Presented by Peter Dodds.  Broadcast 31/08/2025 and repeated 05/09/2025 Crooner Bob Merrill opined that “love makes the world go round”, and this week’s Illuminations is devoted to the love-lorn and the love-torn. From the orgasmic excesses of Tristan and Isolde, to the regrets (they had a few), of Bessie Smith and Marlene Dietrich, we’ll discover that love doesn’t actually make the world go round (but it can go pear-shaped!).  

Presented by Peter Dodds. Broadcast 24/08/2025 4-5pm.  Repeated 29/08/2025 3-4pm This week in Illuminations, Peter Dodds takes a look at all things risible in classical music, and discovers just how complex and deadly serious comedy in music really is. Or just deadly. From the euphonious Portsmouth Sinfonia to PDQ Bach to Florence Foster Jenkins, you are invited to listen in to this scintillating intellectual thesis on taking the musical mickey.

Presented by Peter Dodds. Broadcast 17/08/2025 4-5pm.  Repeated 22/08/2025 3-4pm When does a fabulous melody become just schmaltz? And how does the Yiddish word for rendered chicken fat have anything to do with music anyway? On Illuminations this week Peter Dodds is going to dive into a musical smörgåsbord of all things schmaltzy, and from Ethelbert Nevin to Albert Ketèlbey, you may just discover a new appetite for this music!  

Presented by Felicity Cronan. Broadcast 10/08/2025 4-5pm.  Repeated 15/08/2025 3-4pm The composer Maurice Ravel was born 150 years ago in the Basque country to a French father and a Spanish mother. These and many other influences are discernible in his music. Ravel was a painstaking but not prolific artist when compared to many other composers. Nevertheless he left a significant number of compositions across several genres. Join Felicity Cronan in celebrating the 150th anniversary of this wonderful composer.  

Presented by Felicity Cronan. Broadcast 03/08/2025 4-5pm.  Repeated 08/08/2025 3-4pm The composer Maurice Ravel was born 150 years ago in the Basque country to a French father and a Spanish mother. These and many other influences are discernible in his music. Ravel was a painstaking but not prolific artist when compared to many other composers. Nevertheless he left a significant number of compositions across several genres. Join Felicity Cronan in celebrating the 150th anniversary of this wonderful composer.  

Presented by Helen Rommelaar. Broadcast 27/7/2025 4-5pm.  Repeated 01/08/2025 3-4pm Often left off the pages of history are the incredible contributions of women throughout the ages, and few cases are demonstrated more definitively than that of Nannette Streicher, the woman who built Beethoven’s pianos. Not only did she change the history of piano making, she was also one of Beethoven’s dearest and closest friends. So why have we not heard of her? To find out, join Helen Rommelaar as she brings to light this remarkable story.  

Presented by Helen Rommelaar. Broadcast 20/7/2025 4-5pm.  Repeated 25/7/2025 3-4pm. The classical music world is definitely not short of scandal and the list of crimes committed range from the extreme, to the absurd. But which composers actually got caught doing things they shouldn’t and who was arrested and sent to jail? Join Helen Rommelaar as she explores the seedy lives of composers and discover the felons, the wrongdoers and the law breakers of the classical music world.

Presented by John Wilkinson. Broadcast 13/7/2025 4-5pm.  Repeated 18/7/2025 3-4pm. In the 1920s, Rutland Boughton was one of Britain’s most popular composers with his opera The Immortal Hour being performed every year at its own festival. But bankruptcy and being a communist saw the composer’s reputation decline to the point of completely fading from view. John Wilkinson looks at this remarkable composer’s life.

Presented by John Wilkinson. Broadcast 6 /7/2025 4-5pm.  Repeated 11/7/2025 3-4pm. In 1920, Lady Elgar died and it seemed the composer’s creativity also declined with this loss. During the decade, there were still some small compositions written, but nothing on the previous grand scale. His music was also becoming increasingly unfashionable. Join John Wilkinson as he looks at the last complete decade of Elgar’s life.