Anthony Calf and Rebecca Saire read poems in an uninterrupted sequence of music, poetry and prose on the theme of the seasons. Including A Song of the Seasons by Alfred Perceval Graves, Thomas Hardy's During Wind and Rain, Philip Larkin's And now the leaves suddenly lose strength, and AE Housman's Loveliest of Trees. With music by Vivaldi, Astor Piazzolla, Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Britten.
A Song of the Seasons
Anthony Calf (reader)
Rebecca Saire (reader)
Producer's note
Taking spring as the starting point, this edition of Words and Music follows the changing seasons of the year. Beginning with On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring by Delius and ending with Vivaldi's Winter, the poetry and music are loosely tied together by movements from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The programme traces a path from the birth of the year, through the still heat of the summer, the ochre of autumn, winter's dark days, and ending with a glimmer of hope and a hint of spring.
You'll hear a BBC recording of Ted Hughes reading Spring Nature Notes made in 1977. There's Housman's Loveliest of trees and Spring by Thomas Nashe, set by Benjamin Britten in his Spring Symphony.
Thomas Hardy's During wind and rain alludes to thecyclical nature of the renewal of the seasons whilst Amy Lowell's Dog-days talks ofa mutter of thunder in the summer air.
The thundering of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and the hubbub of Messiaen's birds in Chronochromie give way to the stillness of Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The autumnal North Wind on the Aeolian harp is complemented by Strauss' Four Last Songs, and the visceral energy of Harrison Birtwistle's Earth Dances takes us from Purcell through to Ives' Unanswered question and finally Vivaldi.
Jeremy Evans (Producer)
Details of Readings and Music
Times are from start of programme
00:00:00
DELIUS
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Sir Neville Marriner
Philips 454 444 2
00:00:09
WILLIAM BLAKE
To Spring
Rebecca Saire (reader)
00:02:29
SIEGFRIED SASSOON
Vigil in Spring
Anthony Calf (reader)
00:03:14
GRIEG
To Spring Op 43 No 6
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)
EMI 7243 5 74789 2 2
00:06:15
VIVALDI
Spring from The Four Seasons: Largo
Nigel Kennedy (violin)
Berlin Philharmoniker
EMI 7243 5 57666 0 1
00:08:46
TED HUGHES
Spring Nature Notes
Reader: Ted Hughes
00:09:37
STRAVINSKY
Rite of Spring
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Seiji Ozawa
RCA VD 60541
00:11:38
CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI
May
Rebecca Saire (reader)
00:12:23
SCHUBERT (Schulze)
Im Fruhling D882
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Julius Drake (piano)
EMI 7243 5 56347 2
00:17:06
TRAD (Northern France)
C'est en Mai (Improvisation)
Giles Lewin (fiddle)
Beautiful Jo BEJOCD 40
00:18:13
AE HOUSMAN
Loveliest of trees
Rebecca Saire (reader)
00:18:48
BRITTEN (Nashe)
Spring, the sweet spring
Alsion Hagley (soprano)
Catherine Robbin (alto)
John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
The boy and girl choristers of Salisbury Cathedral
DG 453 433-2
00:20:31 - 21'40
MESSIAEN
Chronochromie
The Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez
DG 445 827-2
00:21:37
VIVALDI
Summer from The Four Seasons: Allegro non molto
Nigel Kennedy (violin)
Berlin Philharmoniker
EMI 7243 5 57666 0 1
00:26:52
JOHN CAGE
Summer from The Seasons
American Composers Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies (conductor)
ECM 465 140-2
00:27:08
THOMAS HARDY
During wind and rain
Rebecca Saire (reader)
00:28:46
WILLIAM MORRIS
Summer Dawn
Anthony Calf (reader)
00:29:44
BARBER (James Agee)
Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Dawn Upshaw (soprano)
Orchestra of St Lukes
David Zinman (conductor)
Elektra Nonesuch 979 187-2
00:32:56
AMY LOWELL
Dog-Days
Rebecca Saire (reader)
00:33:41
HOWARD SKEMPTON
June '77
John Tilbury (piano)
Sony SK 66482
00:34:30
FINZI
Summer from Four Seasons
Richard Stoltzman (clarinet)
Guildhall String Ensemble
Robert Salter (leader/director)
RCA RD 60 437
00:38:54
THOMAS ADES
Arcadiana Op 12 : O Albion
Endellion Quartet
EMI 7243 5 72271 2 4
00:39:34
NORMAN MACCAIG
Summer Farm
Rebecca Saire (reader)
00:42:07
TED HUGHES
The Golden Boy
Anthony Calf (reader)
00:43:27
VIVALDI
Summer from The Four Seasons: Presto
Nigel Kennedy (violin)
Berlin Philharmoniker
EMI 7243 5 57666 0 1
00:46:02
North Wind
Aeolian Harps and the North wind of Southern Europe
Saydisc CD SDL 394
00:47:02
PHILIP LARKIN
'And now the leaves suddenly lose strength'
Anthony Calf (reader)
00:48:24
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA
Otono porteno
Richard Galliano (Bandoneon)
Richard Galliano Septet
Dreyfus FDM 366422
00:53:22
North Wind
Aeolian Harps and the North wind of Southern Europe
Saydisc CD SDL 394
00:53:43
JACKSON HILL
Voices of Autumn
Chanticleer
Teldec 0927 48556 2
00:54:18
BAUDELAIRE TRANS RICHARD HOWARD
Autumn Sonnet
Anthony Calf (reader)
00:58:34
STRAUSS (Hesse)
Four Last Songs: Beim Schlafengehen
Jessye Norman (soprano)
Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig
Kurt Mazur
Philips 411 052-2
01:04:45
FW HARVEY
November
Rebecca Saire (reader)
01:05:16
VIVALDI
Autumn from The Four Seasons: Adagio molto
Nigel Kennedy (violin)
Berlin Philharmoniker
EMI 7243 5 57666 0 1
01:06:11
PURCELL
King Arthur: Act III
"See, see we assemble"
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie
Erato 4509 98535 2
01:07:38
DEBUSSY
The snow is dancing from Children's Corner
Noriko Ogawa (piano)
BIS CD 1205
01:07:49
LOUIS MACNEICE
Snow
Rebecca Saire (reader)
01:10:02
HARRISON BIRTWISTLE
Earth Dances
Ensemble Modern Orchestra
Pierre Boulez
DG 00289 477 0702
01:11:05
TOM PAULIN
Song for February
Anthony Calf (reader)
01:13:51
DAVID MALOUF
Thaw
Anthony Calf (reader)
01:13:23
CHARLES IVES
The Unanswered Question
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor)
RCA 09026 63703 2
01:19:41
EDWARD THOMAS
Thaw
Rebecca Saire (Reader)
01:20:02
VIVALDI
Winter from The Four Seasons: Allegro
Nigel Kennedy (violin)
Berlin Philharmoniker
EMI 7243 5 57666 0 1
Programme first broadcast on 29 April 2007
