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Beginnings

Haydn's Creation, Britten's cradle song and a Purcell overture to Paul Simon's evocation of the seasons, with readings from prose and poetry by Geraldine James and Neil Pearson.

Haydn's Creation, Britten's cradle song and a Purcell overture are amongst the musical choices as Words and Music marks the approach of a new year with a programme on the theme of Beginnings, with readers Geraldine James and Neil Pearson. Tennyson and Spenser poetically mark the new year as a moment for hope and celebration, while Dylan Thomas's In The Beginning retells the biblical story of creation. Birth and the beginning of life is the inspiration for poems by Thom Gunn and Anne Stevenson, while Philip Larkin and AE Housman reflect on the process of renewal, which sees life eternally beginning again and we end with an evocation of the seasons in Paul Simon's song Leaves That Are Green.

Producer: Georgia Mann Smith

Readings:
Alfred Lord Tennyson - Extract from In Memoriam
Edmund Spenser - Extract from The Faerie Queen
The King James Bible - Extract from Genesis
Dylan Thomas - In The Beginning
John Masefield - Dawn
AE Housman - Spring Morning
John Donne - The Sun Rising
Bram Stoker - Extract from Dracula
Charles Dickens - Extract from David Copperfield
Ian McEwan - Extract from The Child In Time
Thom Gunn - Baby Song
Anne Stevenson - Poem for a Daughter
TS Eliot - Extract from Four Quartets
Philip Larkin - Trees

1 hour

Last on

Thu 31 Dec 2020 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

  • Alfred Lord Tennyson

    Extract from In Memoriam (Ring out, wild bells), reader Ian Pearson

  • 00:01

    Henry Purcell

    The Fairy Queen Overture

    Performer: Symphony of Harmony and Invention Orchestra Performer: Harry Christophers (conductor)

    • CORO COR 16005.

  • Edmund Spenser

    Extract from The Faerie Queen, reader Geraldine James

  • The King James Bible

    Extract from Genesis, reader Neil Pearson

  • 00:03

    Joseph Haydn

    The Creation- extract

    Performer: The English Baroque Soloists Performer: Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

    • ARCHIV 449217-2.

  • Dylan Thomas

    In The Beginning, reader Geraldine James

  • 00:09

    Aaron Copland

    In the beginning (extract)

    Performer: Sally Bruce-Payne (mezzo) Performer: Dunedin Consort Performer: Ben Parry (conductor)

    • LINN CKD117.

  • John Masefield

    Dawn, reader Ian Pearson

  • 00:13

    Edvard Grieg

    Morning Mood from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 Op. 23

    Performer: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Performer: Neeme Jarvi (conductor)

    • DG 427807-2.

  • A.E Housman

    Spring Morning, reader Geraldine James

  • 00:18

    George Butterworth

    When the lad for the longing sighs from A Shropshire Lad

    Performer: Roderick Williams (baritone) Performer: Iain Burnside (piano)

    • NAXOS 8.572426.
  • 00:20

    Orlando Gibbons

    In Nomine a 5

    Performer: Fretwork

    • VIRGIN VC790706-2.

  • John Donne

    The Sun Rising, reader Neil Pearson

  • Bram Stoker

    Extract from Dracula , reader Geraldine James

  • 00:26

    Philip Glass

    Dracula (arranged Michael Riesman)

    Performer: Michael Riesman (piano)

    • ORANGE MOUNTAIN OMM0033.

  • Charles Dickens

    Extract from David Copperfield, reader Neil Pearson

  • 00:28

    Benjamin Britten

    Cradle Song from Scottish Songs

    Performer: Mark Wilde (tenor) Performer: David Owen Norris (piano)

    • NAXOS 8.572706.

  • Ian McEwan

    Extract from The Child In Time, reader Geraldine James

  • 00:33

    Claude Debussy

    Clair de lune from Suite Bergamasque

    Performer: James Rhodes (piano)

    • WARNER 5052498358528.
  • 00:37

    Ned Washington and Frank Churchill

    Baby Mine from Dumbo

    Performer: Elizabeth Noyes

    • PICKWICK DSTCD455.

  • Thom Gunn

    Baby Song, reader Neil Pearson

  • Anne Stevenson

    Poem for a Daughter reader Geraldine James

  • 00:41

    William Byrd

    Lullaby, my sweet little baby

    Performer: Tallis Scholars Performer: Peter Phillips (conductor)

    • GIMELL CDGIM010.
  • 00:48

    Olivier Messiaen

    Louange a l'immortalite de Jesus from Quartet for the End of Time

    Performer: Soloists of the Philharmonia Orchestra

    • SIGNUM SIGCD126.

  • T.S Eliot

    Extract from Four Quartets, reader Neil Pearson

  • Philip Larkin

    Trees, reader Geraldine James

  • 00:55

    Paul Simon

    Leaves That Are Green

    Performer: Paul Simon

    • CBS CDCBS62690.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 6 Jan 2013 18:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Thu 31 Dec 2020 18:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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