Storyline

Howard Goodall examines the work of The Beatles, Cole Porter, Bernard Herrmann and Leonard Bernstein.

First Aired

2004-11-27
Last Aired

2004-12-18
Creator

Howard Goodall
Genre

Documentary
Seasons

1
Episodes

4
Status

Ended
Language

English
Network

Channel 4

Keywords:

composer musician classical music pop music culture

Stream and watch 20th Century Greats

Season 1

1. Lennon/McCartney

John Lennon and Paul McCartney turned themselves into the most influential composers of the late twent...More

John Lennon and Paul McCartney turned themselves into the most influential composers of the late twentieth century. Their music wasn’t just immensely popular. It also proved that traditional western harmony – the main building block of European music – still had plenty to offer. They, more than anyone, saved the western musical tradition from extinction, and gave it a new purpose and a direction.Less

48mins 2004-11-27

2. Cole Porter

Cole Porter was the most gifted of a richly talented generation of composers who transformed popular m...More

Cole Porter was the most gifted of a richly talented generation of composers who transformed popular music in the 1920s and 30s. It had started the century, for the most part, bland, patronising and trite, the gauche, poor relation of classical music. Cole Porter, more than anyone, made it musically, and lyrically sophisticated, emotionally satisfying and subtle. Remarkably, not only did he write some of the best music ever, but was also one of the greatest lyricists in the English language.Less

48mins 2004-12-04

3. Bernard Herrmann

Bernard Herrmann wrote some of the most famous film music of the twentieth century, from Citizen Kane ...More

Bernard Herrmann wrote some of the most famous film music of the twentieth century, from Citizen Kane to The Day The Earth Stood Still, Fahrenheit 451 to Taxi Driver. He is best known for his scores for Alfred Hitchcock, in particular the masterpieces Vertigo and Psycho. Herrmann completely transformed film music, dragging it out of its reliance on the sounds and textures of nineteenth centuryVienna and into the modern age.Less

48mins 2004-12-11

4. Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was the composer who, more than anyone else in the twentieth century, embodied the t...More

Leonard Bernstein was the composer who, more than anyone else in the twentieth century, embodied the trend we now call ‘cross-over.’ A brilliant musician and conductor, he wrote in the ‘classical’ style, but also wrote some of the best known ‘popular’ music of the century, from On The Town to West Side Story. By his own mixing of European classical, pop and Latin styles, Bernstein may have prefigured the next important phase in the music of our own time – the fusion of Western and Asian styles.Less