Dominic West and Samantha Morton read poetry on the theme of the spirit world, with verse by Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, John Keats, Robert Graves and Emily Dickinson alongside a selection of music inspired by ghostly apparitions.
The Spirit World
Samantha Morton (reader)
Dominic West (reader)
Producer's Note
This Words and Music takes you on a journey through the spirit world, a place of ghostly apparitions, sprites and hags.
I have chosen poems that conjure up the supernatural from different perspectives. Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost write from the viewpoint of the ghost, whilst Thomas Middleton and John Dryden write as witches. WB Yeats and John Keats regail haunting stories of times past, and Emily Dickinson recalls a ghostly sighting. I have included two famous literary ghosts - the gardener Peter Quint from Henry James' The Turn of the Screw and Banquo from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
My music choices range from the traditional music of Haitian Vodou and Native American spirit flutes to Schubert's terrifying setting of the Erl King and Wagner's depiction of the ghost ship The Flying Dutchman. Kate Bush calls out to Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, Debussy imagines the eery sounds of a submerged cathedral in Le Cathedral engloutie, and Beethoven writes the beautifully dark and mysterious Ghost Trio. It's no coincidence that in 1808 Beethoven was sketching ideas for an opera based on Macbeth, and entries for the abandoned opera project are found interspersed with ideas for the trio's slow movement.
Tim Prosser (producer)
Running Order
00.00.00
NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE
Calling the Spirits
The Native Flute Ensemble
Tr 3 EUCD 2079
00.00.36
THOMAS MIDDLETON
From The Witch
Samantha Morton (reader)
00.01.00
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Danse du Diabole from L'Histoire du Soldat
The Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez (cond)
Tr 13 DG 471 197 2
00.02.20
JOHN DRYDEN
A Spell
Dominic West (reader)
00.03.40
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Erlkonig
Bryn Terfel (baritone)
Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Tr 11 DG 477 6358
00.08.07
WALTER DE LA MARE
The Listeners
Samantha Morton (reader)
00.09.50
ADOLPHE ADAM
Myrtha makes her ghostly appearance (from Giselle)
London Symphony Orchestra
Michael Tilson Thomas (cond)
Tr 19 SK 42450
00.11.56
BILLY COLLINS
The Dead
Dominic West (reader)
00.12.30
KATE BUSH
Wuthering Heights
From The Kick Inside
EMI CDP 746012 2
00.15.56
FRANCIS WILLIAM BOUDILLON
A Ghost
Samantha Morton (reader)
00.16.20
EMILY DICKINSON
Two Ghosts Converse
Dominic West (reader)
00.16.55
MANUEL DE FALLA
Le Cercle magique (from El amor brujo) - in which Candelas tried to exorcise the ghost with magic incantations
Alicia De Larrocha (piano)
Tr 12 Decca 417 816 2
00.19.00
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Banquo's ghost appears (from Macbeth)
Sherrill Milnes (Macbeth)
Fiorenza Cossotto (Lady Macbeth)
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Tr 27 EMI 567128 2
00.21.00
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
The Song of Wandering Angus
Dominic West (reader)
00.22.23
BELA BARTOK
Adagio, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
New York Philharmonic
Leonard Bernstein (cond)
Tr 8 SMK 47510
00.29.15
THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES
The Warning
Samantha Morton (reader)
00.29.55
TRADITIONAL HAITI VODOU
Bade
Rara Machine
Tr 1 SF CD 40464
00.32.14
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Apparition Scene soliloquy from Hamlet
Dominic West (reader)
00.33.18
AMBROISE THOMAS
Apparition scene from the opera Hamlet
Thomas Hampson (Hamlet)
Denyce Graves (Gertrude)
Jean-Philippe Courtis (Le Spectre)
The London Philharmonic
Antonio de Almeida (cond)
CD 2 tr 15 CDC 75482123
00.38.00
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
Phantom
Dominic West (reader)
00.39.10
EUGENE YSAYE
Malinconia, from Sonata No 2 in A minor (Obsession), which uses the Dies Irae chant
00.42.00
ANNE CARSON
Walking Backwards
Dominic West (reader)
00.42.30
THOMAS HARDY
The Haunter
Samantha Morton (reader)
00.43.45
ROSEMARY BROWN (in communication with the spirit of Liszt)
Liszt: Reve en Bateau
Rosemary Brown (piano)
Philips 6500 049
00.45.30
HENRY JAMES
The Turn of the Screw (extract)
Samantha Morton (reader)
00.46.52
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
The Lesson, from The Turn of the Screw
Michael Ginn (Miles)
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis (cond)
Tr 7 Philips 446 325 2
00.49.50
SAMUEL ROGERS
Ode to Superstition
Dominic West (reader)
00.51.08
RICHARD WAGNER
Overture to The Flying Dutchman
Orchester der Bayreuther Festpiele 1971
Karl Bohm (cond)
Tr 1 DG 437 710 2
01.02.50
JOHN KEATS
La Belle Dames Sans Merci
Dominic West (reader)
01.05.00
SAINKHO
Naked Spirit
Sainkho featuring Djivan Gasparyan
ARNR 2298
01.09.40
ROBERT FROST
Ghost House
Samantha Morton (reader)
01.11.15
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Le Cathedral Engloutie, from Preludes Book One
Maurizio Pollini (piano)
Tr 10 DG 445 187 2
01.17.30
THOMAS HARDY
The Phantom Horsewoman
Dominic West (reader)
01.19.10
C W GLUCK
Orpheus appeals to the Spectres, from Orphee et Eurydice
Anne Sophie von Otter (Orpheus)
Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre de L'Opera de Lyon
John Eliot Gardiner
Tr 23 EMI 7499834 2
01.22.00
EMLY DICKINSON
The Only Ghost I Ever Saw
Samantha Morton (reader)
01.23.00
CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO
Capricho Diabolico
Andres Segovia (guitar)
Tr 10 SMD 734
01.32.10
ROBERT GRAVES
No More Ghosts
Dominic West (reader)
01.33.15
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Largo, from Trio No 5 in D major, Op 70 No 1, The Ghost
The Borodin Trio
Tr 2 Chan 9296
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