In this episode, we find Beethoven in hip-hop and Chopin in pop.

We're diving into how modern music channels the classics, starting with Linton, who unpacks Nas’s hip-hop anthem ‘I Can’ and its iconic 'Für Elise' sample.

And then Gillian traces the transformation of Chopin's Prelude No. 20 into Barry Manilow’s soaring pop sensation, 'Could It Be Magic?'

Episode highlights:

00:00 Introduction

00:47 Pop music's classical roots

02:33 Personal musical journeys

05:10 Classical inspirations in Pop

06:21 Nas and Beethoven

19:24 Chopin's Influence on Barry Manilow’s ‘Could it be Magic?’

33:27 Conclusion and final thoughts

Featured music:

Nas' I Can (2002)

Barry Manilow's Could It Be Magic? (1971)

Get in touch:

📩 Send your classical questions to ⁠podcasts@southbankcentre.co.uk⁠

Get updates on ⁠Instagram⁠

Follow us on ⁠TikTok⁠

⁠Subscribe to The Tonic newsletter⁠ for articles, video and audio

And don’t forget to subscribe, like and comment, wherever you get your podcasts.

Credits

Produced by Connor Gani

Executive Producers Emily Dicks and Phil Smith

Sound Mix by Solomon King

A Reduced Listening production for Southbank Centre

Using the examples of Mica Levi's score for the 2013 film 'Under the Skin' and the soundtrack from the video game 'Soulcalibur II', Gillian and Linton explore whether film soundtracks and video game scores should be considered true classical music.

Episode highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:55 Debating the legitimacy of film and video game scores

06:16 Exploring Mica Levi's score for 'Under the Skin'

14:48 The genius of live Instruments and synthesised sounds

23:16 Healing Winds from Soulcaliber II

26:26 The evolution of game music

35:51 The role of orchestras in game music

Featured music:

• Mica Levi's Under the Skin (2014)

• Junichi Nakatsuru, Yoshihito Yano, Asuka Sakai, Rio Hamamoto, Ryuichi Takada, and Junichi Takagi's Soulcalibur 2 (2002)

  
  

• Get in touch:

  📩 Send your classical questions to ⁠podcasts@southbankcentre.co.uk⁠

  Get updates on ⁠Instagram⁠

  Follow us on ⁠TikTok⁠

  ⁠Subscribe to The Tonic newsletter⁠ for articles, video and audio

  And don’t forget to subscribe, like and comment, wherever you get your podcasts.

  
  

  Credits:

  Produced by Connor Gani

  Executive Producers Emily Dicks and Phil Smith

  Sound Mix by Solomon King

  A Reduced Listening production for Southbank Centre

We deep dive into why and how classical music is able to capture pure joy in sound, featuring joyful pieces by Felix Mendelssohn and Francesca Caccini.

Gillian and Linton discuss the innovative and emotional power of Mendelssohn's Octet in E Flat, written by the composer when he was just 16, and the hypnotic, rhythmically alive Chaconne by Cini, one of the first women composers in Europe to earn a living from her music.

In this episode:

00:00 Welcome to So Hear Me Out

00:59 Today's Big Question: Why Does Classical Music Make Us Happy?

01:19 Felix Mendelssohn: A Burst of Brilliance

02:15 Nile Rodgers and the Joy of Music

04:19 Mendelssohn's Musical Legacy

08:43 The Joyful Octet in E Flat

15:50 Mendelssohn's Signature Sound

18:54 Mozart's Early Masterpieces

19:42 Felix Mendelssohn's Emotional Journey

21:56 Discovering Francesca Cini

24:20 The Joy of Baroque Music

35:00 The Science of Joy in Music

38:44 Conclusion and Farewell

Featured music:

Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E Flat

Francesca Caccini’s Chaconne

Get in touch:

📩 Send your classical questions to podcasts@southbankcentre.co.uk

Get updates on Instagram

Follow us on TikTok

Subscribe to The Tonic newsletter for articles, video and audio

And don’t forget to subscribe, like and comment, wherever you get your podcasts.

Credits

Produced by Connor Gani

Executive Producers Emily Dicks and Phil Smith

Sound Mix by Solomon King

A Reduced Listening production for Southbank Centre

Can music provide hope when freedom has been taken away? Ethel Smyth’s March of the Women rang out as a rallying cry for imprisoned suffragettes, its rhythms defiant and unifying. Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, composed and first performed in a Nazi POW camp in 1941, fused faith, birdsong, and dazzling visions of colour into music that offered hope and transcendence to prisoners and guards alike.

Gillian Moore and Linton Stephens explore how these works — and many others — testify to the resilience of creativity. Gillian also recalls her own encounters with music behind bars, where moments of song broke down walls both physical and emotional.

Episode highlights

00:00 Welcome to So Hear Me Out

02:03 Exploring music's role in prisons

03:42 Personal experiences with music in prisons

08:33 Introducing Ethel Smyth's March of the Women

11:33 The impact and legacy of March of the Women

21:12 More notable music behind bars

22:38 The iconic title and its significance

23:14 Introduction to Olivier Messiaen

24:24 The Quartet for the End of Time: background and composition

24:57 A unique orchestration and instrumentation

27:55 Messiaen's religious and natural inspirations

29:14 The First Movement: Abyss of the Birds

32:27 Synesthesia and Messiaen's colorful music

39:27 The first performance in the prison camp

40:56 The emotional heart of The Quartet…

44:46 Music as emancipation and resistance

46:23 Closing thoughts and farewell

Featured music:

• Quartet for the End of Time (1941) Olivier Messiaen

• March of the Women (1910) Ethel Smyth

Expect a whirlwind tour through Luciano Berio’s mashup masterpiece Sinfonia, complete with Mahler, Beckett, and a generous helping of 1960s political angst.

Then it’s off to a galaxy far, far away to explore how Star Wars composer John Williams borrowed from the greats to create some of the most iconic music in film history (spoiler: Holst and Wagner would probably want royalties).

In this episode of So Hear Me Out, your ever-curious hosts Gillian Moore and Linton Stephens dig into how classical music has been sampling, stealing from (sorry, paying homage to), and reinventing itself for centuries.

This episode asks, is anything truly original? Do composers all have a secret sampling habit? And can reworking the past speak to the world today?

In this episode:

08:51 Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia Movement No. 3

13:43 Analyzing Berio's Sinfonia

23:01 Intertextuality in music: Beckett, Mahler, and 1968

23:51 The radical politics of the 1960s in classical music

24:28 Breaking the fourth wall in music

25:28 A memorable performance at the Southbank Centre

26:25 John Williams and the Influence of classical music

29:22 The genius of John Williams: Star Wars and beyond

31:46 Iconic melodies and orchestration techniques

33:53 The familiar sound world of Star Wars

37:19 The influence of classical composers on John Williams

42:04 The brilliance of John Williams' scores

47:29 Remixing and reworking classical music

50:18 Closing thoughts and farewell

Chapters:

• 00:04 - Introduction

• 05:35 - Historical context of remixing in classical music

• 13:48 - Berio's influences: The Beatles, Beckett, Mahler, and 1968

• 23:19 - Berio’s Resurrection Symphony

• 26:31 - The Influence of Classical Music on Modern Composers

• 32:25 - The legacy of John Williams' film music

• 39:54 - Exploring the classical homages in Star Wars

• 46:18 - The Impact of John Williams' Music

• 50:18 - Closing thoughts and farewell

Featured music:

• Sinfonia Movement No. 3 (1969) Luciano Berio

• Star Wars (1977) John Williams

Get in touch:

• 📩 Send your classical questions to podcasts@southbankcentre.co.uk

• Get updates on Instagram @southbankcentre

• Follow us on TikTok @southbank.centre

• Subscribe to The Tonic newsletter for articles, video and audio

• And don’t forget to subscribe, like and comment, wherever you get your podcasts.

Linton and Gillian explore how classical music has been used to challenge power, uplift marginalised voices, and fuel social movements. From radical sounds to revolutionary ideas, we discover how music becomes activism.

Linton introduces Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla, a defiant and deeply moving work that reclaims the idea of the ‘guerrilla’ as a symbol of queer resistance. The piece is raw, repetitive, and electrifying – built to reflect both personal struggle and collective power.

Gillian guides us through Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated, a towering set of 36 variations based on a Chilean protest anthem. Together Gillian and Linton unpack how Rzewski weaves political messages into classical form, creating a composition that bridges generations and geographies of resistance.

Throughout this episode, the hosts consider how music amplifies stories too often silenced, and how these works continue to speak to today’s social and political realities. This is classical music as you’ve never heard it – urgent, unflinching, and unafraid to raise its voice.

Listen now for an exploration of music that dares to speak out and still echoes today.

Episode highlights:

00:00 Welcome to So Hear Me Out

01:02 Today's big question: How is classical music protest music?

02:33 Anne Hathaway and Les Misérables

03:16 Exploring protest and resistance in classical music

04:31 Julius Eastman's Gay Guerrilla

06:23 Analyzing the music and techniques of Gay Guerrilla

25:01 Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated

29:25 Musical variations and political messages

41:08 The power of music in activism

42:06 Closing thoughts and farewell

Featured works

• Gay Guerrilla, Julius Eastman
• The People United Will Never Be Defeated, Frederic Rzewski

• 
  

Get in touch

• 📩 Send your classical questions to podcasts@southbankcentre.co.uk
• Get updates on Instagram ⁠@southbankcentre⁠
• Follow us on TikTok ⁠@southbank.centre⁠
• Subscribe to ⁠The Tonic newsletter⁠ for all of our articles, video and audio
• And don’t forget to subscribe and comment, wherever you get your podcasts

• 
  

• Credits

  Produced by Connor Gani

  Executive Producers Emily Dicks and Phil Smith

  Sound Mix by Solomon King

  A Reduced Listening production for Southbank Centre

Music doesn’t exist in a vacuum – it travels, it transforms, and sometimes it takes what isn’t freely given.

Hosts Linton Stephens and Gillian Moore wade into one of the most complex questions in music today: is it okay to use sounds from cultures that are not your own? And, perhaps more importantly, how can you tell the difference between inspiration and appropriation?

Together they dig into Claude Debussy’s Pagodas, written after his encounter with Javanese gamelan music at the 1889 Paris Exhibition, asking whether his East meets West composition is an act of respectful homage or something more problematic. They also explore Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 (The New World Symphony), shaped by his time in the US and the influence of African American spirituals and Native American music – with key input from his student, Harry T. Burleigh.

This episode of So Hear Me Out is about the grey areas; where admiration meets appropriation, and where intention matters just as much as impact. With a blend of musical excerpts, historical insight, and honest reflection, Gillian and Linton offer a nuanced take on how cultural exchange has shaped classical music – and how to approach it more thoughtfully today.

Listen now for a rich and challenging conversation that proves music can both connect and complicate across cultures.

👉 Subscribe now to So Hear Me Out and don’t miss an episode.

In this episode:

00:00 Welcome to So Hear Me Out

00:55 Today's big question: cultural appropriation in music

03:13 Exploring cultural heritage in classical music

11:44 Debussy's tribute to Javanese gamelan

24:01 Dvořák's New World Symphony: honoring American sounds

40:29 Reflecting on cultural inspiration versus appropriation

42:17 Closing thoughts and farewell

Featured works

• Pagodes (1903) Claude Debussy

• Symphony No 9 (1893) Antonín Dvořák

Get in touch

• 📩 Send your classical questions to podcasts@southbankcentre.co.uk

• Get updates on Instagram⁠ ⁠@southbankcentre⁠⁠

• Follow us on TikTok ⁠@southbank.centre⁠

• Subscribe to⁠ ⁠The Tonic newsletter⁠⁠ for all of our articles, video and audio

• And don’t forget to subscribe and comment, wherever you get your podcasts

  
  

Credits

Produced by Connor Gani

Executive Producers Emily Dicks and Phil Smith

Sound Mix by Solomon King

A Reduced Listening production for Southbank Centre

Kicking off with the worst classical music jokes we could find, Linton and Gillian dive into the hidden humour of the classical world — from Haydn’s cheeky Surprise Symphony to Ravel’s mischievous opera L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Q: Why did the pianist keep banging her head against the keys?

A: Because she was playing by ear.

(We’re sorry. It only gets slightly better from here.)

Expect orchestral pranks, singing teacups, and musical punchlines you didn’t see coming. But it's not all laughs — our hosts also unpack how humour intersects with performance, culture, and the sometimes tricky territory of what was funny then vs. now.

Key takeaways:

• Classical music can have a wacky side that often surprises us with humour and playfulness, just like that unexpected punchline in a bad dad joke.
• Haydn's Symphony No. 94, famously known as the Surprise Symphony, is a perfect example of how classical music can throw in a cheeky twist that catches listeners off guard, making us chuckle in our seats.
• Ravel’s opera, 'L'Enfant et les Sortilèges', showcases a whimsical world where inanimate objects come to life, proving that classical music can be both visually and musically hilarious at the same time.
• Classical music can transcend the serious label it's often given, revealing its potential for laughter and joy, and encouraging us to open our minds to its comedic elements.
• By exploring pieces like Haydn’s and Ravel’s works, we discover that humour in classical music isn't just a modern invention; it's been sneaking into compositions for centuries, waiting for us to find it.
• The discussion highlights how knowing the context of a piece can enhance our appreciation of its humour, transforming a simple melody into a delightful journey of wit and charm.

Episode highlights:

00:00 Introduction

03:17 The worst classical music jokes

07:26 Exploring humour in classical music

09:39 The origins of Colette's libretto and Ravel's adaptation

30:17 The Genius of Haydn: humour in classical music

37:41 Closing thoughts and farewell

Featured works

• Surprise Symphony (1791) Joseph Haydn
• L’enfant et Les Sortileges (1925) Maurice Ravel

👉 Subscribe now to So Hear Me Out and don’t miss an episode.

• 📩 Send your classical questions to podcasts@southbankcentre.co.uk
• Get updates on Instagram @southbankcentre
• Follow us on TikTok @southbank.centre
• Subscribe to The Tonic newsletter for all of our articles, video and audio
• And don’t forget to subscribe and comment, wherever you get your podcasts