Composer Andrew Ford presents The Music Show on ABC Radio National. His books include Try Whistling This, Illegal Harmonies: Music in the Modern Age and, most recently, The Shortest History of Music.
Books & arts
Haydn and the powdered wig
Andrew Ford
7 September 2016
Music | Andrew Ford discovers the unimportance of style
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It’s too late to stop Van Morrison
Andrew Ford
9 August 2016
Music | After a run of ho-hum albums, it’s good news for fans, says Andrew Ford
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Schwarzkopf and the Nazis
Andrew Ford
5 July 2016
How do we reconcile an artist’s views with her work?
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Cruel beauty
Andrew Ford
2 June 2016
Composers might sometimes be envied by other artists, but music has a paradoxical limitation, writes Andrew Ford
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The baritone’s party piece
Andrew Ford
10 May 2016
Music | Each singer must find his own voice for Peter Maxwell Davies’s best-known work, writes Andrew Ford
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Raising the standards
Andrew Ford
6 April 2016
Music | The jazz standard ain’t what it used to be, writes Andrew Ford. In the case of Bill Frisell’s new album, that’s definitely a good thing
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On interpreting and being interpreted
Andrew Ford
2 March 2016
Music | The scope for choices makes music a special case among art forms, writes Andrew Ford
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Heroes
Andrew Ford
5 February 2016
Music | More music, fewer musical heroes? Andrew Ford on the paradox of plenty
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In praise of “The Divorce”
Andrew Ford
13 January 2016
Music | Not really an opera at all? Andrew Ford disagrees
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Listening to the zeitgeist
Andrew Ford
8 December 2015
How important to music is time and place?
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Anthems of late capitalism
Andrew Ford
27 October 2015
Much of the James Bond style comes down to the music
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Serious about singing
Andrew Ford
6 October 2015
Music | Take singing seriously and you're on your way to solving the problem of music education, writes Andrew Ford
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Everyone was a bird
Andrew Ford
8 September 2015
Music | It’s no surprise that Messiaen was a prisoner of war when he first made use of birdsong, writes Andrew Ford
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In praise of Help!
Andrew Ford
4 August 2015
Music | Released fifty years ago, this often-overlooked Beatles album is well worth returning to, says Andrew Ford
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The art of funding
Andrew Ford
13 July 2015
Music | Arm’s-length decision-making and peer review have gone hand-in-hand at the Australia Council, writes Andrew Ford. But they are not the same thing
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Boulez at ninety
Andrew Ford
11 June 2015
Music | Once you listen to the recordings, it’s clear that Pierre Boulez’s interpretations of other people’s work are neither arid nor cold, writes Andrew Ford
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Jack Body in transit
Andrew Ford
13 May 2015
Music | Jack Body’s last composition, Cries: A Border Town, was a work like no other, writes Andrew Ford
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Joni, Bob and Van
Andrew Ford
8 April 2015
Music | Next to Van Morrison and Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell’s output has been small, writes Andrew Ford. But she is a different kind of composer and performer
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The collegial composer
Andrew Ford
10 March 2015
Music | Bass drum, crotales or tubular bells? Andrew Ford takes the best advice
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On authenticity and Philip Glass
Andrew Ford
5 February 2015
Music | Andrew Ford is surprised to find room for interpretation in the music of the influential American composer
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In praise of serendipity
Andrew Ford
8 January 2015
Music | It’s not necessarily all that far from Joni Mitchell to the Eton Choirbook, writes Andrew Ford
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Your Christmas present problems solved
Andrew Ford
10 December 2014
Andrew Ford’s pick of 2014 album releases
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The 1 per cent
Andrew Ford
10 November 2014
Mopping his brow, Andrew Ford considers the sources of inspiration
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Going for a song
Andrew Ford
13 October 2014
Andrew Ford considers breaking the habit of a lifetime
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A transcendence that can’t be explained away
Andrew Ford
11 September 2014
The brash face of American post-minimalism? Andrew Ford considers the work of composer John Adams
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Peter Sculthorpe, a composer in Australia
Andrew Ford
11 August 2014
Andrew Ford reflects on the man and his music
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