Benjamin Northey picked up the baton as Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra only a few years after the devastating 2011 earthquake. In a wide-ranging conversation he talks to Andrew Ford about the rebuilding of the musical life of the city (there was a period where the CSO performed at an Air Force museum after many performance venues were damaged). He also looks back on his years learning under the great Finnish conductor Jorma Panula, and why starting his career as a saxophone player put him in perfect stead to be on the podium.
And we hear an interview with New Orleans singer and pianist Clarence 'Frogman' Henry. "I sing like a girl and I sing like a frog....." Clarence Henry croaked on his 1956 debut hit Ain't Got No Home, which earned him the nickname of 'Frogman'. In 2000 Andrew Ford crossed the Mississippi to Clarence's home in Algiers, New Orleans and sat down in his garden amongst the decorative frogs for a chat. Clarence Henry died on 7 April 2024 at the age of 87.
Music heard in this program
Title: (I Don't Know Why) But I DoArtist: Clarence 'Frogman' HenryComposer: Paul Gayten and Bobby CharlesAlbum: You Always Hurt The One You LoveLabel: Viking AUSLP 1009
Title: Ain't Got No HomeArtist: Clarence 'Frogman' HenryComposer: Clarence HenryAlbum: Ain't Got No HomeLabel: Chess CHD 9346
Title: McPancakeArtist: ApollineComposer: Stuart Morison, John Morris Rankin, Jonathan BerkahnAlbum: Home Home EPLabel: Blythe Records
Title: Finlandia, Op. 26 Artist: Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Jorma Panula conductorComposer: Jean SibeliusAlbum: The Very Best of SibeliusLabel: Naxos 8.552135-36
Title: Symphony in F sharp, Op. 40, ii. Scherzo: Allegro moltoArtist: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Daniel de Borah piano, Benjamin Northey conductorComposer: Erich KorngoldLive recording: Courtesy ABC Classic, 2022
Title: Waratah BayArtist: Duo WindborneComposer: improvised by Ryan Williams and Rodney WatermanAlbum: Venus Bay Fireside Sessions Label: Independent
Maanyung on saltwater, sand, and sound & Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth
Pits, picket lines and pop music: the 1984-5 UK miners' strike
Sir Andrew Davis remembered, and Martha Wainwright returns to Australia
Beethoven and Webern with Timo-Veikko Valve and Aura Go, and Alison Cotton's Engelchen: how opera-loving sisters helped evacuate Jewish refugees
Ann Savoy: a life in Cajun music and Wilbur Whitta's Wildfire
Recorders, Fiddles, Clogs and Swords
The Music of Remembrance with Jeremy Eichler
Sam Anning's earthenware and Beethoven's Missa solemnis at 200
Víkingur Ólafsson's infinite variety, and remembering Maurizio Pollini
One Queen of the Cross, two Finnish fiddlers and a century of women composers
Music for Prime Time
Peter Garrett's unwavering optimism and Jo Davies' first season at the helm of Opera Australia
Corinne Bailey Rae on Black resilience and the freedom of a career left turn
Simone Young conducts Gurrelieder and Eleanor McEvoy hits the road
Lisa O'Neill and Cormac Begley live at WOMADelaide
Marta Pereira da Costa, The Good Ones and Katanga Junior live at WOMADelaide
Polyphony and protest with Windborne, loops and language with Allara
Dancing across the world with Angélique Kidjo & Maatakitj, and from opera to cabaret with Anna Dowsley
Jazz Money's poetic ventures into music and Cameron Undy's ghostly rhythms
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