Way out West
Actors Kerry Shale and Amelia Lowdell present an adventure way out west with outlaws, lawmen and a soundtrack featuring Copland, yodelling cowboys and the Doors.
Join the actors Kerry Shale and Amelia Lowdell for an adventure way out west with outlaws, lawmen and a soundtrack featuring Copland, yodelling cowboys and The Doors.
Producer: Zahid Warley
(Image: Cattle Skull in Monument Valley, Arizona, America)
Scroll down the webpage for more information about the music used, and the Producer's Notes.
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00
John Adams
Hallelujah Junction part 1
Performer: Nicolas Hodges and Rolf Hind, pianos.- Nonesuch 7559796992.
- Tr4.
-
John Steinbeck
Highway 66, read by Kerry Shale
00:09Jerome Moross
The Big Country
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra.- I.M.P PCD 887.
- Tr6.
Walt Whitman
Pioneers! O Pioneers, read by Amelia Lowdell
00:14Elmer Bernstein
The Magnificent Seven
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra.- I.M.P PCD 887.
- Tr5.
Mark Twain
Roughing It, read by Kerry Shale
00:20Rogers
Cowboy Night Herd Song
Performer: Roy Rogers with The Sons of the Pioneers.- Rhino R271683.
- Tr8.
Cormac McCarthy
All the Pretty Horses, read by Amelia Lowdell
00:25Kelley/Higley
Home on the Range
Performer: The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.- Sony Classical MDK 48295.
- Tr5.
Zane Grey
Rider of the Purple Sage, read by Amelia Lowdell
00:30Aaron Copland
Saturday Night Waltz from Rodeo: Suite
Performer: Morton Gould Orchestra.- RCA 09026616672.
- Tr12.
Willa Cather
My Antonia, read by Amelia Lowdell
00:36Ennio Morricone
Harmonica from Once Upon a Time in the West Film Soundtrack
Performer: Various artists.- BMG 82876589982.
- Tr5.
Christian Wiman
The Preacher addresses the Seminarians, read by Kerry Shale
00:42Aaron Copland
Gun Battle from Billy the Kid: Suite
Performer: Morton Gould Orchestra.- RCA 09026616672.
- Tr5.
00:44Giacomo Puccini
Aria - Or son sei mesi - from La Fanciulla del West
Performer: Renata Tebaldi and Mario del Monaco.- Decca 4215952.
- CD2 Tr8.
Sherman Alexie
How to write the Great American Indian Novel, read by Amelia Lowdell
00:51Arthur Farwell
Invocation: With dignity, slowly from Impressions of the Wo-Wan Ceremony of the Omahas
Performer: Lisa Cheryl Thomas.- Toccata TOCC 0126.
- Tr7.
Franc Johnson Newcomb
The Murder of Narbona, read by Kerry Shale
00:56Ferde Grofé
Cloudburst
Performer: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel.- Telarc CD 80086.
- Tr12.
Frank Norris
McTeague, read by Kerry Shale
01:06The Doors
Riders on the Storm
Performer: The Doors.- Elektra 9750112.
- Tr10.
Producer's Notes - Way Out West
Before space was declared the final frontier it was the West – the American West to be specific - with pioneers pushing constantly into territory which though often inhabited by Native Americans was unfamiliar to those who came as settlers. The lure was lucre and land, of course, but curiosity and the wonder of discovery also played their part. The West was a place in which the imagination could roam and exploring it could be a matter of re-invention as well as re- discovery. Way out West follows some of these trails with music by composers such as Aaron Copland and Ferde Grofé as well as the odd Roy Rogers’ cowboy yodel and the dark psychedelia of The Doors, a band whose songs rather like their native California stand on the fault line of the American Dream. The West has inspired writers too - Mark Twain, Willa Cather and John Steinbeck as well as Sherman Alexie, Walt Whitman, Frank Norris and Zane Grey. The experiences they describe are as varied as the landscape in which they unfold – small and intimate at times – scenes of an almost ineffable happiness – then tumultuous, or fraught with a reptilian, green- eyed, greed. No time to hang around then – saddle up and join Kerry Shale and Amelia Lowdell for a trip Way out West.
Producer: Zahid Warley
Broadcast
- Sun 27 Dec 2015 17:30´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3
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