Add to Playlist

Rick Wakeman - keyboard player and former member of the rock group Yes - and Welsh jazz harpist and composer Amanda Whiting, join Jeffrey and Anna as they add the final five tracks to the playlist for the current series. Kicking off with a groundbreaking French hit from 2019 and rounding off with a world-famous singalong song with an equally famous accompanying dance move, the playlist also visits Finland, Canada and a celebrated British one-hit wonder.

Add to Playlist returns for a new series on 6 November

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye...

Saxophonist and composer Emma Rawicz and pianist and composer Arsha Kaviani are the studio guests of Jeffrey and Anna as they add five more tracks, taking them from a politically satirical song by George Michael to a classic pop track from the American girl group TLC via two mysterious buildings conjured up by The Animals and Modest Mussorgsky.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Shoot the Dog by George Michael Lush Life by John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman, written by...

Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley and musician, arranger and former lead singer with the folk group Bellowhead, Jon Boden, are Jeffrey and Anna's guests in front of a live audience at the Crossed Wires podcast festival in Sheffield. Kicking off with a huge Sheffield banger from 1982, the five-track journey takes them to Bob Marley, Eliza Carthy and finishing up with a legless cockroach!

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

The Look of Love by ABC Stir It Up by Bob...

RuthAnne - songwriter Ruth-Anne Cunningham - and composer Gavin Higgins join Jeffrey and Anna as they create a standalone five-track playlist for this one-off episode. Starting with a massive international hit by a leading Irish singer, they head to Fugees, Gershwin and some fine young cannibals.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Orinoco Flow by Enya Ready or Not by Fugees I Loves You, Porgy by George & Ira Gershwin, sung by Nina Simone She Drives Me Crazy by Fine...

To mark this year's BBC Proms, Jeffrey and Anna are joined by three music specialists to create a playlist of five Proms-themed tracks. Celebrated James Bond film composer David Arnold, Mercury-Prize-nominated, South Tyneside-born, singer and songwriter Nadine Shah, and composer and saxophonist Charlotte Harding check out this year's festival, currently just past its halfway point, and look into the archive to choose their five tracks.

Every concert in this year's BBC Proms is - or will be - available via BBC Sounds, including Nadine Shah's performance in Gateshead and Charlotte Harding's Relaxed Prom in Bristol, with many...

The V&A East Museum in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London opened in April with its inaugural exhibition The Music Is Black: A British Story, focusing on 125 years of Black music-making in Britain. Spanning four continents, it is a story of excellence, struggle, resilience and joy.

To celebrate the exhibition, in a collaboration between the V&A and the BBC, Add to Playlist comes from the museum in front of a live audience with a host of significant figures on the Black British music scene.

Jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch, leading UK grime artist...

Wolf Hall composer Debbie Wiseman and boogie-woogie pianist and singer Tom Seals are Jeffrey and Anna's final guests of the current series as they add the final five tracks, taking them from a Prince classic via the First Lady of Song to Bob Geldof's ticking clock and a Punjabi bhangra megahit.

Add to Playlist will be back on air on 14 August.

For details of the Crossed Wires podcast festival in Sheffield and for free tickets for the recording of Add to Playlist and other Radio 4 shows, visit https://crossedwires.live/fringe

Producer Jerome...

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth, we’re excited to share Episode 1 from The Miles Davis Story, the latest series of the Legend podcast.

Presented by acclaimed actor and longtime fan Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme, Da 5 Bloods), the 5-part series explores the life and legacy of a visionary artist whose relentless pursuit of the "new" often scorched his own life and the lives of those around him.

Across the series, Clarke charts Miles’s ever-evolving artform, starting with this first great transformation of a legend - when the young Miles chose to s...

Flautist Claire Wickes and jazz pianist Ashley Henry join Jeffrey and Anna as they add the next five tracks, exploring the association between music and chocolate, and digging into the Harlem Renaissance with the poet Langston Hughes and Cuban Negrismo, before marking the official longest partnership in pop.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

5-4-3-2-1 by Manfred Mann Dance of the Mirlitons from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes Boda Negra by...

Bass guitarist, composer and songwriter Guy Pratt and bassoonist Amy Harman are Jeffrey and Anna's studio guests as they add five more tracks. Starting with an early ska classic, they explore the art of 'hocketing' before heading to the beach with Einstein.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Miss Jamaica by Jimmy Cliff Rock On by David Essex Finale of Symphony No 6 in B Minor by Tchaikovsky Hockets for Two Voices: 1 by Meara O’Reilly Knee Play 5 from Einstein on...

Classical pianist Lucy Parham and operatic tenor Nicky Spence are Jeffrey and Anna's studio guests as they compile another five-track playlist. Starting with a memorable scene from Werner Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo, they end up at the queen of the power ballad, stopping off to reveal the background to two very popular tunes regularly played on Radio 4.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Quartet from Rigoletto by Verdi La Flor de la Canela by Chabuca Granda The Minute Waltz by...

Multi-platinum songwriter and musician Fiona Bevan and pianist Keelan Carew are Jeffrey and Anna's studio guests as they add five more tracks, taking us from Ray Charles letting loose for the first time, to a famous riverboat steamer on the Mississippi via Mozart and Nick Drake.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Mess Around by Ray Charles Kyrie from the Mass in C Minor by Mozart From the Morning by Nick Drake Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy Proud...

Conductor Ben Gernon and baroque recorder player Heidi Fardell open the new series alongside Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add the first five tracks, taking us from a steamy New York summer to a celebrated Bach composition that violinist Joshua Bell has described as 'not just one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, but one of the greatest achievements of any man in history'. Throw in Gershwin, Louis XIV and a very serious musical accident, and you've got a cornucopia of an opening episode.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey...

Pianist and silent film music specialist Neil Brand and trumpeter Matilda Lloyd join Jeffrey and Anna as they add five tracks to the playlist, in the last of the current series. From a celebrated American singer who died aged 27 we head to the most successful artist in the history of the Grammys, via a famous sacred Italian work, appropriate as Good Friday approaches.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin Stabat Mater Dolorosa by Giovanni...

Trumpeter and bandleader Guy Barker and composer and arranger Anne Dudley join Jeffrey and Anna as they add five more tracks, taking us from a high-octane heavy-metal classic to Run-D.M.C. via signature stage moves and dreamy Ella.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Thunderstruck by AC/DC I Got You (I Feel Good) by James Brown Hommage à Rameau by Claude Debussy My Reverie by Ella Fitzgerald Peter Piper by Run-D.M.C.

Other music in t...

Bassoonist Amy Harman and concert pianist Nicholas McCarthy are the studio guests of Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add five more tracks. Kicking off with an internationally famous track written in Ostend in Belgium, they end up in a gravel pit via a ticking clock or two.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye Clocks by Coldplay The Clock (the 2nd mvt) from Symphony No 101 in D Major by Haydn Precipitato (the 3rd...

Trombonist Carol Jarvis and singer and songwriter Andrew Roachford join Jeffrey and Anna to add five more tracks to the playlist. Starting with a famous composer and former taxi driver, they head to some classic boogie-woogie, a female kora virtuoso, and hit the road again with one of country's finest.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Etudes: No 6 by Philip Glass Pyramid Song by Radiohead Hassle Attack by Ann Rabson Ballaké Sissoko by Sona Jobarteh On the Road Again (L...

Wolf Hall composer Debbie Wiseman and Scottish classical composer Jay Capperauld are Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe's studio guests as they add five more tracks. Starting with a hip-shake in Colombia, they head to South Africa, a state secondary school in London, the firebombing of Dresden, and finally to Honolulu for a Canadian lament.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira Zithande by Freshlyground Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2, by Pink Floyd String Qu...

Composer Errollyn Wallen, Master of the King's Music, and lyricist and musician Richard Stilgoe, join Jeffrey and Anna as they add five more tracks to the playlist, taking us from the Nashville Sound to Dublin rock via New Zealand.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Do I Ever Cross Your Mind by Dolly Parton & Chet Atkins Tre sbirri, una carrozza...Te Deum by Giacomo Puccini Sober by Lorde Memory by Elaine Paige With Love by Thin Lizzy

...

Irish classical and folk violinist Aoife Ní Bhriain and keyboard player Rick Wakeman are Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe's first guests as they begin a brand new series. Valentine's Day vibes are in the air so expect a bit of love as we embark on a new playlist, taking us from a sweet disco classic to a precocious pop/country megastar via Thor and Mozart.

Producer Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

[03'55] Love is in the Air by John P...

Anna and Jeffrey host an Add to Playlist Yuletide special. They are joined by jazz musician and songwriter Joe Stilgoe and baroque recorder player Heidi Fardell to pick apart five cracking festive tracks, from Sleigh Ride to the Carol of the Bells.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Sleigh Ride by Ella Fitzgerald Sinfonia from The Christmas Oratorio by J S Bach Carol of the Bells by The Sixteen, written by Mykola Leontovych and Peter Wilhousky Step into Christmas...

Conductor Ben Gernon and Music Director Katy Richardson join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add another five tracks, taking us from the Mongolian landscape to a sunrise in Lesbos, a famous TV theme, and some seriously wronged wives.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Wolf Totem by The HU  Daybreak (Lever du jour) by Maurice Ravel Stranger Things Theme by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein Madeline by Lily Allen Ex-Wives from SIX: The Musical

Other mu...

Pianist Keelan Carew and saxophonist Emma Rawicz join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add five more tracks, taking us from an unforgettable Nat King Cole classic to a sunken cathedral, a famous submarine, and the Austrian Alps.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Unforgettable by Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole Señor Mouse by Gary Burton and Chick Corea La Cathédrale Engloutie by Debussy Stingray by Barry Gray The Lonely Goatherd by Julie Andrews

Ot...

Flautist and composer Claire Wickes and composer Vince Pope join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add five more tracks, taking us from some traditional Irish violins to San Francisco's Kronos Quartet, stopping along the way for some musical Greek mythology.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Runaway by The Corrs La flûte de Pan by Claude Debussy Cassandra by Florence and the Machine Stay With Me by Clint Mansell & Kronos Quartet Ya Taali’een el-Jabal by Kronos Qua...

Bassoonist Amy Harman and bandleader, jazz man and multi-instrumentalist Peter Long join Anna Phoebe and Jeffrey Boakye to add five more tracks, a journey which starts with a virtual cartoon band and ends up in Colombia, stopping off at Gotham City, Knebworth and the New York jazz scene in 1946.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz Main Title Theme from Batman by Danny Elfman Another One Bites the Dust (live) by Queen One Bass Hit...

Pianist and silent film music specialist Neil Brand and trumpeter Imogen Whitehead join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add the first five tracks of the new series, taking us from an energetic bee to Woodstock via The Netherlands and Bristol.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Hocus Pocus by Focus Teardrop by Massive Attack Glory to God in the Highest by George Frideric Handel Animal Crackers by Melanie

Other...

How did the greats become the greats? And what did it cost them to get there? Legend is the award-winning music biography series from BBC Radio 4 exploring the lives of pioneering artists who shaped modern music.

In Legend: The Bruce Springsteen Story, we discover how a scrawny, long-haired introvert from New Jersey became the iconic, muscular – and oft-misunderstood – rock star of the 1980s, and ultimately the eloquent elder statesmen he is now. What does his story reveal about America today?

Across the series, Laura Barton takes a front-row seat at five key gigs which illuminate a di...

Musician and songwriter Joe Stilgoe and Oscar-winning composer and arranger Anne Dudley join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add the final five tracks of the series, taking us from calypso to K-pop via Beethoven and Brubeck.

Add to Playlist returns on 14 November.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Calypso Queen by Calypso Rose Concrete and Clay by Unit 4 + 2 Piano Concerto in G Major: III (Rondo) by Beethoven Blue Rondo à la Turk by Dave Brubeck Gangnam Style b...

Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and musician and composer Rhodri Marsden join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add five more tracks, with unexpected and surprising connections. The eclectic music choices range from an Americana classic knocked off in just 30 mins to the winner of this year's Ivor Novello Award for Best Album, via a reworking of a Bach organ sonata for piano.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Louie Louie by The Kingsmen I Will Survive by Gloria...

Trombonist, arranger and big band leader Callum Au, and composer, pianist and singer Natalie Duncan, are today's studio guests as they look for unexpected links that connect five disparate tracks. With Anna Phoebe and Jeffrey Boakye, they head from an early Adele classic to a reinterpretation of a Roberta Flack hit via a 15-minute reworking by Duke Ellington of one of his most celebrated works.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Chasing Pavements by Adele Mood Indigo by Duke...

Saxophonist and Radio 3 broadcaster Jess Gillam and pianist Keelan Carew are Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe's studio guests as they add the next five tracks, taking us from an east London housing estate to Heaven, via a certain celebrated Norwegian hall of a Mountain King.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Ill Manors by Plan B The Coronation scene from Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky King by Years & Years In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg ...

With three weeks remaining of this year's BBC Proms, Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe present a Proms-themed edition. Studio guests are the celebrated trumpeter Alison Balsom, who'll be performing in this year’s Last Night of the Proms, and bassoonist, Radio 3 and Proms presenter Linton Stephens. Expect music from the Proms and beyond as we head from a live, scaled-back Springsteen anthem to the Outer Hebrides, via Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Born in th...

Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe return with a new series, in the company of two studio guests - Spanish-American singer-songwriter and composer Victoria Canal, and baritone and composer Roderick Williams. Kicking things off with that Rickrolling earworm, the first five tracks include a celebrated Bizet composition and some playful Lovecats with a very distinctive bassline.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley Au fond du temple saint by Georges Bizet Paper Planes...

Wolf Hall composer Debbie Wiseman and conductor Ben Gernon join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add the final five tracks to the playlist for the current series. From the UK's first Eurovision winner to a heavy metal classic via Europe's second-longest river, the team wrap up the series before returning in August.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Puppet on a String by Sandie Shaw The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II Hai, Dunărea mea by E...

Star organist Anna Lapwood and singer/songwriter Andrew Roachford join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add tracks 496-500 in this 100th edition of the show! What better way to celebrate than a double dose of organ, and a trip to Mumbai, Hawaii and Cape Verde?

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Thunder and Blazes (Entry of the Gladiators) by Julius Fučík Star Wars: Throne Room – End Titles by John Williams, arr Harald Feller Jai Ho! by A R Ra...

Jazz pianist Ashley Henry and bassoonist Amy Harman join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add five more tracks to the playlist, taking us from a Bowie dance classic to Marvin Gaye via an unexpected rare, live, performance by a jazz icon in a school in California, surprisingly recorded by the caretaker in 1968.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Modern Love by David Bowie Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor by Beethoven Epistrophy (Live) by Thelonious Monk Apple by...

Operatic tenor Nicky Spence and recorder player and Baroque flautist Heidi Fardell are the studio guests of Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe. In today's five-track journey they head from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Belgium, a rural French château, a charitable institution in Venice, finishing up in Ireland where the past casts a long shadow.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Spoiler by Baloji Panis Angelicus by César Franck Honky Cat by Elton John Flautino Co...

Composer Gavin Higgins and soprano Claire Booth take us from a massive Wembley chant to a ground-breaking early rap by a famous white rock group as they join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add five more tracks to the playlist.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond The Alien by Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple In a Foolish Dream by Stravinsky Rapture by Blondie

Other music...

Errollyn Wallen, composer and Master of the King's Music, and musician and writer Neil Brand are the studio guests of Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they launch a brand new series. From Lady Gaga to an early Disney classic and ending up in Mexico, the journey begins.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Abracadabra by Lady Gaga The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas Never Let Her Slip Away by Andrew Gold You’re So Vain by Carly Simo...

Singer, songwriter and film & TV composer Tawiah and bassoonist Linton Stephens join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add the last five tracks in the current series. Love and longing feature prominently, be it for a distant homeland, a parent to a child, or infatuation. But the curtain rises to a famous march representing the forces of darkness in the evil empire.

Add to Playlist returns for a new series towards the end of May.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in...