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Streetlife

Toby Jones and Mariah Gale read literature about life on the streets by Charles Dickens, James Joyce and Baudelaire, with music by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Janacek and Bernstein.

Toby Jones and Mariah Gale read literature about life on the streets by Charles Dickens, James Joyce and Baudelaire, with music by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Janacek and Bernstein.

Producer: Clara Nissen

Readings:
TS Eliot - The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock
Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
Stephen Crane - Maggie
Elizabeth Gaskell - North and South
Various news reports
Monica Ali - Brick Lane
Charles Baudelaire - Twilight from Les Fleurs du Mal translated by William Aggeler
James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
Kenneth Slessor - Choker's Lane
Matthew Arnold - West London
James Norman Hall - Fifth Avenue in Fog

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 3 May 2020 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

  • 00:00

    Steve Reich, arr. Kuniko

    New York Counterpoint

    Performer: Kuniko (marimba).
    • Linn CKD 432.
    • Tr2.

  • T. S. Eliot

    The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (excerpt), read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:01

    Moondog

    Up Broadway

    Performer: Moondog (saxophones), Suzuko (percussion).
    • Prestige CDJZD 006.
    • CD2T17.
  • 00:03

    Igor Stravinsky

    Shrove-tide fair, from Petrushka

    Performer: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink (conductor).
    • Philips 422 415-2.
    • Tr1.

  • Charles Dickens

    Oliver Twist (excerpt), read by Toby Jones

  • 00:09

    Thomas D聮Urfey

    The Trader鈥檚 Medley

    Performer: City Waites.
    • Sound Alive SA-MT 006 CD.
    • Tr2.

  • Charles Dickens

    Oliver Twist (excerpt), read by Toby Jones

  • 00:14

    Sergey Prokofiev

    Death of Tybalt, from Romeo & Juliet (excerpt)

    Performer: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton (conductor).
    • BIS SACD-1301.
    • Tr7.
  • 00:17

    Heiner Goebbels

    Bour茅e/Wildcard, from Surrogate Cities (excerpt)

    Performer: Otomo Yoshihide (samples), Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Peter Rundel (conductor).
    • ECM 465 338-2.
    • Tr5.

  • Stephen Crane

    Maggie (excerpt), read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:20

    Leonard Bernstein

    West Side Story (excerpt)

    Performer: Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Ollmann, David Livingston, Stephen Bogardus (singers).
    • Deutsche Grammophon 457 199-2.
    • Tr1-2.

  • Elizabeth Gaskell

    North and South (excerpt), read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:25

    Dmitry Shostakovich

    Symphony No. 10, 1st movt

    Performer: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vassily Petrenko (conductor).
    • Naxos 8.572461.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:27

    George Antheil

    Ballet mechanique (excerpt)

    Performer: New Palais Royale Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble, Maurice Peress (conductor).
    • Music Masters 01612-67094-2.
    • Tr 4.

  • Various

    大象传媒 news reports (excerpts)

  • Monica Ali

    Brick Lane (excerpt), read by Toby Jones

  • 00:29

    Leos Jan谩膷ek

    Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, 鈥楩rom the Street鈥�, 2nd movt

    Performer: Andras Schiff (piano).
    • ECM 461 660-2.
    • Tr6.
  • 00:37

    Jonathan Harvey

    Mortuos plango, vivos voco (excerpt)

    Performer: Jonathan Harvey (8-channel tape).
    • Sargasso SCD 28029.
    • Tr2.

  • Charles Baudelaire, trans. William Aggeler

    Twilight, from Les fleurs du mal, read by Toby Jones

  • 00:39

    Mussorgsky, orch. Ravel

    Gnomus, from Pictures at an Exhibition

    Performer: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle (conductor).
    • EMI 50999 5 17582 2 6.
    • CD1Tr2.
  • 00:41

    Morton Feldman

    Something Wild in the City

    Performer: ensemble rescherche.
    • Kairos 0012292KAI.
    • Tr1.

  • James Joyce

    A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (excerpt), read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:44

    Henry Purcell

    The Pox and the Plague

    Performer: Charles Daniels (tenor), Michael George (bass), Mark Caudle (bass viol), Robert King (harpsichord).
    • Hyperion CDS 44161/3.
    • CD1T19.
  • 00:46

    Carl Orff

    Carmina Burana (excerpt)

    Performer: Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Andr茅 Previn (conductor).
    • Deutsche Grammophon 439 950-2.
    • Tr14.

  • Evelyn Waugh

    Brideshead Revisited (excerpt), read by Toby Jones

  • 00:51

    Artie Shaw

    Nightmare

    Performer: Artie Shaw.
    • Bluebird - Big Bands In Hi-Fi Volume 2 CD2.
    • Tr9.

  • Kenneth Slessor

    Choker聮s Lane, read by Toby Jones

  • 00:55

    Eric Coates

    Calling all workers

    Performer: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Reginald Kilbey (conductor).
    • EMI 3 52356 2.
    • CD1Tr5.
  • 00:58

    Franz Schubert

    Der Leiermann, from Winterreise

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Alfred Brendel (piano).
    • Philips 411 463-2.
    • Tr24.

  • Matthew Arnold

    West London, read by Mariah Gale

  • 01:03

    Gavin Bryars

    Jesus Blood Never Failed Me

    Performer: Anonymous (singer), Hampton String Quartet, Session Musicians, Michael Riesman (conductor).
    • Point Music 438 823-2.
    • Tr1.
  • 01:07

    Moondog

    Tugboat Toccata

    Performer: Moondog.
    • Prestige CDJZD 006.
    • CD1T4.

  • James Norman Hall

    Fifth Avenue in Fog

  • 01:09

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    A London Symphony, 4th movt (excerpt)

    Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Andr茅 Previn (conductor).
    • Telarc CD 80138.
    • Tr4.

Producer's note

Life on the streets is the theme of this edition of Words & Music, with readers Toby Jones and Mariah Gale.听

听

T. S. Eliot invites us to explore the city, over Steve Reich鈥檚 rhythmic evocation of New York, followed by the literal sound of the streets in a recording by Moondog, the homeless 鈥榁iking of Sixth Avenue鈥�. Stravinsky in music and Charles Dickens in words take us to a noisy, stinking market place, where I have set Oliver Twist鈥檚 famous introduction to pickpocketing. Mirroring this trajectory, what starts as fairly innocent play-fighting in Prokofiev鈥檚 ballet Romeo and Juliet ends fatally for Tybalt.

听

Like Prokofiev鈥檚 Montagues and Capulets, and Bernstein鈥檚 Jets and Sharks, the young boys in Stephen Crane鈥檚 New York tale, Maggie, are seasoned fighters, and the streets are their battlefield. It鈥檚 also the location for political struggle, old and new, as portrayed by Elizabeth Gaskell and Monica Ali; the accompanying Ballet mechanique by Antheil sparked a riot of its own at its premiere in 1926. The sounds of rioting subsides into Janacek鈥檚 From the Street, which he wrote in memory of a worker who died during a riot in Brno.

听

Many streets appear to live almost completely parallel lives in daylight and in darkness. Both Baudelaire and Mussorgsky conjure the sounds of an awaking menace, while the creepy but beautiful music of Morton Feldman鈥檚 Something Wild (dropped as inappropriate for a brutal scene from the film of the same name) forms the backing of James Joyce鈥檚 description of his Young Man, out looking for pleasures and sins with a lady of the night. Purcell warns heavily against such actions in The Pox and the Plague, and 鈥� like Carmina burana 鈥� is in favour of drinking heavily instead. However, the combination of drinking and driving leaves Sebastian and his friends in Brideshead Revisited in a spot of bother with the police.

听

As the streets return to daylight, and the criminal element melts away, Coates calls all workers to their daily commute. For those without work and home, life isn鈥檛 so cheerful 鈥� it鈥檚 hard for the organ grinder in Schubert鈥檚 Der Leiermann and the beggar of Matthew Arnold鈥檚 West London. But the anonymous tramp singing on Gavin Bryars鈥� Jesus Blood still finds solace in religion.

听

The programme is brought to a close by the sounds of the foghorns of New York, and Fifth Avenue in Fog captures the moment as the city disappears into the mists. I鈥檝e ended with Vaughan Williams鈥檚 epilogue to his London Symphony, as he imagines cities 鈥� and nations and empires 鈥� have long turned to dust.

听

Clara Nissen (Producer)

Broadcasts

  • Sun 20 Apr 2014 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Sun 3 May 2020 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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