Why do some rhythms get our toes tapping, while others make us feel mellow? How does a love song bring tears to our eyes? What links African drumming to J S Bach?

In this new four-part series composer Howard Goodall strips music down to its essential parts to find out how music works.

We all respond to music – whether clicking our fingers, humming along or dancing – there's something out there for everyone. In this series Goodall looks at melody, rhythm, harmony and bass to establish how music is made and how it comes to reflect different cultures.

Setting out on a journey that spans the globe and moves through the centuries, Goodall uncovers the elements that are shared by all styles of music. Following a trail of diverse musical talents from Mahler to David Bowie; the blues to Bulgarian folk songs; medieval choral music to disco; he reveals the tried and tested tricks of the composer's trade.

The Symphony No. 3, S. 3 (K. 1A3), The Camp Meeting by Charles Ives (1874 – 1954) was written between the years of 1908 and 1910. In 1947, Ives was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Symphony No. 3. Later, his works were performed by conductors like Leonard Bernstein. Ives is reported to have given half the money to Lou Harrison, who conducted the premiere.

Alfred Garyevich Schnittke (Russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, November 24, 1934 Engels - August 3, 1998 Hamburg) was a Russian and Soviet composer.

Alfred Garyevich Schnittke (Russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, November 24, 1934 Engels - August 3, 1998 Hamburg) was a Russian and Soviet composer.

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (Tren ofiarom Hiroszimy in Polish) is a musical composition for 52 string instruments, composed in 1960 by Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933), which took third prize at the Grzegorz Fitelberg Composers' Competition in Katowice in 1960. The piece swiftly attracted interest around the world and made its young composer famous.

One of the seminal works of the 20th century and a milestone in the history of music, The Rite of Spring famously caused a riot at its first performance in Paris in 1913. Since then, this revolutionary masterpiece has found its place as one of the most performed and admired scores of the twentieth century.

"The Classical Love Album" is a 3CD set of the most romantic music of all time. Classics from Tchaikovsky (Love Theme from "Romeo & Juliet"), Sartori ('Time To Say Goodbye"), Llyod Webber (Memory from 'Cats") and Arlen/Harburg's famous "Over The Rainbow".

"Bach never heard his music played in this way but it is hard to imagine that he would have found the experience unacceptable. The original works from which this programme is drawn are all instrumental and, since the essence of the music is in the lines and their interplay, there is no obvious reason why they should not be entrusted to the matched sounds of a brass ensemble. Indeed, as the annotator points out, no particular instrument(s) is/are specified in the case of Die Kunst der Fuge, so these items cannot even be termed arrangements; the rest are taken from the organ works. The Laubin Brass Ensemble, impeccably accurate in all respects, makes a majestic (if minimally varying) sound, a finely balanced fabric in which each individual thread is easily traceable if one so chooses...This is a very acceptable and revealing way of listening to this music and even if you are not a brass enthusiast you may care to add BWV541, 598 and 631 to your Bach stock, for there is no other present recording of them on CD—and this one is lifelike in the extreme."