Like Father, Like Son?
A selection of poetry, prose and music exploring the many facets of the complex relationship of father and son, with readings by Nicholas Farrell and Sam Troughton.
Marking the centenary of Arthur Miller's birth - a playwright noted for his fascination with fathers and sons - an exploration of the many facets of this complex relationship, featuring a selection of poetry and prose read by Nicholas Farrell and Sam Troughton and music by Rossini, Stravinsky, David Axelrod and others.
Producer: Torquil MacLeod.
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00Benjamin Britten
Jam lucis orto sidere
Performer: English Opera Group.- London 4257132.
- Tr1.
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
To A Child, read by Nicholas Farrell
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00:04Hans Zimmer
Day One
Performer: Hans Zimmer.- Sony Classical 88875048122.
- Tr4.
Wilfred Owen
To A Child, read by Sam Troughton
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00:08Robert Schumann
Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano op. 73 - Rasch und mit Feuer
Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano), Dimitri Ashkenazy (clarinet).- Paladino Music PMR0030.
- Tr14.
Homer
The Iliad, read by Sam Troughton
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00:13Steve Byrne, Robert Burns
My Father Was a Farmer
Performer: Steve Byrne.- LINN CKD200.
- CD1 Tr12.
Seamus Heaney
Follower, read by Nicholas Farrell
Theodore Roethke
My Father聮s Waltz, read by Sam Troughton
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00:16Charles Ives
Three Places in New England 聳 Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut
Performer: Orchestra New England, James Sinclair (Conductor).- Koch 370252.
- Tr14.
Li-Young Lee
The Gift, read by Sam Troughton
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00:24Gioachino Rossini
"Corri alla madre"
Performer: Sherrill Milnes, Della Jones, Ferruccio Mazzoli.- DECCA 417 154-2.
- CD3 Tr8.
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00:26Gioachino Rossini
"Resta immobile"
Performer: Sherrill Milnes.- DECCA 417 154-2.
- CD3 Tr9.
Carl Sandburg
A Father To His Son, read by Nicholas Farrell
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00:31Rufus Wainwright
Dinner At Eight
Performer: Rufus Wainwright.- Polydor ? 450 5041.
- Tr14.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov, read by Nicholas Farrell
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00:37Igor Stravinsky
Concerto for two solo pianos 聳 Notturno (Adagietto)
Performer: Igor Stravinsky, Soulima Stravinsky.- EMI CDS7546072.
- CD2 Tr21.
Lewis Carroll
You Are Old, Father William, read by Sam Troughton & Nicholas Farrell
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00:43Giuseppe Verdi
Ombra diletta, che in ciel riposi
Performer: Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes.- RCA RD80370.
- CD2 Tr10.
Robert Hayden
Those Winter Sundays, read by Sam Troughton
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00:45Stan Tracey
Devil聮s Acre
Performer: Stan Tracey.- Blue Note International ? 7243 8 31139 2 7.
- Tr5.
Walt McDonald
My Father On His Shield, read by Sam Troughton
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00:51David Bowie
Heat
- Columbia ? 88883787812.
- Tr14.
Stanley Jasspon Kunitz
The Portrait, read by Nicholas Farrell
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00:56Alex North
Death of a Salesman
Performer: Alex North.- Kritzerland (limited edition 1000).
- Tr17.
Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night, read by Sam Troughton
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00:58Leopold Mozart
Concerto in E-flat Major for two horns and strings - Andante
Performer: Herman Jeurissen, Michael Holtzel, Concerto Rotterdam.- MD&G L3085.
- Tr2.
Mervyn Morris
The Day My Father Died, read by Nicholas Farrell
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01:04Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Concerto No.2 in F Major Op.102 - Andante
Performer: Dmitri Shostakovich, I Musici de Montreal, Maxim Shostakovich.- CHANDOS CHAN8443.
- Tr2.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
To William Shelley, read by Nicholas Farrell
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01:11David Axelrod
Loved Boy
Performer: David Axelrod, Lou Rawls.- EMI 3388452.
- Tr1.
Producer's Notes - Like Father, Like Son?
The conflict between fathers and sons finds its way into much of Arthur Miller鈥檚 writing.听 Miller himself said 鈥淚n writing of the father-son relationship and of the son鈥檚 search for his relatedness there was a fullness of feeling I had never known before; a crescendo was struck with a force I could almost touch.鈥� Miller described the way that he and his own father interacted as being like 鈥渢wo searchlights on different islands.鈥澨� To celebrate the centenary of the playwright鈥檚 birth, this is a reflection on how other writers and composers have distilled the father-son relationship in their work and, in some cases, turned that relationship into a creative partnership.
We begin, appropriately at dawn.听 鈥楯am lucis orto sidere鈥� is a hymn to be sung at first light and here it appears in a setting by Benjamin Britten from The Prodigal Son 鈥� the third of his Church Parables.听 The Prodigal Son may have a (largely) happy ending, but it also hints at some of the disruptions, departures and disappointments that we shall encounter during the course of the programme.
To A Child by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow sees the poet 鈥� who had two sons and three daughters 鈥� looking into the infant鈥檚 future: vast, unknowable and freighted with possibility.
Day One was written by Hans Zimmer and is part of his score for Christopher Nolan鈥檚 science fiction film Interstellar.听 Before Nolan told Zimmer what the film was going to be, he gave him a one page story outline about a father saying goodbye to his young son and asked him to use it as the inspiration for a composition - this is the piece that Zimmer wrote.听 Nolan had been struck by something that Zimmer said when he was talking about his own son 鈥� 鈥渙nce your children are born, you can never look at yourself through your eyes any more, you always look at yourself through their eyes鈥�.听
Wilfred Owen may be best known for his war poetry, but his poem To A Child takes a father鈥檚 point of view of his new-born child (although Owen himself had no children).听 The father is entranced by the atavistic wildness of the infant, but ruefully acknowledges that this will be erased as soon as the child grows and learns to abide by society鈥檚 conventions.
So far we have seen fathers speculating on their sons鈥� futures.听 Will they grow up to enjoy as harmonious a relationship as Vladimir Ashkenazy and his son Dimitri?听 Here are the duo performing Robert Schumann鈥檚 Fantasy Piece for Clarinet and Piano.
听
Dimitri Ashkenazy followed in his father鈥檚 footsteps and became a professional musician.听 Is it the wish of all fathers that their sons will grow up to be like them?听 In Homer鈥檚 Iliad, when Hector bids farewell to his baby son, prior to launching another attack on the besieging Greek army, he makes it very clear that he wants Astyanax to become an even greater warrior than his father.听 Zeus didn鈥檛 grant Hector鈥檚 wish 鈥� the child was thrown from the walls of Troy when Agamemnon鈥檚 forces sacked the city.听听听听听听In Robert Burns鈥� ballad 鈥淢y Father Was A Farmer鈥�, the son tries to better himself, but ultimately falls back on the skills that he has learnt from his father and scrapes a living through humble toil.听 But because of the values that his father instilled in him, he is still happy with his lot.听听
Seamus Heaney鈥檚 father was a farmer and in 鈥淔辞濒濒辞飞别谤鈥� the young poet is literally following in his father鈥檚 footsteps as Heaney senior ploughs a field.听 The young boy wants so much to be like his father, but is painfully aware that he is more of a hindrance than a help.听 Years later, the roles are reversed and it is his elderly father who trails behind him, getting in his way.听听
The child鈥檚 perspective is key in Theodore Roethke鈥檚 poem 鈥淢y Papa鈥檚 Waltz鈥�.听 While the young boy鈥檚 mother sees her drunken husband reeling around the kitchen, trying to dance with his son, for the boy himself it鈥檚 a giddy, exciting moment when he has his father鈥檚 full attention.听 The man may reek of booze, he may need a bath, he may have just been in a fight and he may be being too rough with his son, but the two of them are having fun together.
Charles Ives may not have waltzed around the kitchen with his father, George, but he credited him as his main musical influence.听 George鈥檚 role as a band-leader inspired Charles鈥檚 love of marches, which he often quoted in his work.听 Here in 鈥淭hree Places in New England鈥� Charles recreates the sound of two bands playing two different tunes, something he would have first heard in his father鈥檚 musical experiments with marching bands.听听听听
We鈥檝e seen fathers expressing their affection in a rough, boisterous way, but in 鈥淭he Gift鈥� by Li- Young Lee a moment of care and tenderness is captured, as a father delicately removes a metal splinter from his son鈥檚 hand, distracting him with a story.听
In Rossini鈥檚 opera William Tell, a young boy is also at risk of injury from a sharp piece of metal, but this time it鈥檚 a crossbow bolt fired by his father.听 Tell is understandably shaken by Gessler鈥檚 command that he shoot an apple resting on his son Jemmy鈥檚 head, but once Jemmy has assured him that he trusts his father to pull off the feat, Tell鈥檚 courage returns and the bolt ends up embedded in the fruit rather than his son鈥檚 cranium.
Tell鈥檚 instruction to Jemmy is to stay still 鈥� 鈥榬esta immobile鈥� - which, if terse, is undoubtedly a good piece of fatherly advice.听 Carl Sandburg is rather more expansive in his poem 鈥淎 Father To His Son鈥� and offers plenty of precepts for leading a fulfilling life, but whether they will fall on receptive ears is another matter.听听听
The fact is that when sons reach adulthood, their relationships with their fathers can turn sour.听 Old wounds and resentments can become the source of feuds.听 Rufus Wainwright was three when his parents split up and the absence of his father 鈥� Loudon Wainwright III 鈥� is a theme which surfaces in some his songs.听 Dinner At Eight recalls a bitter altercation between father and son during what began as a pleasant meal in a restaurant, following a successful Rolling Stone photo-shoot.
Matters become equally toxic between Mitya Karamazov and his father in Dostoyevsky鈥檚 novel The Brothers Karamazov, due to a misunderstanding about the property Mitya stands to inherit.听 Sadly, the relationship deteriorates even further when father and son find themselves vying for the affection of the same woman.听听听听听听
Fortunately there doesn鈥檛 seem to have been the same degree of discord between father and son in another Russian family - the Stravinskys.听 In 1938 Igor Stravinsky and his son Soulima went into a studio in Paris and recorded Igor鈥檚 Concerto for two solo pianos.听 The recording may be crackly, but no matter how closely I listen, I can鈥檛 hear any muttered recriminations about what Soulima is due to inherit.
However, intergenerational conflict erupts again between the remarkable Father William and his impertinent, unnamed son who plagues him with a series of questions until the old man can take no more.听 Lewis Carroll鈥檚 poem is a parody of Robert Southey鈥檚 鈥淭he Old Man鈥檚 comforts and how he gained them鈥� and has deservedly eclipsed the sententious stanzas of the original.
In Verdi鈥檚 opera I Vespri Siciliani, the governor of Sicily, Guido di Montforte, discovers that Arrigo, a young rebel opposing the French occupation, is his son, born to a Sicilian woman who he abducted and then abandoned.听 Montforte shares this revelation with Arrigo who angrily insults him, holding him responsible for his mother鈥檚 death.听 In this duet between the two men, Montforte begs Arrigo to recognise him as his father, while the young man resists, saying that his love for his dead mother makes it impossible.听
While Montforte makes his feelings for his son abundantly clear, a common stereotype of the father, particularly in previous generations, is of a man who is distant and emotionally inaccessible.听 The father in 鈥淭hose Winter Sundays鈥� by Robert Hayden is such a man and it is only years later that his son recognises that the thankless, mundane tasks which he performed around the house were inarticulate expressions of his love.
Fortunately there鈥檚 nothing faltering or inarticulate about the communication between jazz pianist Stan Tracey and his drummer son Clark as they play together at London鈥檚 Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1993.
It is the natural course of events that a son should face the death of his father, but a harder blow if it happens when he is still a child.听 War makes many sons fatherless and Walt MacDonald in his poem 鈥淢y Father On His Shield鈥� has only an old photograph of a soldier and some childhood memories of a sled. None of it can bring his father back.
Heat by David Bowie is a strangely allusive song.听 The mood is dark and foreboding and it is unclear whether the insistent refrain 鈥淢y father ran the prison鈥� is literal or metaphorical.听 But there is no doubt that the singer is desperate to distance himself from his father鈥檚 malign influence and warped idea of love.
If a father can be a hugely influential presence, he can also be a powerful absence for a son who grows up without ever knowing his father.听 The poet Stanley Kunitz was born six weeks after his father had killed himself.听 His mother removed all traces of him from the house and, as we hear in 鈥楾he Portrait鈥�, when Kunitz found a picture of a stranger in the attic, she reacted swiftly and decisively.
Returning to Arthur Miller - the inspiration for this programme 鈥� the suicide of a father is a motif which occurs in more than one of his plays, most famously that of Willy Loman at the end of Death of a Salesman.听 Here is Alex North鈥檚 haunting piece for solo flute which was composed for the original Broadway production of the play.听 The flute evokes Willy鈥檚 connection to his own father who was a flute-maker and salesman and its sound is heard at key moments through the play.
鈥淒o not go gentle into that good night鈥� is probably Dylan Thomas鈥檚 best known poem.听 It was actually written five years before the death of Thomas鈥檚 own father in 1952, but it remains a heartfelt plea from a son for his father to muster all of his dying energies to try to postpone the inevitable.听
There is little information on how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart received the news of his father Leopold鈥檚 death 鈥� there had been quarrels and a partial estrangement in the preceding years and Wolfgang was unable to return to Salzburg for the funeral.听听 Although he is best known today as Wolfgang鈥檚 father and teacher, Leopold was a talented violinist and composer in his own right.听 Emerging briefly from his son鈥檚 shadow, this the 2nd movement from his Concerto in E flat Major for two horns and strings.
Mervyn Morris is Poet Laureate of Jamaica and his poem 鈥淭he Day My Father Died鈥� speaks of death鈥檚 finality and the birth of grief.听 The son鈥檚 own sense of loss will come, but his mother鈥檚 distress takes immediate precedence.
The fourth and last of our father-son musical collaborations spans three generations.听 Dimitri Shostakovich wrote his Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1957 for his son Maxim鈥檚 19th birthday.听 Maxim premiered the piece at the Moscow Conservatory.听 In this recording from 1986, Maxim moves from the piano stool to the conductor鈥檚 rostrum and his own son 鈥� another Dimitri 鈥� is the soloist.
The loss of a father is one thing, undeniably painful and life-changing, but congruent with the natural course of things.听 The death of a son before his father leaves a rawer wound, immune to the mitigating comforts which may soften other bereavements.听 When Shelley鈥檚 son William died at the age of three, these are the lines that the poet composed.听 They express an anguish over where the animating spark that gave his child life has gone and a wish to believe that it has been absorbed into the soft beauty of the natural world.
Finally, Lou Rawls sings Loved Boy by the producer and composer David Axelrod.听 The lyrics are adapted from Ben Jonson鈥檚 poem On My First Sonne, written in 1603 after the death of his seven year old boy Benjamin.听 Rawls was with Axelrod when the composer was told over the phone that his seventeen year old son Scott had died.听 This is the father鈥檚 tribute to his 鈥榣oved boy鈥�.听听听听
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