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Deserts and Springs

Texts and music on the theme of deserts and springs, with readers Sylvestra Le Touzel and Samuel Barnett. With TS Eliot, Shelley and Hardy, plus Britten, Schubert and Messiaen.

Sylvestra Le Touzel and Samuel Barnett read prose and poetry exploring deserts and springs, both in physical form - the bone-dry wilderness which water turns to fertile soil, and as metaphor - the wasteland of existential emptiness, transformed by the streams of spiritual nourishment. Readings from TS Eliot, Shelley, Hardy and Banjo Paterson, and music by Britten, Schubert, Messiaen and Duke Ellington.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 2 Aug 2015 18:00
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

    Bedrich Smetana

    Vltava (from Ma Vlast)

    Performer: Prague Philharmonia, Jakub Hrusa (conductor).
    • Supraphon SU40322.
    • Tr 2.

  • John Bunyan

    聯Upon the fish in the water, read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:02

    Benjamin Britten

    Fish in the unruffled lakes

    Performer: Philip Langridge (tenor), Steuart Bedford (piano).
    • Naxos 8.557204.
    • Tr 13.
  • 00:04

    Franz Schubert

    Liehaber in allen Gestalten (D 558)

    Performer: Barbara Bonney (soprano), Geoffrey Parsons (piano).
    • Teldec 4509 90873-2.
    • Tr 7.

  • Mechthild of Magdeburg, translated by Jane Hirshfield

    聯The desert has many teachings聰, read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • Percy Bysshe Shelley

    聯Ozymandias聰, read by Samuel Barnett

  • Emily Dickinson

    聯After a hundred years聰, read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:09

    Olivier Messiaen

    La source de Vie (from Livre de Sainte Sacrement)

    Performer: Erik Bostrom.
    • Proprius PRCD 9015.
    • CD1 Tr2.
  • 00:11

    Alphonse Hasselmans

    La source (op 44)

    Performer: Rachel Masters (harp).
    • Regent REGCD 102.
    • Tr 14.

  • Banjo Paterson

    聯Song of the artesian water聰, read by Samuel Barnett

  • 00:17

    John Antill

    A Rain Dance (from Corroboree)

    Performer: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, James Judd (conductor).
    • Naxos 8.570241.
    • Tr 4.

  • E Annie Proulx

    聯What I see聰 (from 聯Postcards聰), read by Samuel Barnett

  • 00:26

    Sioux traditional

    Intertribal (People get up)

    Performer: Dakota Travels.
    • ARS Music EUCD1847.
    • Tr 6.
  • 00:27

    Korean traditional

    Chul Pungryu

    Performer: Seoul National Orchestra of Classical Music.
    • Playasound PS65023.
    • Tr 3.

  • William Franklin Sands

    from 聯At the Court of Korea,聰 read by Samuel Barnett

  • 00:31

    Duke Ellington

    Spring (from The River Suite)

    Performer: Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi (conductor).
    • Chandos CHAN9909.
    • Tr 4.

  • Ted Hughes

    聯River聰, read by Sylvestra le Touzel

  • 00:34

    Prague Philharmonia, Jakub Hrusa (conductor)

    Vltava (from Ma Vlast)

    • Supraphon SU40322.
    • Tr 2.

  • T S Eliot

    聯What the Thunder Said聰 (from 聯The Waste Land聰), read by Samuel Barnett

  • 00:41

    Olivier Messiaen

    Le d茅sert (from Des canyons aux 茅toiles)

    Ensemble: Marja Bon (piano), Hans Dullaert (french horn), Ger de Zeeuw (xylorimba), Wim Vos (glockenspiel),. Ensemble: Den Haag Percussion Group, Asko Ensemble, Schoenberg Ensemble, Reinbert de Leeuw (conductor).
    • Montaigne MO782142.
    • CD1 Tr1.
  • 00:45

    F茅licien David

    from L鈥檈ntr茅e au Desert (from Le D茅sert)

    Ensemble: Accentus, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Laurence Equilbey (conductor).
    • Na茂ve V5405.
    • CD1 Tr1.

  • Horace Logo Traubel

    from 聯Alone in the Desert I Stood聰, read by Sylvestra le Touzel

  • 00:49

    Aaron Copland

    from Quiet City

    Performer: LSO, Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor).
    • EMICD 5553582.
    • Tr 1.

  • Thomas Hardy

    聯Under The Waterfall聰, read by Sylvestra le Touzel

  • 00:58

    Maurice Ravel

    Jeux d'eau

    Performer: Jean-Philippe Collard (piano).
    • EMI 5860612.
    • CD1 Tr 4.

  • Glenn Ward Dresbach

    聯Desert Song聰, read by Sylvestra le Touzel

  • 01:04

    Bob Chilcott

    The Desert from Miracle of the Spring

    Ensemble: Nigel Charman, Markus Gruett (percussion) 大象传媒 Singers, David Hill (conductor).
    • SIGCD 422.
    • CD1 Tr9.
  • 01:06

    Harrison Birtwistle

    Virelai (sus une fontayne)

    Performer: London Sinfonietta, David Atherton (conductor).
    • NMC D211.
    • Tr 3.

  • Sarah Knowles Bolton

    聯Genius and Talent聰, read by Sylvestra le Touzel and Samuel Barnett

  • 01:11

    Bedrich Smetana

    Vltava (from Ma Vlast)

    Performer: Prague Philharmonia, Jakub Hrusa (conductor).
    • Supraphon SU40322.
    • Tr 2.

Producer's Note

Deserts, prairies, solitary places, and those who seek them out - explorers, hermits, people who thrive on solitude and people who fear it 鈥� have long intrigued poets and writers. This Words and Music explores the idea of the desert, both in physical form 鈥� the bone-dry wilderness 鈥� and as metaphor 鈥� the wasteland of existential emptiness, isolation, and loneliness amongst the crowds: a space in which to contemplate and consider questions of life and existence. In contrast, springs, rivers and fountains can be both literally refreshing - bringing fertility to barren places and parched ground 鈥� but also metaphorical sources of life and renewal.

听

This evening鈥檚 programme contrasts writings on deserts ancient and modern 鈥� from the advice of Mechthild of Magdeburg (a medieval German nun and mystic 鈥� much like Hildegard of Bingen 鈥� who received visions of God from childhood) on how to live simply in the desert, through to T S Eliot鈥檚 image of the spiritual desert of modern life. In between, Shelley鈥檚 famous depiction of the vanity of humankind, alongside a more modern utterance of the same sentiments by Emily Dickinson; extracts from the memoirs of Williams Sands 鈥� a young American diplomat at the court of Korea in the early 20th century) and words from E Annie Proulx鈥檚 1992 novel Postcards in which a character called Loyal Blood travels the American Mid-West, in search of work and better luck.

听

The writings on springs and water include verses by Banjo Paterson (the Australian author and journalist who wrote extensively about life in the Australian bush and outback and wrote Waltzing Matilda), a touching poem by Thomas Hardy about a glass goblet, lost forever in a valley brook, and typically pithy words by Ted Hughes.

听

The musical selection is underpinned by Bedrich Smetana鈥檚 famous symphonic poem Vltava - 颅颅a picture in music of that great Bohemian river, from its source, bubbling up as two springs in the Bohemian woods. In addition, there are songs by Britten and Schubert, an extract from Olivier Messiaen鈥檚 Des canyons aux 茅toiles (an enormous orchestral score inspired by the deserts and mountains of Utah), music by the 20th-century Australian composer John Antill and 鈥� rather a rarity 鈥� part of a suite by a composer not usually associated with symphonic music: Duke Ellington.听 Completing the music, part of a recent choral work composed by Bob Chilcott which has been inspired by the ongoing drought in the American southwest, musical depictions of fountains by Ravel and Hasslemans, and Harrison Birtwistle鈥檚 re-composition of a 13th-century virelai on the same subject by Johannes Ciconia.

听

Michael Emery (producer)

Broadcast

  • Sun 2 Aug 2015 18:00
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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