To Music
Sunday 16 December 2007 22:45-0:00 (Radio 3)
Diana Rigg and Samuel West read a selection of poetry on the theme of music. Including Elizabeth Jennings's First Music, Andrew Marvell's The Empire of Music, DH Lawrence's Piano and TS Eliot's Four Quartets, and WB Yeats reading his poem The Fiddler of Donney. Music includes Webern's arrangement of Bach's A Musical Offering, songs by Dowland and Schubert, and Seamus Heaney's reading of The Given Note accompanied by piper Liam O'Flynn.
Duration:
1 hour 15 minutes
To Music
Diana Rigg (reader)
Samuel West (reader)
Producer's note
For this week's Words and Music, I have chosen poetry on the theme of music: starting with Richard Barnfield's poem which praises music and poetry, and ending with an extract from TS Eliot's Four Quartets about the word and music. The range includes Sarah Maguire's affectionate portrait of 'My father's piano', Siegfried Sassoon's description of a 'Concert party' at an Egyptian Base Camp where music is an escape, Larkin's tribute to a jazz legend, Sidney Bechet and Seamus Heaney's 'The Given Note' with music played by the piper, Liam O'Flynn.
I chose music to complement these poems. Beethoven's String Quartet Op.135 following Baudelaire's tribute to the composer, Auden's poem 'The composer' followed by Britten's setting of Auden in Hymn to St Cecilia and Messiaen's shimmering Vingt Regards reflecting the "music breathing of statues" in Rilke's poem - To Music.
Jessica Isaacs (producer)
Playlist
Times are from start of programme
00:00:00
RICHARD BARNFIELD
To a friend in praise of music and poetry
Samuel West (reader)
00:00:58
DOWLAND
Shall I strive with wordes to move?
Michael Chance (countertenor)
Christopher Wilson (lute)
CHANDOS CHAN 0538
Track 17
00:03:36
SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphony No.12 (3rd movement)
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Ogan Durjan (conductor)
PHILIPS 434 172-2
Track 3
00:05:04
ELIZABETH JENNINGS
First Music
Diana Rigg (reader)
00:05:36
SCHUMANN
'Von fremden Landern und Menschen' (Kinderszenen, Op.15)
Martha Argerich (piano)
DEUTSCHE GRAMOPHON 410 653-2
Track 1
00:06:30
D. H. LAWRENCE
Piano
Samuel West (reader)
00:07:47
SARAH MAGUIRE
My Father's Piano
Diana Rigg (reader)
00:09:12
SATIE
'Sur un vaisseau' (Description automatiques)
Philippe Entremont (piano)
SONY CLASSICS SBK 48 283
Track 24
00:11:00
HANDEL
Concerto No.3 in G major (1st movement - Largo, e staccato - Allegro)
Academy of Ancient Music
Richard Egarr (director)
HARMONIA MUNDI HMU 807415
Track 9
00:14:20
ANDREW MARVELL
Music's Empire
Samuel West (reader)
00:15:42
BYRD
Kyrie (Mass for Four Voices)
The Cardinall's Musick
Andrew Carwood (director)
ASV CD GAU 206
Track 2
00:17:41
BAUDELAIRE
Music - Beethoven
Diana Rigg (reader)
00:18:16
BEETHOVEN
Quartet in F major, Op.135 (Allegretto)
Cleveland Quartet
TELARC CD 80427
Track 6
00:25:12
W. B. YEATS
The Fiddler of Dooney
W. B. Yeats (reader)
[over traditional fiddle music]
00:26:32
JO SHAPCOTT
The Art of Fugue
Jo Shapcott (reader)
00:27:24
J. S. BACH
Art of Fugue (Fuga 1)
Kenneth Gilbert (harpsichord)
ARCHIV 427 673-2
Track 1
00:30:39
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
Lines composed at a concert
Diana Rigg (reader)
00:33:22
PHILIP LARKIN
Broadcast
Samuel West (reader)
00:34:32
SCHUBERT
An die Musik (D.547)
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Julius Drake (piano
EMI 556347-2
Track 12
00:37:12
SIDNEY BECHET
00:38:25
PHILIP LARKIN
To Sidney Bechet
Alex Jennings (reader)
00:40:14
SIEGFRIED SASSOON
Concert Party
Samuel West (reader)
00:41:54
MESSIAEN
'Regards du silence' (Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jesus)
Steven Osborne (piano)
HYPERION CDA 67351/2
CD 2 Track 7
00:42:47
RILKE
To Music
Samuel West (reader)
00:44:00
W. H. AUDEN
The Composer
Diana Rigg (reader)
00:44:55
BRITTEN
'In a garden shady' (Hymn to St Cecilia, Op.27)
The Monteverdi Choir
John Eliot Gardiner
DG 453 433-2
Track 13
00:47:22
MENDELSSOHN
Songs without words (Op.53 No.3)
Andras Schiff (piano)
DECCA 421 119-2
Track 4
00:50:12
SEAMUS HEANEY
The Given Note
Seamus Heaney (reader)
00:50:48
TRADITIONAL
Port nab Pucai
Liam O'Flynn (arranger and uilleann pipes)
CLADDAGH RECORDS CCT21CD
Track 1
00:54:57
MARIO PETRUCCI
Announcement
Samuel West (reader)
00:55:51
HAYDN
Symphony No.45 in F sharp minor 'Farewell' (last movement)
The Hanover Band
Roy Goodman (director)
HYPERION CDA 66722
Track 5
00:59:00
SHAKESPEARE
Sonnet 128
Diana Rigg (reader)
00:59:53
PETER PHILIPS
Amarilli, mia bella
Elizabeth Farr (harpsichord)
NAXOS 8.557864
Track 2
01:03:48
MASEFIELD
A cry to music
Diana Rigg (reader)
01:05:15
J. S. BACH orch. WEBERN
Fuga ricercata a 6 voci (The Musical Offering)
The Cleveland Orchestra
Christoph von Dohnanyi (conductor)
DECCA 436 153-2
Track 5
01:12:34
T. S. ELIOT
Burnt Norton (Four Quartets)
Samuel West (reader)
