Episode 8 of Tim The Composer's podcast, with host Tim Benjamin, is the second of two episodes featuring music by Tchaikovsky. After presenting the 1812 Overture last time, in this episode, Tim explores Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony and the composer's life from the time of the 1812 Overture up to his death, just a few days after the first performance of this symphony. By contrast to the 1812 Overture (which the composer didn't like), Tchaikovsky felt that the Sixth Symphony was his greatest achievement. Some mystery surrounds Tchaikovsky's death, and by the second performance of the Sixth Symphony, just a fortnight after he died, audiences felt they were hearing a premonition, and a requiem.

⁠Spotify Playlist for Episode 8: Silence

Episode 7 of Tim The Composer's podcast, with host Tim Benjamin, is the first of two episodes featuring contrasting music by Tchaikovsky. In this episode, Tim explores in detail Tchaikovsky's famous 1812 Overture, which depicts almost cinematically the Russian defeat of Napoleon, with many performances featuring real cannons. However, despite this being one of Tchaikovsky's most popular works with audiences and an impressive feat of musical craftsmanship, the composer himself did not like it; by contrast, in the second of this pair of episodes, we will explore what he felt was his greatest and most deeply-felt achievement: his Sixth Symphony.

Spotify Playlist for Episode 7: Cannons

Episode 6 of Tim The Composer's podcast explores Thomas Tallis's forty-part motet "Spem in alium" and its turbulent Tudor context. Tim tells the story of Tallis's life as a secret Catholic through the reigns of four monarchs, how and why "Spem in alium" came to be, the mysterious numbers and symbolism within it, why it may be a piece of cunning subversiveness in dangerous times, and how Tallis created a magnificent, magical, and enduring masterpiece from deceptively simple ingredients.

Spotify Playlist for Episode 6: Forty