BBC Radio 4 – Playing the Skyline

In the first of this new series Kathryn Tickell and Hannabiell Sanders turn the skyline of Newcastle into music. The idea behind this fascinating series sprang not from music manuscripts, but maps. On old nautical charts as well as the bird’s eye view there is often a coastal profile. This is the outline of the land seen from the point of view of a sailor approaching it. The radio producer Julian May was struck by the musicality of these, the undulations of hills look melodic, the spacing of landmarks – trees, church spires, cranes – rhythmic. Could, he wondered, musicians take the line dividing sky from land, place it on manuscript paper or hear it in their minds, then play the skyline? Kathryn and Hannabiell’s new piece is given its world premiere broadcast in Playing the Skyline on Monday 8 August at 9am. The programme is repeated at 9.30pm and is then available on BBC iPlayer.