Afterwords: Rosemary Brown
Afterwords explores the work of Rosemary Brown, an English composer and spirit medium who said her pieces were dictated by dead composers like Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy.
"The first time I saw Franz Liszt, I was about seven years old, and already accustomed to seeing the spirits of the so-called dead..." - Rosemary Brown.
Afterwords explores the work of Rosemary Brown, an English composer and spirit medium who said her pieces were dictated to her by dead composers like Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy. Entering the spotlight in the late 1960s, Brown's work was analysed by musicologists and composers, discussed by priests and talk show hosts. It opened up discussions on the afterlife, on the nature of composition itself and on musical performance as a type of conceptual art.
In this archive-led documentary, we dive into some of the recordings from the time and hear new interviews with the composer Neil Luck, pianist Siwan Rhys and Spectator Arts Editor and Director of the London Contemporary Music Festival, Igor Toronyi-Lalic.
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3
On radio
Broadcast
- Sun 19 Apr 202619:00BBC Radio 3
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