Crescendo: Recent Episodes
RNZ
Famous New Zealanders talk about the music that moves them with the people who make it, celebrating the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's 75th anniversary.
Actor Karen O Leary explains her connection with Peter and the Wolf - a beloved piece of music written originally for children, while NZSO flutist Bridget Douglas explains the challenges that come with getting into character for the piece.
Rock and roll star turned musicologist Graeme Downes gives a masterful breakdown of the enduring brilliance of Schubert's Symphony #9 in C major, and why it’s had a hold on his heart all these years, while NZSO violinist Haihong Liu has her own ideas about what makes Schubert’s “Great” symphony so great.
One of our most celebrated authors, Witi Ihimaera, recalls how his life changed when he first heard The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky, as a young boy listening to a record player in Gisborne. And NZSO double bass player Alexander Gunchenko explains the fiendish difficulty of playing the piece.
One of Aotearoa's legendary performers, opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, describes the complicated feelings of homesickness stirred in her by Elgar's "Nimrod" while NZSO cellist Brigid O'Meeghan explains why the piece has the power to move listeners, more than one hundred years after it was composed.
Dame Patsy Reddy talks about the enduring power of Beethoven’s famous choral symphony, and NZSO conductor Gemma New explains why the symphony packs such an unforgettable emotional punch.