The Whale, Cosmo Sheldrake

Composers talk to Verity Sharp about how their creativity has been shaped by an animal species, how it has formed their approach to making music, and what they’ve discovered about the natural world in the process. Each episode explores how an animal has served as a muse or guide to expand their musical palette with diverse sets of thinking, ranging from personal healing to musical virtuosity and local ecological concerns. These musicians often incorporate field recordings or natural sounds into their work, treating nature as a collaborator.

Cosmo Sheldrake shares his experience of making music using whale sounds and how this approach has given him insight into an underwater language not so dissimilar to our own. He also shares a new initiative which is seeking to grant legal rights to nature as a co-creator.

Additional sperm whale field recordings by David Gruber
Featuring extracts from ‘Planketon’ from Wild, Wet World

Produced by Tess Davidson
Production support from Rebecca Lennon
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3