Derek Jacobi and Juliet Stevenson read poetry and prose around the theme of love, including Marvell's To His Coy Mistress, Philip Larkin's Arundel Tomb and Auden's poems Lullaby and Oh Tell me the truth about love. Music includes Britten's Auden settings, Elgar's Salut d'amour, madrigals by De Rore and Dufay, and Wagner's Prelude to Tristan und Isolde.
The Truth about Love
Sir Derek Jacobi (reader)
Juliet Stevenson (reader)
Producer's note
In putting this sequence together I started with the Auden poem "Oh tell me the truth about love" and then built a narrative about first love (Marvell To his coy mistress), communion in love (Robert Graves: Counting the Beats), love turning to hate (John Donne) lost love (Neruda) and love after death (Larkin: Arundel Tomb). My music choice was sometimes literal (as in the settings of love poetry by Britten, Dowland and De Rore) But, at other times, I chose music which for me complemented the poetry's meaning in a more abstract way. Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin evoked the affectionate portrait of Seamus Heaney's `Mossbawm sunlight`; the dark chords at the end of Wagner's Prelude to Tristan and Isolde seem to match the calculating revenge of the jilted lover in Donne's Apparition; Stravinsky's Les Noces reflecting the beating time (and hearts) in Robert Graves poem, and the shimmering Regard du fils sur le fils from Messiaen's Vingt Regards reflecting the contemplative tone of Neruda's poem "I can write the saddest verses tonight". But, for me the slow movement of Bach's Double Violin Concerto is the musical equivalent of an equal and everlasting love: Communication at its most profound. This seemed to match Philip Larkin's haunting poem about the lovers buried side by side in Arundel Tomb.
Jessica Isaacs, producer
Playlist
00:00:00
W. H. AUDEN
O tell me the truth about love
Juliet Stevenson (reader)
00:02:09
BRITTEN
'O tell me the truth about love', from Cabaret Songs
Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano)
Malcolm Martineau (piano)
AVIE AV 2077
Track 20
00:07:25
BRAHMS
Trio in C minor, Op.101: Andante grazioso
Beaux Arts Trio
PHILIPS 416 838-2
Track 7
00:11:52
DOWLAND
'Who ever thinks or hopes of love'
The Consort of Musicke
Anthony Rooley (director and lute)
L'OISEAU LYRE 421 653-2
Track 2
00:14:21
SEAMUS HEANEY
'Mossbawm sunlight'
Juliet Stevenson (reader)
00:15:03
DEBUSSY
Prelude, Book 1 No. 8: 'La fille aux Cheveux de lin'
Krystian Zimerman (piano)
DG 435 773-2
CD 1 Track 8
00:18:07
SIBELIUS
'Den forsta kyssen', Op. 37 No.1
Katarina Karneus (mezzo-soprano)
Julius Drake (piano)
HYPERION CDA67318
00:20:07
LISZT
Liebestraume, Sw.541 No. 1: 'Hohe Liebe'
John Ogdon (piano)
TESTAMENT SBT 1133
Track 2
00:25:44
GUILLAUME DUFAY
'J'atendray tant qu'il vous playra' (rondeau [b,c,e])
Gothic Voices
Christopher Page (director)
HYYPERION CDA 66144
Track 1
00:28:12
MARVELL
'To his coy mistress'
Derek Jacobi (reader)
00:30:41
JACKIE KAY
'Her'
Juliet Stevenson (reader)
00:31:48
CLARA SCHUMANN
Romance in E flat minor, Op.11 No.1
Lucy Parham (piano)
SANCTUARY CRS 23
CD 2 Track 5
00:35:30
STRAVINSKY
Les Noces, 4th Tableau: 'The Wedding Feast' (extract)
Homero Francesch (piano)
English Bach Festival percussion Ensemble
Leonard Bernstein (conductor)
DG 423 251-2
Track 4
00:36:27
ROBERT GRAVES
'Counting the Beats'
Derek Jacobi and Juliet Stevenson (readers)
00:36:41
ELGAR
Salut d'Amour (Op.12)
Nigel Kennedy (violin)
Steven Isserlis (cello)
Peter Pettinger (piano)
CHANDOS CHAN 8380
Track 5
00:41:50
FINZI
'O Mistress mine', Op.18 No.4
Bryn Terfel (baritone)
Malcolm Martineau (piano)
DG 445 946-2
Track 13
00:43:57
DOWLAND
Lachrimae Pavan
Nigel North (lute)
NAXOS 8.557862
Track 1
00:49:18
W. H. AUDEN
Lullaby
Juliet Stevenson (reader)
00:51:15
WAGNER
'Tristan und Isolde': Prelude
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Donald Runnicles (conductor)
WARNER CLASSICS 2564 62964-2
CD 1 Track 1
01:02:42
JOHN DONNE
The Apparition
Derek Jacobi (reader)
01:03:50
JANACEK
String Quartet No.2 'Intimate Letters': Andante (1st movement)
Guarneri Quartet
PHILIPS 456 574-2
Track 5
01:09:23
DE RORE
'S'eguale a la mia voglia'
Ellen Hargis (soprano)
The King's Noyse
Paul O'Dette (lute)
David Douglass (director)
HARMONIA MUNDI HCX 3957127
Track 28
01:14:48
MESSIAEN
20 Regards sur l'enfant Jesus for piano: 'Regard du fils sur le fils' (No.5)
Steven Osborne (piano)
HYPERION CDA 67351/2
CD1 Track 5
01:15:48
PABLO NERUDA
Poeme Veinta: I can write the saddest verses tonight
Juliet Stevenson (reader)
01:21:48
PISTON
Symphony No.2 in A minor: Adagio
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Gerard Schwarz (conductor)
DELOS DE 3074
Track 2
01:32:33
LARKIN
Arundel Tomb
Derek Jacobi (reader)
01:34:12
BACH
Concerto for 2 violins and string orchestra in D minor, BWV.1043:
Largo, ma non tanto
Henryk Szeryng (violin)
Maurice Hasson (violin)
Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields
Neville mariner (conductor)
PHILIPS 422 250-2
Track 1
01:40:41
W. H. AUDEN
O tell me the truth about love
Derek Jacobi (reader)
