大象传媒

Another chance to hear Harriet Walter and Robert Glenister read poetry and prose on a theme of work and toil by Shakespeare, Kathleen Jamie, Simon Armitage, John Clare and Carol Rumens. With music by Beethoven, Handel, Elvis Costello and Shostakovich.

Readers: Harriet Walker and Robert Glenister

Producer's Note

I've chosen poetry on the theme of work in all its aspects: love of work, despair at the loss of work, the monotony of work, work in the fields and work on the shop floor.

The programme starts with Simon Armitage's poem 'The White-Liners' and includes Ruth Padel's 'Builders' and Jo Shapcott's 'Work in the City'. Factory life and industry is heard in Christopher Logue's 'I've worked here all my life', Fred Voss' 'All the Way' and Carol Rumens' 'Jarrow'.

Some of the music in the programme reflects this -Iron Foundry, Mosolov's socialist realist depiction of life in a Soviet factory, Elvis Costello's lament for the death of shipbuilding and Handel's slave song from his oratorio 'Theodora'.

The political is touched on in Paul Robeson's 'Joe Hill', a song about the death of a labour activist. Rural life is heard in John Clare's 'Labour's Leisure' and in Wordsworth's 'The Solitary Reaper' with music from Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and George Butterworth's beautiful setting of A.E. Housman's 'Is my Team Ploughing?'
The sequence ends with a Raymond Carver poem, written at the very end of his life, reflecting his love of work and Handel's 'The Harmonious Blacksmith'.

Fiona McLean (producer)

Playlist

CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN
Le staccatissimo
12 Etudes Dans Les Tons Mineurs, Op 39
Jack Gibbons, Piano
ASV CDDCS227

SIMON ARMITAGE
The White-Liners
Robert Glenister (reader)

GEORGE ANTHEIL
Ballet Mecanique
Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra
Conductor - Daniel Spalding
NAXOS 8559060

FRED VOSS
All the way
Fred Voss (reader)

EWAN MACCOLL
My Old Man
Black and White
COOKCD 038

CHRISTOPHER LOGUE
I've worked here all my life
Robert Glenister (reader)

MOSOLOV
Iron Foundry
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Conductor - Riccardo Chailly
DECCA 436 640-2

CAROL RUMENS
Jarrow
Harriet Walter (reader)

ELVIS COSTELLO
Shipbuilding
The Best of Elvis Costello
COLUMBIA CK 40101

RUTH PADEL
Builders
Harriet Walter (reader)

SHOSTAKOVICH
The Golden Age
Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra
RD CD 10 009

SIMON ARMITAGE
CV
Robert Glenister (reader)

STEVE REICH
Piano Phase
Phase Patterns, Pendulum Music, Piano Phase, Four Organs
Ensemble Avantgarde
WERGO WER 6630-2

JO SHAPCOTT
Work in the City
Harriet Walter (reader)

CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN
Barcarolle
12 Etudes Dans Les Tons Mineurs, Op 39
Jack Gibbons, piano
ASV CDDCS227

KATHLEEN JAMIE
Flower Sellers, Budapest
Harriet Walter (reader)

PAUL ROBESON
Joe Hill
Songs of Free Men
SONY MHK 63223

GRACE NICHOLS
Water Pot
Harriet Walter (reader)

HANDEL
Theodora
Gabrieli Consort and Players
Conductor - Paul McCreesh
ARCIV PRODUKTION 469 061-2

JOHN CLARE
Labours Leisure
Robert Glenister (reader)

BEETHOVEN
Pastoral Symphony (final movement)
Berliner Philharmoniker
Conductor - Herbert von Karajan

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The Solitary Reaper
Robert Glenister (reader)

SCHUBERT
At Evening after Work
Die Schone Mullerin
Gerald Moore, piano
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 415 186-2

SHAKESPEARE
Sonnet 27
Harriet Walter (reader)

GYORGY LIGETI
Clocks and Clouds
The Ligeti Project III
TELDEC 8573876312

AUGUST KLEINZAHLER
Staying Home from Work
Harriet Walter (reader)

EILEAN NI CHUILLEANAIN
Swineherd
Robert Glenister (reader)

JUNE TABOR
The Cloud Factory
At the Wood's Heart
TOPIC TSCD557

ROSEMARY DOBSON
Folding the Sheets
Harriet Walter (reader)

GEORGE BUTTERWORTH
Is my team ploughing?
Six Songs from 'A Shropshire Lad'
The Vagabond
Bryn Terfel, baritone
Malcolm Martineau, piano
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4459462

STEPHEN ROMER
Work
Harriet Walter (reader)

RAYMOND CARVER
Work
Robert Glenister (reader)

HANDEL
Air and Variations, The Harmonious Blacksmith
Trevor Pinnock, Harpsichord
ARCHIV 413912

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