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A Legend of Good Women

Texts and music on the theme of good women, with readings by Oliver Dimsdale and Sian Thomas. Includes Tennyson, Carol Ann Duffy and Browning, plus Gluck, Sibelius and Handel.

Since ancient times poets, artists and composers have celebrated the ideal woman. Chaucer's famous poem, from which this programme takes its title, undermined and satirised this process: does abandonment, assault and suffering make for a "good" woman and what place do the murderous Medea and Philomela have in the parade of virtuous femininity?

Oliver Dimsdale and Sian Thomas read poems by Tennyson, Carol Ann Duffy and Browning with music by Gluck, Sibelius, Handel and Stravinsky.

Producer: Natalie Steed

First broadcast in May 2012.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Apr 2013 18:30
大象传媒 Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Sergey Prokofiev

    Adagio Egyptian Nights, Symphonic Suite

    Performer: Russian State Symphony Orchestra, cond. Valeri Polyansky

    • CHANDOS CHAN10056.

  • William Shakespeare

    From Antony and Cleopatra, Sian Thomas

  • 00:01

    George Frideric Handel

    Julius Caeser Act 3 sc 2

    Performer: ENO Orchestra and Chorus, Cond Sir Charles Mackerras, Soprano Valerie Masterson

    • CHANDOS CHAN3019.

  • TS Eliot

    From The Wasteland, A Game of Chess, Oliver Dimsdale

  • 00:10

    Dvorak / Fritz Kreisler

    Songs My Mother Taught Me

    Performer: Cello, Yo Yo Ma

    • CBS CD44796.
  • 00:13

    N/A

    Sounds of the Night

    Performer: Nightingale

    • NSACD 77.
  • 00:13

    Igor Stravinsky

    The Nightingale

    Performer: 大象传媒 Singers, Simon Joly, 大象传媒 Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez

    • ERATO 2292456272.

  • Matthew Arnold

    Philomela, Oliver Dimsdale

  • 00:18

    Bernard Herrmann

    Medea, Jason And The Argonauts Soundtrack

    Performer: Sinfonia of London - Conducted by Bruce Broughton

    • Intrada CD MAF7083.
  • 00:20

    Richard Strauss

    Ariadne auf Naxos

    Performer: Wiener Philharmoniker, Cond James Levine

    • DEUTSCHE GRAMOPHON 4192252.

  • Derek Mahon

    Ariadne on Naxos, Sian Thomas

  • 00:22

    J Lavor, D Carter, R Seres

    Gloomy Sunday

    Performer: Iva Bittova 鈥� vocals

    • SONY CLASSICAL SK61870.
  • 00:28

    Jean Sibelius

    The Dryad

    Performer: Scottish National Orchestra, cond Sir Alexander Gibbon

    • CHANDOS CHAN6524.

  • Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    From A Dream of Fair Women, Oliver Dimsdale

  • Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    From A Dream of Fair Women, Sian Thomas

  • 00:35

    Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Iphigenie en Tauride

    Performer: Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, cond. Riccardo Muti, soloist Carol Vaness

    • SONY CLASSICAL S2K52492.

  • Carol Ann Duffy,

    Penelope, Sian Thomas

  • 00:42

    B L Ozen

    I'm A Good Woman

    Performer: Barbara Lynn

    • VIRGIN B000086EQM.
    • 16.

  • John Donne

    Song, Oliver Dimsdale

  • Robert Herrick

    Whenas in Silks My Julia Goes, Sian Thomas

  • 00:46

    Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Alceste

    Performer: Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque soloists, cond. John Eliot Gardiner

    • PHILIPS 4702932.

  • William Thackeray

    Vanity Fair, Sian Thomas

  • 00:50

    Paul Mealor

    Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal

    Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tenebrae, Cond Nigel Short

    • Decca Classics B005FOW9H8.
  • 00:53

    B茅la Bart贸k

    Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta, Adagio

    Performer: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cond. James Levine,

    • DEUTSCH GRAMOPHON 4297472.

  • Robert Browning

    Porphyria鈥檚 Lover, Oliver Dimsdale

  • 01:01

    John Dowland

    In Darkness Let Me Dwell

    Performer: Andreas Scholl

    • DECCA 4669172DEC.

  • Carol Ann Duffy

    Demeter, Sian Thomas

  • 01:06

    Johannes Brahms

    Ein Deutches Requiem, V. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit

    Performer: Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Cond. Otto Klemperer

    • EMI Classics B00000GCA3.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 20 May 2012 18:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Sun 7 Apr 2013 18:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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