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Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason takes us on a spring walk

Tom Service has the perfect classical soundtrack to start the weekend. Today he meets cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and investigates the power of music for new mothers

Tom Service with guests, stories and the perfect classical soundtrack to start the weekend.

Tom meets the superstar cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. One of the most sensitive and in demand cellists in the world, Sheku is also one of the busiest and right now alongside writing not one, but two new books on music, he is about to release a new album that pays tribute to his cellist hero Mstislav Rostropovich. Tom and Sheku take a walk round Rostropovich's old London neighbourhood to talk Shostakovich, why he believes the fight for music education is urgent and why classical music must be available to everyone.

As part of Wellbeing Week on the ѿý, we delve into cutting edge research on the positive effects of music on perinatal womens’ mental health. Professor Daisy Fancourt has been researching the subject for a decade and discovered the profound effect music can have on reducing the symptoms of Post Natal Depression via group singing and musical involvement. We hear too from musical sessions from a charity called ‘Breathe Melodies’ who run singing workshops in collaboration with NHS hospitals and midwives throughout London for new mothers

Plus the continuation of ѿý Radio 3’s 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century – a series of new commissions celebrating some of the biggest events of the 21st century so far. This week, Novello award winning composer Gavin Higgins joins to Tom to chat about his piece Cortège for a Coal Mine that remembers the closure of the Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire, which marked the end of deep-pit coal mining in the UK, and the deep musical links forged in mining communities.

To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask ѿý Sounds to play Radio 3”.

3 hours

Music Played

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385 "Haffner" - IV. Presto

    Orchestra: Ensemble Resonanz. Orchestra: Ensemble Resonanz. Conductor: Riccardo Minasi. Conductor: Riccardo Minasi.
    • Mozart: Haffner-Akademie.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 12.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Cantique de Jean Racine

    Choir: Accentus. Ensemble: Orchestre national de France. Conductor: Laurence Equilbey.
    • Naive.
  • Aaron Copland

    Buckaroo Holiday (Rodeo - 4 dance episodes)

    Orchestra: ѿý Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Chandos.
  • Henry Eccles

    A new division upon the ground bass of "John come and kiss me"

    Performer: Théotime Langlois de Swarte. Performer: Thomas Dunford.
    • The Mad Lover.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 27.
  • Barbara Strozzi

    Che si può fare

    Performer: Barbara Hannigan. Performer: Katia & Marielle Labèque. Performer: David Chalmin.
  • Edward Elgar

    Sospiri (Op.70) vers. for str, harp & org

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Mirga Gražinytė‐Tyla.
    • DG.
  • Steve Reich

    Mallet Quartet: III. Fast

    Ensemble: Sō Percussion.
    • Reich : WTC 9/11, Mallet Quartet, Dance Patterns.
    • Nonesuch.
    • 6.
  • Anton Bruckner

    Symphony No. 2 in D Minor "Annuliert" - III. Scherzo

    Conductor: Jordi Savall. Orchestra: Le Concert des Nations.
    • Forgotten Symphonies.
    • Alia Vox.
    • 5.
  • Henry Purcell

    Sound the trumpet (Come ye sons of art)

    Singer: Andreas Scholl. Singer: Christophe Dumaux. Orchestra: Accademia Bizantina. Conductor: Stefano Montanari.
    • O Solitude: Andreas Scholl, Accademia Bizantina.
    • Decca.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV.645

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Edgar Meyer. Performer: Chris Thile.
    • Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer's Bach Trios.
    • Nonesuch.
    • 005.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No 4 in B flat major, Op 60 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • The Beethoven Symphonies: Live from the Edinburgh Festival.
    • Hyperion.
    • 6.
  • Aaron Diehl

    Aquarius

    Composer: Mary Lou Williams. Performer: Aaron Diehl. Orchestra: The Knights.
    • Zodiac Suite.
    • Mack Avenue Records.
    • 11.
  • Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht

    Concerto for Lute in C Major: III. Tantino allegro e grazioso

    • Concertos for Baroque Lute (Fasch, Hagen, Kohaut, Kleinknecht).
    • 貹é.
    • 9.
  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Cello Concerto no 2 - 2nd mvt Scherzo

    Performer: Sheku Kanneh‐Mason. Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • decca.
  • Edmund Finnis

    Prelude IV

    Performer: Sheku Kanneh‐Mason.
    • decca.
  • Benjamin Britten

    Sonata for cello and piano in C major - pizzicato

    Performer: Sheku Kanneh‐Mason. Performer: Isata Kanneh‐Mason.
    • decca.
  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40 - 4th mvt Allegro

    Performer: Sheku Kanneh‐Mason. Performer: Isata Kanneh‐Mason.
    • decca.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Magnificat, BWV 243: I. Magnificat anam mea dominum

    Orchestra: Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Choir: Amsterdam Baroque Choir. Conductor: Ton Koopman.
    • Bach: Latin Church Music Vol. 1.
    • Challenge Classics.
    • 13.
  • Alexander Mosolov

    Harp concerto (4th mvt)

    Performer: Xavier de Maistre. Orchestra: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. Conductor: Nathalie Stutzmann.
    • Glière, Mosolov: Harp Concertos.
    • Sony Classical/Sony Music.
    • 8.
  • François Couperin

    Le Tic-Toc-Choc (Ordre no.18)

    Performer: Alexandre Tharaud.
    • Tic, Toc, Choc.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 002.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Violin Concerto in D major Op.35 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Janine Jansen. Orchestra: Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Harding.
    • Decca.
  • Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

    Sonata No 4 in G minor (mvts 6-8)

    Ensemble: Musica Fiorita. Conductor: Daniela Dolci.
    • Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Chamber Music.
    • Pan Classics.
    • 6-8.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (Rückert-Lieder)

    Singer: Janet Baker. Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: John Barbirolli.
    • Mahler: Kindertotenlieder - 5 Rückertlieder - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
    • Warner Classics.
  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Piano Concerto no.5 in F major Op.103 'Egyptian' (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Bertrand Chamayou. Orchestra: Orchestre national de France. Conductor: Emmanuel Krivine.
    • Erato.
  • Niccolò Paganini

    La campanella

    Music Arranger: Fritz Kreisler. Performer: Francesca Dego. Performer: Francesca Leonardi.
    • Il Cannone.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.
  • Francisco Guerrero

    Sanctissima Maria

    Choir: El León de Oro. Conductor: Marco Antonio García de Paz.
    • HYPERION.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Octet in E flat major, Op.20 (4th mvt)

    Performer: James Ehnes. Ensemble: Seattle Chamber Players.
    • Onyx.

Broadcast

  • Sat 10 May 2025 09:00