Vivaldi In A Warming World

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Spring

20241209

Kate Molleson talks with Magnus Lindberg, who takes us back to his 1985 piece Kraft (Power), a work described as his ‘Rite of Spring', and one of the great sonic rumpuses of the late 20th century. Kraft used mathematical formulas to create a composition of extremes that encapsulated the explosive energy of spring, one that resonates with the chaotic weather patterns we are seeing almost four decades on from the work. Lindberg talks about the enduring influence of Vivaldi, the birth of programmatic music, and how he presented the orchestra as a force of nature itself in Kraft.

Kate Molleson talks with Magnus Lindberg, who takes us back to his 1985 piece Kraft (Power), one of the great sonic rumpuses of the late 20th century

[LISTEN NOW]

Summer

20241210

Kate Molleson unpacks the explosive power of Concerto No. 2 in G minor. Composer Ash Fure shares the process behind The Force of Things – An Opera in Objects, an immersive installation opera that wrestles with the rising tide of eco-grief and ecological collapse – a work that Kate likens to the destructive and dark elements of the Summer movement. Fure explains why she eschews the literal in favour of the abstract.

[LISTEN NOW]

Autumn

20241211

Kate Molleson speaks with Emily Isaacson, artistic director of Classical Uprising, about The [uncertain] Four Seasons. Isaacson explains how the project recomposed Vivaldi with climate data to inspire action, altering the work based on an algorithm that estimates the effects of climate change. Kate hears a rearrangement that disturbs, disquiets and motivates. They discuss the role of music and technical innovation to shock and inspire listeners.

[LISTEN NOW]

Winter

20241212

The artist Nikita Gale shares why she considers the role of the season as a unit of measurement increasingly arbitrary – an idea she explored in her work Other Seasons. The piece combines light, live music, and atmospheric conditions. In the work, she deconstructs Vivaldi's masterpiece to render the seasons obsolete, imploding the narrative sense of the Four Seasons, and pushing back against the representational nature of the original work.

Presenter Kate Molleson

[LISTEN NOW]

05 LAST

Anthropocene

20241213

Kate Molleson draws together Vivaldi's work within the context of human-made climate change, making a compelling case for the power of art, music, and storytelling to foreground the most pressing crisis of our times. Liza Lim discusses her work Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus, composed out of relics of the past, as well as coarse samplings of ‘extinction events'. She hears from Pamela Z about her work Carbon Song Cycle, inspired by ongoing changes and upheavals in the Earth's ecosystem. Finally, Annea Lockwood talks about her ongoing process of making sonic river map installations. Molleson muses on how Lockwood's works explore the visceral effects of sound in our environment as well as on our bodies. Ultimately, Kate concludes that our seasons no longer offer the bucolic, dramatic inspiration that they once did, but instead provoke feelings of fear and anger that are spurring on musicians across the world to foreground the planet's peril and inspire change.

Kate Molleson draws together Vivaldi's work within the context of human-made climate change.

[LISTEN NOW]

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Comments
01	Spring	20241209	Kate Molleson talks with Magnus Lindberg, who takes us back to his 1985 piece Kraft (Power), a work described as his ‘Rite of Spring', and one of the great sonic rumpuses of the late 20th century. Kraft used mathematical formulas to create a composition of extremes that encapsulated the explosive energy of spring, one that resonates with the chaotic weather patterns we are seeing almost four decades on from the work. Lindberg talks about the enduring influence of Vivaldi, the birth of programmatic music, and how he presented the orchestra as a force of nature itself in Kraft. Kate Molleson talks with Magnus Lindberg, who takes us back to his 1985 piece Kraft (Power), one of the great sonic rumpuses of the late 20th century [LISTEN NOW]
02	Summer	20241210	Kate Molleson unpacks the explosive power of Concerto No. 2 in G minor. Composer Ash Fure shares the process behind The Force of Things – An Opera in Objects, an immersive installation opera that wrestles with the rising tide of eco-grief and ecological collapse – a work that Kate likens to the destructive and dark elements of the Summer movement. Fure explains why she eschews the literal in favour of the abstract. [LISTEN NOW]
03	Autumn	20241211	Kate Molleson speaks with Emily Isaacson, artistic director of Classical Uprising, about The [uncertain] Four Seasons. Isaacson explains how the project recomposed Vivaldi with climate data to inspire action, altering the work based on an algorithm that estimates the effects of climate change. Kate hears a rearrangement that disturbs, disquiets and motivates. They discuss the role of music and technical innovation to shock and inspire listeners. [LISTEN NOW]
04	Winter	20241212	The artist Nikita Gale shares why she considers the role of the season as a unit of measurement increasingly arbitrary – an idea she explored in her work Other Seasons. The piece combines light, live music, and atmospheric conditions. In the work, she deconstructs Vivaldi's masterpiece to render the seasons obsolete, imploding the narrative sense of the Four Seasons, and pushing back against the representational nature of the original work. Presenter Kate Molleson [LISTEN NOW]
05 LAST	Anthropocene	20241213	Kate Molleson draws together Vivaldi's work within the context of human-made climate change, making a compelling case for the power of art, music, and storytelling to foreground the most pressing crisis of our times. Liza Lim discusses her work Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus, composed out of relics of the past, as well as coarse samplings of ‘extinction events'. She hears from Pamela Z about her work Carbon Song Cycle, inspired by ongoing changes and upheavals in the Earth's ecosystem. Finally, Annea Lockwood talks about her ongoing process of making sonic river map installations. Molleson muses on how Lockwood's works explore the visceral effects of sound in our environment as well as on our bodies. Ultimately, Kate concludes that our seasons no longer offer the bucolic, dramatic inspiration that they once did, but instead provoke feelings of fear and anger that are spurring on musicians across the world to foreground the planet's peril and inspire change. Kate Molleson draws together Vivaldi's work within the context of human-made climate change. [LISTEN NOW]