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Jonathan Meades

Michael Berkeley's guest is writer and broadcaster Jonathan Meades. His musical choices include Barbara, Jacques Brel, Hans Werner Henze and Saint-Saens.

Writer and broadcaster Jonathan Meades's fascination with architecture began on a school trip to Marsh Court in Stockbridge, Hampshire - designed by that great architect of English Country Houses Edwin Lutyens. Subsequently, in a broadcasting career which spans 40 years, he has written and performed in more than 50 television shows on a wide range of topographical subjects: from shacks to garden cities, to buildings associated with vertigo; from beer and pigs, to the architecture of Hitler and Stalin. He was also a food critic for 15 years, winning the coveted Glenfiddich Award in 1999, and has written three novels and a memoir: "Encyclopedia of Myself". His latest television series, "Bunkers, Brutalism and Bloody-mindedness", was screened on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú 4 in February.

He now lives in the iconic Corbusier building, Cité Radieuse in Marseille - and his musical choices reflect his adopted country's love of chanson: French singer / songwriter Barbara's "Ma Plus Belle Histoire d'Amour" features, as does Jacques Brel's Mijn Vlakke Land. Film was not only Jonathan Meades's chosen career; his love of cinema also provided him with a rich musical education. Among his musical choices are Hans Werner Henze's soundtrack to the Alain Resnais film Muriel, and The Aquarium, from Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals, which Terence Malick used in his ground breaking film Days of Heaven.

1 hour

Last on

Sun 27 Apr 2014 12:00

Music Played

  • Barbara

    Ma Plus Belle Histoire d'Amour

    Singer: Barbara.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet in B flat major, Op.130 (4th mvt: Alla danza tedesca)

    Ensemble: Budapest String Quartet.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor (1st mvt, excerpt)

    Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Claudio Abbado. Performer: Martha Argerich.
  • Jacques Brel

    Mijn vlakke Land

    Singer: Jacques Brel.
  • Benjamin Britten

    The Foggy, Foggy Dew

    Music Arranger: Benjamin Britten. Singer: Peter Pears.
  • Fabrizio De André

    Canzone dell'amore perduto

    Singer: Fabrizio De André.
  • Hans Werner Henze

    Final scene/Credits (Muriel)

    Singer: Rita Streich.
  • Mick Jagger

    Time waits for no one

    Music Group: The Rolling Stones. Composer: Keith Richards.
  • Giacomo Puccini

    O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi)

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Tullio Serafin. Singer: Maria Callas.

Broadcast

  • Sun 27 Apr 2014 12:00

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