Seventh Heaven
Seventh Heaven
John Shrapnel (reader)
Helen Longworth (reader)
Marcus Du Sautoy (Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford)
Producer's Note - Seventh Heaven
Seventh Heaven is a state of mind as well as a state of grace. Just think.
Those of us who still count that sort of thing say there are seven deadly sins.and seven virtues.
There are seven heavenly bodies visible to the naked eye - the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Its been said that there are seven gateways into the Underworld; and we're told there were seven islands in Atlantis.
The flood that destroys the world in the epic of Gilgamesh takes seven days to subside. There are seven wonders of the Ancient World and there are seven spots on a common ladybird and seven colours in the rainbow.
You can perform the dance of the Seven Veils, put on your Seven League boots and wonder at a Wagnerian seventh. There are, of course, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and no less a writer than Shakespeare wrote about the Seven Ages of Man.
Seven in all its guises - multiple and single, perverse and inspirational - provides the theme of this week's edition of Words and Music here on BBC Radio 3. I've chosen music which reflects this whether its Bach's Goldberg Variations, Salome by Richard Strauss, the jazz piano of Dave Brubeck or Karlheinz Stockhausen. The words are equally eclectic so you'll hear the mathematician, Marcus du Sautoy's musings as well as extracts from the ancient Sumerian, John Donne, Joseph Brodsky, Allen Ginsberg, George Herbert, Yeats and Anne Fadiman. The programme is a hymn to the fourth prime number. a kind of seven chambered maze celebrating the imaginative power and allure of a not so simple numeral.
Producer - Zahid Warley
Playlist
Seventh Heaven -running order
Details of Readings and Music
Times are from the start of the programme
00:00:00
JS BACH
Aria from Goldberg Variations
Glenn Gould
1955 recording
SONY SMK52 594
00:01:53
THE BIBLE
Day 1 Genesis 01:01
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:02:37
JS BACH
Goldberg 1
Angela Hewitt
HYPERION CDA67305
00:04:21
THE BIBLE
Day 2 Genesis 01:06
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:04:52
JS BACH
Goldberg 2
Kenneth Gilbert
HARMONIA MUNDI HMX 2951240
00:05:26
THE BIBLE
Day 3 Genesis 01:09
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:06:27
HOLLOWAY
Goldberg 3
Gilded Goldbergs
Micaleff-Inanga Piano Duo
HYPERION CDA67360.
00:09:15
THE BIBLE
Day 4 Genesis 01:14
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:10:12
JS BACH
Goldberg 4
Uri Caine
Uri Caine: Goldberg
WINTER AND WINTER 910 054-2
00:11:21
THE BIBLE
Day 5 Genesis 01:20
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:12:10
JS BACH
Goldberg 5
Glenn Gould
Bach Goldberg Variations 1981 version
SONY SMK52619
00:12:48
THE BIBLE
Day 6 Genesis 01:24
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:14:56
JS BACH
Goldberg 6
Andras Schiff
Goldberg variations
DECCA 4171162
00:16:15
Day 7 Genesis 02:01
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:16:34
JS BACH
Goldberg 7
Glenn Gould
Bach Goldberg Variations -1981 version
SONY SMK52619
00:17:50
WILLIAM BLAKE
Cradle Song
Helen Longworth (reading)
00:18:14
WILLIE DIXON
Seventh Son
Willie Dixon
Poet of the Blues
COLUMBIA CK 65593
00:22:27
ANNE FADIMAN
Coleridge the Runaway
Helen Longworth (reading)
00:24:44
MUDDY WATERS
I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man
Muddy Waters
Electric Mud
CHESS MCD09364
00:29:32
ALLEN GINSBERG
The Lion for Real
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:34:05
DAVE BRUBECK
Unsquare Dance
Dave Brubeck
Greatest Hits
CBS CD 32046
00:36:06
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Sonnet 73
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:37:12
ELMER BERNSTEIN
The Magnificent Seven - Main titles and Calvera's visit
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
RCA 09026632402
00:37:17
MARCUS DU SAUTOY
Seven observations about the number seven.
Marcus Du Sautoy
00:41:06
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
Asphodel - that Greeny Flower
John Shrapnel (reading)
00:45:31
LEE HAZLEWOOD
These Boots are Made for Walking
Nancy Sinatra
Boots
NAN CD 104
00:48:12
PERRAULT
Seven League Boots
Helen Longworth (reading)
00:50:06
RICHARD STRAUSS
Dance of the Seven Veils
Herbert von Karajan
Wiener Philharmonker
Salome
EMI 7243 5 67080 2 0
00:59:23
W B YEATS
RONSARD
When You are Old
Yeats' version of Ronsard's poem.
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:00:09
SUFJIAN STEVENS
Seven Swans
Sufjian Stevens
Seven Swans
S013F
01:06:35
PRIMO LEVI
Seventh Element - Nitrogen
from The Periodic Table
John Shrapnel (reading)
01:10:23
HOLST
Neptune, The Mystic
Wiener Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan
Holst: The Planets
Decca 452 303-2
01:17:40
EPIC OF GILGAMESH
The Flood - Epic of Gilgamesh 1
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:18:24
THE NECKS
Hanging Gardens
The Necks
RerNECKS1 LC-02677
01:19:33
EPIC OF GILGAMESH
The Flood - Epic of Gilgamesh 2
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:21:14
EPIC OF GILGAMESH
The Flood - Epic of Gilgamesh 3
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:32:19
EPIC OF GILGAMESH
The Flood - Epic of Gilgamesh 4
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:27:09
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN
Stockhausen's Klavierstuck 7
Herbert Henck
Stockhousen: Piano Pieces I-XI
VIII DDD WERGO WER 60135-5- and WER 60136-50
01:25:04
IAN HAMILTON
Old Photograph
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:26:07
GEORGE HERBERT
Prayer
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:27:33
JOSEPHY BRODSKY
To Urania
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:29:17
JOSEPHY BRODSKY
Seven Strophes
John Shrapnel (reading)
01:31:18
PHILIP LARKIN
Solar
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:32:12
JOHN DONNE
Death be not proud
John Shrapnel (reading)
01:33:50
IAN HAMILTON
Newscast
Helen Longworth (reading)
01:34:58
JOSEPH HAYDN
Sonata VII. Largo (In manus tuas, Domine commendo Spiritum meum)
Panocha Quartet
Haydn: Seven Last Words
SUPRAPHON 11 148-2 131
