Wagner's Ring at ROH
Tuesday 2 October 2007 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Isabel Hilton presents a review of the Royal Opera House's first complete performance of Wagner's Ring cycle since its Covent Garden home was re-opened, with John Tomlinson in Bryn Terfel's role after Terfel withdrew in early September. How will he fare?
When Did You Last See Your Father
Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent in When Did You Last See Your Father
Playlist
Alan Greenspan
Isabel Hilton will be talking to Alan Greenspan, the economist and former Chair of America's Federal Reserve, about his attempt to understand the world and how much it's changed since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 - and why the writer Ayn Rand is a formative influence on him.
Alan Greenspan's The Age of Turbulence is published by Penguin.
Can Politicians Criticize the Public?
Recently General Dannatt, the head of the army, criticized the public's response to soldiers returning home from war. This direct criticism of public behaviour seemed an unusual occurrence today. With the party political conference season in full swing, Isabel Hilton is joined by the historian Gwyn Prins, and Geoff Mulgan, formerly of Tony Blair's Strategy Unit, to ask if politicians can directly criticize public behaviour in this way, and what it might mean for democracy if they can't.
And When Did You Last See Your Father
Author and critic John Sutherland will be in the studio with Isabel to review 'And When Did You Last See Your Father?', the film adaptation of the poet Blake Morrison's memoir of his attempts to uncover family secrets at the end of his father's life.
And When Did You Last See Your Father opens nationwide on October 5th, certificate 12A.
Wagner's Ring Cycle
And on the first night of the Royal Opera's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle - the first in London for a decade - Richard Coles reflects on the peculiar demands of a work of art that takes up a full four days of one's life.
Wagner's Ring Cycle is at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London from 2 October 2007 until 2 November.
