soul music

is the title of a fascinating programme on Radio 4 that runs in short series from time to time; the last one's just finished.

Each programme takes one piece of music that has the ability to affect listeners deeply and plays that one piece of music while five or six people talk about what it means to them, how it is significant in their lives.

Over the years the programme has introduced me to some pieces I probably would never have discovered otherwise.

The ones closest to my heart include Vier Letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), composed by Richard Strauss in 1948 towards the end of his life; Spem in Alium written for eight choirs of five voices around 1600 by Thomas Tallis ; Gregorio Allegri's Miserere from 1630, written for performance in the Sistine Chapel using the text of Psalm 51, and Georg Friedrich Handel's coronation anthem Zadok the Priest, composed in 1727 for the coronation of George II - although this last piece I did know before I heard it discussed on the programme.

If you don't already know these and you get the chance, spend a little time with some of them and you might fall under their spell too. Or on the other hand of course, you might just think they're boring old rubbish and wish you hadn't wasted your time!