Front Row - 15/12/2008

Presented by Mark Lawson. The new film Twilight, adapted from the first in the best-selling series of teen novels by Stephanie Meyer, tells the story of a girl who moves town only to fall in love with a vampire. Kate Saunders reviews the teenage love story with a twist. In new book The Triumph of Music, Tim Blanning, Professor of Modern European History, casts an eye over the last 500 years to document the rise of the power and prestige of music and musicians. He reflects on the increasing influence, fame, wealth and authority of individuals from Monteverdi, Bach, Beethoven, Paganini and Haydn to David Bowie, Bono, and Brian May playing God Save the Queen on the roof of Buckingham Palace in 2002. Tim discusses his theories and his reluctance to express his own taste. Front Row's crime specialist Jeff Park makes his selection of his favourite crime novels of the year.