Going home

I was listening to the final programme of this week's Composer of the Week on BBC Radio 3 on the way home from a visit to the dentist. I've been stuck in front of the computer working most of the week, so it was actually a welcome break to go and have a couple of fillings! There were in fact two composers being celebrated this week  - John and Alice Coltrane. I was familiar with the work of jazz genius John Coltrane but less so his wife, Alice. They weren't married that long before he died, although they did have 4 children. There had been a spiritual aspect to their work together and, after John died, Alice embraced the spiritual side of life, gaining inspiration from a stay in India and setting up a retreat in California This track, Going Home, is based on the Largo from Dvorak's 9th symphony, From the New World. Alice was playing a wurlitzer organ and it was infused with gospel, jazz and blues influences. Composer of the Week is always an interesting listen and is presented, in their warm Scottish accents, by Donald Macleod and Kate Mollinson.