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Ben Okri

Michael Berkeley's guest is author Ben Okri. His choices include Wagner, Beethoven, Miles Davis and Pachelbel, plus one of his poems set to music by Paul Simon's son Harper.

Writer Ben Okri chooses his favourite music and talks to Michael Berkeley about the power of stories and their central place in human life.

The author of the Booker Prize-winning The Famished Road, he has written many other acclaimed novels - the latest being The Age of Magic - and he's also published collections of poetry, short stories and essays.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Ben Okri has been awarded an OBE as well as numerous international prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa and the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum.
His choices of music include Wagner, Beethoven, Miles Davis, Pachelbel's Canon, and one of his poems set to music by Paul Simon's son Harper.

Producer: Jane Greenwood

A Loftus Production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3.

1 hour

Last on

Sun 22 Feb 2015 12:00

Clip

Music Played

  • Richard Wagner

    Entry of the gods into Valhalla (Das Rheingold)

    Conductor: Georg Solti. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Singer: George London.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Eternal Source of Light Divine (Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne)

    Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music. Singer: James Bowman. Conductor: Simon Preston.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No.6 (Pastoral) (2nd mvt: Andante, 'By the Brook')

    Conductor: Daniel Barenboim. Orchestra: Staatskapelle Berlin.
  • Miles Davis

    Blue In Green

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Laudate Dominum (Solemn Vespers)

    Choir: London Symphony Chorus. Conductor: Colin Davis. Singer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra.
  • Abdullah Ibrahim

    Mannenberg

    Singer: Abdullah Ibrahim.
  • Harper Simon

    Wishes and Stars

  • Johann Pachelbel

    Canon in G

    Orchestra: English String Orchestra. Conductor: William Boughton.

Broadcast

  • Sun 22 Feb 2015 12:00

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