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With the festive season well under way, actors David Neilson and Naomi Bentley read poetry and prose on a party theme. Music includes Verdi, Fats Waller and Fred Astaire.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 14 Dec 2014 17:30
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

  • Helen Fielding

    Bridget Jones?s Diary, reader Naomi Bentley

  • 00:03

    Eric Carmen / Sergei Rachmaninov

    All By Myself (extract)

    Performer: Jamie O鈥橬eal.
    • MERCURY 548 796-2.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:05

    Nino Rota

    Main Title, Il Gattopardo

    Performer: La Scala Philharmonic. Performer: Riccardo Muti (conductor).
    • SONY SK 63359.
    • Tr22.

  • Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

    The Leopard, reader David Neilson

  • 00:09

    Giuseppe Verdi (arr. Nino Rota)

    Valzer Brillante

    Performer: Studio Orchestra. Performer: Franco Ferrara, conductor.
    • CAM 493267-2.
    • Tr6.

  • Lewis Carroll

    Alice in Wonderland, reader Naomi Bentley

  • 00:14

    Claude Debussy

    Voiles (Preludes, Bk.1)

    Performer: Jean Efflam Bavouzet (piano).
    • CHANDOS CHAN10421.
    • Tr2.
  • 00:18

    WEBER orch. Berlioz

    Invitation to the Dance, op.65

    Performer: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Paul Paray (conductor).
    • MERCURY 434 336 2.
    • Tr2.

  • Irving Berlin

    Top Hat, reader David Neilson

  • 00:27

    Irving Berlin

    Top Hat, White Tie and Tails

    Performer: Fred Astaire, Studio Orchestra.
    • 大象传媒 CD 大象传媒CD 665.
    • Tr7.
  • 00:30

    ANDERSON

    Belle of the Ball

    Performer: Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Performer: Frederick Fennell (conductor).
    • MERCURY 432 013 2.
    • Tr1.

  • Ogden Nash

    The Art of the Party, reader Naomi Bentley

  • 00:34

    James P. Johnson

    Charleston

    Performer: Arthur Gibbs and His Gang.
    • FREMEAUX FA 037/A.

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald

    The Great Gatsby, reader David Neilson

  • 00:38

    Glenn Miller

    In The Mood

    • KAZ KAZCD 106.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:39

    Beyonc聜 Knowles, Rich Harrison, Shawn Carter, Eugene Record arr. Emeli Sand聜

    Crazy in Love

    Performer: Bryan Ferry Band.
    • BANQUET MOVCD928.
    • Tr8.
  • 00:40

    Roger Edens

    Here's to the Girls (from Ziegfried Follies)

    Performer: Fred Astaire.
    • CDODEON 3.
    • Tr4.

  • Heinrich Heine

    Sie haben Heut? Abend Gesellschaft, reader Naomi Bentley

  • 00:46

    Hans Pfitzner

    Sie haben Heut' Abend Gesellschaft (Op. 4 No. 2)

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone). Performer: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Wolfgang Sawallisch (conductor).
    • EMI Classics 67345 CD2.
    • Tr16.

  • Charles Dickens

    Pickwick Papers, reader David Neilson

  • 00:50

    Anon.

    The David Copperfield Polkas (extract)

    Performer: The Seven Dials Band.
    • BEAUTIFUL JO BEJOCD9.
    • Tr11.

  • Ogden Nash

    The Party Next-Door, reader David Neilson

  • 00:54

    Fats Waller

    The Joint is Jumpin?

    Performer: Fats Waller.
    • ASV CDAJA 5174.
    • Tr6.

  • Thomas Hardy

    The Harvest Supper, reader David Neilson

  • 00:59

    George Butterworth

    Is My Team Ploughing? (from A Shropshire Lad)

    Performer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson. Performer: David Willison (piano).
    • HYPERION CDD22044.

  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice, reader Naomi Bentley

  • 01:06

    No毛l Coward

    The Party's Over Now

    Performer: No毛l Coward.
    • SONY CD 47253.
    • Tr33.

Producer's Note

Party! What could be a lighter, more fizzing title for a seasonal gathering together of Words and Music? Indeed, there is plenty of humour in this collection: the classic Christmas drinks 鈥榙o鈥� hosted by the friends of the parents of one Bridget Jones, featuring her seminal, excruciating, epoch-making first meeting with future husband Mark Darcy; two comic poems by Ogden Nash 鈥� in one, the rhyme-ready Artie (the life of the party) is a womaniser on the loose (madam, please 鈥渃urtain your spine鈥�), while The Party Next-Door bemoans the experience of a party from the other side of the fence 鈥搉ot greener, just very, very annoying.聽

There鈥檚 phantasmagoria in this collection too: the fabulous tableau of the Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse all speaking in riddles to Lewis Carroll鈥檚 Alice in the 鈥榤ad鈥� tea-party in her adventures in Wonderland.聽 It鈥檚 faintly disturbing.

In fact, scratch beneath the surface and the terrain soon darkens. Party! was never going to be all levity 鈥� the more I searched through the literature, the more the troubles of mankind came tumbling from the bookshelves: if Bridget Jones and the original Mr Darcy in the ball scene of Pride and Prejudice (both read by Naomi Bentley) bookend this edition of Words and Music, then its centre-piece is F Scott Fitzgerald鈥檚 description of the breathtakingly opulent parties of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby鈥檚 parties only highlight the vapidity of his guests: 聽the crashers, the hangers-on who don鈥檛 know their host but who happily feed on his champagne and baked hams, who make introductions 鈥榝orgotten on the spot鈥�.聽 The passage from The Great Gatsby is brilliantly evoked by the actor David Neilson.聽 And David also reads the inspiring prose of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa鈥檚 The Leopard, a description of an aristocratic ball in fin de si猫cle Risorgimento Italy 鈥� the waltzing guests celebrate life but without realising it, they鈥檙e playing out the passing of the ancien regime and its centuries-old values, facing a future of great change and uncertainty. There is a poem each by Heinrich Heine and Thomas Hardy 鈥� both men speak of the unseen guests at the party: 聽shadows of fragmented relationships, of lost loves, of the dead, haunting and stalking our memories as we try to embrace the party.

And what of the music?聽 It was easy for The Leopard: Nino Rota鈥檚 score for Visconti鈥檚 extraordinary cinematic realisation of the novel.聽 There鈥檚 a song聽composed by Hans Pfitzner to follow Naomi Bentley鈥檚 reading of Heinrich Heine鈥檚 poem Sie haben Heut鈥� Abend Gesellschaft that it sets; the space between the sparse notes of Debussy鈥檚 Voiles make ideal stepping stones for Alice as she continues her journey from the tea-party to the garden. Of course, dance is never very far away: as well as Nino Rota, there鈥檚 Weber鈥檚 own ballroom scene, two dancers join and part in his Invitation to the Dance.聽 And, talking of dance, Fred Astaire makes two, very classy appearances.

Thanks and admiration to the readers: Naomi Bentley, a television actress who has graced Casualty, Miranda, Jonathan Creek and My Family among numerous others, and whose delivery of six words (including an expletive) in one of Ricky Gervaise鈥檚 Extras quite stole the show. And David Neilson, best known for his portrayal of Roy Cropper in ITV鈥檚 Coronation Street. He鈥檚 a brilliantly versatile and sensitive actor, as you鈥檒l hear in today鈥檚 edition.

Paul Frankl (Producer)

Broadcasts

  • Sun 29 Dec 2013 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Sun 14 Dec 2014 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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