Labyrinths
John McCarthy walks a labyrinth, an ancient pattern, and discusses the search for peace and stillness as well as the fear that we might encounter a monster at the centre
John McCarthy makes his way to the centre of the labyrinth.
Labyrinths have been created and used throughout the world in many countries, cultures and spiritual contexts. Carved onto rock, dug into the earth and built into cathedral floors these ancient patterns have been used for meditation, to tell stories and as a metaphor for life's journey.
John McCarthy walks a labyrinth with Jan Sellers, a Quaker and labyrinth facilitator, and discusses the search for peace and stillness as well as the fear that we might encounter a monster at the centre.
The programme includes readings from works by Ellen Meloy, Ted Hughes, Charles Rangley-Wilson and John Ashberry with music from Johnny Cash, The Unthanks, Gluck and Paul Giger.
The readers are Peter Marinker and Emily Taaffe.
Producer: Natalie Steed
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4
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Music Played
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Paul Giger
Labyrinth
Performer: Paul Giger (violin).- Chartres.
- ECM.
- 8377522.
- 3.
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Trad.
Echo Song
- Traditional Tohono O'Odham Songs.
- Canyon Records.
- CR-6084.
- 11.
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Christoph Willibald Gluck
Ah! Se intorno a quest'urna funesta
Performer: Bernarda Fink (Orfeo), Rias-Kammerchor/Freiburger Barockorchester dir René Jacobs.- Orfeo ed Euridice.
- HARMONIA MUNDI.
- HMC90174243.
- 3.
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Antony
Spiralling
Performer: The Unthanks.- The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons (Diversions Vol. 1) - Live From the Union Chapel, London.
- Rabble Rouser Music.
- 6.
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Nick Lowe
The Beast in Me
Performer: Johnny Cash.- American Recordings.
- American Recordings.
- B000062X9D.
- 3.
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Aaron Copland
Very Slowly, from Appalachian Spring
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra; cond Aaron Copland.- Copland Conducts Copland - Expanded Edition.
- Sony Classical Masterworks.
- 90403.
- 2.
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Paul Giger
Labyrinth
Performer: Paul Giger.- Chartres.
- ECM.
- 8377522.
- 3.
Readings
Title: Just Walking Around, from Selected Poems by John Ashberry
Synopsis: The longest way is the most efficient way...
Author: John Ashberry
Publisher: Carcanet
ISBN: 978 1 857544 12 1
Title: from A Night With the Pebble People, The Anthropology of Turquoise by Ellen Meloy
Synopsis: A description of walking in the Topock Maze in the Mojave Desert.
Author: Ellen Meloy
Publisher: Vintage Books
ISBN: 0375708138
Title: The Route, from Porcelain, by Diana Bridge
Synopsis: The importance of repeating the same journey.
Author: Diana Bridge
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 9781869402648
Title: Amulet, from Ted Hughes’ Collected Poems
Synopsis: The wolf is conjured and contained in a circular poem.
Author: Ted Hughes
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN: 0571217192
Title: The Springs, from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry
Synopsis: Berry’s poem about the significance of springs.
Author: Wendell Berry
Publisher: Counterpoint
ISBN: 1582430373
Title: Extract from The Silt Road: Story of a Lost River by Charles Rangeley-Wilson
Synopsis: Finding peace and stillness at a spring.
Author: Charles Rangeley- Wilson
Publisher: Chatto and Windus
ISBN: 0701186437
Title: Extract from Burnt Norton, The Four Quartets by T S Eliot
Synopsis: At the still point of the turning world ...
Author: TS Eliot
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN: 0571068944
Broadcasts
- Sun 18 May 201406:05BBC Radio 4
- Sun 18 May 201423:30BBC Radio 4
- Sun 12 Mar 202306:05BBC Radio 4
- Sun 12 Mar 202323:30BBC Radio 4
