Passion, Masks and Parry

Tom Service meets conductor Jonathan Nott to discuss his passion for music which began as a choral scholar in Worcester, the unanswerable questions that the masterpieces of Mahler and other composers pose as we move through life, and the new concert hall complex being built in Geneva for his Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Hubert Parry: a major figure in British musical history: Tom travels to Oxford and London to discover two formative musical experiences which changed Parry's life. With Kate Kennedy he discovers what impact studying at Exeter College, Oxford made on his future career as a composer and educationalist, and at 12 Orme Square London, David Owen Norris explains how Wagner was an important stepping-stone in his musical development.

Judith Chernaik's new book 'Schumann the Faces and the Masks' reveals new material on Robert and Clara's relationship. Who depended on who? And what couldn't Robert tell the love of his life?

The Orpheus and Eurydice myth is re-told in Passion, the first UK production of French composer Pascal Dusapin's dance-opera, currently touring the UK. Members of the production team, Caroline Finn, Michael McCarthy and Pascal discuss the genesis of this work on loss on love.