Words on Wordlessness

About Words on Wordlessness

In September of 1957, the BBC aired an experiment designed by writer and broadcaster Hans Keller. He had composed interludes that wove between the movements of a Mozart string quartet and were meant to express something about that music without leaning on language for explanation. This podcast examines Keller’s approach to communicating about music through music and important questions about instrumental music and its role in our lives that are raised by listening to his wordless analyses.

Publisher

Nicholas Swett

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Jan 2025

Latest episode

5 Feb 2025

Latest episodes

4 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Feb 2025

   Episode 1.4: The riches of re-composition with Bruce Adolphe

   On this session, host Nicky Swett and composer Bruce Adolphe delve into the delights and the value of re-working music written by other people.

2. 

   5 Feb 2025

   Episode 1.3: Wordless pedagogy with Kate Guthrie

   The session probes the intended audiences and educational merits of Keller's wordless analyses, and includes an interview with Dr. Kate Guthrie, author of The Art of Appreciation: Music and Middlebrow Culture in Modern Britain.

3. 

   5 Feb 2025

   Episode 1.2: Analysis in performance with Sini Simonen

   This session of Words on Wordlessness focuses on the relationships between music analysis and performance, and includes a conversation between host Nicky Swett and Sini Simonen, the first violinist of the Castalian Quartet.

4. 

   30 Jan 2025

   Episode 1.1: Hans Keller's FA No. 7 on Haydn's "Fifths" Quartet

   In this first session, host Nicky Swett introduces Hans Keller's method of Wordless Functional Analysis and the Castalian Quartet perform his analysis of Joseph Haydn's "Fifths" Quartet in D minor, Op. 76, No. 2.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 17 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

20

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact Words on Wordlessness

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.