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Private Passions

First broadcast from 19950902 to 20090705.

  • 20080323 was the 600th edition.
 

Radio 3  Radio 3

Music
Classical

411 episodes

 
TitleFirst
Broadcast		RepeatedDescription
Leopold De Rothschild19950902 Producer: A. CHEEVERS
Next in series: IAN HISLOP
Previous in series: ALBERT ROUX
Broadcast history
02 Sep 1995 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-06-30.
Ian Hislop19950909 Producer: D. RAYVERN-ALLEN
Next in series: Dennis Marks
Previous in series: LEOPOLD DE ROTHSCHILD
Broadcast history
09 Sep 1995 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-06-26.
dennis Marks19950916 Producer: D. RAYVERN-ALLEN
Next in series: SIR EDWIN NIXON
Previous in series: IAN HISLOP
Broadcast history
16 Sep 1995 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-06-23.
Sir Edwin Nixon19950923 Producer: D. RAYVERN-ALLEN
Next in series: DAVID HOCKNEY
Previous in series: Dennis Marks
Broadcast history
23 Sep 1995 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-06-26.
David Hockney19950930 Producer: M. COTTON
Next in series: BAMBER GASCOIGNE
Previous in series: SIR EDWIN NIXON
Broadcast history
30 Sep 1995 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-06-16.
Chad Varah19960106 First broadcast on 1995-07-01
Producer: D. RAYVERN-ALLEN
Next in series: SIMON JENKINS
Previous in series: JOHN MORTIMER
Broadcast history
01 Jul 1995 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
06 Jan 1996 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-05-26.
Ken Russell19960113 Producer: D. PAPP
Next in series: DAVID HARE
Previous in series: BARRY HUMPHRIES
Broadcast history
13 Jan 1996 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-12-15.
David Hare19960120 Producer: R. COX
Next in series: SIAN PHILLIPS
Previous in series: KEN RUSSELL
Broadcast history
20 Jan 1996 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
30 Dec 1996 18:30-19:30 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-12-14.
Sian Phillips19960127 Producer: LADBROKE RADIO
Next in series: ISAIAH BERLIN
Previous in series: DAVID HARE
Broadcast history
27 Jan 1996 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1995-12-11.
Isaiah Berlin19960203 Producer: LADBROKE RADIO
Next in series: DR. STEVE JONES
Previous in series: SIAN PHILLIPS
Broadcast history
03 Feb 1996 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
11 Jan 1997 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1996-01-26.
Dr. Steve Jones19960210 Producer: D. PAPP
Next in series: Patricia Routledge
Previous in series: ISAIAH BERLIN
Broadcast history
10 Feb 1996 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1996-01-15.
patricia Routledge19960217 Producer: A. LYLE
Next in series: MAGDI YACOUB
Previous in series: DR. STEVE JONES
Broadcast history
17 Feb 1996 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
01 Jan 1997 18:30-19:30 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1996-01-24.
Magdi Yacoub19960224 Producer: D. PAPP
Next in series: JAMES MACMILLAN
Previous in series: Patricia Routledge
Broadcast history
24 Feb 1996 12:00-13:00 (RADIO 3)
Recorded on 1996-01-07.
michael Berkeley's Guest Today Is Distinguished Football Commentator Gerald Sinstadt, Who Began His2000022620000227career with the British Forces Broadcasting Service after the war. In the course of his 50-year radio and TV broadcasting career, he has worked on almost every World Cup final since 1954. His musical choices include operatic excerpts by Verdi, Lalo and Britten, songs by Mahler and Tchaikovsky, a Haydn symphony and a Beethoven string quartet.
 2001070720010708Michael Berkeley is joined by the painter Martin Fuller, whose work is currently enjoying a retrospective at the art gallery and museum in his home town of Leamington Spa. His musical choices include songs by Duke Ellington, Oscar Brown and Charles Mingus, as well as a late Beethoven string quartet and an excerpt from Verdi's Requiem.
Annie Proulx2001071420010715Michael Berkeley is joined by the writer Annie Proulx, whose widely acclaimed books include the novels `The Shipping News' and `Accordian Crimes' and the short-story collection `Close Range'. Her musical choices include the Kronos Quartet playing a piece by John Adams and accompanying the singer Don Walser, Gillian Welsh singing `Morphone', `Spiritual' by Charlie Haden and Pat Methany, and accordian music from Louisiana played by Austin Pitre.
Lucy Irvine2001072120010722Michael Berkeley is joined by Lucy Irvine, whose books include `Castaway' and `Faraway' - an account of a year spent with her children on Pigeon Islands in the Solomons. Her musical choices include a Satie piano piece, a pavane by Byrd, Bruckner's Symphony No 4 and works by Bach, Boccherini and Shostakovich.
David Sylvester 20010729Another chance to hear Michael Berkeley in conversation with the late art critic and curator David Sylvester, author of the collection of essays `About Modern Art'. His musical choices include pieces by Antoine Mahaut, Bach, Purcell and Chopin, the famous first-act quartet from Beethoven's `Fidelio', and Harrison Birtwistle's `Tenebrae'.
 2001080420010805Michael Berkeley is joined by the scholar, biographer and art historian FRANCEs Spalding, who has written extensively on members of the Bloomsbury Group. Her latest book is a much-acclaimed biography of the wood engraver Gwen Raverat - a friend of Rupert Brooke and Lytton Strachy and the granddaughter of Charles Darwin. Spalding's musical choices include church and educational music and works by Vivaldi, Glinka, Mussorgsky and Billie Holiday 
Miss Garnet2001081120010812Michael Berkeley is joined by Salley Vickers, an analytical psychologist who became a best-selling novelist with `Miss Garnet's Angel', a story set in contemporary Venice about a woman's attempt to reinvest her life with a spiritual dimension. Her second novel, `Instances of the Number Three', has recently been published, and her musical choices include several works by Mozart as well as music by Byrd, Galuppi, Schubert, Rachmaninov and Elvis Presley 
Richard Hoggart2001081820010819Michael Berkeley is joined by cultural commentator Richard Hoggart, whose published work includes the seminal `Uses of Literacy', the essay collection `Between Two Worlds', and - more recently - `First and Last Things'. His musical choices include two contrasting pieces by Beethoven, excerpts from Verdi's `La traviata' and `Macbeth', an aria by Mozart, and Jake Thackray singing `The Castleford Ladies' Magic Circle'.
Lebanese Cuisine2001082520010826Michael Berkeley is joined by Lebanese-born food writer, journalist and broadcaster Anissa Helou. She is the author of `Lebanese Cuisine' and `Street Cafe Morocco', and is currently working on a new book about Mediterranean food. Her musical choices include Arab music as well as arias by Bach, Beethoven and Puccini.
A House In Pondicherry2001090120010902Michael Berkeley is joined by award-winning writer Lee Langley, whose books include the novel `A House in Pondicherry', a stage play, screenplays and poetry. Her seventh novel `Distant Music', which is set in Portugal, has just been published, and her musical choices include a piece of fado from Lisbon, and works by Debussy, Janacek, Schubert, Villa Lobos and Frederick the Great.
Angela Flowers2001091520010916Michael Berkeley talks to Angela Flowers, who runs two LONDON art galleries. Her choice of music includes Ginette Neveu's Debussy, Paul Tortelier's Bach, and Miles Davis 
Melvyn Bragg2001092220010923Michael Berkeley talks to Melvyn Bragg, whose choice of music includes Schubert, Elvis Presley, Wagner, Messiaen and Jacqueline Du Pre playing Elgar.
Will Self2001092920010930Michael Berkeley talks to writer Will Self and plays his choice of music, including a Lassus requiem and Massive Attack's `Unfinished Sympathy'.
 2001100620011007Michael Berkeley talks to writer and journalist Andro Linklater and plays his choice of music, including Josephine Baker, Marianne Faithfull, John Adams and Javanese gamelan music.
Alan Brownjohn2001101320011014Michael Berkeley talks to poet Alan Brownjohn and plays his choice of music, including Monteverdi, Tippett, songs by Debussy, Hahn and Warlock, and a late Beethoven quartet.
Anne Karpf2001102020011021Michael Berkeley talks to journalist and sociologist Anne Karpf and plays her choice of music, including a Chopin nocturne and works by Mahler, Schubert, Mozart and the Eagles pianist - and works by Mahler, Schubert, Mozart and the Eagles.
Jeffrey Tobias2001102720011028Michael Berkeley is joined by oncologist Jeffrey Tobias, whose musical choices include keyboard works by Bach, Messiaen and Prokofiev, and operas by Wagner, Janacek and Britten.
Jon Stallworthy2001110320011104Michael Berkeley is joined by Jon Stallworthy, professor of ENGLISH literature and fellow of Wolfson College, OXFORD.
 2001111020011111Michael Berkeley's guest is American jazz pianist Fred Hersch. His choice of music features Bach, Ravel, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell and Earl Hines.
 2001111720011118Michael Berkeley is joined by art historian John Gage, an authority on the works of Turner and the author of two monumental studies of the role played by colour in art and culture.
 2001112420011125Michael Berkeley talks to the BBC's political editor Andrew Marr, whose choice of music includes Bach, Mozart, Shostakovich, Bob Dylan and Burt Bacharach.
Robert Anderson2001120120011202Michael Berkeley talks to Robert Anderson, director of the British Museum for the past decade. His musical choices include Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Dowland and Ives.
Gotterdammerung2001120820011209Michael Berkeley talks to physicist and violinist Colin Gough, whose choices include a Beethoven string quartet, a Mozart overture and the ending of Wagner's `Gotterdammerung'.
 2001121520011216Michael Berkeley talks to agony aunt Irma Kurtz, whose musical choices include works by Tchaikovsky, Britten, Ravel, Janacek and Sondheim.
Joseph Connolly2001122920011230Michael Berkeley is joined by novelist and biographer Joseph Connolly. His musical choices range from Gershwin, Irving BERLIN and `The Mikado' to Bach, Vivaldi and Corelli.
Roger Graef2002010520020106Michael Berkeley is joined by film-maker Roger Graef, noted for his fly-on-the-wall documentaries. His musical choices include pieces by Bloch, Kodaly and Kurt Weill 
Peter Kemp2002011220020113Michael Berkeley is joined by Peter Kemp of the Sunday Times. His musical choices include Schubert, Reynaldo Hahn, Beethoven, Bach, Verdi, Puccini and Wagner.
 2002011920020120Michael Berkeley's guest is Jude Kelly, artistic director of the West YORKshire Playhouse. Her musical choices include Donizetti, John Cage, Haydn, Elgar and Joni Mitchell 
Philip Pullman2002012620020127Michael Berkeley meets award-winning children's author Philip Pullman, whose musicial selections include Vivaldi, Prokofiev, Tippett, the Drifters and the Miles Davis Sextet.
 2002020220020203Michael Berkeley meets theatre director David McVicar, whose musical selection includes Handel, Mozart, Britten, Ravel and Nina Simone 
 2002020920020210Michael Berkeley talks to author Hanif Kureishi, whose musical choices are almost all contemporary and include the Beatles, Steve Reich, Arvo Part, John Cage and Zakir Hussein.
 2002021620020217Michael Berkeley talks to Prof Sir Tom Blundell, whose wide-ranging musical tastes include pieces from INDIA, PAKISTAN and Senegal, Mozart, Bellini, Verdi and Billie Holiday 
 2002022320020224Michael Berkeley talks to arts consultant Christopher Hunt, whose choice of music includes pieces by Handel, Bach, Mozart and Harrison Birtwistle.
 2002030220020303Michael Berkeley talks to former ENGLAND Test cricketer Tony Lewis, whose musical choices include Beethoven, Handel, Haydn and Schubert and a chorale by Karg-Elert.
michael Berkeley Talks To Novelist Sebastian Faulks, Whose Musical Choices Include Works By Tallis,2002030920020310Sibelius, Beethoven, Terry Riley and Miles Davis.
 2002031620020317Michael Berkeley talks to poet Simon Armitage, whose musical choices include songs by Hugo Wolf, Nina Simone and Radiohead, and sacred music by Arvo Part, Durufle and Tavener.
michael Berkeley Talks To Historian Anthony Burton, Whose Musical Choices Include Praetorius, Bach,2002032320020324Stravinksy, Kurt Weill, Birtwistle, Thelonius Monk and Dizzy Gillespie.
 2002033020020331Michael Berkeley talks to writer Peter Parker, whose choices focus on music from the 1920s and 1930s, with pieces by Weill, Coward, Cole Porter, Krenek, Stravinsky and Britten.
 2002040620020407Michael Berkeley talks to writer, broadcaster and critic Clive James 
michael Berkeley Talks To Clare Francis, Whose Musical Choices Include Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Strauss,2002041320020414Britten, Mozart, Janacek and Tan Dun.
 2002042020020421Michael Berkeley talks to poet Wendy Cope, whose musical choices include Tallis, Britten, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and Judith Weir 
 2002042720020428Michael Berkeley talks to novelist and playwright Nigel Williams, whose musical choices include Bach, Mozart, Muddy Waters and Orlando Gibbons.
michael Berkeley's Guest Is Australian Novelist Kathy Lette, Whose Includes The Beach Boys, Blossom2002050420020505Dearie and Noel Coward, Fanny Mendelssohn, Mozart and Strauss.
Mario Vargas Llosa2002051120020512Michael Berkeley talks to South American writer Mario Vargas Llosa, whose musical choices include `Don Giovanni', Mahler's Symphony No 2, Sibelius's Violin Concerto and Stravinsky.
 2002051820020519Michael Berkeley talks to historian Niall Ferguson, whose musical choices include Schubert, Beethoven, Wagner, Robert Burns and Cannonball Adderley.
 2002052520020526Michael Berkeley talks to playwright Arnold Wesker, whose choice of music includes Elgar, C P E Bach, Michael Nyman and Japanese composer Shikeiki Saegusa.
howard Jacobson2002060120020602Michael Berkeley talks to newspaper columnist and writer Howard Jacobson, whose musical choices include Bach, Schubert, a duet from `Bless the Bride', Lehar and Grainger.
michael Berkeley Talks To Paul Nurse, Director-general Of Cancer Research Uk, Whose Choice Of Music2002060820020609includes Handel, Beethoven, Brahms, Britten, Glass Schubert and Shostakovich.
 2002061520020616Michael Berkeley talks to trumpeter Guy Barker, who chooses music by Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Honegger and Martinu.
michael Berkeley Is Joined By The Broadcaster And Journalist sheena Mcdonald, Whose Musical Choices2002062220020623include works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Mozart, Part, Berg and Adams.
 2002062920020630Michael Berkeley is joined by the academic George Steiner, whose musical choices include works by Salamone Rossi, Gesualdo, Schubert, Poulenc, Edith Piaf and Hammerstein.
Serena Sutcliffe2002070620020707Michael Berkeley is joined by Sotheby's wine expert Serena Sutcliffe, whose musical choices include works by Tallis, G Gabrieli, Bach, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann and Theodorakis.
 2002082420020825Michael Berkeley talks to Dr Susan Wollenberg, whose musical choices reflect her interest in Viennese Baroque music, especially Schubert, C P E Bach and women composers.
Anatole Kaletsky2002083120020901Michael Berkeley talks to journalist Anatole Kaletsky, whose musical choices include Chopin, Paganini, Szymanowski, Bach and Elgar.
Niamh Cusack2002090720020908Michael Berkeley talks to actress Niamh Cusack, whose choice of music includes concertos by Strauss and Brahms, a Keith Jarrett improvisation and songs by U2 and B B King.
 2002092120020922Michael Berkeley talks to war correspondent Robert Fox, whose choice of music includes Victoria, Vivaldi, Cimarosa, Mozart, George Butterworth and Leonard Cohen 
michael Berkeley Talks To Writer And Scholar Jane Stevenson, Whose Musical Choices Include Songs By2002092820020929Campion, Johnson and Purcell and a nocturne by John Field.
Noel Annesley2002101220021013Michael Berkeley meets Noel Annesley of Christie's, whose choice of recordings includes Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, Bach cantatas, and operatic arias by Gluck and Verdi.
Mike Figgis2002101920021020Michael Berkeley meets film-maker, writer and composer Mike Figgis, whose choice of music includes Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Ives and Louis Armstrong 
Colin Towns2002112320021124Michael Berkeley talks to TV and film composer Colin Towns, whose work has been inspired by Elgar, Britten, Debussy, Stravinsky, Miles Davis, Don Ellis and Weather Report.
Richard Strange2002113020021201Michael Berkeley talks to Richard Strange, founder of cult band Doctors of Madness and of Cabaret Futura, whose choice of music includes Liszt, Puccini, Wagner and Duke Ellington 
 2002120720021208Michael Berkeley meets Nicholas de Jongh, chief theatre critic of the LONDON Evening Standard, whose choice of music includes Bach, Schubert, Mozart, Richard Strauss and Mahler.
 2002121420021215Michael Berkeley talks to actor and director Simon McBurney, who chooses music by Beethoven, Chopin, Cage and Schnittke and traditional music from around the world.
Peter Moores2002122120021222Michael Berkeley talks to philanthropist Peter Moores, whose musical choices focus on opera.
 2002122820021229Michael Berkeley talks to actor and director Philip Franks - Sgt Craddock in four series of Heartbeat - who chooses Purcell, Bach, Mozart, Shostakovich, John Adams and the Beatles.
 2003010420030105Michael Berkeley talks to writer Sue Townsend, whose musical choices include Bach, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Edith Piaf, Jack Teagarden and Shandileer.
Michael Gibbs2003011120030112Michael Berkeley talks to musician Michael Gibbs, whose musical choices include Debussy, Ives, Messiaen and Stravinsky and jazz numbers by Billie Holiday and Miles Davis.
 2003011820030119Michael Berkeley talks to Nobel prize-winner Sir James Mirrlees, whose musical choices include Monteverdi, Goehr, Stravinsky, Schubert, Beethoven, Schoenberg and Stockhausen.
 2003012520030126Michael Berkeley talks to AUSTRALIAn novelist Tim Winton and introduces his choice of music.
 2003020120030202Michael Berkeley talks to Prof Steven Pinker, whose musical choices include Bach, Itzhak Perlman, Maurice Jarre, and songs by the Beatles, the Neville Brothers and Elvis Costello.
 2003020820030209Michael Berkeley talks to novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, whose choice of music includes include Scarlatti, Bach, Mozart, Strauss and Brahms.
 2003021520030216Michael Berkeley talks to film and TV composer Stephen Warbeck, whose musical choices include Messiaen, Eisler, Britten, Bob Dylan, Keith Jarrett and the Pogues.
 2003022220030223Michael Berkeley talks to criminal psychologist Prof David Canter, whose choice of music ranges from Palestrina and Bach to Ligeti and the Beatles.
Today michael Berkeley Talks To Jon Lord, The Classically-trained Keyboard Player Of The Rock Group20030315 Deep Purple. In 1969 Jon Lord made a pre-emptive strike for 'crossover' when his 'Concerto for Group and Orchestra' was performed at the Royal Albert Hall, conducted by Sir Malcolm Arnold. Today he reveals some of the influences on his own music, including works by Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Bach, Bartok and The Beatles.
 20030316 Michael Berkeley talks to Jon Lord, the classically-trained keyboard player of the rock group Deep Purple. In 1969 Jon Lord made a pre-emptive strike for 'crossover' when his 'Concerto for Group and Orchestra' was performed at the Royal Albert Hall, conducted by Sir Malcolm Arnold. Today he reveals some of the influences on his own music, including works by Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Bach, Bartok and The Beatles.
Today michael Berkeley Talks To Virginia Nicholson, Daughter Of The Art Historian Quentin Bell, And2003032220030323great-niece of Virginia Woolf. Virginia Nicholson has worked as a television researcher but now lives near Lewes, where she is Deputy Chairman of the Trust that administers her grandparents' home, Charleston. She is now following in her family's literary footsteps, publishing her first book, 'Among The Bohemians: Experiments In Living 1900-1939' last autumn. Her musical tastes range from ENGLISH and Italian folk songs to Mozart, Puccini, Britten's Violin Concerto and Stravinsky's Firebird.
 20030329 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the distinguished South AFRICAn writer Andre Brink, who is Emeritus Professor of ENGLISH at the University of Cape Town. Born into his country's exclusionary white culture, he repudiated its apartheid policies after studies in PARIS in the 1960s, and his many novels - including Looking On Darkness, Rumours Of Rain, The Rights Of Desire and The Other Side Of Silence - confront the painful realities and dilemmas of life in present-day South AFRICA. He has also written plays, children's books and literary criticism. His musical passions range from Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin to a Croatian folk-song and a chanson by Francoise Hardy.
 20030330 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the distinguished South AFRICAn writer Andre Brink, who is Emeritus Professor of ENGLISH at the University of Cape Town. Born into his country's exclusionary white culture, he repudiated its apartheid policies after studies in PARIS in the 1960s, and his many novels - including Looking On Darkness, Rumours Of Rain, The Rights Of Desire and The Other Side Of Silence - confront the painful realities and dilemmas of life in present-day South AFRICA. He has also written plays, children's books and literary criticism. His musical passions range from Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin to a Croatian folk-song and a chanson by Francoise Hardy.
Toby Litt20030405 Today Michael Berkeley talks to the young British novelist Toby Litt, a graduate of Malcolm Bradbury's Creative Writing Course at the University of East Anglia, and author of Adventures In Capitalism, Corpsing, Deadkidsongs and, most recently, Exhibitionism. His choice of music is eclectic, ranging from Bach, Saint-Saens, Mahler and Stravinsky to Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and the much-acclaimed young British composer Thomas Ades.
 20030406 Today Michael Berkeley talks to the young British novelist Toby Litt, a graduate of Malcolm Bradbury's Creative Writing Course at the University of East Anglia, and author of Adventures In Capitalism, Corpsing, Deadkidsongs and, most recently, Exhibitionism. His choice of music is eclectic, ranging from Bach, Saint-Saens, Mahler and Stravinsky to Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and the much-acclaimed young British composer Thomas Ades.
 20030412 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Peter Brookes, political cartoonist of The Times. His great love is opera, and today he has chosen extracts from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Handel's Rinaldo, and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. He is also passionate about chamber music, and movements from quartets by Janacek and Shostakovich feature among his choices.
 20030413 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Peter Brookes, political cartoonist of The Times. His great love is opera, and today he has chosen extracts from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Handel's Rinaldo, and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. He is also passionate about chamber music, and movements from quartets by Janacek and Shostakovich feature among his choices.
 20030419 Today Michael Berkeley meets Matthew Parris, who recently published his memoir Chance Witness: An Outsider's Life In Politics. A Conservative MP for seven years under the Thatcher government, Matthew Parris has since carved out a career as an entertaining parliamentary sketchwriter, travel writer and television broadcaster. His choices today include folk music from AFRICA and the Ukraine, and an oratorio by Gounod, and operatic extracts by Rossini, Meyerbeer, and Smetana.
 20030420 Today Michael Berkeley meets Matthew Parris, who recently published his memoir Chance Witness: An Outsider's Life In Politics. A Conservative MP for seven years under the Thatcher government, Matthew Parris has since carved out a career as an entertaining parliamentary sketchwriter, travel writer and television broadcaster. His choices today include folk music from AFRICA and the Ukraine, and an oratorio by Gounod, and operatic extracts by Rossini, Meyerbeer, and Smetana.
 20030426 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the scholar Stanley Wells, who is Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of BIRMINGHAM, Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust at Stratford-upon-Avon, and Vice-Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. His latest book, Shakespeare for All Time, draws on a lifetime's experience of studying, teaching, editing and writing about the great playwright. A Shakespearean theme runs through his musical choices, which include works by Schubert, Arne, Berlioz, Vaughan Williams and Britten.
 20030427 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the scholar Stanley Wells, who is Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of BIRMINGHAM, Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust at Stratford-upon-Avon, and Vice-Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. His latest book, Shakespeare for All Time, draws on a lifetime's experience of studying, teaching, editing and writing about the great playwright. A Shakespearean theme runs through his musical choices, which include works by Schubert, Arne, Berlioz, Vaughan Williams and Britten.
 20030503 Today Michael Berkeley meets the astrophysicist Malcolm Longair, Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. The new edition of his book, Theoretical Concepts in Physics, is a highly original approach to theoretical reasoning in physics, illuminating the subject from the perspective of research scientists. Music is another of Malcolm Longair's passions, and in today's programme he brings insight and enthusiasm to bear on works by Handel, Wagner, John Adams, Messiaen and Oscar Peterson.
 20030504 Michael Berkeley meets the astrophysicist Malcolm Longair, Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. The new edition of his book, Theoretical Concepts in Physics, is a highly original approach to theoretical reasoning in physics, illuminating the subject from the perspective of research scientists. Music is another of Malcolm Longair's passions, and in today's programme he brings insight and enthusiasm to bear on works by Handel, Wagner, John Adams, Messiaen and Oscar Peterson.
 20030510 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Rick Moody, one of an up-and-coming generation of successful young American writers, whose 1994 novel, The Ice Storm, was turned by Ang Lee into a powerful film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. His latest book, The Black Veil, is subtitled A Memoir With Digressions, and is based on his own experiences. His musical passions range from Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Arvo Part to Meredith Monk, the Penguin Café Orchestra, and Frank Zappa.
 20030511 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Rick Moody, one of an up-and-coming generation of successful young American writers, whose 1994 novel, The Ice Storm, was turned by Ang Lee into a powerful film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. His latest book, The Black Veil, is subtitled A Memoir With Digressions, and is based on his own experiences. His musical passions range from Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Arvo Part to Meredith Monk, the Penguin Café Orchestra, and Frank Zappa.
 20030517 Michael Berkeley meets the explorer Benedict Allen, who seems equally at home in the Amazonian rainforest, the deserts of Mongolia or the frozen wastes of Siberia. Last year his attempt to cross the Bering Straits with a dog team was filmed by the BBC, and he has published several accounts of his intrepid journeys, as well as editing The Faber Book of Explorations. His musical choices include music from Cuba, Mongolia, West AFRICA and Papua New Guinea, as well as Bach, Elgar, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss.
 20030518 Michael Berkeley meets the explorer Benedict Allen, who seems equally at home in the Amazonian rainforest, the deserts of Mongolia or the frozen wastes of Siberia. Last year his attempt to cross the Bering Straits with a dog team was filmed by the BBC, and he has published several accounts of his intrepid journeys, as well as editing The Faber Book of Explorations. His musical choices include music from Cuba, Mongolia, West AFRICA and Papua New Guinea, as well as Bach, Elgar, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss.
 20030525 Michael Berkeley's guest this week is James Wood, who was Chief Literary Critic of The Guardian newspaper until 1995. He now lives and works in the USA, where he is senior editor and literary critic for The New Republic, based in Washington DC. He has also just published his own first novel, The Book Against God, in which music plays a significant role. His choices today include vocal music by Byrd, Tallis, William Harris, Parry and the Beatles as well as piano works by Beethoven and Brahms.
 20030531 Michael Berkeley meets the award-winning Irish novelist and playwright John Banville, Chief Literary Critic and Associate Literary Editor of The Irish Times, whose novels include a trilogy based on the lives of Copernicus, Newton and Kepler, 'The Book of Evidence', 'Ghosts', 'Athena', 'The Untouchable' (inspired by the career of the Cambridge spy Anthony Blunt), and most recently, 'Shroud'. His musical passions range from a traditional Irish melody played on the uileann pipes, and a piano piece by the contemporary Irish composer Gerald Barry, to works by Purcell, Britten, Shostakovich and Richard Strauss.
 20030601 Michael Berkeley meets the award-winning Irish novelist and playwright John Banville, Chief Literary Critic and Associate Literary Editor of The Irish Times, whose novels include a trilogy based on the lives of Copernicus, Newton and Kepler, 'The Book of Evidence', 'Ghosts', 'Athena', 'The Untouchable' (inspired by the career of the Cambridge spy Anthony Blunt), and most recently, 'Shroud'. His musical passions range from a traditional Irish melody played on the uileann pipes, and a piano piece by the contemporary Irish composer Gerald Barry, to works by Purcell, Britten, Shostakovich and Richard Strauss.
 20030607 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who made his name as the sadistic colonial policeman Ronald Merrick in the TV adaptation of The Jewel In The Crown, and is currently starring as DI Vickers in The Vice. When he is not playing loathsome policemen on TV, he often appears at the RSC and the National Theatre, in productions ranging from Shakespeare to Poliakoff, and has had various cameo film roles, including M in the Bond spoof Johnny ENGLISH. His musical passions range from songs by Mahler, Georges Brassens and The Beatles to Bach's Goldberg Variations, a tango by Astor Piazzolla and Sibelius' Violin Concerto.
 20030608 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who made his name as the sadistic colonial policeman Ronald Merrick in the TV adaptation of The Jewel In The Crown, and is currently starring as DI Vickers in The Vice. When he is not playing loathsome policemen on TV, he often appears at the RSC and the National Theatre, in productions ranging from Shakespeare to Poliakoff, and has had various cameo film roles, including M in the Bond spoof Johnny ENGLISH. His musical passions range from songs by Mahler, Georges Brassens and The Beatles to Bach's Goldberg Variations, a tango by Astor Piazzolla and Sibelius' Violin Concerto.
 20030614 Today Michael Berkeley talks to Lynne Reid Banks, who began her career as an actress and journalist, then shot to fame in 1960 with the publication and subsequent filming of her first novel, The L-Shaped Room. She went on to write over 30 more novels, plays, biographies, and children's books, a genre at which she excels. The INDIAn In The Cupboard sold 5 million copies and was filmed in 1995, and she has just published her latest children's book, Alice By Accident. She is particularly fond of the human voice, and her musical passions range from a Schubert song to American musicals, an aria from Menotti's opera The Consul, and traditional Navajo chant.
 20030615 Today Michael Berkeley talks to Lynne Reid Banks, who began her career as an actress and journalist, then shot to fame in 1960 with the publication and subsequent filming of her first novel 'The L-Shaped Room'. She went on to write over 30 more novels, plays, biographies, and children's books, a genre at which she excels. 'The INDIAn in the Cupboard' sold 5 million copies and was filmed in 1995, and she has just published her latest children's book, 'Alice by Accident'. She is particularly fond of the human voice, and her musical passions range from a Schubert song to American musicals, an aria from Menottis opera 'The Consul', and traditional Navajo chant. / "Today Michael Berkeley talks to Lynne Reid Banks, who began her career as an actress and journalist, then shot to fame in 1960 with the publication and subsequent filming of her first novel 'The L-Shaped Room'. She went on to write over 30 more novels, plays, biographies, and children's books, a genre at which she excels. 'The INDIAn in the Cupboard' sold 5 million copies and was filmed in 1995, and she has just published her latest children's book, 'Alice by Accident'. She is particularly fond of the human voice, and her musical passions range from a Schubert song to American musicals, an aria from Menottis opera 'The Consul', and traditional Navajo chant. ".
 20030621 Michael Berkeley's guest today is one of Britain's leading ARCHITECTs. Sir Terry Farrell has completed high-profile buildings and masterplans in cities as diverse as EDINBURGH, Hong Kong, SEATTLE, Dubai, Lisbon, LONDON and Seoul. His work in the UK has included Charing Cross Station, the MI6 headquarters building and Greenwich Pier in LONDON, the award-winning International Centre for Life in Newcastle, and The Deep, a marine science center in Hull. His musical tastes range from Monteverdi, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, George Benjamin and The Beatles to traditional music from South America and his native IRELAND.
 20030622 Michael Berkeley's guest today is one of Britain's leading ARCHITECTs. Sir Terry Farrell has completed high-profile buildings and masterplans in cities as diverse as EDINBURGH, Hong Kong, SEATTLE, Dubai, Lisbon, LONDON and Seoul. His work in the UK has included Charing Cross Station, the MI6 headquarters building and Greenwich Pier in LONDON, the award-winning International Centre for Life in Newcastle, and The Deep, a marine science center in Hull. His musical tastes range from Monteverdi, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, George Benjamin and The Beatles to traditional music from South America and his native IRELAND.
 20030628 Michael Berkeleys guest this week is the internationally respected astrophysicist and Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees, who heads the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. His books include Just Six Numbers and Our Cosmic Habitat, and he has just published Our Final Century, in which he concludes that the human race has only a 50% chance of surviving the 21st century. His musical choices, however, are far from gloomy: they range from Haydn's Creation and a movement from Mahler's Resurrection Symphony to the incandescent Organ Solo and Intrada from Janacek's Glagolitic Mass.
 20030629 Michael Berkeley's guest this week is the internationally respected astrophysicist and Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees, who heads the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. His books include Just Six Numbers and Our Cosmic Habitat, and he has just published Our Final Century, in which he concludes that the human race has only a 50% chance of surviving the 21st century. His musical choices, however, are far from gloomy: they range from Haydn's Creation and a movement from Mahler's Resurrection Symphony to the incandescent Organ Solo and Intrada from Janacek's Glagolitic Mass.
 20030706 Michael Berkeley talks to the novelist and translator Tim Parks, who was born in MANCHESTER but moved to Italy in 1981. His work includes three non-fiction accounts of life there, most recently A Season With Verona, and 11 novels, of which, Europa, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His latest novel, Judge Savage, was published earlier this year. His musical passions range from Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart and Chopin to old ENGLISH folk songs and Paul Simon's The Boy in the Bubble.
Julian Bream20030712 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the guitarist and lutenist Julian Bream, who celebrates his 70th birthday this week. Since the 1950s this much-loved performer has done more than any other to popularise the classical guitar and the Renaissance lute as mainstream concert instruments. As well as exploring the existing repertoire for both instruments, Julian Bream has inspired many of the leading composers of our time to write new works for him, including Malcolm Arnold, Richard Rodney Bennett, Britten, Walton, Henze, Tippett, and Michael Berkeley's father Lennox.
 20030713 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the guitarist and lutenist Julian Bream, who celebrates his 70th birthday this week. Since the 1950s this much-loved performer has done more than any other to popularize the classical guitar and the Renaissance lute as mainstream concert instruments. As well as exploring the existing repertoire for both instruments, Julian Bream has inspired many of the leading composers of our time to write new works for him, including Malcolm Arnold, Richard Rodney Bennett, Britten, Walton, Henze, Tippett, and Michael Berkeley's father Lennox.
 20030719 Today Michael Berkeley talks to the playwright and director Peter Gill, whose production Scenes From The Big Picture is currently running at the Cottesloe Theatre on LONDONs South Bank. Peter Gill has directed many plays for the Royal Court, the Royal National Theatre and the RSC, and was the founder director of Riverside Studios. He has also directed opera productions and plays for television. His musical choices are wide-ranging, from a mass by Josquin and songs by Purcell and Schubert, to works by Stravinsky and Boulez.
 20030720 Today Michael Berkeley talks to the playwright and director Peter Gill, whose production Scenes From The Big Picture is currently running at the Cottesloe Theatre on LONDON's South Bank. Peter Gill has directed many plays for the Royal Court, the Royal National Theatre and the RSC, and was the founder director of Riverside Studios. He has also directed opera productions and plays for television. His musical choices are wide-ranging, from a mass by Josquin and songs by Purcell and Schubert to works by Stravinsky and Boulez.
Amanda Craig20030726 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the writer Amanda Craig, whose novels include A Vicious Circle, In A Dark Wood, and the newly-published Love In Idleness, which draws inspiration from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mendelssohn's enchanting overture to the play features among her musical choices, which also include Stravinsky's Firebird, an aria from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro', and the quartet from Beethoven's opera Fidelio, as well as songs by Noel Coward and Annie Lennox.
 20030727 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the writer Amanda Craig, whose novels include A Vicious Circle, In A Dark Wood, and the newly-published Love In Idleness, which draws inspiration from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mendelssohn's enchanting overture to the play features among her musical choices, which also include Stravinsky's Firebird, an aria from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro', and the quartet from Beethoven's opera Fidelio, as well as songs by Noel Coward and Annie Lennox.
michael Berkeley Meets One Of Britain's Most Exciting Young Actors, Adrian Lester, Who Has Received20030802 rave reviews for his stunning Shakespearian performances, including Hamlet, directed by Peter Brook, and currently as Henry V at the Royal National Theatre. He also starred in the film, Primary Colors, alongside John Travolta, and is looking forward to continuing his career both on stage and screen. He began as a chorister at St Chad's in BIRMINGHAM, and music has played a major role in his career; he won Olivier awards for his performances in the Sondheim musicals, Sweeney Todd and Company. His other musical passions include Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Cole Porter, and the Elgar Cello Concerto.
 20030803 "Michael Berkeley meets one of Britain's most exciting young actors, Adrian Lester, who has received rave reviews for his stunning Shakespearian performances, including Hamlet, directed by Peter Brook, and currently as Henry V at the Royal National Theatre. He also starred in the film, Primary Colors, alongside John Travolta, and is looking forward to continuing his career both on stage and screen. He began as a chorister at St Chad's in BIRMINGHAM, and music has played a major role in his career; he won Olivier awards for his performances in the Sondheim musicals, Sweeney Todd and Company. His other musical passions include Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Cole Porter, and the Elgar Cello Concerto. " / Michael Berkeley meets one of Britain's most exciting young actors, Adrian Lester, who has received rave reviews for his stunning Shakespearian performances, including Hamlet, directed by Peter Brook, and currently as Henry V at the Royal National Theatre. He also starred in the film, Primary Colors, alongside John Travolta, and is looking forward to continuing his career both on stage and screen. He began as a chorister at St Chad's in BIRMINGHAM, and music has played a major role in his career; he won Olivier awards for his performances in the Sondheim musicals, Sweeney Todd and Company. His other musical passions include Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Cole Porter, and the Elgar Cello Concerto.
michael Berkeley's Guest Today Is The Writer richard Francis, Professor Of Creative Writing At Bath20030809 Spa University, and author of novels such as Taking Apart The Poco Poco' Fat Hen, and the recently-published Prospect Hill, as well as a biography of Ann Lee, founder of the American Shaker movement. His eclectic musical passions include a 17th-century portrait of a battle by Biber, a Bach Prelude and Fugue, Beethoven's `Waldstein' Sonata, an improvisation by Charles Mingus, and John Adams's Shaker Loops.
 20030810 Michael Berkeley's guest is the writer Richard Francis, Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, and author of novels such as Taking Apart The Poco Poco, Fat Hen, and the recently-published Prospect Hill, as well as a biography of Ann Lee, founder of the American Shaker movement. His eclectic musical passions include a 17th-century portrait of a battle by Biber, a Bach Prelude and Fugue, Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata, an improvisation by Charles Mingus, and John Adams's Shaker Loops.
 20030816 Today Michael Berkeley talks to the poet, journalist and librettist James Fenton, who has been Professor of Poetry at OXFORD University, a columnist for The Independent, foreign and political correspondent for several newspapers, theatre critic and gardening enthusiast. His published volumes of poetry include Our Western Furniture, A German Requiem, Children In Exile and Out Of Danger, while his most recent publications include opera libretti, a collection of OXFORD Lectures entitled The Strength of Poetry, and A Garden From A Hundred Packs Of Seed. His musical choices range widely from Bach's St Matthew Passion and dramatic works by Gluck and Wagner to a sonata by John Cage and a piece by the saxophonist John Harle.
 20030817 Today Michael Berkeley talks to the poet, journalist and librettist James Fenton, who has been Professor of Poetry at OXFORD University, a columnist for The Independent, foreign and political correspondent for several newspapers, theatre critic and gardening enthusiast. His published volumes of poetry include Our Western Furniture, A German Requiem, Children In Exile and Out Of Danger, while his most recent publications include opera libretti, a collection of OXFORD Lectures entitled The Strength of Poetry, and A Garden From A Hundred Packs Of Seed. His musical choices range widely from Bach's St Matthew Passion and dramatic works by Gluck and Wagner to a sonata by John Cage and a piece by the saxophonist John Harle.
Orlando Figes20030823 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the historian Orlando Figes, whose publications, including A People's Tragedy: The RUSSIAn Revolution 1891-1924 and Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of RUSSIA, have specialized in different aspects of RUSSIAn, Soviet and Eastern European history. These enthusiasms inform his musical choices today, which include works by Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky, Skryabin, and Shostakovich, as well as Bach and Schubert.
 20030824 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the historian Orlando Figes, whose publications, including A People's Tragedy: The RUSSIAn Revolution 1891-1924 and Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of RUSSIA, have specialized in different aspects of RUSSIAn, Soviet and Eastern European history. These enthusiasms inform his musical choices today, which include works by Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky, Skryabin, and Shostakovich, as well as Bach and Schubert.
 20030830 Today Michael Berkeley meets the writer and arts journalist Judith Flanders, who won several major awards for her first book, A Circle Of Sisters, the biography of four Victorian sisters; and is just publishing her second, a study of day-to-day domestic life in The Victorian House. Her musical choices range widely from baroque works by Monteverdi, Stradella, Corelli and Vivaldi to Stravinsky's ballet Apollo, Poulenc's Gloria and John Adams' Shaker Loops.
 20030831 Today Michael Berkeley meets the writer and arts journalist Judith Flanders, who won several major awards for her first book, A Circle Of Sisters, the biography of four Victorian sisters; and is just publishing her second, a study of day-to-day domestic life in The Victorian House. Her musical choices range widely from baroque works by Monteverdi, Stradella, Corelli and Vivaldi to Stravinsky's ballet Apollo, Poulenc's Gloria and John Adams's Shaker Loops.
 20030906 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the writer and critic David Hughes, whose novels include The Imperial German Dinner Service, The Pork Butcher and recently The Lent Jewels, based on a Victorian family tragedy suffered by a former Bishop of CARLISLE, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. David Hughes has chosen a wide variety of music, from Bach, Ravel and Stravinsky to William Bolcom and Jake Thackray.
 20030907 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the writer and critic David Hughes, whose novels include The Imperial German Dinner Service, The Pork Butcher and recently The Lent Jewels, based on a Victorian family tragedy suffered by a former Bishop of CARLISLE, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. David Hughes has chosen a wide variety of music, from Bach, Ravel and Stravinsky to William Bolcom and Jake Thackray.
Today michael Berkeley Meets The Historian And Broadcaster Dr David Starkey, Whose Recent Books And20030913 TV series on the lives of Henry VIII, his six queens, and his daughter Elizabeth I, have been a huge success and have seen him acclaimed as the world's leading authority on the Tudor period. His musical choices include works by Henry VIII and Thomas Campion, as well as pieces by Monteverdi, Haydn, Mozart and Verdi.
Dr David Starkey20030914 Today Michael Berkeley meets the historian and broadcaster Dr David Starkey, whose recent books and TV series on the lives of Henry VIII, his six queens, and his daughter Elizabeth I, have been a huge success and have seen him acclaimed as the world's leading authority on the Tudor period. His musical choices include works by Henry VIII and Thomas Campion, as well as pieces by Monteverdi, Haydn, Mozart and Verdi.
michael Berkeley Talks To The Bbc's World Affairs Editor, john Simpson, Who Is Recognised As One Of20030921 the world's most experienced and authoritative journalists. During a career spanning more than 30 years he has reported from over 100 countries, including war zones such as Kosovo, AFGHANISTAN and Iraq, and has interviewed many controversial world leaders, from Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher to Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe. His musical choices range from operas by Purcell, Berlioz and Britten to a Soviet cantata by Prokofiev and a Rumanian folk dance by Bartok.
 20030928 Michael Berkeley talks to actress Zoe Wanamaker and plays her choice of music.
Michael Longley20031005 Today Michael Berkeley talks to Michael Longley, the Belfast-born poet whose work has won many prizes, including the 1991 Whitbread Prize and the TS Eliot Prize for Gorse Fires, and the 2000 Hawthornden Prize for The Weather in Japan. His poems reflect a keen sensitivity to the world around him, both natural and human, and similar concerns inform his musical choices, which range from orchestral works by Sibelius, Shostakovich and Ives to a Chopin nocturne and the joyous 'wedding scene' from Janacek's opera The Cunning Little Vixen.
michael Berkeley's Guest Today Is The Novelist Jane Smiley, One Of The Most Successful Contemporary20031012 American writers. She won a Pulitzer prize for A Thousand Acres [1991], her relocation of the King Lear story to the Iowa farmlands, and more recently won acclaim for Horse Heaven, set on the international racing circuit. Her latest book, Good Faith, is set in the fevered atmosphere of the American real estate boom of the 1980s. American folk music features among her musical choices, alongside Mozart, Beethoven and Donizetti.
Today michael Berkeley Explores The Private Musical Passions Of One Of Britain's Best-loved Actors.20031019 Sir Tom Courtenay has appeared on stage and screen in a vast range of productions from Shakespeare to his recent one-man stage show based on the works of Philip Larkin, Pretending to be Me; the TV film A Rather ENGLISH Marriage, for which he won a BAFTA award; and a memorable performance as Newman Noggs in the film of Nicholas Nickleby. His choices today include a Bach cello suite, a Chopin waltz, chamber music by Beethoven and Mozart, and songs by Schubert and Stephen Foster.
 20031026 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the painter, sculptor and printmaker Allen Jones, who made his name with the rise of Pop Art in the 1960s, scandalizing the art world with sexually provocative paintings and sculptures such as Chair (1969). His lithographs, issued in sets with titles such as Islands (1988) and Para Adultos (1984-5) are much sought-after. His musical choices range widely from traditional Irish and Japanese music to Bach, Saint-Saens and Puccini.
 20031102 Michael Berkeley talks to the journalist Mary Ann Sieghart, who is currently Assistant Editor of The Times newspaper, and a prolific columnist and feature writer. She has presented and made guest appearances on many TV and radio programmes, including The Brains Trust, The Week In Westminster, Question Time and Newsnight. Music, particularly singing, is one of her many private passions, and her choices today range from the Mozart and Brahms Requiems to Wagner's Die Meistersinger and songs by Richard Strauss, Hugh Masekela and Otis Redding.
 20031109 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Adam Thirlwell, the 25 year-old Fellow of All Souls College, OXFORD who created a huge stir in literary circles this year with his first novel. Politics, a multi-layered comedy of sexual etiquette, has been described as the most distinctive debut since Martin Amis's The Rachel Papers. Adam Thirlwell draws on a wide range of cultural references, and his musical passions are equally eclectic, ranging from Mozart to John Adams and Jacques Brel.
 20031116 Michael Berkeley talks to Clare Morrall, the BIRMINGHAM music teacher who caused a sensation when her first novel, Astonishing Splashes Of Colour, was shortlisted last month for the Booker Prize. The novel reflects her interest in the dynamics of motherless family life and in synaesthesia - a condition in which emotions are seen as colours. Her music choices include works by Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.
 20031214 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the actress Jill Balcon, who made her film debut in the classic Ealing Studios version of 'Nicholas Nickleby', and went on to marry the Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis, model for Epstein, and appear in many other stage and screen productions including Derek Jarman's 'Edward II' and 'Wittgenstein'. Last Friday she starred in Radio 4's play 'Deadheading the Roses', in which her son Daniel Day-Lewis played her lover. A passionate music-lover, her choices include a Mozart piano concerto, songs by Faure, Schubert and Cole Porter, chamber music by Poulenc and Janacek, and a Villa Lobos guitar piece played by her great friend, Julian Bream.
michael Berkeley Talks To Actress Joanna Lumley, Whose Choice Of Music Includes Rossini, Beethoven,20031228 a choral waltz by Josef Strauss and a song by Otis Redding.
 20040104 Michael Berkeley meets the distinguished scientist Sir John Meurig Thomas, former Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, and Professor of Chemistry at the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory at the Royal Institution in LONDON. His musical passions reflect both his Welsh background and a wide-ranging interest in music from other cultures as well as from the Western classical tradition.
 20040111 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the young theatre director Rachel Kavanaugh, who has specialized in directing Shakespeare comedies, including The Merry Wives Of Windsor at the RSC in Stratford, and The Two Gentlemen Of Verona at Regent's Park in LONDON. She has also directed a wide range of other productions, including The Wizard Of Oz, which is currently running at the BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre. She would like to try her hand at opera, and her musical choices include extracts from Berlioz's Beatrice Et Benedict and Catalani's La Wally, as well as music by Handel, Ravel and Tchaikovsky.
 20040118 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the writer John Julius Norwich, whose works include fascinating travel books, studies of the medieval Norman kingdom in Sicily, a three-volume history of the Byzantine Empire, 'A History of Venice', and two much-loved anthologies of 'Christmas Crackers'. He is chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund, and his latest book, 'Paradise of Cities', concerns the many distinguished 19th-century émigrés who settled in Venice, from Byron and Wagner to Ruskin, Robert Browning and the painters Whistler and Sargent. His musical choices range from the Viennese classics to Monteverdi, Rossini and Verdi.
 20040125 Michael Berkeley meets one of Britain's most brilliant young scientists. Marcus du Sautoy is professor of mathematics at the University of OXFORD, a research fellow at the Royal Society, and the author of many articles and books on mathematics, including The Music of the Primes. He also plays the trumpet, and his musical choices include a brass fanfare by Britten, the opening of Janacek's stirring Sinfonietta, and the Prelude to Wagner's Parsifal, as well as pieces by Messiaen, Handel, Shostakovich and Richard Strauss.
Ross King20040201 Michael Berkeley talks to Canadian-born writer Ross King, the author of two highly-praised books about Renaissance art and ARCHITECTure. 'Brunelleschi's Dome' is an account of the construction of the great dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, while 'Michelangelo And The Pope's Ceiling' tells the fascinating story of the decoration of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Ross King's musical passions range from Renaissance polyphony to Bach, Handel and Erich Korngold.
Andrew Sachs20040208 Today Michael Berkeley meets one of Britain's best-loved actors. Andrew Sachs has played many roles on stage, radio and TV, but is forever immortalized for his portrayal of Manuel, the hapless Spanish waiter in the TV series Fawlty Towers. His particular musical passions are for the clarinet, piano and guitar, and his choices today range from a little-known concerto by Kozeluch to Stravinsky, Jelly Roll Morton and Gershwin.
Lavinia Greenlaw20040215 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the writer, reviewer and broadcaster Lavinia Greenlaw, whose third poetry collection Minsk, published last September, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize. She also wrote the libretto for Ian Wilson's opera Hamelin, performed throughout IRELAND last autumn. Her choices range from the Renaissance composer John Taverner to Janacek, Shostakovich, Louis Armstrong and Bob Dylan 
Russell Taylor20040222 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Russell Taylor, one half of the creative team behind the famous Alex cartoon strip, now featured in The Daily Telegraph. With his colleague Charles Peattie, he was also involved in creating the Private Eye cartoon Celeb, on which the recent TV series starring Harry Enfield and Amanda Holden was based. A keen pianist himself, his choices today include piano works by Beethoven, Chopin and Gershwin, with Bach and The Beatles thrown in.
Michael Bywater20040229 Today Michael Berkeley meets the journalist Michael Bywater, whose entertaining and often provocative articles in various newspapers and magazines including The Independent on Sunday explore a vast range of subjects. His musical enthusiasms are equally eclectic, ranging from Praetorius, Bach and Handel to Messiaen, Janacek and Ligeti.
Shusha Guppy20040307 Michael Berkeley's Guest Today Is The Persian-born Singer And Writer Shusha Guppy. Her Latest Book,Three Journeys in the Levant', explores the history, art, religions and poetry of the Near East - Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. She spent her formative years in PARIS, and her musical choices include Debussy and Juliette Greco, as well as Chopin, Brahms, Schubert and Bob Dylan 
Anthony Lane20040314 Today Michael Berkeley talks to the film critic Anthony Lane, who has recently published Nobody's Perfect, a decade's-worth of his often trenchant and witty reviews for The NEW YORKer. His musical passions range from keyboard and choral music by Bach to a violin sonata by Brahms, Stravinsky's Petrushka and Frank Sinatra singing Gershwin.
Ray Dolan20040321 Michael Berkeley's guest today is one of the most distinguished scientists working in the field of neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology. Professor Ray Dolan, who is Head of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College, LONDON, has made detailed studies of how the human brain encodes and retrieves memories and emotion. His own personal musical passions range widely from Sibelius, Liszt and Manuel de Falla to Hank Williams and Van Morrison.
 20040328 Michael Berkeley talks to the painter and writer Reg Gadney, who has enjoyed a highly versatile career. Formerly Deputy Controller of the National Film Theatre and Pro-Rector of the Royal College of Art, he has lectured at OXFORD, Cambridge and Harvard, written many TV screenplays and adaptations including Minette Walters' The Sculptress, and written crime novels - most recently The Scholar of Extortion. His musical passions range from the band of the Coldstream Guards, Louis Armstrong and the theme from Hitchcock's The Third Man, to Bach, Bellini and Britten.
 20040404 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Richard Jones, whose often controversial but always stimulating theatre productions have included Wagner's Ring for the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, where his new production of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk has just opened, A Midsummer Night's Dream for the RSC, and Berlioz's The Trojans for ENO. His private musical passions include some surprises, from a Ligeti piano piece to The Laughing Policeman.
 20040411 Michael Berkeley meets the TV celebrity Loyd Grossman, presenter of many TV series including Masterchef, The World on a Plate, and The History of British Sculpture. He has a keen interest in museums and the historic environment, and has recently been advising the government on ways to improve NHS food. His musical tastes range from Mozart and Beethoven to Gershwin and traditional music from many parts of the world.
 20040418 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Jane Lapotaire, one of Britain's most versatile and intelligent actors. A star of stage, film and TV, she has appeared in many celebrated productions at the National Theatre and the RSC, and received high praise for her roles as Katharine of Aragon in Henry VIII and Maria Callas in Masterclass.
Her memoir Time Out of Mind movingly documents her recent struggle to recover from a cerebral haemorrhage.
Her musical choices range widely from traditional Middle Eastern wedding songs to Piaf singing La foule, and instrumental music by Schubert, Sibelius and Vaughan Williams.
 20040425 Today Michael Berkeley talks to Geoffrey Hill, who has been described as 'England's most important living poet'. Born in Worcestershire, his complex and visionary work is rooted in landscape and teems with literary allusions. He has been particularly productive over the past decade, publishing four major poetry collections including Speech! Speech! and The Orchards of Syon, and is working on a further collection. His musical choices range from a poignant recording of the Coventry Carol sung in the blitzed ruins of Coventry Cathedral in 1940 to Hugh Wood's exquisite setting of Milton's invocation to the River Severn.
 20040502 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Richard Evans, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University. Richrd Evans specializes in the social and cultural history of Germany, and acted as principal expert witness in the David Irving libel trial. His latest book, The Coming of the Third Reich, deals with the social and political climate that led to the Nazi seizure of power in Germany in 1933. His musical choices are largely drawn from German music of all periods, from Bach and Telemann to Kurt Weill and Richard Strauss.
 20040509 Michael Berkeley's Guest Today Is The Writer Miranda Seymour, Who Has Published Biographies Of Mary Shelley, Ottoline Morrell, Henry James and Robert Graves, as well as children's books and novels. Her latest book is The Bugatti Queen, the story of a legendary French woman racing driver of the interwar era. Her musical choices range from Cretan folk music and Mistinguett singing La Java to Beethoven, Britten and Prokofiev.
 20040516 Michael Berkeley talks to Martin Sixsmith, the former BBC Eastern Europe, Moscow and Washington correspondent who went on to become Director of Communications and Press Secretary at the Department of Transport, before his sensational exit with spin doctor Jo Moore in 2002. Now a freelance writer and journalist, he has just published his first novel, Spin. His musical choices include works by Bartók, Schoenberg, Messiaen, Shostakovich and Richard Strauss 
 20040523 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the journalist and broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, who has just published Baggage, a memoir of her West LONDON childhood.
Her musical tastes are unusually wide-ranging, from Bach, Rameau, Berlioz and Donizetti to Philip Glass, Vince Guaraldi and the Pet Shop Boys.
 20040530 Today Michael Berkeley talks to the Irish writer Polly Devlin, who began her career as Features Editor for Vogue, before moving into broadcasting, TV direction, art criticism and writing, both novels and non-fiction. Her musical passions range from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to Philip Glass, Miles Davis, and traditional Irish music.
 20040606 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the philosopher Alain de Botton, bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel, and, most recently, Status Anxiety, in which he examines our society's obsession with social hierarchy. His musical passions revolve around just three composers - Bach, Handel and Mozart.
 20040613 Today Michael Berkeley meets the distinguished craft-jeweller Gerda Flockinger CBE, whose distinctive baroque forms and highly developed techniques of precious metal fusion have made her one of the most individual and influential jewellers of our time.
Her musical tastes range from a Vivaldi multiple concerto, a song by Richard Strauss and a Shostakovich piano quintet to Celtic folk music and a suite for toy piano by John Cage 
Timothy West20040620 Michael Berkeley's guest today is one of Britain's best-loved actors. Timothy West has played a vast range of roles on stage and screen, from Lear and Falstaff to Stalin, Thomas Beecham, Edward VII and Winston Churchill. This year he has appeared on TV in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and The Alan Clark Diaries, among others. His musical tastes range widely, from Gretry and Mozart to Poulenc and Sonny Rollins.
 20040627 Francis Wheen
Today Michael Berkeley talks to the journalist and writer Francis Wheen, whose books include biographies of Karl Marx and Tom Driberg, and a fascinating study of the recent rise in superstition, relativism and emotional hysteria, How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World. His choices include music by Bach, Purcell, Frescobaldi, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Miles Davis.
 20040711 Kevin Crossley-Holland
Michael Berkeley's guest today is the poet and writer Kevin Crossley-Holland, whose books include a much-acclaimed trilogy for younger readers based on the Arthurian legends, and a scholarly translation of Beowulf. His musical choices include medieval music from ENGLAND and the Continent, music by Janácek, Britten, Nielsen and Vaughan Williams, and his own setting of his poem The NIGHTINGALEs.
 20040718 David McKie.
Today Michael Berkeley talks to the journalist David McKie, who has been writing for The Guardian for nearly 40 years. He now writes the Smallweed and Elsewhere columns, and has recently published a book on the 19th-century Liberal MP and crook Jabez Balfour. His musical choices range from Haydn, Beethoven and Chopin to Bartok, Ravel and the Oscar Peterson Trio.
Ed Smith20040725 Today Michael Berkeley meets the young Kent and ENGLAND cricketer Ed Smith, who took a double first in history at Cambridge and has just published a memoir, On and Off the Field, detailing the highs and lows of the 2003
cricket season. A keen music lover, his choices include, Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan 
kate Adie20040801 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the BBC's former Chief News Correspondent Kate Adie, renowned for her fearless reporting from war zones around the world. Her musical private passions include works from Sweden and Georgia, ENGLISH folk songs refashioned by Vaughan Williams, and music by Bruch, Wagner, Shostakovich and Puccini.
michael Berkeley's Guest Today Is The Young Writer Edwin Thomas, Who Also Writes Under The Name Tom20040808 Harper. A student of medieval history, his recently-published novel The Mosaic of Shadows is set in 11th-century Byzantium. His musical choices range from Mozart and Weber to Natalie Merchant and Maurice Jarre's soundtrack for Lawrence of Arabia.
 20040815 Michael Berkeley talks to Sir Peter Ustinov, whose choice of music includes Prokofiev, Bononcini, Mozart, Berlioz, Janacek and Britten.
Gillian Slovo20040822 Michael Berkeley's guest this week is the writer and film producer Gillian Slovo, the South AFRICAn-born daughter of the political activist Joe Slovo and the journalist Ruth First, who was murdered in 1982 for her involvement in the anti-apartheid movement. Gillian's books include crime novels and a moving account of her relationship with her parents, while her latest book, The Ice Road, is set in 1933 Leningrad. Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony features among her musical passions.
 20040829 Michael Rosen
Today Michael Berkeley talks to the poet, children's author and broadcaster Michael Rosen, whose work ranges from the much-loved Very Silly Poems for children, to two recent adult poetry anthologies, Carrying the Elephant, written in the aftermath of his 18-year-old son's sudden death from meningitis, and This Is Not My Nose, dealing with his own battle with chronic illness. His musical passions range from Beethoven and Mozart to Georges Brassens' Le Parapluie and Billy Pigg playing the Northumbrian pipes.
Ian Jack20040905 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the Scots journalist Ian Jack, editor of the influential literary magazine Granta. His musical choices reflect his wide interests, with traditional music from Northern Britain and INDIA, songs by Schubert and Jerome Kern, a Beethoven violin sonata and Bix Beiderbecke playing Singin' the Blues.
 20040912 Hugo Morley-Fletcher
Michael Berkeley's guest is Hugo Morley-Fletcher, ceramics expert on the Antiques Roadshow. His enthusiasms range from the Italian Baroque to Bruckner and Wagner.
 20040919 Jenny Agutter
Michael Berkeley talks to Jenny Agutter, whose musical passions range from Monteverdi and Schutz to Bernstein.
Mark Tully20040926 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the journalist and broadcaster Sir Mark Tully, formerly the BBC's chief correspondent in INDIA, where he now lives. He has written and broadcast widely on a variety of subjects, including the life of Jesus, and his musical tastes range from sacred vocal music by Bruckner and John Tavener to INDIAn classical music and Benny Goodman.
Dame Judi Dench20041003 Today Michael Berkeley explores the musical private passions of Dame Judi Dench, one of Britain's best-loved actresses. Internationally renowned for stage, film and TV roles ranging from Shakespearian heroines to Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown, Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, Iris Murdoch in Iris and M in the recent James Bond films, her choices today include works by Bach, Bernstein, Stravinsky, Rachmaninov and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
Antony Beevor20041010 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the historian Antony Beevor, author of best-selling books about the battle of Stalingrad and the fall of BERLIN, and most recently, the story of Hitler's favourite actress, Olga Chekhova. His musical enthusiasms range from baroque music by Corelli, Vivaldi and Manfredini through Mozart and Brahms to a symphony by a little-known Soviet composer.
 20041017 Daniel Mason
Today Michael Berkeley talks to Daniel Mason, the American medical student who wrote his best-selling first novel The Piano Tuner while studying malaria in the Far East. The British composer Nigel Osborne subsequently turned the story into an opera, which had its world premiere in LONDON last week and is touring the UK this autumn. Daniel Mason's choices include keyboard works by Bach, Clementi and Haydn, Mahler's Sixth Symphony, and the delightful Bagatelles by Dvorak.
 20041024 Christina Coker
Michael Berkeley's guest today is Christina Coker, chief executive of the National Foundation for Youth Music, a charity whose aim is to facilitate and fund high quality musical experiences for children and young people.
An active musician herself, Christina Coker has spent all her professional life working in music and education. Her choices today range from Orlando Gibbons, Mendelssohn and George Benjamin to the Julian Joseph Quartet and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Harrison Birtwistle20041031 Michael Berkeley explores the private passions of one of his most distinguished fellow-composers, Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
Simon Goldhill20041107 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Simon Goldhill, professor of GREEK at Cambridge University, and a regular broadcaster on TV and radio. He is the author of several books, most recently Love, Sex and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives. His musical passions range widely, from Blow and Handel to Richard Strauss, Webern and Thomas Ades.
 20041114 George Duke
Michael Berkeley's guest is the American jazz musician, composer and record producer George Duke. Today he talks about the music that has influenced him, from Sarah Vaughan's `Brazilian Romance' and Miles Davis's `Blue in Green' to works by Haydn, Chopin, Debussy and Hindemith.
 20041121 The LONDON Jazz Festival is in full swing, and today's programme offers a second chance to hear Michael Berkeley talking to Guy Barker, one of the UK's most distinguished jazz musicians. His private musical passions range from Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Bernard Herrmann to works by Honegger and Martinu.
Charles Mackworth-young20041128 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the rheumatologist Charles Mackworth-Young, who works as a consultant at several LONDON hospitals. A passionate music-lover, his choices range widely from renaissance works by Prateorius and Byrd through Bach and Mozart to Stravinsky, Berg and Varese.
James Hamilton-paterson,20041205 Michael Berkeley talks to writer James Hamilton-Paterson, whose musical tastes encompass Bach, Haydn, Hoffmann, Richard Strauss, Elgar and American composer Ned Rorem.
Robert Mccrum20041212 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Robert McCrum, literary editor of The Observer, and an author himself. His latest book, a biography of PG Wodehouse, has attracted much critical praise.
McCrum is particularly interested in American musicals, and his choices include songs by Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Gershwin and Frank Loesser, as well as music by Britten, Rossini, Milhaud and Colin Matthews.
stephen Fry20041226 Michael Berkeley's CHRISTMAS guest is the multi-talented Stephen Fry. Unlike many guests on Private Passions, he prefers upbeat, cheerful music, and his unusually eclectic tastes range from Mozart, Britten and Wagner to Nina Simone, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, and The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.
Quentin Blake20050102 Michael Berkeley's guest is artist and illustrator Quentin Blake. His choices include string quartets by Beethoven and Janacek, and songs by Dowland, Britten and Georges Brassens.
D B C Pierre20050109 Michael Berkeley's guest is author DBC Pierre, winner of the 2003 Man Booker Prize. His eclectic tastes range from Holst and Delius to Glenn Miller and Jazz Jamaica.
Jon Snow2005011620051204Michael Berkeley talks to the journalist and broadcaster Jon Snow, who has recently published an autobiography, Shooting History, based on his experiences as a foreign correspondent.
He started off as a Winchester Cathedral chorister, and many of his choices reflect his early musical training, with sacred works by Bach, Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven and Herbert Howells, as well as music by Poulenc, Prokofiev and Schumann.
Shena Mackay20050123 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Shena Mackay, who is widely regarded as one of Britain's most stylish prose writers.
Her books, which are regularly shortlisted for major awards, include Dunedin, Heligoland, and The World's Smallest Unicorn and Other Stories. Her musical tastes range from Purcell to Birtwistle, also taking in the Viennese classics, music from early 20th-century PARIS, and jazz from Ornette Coleman.
William Hague20050130 Michael Berkeley talks to former Conservative Party leader William Hague. Piano pieces by Mozart, Chopin and Rachmaninov feature among his choices, as does American jazz.
 20050206 Michael Berkeley's guest today is William Pye, internationally renowned for his startlingly beautiful large-scale water sculptures. His work can be seen in various locations all over the country, and his latest project will form part of the newly-landscaped gardens of Alnwick Castle in Northumberland. His musical choices range from Gluck, Berlioz and Brahms to Janacek and Cesaria Evora.
Josceline Dimbleby20050213 Today Michael Berkeley talks to Josceline Dimbleby, who has been well-known for the past 25 years as a best-selling writer on cookery. She has recently published A Profound Secret, an intriguing family memoir based on a previously unknown cache of letters from the pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones to Josceline Dimbleby's great-grandmother, May Gaskell. She studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music in LONDON, and her choices include songs by Pergolesi, Purcell, Duparc, Strauss and Jerome Kern.
 20050220 Alfred Latham-Koenig
Michael Berkeley's guest today is Alfred Latham-Koenig, who has been economic adviser to several major firms of international management consultants and an expert on Franco-British affairs. French music features large in his choices, which include songs by Duparc, Poulenc and Reynaldo Hahn, as well as chamber works by Debussy and Messiaen, and keyboard music by Bach and Shostakovich.
 20050227 Michael Berkeley talks to Noreena Hertz, one of the world's foremost experts on economic globalization, and a leading contributor to international political debate. She is the author of The Silent Takeover, and most recently, IOU: The Debt Threat and Why We Must Defuse It. Her musical choices range widely, from the Italian Renaissance to Pete Townshend.
 20050306 Next month Private Passions celebrates its 10th anniversary, and during March there's another chance to hear outstanding editions from the past decade. This programme features Elvis Costello, who was the programme's very first guest in 1995. His choices ranged from Byrd and Purcell to Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale, and an arrangement by Miles Davis and Gil Evans of Kurt Weill's My Ship.
Clive James 20050313Another chance to hear outstanding editions from the past decade as Private Passions celebrates its 10th anniversary.
In a programme first broadcast in 2002, the writer, broadcaster and critic Clive James shares his fascination with the human voice with Michael Berkeley.
He introduces a wide range of vocal interpretations, from opera stars Enrico Caruso, Maria Callas and Jussi Bjorling to Frank Sinatra, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf.
 20050320 Another chance to hear outstanding editions from the past decade as Private Passions celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Karen Armstrong left the cloister to become one of our most thoughtful commentators on religious affairs, and is an expert on both CHRISTIANity and Islam. This programme, first broadcast in 2000, reveals her love of a wide range of music, from Gregorian chant to Purcell, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Bob Dylan 
 20050327 Another classic from the first decade of Private Passions, in which the late Edward Said discusses his musical enthusiasms with Michael Berkeley. These range from keyboard music by Bach, Chopin and Messiaen, to operas by Berlioz, Wagner and Berg.
 20050403 Michael Berkeley?s guest is the poet Anne Stevenson, acclaimed as one of the most intelligent, assured and skilful writers of our time. Brought up in the USA, where she trained as a musician, she came to Britain in the 1950s, and has published several award-winning collections of poetry, including most recently, Granny Scarecrow and A Report from the Border, as well as a controversial biography of Sylvia Plath.
She is as passionate about music as she is about poetry, and her choices range from Bach to Messiaen.
 20050410 Michael Berkeley talks to the journalist and news presenter Anna Ford. Her musical passions range from Bachs Goldberg Variations and Double Violin Concerto to a Mozart sonata for two pianos, Schubert's String Quintet, a guitar piece by Tarrega, and songs by the Gershwin brothers and the McGarrigle sisters.
Diarmaid Macculloch20050417 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the theologian and historian Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, who is currently Professor of the History of the Church at OXFORD University. A prolific author, his recent book on the European Reformation won the 2003 Wolfson History Prize. His musical choices include works by Ravel, Samuel Wesley, Kurt Weill, Vaughan Williams and Tippett.
Thea Sharrock20050424 Michael Berkeley talks to Thea Sharrock, Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre in LONDON's Notting Hill, and one of the most enterprising and original young directors working in Britain today. Her musical choices range from Mozart's Clarinet Quintet and a Bach viola da gamba sonata to songs by Curtis Mayfield and Joni Mitchell, and Hugh Masakela playing Stimela.
Gordon Baldwin20050501 Michael Berkeley's guest is ceramic artist Gordon Baldwin, whose tastes in music range from works by Britten, Adams and Philip Cashian to music from Japan, Central ASIA and INDIA.
Deborah Moggach20050508 Michael Berkeley talks to Deborah Moggach, award-winning author of novels and screenplays including Tulip Fever, Porky, These Foolish Things, and Final Demand. Her musical choices range from a Bach cantata, Mozart's Requiem and Haydn's Seven Last Words from the Cross, to a Shostakovich string quartet and songs by Gershwin, Sheryl Crow and Karen Dalton.
Ashley Page20050515 Michael Berkeley's guest is the dancer and choreographer Ashley Page, currently Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet. His work is informed by the juxtaposition of classical and modern styles, and his musical choices range from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky to Weill, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Brian Eno and King Crimson.
Esbjorn Svensson20050522 Michael Berkeley talks to the Swedish jazz pianist Esbjorn Svensson, who formed his own trio with drummer Magnus Ostrom and bassist Dan Berglund. The trio tours widely and has released several award-winning albums, including Strange Place for Snow, Seven Days of Falling, and most recently, Viaticum.
Svensson's musical tastes are eclectic, ranging from a Bach cello suite and Bartok's Second Piano Concerto to Arvo Parts, Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten and the Charlie Haden Quartet's Wayfaring Stranger.
Humphrey Burton20050529 Michael Berkeley's guest this week is the broadcaster Humphrey Burton, who is currently presenting Bernstein Week on Radio 3. Bernstein is just one of his many enthusiasms, and over the course of a distinguished career in radio and television he has made many flagship arts programmes, with a particular focus on music. His personal choices range from Mozart, Schubert and Verdi to Poulenc, Milhaud and Gershwin.
Nicholas Grimshaw20050612 Michael Berkeley's guest is the ARCHITECT Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, whose innovative designs for public buildings have included the international rail terminal at LONDON's Waterloo Station and the Eden Project in Cornwall. A passionate music lover, his choices range from Bach, Haydn and Schumann to Britten and Thomas Ades.
M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer)
Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet
Bach: The Goldberg Variations (Variations 1 & 2)
Angela Hewitt (piano)
Haydn: The Creation (from Part 1, recitative: Im Anfange; and aria with chorus: Nun schwanden)
Raphael....Jose Van Dam
Uriel....Robert Tear
Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra/Rafael Frubeck De Burgos
Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A, Op 81 (Scherzo: Furiant, Molto vivace)
Sviatoslav Richter (piano)
The Borodin Quartet
Thomas Ades: These Premises Are Alarmed
CBSO/Thomas Ades
Bach: Violin Concerto in E, Second Movement Adagio, BWV 1042
Itzhak Perlman (violin)
ECO/Daniel Barenboim
Ibrahim Ferrer: Silencio (Rafael Hernandez)
Omara Portuondo (vocals)
Buena Vista Social Club
Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes, Look! the Storm Cone, Act 1, Scene 1
Balstrode....Anthony Michaels Moore
Ned Keene....Nathan Gunn
Bob Boles....Christopher Gillett
LS Chorus and Orchestra/Colin Davis
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat, part of 1st movt, Allegro brilliante, Op 44
Menahem Pressler (piano)
The Emerson String Quartet.
 20050619 Michael Berkeley talks to Nigel Tully, leader for over 40 years of the rock band The Dark Blues, and Immediate PastMaster of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. A passionate supporter of live jazz, his choices include many jazz greats, such as Charlie Parker, Mose Allison, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, but also works by JS Bach, Bruckner and Berlioz.
 20050626 Michael Berkeley talks to the sculptor Emily Young, who is carrying on a family tradition: her grandmother, the sculptor Kathleen Scott, was a colleague of Rodin. Emily Young has been carving stone for the past two decades, and her latest project, Earth Angel, involves the creation and installation of 12 monumental carved stone heads on all continents of the world.
Her musical tastes range from Beethoven and Schubert to music from Corsica and Rumania, Brian Eno's Bell Studies, and Michael Nyman's The Upside Down Violin.
 20050703 Michael Berkeley's guest is Fergal Keane, one of the BBC's most distinguished journalists. Over the course of his career he has filed reports from some of the world's most dangerous troublespots, including Rwanda and Bosnia during the genocidal years.
Some of his musical choices reflect his Irish background, while others reveal a love of piano music, oratorio and opera.
 20050710 Michael Berkeley talks to the mountaineer Stephen Venables, the first Briton to climb Everest without oxygen. His musical choices range widely, from a harpsichord piece by Rameau and Bach's B m Mass, through music by Mozart, Schumann, Brahms and Elgar to Weill's Surabaya Johnny and one of Dudley Moore's brilliant piano improvisations.
 20050717 Michael Berkeley's guest is the Scottish poet and guitarist Don Paterson, whose poetry collections, including Landing Light and Gods Gift to Women, have won several major awards. His eclectic musical passions range from a Bartok string quartet to jazz and folk-influenced pieces by Donal Lunny, Antonio Carlos Jobim and John Abercrombie.
 20050724 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Christopher Hampton, one of Britain's most successful playwrights, and the winner of numerous awards for his brilliant adaptations of plays by Chekhov, Ibsen, Horvath and Moliere among others.
His adaptation of Laclos' novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses transferred to the West End stage soon after opening to great acclaim at the RSC, and was subsequently filmed with Glenn Close as its amoral heroine. His musical passions range from Bach, Haydn and Brahms to Philip Glass and Bob Dylan 
 20050731 Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Miranda Richardson, famous for such diverse roles as Ruth Ellis in the film Dance with a Stranger, Mrs Tweedy in Chicken Run, Queenie in Blackadder II, and Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Her musical choices range from Roy Bailey singing the traditional folk song Bitter Withy, to the Sanctus from Britten's War Requiem, and the opening of Debussy's opera Pelleas et Melisande.
 20050807 Michael Berkeley talks to the economist Ruth Lea, director of the Centre for Policy Studies. Her musical passions range from a lute song by Dowland to Brahms's German Requiem, and Britten's Peter Grimes to Duke Bluebeard's Castle by Bartok.
 20050814 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the neuropsychiatrist Professor Alwyn Lishman, a distinguished pioneer in the study of cerebral disorders and their effect on human behaviour.
He is particularly interested in how the brain responds to music, and his own musical passions encompass several different genres of keyboard music, from harpsichord music by Rameau and Scarlatti to a Schubert piano sonata and organ works by Bach and Boellmann.
 20050821 Private Passions celebrates its 500th edition, and Michael Berkeley's guest on this occasion is Katherine, Duchess of Kent. She is passionately interested in music, particularly for young people, and has spent time teaching music to underprivileged children in the North of England, as well as continuing a close association with the Royal Northern College of Music.
The Duchess has recently founded a charity, Future Talent, which aims to nurture musically talented children at primary school level. Her own musical passions are eclectic, ranging from Bach, Chopin, Saint-Saëns and Faure to Bryn Terfel singing You'll Never Walk Alone and Dido singing Thank You.
 20050828 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the architect John Wheatley, who was closely associated with the redevelopment of the City of London from the 1980s onwards.
Architecture, art and music have shaped a major part of his professional life, and his musical passions show a fascination with the conjunction of oriental and western music, the influence of jazz, and composers such as Messiaen and Scriabin who were preoccupied with philosophical and mystical concepts.
 20050904 Michael Berkeley meets the Irish writer and film-maker Neil Jordan, director of acclaimed films such as The Company of Wolves, Mona Lisa and The Crying Game. His musical passions range from a Schubert song, a Villa-Lobos guitar prelude and the opening of Mahler's Ninth Symphony to Thelonius Monk and Jobim.
 20050911 Michael Berkeley's guest today is Robin Guthrie, whose many administrative posts have included Director of the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust, Chief Charity Commissioner for England and Wales, and Director of Social and Economic Affairs of the Council of Europe.
His musical enthusiasms encompass a Haydn symphony, Britten's Cantata Academica, Wagner's Das Rheingold, and Chris Barber's Jazz Band, among others.
 20050918 Michael Berkeley talks to Sir Ernest Hall, the Lancashire-born pianist, entrepreneur and philanthropist who set up Dean Clough in Halifax, a former mill complex which is now home to 100 thriving companies, plus art galleries and a theatre.
Now in his 70s, he has recently achieved another lifetime ambition - to record the complete piano works of Chopin. Music takes pride of place among his passions, and his choices today include music by Busoni, Ligeti, Berg, Walton and Thomas Ades.
 20050925 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Henry Goodman, known for his award-winning performance as Shylock in the Royal National Theatre's 1999 production of The Merchant of Venice.
He is also known for many appearances in film, television and West End musicals such as Follies and Chicago. His wide-ranging musical passions include operas by Verdi, Bizet and Richard Strauss; Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht, Jewish traditional music and a song by Jacques Brel.
 20051002 Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Sheila Hancock, who has appeared in countless stage productions, most recently The Anniversary. Her film credits include Three Men and a Little Lady and Sally Potter's Yes, and she has starred in many comedy series for BBC TV. Sheila has recently published The Two of Us, a moving memoir of her marriage to actor John Thaw.
Her musical passions include piano concertos by Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Rachmaninov, chamber music by Beethoven, Elgar and Britten, and Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
 20051009 Michael Berkeley talks to the journalist and broadcaster Mark Lawson, presenter of Radio 4's Front Row. He has always had a passion for American culture, and his musical choices include works by Stephen Sondheim, Morton Feldman, John Adams and Aaron Copland, as well as music by Bach, Haydn, Schumann and Messiaen.
 20051016 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the political journalist Frank Johnson, former editor of The Spectator. His musical tastes range from Monteverdi, Bach and Gluck, through Verdi and Wagner to Bartok and Stravinsky.
 20051023 Michael Berkeley talks to the artist and designer David Gentleman, whose work ranges over many media - from lithographs, wood engravings and books of watercolours to postage stamps, posters, a coin from the Royal Mint, and the platform-length Eleanor Cross mural designs in London's Charing Cross tube station.
His musical tastes encompass Baroque keyboard and chamber music, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, operas by Mozart, Britten and Richard Strauss, and Billie Holiday singing Miss Brown to You.
Diana Quick20051030 Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Diana Quick, whose career in films, TV and on the stage has spanned nearly four decades. Her many television roles have included appearances in Poirot, Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders, as well as her award-winning portrayal of Lady Julia Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited.
Her musical choices range from Bach and Schubert to Jonathan Harvey, Arvo Part and Marvin Gaye 
 20051106 Michael Berkeley's guest is Lord Patten, the former Conservative MP who became the last British Governor of Hong Kong and subsequently European Commissioner for foreign relations. An outspoken politician, he has recently published a memoir, Not Quite the Diplomat.
His musical choices include a Handel aria sung by Andreas Scholl, the quartet from Beethoven's Fidelio, Haydn's Cello Concerto in C, and Hoagy Carmichael's Riverboat Shuffle.
 20051113 Michael Berkeley talks to travel writer Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, who celebrates his 90th birthday this year. His musical choices range from Victoria and Couperin to Mozart, Berlioz, Debussy and Irving Berlin.
Famous for his daring wartime exploits on Crete, Fermor later became one of the finest travel writers of his generation. He wrote about his beloved Greece in Mani and Roumeli, and his youthful travels on foot across 1930s Europe in A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water.
 20051120 Michael Berkeley talks to the acclaimed American saxophonist and composer Branford Marsalis, who is in London for the Jazz Festival.
Though best known for his jazz performances and recordings, he has also given classical concerts with leading American and European orchestras, and three years ago he founded his own record label to promote both jazz and classical music. Marsalis is also closely involved with educational initiatives in the US, shaping the future of jazz in the classroom.
 20051127 Michael Berkeley's guest is film director Sally Potter, whose eclectic music choices range from tangos by Pugliese and Piazzola to piano music by Bach, Beethoven and Henry Cowell.
Potter's movies include Orlando, starring Tilda Swinton; The Tango Lesson, in which she appears herself as a dancer; The Man Who Cried, with Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett and Johnny Depp; and most recently, Yes, starring Joan Allen.
 20051211 Michael Berkeley's guest is the broadcaster and Second World War fighter pilot Raymond Baxter, for many years the presenter of Tomorrow's World, which was first broadcast 40 years ago. He also commentated for the BBC on state occasions, as well as 14 consecutive Monte Carlo rallies, and has recently published his memoirs.
His musical choices range from a Bach cantata to Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.
Prunella Scales20060108 Michael Berkeley's guest is the actor Prunella Scales, star of innumerable plays, films and TV productions, from her masterly portrayal of Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife Sybil, to HM the Queen in Alan Bennett's play A Question of Attribution.
Her musical choices include works by Wilbye, Handel, Schubert, Berlioz and Wagner.
Paul Griffiths20060115 Michael Berkeley talks to writer and critic Paul Griffiths, whose choices include works by Ligeti, Kurtag and Nono; alongside sacred music from the Middle Ages and songs by Debussy and Stravinsky.
Michael Symmons Roberts20060122 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer and poet Michael Symmons Roberts. His choices include music by MacMillan, Gavin Bryars, Messiaen and John Adams, as well as a little-known piece by Mozart.
Rebecca Front20060205 Michael Berkeley meets Rebecca Front, who plays the downtrodden wife Cath in Julia Davis' black comedy Nighty Night. Her musical choices include concertos by Mozart and Gershwin; symphonies by Brahms and Mahler, and vocal music by Purcell and Britten.
James May2006021220070204Michael Berkeley's guest is Top Gear presenter James May, who plays piano and flute, and studied music at university before getting seriously into fast cars. His choices include music by Dunstable, Francois Couperin, Bach, Chopin, Britten and Messaien, alongside a very unusual rendering of the Top Gear theme tune.
 20060219 Michael Berkeley's guest is the writer Alexander McCall Smith, author of many best-selling novels including The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series set in Botswana, the trilogy 2 ½ Pillars of Wisdom, and the Edinburgh-based serial novels 44 Scotland Street and Espresso Tales.
A keen amateur musician, Alexander McCall Smith plays in The Really Terrible Orchestra, and his private musical passions range from medieval and Renaissance music to African music played by the Kronos Quartet, a piece from Orkney by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Arvo Part's moving Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, and The Teddy Bears' Picnic , which he finds surprisingly sinister and full of hidden messages.
 20060226 Michael Berkeley talks to Gloucestershire Chief Constable Timothy Brain, whose musical choices take in Renaissance and baroque composers as well as works by Finzi, Elgar and Vaughan Williams.
 20060305 Michael Berkeley talks to actor Zubin Varla, whose choices range from a Bach cello suite and a Chopin Nocturne to a song from Schumann's Liederkreis. He also selects symphonies by Shostakovich and Mahler, and Keith Jarrett playing Over the Rainbow.
Varla has recently appeared as Brutus in David Farr's production of Julius Caesar at the RSC and the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. He also appeared on stage to great acclaim as Mozart (Amadeus), Salim (Midnight's Children) and in many other RSC productions. His TV work includes The Bill, Dalziel and Pascoe and Spooks.
An accomplished musician, Varla plays violin, piano and percussion, and has given professional concerts with the Bergonzi Quartet.
 20060312 Michael Berkeley's guest is economist Sir Alan Budd - Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury during the 1990s, and now Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and chairman of the board of trustees of Oxford's leading chamber choir, the Schola Cantorum.
Sir Alan's choices include sacred choral works by Victoria, Bach, Samuel Wesley and Poulenc; as well as Beethoven's Spring Sonata for violin and piano; and Janacek's wind sextet Mladi.
 20060319 Michael Berkeley talks to American jazz virtuoso pianist and composer Chick Corea, who has just released his latest album, The Ultimate Adventure.
Winner of 12 Grammy awards, his career stretches back over four decades and over 100 albums, from early beginnings playing electric piano in Miles Davis' band to his fruitful collaborations with many leading jazz artists and major orchestras, including the LPO.
His choices include music that has influenced his own work, ranging from Mozart, Bartók and Scriabin to Art Tatum and Duke Ellington 
 20060326 Michael Berkeley's guest is David Rothenberg - composer, jazz clarinettist and professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is also the author of several books, the most recent being Why Birds Sing, an examination of the phenomenon of birdsong and its musical expression.
The Professor's choices are mainly inspired by the natural world - ranging from Vivaldi's famous 1702 flute concerto The Goldfinch, to works by Messiaen and Takemitsu, whale music re-interpreted by Alan Hovhaness, Nepalese sarangi music inspired by butterflies, and Dave Holland's Conference of the Birds.
 20060402 Michael Berkeley meets one of Britain's most distinguished and influential theatre directors. William Gaskill was a seminal figure in the artistic development of the Royal Court Theatre, before becoming associate director to Laurence Olivier at the National Theatre and a founder-director of the Joint Stock Theatre Company.
He now teaches at RADA, and has directed new and classic plays and operas all over the world. His musical choices include works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Janacek, Weill and Stravinsky.
 20060409 Michael Berkeley's guest is Joe Boyd, who produced and managed many of the greatest pop and folk bands of the Sixties, from Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton to Nick Drake, Fairport Convention and Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Joe has just written a book about his experiences, called White Bicycles: Making Music in the Sixties. His personal choices are predictably eclectic, from Dinu Lipatti to the Comedian Harmonists.
 20060416 Michael Berkeley's guest is one of the foremost composers of our time. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who was appointed Master of the Queen's Music in 2004, has an international following.
His credits includes operas such as The Lighthouse, ballets, music-theatre works including Eight Songs for a Mad King, eight symphonies, numerous concertos, chamber music and lighter works such as the popular Orkney Wedding with Sunrise.
Sir Peter's musical choices are varied, ranging from Italian folk music and Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers, to a Bartók string quartet and a cello concerto by the young Scottish composer Sally Beamish.
 20060423 For St George's Day, Private Passions presents a selection of past guests who have chosen pieces by English composers.
Playwright Arnold Wesker explores the quintessential Englishness of Elgar, while Tom Wright, now Bishop of Durham, remembers his student days at Oxford to the accompaniment of Vaughan Williams, whose music is also the choice of novelist Alan Hollinghurst. Writer Philip Pullman finds an almost pagan sensibility in Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra; while poet Ruth Fainlight chooses a traditional folksong and an extract from Harrison Birtwistle's Pulse Shadows. Stephen Fry finds Britten's War Requiem unbearably poignant, while poet Geoffrey Hill recalls the wartime destruction of Coventry. Byrd's Mass for five voices is the choice of writer and psychoanalyst Salley Vickers 
 20060430 Michael Berkeley meets the writer Kate Mosse, whose most recent book, the medieval thriller Labyrinth, has just received the public vote for "best read on the Richard and Judy Bookclub", and has shot into the best-seller league. A familiar voice on Radio 4's literary programmes, Kate Mosse is passionate about encouraging new writers, and also about music. Her choices today include a Bach Brandenburg Concerto, the prelude to Wagner's Parsifal, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, and Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony.
 20060507 Michael Berkeley's guest is American jazz pianist and composer Brad Mehldau, who recently appeared in the UK with his trio, and has just released a new album, Day is Done.
Mehldau is currently working on a Carnegie Hall commission to write and perform songs with soprano Renee Fleming. His musical passions include a Prokofiev piano sonata; Schnittke's Psalms of Repentance; an aria from Bellini's opera Norma - sung by Maria Callas; a piano piece by Messiaen; and Fauré's exquisite song Après un rêve.
 20060514 Actress Joanna Lumley reveals her private musical passions to Michael Berkeley, including the great quartet from Beethoven's opera Fidelio, a Rossini overture, an unusual choral waltz by Josef Strauss and a song by Otis Redding.
Lord Patten20060521 Michael Berkeley's guest is Lord Patten, the former Conservative MP who became the last British Governor of Hong Kong and subsequently European Commissioner for foreign relations. His musical choices include a Handel aria sung by Andreas Scholl, the quartet from Beethoven's Fidelio, Haydn's C major Cello Concerto, and Hoagy Carmichael's Riverboat Shuffle.
 20060528 Michael Berkeley's guest is journalist Fergal Keane. Some of his musical choices reflect his Irish background, while others reveal a love of piano music, oratorio and opera.
 20060604 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Patrick Malahide, whose musical choices range from traditional Irish music, reflecting his background, to Mozart's Requiem and the Bruch Violin Concerto.
 20060611 Michael Berkeley talks to Howard Barker, one of the most powerful and compelling writers of modern European plays. He has also written several volumes of poetry and a collection of essays on the nature of theatre. Barker's musical passions centre around works by Bartók, Ligeti, Stockhausen and Shostakovich.
 20060618 Michael Berkeley's guest is bass guitarist and actress Suzi Quatro, who recently released her latest album Back to the Drive. Her choices range from Beethoven, Mozart and Rachmaninov to Bob Dylan 
 20060625 Michael Berkeley talks to director Annabel Arden, one of the founders of the innovative Theatre de Complicite. Her choices range from a Bach partita to songs by Shostakovich and Jimmy Durante.
 20060702 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer, broadcaster and raconteur John Amis, who for many years chaired the popular BBC radio quiz show My Music, and who has just published a memoir called My Music in London 1945-2000.
His choices include extracts from Berlioz's Les troyens; Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Tippett's A Child of Our Time, and Percy Grainger's The Warriors.
 20060709 Michael Berkeley's guest is abstract painter Mark Rowan-Hull, whose large, vibrant, colourful canvasses are inspired by the colours he hears in music, especially the works of Olivier Messiaen.
His musical choices include Messiaen, Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question and a song by Freddie Mercury 
Alexander Armstrong20060716 Michael Berkeley meets the actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong, one of the guest presenters of Have I Got News for You, and the star of TV shows such as Beast (in which he played the animal-hating vet), and TLC.
He nearly became a professional singer rather than an actor, and his choices include Stanford's Nunc dimittis sung by the choir of Trinity College, Cambridge (in which he sings the bass solo); an aria from Bach's St Matthew Passion, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel.
 20060730 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the sculptor Graham Williams, who creates exquisitely elegant constructions from stainless steel, bronze and stone. He is also a graphic artist, working in wood block engravings and limited edition books. His musical tastes are predominantly modern and contemporary, embracing Bartok, Mahler, Sibelius, Gorecki, the Estonian composer Eino Tamberg, and Jonathan Harvey.
 20060806 Michael Berkeley's guest today is one of Britain's best-loved actresses. Sheila Hancock has starred in countless stage productions, films and comedy series for BBC TV and radio. Last year she published The Two of Us, a moving memoir of her marriage to the actor John Thaw. Her musical passions include piano concertos by Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Rachmaninov, chamber music by Beethoven, Elgar and Britten, and Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
John Amis20060813 Michael Berkeley's guest today is the writer, broadcaster and raconteur John Amis, for many years a panellist on the popular radio quiz show My Music, who has just published a memoir My Music in London 1945-2000.
His personal music choices today include extracts from Berlioz's Les troyens, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Tippett's A Child of Our Time and Percy Grainger's The Warriors.
 20060820 Michael Berkeley talks to garden designer Christopher Bradley-Hole, whose innovative designs have won many prizes at the Chelsea Flower Show. His choices range from 16th-century Spanish composer Rodrigo de Ceballos, whose motet Hortus conclusus inspired an award-winning garden design, to Vivaldi, Beethoven, Arvo Part and Erik Satie.
Stephen Fry20060827 Stephen Fry reveals his passionate love of music to Michael Berkeley. His choices range from Mozart, Britten and Wagner to Nina Simone, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
 20060903 Michael Berkeley's guest is American crime writer Sara Paretsky, who has been described as 'the Raymond Chandler of the female private-eye novel'. The latest in her series of novels featuring the feminist gumshoe VI Warshawski is Fire Sale, set in the dangerous backstreets of South Chicago.
Her musical choices, in contrast, are generally airy and serene, including string quartets by Mozart and Schubert, and vocal works by Mozart, Hugo Wolf and Britten.
Maureen Lipman2006091020080224Michael Berkeley meets actress Maureen Lipman. Her musical choices include concertos by Bruch and Beethoven, arias by Bernstein and Rossini, and Glenn Gould playing Bach.
Michael Berkeley's guest is the actress Maureen Lipman, whose musical choices include concertos by Bruch and Beethoven, arias by Bernstein and Rossini, Glenn Gould playing Bach, and the Queen of the Night's aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute, sung by Florence Foster Jenkins, whom Maureen Lipman has played on stage.
 20060917 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer James Fleming - nephew of both 007 creator Ian Fleming and of cellist Amaryllis Fleming.
His musical choices include a rare recording of his aunt playing part of a Bach cello suite; the Scottish folk fiddler Willie Hunter; a Scriabin piano prelude; Shostakovich's Piano Quintet, and Tom Lehrer's The Vatican Rag.
 20060924 Michael Berkeley's guest is leading judge Sir Robert Carnwath - a former chairman of the Law Commission, who has been a Lord Justice of Appeal since 2002.
His choices range from a solo violin sonata by Ysaye and a Mozart string duo to Schumann songs; excerpts from Haydn's Creation; Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor; and the closing moments of Britten's War Requiem.
Kirsty Gunn20061001 novelist Kirsty Gunn, whose selections range from Scottish pipe music to Chopin, Dvorak, Handel, Wagner, Debussy and Morton Feldman.
David Farr20061008 Michael Berkeley's guest is David Farr, artistic director of the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. His choices range from early Portuguese, Mexican, Romanian and klezmer music to Bach and Beethoven.
Joan Bakewell20061015 Michael Berkeley talks to the writer and broadcaster Joan Bakewell.
Her choices reflect her strong belief in life-affirming qualities and include a Mozart symphony, the finale of Schumann's Piano Concerto, Janacek's Intimate Letters Quartet and the finale of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!.
David Campbell20061022 Michael Berkeley talks to publisher David Campbell.
He is particularly fond of the music of Schubert, but his other choices include Stravinsky's Renard, a Monteverdi madrigal, Cecilia Bartoli singing Berlioz, and music from Scotland and India.
Colm Toibin20061029 Michael Berkeley's guest is the award-winning Irish writer Colm Toibin.
His choices include Pablo Casals playing Bach, songs by Faure, Gluck, Schubert and Sibelius, a string quartet by the Irish composer Frederick May, and part of Wagner's Die Walkure.
Simon Heffer2006110520070819Michael Berkeley talks to political columnist Simon Heffer, who currently writes for The Daily Mail and has been political editor of The Spectator and deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph.
English music and Wagner are central to Heffer's musical philosophy, and his choices include works by Holst, Parry, Butterworth, Vaughan Williams and George Lloyd, and the Prelude to Wagner's Gotterdammerung.
Tori Amos20061112 Michael Berkeley's guest is the American singer and songwriter Tori Amos, who has just released a new album.
A classically-trained pianist from a strict Methodist background, her own music explores many fascinating themes, including the role of women in religion. Her musical choices reveal the strong influence of keyboard music and range from Bach and Beethoven to Rachmaninov and Prokofiev.
Stephin Merritt20061119 Michael Berkeley welcomes another transatlantic guest in London Jazz Week, the composer and songwriter Stephin Merritt, sometimes described as 'the Cole Porter of his generation'.
Merritt has released several albums with his band Magnetic Fields, and recently released the theme music for Lemony Snicket's 'Series of Unfortunate Events' audiobooks with his rock-bubblegum pop band Gothic Archies (of which he is the only member).
Famously laconic in conversation, his personal choice of music includes music played on a toy piano, among a range of other exotic and unusual instruments.
David Gordon20061126 Michael Berkeley's guest is Professor David Gordon, Vice-President and former Dean of the Medical Faculty of Manchester University.
A keen music lover and amateur cellist, his personal choice of music includes string quartets by Janacek and Schoenberg, a Byrd Fantasia for viol consort, a movement from Messaien's Quartet for the End of Time and Schoenberg's arrangement of Johann Strauss's waltz Roses from the South.
Neil Kinnock20061203 Michael Berkeley's guest is Neil Kinnock, former Labour Party leader. From 1995 until 2004 he was a UK Commissioner on the European Commission, and he is now Chair of the British Council and President of Cardiff University.
His musical passions embrace grand opera, particularly Verdi, Wagner and Puccini, as well as the Hummel Trumpet Concerto, the finale of Bruch's G minor Violin Concerto played by Nigel Kennedy, and the Romance from Shostakovich's Gadfly Suite.
Felicity Kendal20061210 Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Felicity Kendal. Her choices include tabla pieces from India, vocal music from the Westminster Cathedral Choir, Maria Callas and Placido Domingo, and a range of concertos from Vivaldi to Elgar.
Paul Woodmansterne20061224 Michael Berkeley's guest is Paul Woodmansterne, managing director of the family firm of greeting card manufacturers. A keen musician, cellist and singer, he now conducts the Woodmansterne Collection, a band of professional musicians who perform regularly in St Albans Cathedral.
His musical choices range from Bach's Mourning Ode to Haydn's Cello Concerto No 1, Beethoven's Symphony No 3 and a Christmas carol by John Gardner.
Sandi Toksvig20061231 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig. Her first love remains musical theatre, but she is now avidly exploring other areas of classical music, ranging from operas by Mozart, Bizet and Puccini to Haydn's The Creation.
Miriam Stoppard20070107 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer and broadcaster Dr Miriam Stoppard. Her musical choices include violin works by Vaughan Williams and Sibelius, operas by Puccini, Britten and Debussy, Cole Porter, Miles Davis playing Gershwin, and Pink Floyd.
Charlie Higson20070114 Michael Berkeley's guest is Fast Show star Charlie Higson. His choices range from Wagner and Messaien to Philip Glass, Cesaria Evora and music from Mexico.
Colin Wilson20070121 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer and philosopher Colin Wilson, whose extraordinarily extensive output began with the publication 50 years ago of The Outsider, the book in which he coined the phrase New Existentialism. He has gone on to embrace literary, music and film criticism, science fiction, the occult and criminology.
Wilson's musical tastes range from a Haydn string quartet to symphonies by Prokofiev and Howard Hansen, and operas by Britten and Berg.
Henry Goodman20070128 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Henry Goodman, well-known for his stage appearances in the classical repertory and in films, television and West End musicals such as Follies and Chicago.
His wide-ranging musical passions include operas by Verdi, Bizet and Richard Strauss, Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht, Jewish traditional music and a song by Jacques Brel.
Stephen Venables20070218 Michael Berkeley talks to mountaineer Stephen Venables, the first Briton to climb Everest without oxygen. His musical choices include a harpsichord piece by Rameau, Bach's Mass in B minor, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, Elgar and Weill.
Diana Quick20070225 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Diana Quick, whose career in film, TV and theatre has spanned nearly four decades. Her musical choices range from Bach and Schubert to Jonathan Harvey, Arvo Part and Marvin Gaye 
Alex Jennings20070304 Michael Berkeley's guest is award-winning actor Alex Jennings, a regular star at the RSC and the National Theatre. His musical tastes are broad, ranging from Frank Sinatra and Marvin Gaye to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson singing Bach, Laurence Olivier declaiming Shakespeare to Walton's music, Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw and Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella.
William Dalrymple20070311 Michael Berkeley's guest is historian William Dalrymple, whose latest book looks at 19th-century Delhi under the reign of its last Mughal ruler and at the retribution visited upon the city in the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny.
His musical choices range from medieval French troubadour song and a High Renaissance Mass to John Tavener, Stevie Wishart and music from different Indian cultures.
Audra Mcdonald20070318 Michael Berkeley meets American soprano Audra McDonald, star of Broadway musicals and an acclaimed actress as well as a classically trained singer who has performed with all the great US orchestras under conductors such as Simon Rattle and Michael Tilson Thomas, and has appeared several times at the BBC Proms.
Her musical choices range from a Chopin ballade and Poulenc's Cello Sonata to a tango by Astor Piazzolla and Shaker Loops by John Adams 
Annalena Mcafee20070325 Michael Berkeley's guest today is writer and journalist Annalena McAfee.
Her Irish background informs some of her choices, with traditional Irish music rubbing shoulders with music from Catalonia and Tibet, alongside works by Mahler, Janacek, CPE Bach and Judith Weir.
Clemency Burton-hill20070401 Michael Berkeley's guest is multi-talented actress, writer, violinist and journalist Clemency Burton-Hill, who recently played Sophie in the BBC2 series Party Animals. She writes regular political columns in the press, is writing her first book and still finds time for music.
Her private musical passions range from Bach's Double Violin Concerto, which she has played herself from an early age, to a Mozart piano concerto, a motet by Durufle, a song from 'West Side Story' and Angelique Kidjo singing at a Live Aid concert in Africa.
Victoria Hislop20070408 Michael Berkeley meets Victoria Hislop, whose debut novel, The Island, has been a runaway best-seller. Inspired by a holiday visit to Crete and set on the former leper colony island of Spinalonga, it tells the story of the extraordinarily vibrant community which existed there in enforced isolation.
Victoria also plays the violin, and her choices include violin concertos by Bach and Mendelssohn, as well as Bruckner's Third Symphony, Greek folk music and the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
David Rintoul20070415 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor David Rintoul, who is currently appearing on stage in London's West End as Dr Jake Houseman in James Powell's production of Dirty Dancing.
A well-known stage actor, Rintoul has played a range of roles from Shakespeare to David Hare, and on TV he has appeared in many period dramas including Pride and Prejudice, Poirot and The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries, and he played Dr Finlay in the remake of Dr Finlay's Casebook.
A passionate music lover, his choices today range from Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea to Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste, Sibelius's Symphony No 5 and music by Charles Mingus and Michael Marra.
Martin Rowson20070422 Michael Berkeley meets the Guardian's political cartoonist Martin Rowson who, with his colleague Steve Bell, produce lively visual commentaries on the international political scene.
Rowson is celebrated for his acid wit as well as his penetrating eye and he explains to Michael how a convinced atheist can find Bach's St Matthew Passion deeply moving, why he thinks Bob Dylan is greatly overrated as a poet and why we should all learn a song from The Sound of Music.
Vernon Bogdanor20070429 Michael Berkeley's guest is Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at Oxford University, and a noted commentator on constitutional and political issues.
A passionate music-lover, his choices reflect his love of the piano, with works by Bach, Shostakovich, Beethoven and Schubert, and also an interest in the part music has played in politics, illustrated by an extract from Wagner's Parsifal and Prokofiev's Sixth Symphony.
Kenneth Cranham20070506 Michael Berkeley talks to actor Kenneth Cranham.
He is well known for his performances on screen, where he has appeared in numerous TV detective series and dramas, and on stage in West End productions. He was cast as the giant logger Paul Bunyan in Francesca Zambello's production of Britten's operetta for the Royal Opera House.
His musical choices include pieces by Britten, Prokofiev and Mozart as well as examples of his passion for jazz and blues.
Mark Ravenhill20070513 Michael Berkeley's guest is one of Britain's best-known contemporary playwrights, Mark Ravenhill. He shot to fame with a series of plays whose contemporary themes, black sense of humour and sensational subject-matter - exploring subjects such as alternative sexuality and drug-taking - have intrigued and scandalized audiences all over the world.
His musical choices have a strongly political slant and reveal a passion for opera, ranging from Offenbach's satirical comedy Orpheus in the Underworld to Beethoven's Fidelio, Verdi's Rigoletto, John Adams's Nixon in China and Britten's Peter Grimes 
James Lovelock20070520 Michael Berkeley's guest is scientist Professor James Lovelock, one of the foremost ideological leaders in the development of environmental awareness. He developed the Gaia Theory, which regards the planet Earth as a self-regulated living being, capable of withstanding the assaults made on it by human activity, but that will ultimately have its revenge on man's neglect by becoming an environment on which civilisation can no longer survive.
His love of music is a late passion and his musical choices include two pieces by Mozart, extracts from Verdi's Don Carlos and Wagner's Parsifal, a string quartet by Janacek, and Frank Sinatra singing Witchcraft.
Liz Calder20070527 Michael Berkeley talks to Liz Calder, co-founder of Bloomsbury, and one of the most influential women in the publishing world today.
She spent four years in Brazil in the mid-1960s, and Brazilian music is a particular passion of hers. Her musical choices include pieces by Villa Lobos, including the famous Bachianas brasileiras No 5, songs by Tom Jobim and Chico Buarque and a tango by Astor Piazzolla, alongside works by Delius and Shostakovich.
David Yallop20070603 Michael Berkeley's guest is the investigative writer David Yallop, whose books have probed some controversial subjects, including the Sicilian mafia, Colombian drug cartels, high-profile criminal cases, and alleged corruption within the Vatican, including the mysterious death of Pope John Paul I. His most recent book, The Power and the Glory, investigates the papacy of John Paul II.
His musical choices range from Gregorian chant, to piano music by Bach and John Field, string quartets by Mendelssohn and Beethoven, and music by the English composers George Butterworth and Elgar.
Gyles Brandreth20070610 Michael Berkeley meets Gyles Brandreth, the former Conservative MP and party whip, who is now much in demand as a broadcaster, writer and after-dinner speaker.
His musical passions include songs by Charles Trenet, Gilbert and Sullivan and Stephen Sondheim, as well as a Mozart piano concerto, a piano quintet by pioneering American composer Amy Beach, and Liszt's Faust Symphony, as used in Kenneth MacMillan's ballet Mayerling.
David Harsent20070617 Michael Berkeley's guest is poet David Harsent, winner of the 2005 Forward Poetry Prize for his collection, Legion. As well as nine poetry collections, he has also written opera libretti, notably for Harrison Birtwistle, with whom he is working on a new opera, The Minotaur.
His musical choices range from Britten's setting of the Border ballad The Lyke Wake Dirge and Billie Holiday singing Fine and Mellow, to Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto, and the Sanctus from Gounod's joyous St Cecilia Mass.
Lenny Henry2007062420071230Michael Berkeley's guest is actor and comedian Lenny Henry, who is currently finding great delight in exploring classical music alongside music he grew up with, such as Elvis Presley, Louis Prima and Stevie Wonder.
His recent discoveries include an aria from Donizetti's La fille du regiment sung by Juan Diego Florez, a Mozart piano sonata played by Glenn Gould, and an exquisite song by Ginastera, sung by Bernarda Fink.
Linda Colley20070701 Michael Berkeley talks to historian Linda Colley, who is currently teaching at Princeton University.
Her books include a study of the Tory party in the early 18th century, the award-winning Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837 and, most recently, The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh, the extraordinary story of an intrepid 18th century female traveller and her brushes with the Islamic world and slave trade.
Linda's musical choices reflect her own passions, such as works by Bach, Britten and Stravinsky, and also music she has encountered on her own travels while researching her books.
Scott Stroman20070708 Michael Berkeley's guest is US-born jazz trombonist, conductor and composer Scott Stroman, who is currently Head of Jazz Studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
His wide-ranging musical tastes are reflected in his choices, which include music by Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus alongside a Bach suite, a Beethoven string quartet, a movement from Haydn's Symphony No 99 and an extract from Stravinsky's ballet Apollon musagete.
Joanna David20070715 Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Joanna David, who has appeared in many memorable TV costume dramas, notably in Sense and Sensibility, War and Peace, Rebecca and Pride and Prejudice.
She was a friend of Jacqueline du Pre, and her musical choices include a Haydn cello concerto and a Beethoven trio featuring du Pre, a Verdi opera conducted by Solti, and works by Bach, Schumann and Mendelssohn.
Colm Toibin20070729 Michael Berkeley's guest is award-winning Irish writer Colm Toibin, whose novels include The Blackwater Lightship, The Master and a collection of short stories, Mothers and Sons.
A passionate music lover, his choices include Pablo Casals playing Bach, songs by Faure, Gluck, Schubert and Sibelius, a string quartet by Irish composer Frederick May and an excerpt from Wagner's Die Walkure.
Felicity Kendal20070805 Michael Berkeley talks to actress Felicity Kendal, who is best known for playing Barbara in the classic 1970s sitcom The Good Life.
Her musical choices include Tabla music from India, vocal music from the Westminster Cathedral Choir, works sung by Maria Callas and Placido Domingo and a range of concertos from Vivaldi to Elgar.
Joan Bakewell20070812 Michael Berkeley talks to writer and broadcaster Joan Bakewell, whose most recent book The View from Here: Life at 70 confronts some challenging issues, including the nature of faith, what it means to be British and how we engage politically with the world around us.
Her musical choices reflect her strong belief in life-affirming qualities, and include a Mozart symphony, the finale of Schumann's Piano Concerto, Janacek's 'Intimate Letters' String Quartet, and the finale of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!.
Alexander Armstrong20070826 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong, one of the most successful guest presenters of Have I Got News for You, and the star of TV shows such as Beast (where he played the animal-hating vet) and TLC.
He nearly became a professional singer rather than an actor, and his musical choices include Stanford's Nunc dimittis sung by the choir of Trinity College, Cambridge (in which he sings the bass solo), an aria from Bach's St Matthew Passion, Beethoven's Symphony No 7 and Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel.
Michele Hanson20070902 Michael Berkeley meets writer Michele Hanson, whose witty newspaper columns have chronicled life with her teenage daughter Treasure, the problems of being middle-aged, and living through the declining years of her formidable mother.
Michele has taught music and plays the piano and cello herself, and her musical choices include Schubert's C String Quintet, a Scarlatti Sonata, a Chopin Mazurka, Weill's September Song and Fats Domino playing Blueberry Hill.
Robin Wilson20070909 Michael Berkeley's guest is Robin Wilson, Professor of Mathematics at the Open University and Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London.
A keen amateur musician, he is particularly interested in the relationship of maths and music, and his choices include some interesting musical puzzles, as well as a chorus from Sullivan's The Golden Legend, an excerpt from Britten's children's opera Noye's Fludde, and the opening Fugue for Tinhorns from Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls.
Kiran Desai20070916 Michael Berkeley talks to Indian-born author Kiran Desai, who won the 2006 Man Booker Prize with her novel The Inheritance of Loss. The daughter of novelist Anita Desai, she has lived in America since she was a teenager, and her books delve into the culture shock experienced by immigrants from the relatively poor East to the wealthy West.
She is deeply interested in music, and her choices range from Bach played by Glenn Gould and Pablo Casals, to two masters of the guitar, three contrasting pieces of Indian music and the Cabo Verde phenomenon Cesaria Evora.
Barry Fantoni20070923 Michael Berkeley's guest is the satirist, cartoonist and jazz musician Barry Fantoni, who has been on the editorial staff of Private Eye magazine since 1963, when his first cartoon was published there.
He has worked with John Wells, Peter Cook, Richard Ingrams and Ian Hislop as well as collaborating on such classics as Sylvie Krin's Love in the Saddle and Born to be Queen. He is now Professor of Communications and Media Studies at the University of Salerno.
His musical passions range from Baroque keyboard music by Scarlatti and Rameau, to Percy Grainger's Shallow Brown, Barber's evocative Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and his friend Spike Milligan reciting a surreal auction catalogue over an orchestral background by George Martin.
Tim Hely Hutchinson20070930 Michael Berkeley talks to one of Britain's most successful publishers. Tim Hely Hutchinson began his career with MacMillan Publishers and is now chief executive of Hachette Livre UK, the largest publisher in Britain.
Apart from books, music and horse-racing are his chief passions, and he is particularly devoted to opera. His musical choices include Maria Callas singing Bellini, Pavarotti singing Donizetti and Derek Lee Ragin singing Gluck.
Peter Nichols20071007 Michael Berkeley's guest is playwright Peter Nichols, author of black comedies A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Privates on Parade, and Passion Play.
His musical choices range from children's choruses by Kodaly, piano music by Erik Satie and an air from Purcell's The Indian Queen, to Gershwin's delightful Walking the Dog and Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust.
Jeanette Winterson20071014 Michael Berkeley talks to award-winning novelist Jeanette Winterson, whose books include Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Written on the Body, The Passion, Lighthousekeeping and The Stone Gods.
She is passionate about music, especially the human voice, and her choices include Bjork, Maria Callas, Sarah Connolly and Ian Bostridge as well as cellist Natalie Clein with a new recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto.
John Enderby20071021 Michael Berkeley talks to physicist Sir John Enderby, emeritus professor of physics at the University of Bristol and an expert on neutrons and the medical applications of evanescent waves.
Music has been a passion with him since the age of 15, and his choices include the Prelude to Act III of Wagner's Lohengrin, the Easter Hymn from Mascagni's opera Cavalleria Rusticana, a Mahler song, a movement of a Mozart horn concerto and Yonty Solomon playing the first movement of Beethoven's Waldstein Piano Sonata.
Joyce Carol Oates20071028 Michael Berkeley talks to American writer Joyce Carol Oates, a distinguished contemporary novelist and professor at Princeton University. Her latest novel The Gravedigger's Daughter deals with some of her favourite themes - race, immigration and social mobility.
Two pieces of music that feature in the book - Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata and a Faure cello sonata - are among her choices, which also include Claudio Arrau playing Chopin, Mozart's Requiem and Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust.
Peter Hennessy20071104 Michael Berkeley's guest is the English government historian and political journalist Peter Hennessy. He has written many award-winning books about postwar Britain, most recently Having It So Good, a study of the Macmillan era, and New Protective State: Government, Intelligence and Terrorism.
His musical choices reflect nostalgia for his upbringing in 1950s Britain, with pieces such as Vivian Ellis's 'Coronation Scot', the Chris Barber Jazz Band, spiritual works by Bach and Pergolesi, a Beethoven string quartet and the opening of Sibelius's Second Symphony, which reminds him of the Scottish Highlands.
William Crozier20071111 Michael Berkeley talks to Scottish-born artist William Crozier, whose works are currently on show in London for the first time in ten years.
Crozier's figurative paintings of objects or landscapes are characterised by vibrant colour and great emotional intensity, and he sees the still life in the same terms as chamber music or the songs of Mahler.
His musical choices encompass Wagner with Siegfried's Funeral March, a Charpentier mass, a Mozart horn concerto, a Shostakovich string quartet, James MacMillan's Veni, veni Emmanuel, Charlie Parker's Ornithology and a piece of flamenco.
Chris Higgins20071118 Michael Berkeley's guest is Prof Chris Higgins, the new vice-chancellor of Durham University and a distinguished scientist in the fields of cell biology and genetics. He began his career as a violin student at the Royal College of Music before switching to botany, and his profound love of music has continued to inform his life.
A passionate opera lover, his choices include excerpts from Wagner's Ring Cycle and Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea, as well as a Bach partita for solo violin, chamber music for strings by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich, Britten's Suite for solo harp, and a new piece by Jon Lord written specially for Durham.
Charlie Haden20071125 As Radio 3 celebrates the London Jazz Festival, Michael Berkeley meets legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden, who was born in Iowa, and became famous playing with Ornette Coleman in the late 1950s.
He has also collaborated with Keith Jarrett and Paul Methany, and the Liberation Music Orchestra. His wide musical interests embrace spiritual hymns, film noir music and Cuban folk music.
John Nickson20071202 Michael Berkeley talks to John Nickson, Director of the Tate Foundation, and previously Director of Development at ENO, who has spent much of his career dealing with the sensitive issue of arts sponsorship.
Opera is clearly a passion of his, and his musical choices include excerpts from Wagner's Die Walkure and Berg's Wozzeck, as well as symphonies by Sibelius, Bruckner and Elgar, a Bach cantata, and a piano piece by Janacek.
Claire Bloom 2007120920090208Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Claire Bloom, whose most famous stage roles have included Blanche in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, while on TV she memorably appeared as Lady Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited.
Music is central to her life, and her choices reveal a passion for opera, plus Alfred Brendel playing Schubert, Heinrich Schiff playing Bach on the cello, and the radiant end of Schoenberg's Transfigured Night.
Actress Claire Bloom reveals her musical passions to Michael Berkeley, including operas by Mozart, Bellini, Verdi, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss, as well as pianist Alfred Brendel playing Schubert, cellist Heinrich Schiff playing Bach and the end of Schoenberg's Transfigured Night.
Actress Claire Bloom chooses music by Schubert, Bach and Schoenberg, plus opera works.
Derren Brown 20071223 Michael Berkeley meets Derren Brown, who over the last seven years has enthralled audiences with his famous experiments in 'Mind Control', a potent blend of psychology, illusion and showmanship.
A passionate music-lover, Derren listens every day to Bach, especially the Goldberg Variations and Cello Suites, and many of his choices have a spiritual nature, including Tallis' 40-part motet Spem in alium and Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius.
He also reveals that he used the slow movement of Beethoven's 'Emperor' Piano Concerto in a live stage show to accompany the slow and painful process of hammering a nail into his nose!.
Mark Ravenhill20080106 Michael Berkeley talks to the controversial playwright Mark Ravenhill, whose musical choices have a strongly political slant and reveal a passion for opera.
They range from Offenbach's satirical comedy Orpheus in the Underworld, to Beethoven's Fidelio, Verdi's Rigoletto, John Adams's Nixon in China and Britten's Peter Grimes 
Christopher Nupen20080113 Michael Berkeley's guest is the documentary filmmaker Christopher Nupen, whose intimate and revealing portraits of leading musicians such as Jacqueline du Pre, Daniel Barenboim, and Nathan Milstein have been widely acclaimed. His most recent film, 'We Want the Light', made in 2004, revolved around music-making in Nazi concentration camps.
He talks about some of the musicians who influenced him, including an early meeting with the legendary soprano Lotte Lehmann in Vienna, and his musical choices include performances by Lehmann, Tito Gobbi, du Pre, the Budapest Quartet and Nathan Milstein.
Katie Melua20080120 Michael Berkeley meets singer and songwriter Katie Melua who, in the course of a career lasting only four years so far, has sold more than 7.5 million albums, and by 2006 was the highest-selling European female artist in the world.
Katie acknowledges the influence of many different artists on her style, including Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy, Paul Simon and Irish folk music, but she also loves classical music, and her choices include works by Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Ravel.
Bryan Appleyard 20080127 Michael Berkeley meets Bryan Appleyard, feature writer, commentator, reviewer and columnist for several newspapers and magazines, including The Sunday Times and The New Statesman. He is also a writer on cultural and social issues; one of his recent books is entitled How to Live Forever or Die Trying. His musical passions range from sacred music by Tallis and Bach to Bob Dylan, but his particular love is the classical string quartet.
Martin Rowson20080203 Michael Berkeley meets The Guardian's political cartoonist Martin Rowson, famous for his acid wit, as well as his penetrating eye.
He explains to Michael Berkeley how a convinced atheist can find Bach's St Matthew Passion deeply moving, why he thinks Bob Dylan is greatly overrated as a poet and why we should all learn a song from The Sound of Music.
Sandi Toksvig20080210 Michael Berkeley talks to writer, performer and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig, who currently chairs BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz.
Her first love remains musical theatre, but she is now exploring other areas of classical music, ranging from operas by Mozart, Bizet and Puccini to Haydn's Creation.
Vernon Bogdanor20080217 Michael Berkeley's guest is Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at Oxford University, and a noted commentator on constitutional and political issues.
A passionate music lover, his choices reflect his love of the piano, and also an interest in the part music has played in politics, illustrated by an excerpt from Wagner's Parsifal and Prokofiev's 6th Symphony.
Frank Tallis20080302 Michael Berkeley meets Dr Frank Tallis, a clinical psychologist specialising in obsessive-compulsive disorders who has also achieved success as a writer of detective novels. His Liebermann series of books is set in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century, where his young doctor hero, a disciple of Freud, helps to solve complex crimes through the use of radical analytical techniques.
Frank is interested in all the arts of the period, but particularly music, and pieces by Mahler and Zemlinsky feature among his choices, as well as vocal music by Gesualdo and Rachmaninov and a Viennese-sounding waltz from a film score by Takemitsu.
Edward Gillespie20080309 To coincide with the annual Cheltenham Festival Races being held this week, Michael Berkeley's guest is Edward Gillespie, managing director of Cheltenham Racecourse. Apart from his passion for racing, he is closely involved with arts events in Gloucestershire and is a keen music lover.
His choices range from choral music by Stanford and Carlo Rutti to a string quartet by the Gloucestershire-born composer Herbert Howells, Grieg's Holberg Suite, a tribute to Stephen Foster by Percy Grainger and Burt Bacharach's song She Likes Basketball from the Broadway musical Promises, Promises.
Ian Mckeever20080316 Michael Berkeley's guest is artist Ian McKeever. Known for his luminous abstract paintings, his latest exhibition is currently to be seen at the Alan Cristea Gallery in London's Cork Street.
Ian discusses the relationships between music and painting and chooses pieces by John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Keith Jarrett as well as Messaien, Szymanowski and Richard Strauss.
Vanessa Redgrave20080323 For the programme's 600th edition, Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Vanessa Redgrave, whose career has encompassed over 80 films - most recently the award-winning Atonement - and many stage appearances in plays from Shakespeare to David Hare. Well-known for her social and political activism, she is a UNICEF ambassador and a campaigner for human rights around the world. Her musical choices range from Vaughan Williams to Daniel Barenboim directing his East West Divan orchestra of Arab and Israeli musicians.
Paul Old20080330 Michael Berkeley's guest is former dancer Paul Old, who once worked with contemporary dance groups including Rambert and Siobhan Davies and is now enjoying a second career as a winemaker in the Languedoc region of France.
Paul's choices are influenced by his interest in contemporary music, with works by Steve Reich, Peter Maxwell Davies, Gavin Bryars and John Cage, but there are also songs performed by Leonard Cohen and Nina Simone, and a traditional Catalan song from the region where he now lives.
Edward Fox20080406 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Edward Fox, who has appeared in many films, including The Day of the Jackal, The Go-Between and Gandhi, and who won an award for his portrayal of King Edward VIII in the TV drama Edward and Mrs Simpson. More recently, he has appeared in various West End productions and is currently starring in John Mortimer's Legal Fictions at the Savoy Theatre. His musical choices include performances by pianists such as Josef Hofmann, Artur Schnabel and Edwin Fischer as well as Barenboim playing Bach and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf singing Hugo Wolf.
Simon Baron-cohen20080413 Michael Berkeley's guest is Prof Simon Baron-Cohen, one of the world's leading authorities on autism. He is the author of several books on developmental psychopathology, including The Essential Difference, which stirred up controversy with its attempt to link typical sex differences in psychology with the field of autism. He plays in a band for relaxation, and his musical tastes range from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin to Aretha Franklin, Eva Cassidy and traditional Jewish klezmer music.
Pj Harvey20080420 Michael Berkeley's guest is singer and songwriter PJ Harvey, one of the most successful female rock artists of her generation and whose latest album White Chalk was released last autumn.
Her wide musical interests are reflected in her choices, which include works by Part, Vaughan Williams and Nick Cave as well as Nina Simone's instrumental version of You'll Never Walk Alone.
Colin Low20080427 Michael Berkeley talks to Colin Low, Chairman of the RNIB, a professor of Law and Criminology and a campaigner for the rights of people with disabilities, especially relating to sight impairment. A passionate music lover, his choices include songs by Schumann, Wolf, Quilter and Warlock, and piano music by Schumann, Godowsky and Messiaen. Plus a little-known orchestral work by Percy Grainger and an extract from Wagner's opera Die Walkure.
Brian Foster 20080504 Michael Berkeley's guest is Prof Brian Foster, one of Britain's leading scientists working in the field of particle physics. He is also a violinist and has teamed up with young soloist Jack Liebeck to create Superstrings, a lecture/performance that uses music to unravel the complex world of particle physics. His choices include a selection of violin works, from the Brahms and Bruch concertos to sonatas by Mozart and Prokofiev, as well as a mass by Palestrina, Shostakovich's Piano Trio and My Funny Valentine performed by Chet Baker.
Colin Salmon20080511 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Colin Salmon, who has appeared as M's chief of staff in three James Bond movies, and at one time was tipped to succeed Pierce Brosnan as the first black Bond. On television he has appeared in Prime Suspect, Witness, Soldier and, most recently, in the adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.
Colin is also a musician and passionate about many different types of music. His choices include a song by Richard Strauss, a piano piece by Bartok, Leonard Salzedo's Divertimento for brass ensemble and jazz pieces by Miles Davis, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington.
Terry Burns 20080525 Michael Berkeley's guest is the economist Terry Burns, a former Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, who is now chairman of Abbey National. A keen music-lover who learnt the clarinet as a schoolboy, he is now chairman of the board of governors of the Royal Academy of Music. His choices include excerpts from Purcell's The Fairy Queen and Monteverdi's Vespers, as well as a Bach cantata conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, Beethoven's Symphony No 5 conducted by Toscanini and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro from Carlos Kleiber.
Maria Chevska 20080601 Michael Berkeley talks to artist Maria Chevska, Head of Painting at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts at the University of Oxford. Since 1990, her work has incorporated made and found objects - including furniture - as well as canvases, into which she places fragments of text reflecting everyday existence. Her musical choices include Bach's famous D minor Concerto for 2 violins and contemporary Polish jazz from Kryzstof Komeda, as well as as three pieces from early 20th century Vienna and two from Russia.
Philip Stott20080608 Michael Berkeley's guest is biogeographer Professor Philip Stott, who taught for many years at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and is well-known to Radio 4 listeners as a panellist on the environmental programme Home Planet.
A passionate music lover, he has published several books of recorder music, but his choices focus on chamber and orchestral works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Fanny Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens.
Robert Fisk 20080615 Michael Berkeley meets journalist Robert Fisk, who has reported from many conflict zones over the past 30 years, particularly in the Middle East. His reporting is always impassioned and often very disturbing, and he is not afraid to criticise both Western and Middle Eastern governments. War permeates his musical choices, which include Britten's War Requiem, Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony, a piece by a British composer killed in the First World War and the theme music from the film Schindler's List, as well as concertos by Handel and Brahms.
Rowan Williams 20080622 Michael Berkeley's guest is the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. Many of his musical choices reflect his love of words and he includes two poetry readings, with a poem of his own reflecting on the events described in Bach's St Matthew Passion and another by Geoffrey Hill inspired by John Dowland's Lachrimae Pavan for lute.
His selections also include sacred vocal music by Byrd and Britten, vintage recordings of Bach's Concerto for oboe and violin, Schumann's Piano Concerto and a Welsh folksong, reflecting his deep love of his native country.
Matt Frei 20080629 Michael Berkeley talks to the BBC's Washington Correspondent Matt Frei. His family originally comes from Germany, and one of his choices is the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which he heard played many times during the fall of communism.
His other choices include Mozart's Flute Concerto in G, Puccini's La boheme, Placido Domingo and Katia Ricciarelli in the love duet from Verdi's Otello and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Venezuela playing an excerpt from Mahler's Fifth Symphony.
Derren Brown20080706 Michael Berkeley's guest is illusionist Derren Brown, who entertains live and TV audiences with his experiments in 'mind control', blending psychology, magic and showmanship. A passionate music-lover, Derren listens every day to Bach, especially the Goldberg Variations and Cello Suites, and many of his choices have a spiritual nature, including Tallis's 40-part motet Spem in alium and Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius.
Jeanette Winterson20080713 Michael Berkeley talks to award-winning novelist Jeanette Winterson. Singers Bjork, Maria Callas, Sarah Connolly and Ian Bostridge, and cellist Natalie Clein are among her chosen performers.
Margaret Hodge 20080720 Michael Berkeley's guest is Margaret Hodge MP, a minister of state in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. A keen music lover who plays the piano and the harp and enjoys singing with her family, her musical choices include operatic excerpts by Wagner, Bellini and Britten, piano music by Chopin and Beethoven, a song by Joan Baez and Debussy's Sonata for flute, viola and harp.
Bryan Appleyard 20080803 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer, reviewer and commentator Bryan Appleyard. His musical passions range from sacred music by Tallis and Bach to Bob Dylan, but his particular love is the classical string quartet.
Kiran Desai 20080810 Michael Berkeley talks to Booker Prize-winning author Kiran Desai, who grew up in India and now lives in America. Her musical choices range from Bach played by Glenn Gould and Pablo Casals to two masters of the guitar, three contrasting pieces of Indian music and the Cape Verdean singer Cesaria Evora.
Ffion Hague 20080817 Michael Berkeley meets Ffion Hague, wife of Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, who has just published a highly-rated book on the women in former Prime Minister Lloyd George's life. A native Welsh-speaker, Ffion loves music, having played clarinet and cello as a teenager, and is an enthusiastic singer. Her musical choices include Bryn Terfel singing a Welsh lullaby, Bruckner's motet Christus factus est, Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine and concerto movements by Mozart and Bach.
Richard Fortey 20080824 Michael Berkeley's guest is palaeontologist Dr Richard Fortey, whose latest book, Dry Store Room No 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum, offers an entertaining account of life behind the scenes at the famous institution where he has worked for many years. His musical choices reflect his interest in the natural world and range from Ravel's celebrated depiction of sunrise in Daphnis and Chloe to Bartok's 'night music' in Music for strings, percussion of celesta.
Barry Fantoni20080831 Michael Berkeley's guest is satirist, cartoonist and jazz musician Barry Fantoni. His musical choices range from baroque keyboard music by Scarlatti and Rameau to Percy Grainger's Shallow Brown, Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Spike Milligan reciting a surreal auction catalogue over an orchestral background by George Martin 
Judy Collins20080907 Michael Berkeley meets the US folk singer and songwriter Judy Collins, who made her name in the Greenwich Village scene of the 1960s in company with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Four decades later she is still writing and recording her songs, as well as involving herself in social activism. Her eclectic musical choices range from Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto to songs by Ned Rorem, Stephen Sondheim and Joni Mitchell 
Alex Ross20080914 Michael Berkeley's guest is Alex Ross, music critic of The New Yorker, whose first, recently published book The Rest is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century was well-received on both sides of the Atlantic. A cultural history of music since 1900, the book was shortlisted for both the Pulitzer Prize and the 2008 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.
Ross' musical selections include a Brahms intermezzo that he grew up with, as well as his favoured recording of Dido's Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, sung by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. His choices from the 20th century include the closing scene of Strauss' Salome, the Lacrimosa from Ligeti's Requiem as heard in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Percy Grainger's Shallow Brown, an excerpt from John Adams' opera Nixon in China and Simple Twist of Fate by Bob Dylan 
Dominic West 2008092120090222Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Dominic West, star of the cult US TV series The Wire. His music choices range from sacred music by Pergolesi, Handel and Mozart, to songs by Schubert and Jake Thackray.
Playlist:
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Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Dominic West, star of the cult TV series The Wire, and well-known for a variety of stage and film roles including the lead in Tom Stoppard's recent play Rock 'n' Roll.
His musical choices range from sacred music by Pergolesi, Handel and Mozart as well as Arvo Part's Spiegel im Spiegel for violin and piano, to songs by Schubert, Neil Young, Flanders and Swan and Jake Thackray.
Jennifer Worth 20080928 Michael Berkeley's guest is former nurse and midwife Jennifer Worth, who has written two best-selling books - Call the Midwife and Shadow of the Workhouse - detailing her experiences working in London's Docklands in the 1950s. But her first love has always been music, and after finishing nursing, she has taught piano and singing for over a quarter of a century.
Her musical selections range from singers such as Maria Callas, Janet Baker and Edith Piaf to Russian Orthodox choral music, the Paraguayan harp and a Hebridean folksong.
John Burnside 20081005 Michael Berkeley talks to Scots poet and novelist John Burnside, many of whose poetry collections and novels have either won or been shortlisted for major prizes.
A recurring theme of his work is the darkness and violence that lies beneath the surface of everyday life, which is explored in his most recent novel Glister.
His musical choices are more consoling and include sacred music by Sheppard and Handel, a Bach partita for solo keyboard, music from India and Spain, Tippett's Fantasia concertante on a Theme of Corelli and Miles Davis' Time after Time.
Nick Clegg 20081012 Michael Berkeley's guest is Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam and leader of the Liberal Democrat Party since last December. His great musical loves are the piano and German song, and his choices include a Schubert impromptu played by Alfred Brendel, a Chopin waltz played by Claudio Arrau, a movement from Chopin's Second Piano Concerto, Mozart's Laudate Dominum and songs by Schubert and Richard Strauss 
Peter Kosminsky 2008101920090215Michael Berkeley talks to Peter Kosminsky, director of award-winning TV dramas tackling highly controversial social and political issues such as child abuse (No Child of Mine), the Balkan and Iraq wars (Warriors, Government Inspector) and Muslim extremism (Britz). His musical choices include Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, Mozart's Requiem, Philip Glass's The Photographer and Bruch's Kol Nidrei.
M Berkeley The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)
Marcia Schofield20081026 Michael Berkeley's guest is Marcia Schofield, who played keyboards in the post-punk band The Fall in the late 1980s and now works as an NHS doctor specialising in pain management. Her musical tastes are eclectic, ranging from meditative music by Arvo Part and John Tavener to John Adams's post-9/11 piece On the Transmigration of Souls, Scriabin's Prometheus and an excerpt from Bartok's opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle.
Richard Alston20081102 Michael Berkeley talks to choreographer Richard Alston, artistic director at The Place in London, who is celebrating his sixtieth birthday this autumn, with a special programme focusing on his work for male dancers, with pieces using music by Philip Glass and Hoagy Carmichael. Richard's musical choices range from devotional works by Bach, Handel, Purcell and the Sufi tradition to songs by Frank Sinatra and Cole Porter 
David Almond 20081109 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer David Almond, whose award-winning children's book Skellig has been made into an opera with music by Tod Machover, and which is being performed later this month at The Sage in Gateshead.
David is an opera lover and his musical choices include works by Monteverdi, Mozart, Handel, Puccini and Bartok as well as traditional Japanese Noh music.
Terence Blanchard 20081116 Michael Berkeley meets New Orleans-born trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who became a leading figure in the Jazz Resurgence movement of the 1980s, and has since pursued a highly successful dual career as performer and as composer of film scores, especially for director Spike Lee. He is artistic director of the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz, which is currently relocating to New Orleans as part of the city's post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction. His choices include works by Stravinsky, Debussy, Richard Strauss, Gershwin and Weather Report.
Rick Wakeman20081123 Michael Berkeley's guest is Rick Wakeman, who chooses works by Prokofiev, Smetana and Part
Michael Berkeley's guest is rock star Rick Wakeman, keyboard player with the rock group Yes, film composer, session musician for artists such as Elton John, David Bowie, Cat Stevens and Ozzy Osbourne as well as a familiar guest on TV shows such as Grumpy Old Men and Have I Got News for You.
He intended to become a concert pianist, and his musical choices reflect a deep love of music from Eastern Europe, with works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Smetana and Arvo Part 
Paul Rhys 20081130Michael Berkeley talks to Welsh actor Paul Rhys, who played Theo van Gogh in Robert Altman's film Vincent and Theo, Ludwig van Beethoven in the BBC TV mini-series, and who is appearing in a series of Spooks. His choices range from a Welsh male voice choir to Bach's St Matthew Passion, taking in works by Beethoven, Purcell, Schubert, Mahler, Puccini, Ravel and David Bowie.
Janice Galloway 20081207 Michael Berkeley's guest is writer Janice Galloway, who chooses pieces by both Schumanns.
Michael Berkeley's guest is award-winning Scottish writer Janice Galloway, whose most recent book, This Is Not About Me, is a memoir exploring her difficult childhood in 1950s Ayrshire. A person for whom music is very important, she has written a much-praised novel, Clara, about the relationship between Robert and Clara Schumann.
Her musical choices include pieces by both Schumanns as well as Handel, Chopin, Purcell, Mozart and especially Benjamin Britten, a particular favourite.
Jan Pienkowski20081214 Michael Berkeley's guest is Polish-born illustrator Jan Pienkowski, creator with Helen Nicoll of the much-loved Meg and Mog series of children's books and a pioneer of the modern pop-up book. His most recent publication is an illustrated version of the Christmas story The Nutcracker.
His musical choices, which all have strong personal resonances, reflect his Polish background as well as his love of both Italy and England. They include works by Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Rachmaninov and The Beatles.
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Sue Perkins20081228 Michael Berkeley talks to comedian Sue Perkins, who chooses Britten, Mozart and Pergolesi.
Michael Berkeley talks to comedian Sue Perkins, who is one half of comedy duo Mel and Sue and stars with Giles Coren in the BBC2 series The Supersizers Go. She revealed a totally new area of expertise when she won the BBC's Maestro conducting competition in 2008. Her great passion is the music of Benjamin Britten, and her other choices include a Mozart aria, excerpts from Pergolesi's Stabat mater and the finale from Stravinsky's The Firebird.
Jonathan Dimbleby 20090104 Michael Berkeley talks to broadcaster and political commentator Jonathan Dimbleby.
Michael Berkeley talks to broadcaster and political commentator Jonathan Dimbleby, chair of Radio 4's Any Questions?, biographer of Prince Charles and presenter of a BBC TV series about contemporary Russia. He studied the piano until his mid-teens and has chosen a Mozart piano sonata as well as music by Verdi, Bach, Beethoven, Britten and traditional ambassel music from Ethiopia.
Including:
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Kate O'mara 20090111 Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Kate O'Mara, who chooses music by Bach and Zelenka.
Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Kate O'Mara, well known for her glamorous roles in 1980s TV series such as Howards' Way and Dynasty. She has returned to the stage as Marlene Dietrich in Lunch with Marlene and as Mrs Cheveley in the Peter Hall/Bill Kenright production of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband.
Her musical passions range from baroque music by Bach and Zelenka through pastoral scenes by Dvorak and George Butterworth to Shostakovich Jazz Suites and Edith Piaf singing Milord.
Carol Drinkwater 20090118 Michael Berkeley talks to actress and author Carol Drinkwater, who played Helen Herriott in the TV series All Creatures Great and Small. She now runs an olive farm in Provence and has written a series of books about olive farming in the Mediterranean basin.
Some of her musical choices are inspired by her travels on the olive trail, including Pablo Casals playing Bach as well as Spanish gypsy music. Plus some jazz choices including Miles Davis, Nina Simone and Oscar Peterson.
Actress and author Carol Drinkwater chooses music from Bach, Miles Davis and Nina Simone.
Tariq Ali 20090125 Michael Berkeley's guest is Pakistan-born writer and filmmaker Tariq Ali, whose books examine the often troubled political relationship between West and East.
A passionate music-lover, his choices begin with Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit and end with a highly topical song by Hans Eisler and Bertold Brecht, taking in along the way music by Gluck, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and the great Muslim Sufi poet and musician Bulleh Shah.
Michael Berkeley's guest is writer and film-maker Tariq Ali 
Claire Bloom 20090208Actress Claire Bloom reveals her musical passions to Michael Berkeley, including operas by Mozart, Bellini, Verdi, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss, as well as pianist Alfred Brendel playing Schubert, cellist Heinrich Schiff playing Bach and the end of Schoenberg's Transfigured Night.
Actress Claire Bloom chooses music by Schubert, Bach and Schoenberg, plus opera works.
Private Passions - Ffion Hague 20090301Michael Berkeley meets Ffion Hague, wife of shadow foreign secretary William Hague, and who has published a highly-rated book on the women in former Prime Minister Lloyd George's life. A native Welsh-speaker, Ffion loves music, having played clarinet and cello as a teenager, and is an enthusiastic singer. Her musical choices include Bryn Terfel singing a Welsh lullaby, Bruckner's motet Christus factus est, Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine and concerto movements by Mozart and Bach.
PLAYLIST
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    • Clive Stafford Smith 20090308 Michael Berkeley's guest is Clive Stafford Smith, director of the organisation Reprieve, which specialises in providing legal assistance to Death Row cases in the USA, and to detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Many of his musical choices are influenced by his work, including a gospel choir singing Jesus Dropped the Charges, Peter Gabriel's Biko and Sunshine on Leith by The Proclaimers. He also chooses music by Bach, Rossini and Thomas Tallis.
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)
  • 18th century miinatures decca 417 781-2 t4 03.00
  • Peter Gabriel charisma pgcd3 t10 07.25
  • Thomas Tallis hyperion cda 66400 t11 11.04
    the o'neal twins and the interfaith choir: jesus dropped the charges
  • bbq bbq 003 t10 00 25
    rossini: largo al factotum (from the barber of seville, act 1, scene 1)
  • beaux-arts brass quintet
  • fades to
    Peter Gabriel: biko
  • fades to
    bach, arr munchinger: jesu joy of man's desiring (from cantata no 147)
  • fades to
    the proclaimers sunshine on leith (reid/reid)
  • rossini the barber of seville emi 764162-2 cd1 t7 04.45
    luther 'houserocker' johnson: little car blues
  • say amen, somebody drg cdxp12584 t9 04.23
  • sesto bruscantini (figaro), rpo/vittorio gui
  • takin' a bite outta the blues ichiban records ich 1060 t1 04.32
    Thomas Tallis: spem in alium
  • the best of persevere 391238-2 t11 05.12.
    Michael Berkeley's guest is civil rights lawyer clive stafford smith
  • the stuttgart co/karl munchinger
  • winchester cathedral choir, winchester college quiristers, vocal arts/David Hill 
    • Jane Asher20090315 Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Jane Asher, who has been working in film, theatre, TV and radio since the age of five. Her many TV appearances include Brideshead Revisited, Holby City and most recently, as Sally in The Old Guys.
    She is also a successful writer - having penned three novels as well as books on cake decorating - and also runs a company making party cakes. Jane has a musical background - her mother Margaret was a professor of oboe at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and in 2008 she took part in BBC2's Maestro conducting competition.
    Jane's musical choices include three Mozart selections - the overture from Don Giovanni, the Lacrimosa from his Requiem and the last act of Marriage of Figaro. She also chooses a song from HMS Pinafore, the finale of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, the finale of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony performed by Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, plus Joan Sutherland singing Spargi d'amore pianto from Act 2 of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)
  • bbq bbq 003 t10 00.25
    mozart: overture to don giovanni
  • beaux-arts brass quintet
  • berlin po, swedish radio choir/claudio abbado
  • donizetti lucia di lammermoor decca 410 193-2 cd3 t9 03.51.
    Michael Berkeley's guest is actress, writer and celebrity cake-maker jane asher
  • gilbert and sullivan naxos 8.110175 t12 02.56
    mozart: lacrimosa (from the requiem, k626)
  • joan sutherland (lucia), chorus and orchestra, roh, covent garden/Richard Bonynge
  • lpo/sir georg solti
  • martyn green (sir joseph porter), the d'oyly carte opera company, the new promenade orchestra/isidore godfrey
  • mozart don giovanni decca 455 500-2 cd1 t1 05.26
    gilbert and sullivan: when i was a lad i served a term (hms pinafore, act i)
  • mozart: requiem dg 463 181-2 t8 02.52
    tchaikovsky: symphony no 4 (finale: allegro con fuoco)
  • sylvia mcnair (susanna), vienna po/claudio abbado
  • tchaikovsky 547 002-2 cd1 t4 08.30
    mozart: deh vieni non tardar (from the marriage of figaro, act iv)
  • the marriage of figaro dg 445 903-2 cd3 t11 03.27
    beethoven: symphony no 5 (finale: allegro)
  • vienna po/Valery Gergiev
  • west-eastern divan orchestra warner 2564 62791-2 t7 08.30
    donizetti: spargi d'amore pianto (from lucia di lammermoor, act 2)
  • west-eastern divan orchestra/Daniel Barenboim 
    • Terence Davies 20090322 Michael Berkeley's guest is screenwriter and director Terence Davies, whose films include Distant Voices, Still Lives, set in his native city of Liverpool, and an adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel The House of Mirth, starring Gillian Anderson. Music has always played a crucial part in Davies's life, and his choices include songs from musicals Singin' in the Rain and Gypsy, the voice of Kathleen Ferrier and symphonies by Sibelius, Shostakovich and Bruckner.
    Anthony Horowitz 20090329 Michael Berkeley's guest is Anthony Horowitz, one of the most prolific and successful writers of his generation, and author of the successful series of books about 14-year-old spy Alex Rider. He has also written many scripts for TV crime series, notably Foyle's War, Poirot and Murder in Mind, in addition to the film The Gathering.
    Anthony's musical choices include Chopin's Prelude in E minor, played by Vladimir Ashkenazy, and the Study in C, played by Martha Argerich. Plus excerpts from Act I of Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Malo song from Britten's Turn of the Screw, the end of Philip Glass' Satyagraha and the end of Act 1 of Tosca.
    He also chooses I loved You from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, the overture to Maurice Jarre's score for Lawrence of Arabia, and the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, played by the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan.
    Marianne Faithfull 20090405 Michael Berkeley meets actress, singer and songwriter Marianne Faithfull, the 1960s icon whose subsequent career has demonstrated her remarkable determination to overcome personal setbacks. Her musical choices include a Bach cello suite, a Mozart aria, chamber music by Beethoven and Schubert, songs by Bernstein and Bob Dylan, and John Coltrane's take on the Rogers and Hammerstein classic My Favorite Things.
    Michael Berkeley meets Marianne Faithfull, who chooses music by Bach, Mozart and Schubert.
    Handel Week - Tom Wright, David Almond 20090412 As part of Radio 3's Handel Week Michael Berkeley recalls nine previous guests who are passionate about aspects of Handel's music.
    They include Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, and writers David Almond, Kirsty Gunn, Patrick Gale and Janice Galloway. Plus cartoonist Posy Simmonds, journalist Fergal Keane and actor Dominic West, as well as the National Theatre of Brent, who bring the programme to a conclusion with the Hallelujah chorus.
    Playlist:
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer - pub OUP)
  • 00.25
    handel: comfort ye (messiah)
  • 02.39
    handel: verdi prati (alcina, act 2, sc 11)
  • 02.50
    handel: let the bright seraphim (samson)
  • 03.33.
    Michael Berkeley recalls previous guests who are passionate about handel's music
  • 03.57
    handel: zadok the priest
  • 04.22
    handel: where'er you walk (semele, act 2)
  • 04.51
    handel: hallelujah chorus (messiah)
  • 05.27
    handel: lascia ch'io pianga (rinaldo)
  • 05.53
    handel: dominus a dextris tuis (dixit dominus)
  • 07.20
    handel: concerto grosso in b flat, op 3, no 1 (1st mvt)
  • David Wilson-johnson (bass)
  • Richard Bonynge (conductor)
  • Richard Morton, alastair thompson (tenor)
  • bbq bbq 003, tr 10
  • beaux-arts brass quintet
  • christophe rousset (conductor)
  • colin davis (conductor)
  • decca 475 519-2, tr 11
  • derek lee ragin (countertenor)
  • erato ecd 88072, tr 6
  • ewa mallas-godlewska (soprano)
  • henry lewis (conductor)
  • john eliot gardiner (conductor)
  • john nelson (conductor)
  • john wakefield (tenor)
  • kathleen battle (soprano)
  • leontyne price (soprano)
  • les talens lyriques
  • london symphony orchestra
  • margaret marshall, felicity palmer (soprano)
  • monteverdi choir and orchestra
  • nac cdse7, tr 2
  • nikolaus harnoncourt (conductor)
  • orchestra of st luke's
  • organist and choir of the new apostolic church of cape town
  • philharmonia orchestra
  • philips 438 356-2 cd1, tr 4
  • rca 09026 61246 2, tr 6
  • rca 09026-61266-2 cd1, tr 16
  • royal philharmonic chorus and orchestra
  • ruggiero....teresa berganza
  • sony classical sk 46672, tr 1
  • teldec 4509 95500-2, tr 1
  • thomas beecham (conductor)
  • travelling k105, tr 6
  • vienna concentus musicus
  • wynton marsalis (trumpet)
    • William Fiennes 20090426 Michael Berkeley's guest is William Fiennes, award-winning author of The Snow Geese, whose latest book, The Music Room, is about his family and their ancestral home in Oxfordshire. A passionate music-lover, William's choices range from piano pieces by Bach, Schubert and Shostakovich to chamber music by Beethoven and Messiaen as well as a Bruckner motet and songs by Bob Dylan and Radiohead.
    Playlist:
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)
  • 00.25
    bach: prelude no 3 in c sharp (the well-tempered clavier, book 2)
  • 01.55
    radiohead: kid a
  • 01.56
    shostakovich: prelude no 5 in d (24 preludes and fugues)
  • 02.53
    fades to
    schubert: piano sonata in b flat, d960 (2nd mvt)
  • 04.04
    messiaen: louange a l'immoralite de jesus (quartet for the end of time)
  • 04.45
    fade to
    beethoven: string quartet in a minor, op 132 (heiliger dankgesang - excerpt from 3rd mvt)
  • 06.11
    bruckner: ave maria
  • 08.06
    Bob Dylan: you're gonna make me lonesome when you go (blood on the tracks)
  • 08.54.
    Michael Berkeley's guest is writer william fiennes, who chooses bach, schubert, beethoven
  • Alfred Brendel (piano)
  • angela hewitt (piano)
  • bach hyperion cds 44293 cd3, tr 5
  • bbq bbq 003, tr 10
  • beaux-arts brass quintet
  • beethoven dg cd6, tr 3
  • blood on the tracks cbs cd 69097, tr 5
  • bruckner hyperion cda 67629, tr 1
  • emerson quartet
  • keith jarrett (piano)
  • kid a parlophone cdkida1, tr 2
  • messiaen rca gd 87835, tr 8
  • polyphony
  • schubert: the last three piano sonatas philips 438 703-2 cd2, tr 2
  • shostakovich ecm 437 189-2 cd1, tr 5
  • stephen layton (conductor)
  • tashi
    • Michael Pennington 20090503 Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Michael Pennington, who has worked in a range of stage and film roles, from Shakespeare to Star Wars. He takes on the roles of two distinguished German musicians - conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler and composer Richard Strauss - in a double-bill of plays by Ronald Harwood in London's West End. His choices range from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Britten's Serenade to songs by Strauss, Tim Hardin and Joan Armatrading.
    Playlist:
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)
    Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet
    BBQ BBQ 003 T10
    00.25
    Stravinsky: Sacrificial Dance (The Rite of Spring)
    The Kirov Orchestra
    Valery Gergiev (conductor)
    Gergiev PHILIPS 468 035-2, Tr 14
    04.52
    Tim Hardin: Hang on to a Dream (recorded at the 1973 Reading Festival)
    Reading Festival 1973 MARQUEE MQCCD001 T8 (fade to 03.06 on applause)
    03.06
    Bach: Chaconne (excerpt) (Partita No 2 in D minor)
    Itzhak Perlman (violin)
    Bach EMI 7243 4 76810 CD2, Tr 5
    07.47
    Rachmaninov: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace (the Vespers)
    Vladimir Mostowoy (tenor)
    St Petersburg Chamber Choir
    Nikolai Korniev (conductor)
    Vespers PHILIPS 442 344-2 Tr 5
    03.40
    Alaric Jans: O mistress mine
    Ronald Keaton (vocal)
    Jay Voss (guitar)
    The Food of Love SHAKESPEARE REPERTORY COMPANY 31301 1112-2, Tr 3
    01.27
    Britten: Elegy (Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, Op 31)
    Peter Pears (tenor)
    Dennis Brain (horn)
    New Symphony Orchestra
    Eugene Goossens (conductor)
    Britten DECCA ELOQUENCE 0289 476 847-2, Tr 4
    04.39
    Strauss: Morgen
    Elizabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano)
    Edith Peinemann (violin)
    London Symphony Orchestra
    George Szell (conductor)
    Richard Strauss EMI CDC 747276-2, Tr 13
    Joan: Armatrading Willow
    Classic UNIVERSAL 490 789-2, Tr 4
    04.46.
    Michael Berkeley's guest is actor Michael Pennington, who chooses music including Bach.
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)
  • 00.25
    stravinsky: sacrificial dance (the rite of spring)
  • 01.27
    britten: elegy (serenade for tenor, horn and strings, op 31)
  • 03.06
    bach: chaconne (excerpt) (partita no 2 in d minor)
  • 03.40
    alaric jans: o mistress mine
  • 03.40
    joan: armatrading willow
  • 04.39
    strauss: morgen
  • 04.46.
    Michael Berkeley's guest is actor michael pennington, who chooses music including bach
  • 04.52
    tim hardin: hang on to a dream (recorded at the 1973 reading festival)
  • 07.47
    rachmaninov: lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace (the vespers)
  • Richard Strauss emi cdc 747276-2, tr 13
  • Valery Gergiev (conductor)
  • bach emi 7243 4 76810 cd2, tr 5
  • bbq bbq 003 t10
  • beaux-arts brass quintet
  • britten decca eloquence 0289 476 847-2, tr 4
  • classic universal 490 789-2, tr 4
  • dennis brain (horn)
  • edith peinemann (violin)
  • elizabeth schwarzkopf (soprano)
  • eugene goossens (conductor)
  • george szell (conductor)
  • gergiev philips 468 035-2, tr 14
  • itzhak perlman (violin)
  • jay voss (guitar)
  • london symphony orchestra
  • new symphony orchestra
  • nikolai korniev (conductor)
  • peter pears (tenor)
  • reading festival 1973 marquee mqccd001 t8 (fade to 03.06 on applause)
  • ronald keaton (vocal)
  • st petersburg chamber choir
  • the food of love shakespeare repertory company 31301 1112-2, tr 3
  • the kirov orchestra
  • vespers philips 442 344-2 tr 5
  • vladimir mostowoy (tenor)
    • John Sessions As Felix Mendelssohn 20090510 Michael Berkeley is transported to the Isle of Staffa, where he meets the great Felix Mendelssohn (aka John Sessions) and his charming sister Fanny Hensel (Rebecca Front). A certain amount of inter-sibling rivalry ensues.
    Fleur Adcock 20090517 Michael Berkeley meets award-winning poet Fleur Adcock, who was born in New Zealand but has spent most of her adult life in the UK. Words feature prominently in her musical choices, which include songs by Purcell, Britten, Kurt Weill and Bessie Smith, two pieces of sacred choral music and the opening brass fanfare from Janacek's Sinfonietta.
    Playlist:
    M Berkeley The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)
    Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet
    BBQ BBQ 003, Tr 10
    Duration: 00m25s
    Purcell: Nymphs and Shepherds
    Manchester School Children's Choir
    Halle Orchestra
    Hamilton Harty (conductor) (rec 1929)
    Two Way Family Favourites EMI CDEM 780377-2 CD2, Tr 9
    Duration: 03m14s
    Bessie Smith: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
    With Ed Allen (cornet)
    Clarence Williams (piano)
    Cyrus St Clair (tuba) (rec 1929)
    Bessie Smith CLASSICS 897, Tr 16
    Duration: 02m56s
    Britten: Dirge (Serenade for tenor, horn and strings)
    Peter Pears (tenor)
    Barry Tuckwell (horn)
    London Symphony Orchestra
    Benjamin Britten (conductor)
    Britten LONDON 436 395-2, Tr 5
    James Le Fanu 20090524 Michael Berkeley's guest is GP and medical journalist James Le Fanu, author of books such as The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine, and Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves, in which he argues that Darwinism doesn't necessarily provide all the answers to human existence.
    Le Fanu has always loved liturgical music, and his choices begin and end with a Byrd Mass and Haydn's oratorio The Creation. He also selects music by Bach, Beethoven and Schumann.
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer, pub OUP)
    Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet
    BBQ BBQ 003, Tr 10
    Duration: 00m25s
    Byrd: Agnus Dei (Mass for Four Voices)
    Pro Cantione Antiqua
    Bruno Turner (conductor)
    Byrd ASV CD QS 6132, Tr 6
    Duration: 03m28s
    Beethoven: Symphony No 1 in C, Op 21 (4th mvt)
    Scottish Chamber Orchestra
    Charles Mackerras (conductor)
    The Beethoven Symphonies HYPERION CDS 44301/5 CD1, Tr 4
    Duration: 05m37s
    Janis Joplin: Cry Baby
    Pearl COLUMBIA 461 020-2 CD1, Tr 2
    Duration: 03m56s
    Bach: Sonata No 2 in A for violin and keyboard, BWV 1015 (2nd mvt, Allegro assai)
    Jaime Laredo (violin)
    Glenn Gould (piano)
    The Glenn Gould Collection SONY SM2K 52615 CD1, Tr 6
    Duration: 03m13s
    Schumann: Wanderlied (Gedichte, Op 35)
    Matthias Goerne (baritone)
    Eric Schneider (piano)
    Schumann DECCA 460 797-2, Tr 15
    Duration: 02m26s
    Shostakovich; String Quartet No 8 in C minor, Op 110 (2nd mvt, Allegro molto)
    The Borodin String Quartet
    VIRGIN CLASSICS 561630-2 CD2, Tr 2
    Duration: 02m51s
    Franck: Violin Sonata in A (4th mvt, Allegretto poco mosso)
    Augustin Dumay (violin)
    Maria Joao Pires (piano)
    Franck DG 445 880-2, Tr 4
    Duration: 06m08s
    Haydn: The Creation (Duet and Chorus, By thee with bliss)
    Mhairi Lawson (soprano)
    David Stout (bass)
    Choir of New College, Oxford
    Oxford Philomusica
    Edward Higginbottom (conductor)
    Haydn The Creation OXFORD PHILOMUSICA RECORDS CD2, Tr 17
    Duration: 09m36s.
    Michael Berkeley's guest is GP James Le Fanu, who chooses music by Byrd and Haydn.
    Jasper Conran20090607 Michael Berkeley's guests is Jasper Conran, one of Britain's best-known fashion designers. In 1978, Conran began producing women's clothing, and has since concentrated on such diverse fields as home furnishings, crystal and china, as well as designing costumes and sets for ballets, plays and opera.
    His musical choices encompass singers such as Kathleen Ferrier, Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Smith and Cat Stevens, as well as works by Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, and his favourite composer, Handel.
    Michael Berkeley's guest is Jasper Conran, who chooses music from Bessie Smith and Handel.
    Penelope Wilton 20090614 Michael Berkeley's guest is actress Penelope Wilton, whose career encompasses stage plays by Chekhov, Lorca, Ibsen, Pinter and Rattigan, TV work including Doctor Who, The Borrowers and Ever Decreasing Circles, as well as films such as Clockwise, Calendar Girls and Shaun of the Dead. Her musical interests range from Brahms and Dvorak to Debussy, Prokofiev and Weill.
    Playlist:
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)
    Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet
    BBQ BBQ 003, Tr 10
    Duration: 25s
    Brahms: Symphony No 3 in F (3rd mvt)
    Berlin Philharmonic
    Rudolf Kempe (conductor)
    Rudolf Kempe TESTAMENT SBT 3054 CD1, Tr 7
    Duration: 5m47s
    Weill: Speak Low (One Touch of Venus)
    Anne Sofie Von Otter (mezzo-soprano)
    NDR Symphony Orchestra
    John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)
    Speak Low DG 439 894-2, Tr 21
    Duration: 3m56s
    Dvorak: Cello Concerto (excerpt from 1st mvt)
    Mstislav Rostropovich (cello)
    Herbert Von Karajan (conductor)
    Dvorak Cello Concerto DG 447 413-2, Tr 1
    Duration: 5m41s
    Blossom Dearie: I'm Hip (words Dave Frishberg; music Bob Dorough)
    Blossom Dearie I'm Hip SONY 489123-2, Tr 1
    Duration: 2m40s
    Debussy: Quartet in G minor (3rd mvt)
    The Lindsays
    Debussy ASV PLT 8505, Tr 12
    Duration: 8m8s
    Ella Fitzgerald: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (Rodgers and Hart)
    Ella Fitzgerald (vocals)
    Paul Smith (piano)
    Barney Kessel (guitar)
    Joe Mondragon (bass)
    Alvin Stoller (drums)
    VERVE 519 804-2, Tr 3
    Duration: 4m32s
    Prokofiev: Symphony No 1 in D, Op 25 (Classical) (1st mvt)
    London Symphony Orchestra
    Andre Previn (conductor)
    Prokofiev EMI CZS 568604-2 CD2, Tr 21
    Duration: 4m7s.
    Michael Berkeley's guest is Penelope Wilton, who chooses music by Brahms, Dvorak, Debussy.
    Michael Portillo 20090621 Michael Berkeley talks to former Cabinet minister Michael Portillo, who since leaving the political arena in 2005 has enjoyed a wide-ranging career in journalism and broadcasting, from presenting TV discussion programmes and documentaries to chairing the 2008 Booker Prize judging panel.
    Many of his musical choices could be said to have a political edge, from Wagner's Ring cycle to Shostakovich's 13th Symphony and Puccini's opera Tosca
    M Berkeley: The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer - pub OUP)
    Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet
    BBQ BBQ 003 T10
    Dur: 25s
    Puccini: The end of Act 1 of Tosca
    Tito Gobbi (Scarpia)
    Angelo Mercuriali (Spoletto)
    Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan/Victor de Sabata
    Tosca EMI 567756-2 CD1 T16
    Amit Chaudhuri20090628 Michael Berkeley's guest is award-winning novelist and composer Amit Chaudhuri, who teaches creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Music informs much of his own writing, including his most recent novel The Immortals.
    His choices range from a Beethoven piano sonata to the Gil Evans/Miles Davis take on Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, a song by Joni Mitchell and a variety of music from Chaudhuri's native India, including a setting of a Tagore poem sung by his mother, Bijoya Chaudhuri.
    M Berkeley The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer, pub OUP)
    Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet
    BBQ BBQ 003 T10
    Dur: 25s
    Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C minor, Op 13 (Pathétique - 1st movement, excerpt)
    Stephen Kovacevich (piano)
    Beethoven Piano Sonatas EMI 215314-2 CD1 T1
    Dur: 5m 21s
    Rodrigo, arr Gil Evans: Concierto de Aranjuez
    Miles Davis and his band/Gil Evans
    Sketches of Spain COLUMBIA CK 65142 T1
    Dur: 7m 21s
    Joni Mitchell Hejira (from the album Misses)
    Misses REPRISE 9362-46358-2 T14
    Dur: 6m 39s
    William Bolcom The Lamb & The Shepherd (Songs of Innocence and Experience)
    Measha Brueggergosman (mezzo soprano)
    Peter 'Madcat' Ruth (vocal)
    University of Michigan School of Music SO/Leonard Slatkin
    Bolcom NAXOS 8559216-2 CD1 T3 & 4
    Dur: 5m 26s
    Raga Kalavati
    Nazakat & Salamat Ali Khan (singers)
    Ustad Allah Dutta (tabla)
    Ustad Zahoori Khan (sarangi)
    LP Ragas Darbari and Kalavati HMV CLP 1308 S2
    Dur: 4m 3s
    Subinoy Roy: Bahe Nirantara Ananta (Tagore)
    Songs of Rabindranath HINDUSTHAN 9601 T2
    Dur: 2m 48s
    Bijoya Chaudhuri: Esho nipabane (Tagore)
    CASSETTE Songs of Rabindranath HMV FPHVS 843821 S2 T1
    Dur: 3m 4
    Jeremy Northam20090705 
    Michael Berkeley meets actor Jeremy Northam, who played Mr Knightley opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1996 feature film of Jane Austen's Emma, and went on to star in other period films including The Winslow Boy, Enigma and Gosford Park. He has played Sir Thomas More in the TV series The Tudors and the guilty husband in the 2008 TV drama Fiona's Story.

    Jeremy's musical choices range from piano pieces played by Andras Schiff and Keith Jarrett, jazz numbers performed by Earl Hines and Ella Fitzgerald to operas by Puccini and Janacek, Schubert's first piano trio and Mahler's Fifth Symphony.


    Michael Berkeley meets actor Jeremy Northam, whose choices include Puccini and Janacek.