Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Classical Music: Sunday 8 December

Do you see colours when you hear music? Or certain sounds? Or even words? Catherine Bott explores music by composers and performers who have synesthesia.

Tonight, Catherine Bott delves into the theme of colour in classical music. 

She delights in the orchestral colours deployed by Debussy in La Mer; and explores music by composers such as Liszt and Rimsky-Korsakov, who had synesthesia - the ability to visualise colours when hearing sounds. 

Scriabin also played with colours in his compositions while Messiaen tried to produce pictures with sound, writing specific notes to produce colour sequences and blends.