Episode notes
L et's be fair, this is a deeply flawed title. Why? Well the idea is to play music written by German composers when they were living in or visiting Italy. But in the 18 th century… which is when most of the music comes from… Germany and Italy as we know them today did not exist. And to make things worse… the whole episode is really an excuse to play some music by a man now well and truly owned by modern Austria… which also didn't exist. What became Italy, Germany and Austria were a wonderfully confusing collection of kingdoms, republics, city states, free imperial trading centres,…
Podcast
Classical For Everyone
Peter Cudlipp · Music · English
Five hundred years of incredible music. No expertise is necessary. All you need are ears. If you've ever been even slightly curious about classical music then this is the podcast for you.
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25 Sep 2026 · 48 min
Diving For Pearls – Part One
How did 'baroque', the French version of a very old Portuguese term for a misshapen pearl… which became an insult applied to complicated music… and was then rehabilitated as a description of an ornate style of art and architecture… become the term now almost universally used to describe music written between 1600 and 1750? And what has 'diving' got to do with anything? The answers are in this two part episode of Classical For Everyone exploring lesser known Baroque composers. And there's a merman. But way more importantly… there is amazing music by Rameau, Rebel, Caldara, von Biber, Marais,…
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13 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 8 min
Night and Darkness
It could be argued that Night and Darkness are sort of the same. The Night is Dark. That's kind of the point. But there are brightly moonlit nights and there are very dark nights; in more ways than one, and then there is darkness that is as black as night. So it's "Night and Darkness"… including symphonic night music from Gustav Mahler, a song of a rose on a summer night from Hector Berlioz, a night of love from Augusta Holmès, Ludwig van Beethoven's political prisoner crying out from a pitch black dungeon, Sergei Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil and Arnold Schoenberg's music of two lovers…
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Frederic Chopin
I have been asking myself why it has taken close to a hundred episodes before I got around to one devoted to Chopin. When I was chatting with Claude about doing the episode he described my neglect of the composer as, and I quote, 'an alarming gap… genuinely startling given Chopin's centrality to the repertoire and his obvious appeal to audiences'. So, if even my AI buddy is scratching his virtual head (and frankly being a little pretentious and unsupportive); then there may be listeners to the show who feel the same. So, with the help of eight pianists, a couple of cellists, a conductor and…
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Chamber Music Three + A Festival Conversation
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Sunday Night Special … Camille Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony)
The name comes from the night of the week when for some of us, the frustrations of insomnia hit the hardest… and because my preferred antidote is getting lost in some music. Of course this series is for everyone… but it is perhaps intended a little more for those of you whose sleep has been troubled. The idea of the special is to play just one piece, uninterrupted and in its entirety… with a few minutes of background explained at the end of the episode. This month… Camille Saint-Saën's 3 rd Symphony. Known as the Organ Symphony for reasons that will become pretty obvious. In this performance…
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25 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
Neglected Beethoven
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