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Conversations

Texts and music centring on conversations, with readers Catherine Harvey and Jamie Parker. With Socrates, Larkin and Cecil Day-Lewis, plus music by Messiaen and Telemann.

Catherine Harvey and Jamie Parker muse on Conversations from the early Socratic dialogues to Larkin's 'Talking in Bed', and Debrett's to Theodore Zeldin. There are also conversation pieces between modern and original poems, as C. Day Lewis replies poetically to Christopher Marlowe's 'The Passionate Shepherd to his Love'. Music includes Messiaen's Antienne de la conversation int茅rieure and Telemann's chatty Divertimento in E flat major, TWV.50:21.

Elizabeth Arno (producer).

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 5 Jul 2015 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

    BERIO

    PIERO (Farulli) from DUETTI for 2 violins, Vol.1 No.18

    Performer: Carlo Chiarappa & Stefano Montanari (violins).
    • DENON CO 75448.
    • Tr 18.

  • UNKNOWN, translated by BURTON WATSON

    I just had to start a conversation, read by Catherine Harvey

  • D. H. LAWRENCE

    Talk, read by Jamie Parker

  • 00:01

    Claude Debussy

    Preludes Book 1 No 3 Le Vent dands la plaine

    Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano).
    • CHAN 10421.
    • Tr 3.

  • 顿贰叠搁贰罢罢聮厂

    Conversation (extract), read by Catherine Harvey

  • 00:04

    Georg Philipp Telemann

    La Conversation 脿 la table. Gavotte, from Divertimento in E flat major, TWV.50:21

    Performer: Collegium Musicum 90, Simon Standage (director).
    • CHAN 0787.
    • Tr 29.

  • LEONARD BACON

    Afternoon Tea, read by Jamie Parker

  • 00:06

    Sergey Rachmaninov

    Scherzo for orchestra in D minor [1887]

    Performer: Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland, Edo de Waart (conductor).
    • EXTON OVCL-00156.
    • Tr 3.

  • E. E. CUMMINGS

    logeorge, read by Jamie Parker

  • 00:11

    NANCARROW

    Study # 19 (canon 12:15:20), from Studies for player piano, transcribed for piano duo

    Performer: Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo (Helena Bugallo & Amy Williams).
    • WERGO 6670 2.
    • Tr 10.

  • MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE

    Winged Words, read by Catherine Harvey

  • 00:13

    Igor Stravinsky

    Lied ohne Name for two bassoons

    Performer: Matthias B眉hlmann & Johannes J枚hri (basssoons).
    • ARTE NOVA 74321 92650 2.
    • Tr 11.

  • MATTHEW GREEN

    Sometimes I dress, with women sit, read by Jamie Parker

  • TOM GUNN

    The Conversation of Old Men, read by Catherine Harvey

  • 00:14

    WOLKENSTEIN

    Nu rue mit sorgen

    Performer: Andreas Scholl (countertenor), Shield of Harmony Ensemble, Crawford Young (director).
    • HARMONIA MUNDI HMC902051.
    • Tr 15.

  • CARDUCCI, translated by EDWARD HENRY, Bishop of Exeter Bickersteth

    Conversation with Trees, read by Catherine Harvey

  • ELIZABETH BISHOP

    Conversation Poem, read by Jamie Parker

  • 00:20

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Polyphonic 脡tude

    Performer: Frederik Ull茅n (piano).
    • BIS CD 983 DIGITAL.
    • Tr 16.

  • THEODORE ZELDIN

    How Talk Can Change Our Lives (extract, from Conversation, read by Catherine Harvey

  • 00:23

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Largo ma non tanto, from Concerto for two Violins in D minor, BWV.1043

    Performer: Nigel Kennedy & Daniel Stabrawa (violins), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • EMI 5570912.
    • Tr 11.

  • CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

    The Passionate Shepherd to his Love, read by Jamie Parker

  • C. DAY LEWIS

    Song, read by Catherine Harvey

  • 00:31

    Knut Nystedt

    Immortal Bach

    Performer: Berlin Radio Chorus, Simon Halsey (director).
    • HARMONIA MUNDI HMC 801873.
    • Tr 7.
  • 00:36

    贰脰罢痴脰厂

    Snatches of a Conversation (2001) (extract)

    Performer: Marco Blaauw (double-bell trumpet), Omar Ebrahim (speaker), musikFabrik I Ensemble f眉r Neue Musik, P茅ter E枚tv枚s (conductor).
    • BMC CD 097.
    • Tr 1.

  • MIHANGEL MORGAN, translated from Welsh by MARTIN DAVIS

    I聮ve got a talking chair, read by Catherine Harvey

  • PLATO, edited by TREVOR J. SAUNDERS

    Ion, extract from Early Socratic Dialogues, read by Catherine Harvey & Jamie Parker

  • 00:44

    Robert de Vis茅e

    Courante

    Performer: Vincent Dumstre (theorbo).
    • ALPHA 003.
    • Tr 4.

  • GRAVES

    Over the Brazier, read by Jamie Parker

  • 00:48

    David Sylvian

    Conversation Ending in Divorce

    Performer: David Sylvian (guitars, synthesisers, keyboard programming), John Taylor (piano), Stuart Bruce (computer programming).
    • VIRGIN VSCD1221.
    • Tr 2.
  • 00:51

    Olivier Messiaen

    Antienne de la Conversation Int茅rieure

    Performer: Yvonne Loriod (piano), Jeanne Loriod (onde Martenot), Ma卯trise et orchestra de chamber de la R. T. F, Marcel Couraud (director).
    • ERATO ECD 71594.
    • Tr 1.

  • DYLAN THOMAS

    The Conversation of Prayers, read by Catherine Harvey

  • 01:02

    Franz Schubert

    Fantasy in F minor for piano duet, D.940 / Op.103 (extract)

    Performer: Katia and Marielle Lab猫que (piano four hands).
    • KML1117.
    • Tr 4.

  • BOCCACCIO, translated by DANTE

    Of Three Girls and of Their Talk, from the Sonnets, read by Jamie Parker

  • JOHN DONNE

    Holy Sonnet XIV, read by Jamie Parker

  • MARK JARMAN

    Unholy Sonnet, read by Catherine Harvey

  • 01:09

    Claudio Monteverdi

    Pur ti miro (Coronazione di Poppea)

    Performer: Danielle de Niese (soprano), Andreas Scholl (countertenor), English Concert, Harry Bicket (conductor).
    • DECCA 4782260.
    • Tr 7.

  • PHILIP LARKIN

    Talking in Bed, read by Catherine Harvey

Producer Note

鈥業t鈥檚 good to talk鈥� has become a universally recognized slogan of positive thinking.聽 Conversation is our key to reaching out to others, to exchanging ideas and establishing relationships, and ultimately, through agreement and disagreement, to building culturally-defined societies.聽 The way in which we think and function within our societies today has come about largely through a conversational history of what we understand defines us.聽

Conversation can change the way we each live and this programme muses over how and why we talk to each other.聽聽 It also asks how and why we should talk to each other.聽 The need to talk is captured at the very beginning of the programme in the unknown words, 鈥業 just had to start a conversation鈥�, and there is a guide to the art of conversation given in Debrett鈥檚.聽 Talking is a spontaneous communication between two or more people and there are poems in this programme that capture the importance of conversation in many aspects of life.聽 The blithe conversation of youthful girls dreaming of their lovers in Boccaccio鈥檚 Of three Girls and of Their Talk, the gloomy gossip of women drinking sweetened tea in Matthew Green鈥檚 Sometimes I dress, with women sit, Tom Gunn鈥檚 Conversation of Old Men, a group of soldiers conversing about a better tomorrow in Robert Graves鈥� Over the Brazier, the neighbourly chat between George and Eddy about 鈥榯he boy鈥� in E. E. Cummings 鈥榣ogeorge鈥�, and the pillow talk of Philip Larkin鈥檚 lovers in his poem Talking in Bed.聽

The centre of the programme is the exposition of Ion, one of Plato鈥檚 Early Socratic Dialogues.聽 This recorded conversation between Socrates and Ion, on the necessity of rhapsodes, is a crucial text in the literary history of conversations and dialogues.聽 These texts present philosophical ideas in the form of conversation and have influenced subsequent writers across Europe, from Galileo in 17th century Italy to Berkeley in 18th century England.聽 Whilst the oldest known dialogues are the Sicilian mimes, written in rhythmic prose by Sophron of Syracuse around the early 5th century BC, Plato has bequeathed to literature the first philosophic dialogues that expound the main tenets of Platonic philosophy.

This programme also contains philosophical poems that allude to nature.聽 Mary Elizabeth Coleridge鈥檚 poem Winged Words likens our 鈥榳inged words鈥� darting playfully over the depths of silence to swallows darting across a pool, and Giosu猫 Carducci tackles death in his Conversation with Trees.聽 The contemporary Welsh poet, Mihangel Morgan, eavesdrops on the many languages spoken by furniture, from talking chair to mirror, Dylan Thomas portrays a father and child looking over the dying mother in his introspective poem, The Conversation with Prayers.

Much of the music I have chosen to complement these texts is related either directly or tenuously to conversation.聽 If conversation is defined as a spontaneous communication of ideas between two or more people, then musically, the most obvious parallel to me is the duet, throwing into focus the exchange of ideas between two paired instruments.聽 There are duets throughout the programme, beginning with Berio鈥檚 fleeting 茅tude Piero for two 聽violins and including a transcription of one of Nancarrow鈥檚 canonic studies for piano duet, Andreas Scholl singing in duet with himself in Wolkenstein鈥檚 beguiling morning dialogue Nu rue mit sorgen,聽 Stravinsky鈥檚 brief Lied ohne Name for two bassoons that accompanies Matthew Green鈥檚 Sometimes I dress, with women sit, and the Lab猫que sisters playing the whistful final movement of Schubert鈥檚 Fantasy in F minor for piano duet underneath Boccaccio鈥檚 portrait of the three girls talking by a well of their lovers followed by one of the most beautiful love duets in opera, Pur ti miro from Monteverdi鈥檚 L'incoronazione di Poppea.

I have also included some pieces that relate directly to conversations. Telemann鈥檚 Divertimento in E flat major, TWV.50:21 makes specific references to the events in a princely day鈥檚 hunting, which includes a gavotte movement entitled 鈥楥onversation 脿 la table鈥�, a courtly discourse between two flutes, two horns and strings.聽 This courtly movement follows neatly from Debrett鈥檚 guide to good conversation.聽 Robert de Vis茅e鈥檚 Courante for theorbo is a musical example of seventeenth-century 鈥榗onversation鈥�, which comes from the literary example of 鈥榓rtes discendi鈥�, or the art of declamation, as in the writings of Th茅ophile de Viau.聽 The aim of both arts 鈥� 鈥榗onversation鈥� in music and 鈥榓rtes discendi鈥� in literature - was to master rhetorical techniques in such a way as to enliven discourse and move the listener.聽 The theorbo became the symbolic instrument of musical 鈥榗onversation鈥� in late 17th century France.聽

Back to our own century, the Hungarian composer, P茅ter E枚tv枚s, has placed short extracts of dialogue over a frenzied accompaniment of double-bell trumpet and ensemble in his piece, Snatches of a Conversation.聽 I have also created an unlikely musical conversation between Messiaen and David Sylvian as Messiaen鈥檚 Antienne de la Conversation Int茅rieure, an antiphon of the international dialogue with the God within us, emerges seamlessly from the synthensized sound-world of David Sylvian鈥檚 Conversation ending in Divorce.聽 Additionally, there is also music in the pogramme that simply sounds chatty like Rachmaninov鈥檚 Scherzo and Ligeti鈥檚 脡tude Polyphonique.

I came across a lovely poetry book in making this programme called Conversation Pieces.聽 It is a collection of poems that talk to other poems.聽 I have included four of these wonderful poems in my programme.聽 Christopher Marlowe鈥檚 famous poem The Passionate Shepherd to his Love has influenced a number of re-readings like Raleigh鈥檚 The Nymph鈥檚 Reply to the Shepherd and Ogden Nash鈥檚 Love under the Republicans (or Democrat), thus creating an inter-poetic conversation with the original Marlowe.聽 I have chosen C. Day Lewis鈥檚 Song, which takes the romantic shine off Marlowe鈥檚 original.聽 Similarly, Mark Jarman鈥檚 poem, Unholy Sonnet, is a reinterpretation of John Donne鈥檚 Holy Sonnet XIV.聽 At the point in the programme when C. Day Lewis鈥檚 poem converses with Marlowe, there is a parallel musical conversation around Bach.聽 First comes the glorious slow movement of Bach鈥檚 Double Concerto, itself a dialogue between two violins, and then comes Knut Nystedt鈥檚 reinterpretation of Bach鈥檚 chorale, Komm, s眉sser Tod, 鈥�come sweet death鈥�, words which reflect so well the sentiments of C Day Lewis鈥檚 invitation to a life of strife and poverty.

Elizabeth Arno (producer)

Broadcast

  • Sun 5 Jul 2015 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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