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Composer James MacMillan explores music inspired by the biblical story of creation.

James MacMillan explores how composers evoke atmosphere, spirituality, and nature’s vastness. Theologian Margarita Mooney-Clayton, composer Jay Capperauld, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams discuss musical and religious interpretations of the sky, from Debussy’s Nuages and Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s In the Light of Air to Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending. Through conversation with James, they connect orchestration, romantic symbolism, nature, and theological themes of divine presence in air and light. How have these elements been captured musically?

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56 minutes

Last on

Sat 6 Dec 2025 13:00
Â鶹Éç Radio 3

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Music Played

  • James MacMillan

    Northern Skies: Movement No. 7 - Presto

    Performer: Henri Demarquette. Performer: Scott Graham.
    • Northern Skies.
    • Deux Elles.
    • 11.

  • Heinrich Schütz

    Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes

    Choir: Collegium Vocale Gent. Conductor: Philippe Herreweghe.
    • Schütz: Geistliche Chormusik.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 9.

  • Claude Debussy

    Trois Nocturnes: I. Nuages

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Abbado conducts Debussy.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 2.

  • Florence Price

    Clouds

    Performer: Lara Downes.
    • Florence Price Piano Discoveries.
    • Flipside Music.
    • 3.

  • Jay Capperauld

    The Origin of Colour

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Maxim Emelyanychev.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral", Movement II: Scene by the Brook

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • LSO Live.

  • James MacMillan

    Symphony No. 5 "Le grand Inconnu": I. Ruah

    Choir: The Sixteen. Orchestra: Britten Sinfonia. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Symphony No.5, 'Le Grand Inconnu' - The Sun Danced.
    • CORO.
    • 2.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Elijah, Op. 70, Part 1: "Thanks be to God!"

    Performer: Stephen Doughty. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Choir: Edinburgh Festival Chorus. Conductor: Paul Daniel.
    • Decca.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Lark Ascending

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Litton.
    • Decca.

Broadcast

  • Sat 6 Dec 2025 13:00
    Â鶹Éç Radio 3

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Podcast

  • Music Matters

    The stories that matter, the people that matter, the music that matters