Stephen Johnson tries to uncover the mysteries of Schumann's piano suite Carnaval, a work containing many musical puzzles and allusions. Show more

Judith Weir: Stories from Life. A self-portrait of Judith Weir in words and music.

Tom Goodman-Hill reads from Joseph Roth's novel Rebellion. Set in Berlin after World War I, it features the anti-hero Andreas Pum, who attempts to woo the widow Blumich. Show more

Suzy Klein discusses Puccini's opera Il tabarro with musicologists Roger Parker and Alexandra Wilson.

Lucy Duran with a tribute to Radio 3's 2008 World Music Americas Award winner Andy Palacio, a Belizean singer/guitarist who died early in 2008. With Palacio's producer Ivan Duran. Show more

Mary Ann Kennedy talks to Son de la frontera about their particular style of flamenco, Justin Adams and Chinese musicians Sa Dingding give Lucy Duran their views on world music. Show more

German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen was an avant-garde icon. Tom Service talks to Stockhausen's family, friends and collaborators to find out what marked him out as a pioneer. Show more

Akram Zaatari explores the photographic archives of Studio Shehrazade - half a million images that document 50 years of life in Lebanon through the lives of the people of Saida. Show more

Art critic Louisa Buck explores the reasons why artists down the centuries have painted picnics, taking in Titian, Manet and Picasso and moving up to artists such as Matt Collishaw. Show more

Stephen Poliakoff joins Susan Hitch to discuss his favourite Russian literature, and how it relates to his own Russian family history. Show more

Kathleen Jamie tries to discover why, all around the coast of the British Isles, as well as inland, there can be found the remains of whales. Show more

A profile of the New York Philharmonic, one of the world's oldest orchestras. With contributions from its president, orchestral players and current music director Lorin Maazel. Show more

Stuart Kelly tells how in 1826, publisher John Murray II's attempts to create a newspaper to rival The Times, led to financial disaster and a life-long feud. Show more

Mark Bazeley reads Kurt Vonnegut's cautionary tale about eavesdropping. A well-intentioned act by a young boy who overhears the couple next door arguing unleashes chaos. Show more

Tom Service is joined by Messiaen scholars Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone, and artistic director of the Netherlands Opera Pierre Audi to discuss Messiaen's Saint Francis of Assisi. Show more

Catherine Bott talks to critic, writer and broadcaster Roderick Swanston and theatre historian Sarah Lenton to examine the creation of Handel's Belshazzar. Show more

Paul Bailey tells the story of Romanian Jewish playwright, novelist and music lover Mihail Sebastian, who wrote a journal charting Romania's Nazi collaboration. Show more

Philip Hammond explores the depth of the friendship between composer, pianist and teacher Howard Ferguson, and composer Gerald Finzi, in Ferguson's centenary year. Show more

Tom Service talks to French organist Olivier Latry about his role as a titulaire des Grandes Orgues at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, discussing his work on five continents. Show more

Proms Plus: Martin Handley talks to Roger Norrington.