This uniquely cross-sectional approach to culture combines great art with great music, and examines the connections between the two. Each piece of music from the carefully chosen selection takes on a new dimension and provides a musical context to the work of leading painters and sculptors. This fascinating series, with a colour booklet including a chronology of the principal artistic and political developments of the period, broadens our view of the music itself.

The paintings of Pieter Bruegel (c.1525/30-1569) resound with echoes of Hieronymus Bosch and the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages; but the teeming life of his earthy Flemish scenes exerts a hold that transcends time and place. On this audio program, the world of Bruegel is given a musical perspective with a carefully chosen selection of pieces by the finest composers of his time.