Scottish composer Anna Meredith creates a meeting place between the concert platform and the rave in her music. Her piece for electronics and string quartet, Tuggemo, takes its name from an archaic English word for a swarm of bees, and demands to be heard loud. It's being given its Australian premiere by Omega Ensemble as part of their Howl concert season.

Sophia Brous is an Australian composer based in the US, and she creates semi-improvised song cycles from selections by 20th century writers. Her new collaborator of sorts is the late Dorothy Porter, with her partner Andrea Goldsmith acting as a guide through the poetry Porter wrote in the last years of her life. Andrea and Sophia join Andy to talk about Porter's impact on music and music's impact on her. 

Sophia Brous and Paul Grabowsky are performing Life Lines: A Song Cycle of Dorothy Porter at the Melbourne Writers Festival

Music heard in this program:

Title: BlackfriarsArtist: Anna MeredithComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: VarmintsLabel: Moshi Moshi

Title: TuggemoArtist: Ligeti QuartetComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: NucLabel: Mercury KX

Title: Lil WaltzerArtist: Anna MeredithComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: Bumps Per MinuteLabel: Moshi Moshi

Title: NautilusArtist: Anna MeredithComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: VarmintsLabel: Moshi Moshi

Title: NautilusArtist: Ligeti QuartetComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: NucLabel: Mercury KX

Title: MoonmoonsArtist: Anna MeredithComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: FIBSLabel: Moshi Moshi

Title: If Snakes Could FlyArtist: Paul Grabowsky and Katie NoonanComposer: Dorothy Porter and Paul GrabowskyAlbum: Before Time Could Change UsLabel: SBS Weatherwatch

Title: Set PIecesArtist: Sophia Brous and Kit DownesComposer: Sophia Brous and Alejandra PizarnikAlbum: Set Pieces live at The Lincoln Center

Title: 10 Preludes, Op. 23; No. 6 AndanteArtist: Ruth SlenczynskaComposer: Sergei RachmaninovAlbum: Complete American Decca RecordingsLabel: Eloquence

The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country

Technical production by Isabella Tropiano

Jeremy Sams is a composer, theatre director and a long-time friend of the show. He's the latest in our series of long conversations with old friends. He joined Andy recently in London to talk about how opera, music theatre and the industries behind the art forms have transformed over the years. 

Music heard in the show:

Title: Balloon MusicArtist: Royal Philharmonic OrchestraComposer: Jeremy SamsAlbum: Enduring LoveLabel: Mellowdrama Records

Title: Act II: Tell me what love is from The Marriage of FigaroArtist: Diana Montague (Cherubino)Composer: Mozart, libretto trans. Jeremy SamsAlbum: The Marriage of FigaroLabel: Chandos

Title: Sunday in the Park, Move On, Sunday (Act II) from Sunday in the Park with GeorgeArtist: Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Broadway Company of Sunday in the Park With GeorgeComposer: Stephen SondheimAlbum: Sunday in the Park With GeorgeLabel: Masterworks Broadway

The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country

Technical production by Antonia Gauci, Timothy Jenkins and Adrian James

ZÖJ, the collaboration between Gelareh Pour and Brian O'Dwyer perform the opening track from their new album, May The Devil’s Ear Be Deaf, live in the music show studios. The album was recorded at an artists retreat in Banff, Canada, and features music “built on fragility and on the fear of its own erasure." They also talk about performing a live score to a remarkable 1925 silent film, Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life.

The Three Seas have been coming together and then flying apart again for years, and they're back together for a live session in the Music Show studio. With band members living in both Australia and West Bengal, the music is an amalgam of Himalayan folk, Baul spiritual music, rock, dub, and jazz. Their latest album is called Antahkarana and it was recorded in Peter Gabriel's Real World studio, a high-tech idyll in the south west of England.

And we remember two giants of the classical world, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who has died at the age of 81, and Ruth Slenczynska, who has died at the age of 102. 

Tilson Thomas was known for his advocacy of modern American repertoire, and his life-long embrace of Mahler's titanic symphonies. In an archive interview, he tells Andy how he thinks about classical music as a whole, and Mahler in particular. 

We'll hear more from Andy's long conversation with Ruth Slenczynska, a child-prodigy concert pianist who learned with Rachmaninov and duetted with President Truman, next time on The Music Show. 

The Three Seas are currently on tour, dates available here

ZÖJ are performing Grass at The Capitol Theatre on May 1

Music heard in this program:

Title: Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor, BWV903 Artist: Ruth Slenczynska Composer: J. S. BachAlbum: Ruth Slenczynska - Complete American Decca RecordingsLabel: Decca

Title: Symphony No. 4; iii. Fugue (Andante moderato) Artist: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Michael Tilson ThomasComposer: Charles IvesAlbum: Ives - Symphony Nos. 3 & 4, Selected American HymnsLabel: SFS Media

Title: Symphony No. 1 in D major, 'Titan'; iv. Stürmisch bewegtArtist: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson ThomasComposer: Gustav MahlerAlbum: Mahler - Symphony No. 1Label: SFS Media

Title: TermitesArtist: ZÖJComposer: Gelareh Pour & Brian O'DwyerAlbum: May The Devil’s Ear Be DeafLabel: Bleeemo Music

Title: Real WorldArtist: The Three SeasComposer: The Three SeasAlbum: AntaḥkaraṇaLabel: Earshift Music

Title: RongmoholeArtist: The Three SeasComposer: The Three SeasAlbum: AntaḥkaraṇaLabel: Earshift Music

The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country

Technical production by Antonia Gauci, AJ Bradford, and Tim Jenkins

The Mountain Goats started out as a solo project by then-psych nurse John Darnielle recording directly into a boombox in his room. Their latest album (Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan) is a "full-on musical", complete with french horn and a string section, recorded on what sound like very nice microphones. Darnielle's tastes and influences are esoteric and wide ranging, and so is this conversation with Ce Benedict, in which they discuss religious schisms, instrumental choices, and musical theatre. 

John Darnielle's new book, This Year: 365 Songs Annotated actually contains 366 songs and is published by Scribe.

Robert Finley's first album was called Age Don't Mean A Thing, which was fitting because he released it in his 60s. Before that, he was a military man and then a carpenter. When he began to go blind he sat down his tools and returned to music - initially the blues - but his latest album Hallelujah! Don't Let the Devil Fool Ya is a gospel album, and a very special one. 

Jake Mason's new album with the Jake Mason Trio is called The Modern Ark and it's got the hammond organ at its core. Jake joins Andy to talk about working with vocalists Kate Cebrano and Kurt Elling, why the trio is the perfect unit of music for him, and going ham(mond).

Film composer Bernard Herrmann’s career started and ended with classics: his first film was Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941), his last was Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976). But it’s the nine films that Herrmann worked on with Alfred Hitchcock that define his legacy, and in his new book, Hitchcock and Herrmann: The Friendship and Film Scores that Changed Cinema, Steven C Smith examines the work they shared together.

Music heard in this program:

Title: Music from Psycho - The ShowerArtist: National Philharmonic OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: PsychoLabel: Unicorn

Title: Music from The Trouble With Harry - OvertureArtist: Royal Scottish National OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: The Trouble With HarryLabel: Varèse Sarabande

Title: Music from The Man Who Knew Too Much - Storm Clouds CantataArtist: London Symphony OrchestraComposer: Arthur Benjamin & D.B. Wyndham-LewisAlbum: The Man Who Knew Too Much

Title: Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)Artist: Doris Day and Christopher OlsenComposer: Jay Livingston & Ray EvansAlbum: The Man Who Knew Too Much

Title: Music from The Wrong Man - PreludeArtist: The Warner Brothers Studio OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: The Wrong Man

Title: Music from The Wrong Man - HandcuffsArtist: The Warner Brothers Studio OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: The Wrong Man

Title: Music from Vertigo Prelude and RooftopArtist: Royal Scottish National OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: VertigoLabel: Mercury

Title: Music from Vertigo - Scène d'amourArtist: Royal Scottish National OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: VertigoLabel: Mercury

Title: Music from Pyscho - FinaleArtist: National Philharmonic OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: PsychoLabel: Unicorn

Title: Music from North By Northwest - OvertureArtist: The M-G-M Studio OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: North By Northwest

Title: Music from North By Northwest - The CrashArtist: The M-G-M Studio OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: North By Northwest

Title: Music from North By Northwest - The Stone FacesArtist: The M-G-M Studio OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: North By Northwest

Title: Music from Psycho - The CurtainArtist: National Philharmonic OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: PsychoLabel: Unicorn

Title: Music from Marnie - PreludeArtist: City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Paul BatemanComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: MarnieLabel: Tsunami

Title: The KillingArtist: National Philharmonic OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: Torn Curtain: The Unused ScoreLabel: Varèse Sarabande 

Title: This YearArtist: The Mountain GoatsComposer: John DarnielleAlbum: The Sunset TreeLabel: 4AD

The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country

Technical production by Antonia Gauci

There aren’t many bands that are still going after 50 years, but Sparks, who had their first big hit back in 1974 with This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us, have seen a renaissance of sorts in the last few years - they wrote a film, starred in a documentary, collaborated with Cate Blanchett, and have released some of their best work. The brothers, Ron and Russell Mael, talk about their shifting style, creative use of repetition, and the work of Bernard Herrmann. 

After performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Mo'Ju has swapped the stage for the library - as one of the musicians commissioned by the State Library of Victoria to write a song for their Rebel Heart exhibition, works inspired by letters that reveal tales of love, and of rebellion.

Sparks tour dates available here.

Music heard in this program:

Title: Far Too LateArtist: Mo'juComposer: Mojo Ruiz de LuzuriagaAlbum: Native TongueLabel: ABC Music

Title: Do Things My Own WayArtist: SparksComposer: Ron Mael & Russell MaelAlbum: MAD!Label: Transgressive Records

Title: This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of UsArtist: SparksComposer: Ron MaelAlbum: Kimono My HouseLabel: Island Records

Title: Tryouts for the Human RaceArtist: SparksComposer: Ron Mael & Giorgio MoroderAlbum: No. 1 In HeavenLabel: Virgin Music

Title: My Baby's Taking Me HomeArtist: SparksComposer: Ron Mael & Russell MaelAlbum: Lil' BeethovenLabel: Lil' Beethoven Records

Title: The Girl Is Crying In Her LatteArtist: SparksComposer: Ron Mael & Russell MaelAlbum: The Girl Is Crying In Her LatteLabel: Island Records

Title: AgapitoArtist: Mo'JuComposer: Mojo Ruiz de LuzuriagaAlbum: State Library of Victoria Exhibition Label: Independent 

Title: I Just Wanna KnowArtist: Mo'juComposer: Mojo Ruiz de LuzuriagaAlbum: Native TongueLabel: ABC Music

Title: Music from Psycho - The MurderArtist: National Philharmonic OrchestraComposer: Bernard HerrmannAlbum: PsychoLabel: Unicorn

The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country

Technical production by Antonia Gauci

Tabaran, the 1990 album by Not Drowning, Waving and the musicians Of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea featuring Telek, has been inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive as one of the Sounds of Australia. David Bridie looks back on the album, which saw the band head to Papua New Guinea to work with George Telek for the first time.

The music of Australian composer Carl Vine serves as a swan-song for the Goldner Quartet, who have wrapped up by releasing their final album Child's Play. The title comes from one of Carl's pieces, and he joins Andy to talk about the music and collaborating with the Goldners. 

Music heard in this program:

Title: Piano Quintet "Fantasia" IIIArtist: Goldner String Quartet & Piers LaneComposer: Carl VineAlbum: Carl Vine: Child's Play, Piano Quintet & Other Chamber MusicLabel: Hyperion

Title: TabaranArtist: Not Drowning, Waving And The Musicians Of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea Featuring TelekComposer: Not Drowning, Waving & Telek Album: TabaranLabel: WEA

Title: The Kiap SongArtist: Not Drowning, Waving And The Musicians Of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea Featuring TelekComposer: Not Drowning, Waving & Telek Album: TabaranLabel: WEA

Title: Call Across The HighlandsArtist: Not Drowning, Waving And The Musicians Of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea Featuring TelekComposer: Not Drowning, Waving & Telek Album: TabaranLabel: WEA

Title: String Quartet No. 6 "Child's Play" I. PlayArtist: Goldner String Quartet Composer: Carl VineAlbum: Carl Vine: Child's Play, Piano Quintet & Other Chamber MusicLabel: Hyperion

Title: String Quartet No. 6 "Child's Play" V. RunningArtist: Goldner String Quartet Composer: Carl VineAlbum: Carl Vine: Child's Play, Piano Quintet & Other Chamber MusicLabel: Hyperion

Title: This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of UsArtist: SparksComposer: Ron Mael & Russell MaelAlbum: Kimono My HouseLabel: Island Records

The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country

Technical production by Emrys Cronin

Alan Menken’s name is synonymous with Disney’s 1990s purple patch: a so called ‘renaissance’ of the animation empire’s fortunes, where a run of films starting with 1989’s The Little Mermaid cut through to a new generation. Ahead of a series of solo performances in Australia, he talks to Andy about how he's brought characters to life through songs. 

And from the archives, conversations with three musicians inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia for 2026: Marcia Hines, Joe Dolce, and Missy Higgins.

A Whole New World Of Alan Menken is in Melbourne on 6 May and Sydney 8 May. 

We're digging into the archives for a special program looking at the role that music played in the UK miners' strikes: a political, industrial and personal struggle. From Peggy Seeger to Paul Weller, Billy Bragg to brass bands—there's music supporting the striking miners, songs tormenting strikebreakers and tracks referencing (and sometimes sampling) National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of East Anglia John Street guides us through the history and music of this divisive time, plus we hear interviews from the ABC archives with folklorist A L Lloyd, singer songwriter Billy Bragg, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, folk singers Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger and composer David Lumsdaine.