Soul Music

Few songs can claim to be - quite literally - as far reaching as the 1967 classic 'Can't Take My Eyes off You'. Former astronaut Christopher Ferguson heard this song as an early morning wake-up call aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Mother of two, Michelle Noakes sang this classic piece to the baby she was told she may never be able to carry. A honeymoon couple recall how their marriage proposal began with a hundred strong 'flash mob' performance of this track.Singer Frankie Valli reflects on one of the most moving performances he ever gave when he sang 'Can't Take My Eyes off You' to a crowd of recently returned Vietnam Veterans. DJ Mark Radcliffe recalls the many artists since Valli who have covered this song (not least his mum who sang along to the Andy Williams version).Composer Bob Gaudio reveals how this piece of music began life in a room overlooking Central Park, with a melody originally penned for a children's nursery rhyme.Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impactProducer: Nicola HumphriesFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.

Pascal Rogé is one of the world's greatest interpreters of French piano music. From the seat of a concert hall piano, he leads us through a personal and musical journey of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies. You may not immediately know the title but in hearing just the first few notes, you are most likely to know the music.It's a collection of short, atmospheric pieces of which Gymnopédie No.1 is perhaps the most popular. Music historian and author Mark Prendergast has studied Satie's work and reveals the complex character of the man who revolutionised the 19th century classical music of Europe. Melbourne based artist Colin Duncan reflects on the music's 'physical form which takes you into space and time' and for him inspired a body of work created in braille. Murder Mystery writer Cathy Ace remembers how this meditative music could shut out the noise of the city as she sped around London in her old brown mini.Mathematician and author Ian Stewart explores the mathematics of this special piece and how music can touch our soul.Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.Producer: Nicola HumphriesFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.

"Southern trees bear a strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root..." Billie Holiday's famous song expresses the horror and anguish of those communities subjected to a campaign of lynching in the American South. Soul Music hears the stories of people whose relatives were lynched by white racists and of the various forms of grief, anger and reconciliation that have followed. These include the cousin of teenager Emmett Till, whose killing in 1955 for whistling at a white woman, added powerful impetus to the civil rights movement.Despite its association with the deep south, the song was actually composed in 1930's New York by a Jewish schoolteacher, Abel Meeropol. Meeropol adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after they were executed in 1953 as Soviet spies. One of those children, Robert, talks of his adopted father's humanity and his belief that the Rosenberg's were killed in a 'state sanctioned lynching by the American government'. For him, Strange Fruit is a comforting reminder of his adopted father's passionate belief in justice and compassion.Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2013.

How the choral work The Dream of Gerontius, by Edward Elgar, has touched and changed people's lives.For Terry Waite, it was the first piece of music he heard as a hostage in the Lebanon, after four years in solitary confinement.Writer and broadcaster Stephen Johnson describes how Elgar's own fragile emotional state is written into the music, which describes the journey taken by a dying man.Singer Catherine Wyn-Rogers explains how Elgar's music helped her come to terms with the loss of her parents.Martin Firth recalls a life-enhancing performance of the piece in Bristol cathedral.Jude Kelly, artistic director of the South Bank Centre, explains how she experienced the choir in this piece as a 'spiritual army' when she performed it at university.Martyn Marsh describes how the music brought him to a realisation about how he would like to end his days.And Robin Self recalls a life-changing performance of this piece, which enabled him to grieve for his son.Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact. Producer: Melvin RickarbyFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.

Don't Leave Me This Way was written in the early 1970s by songwriters Huff, Gamble and Gilbert.They were the composers behind the famous black American Philadelphia Sound. It was first performed by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, featuring Teddy Pendergrass on lead vocals.It later became a hit for Thelma Houston and The Communards. As the title suggests, the song is all about longing, yearning and loss. Remarkable stories reflect the pain expressed in this soul classic, including one told by Dr Dan Gottlieb, a quadriplegic therapist who befriended Teddy Pendergrass after he became paralysed in a car accident. Sharon Wachsler recalls dancing to the version made famous by The Communards in 1986 before a devastating illness left her housebound and reliant on her beloved service dog Gadget, who gave her a reason to keep going. When he died, the song was the only way she could express her grief over his loss. The Reverend Richard Coles, formerly of The Communards, talks about the significance of Don't Leave Me This Way as a dancefloor anthem for young gay men in the 1980s that was later to become associated with the AIDS epidemic that took so many of their lives.Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.

'Make Me a Channel of Your Peace' found its way into weddings, funerals and school assemblies.Discover how this hymn has also embedded itself into the hearts of peace campaigners, charity workers and reformed alcoholics.Its simplicity often belies the challenges at its heart. Its lyrics call for unconditional love and forgiveness in the toughest situations. The words are based on a poem which has often been attributed to St Francis of Assisi. However, Franciscan Historian, Dr Christian Renoux, suggests it was most likely to have been written by an anonymous French noble women.The poem travelled across the globe with translations published during both world wars, subsequently bringing inspiration to public figures ranging from Mother Theresa to President Roosevelt.In 1967, it caught the eye of South African born musician and 'yogi' Sebastian Temple who put these words to its most famous musical arrangement. His version was played at Princess Diana's funeral and touched the hearts of millions worldwide.Mathew Neville of children's charity 'World Vision' recalls his encounter with this hymn in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Closer to home, Wendy and Colin Parry share their memories of this music and the role it played in remembering their son Tim, who was killed in the 1993 Warrington Bombings.In Minnesota, former lawyer Mike Donohue reflects on how this hymn has guided him on a journey through alcohol abuse and dementia.Sarah Hershberg remembers her good friend Sebastian Temple, who first played this simple hymn in her front room before it went on to travel the world.Producer: Nicola HumphriesFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.

Written by Joaquin Rodrigo in 1939, the Concierto de Aranjuez is a guitar classic. He wrote it amid the chaos of the Spanish Civil War, and in circumstances of poverty and personal tragedy. How has it touched and changed people's lives? The composer's daughter Cecilia Rodrigo explains how the blind composer was inspired by the fountains and gardens of the palace of Aranjuez. Nelício Faria de Sales recounts an unforgettable performance deep inside one of Brazil's largest caves.David B Katague remembers how the piece got him through a difficult period of separation from his family in the Philippines.Guitarist Craig Ogden explains the magic of the piece for a performer.Actor Simon Callow recalls how hearing the piece was a formative experience for him during his schooldays, when it turned rural Berkshire into a piece of Spain.Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impactProducer: Melvin RickarbyFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.

Stories of love, loss and friendship through the Second World War favourite, Lili Marlene. She was made famous by Marlene Dietrich - with songs sung by soldiers on both sides of the conflict.Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impactProducer: Maggie Ayre.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.

Written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer for Robert Wyatt, Shipbuilding was recorded in several versions by Elvis Costello himself, Suede, June Tabor, Hue and Cry, Tamsin Archer and The Unthanks.The blend of subtle lyrics and extraordinary music makes this a political song like no other. It transcends the particular circumstances of its writing: the Falklands War and the decline of British heavy industry, especially ship-building.Clive and Elvis describe how the song was written in 1982 and how legendary jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player, Chet Baker, came to perform on Costello's version.Philosopher Richard Ashcroft wants the song, which he sees as a kind of secular hymn, played at his funeral because it gives a perfect expression of how he believes we should think about life. Not being able to feel the emotion of the song would, he feels, be like being morally tone-deaf. If you don't like this song, he'd find it hard to be your friend.The song's achingly beautiful final couplet about "diving for pearls" makes former MP Alan Johnson cry. It's also inspired an oral history and migrant integration project in Glasgow. Chris Gourley describes how the participants found a way to overcome their lack of English and communicate through a shared understanding of ship-building practice.Other contributors include Hopi Sen, a political blogger who was an unusually political child, and the Mercury Prize winning folk group The Unthanks. They toured their version to towns with ship-building connections as part of a live performance of a film tracing the history of British ship-building using archive footage.Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impactProducer: Natalie SteedFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2013.

The Stabat Mater's imagines the sufferings of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross, and Pergolesi's 18th-century setting remains a choral favourite.Pam Self tells the moving story of how this piece unites her and her friend Helen Vaughan, both during life and after.Soprano Catherine Bott reflects on the piece's themes.The Stabat Mater has been reinterpreted many times over the years: Sasha Lazard recalls singing it in the school choir, before later taking the melody and transforming it into a dance version for her album 'The Myth of Red' rechristening it 'Stabat Mater IXXI' in the wake of the September 11th attacks.Victor Alcantara also sang it as a boy, before returning to the piece as an adult and transforming it into a jazz opus.Composer and Conductor Paul Spicer examines the musical tensions in the piece, likening its opening to "a heartbeat."Professor Anthony DelDonna recalls a performance of the Stabat Mater in his hometown of Naples, and reflects on the moment which reaffirmed his his faith.Producer: Toby FieldFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013.