostly morris bells; dives beneath the waters of the Ouse with musician Isobel Anderson; is serenaded on the chalky hillsides by God of Hellfire, Arthur Brown; encounters a modern day Puck of Pook's Hill - poet Sam Walker; and finds out about the Ditchling Players from Ian Clayton, member since 1948, and his son Matthew; before enticing Martha Kearney, the young Alice, to recall the production's eccentric Englishness. For the confused, he grapples with the term 'pastoral psych folk' with former Oz and NME journalist John May, and rare groove aficionado Richard Norris, who moved to Sussex under the influence of this strange piece of musical history. And what became of those two young musicians? One is now a local surveyor - though he still plays in a band - whilst the other went on to re-master the Dr Who theme tune as a member of the Radiophonic Workshop. With music from the original album, and composer David Bramwell, 'White Rabbits in Sussex' is a psychedelic journey of its own, blending experimental studio techniques with music and narrative as we traverse the waterways and bottoms, the beacons and duck ponds of Sussex, in search of the muse. Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

White Rabbits in Sussex

Alice Oswald's radio poem Rain was commissioned by Radio 3 in 2016 as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations. Written and performed by the poet, Rain was inspired by a visit to Romford Essex, which experienced a dramatic sudden rainstorm in the early hours of June 23 that year. The poem examines the effect this natural atmospheric occurrence has on an urban environment and its population. A version of Rain has been created in binaural sound. Listen on headphones for the full effect.Rain - written and performed by Alice OswaldSound design Steve Brooke Produced by Susan Roberts.

Alice Oswald's radio poem Rain was commissioned by Radio 3 in 2016 as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations. Written and performed by the poet, Rain was inspired by a visit to Romford Essex, which experienced a dramatic sudden rainstorm in the early hours of June 23 that year. The poem examines the effect this natural atmospheric occurrence has on an urban environment and its population. A version of Rain has been created in binaural sound. Listen on headphones for the full effect. Rain - written and performed by Alice Oswald Sound design Steve Brooke Produced by Susan Roberts.

Rain

Newcastle writer David Almond investigates the story of a wild child who was said to roam the Yorkshire Dales near Crackpot Hall in the 1930s - and makes a surprising discovery.Crackpot Hall is an ancient, ruined farmhouse near the village of Keld, which lies on the crossroads of the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast Path in Swaledale. In its time, it has been a hunting lodge, an office for the local lead-mining industry and a family farm.The acclaimed children's writer David Almond has long been intrigued by Crackpot Hall, and for decades has travelled west from his home near Newcastle to visit it. Recently, his curiosity was rekindled when he read about Alice, a four-year old child who was said to have been discovered roaming wild near Crackpot in the 1930s.Led by the fabled laughter of Alice, David set out to find the wild child again and hear her story. Prepared to engage his imagination as a writer if facts alone failed, David was amazed by what Crackpot could still reveal.Spoiler Alert: Alice was 4 years old when Ella Pontefract and Marie Hartley, the author and illustrator of a 1930s guide-book to Swaledale declared they had found her - "with a mocking, chuckling laugh" as she roamed alone with her dog and cats near Crackpot. Like many others, David believed Alice to be a figment of the two women's imagination, so he set out to make a programme about how places create stories. He found Alice, now 88, living in a village near Carlisle, and as full of laughter as ever.With music arranged by the Leeds-based composer Emily Levy.Producer: Beaty Rubens.

Newcastle writer David Almond investigates the story of a wild child who was said to roam the Yorkshire Dales near Crackpot Hall in the 1930s - and makes a surprising discovery. Crackpot Hall is an ancient, ruined farmhouse near the village of Keld, which lies on the crossroads of the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast Path in Swaledale. In its time, it has been a hunting lodge, an office for the local lead-mining industry and a family farm. The acclaimed children's writer David Almond has long been intrigued by Crackpot Hall, and for decades has travelled west from his home near Newcastle to visit it. Recently, his curiosity was rekindled when he read about Alice, a four-year old child who was said to have been discovered roaming wild near Crackpot in the 1930s. Led by the fabled laughter of Alice, David set out to find the wild child again and hear her story. Prepared to engage his imagination as a writer if facts alone failed, David was amazed by what Crackpot could still reveal. Spoiler Alert: Alice was 4 years old when Ella Pontefract and Marie Hartley, the author and illustrator of a 1930s guide-book to Swaledale declared they had found her - "with a mocking, chuckling laugh" as she roamed alone with her dog and cats near Crackpot. Like many others, David believed Alice to be a figment of the two women's imagination, so he set out to make a programme about how places create stories. He found Alice, now 88, living in a village near Carlisle, and as full of laughter as ever. With music arranged by the Leeds-based composer Emily Levy. Producer: Beaty Rubens.

Alice at Crackpot Hall

Monument Valley, which straddles the state lines of Arizona and Utah, is a place most of us have seen and never visited or listened to. The 'true West' of John Ford movies and endless car adverts. Mark Burman takes his microphone through the red dust of history with Navajo guide Larry Y. Holiday. Chased by the storm clouds and lightning, theirs is a trip through nature's own movie set.At the turn of the 20th century, very few outsiders had penetrated its mysterious spaces. Spanish priests, American soldiers and silver-hungry prospectors had vied with warring Ute and Navajo Indians amidst the red rock. Then came isolated trading posts and the first flourishings of tourism in the 1920s - Americans eager to 'discover' what was still a largely blank space on the map but was firmly part of the Navajo Nation, who had returned to their land of rock and sand after defeat and exile.Exactly 60 years ago, a teenage Pippa Scott made what was then an arduous journey to act in John Ford's The Searchers. In 1955, it was a remote and inaccessible place. No running water, power or telephones but it offered a towering landscape of eroded rock like no other. An ancient place, still home to a small community of Navajos who eke out a living in a place of deep spiritual significance to them, and exercising a powerful pull on all our imaginations via the words of writers like Zane Grey and Willa Cather and the films of John Ford. Lose yourself in the swirling dust.First broadcast in 2015

Monument Valley, which straddles the state lines of Arizona and Utah, is a place most of us have seen and never visited or listened to. The 'true West' of John Ford movies and endless car adverts. Mark Burman takes his microphone through the red dust of history with Navajo guide Larry Y. Holiday. Chased by the storm clouds and lightning, theirs is a trip through nature's own movie set. At the turn of the 20th century, very few outsiders had penetrated its mysterious spaces. Spanish priests, American soldiers and silver-hungry prospectors had vied with warring Ute and Navajo Indians amidst the red rock. Then came isolated trading posts and the first flourishings of tourism in the 1920s - Americans eager to 'discover' what was still a largely blank space on the map but was firmly part of the Navajo Nation, who had returned to their land of rock and sand after defeat and exile. Exactly 60 years ago, a teenage Pippa Scott made what was then an arduous journey to act in John Ford's The Searchers. In 1955, it was a remote and inaccessible place. No running water, power or telephones but it offered a towering landscape of eroded rock like no other. An ancient place, still home to a small community of Navajos who eke out a living in a place of deep spiritual significance to them, and exercising a powerful pull on all our imaginations via the words of writers like Zane Grey and Willa Cather and the films of John Ford. Lose yourself in the swirling dust. First broadcast in 2015

Into the Valley

'The old pagan gods, when ousted by Christianity, took refuge in the rivers, where they still dwell' - Old English sayingDavid Bramwell has a fascination and fear of water. He grew up by a water tower, close to the heart of Doncaster: a place of mystery and wonder to him, the highest building in the area, almost a kind of temple.'We have wandered too far from some vital totem, something central to us that we must find our way back to, following a hair of meaning' - Alan MooreWith deep thought from cult author Alan Moore, the witches of Sheffield, ex-steel workers and the conservationists of Yorkshire, musician David Bramwell plunges into the river Don to celebrate its return to health and the revival of the worship of its goddess, Danu - the river's original name from pre-Roman times.It's also an underwater musical experience for the listener... blending the sounds of the rivers, canals and streams of the Don, recorded with hydrophones, into new music, new sounds, with Bramwell's compositions.Bramwell travels up the Don to its source, backwards in time, uncovering the history of its days as an industrial heartland, now a regenerated river - banked by forests of figs and swum through by deer.He meets John Heaps who, as a teenager in the 1970s at the steel works, was instructed to throw cyanide in the river by the bucket-load; takes a boat with Professor Ian Rotherham, of Sheffield Hallam University, who guides him through the decaying, yet reviving industrial landscape of the city; hunts fresh fish with river expert Chris Firth of the Don Catchment River Trust; stares up at Vulcan on the Town Hall roof, the harsh overlord of industry, with folklorist and lecturer David Clarke; and hears from witches Anwen and Lynne Harling (also an archaeologist, handily), trying to bring back recognition for the goddess of the river.But this is also a mystical journey - searching out the 'spirit of this dark and lonely water', in an attempt to come to peace with Bramwell's own fear, perhaps to atone for the wrongs committed to Danu by Vulcan, in the name of progress and industrialisation.Going under, with Between the Ears.Producer: Sara Jane HallMusic and words performed, written and presented by David Bramwell.Clips from Lonely Water (1973) from The COI Collection, courtesy BFI National Archive.The film can be view on the BFI player, see link below.

'The old pagan gods, when ousted by Christianity, took refuge in the rivers, where they still dwell' - Old English saying David Bramwell has a fascination and fear of water. He grew up by a water tower, close to the heart of Doncaster: a place of mystery and wonder to him, the highest building in the area, almost a kind of temple. 'We have wandered too far from some vital totem, something central to us that we must find our way back to, following a hair of meaning' - Alan Moore With deep thought from cult author Alan Moore, the witches of Sheffield, ex-steel workers and the conservationists of Yorkshire, musician David Bramwell plunges into the river Don to celebrate its return to health and the revival of the worship of its goddess, Danu - the river's original name from pre-Roman times. It's also an underwater musical experience for the listener... blending the sounds of the rivers, canals and streams of the Don, recorded with hydrophones, into new music, new sounds, with Bramwell's compositions. Bramwell travels up the Don to its source, backwards in time, uncovering the history of its days as an industrial heartland, now a regenerated river - banked by forests of figs and swum through by deer. He meets John Heaps who, as a teenager in the 1970s at the steel works, was instructed to throw cyanide in the river by the bucket-load; takes a boat with Professor Ian Rotherham, of Sheffield Hallam University, who guides him through the decaying, yet reviving industrial landscape of the city; hunts fresh fish with river expert Chris Firth of the Don Catchment River Trust; stares up at Vulcan on the Town Hall roof, the harsh overlord of industry, with folklorist and lecturer David Clarke; and hears from witches Anwen and Lynne Harling (also an archaeologist, handily), trying to bring back recognition for the goddess of the river. But this is also a mystical journey - searching out the 'spirit of this dark and lonely water', in an attempt to come to peace with Bramwell's own fear, perhaps to atone for the wrongs committed to Danu by Vulcan, in the name of progress and industrialisation. Going under, with Between the Ears. Producer: Sara Jane Hall Music and words performed, written and presented by David Bramwell. Clips from Lonely Water (1973) from The COI Collection, courtesy BFI National Archive. The film can be view on the BFI player, see link below.

Danu - Dead Flows the Don

The detection of Gravitational Waves in 2015 was hailed as an astounding breakthrough in the world of physics and a triumph for the. LIGO project, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. But the discovery was also a triumph for the men and women who had worked at LIGO during tumultuous times. DREVER, LIGO, is the poet Robert Crawford's meditation on the Scottish physicist Ronald Drever, and his role in the search for Gravitational Waves.Music by Jeremy Thurlow. Producer: David Stenhouse.

The detection of Gravitational Waves in 2015 was hailed as an astounding breakthrough in the world of physics and a triumph for the. LIGO project, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. But the discovery was also a triumph for the men and women who had worked at LIGO during tumultuous times. DREVER, LIGO, is the poet Robert Crawford's meditation on the Scottish physicist Ronald Drever, and his role in the search for Gravitational Waves. Music by Jeremy Thurlow. Producer: David Stenhouse.

Drever, Ligo

A baby sleeps.A man in another room watches her on a screen.Her loving father?No.This man does not know this baby. He's in another country, thousands of miles away. And, each night, he watches a different baby.Wake Up, Baby! is an atmospheric journey into the sometimes unsettling world of "reassuring" technology.The media storm that surrounded the 1932 'baby Lindbergh kidnap', and the subsequent trial, planted the fear of child abduction into the public imagination. In 1937, Zenith produced the Radio Nurse, the world's first baby monitor, designed to fit well into an elegant sitting room, with a transmitting unit in baby's nursery.The Radio Nurse was a tiny private radio station, casting baby's cries onto the electromagnetic seas. To feel the presence of baby in whichever room you occupied while she stayed safe in the nursery was a kind of magic - wonderfully reassuring to a couple in their big house. But it was prone to interference. You might hear things other than baby: a police radio, a pilot preparing to land, or even someone else's baby, picked up from a similar device nearby.The problem of stray interference went away in the digital age. The baby monitor, now with pictures as well as sound, became wi-fi-enabled. In recent years, there have been several well-reported cases of devices being hacked. A couple in Ohio heard "Wake up, baby. Wake up, baby! screaming from their baby's monitor. Someone had taken control of the wi-fi device across the internet.With contributions from:Dakin Hart, senior curator, Noguchi Museum, New YorkAshley Stanley, victim of widely-reported webcam hack in TexasRenate Samson, Chief Executive, Big Brother WatchProduced by Peregrine Andrews.A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3.

A baby sleeps. A man in another room watches her on a screen. Her loving father? No. This man does not know this baby. He's in another country, thousands of miles away. And, each night, he watches a different baby. Wake Up, Baby! is an atmospheric journey into the sometimes unsettling world of "reassuring" technology. The media storm that surrounded the 1932 'baby Lindbergh kidnap', and the subsequent trial, planted the fear of child abduction into the public imagination. In 1937, Zenith produced the Radio Nurse, the world's first baby monitor, designed to fit well into an elegant sitting room, with a transmitting unit in baby's nursery. The Radio Nurse was a tiny private radio station, casting baby's cries onto the electromagnetic seas. To feel the presence of baby in whichever room you occupied while she stayed safe in the nursery was a kind of magic - wonderfully reassuring to a couple in their big house. But it was prone to interference. You might hear things other than baby: a police radio, a pilot preparing to land, or even someone else's baby, picked up from a similar device nearby. The problem of stray interference went away in the digital age. The baby monitor, now with pictures as well as sound, became wi-fi-enabled. In recent years, there have been several well-reported cases of devices being hacked. A couple in Ohio heard "Wake up, baby. Wake up, baby! screaming from their baby's monitor. Someone had taken control of the wi-fi device across the internet. With contributions from: Dakin Hart, senior curator, Noguchi Museum, New York Ashley Stanley, victim of widely-reported webcam hack in Texas Renate Samson, Chief Executive, Big Brother Watch Produced by Peregrine Andrews. A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3.

Wake Up Baby

To view the VR experience in 360 on your smartphone, either click or paste the following link into your search browser:https://youtu.be/RHt6QIJI9cU also available from the GSA SimVis YouTube channel.For the first time, a virtual reality experience and radio documentary will bring to life the ethereal magic of Fingal's Cave - the awesome natural structure on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Using cutting-edge technology, which captures not only the acoustics of the melodic cave, but its awe-inspiring visual scale and beauty, this Between the Ears takes you to a site of natural beauty that has inspired Felix Mendelssohn, Jules Verne, John Keats, August Strindberg and countless others.Featuring a rich cinematic sound experience, we follow the work of Dr Stuart Jeffrey from The Glasgow School of Art’s School of Simulation and Visualisation, and sound designer and composer, Aaron May, as they both – in their own ways - explore the remarkable Fingal's Cave. A few years ago Stuart and a team of archaeologists from the National Trust for Scotland discovered Bronze Age remains close to the cave and near a 19th century building that was used by early tourists as a shelter from the elements. We join Stuart on location as he continues the dig and unearths further evidence of a Bronze Age site, and we accompany him into the heart of the cave during different sea states.At certain times, the cave actually sounds musical, and this is the reason why local people named it the ‘musical cave’.  Stuart explains that inside the cave there is a natural cognitive dissonance that can be very unsettling, indeed some visitors are left feeling on edge. This is because the resonant sounds of blowing and popping, together with booming waves; create a soundscape that does not match the movement of the waves.During the Romantic period, Fingal's Cave attracted much attention and inspired many musicians, artists and literary figures and poets. Felix Mendelssohn made it ashore in 1829 and was so moved by the unearthly sounds that fill the cave he created the remarkable Hebrides Overture in response. Jules Verne said, "the vast cavern with its mysterious, dark, weed-covered chambers and marvellous basaltic pillars produced upon me a most striking impression and was the origin of my book, Le Rayon Vert”. During the 19th-century era of romanticism and the sublime, the Germans were particularly enthralled by Fingal’s Cave. Not only did they visit, but quirky plays and stories were even set there (including Bride of the Isles about vampires living inside Fingal's Cave).The location’s rich mythology, including that of mermaids and giants, highlights the sublime aspect of the place. Stuart's wider research, a collaboration with Professor Sian Jones at the University of Stirling, is trying to fill in the gap between how the Romantics viewed it - a site of awe - and how we see it today.  “We have become dull souls, seeing it only as a nature reserve,” he says.  Stuart hopes to change that perception by investigating whether cutting-edge technology can capture a place’s very essence.And this is where composer Aaron May comes into this story. Whereas Stuart has spent many hours within the magnificent natural structure, Aaron has never set foot in Fingal’s Cave.  But for this documentary he has created a new musical composition based upon his experience of entering a phenomenally exact virtual reality reconstruction, made by Stuart and his team at Glasgow School of Art. The VR version, features laser scans, photogrammetry and acoustic sound maps.  You are able to tour the entire length of the cave and even hear how a piece of music would sound if played within it.  A version of this virtual reality experience, complete with Aaron’s composition, will be made available for listeners to explore on their smart phones.   And of course, Aaron’s remarkable and evocative soundtrack will feature in the radio documentary.Listeners will be able to access a version of the VR experience using their smart phones and a high-end version, running on an HTC Vive, will showcase at the Edinburgh Festivals in August 2019. For those unable to make the trip to Staffa, it’s the nearest you will get to experiencing the full majesty of the location.  To view the VR experience in 360 on your smartphone, paste the following link into your search browser:  https://youtu.be/RHt6QIJI9cUProducer: Kate BissellWith thanks to:Composer Aaron MayDr Stuart Jeffrey from the School of Simulation and Visualisation at The Glasgow School of ArtDerek Alexander from The National Trust for ScotlandProfessor Sian Jones from the University of StirlingShona NobleAura BockuteSinging in Aaron’s composition by Heloise Werner and David Ridley

To view the VR experience in 360 on your smartphone, either click or paste the following link into your search browser: <a href="https://youtu.be/RHt6QIJI9cU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/RHt6QIJI9cU</a> also available from the GSA SimVis YouTube channel. For the first time, a virtual reality experience and radio documentary will bring to life the ethereal magic of Fingal's Cave - the awesome natural structure on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Using cutting-edge technology, which captures not only the acoustics of the melodic cave, but its awe-inspiring visual scale and beauty, this Between the Ears takes you to a site of natural beauty that has inspired Felix Mendelssohn, Jules Verne, John Keats, August Strindberg and countless others. Featuring a rich cinematic sound experience, we follow the work of Dr Stuart Jeffrey from The Glasgow School of Art’s School of Simulation and Visualisation, and sound designer and composer, Aaron May, as they both – in their own ways - explore the remarkable Fingal's Cave. A few years ago Stuart and a team of archaeologists from the National Trust for Scotland discovered Bronze Age remains close to the cave and near a 19th century building that was used by early tourists as a shelter from the elements. We join Stuart on location as he continues the dig and unearths further evidence of a Bronze Age site, and we accompany him into the heart of the cave during different sea states. At certain times, the cave actually sounds musical, and this is the reason why local people named it the ‘musical cave’. Stuart explains that inside the cave there is a natural cognitive dissonance that can be very unsettling, indeed some visitors are left feeling on edge. This is because the resonant sounds of blowing and popping, together with booming waves; create a soundscape that does not match the movement of the waves. During the Romantic period, Fingal's Cave attracted much attention and inspired many musicians, artists and literary figures and poets. Felix Mendelssohn made it ashore in 1829 and was so moved by the unearthly sounds that fill the cave he created the remarkable Hebrides Overture in response. Jules Verne said, "the vast cavern with its mysterious, dark, weed-covered chambers and marvellous basaltic pillars produced upon me a most striking impression and was the origin of my book, Le Rayon Vert”. During the 19th-century era of romanticism and the sublime, the Germans were particularly enthralled by Fingal’s Cave. Not only did they visit, but quirky plays and stories were even set there (including Bride of the Isles about vampires living inside Fingal's Cave). The location’s rich mythology, including that of mermaids and giants, highlights the sublime aspect of the place. Stuart's wider research, a collaboration with Professor Sian Jones at the University of Stirling, is trying to fill in the gap between how the Romantics viewed it - a site of awe - and how we see it today. “We have become dull souls, seeing it only as a nature reserve,” he says. Stuart hopes to change that perception by investigating whether cutting-edge technology can capture a place’s very essence. And this is where composer Aaron May comes into this story. Whereas Stuart has spent many hours within the magnificent natural structure, Aaron has never set foot in Fingal’s Cave. But for this documentary he has created a new musical composition based upon his experience of entering a phenomenally exact virtual reality reconstruction, made by Stuart and his team at Glasgow School of Art. The VR version, features laser scans, photogrammetry and acoustic sound maps. You are able to tour the entire length of the cave and even hear how a piece of music would sound if played within it. A version of this virtual reality experience, complete with Aaron’s composition, will be made available for listeners to explore on their smart phones. And of course, Aaron’s remarkable and evocative soundtrack will feature in the radio documentary. Listeners will be able to access a version of the VR experience using their smart phones and a high-end version, running on an HTC Vive, will showcase at the Edinburgh Festivals in August 2019. For those unable to make the trip to Staffa, it’s the nearest you will get to experiencing the full majesty of the location. To view the VR experience in 360 on your smartphone, paste the following link into your search browser: <a href="https://youtu.be/RHt6QIJI9cU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/RHt6QIJI9cU</a> Producer: Kate Bissell With thanks to: Composer Aaron May Dr Stuart Jeffrey from the School of Simulation and Visualisation at The Glasgow School of Art Derek Alexander from The National Trust for Scotland Professor Sian Jones from the University of Stirling Shona Noble Aura Bockute Singing in Aaron’s composition by Heloise Werner and David Ridley

The Virtually Melodic Cave

The magical North Pennines landscape of deaf shepherd-poet Josephine Dickinson, which inspires her life and work and is the fertile backdrop to her real and imagined sound world. Welcome to her remote hill farm near Alston – near the highest market town in England – where Josephine looks after her sheep and writes her poetry. It’s her in-between land, a place between hearing and deafness, art and reality, home and you listening to the programme. It’s a challenging environment, too: in 2018 the ‘Beast from the East’ cut the local community off and emergency aid had to be airlifted in by Chinook helicopter, but in the spring the wildflower meadows are alive to the sound of curlews, lambs and bumble bees. This peat landscape is ever-present in her life and increasingly a source of inspiration for her environmentalism. Born in London, Josephine moved here in 1994 and fell in love with the moors - and with Douglas, an elderly sheep farmer who took her under his wing and married her. Josephine’s deafness started at the age of six, but hearing aids enabled her to pursue her love of music, and she taught piano and worked as an arts development worker at the South Bank. But seven years ago she lost her hearing completely, plunging her into a hallucinatory inner soundscape that tormented and fascinated her in equal measure. She can now hear her lambs and the wind in the cotton grass, thanks to a cochlear implant. In collaboration with BBC Radio 3 and sonic artist Andrew Deakin - from Full of Noises, based in Barrow - Josephine invited local people to share her Ark of Sound in Alston Parish Church, a powerful sound installation demonstrating that a deaf person doesn’t live in a silent world.Produced by Andrew Carter A BBC Radio Cumbria Production

The magical North Pennines landscape of deaf shepherd-poet Josephine Dickinson, which inspires her life and work and is the fertile backdrop to her real and imagined sound world. Welcome to her remote hill farm near Alston – near the highest market town in England – where Josephine looks after her sheep and writes her poetry. It’s her in-between land, a place between hearing and deafness, art and reality, home and you listening to the programme. It’s a challenging environment, too: in 2018 the ‘Beast from the East’ cut the local community off and emergency aid had to be airlifted in by Chinook helicopter, but in the spring the wildflower meadows are alive to the sound of curlews, lambs and bumble bees. This peat landscape is ever-present in her life and increasingly a source of inspiration for her environmentalism. Born in London, Josephine moved here in 1994 and fell in love with the moors - and with Douglas, an elderly sheep farmer who took her under his wing and married her. Josephine’s deafness started at the age of six, but hearing aids enabled her to pursue her love of music, and she taught piano and worked as an arts development worker at the South Bank. But seven years ago she lost her hearing completely, plunging her into a hallucinatory inner soundscape that tormented and fascinated her in equal measure. She can now hear her lambs and the wind in the cotton grass, thanks to a cochlear implant. In collaboration with BBC Radio 3 and sonic artist Andrew Deakin - from Full of Noises, based in Barrow - Josephine invited local people to share her Ark of Sound in Alston Parish Church, a powerful sound installation demonstrating that a deaf person doesn’t live in a silent world. Produced by Andrew Carter A BBC Radio Cumbria Production

The In-Between Land

Julia Hollander, her brother Tom and father Tony tell the story of a letter from the BBC, which saved their family, spawning a rich legacy of Czech music in the UK.March 1939. Broadcaster Hans Hollander, grandfather of writer and musician Julia and actor Tom, receives a letter that becomes his family's passport to freedom. The BBC's KA Wright invites Hans to come to London to discuss Janacek and the whole of question of Czech music asking, 'How soon do you think you could come, and how long would you be able to stay?'After years of trying to fall in with the anti-Semitic bureaucracy, the Hollanders fear for the future; the letter offers them a possible escape. On 15 March 1939 - the day Hitler's tanks roll into Prague - they take the train from Brno, constantly in terror, watching as people they know are taken off the train by the Gestapo. The BBC letter is enough to effect safe passage to Britain. Once there Hans and Kenneth Wright share their passion for Czech music with Wright orchestrating the Bohemian folk songs Hans brought with him from his homeland. Julia Hollander goes in search of KA Wright to discover an unlikely saviour. An outsider driven by artistic curiosity and a passionate belief in the international language of music. She seeks out and revives the music Kenneth and Hans made together, and Tom reads from his grandfather's letters. Janacek's 'In The Mists' is performed by Julia Hollander, KA Wright's 'Nocturne' is played by Peter McMullin, and 'Bohemia' sung by Julia Hollander with accompaniment by Peter McMullin, an expert in KA Wright's music. Hans Hollander's letters, translated by Anne Varty, are read by Tom Hollander. Producer Dixi Stewart, with assistance from Hannah Dean and Mark Burman.

Julia Hollander, her brother Tom and father Tony tell the story of a letter from the BBC, which saved their family, spawning a rich legacy of Czech music in the UK. March 1939. Broadcaster Hans Hollander, grandfather of writer and musician Julia and actor Tom, receives a letter that becomes his family's passport to freedom. The BBC's KA Wright invites Hans to come to London to discuss Janacek and the whole of question of Czech music asking, 'How soon do you think you could come, and how long would you be able to stay?' After years of trying to fall in with the anti-Semitic bureaucracy, the Hollanders fear for the future; the letter offers them a possible escape. On 15 March 1939 - the day Hitler's tanks roll into Prague - they take the train from Brno, constantly in terror, watching as people they know are taken off the train by the Gestapo. The BBC letter is enough to effect safe passage to Britain. Once there Hans and Kenneth Wright share their passion for Czech music with Wright orchestrating the Bohemian folk songs Hans brought with him from his homeland. Julia Hollander goes in search of KA Wright to discover an unlikely saviour. An outsider driven by artistic curiosity and a passionate belief in the international language of music. She seeks out and revives the music Kenneth and Hans made together, and Tom reads from his grandfather's letters. Janacek's 'In The Mists' is performed by Julia Hollander, KA Wright's 'Nocturne' is played by Peter McMullin, and 'Bohemia' sung by Julia Hollander with accompaniment by Peter McMullin, an expert in KA Wright's music. Hans Hollander's letters, translated by Anne Varty, are read by Tom Hollander. Producer Dixi Stewart, with assistance from Hannah Dean and Mark Burman.

The Letter

The Best Multi-Part Documentaries, with documentaries on Obama, Federer vs Nadal, the making of Star Wars, Netflix vs Blockbuster and more. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best Multi-Part Documentaries

The best podcast episodes on non-current politics. Covering topics such as universal basic income, democracy, poverty & justice and more. For anyone interested in learning more about politics that affect that world, not just now, but in the longer term. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!