MagicSunday 9 December 2007 22:20-0:00 (Radio 3) Nicholas Farrell and Miriam Margolyes conjure up words on magic by Shakespeare, Pushkin, Martin Feinstein, Chaucer, Derek Walcott and Keats. These are accompanied by the music of Wagner, Mendelssohn and Tippett, among others. Duration:1 hour 40 minutes Magic Miriam Margolyes (reader)
 Nicholas Farrell (reader)
Producer's Note:
This week's Words and Music explores magic in its many shades, light and dark. Shakespeare is the starting point and the programme includes readings from 'The Tempest', 'Macbeth' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Ariel's Songs, or 'spells', punctuate the programme and are accompanied by the song settings of Locke, Purcell and Tippett.
The overall sequence forms an arch as the words and music darken towards the core of the programme where Shakespeare's 3 witches concoct a poisonous brew to the deathly beats of Birtwistle's Earth Dances. As the programme lightens towards its end, Oberon is joined on the 'bank where the wild thyme blows' by a shimmering chorus from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
At the beginning and end of the programme, the mysterious words used in magic practice float above Ligeti's Atmospheres: abbazabba, alkazam, kedavra and, more familiarly, abracadabra, the meaning of which is contemplated in Ambrose Bierce's poem.
Magic has the power to transform being, like the Cheshire cat in Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' and Martin Feinstein's poem, 'The conjuror'. Gubaidulina's quirky 'Magic Circles' from Musical Toys links the two texts together while Messiaen's angels from La Nativite du Seigneur picks up on the sinister final turn taken by Feinstein's conjuror.
Two dramatic texts about the darker side of magic flank Shakespeare's 3 plotting witches: Christopher Marlowe's 'Faust' making his pact with the devil and Derek Walcott's Odysseus slowly being lured by a potion into seductress Circe's grip to the hypnotic strains of Stockhausen's Stimmung.
There are the magic people too, like Orpheus, who tunes his lyre, or rather Cowell's Aeolian harp, at the beginning of Joseph Addison's 'Epilogue to British Enchanters' and Gilbert and Sullivan's sorcerer, who makes magic out of word play. Pushkin presents a magical 'Talisman' while Chaucer's Clerk from 'The Franklin's Tale' shows his magical powers to Salzedo's sparkling Jeux d'eau for solo harp.
The programme ends with Browning's 'The Natural Magic' before slipping back into echoes of magic words floating around Ligeti's Atmospheres.
Elizabeth Arno, producer
Playlist 22:20
Gyorgy Ligeti
Atmospheres (extract)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (conductor)
Deutsche Grammophon 429 260-2, track 2
22:22
Ambrose Bierce
Abracadabra
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
22:24
Matthew Locke
Come unto these yellow sands
Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood (director)
L'Oiseau-Lyre 433 191-2, track 3
22:25
William Shakespeare
The Tempest: Come unto these yellow sands
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
22:25
Geirr Tveitt
Suite No.5 Trolltonar [Troll Tunes]: no.67 Guten med trollsylvet [The boy with the troll-treasure]
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Ole Kristian Ruud (conductor)
BIS BIS-CD-1227, track 23
22:26
Lewis Carroll
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: The Cheshire Cat
Miriam Margolyes (reader)
22:28
Sofia Gubaidulina
Musical Toys: Magic Roundabout
Andreas Haefliger (piano)
Sony Classical SK53960, track 6
22:29
Martin Feinstein
The Conjuror
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
22:29
Olivier Messiaen
La Nativite du Seigneur: Les Anges
Olivier Latry (organ)
Deutsche Grammophon 471 480-2, CD 1, track 7
22:32
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
The Sorceress!
Miriam Margolyes and Nicholas Farrell (readers)
22:33
Carl Nielsen
Aladdin, Act 1: Flute Solo
Franz Lemsser (flute)
Chandos CHAN9135, track 2
22:36
Sir Richard Burton (translation)
Aladdin, or The Wonderful Lamp
Miriam Margolyes (reader)
22:38
Richard Wagner, transcribed by Louis Brassin
Die Walkure: Feuerzauber
Cyprien Katsaris (piano)
Sony SK 58973, track 6
22:41
Bela Bartok
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste (3rd movement)
James Holland (percussion), Eric Pritchard (timpani), Leslie Pearson (celeste), Osian Ellis (harp), Roger Smalley (piano)
Decca 448 577-2, track 3
22:50
Christopher Marlowe
The Tragical History of Dr Faustus (extract)
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
22:51
Harrison Birtwistle
Earth Dances (extract)
Ensemble Modern Orchestra, Pierre Boulez (conductor)
Deutsche Grammophon 477 0702, track 2
22:52
William Shakespeare
Macbeth: Three Witches
Miriam Margolyes (reader)
22:58
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Stimmung: Warming Up
Hyperion CDA66115, track 1
22:58
Derek Walcott
The Odyssey (Billy Blue sings)
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
23:01
Claude Debussy
Pour les 'cinq doigts' (d'apres Monsieur Czerny)
Mitsuko Uchida (piano)
Philips 422 412-2, track 1
23:03
William Shakespeare
The Tempest, Act III: Full Fathom Five
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
23:04
Henry Purcell
The Tempest: Full Fathom Five
Carol Hall (mezzo soprano), Monteverdi Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner (director)
Erato 2292-45555-2, track 6
23:06
Brian Eno
Dark Cracked Bells with Bass
Opal OPALCD02, track 5
23:09
Anatol Liadov
The Enchanted Lake
Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev (conductor)
Deutsche Grammophon 447 084-2, track 2
23:10
Li Ho
A Piece for Magic Strings
Miriam Margolyes (reader)
23:14
John Keats
La Belle Dame sans Merci (A Ballad)
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
23:19
Federico Mompou
Cants Magics
Stephen Hough (piano)
Hyperion CDA66963, tracks 3-7
23:25
R.H. D'Elboux
Magic
Miriam Margolyes (reader)
23:27
Felix Mendelssohn
A Midsummer Night's Dream: 'You Spotted Snakes'
Judith Blegen (soprano), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Chorus, James Levine (conductor)
Deutsche Grammophon 415 137-2, track 3
23:31
William Shakespeare
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
23:32
Henry Cowell
Aeolian Harp
Robert Miller (piano)
New World Records 80203-2, track 2
23:33
Joseph Addison
Epilogue to The British Enchanters
Miriam Margolyes (reader)
23:34
Arthur Sullivan
Overture from the Sorcerer
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Isidore Godfrey (conductor)
London 436 807-2, CD 1 track 1
23:36
William Gilbert
My Name is John Wellington Wells
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
23:37
Arthur Sullivan, William Gilbert
My Name is John Wellington Wells
John Reed (tenor), D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Isidore Godfrey (conductor)
London 436 807-2, CD 1 track 15
23:38
Michael Tippett
Songs for Ariel: Where the Bee Sucks
Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)
Hyperion CDA66749, track 5
23:39
William Shakespeare
The Tempest: Where the Bee Sucks
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
23:41
Jean Sibelius
The Tempest, Suite no.2: Chorus of the Winds
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi (conductor)
BIS BIS-CD-448, track 12
23:43
Aleksandr Pushkin
The Talisman
Miriam Margolyes (reader)
23:45
Geoffrey Chaucer
The Franklin's Tale (The Clerk shows his magical power)
Nicholas Farrell (reader)
23:46
Carlos Salzedo
Jeux d'eau
Judy Loman (harp)
Marquis Records ERAD 117, track 13
23:50
Robert Browning
The Natural Magic
Miriam Margolyes (reader)
23:51
Gyorgy Ligeti
Atmospheres (extract)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (conductor)
Deutsche Grammophon 429 260-2, track 2
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