Treason and Plot
Art Malik and Frances Barber read poetry and prose on the theme of treason and plot including work by Milton, Blake and Emily Dickinson and music by Haydn, Tavener and Donizetti.
It would seem ideas about treason and plot are always with us. Art Malik and Frances Barber evoke the French Revolution in Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, conspiracies in Shakespeare's Macbeth and Othello and the world of spies conjured by both John le Carr茅 and Hilary Mantel; whilst the musical selections move us from Bonfire Night and fireworks via Stravinsky and Berlioz through to John Tavener's requiem for Anna Akhmatova, the Russian poet who commemorated the struggles of the Russian people against the Soviet regime; and Nick Cave's Red Right Hand, which quotes a line from Milton's Paradise Lost referring to the vengeful hand of God, and has been newly popularised by the TV series Peaky Blinders.
Producer: Georgia Mann Smith.
Readings:
Trad: The Fifth of November
Milton: Paradise Lost
Shakespeare: Othello Act I Scene III
Shakespeare: Macbeth Act I Scene V
Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall
John le Carr茅: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Gulag Archipelago
Anna Akhmatova: Requiem
Shakespeare: Julius Ceasar Act III, Scene 2
Shelley: The Mask of Anarchy
Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities
Wordsworth: The Prelude
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Concord Hymn
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00Hector Berlioz
Symphonie Fantastique: Dream of a Witches Sabbath
Performer: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch (conductor).- RCA GD86720.
- Tr 3.
-
TRAD
The Fifth of November read by Art Malik
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00:01Igor Stravinsky
Fireworks (Op.4)
Performer: Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky (conductor).- SONY SM3K46291.
- Tr 25.
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00:05Purcell
In nomine for 7 viols in G minor 'Dorian', Z747
Performer: Fretwork.- VIRGIN VC5450622.
- Tr 16.
Milton
Paradise Lost read by Frances Barber
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00:06Joseph Haydn
The Creation: The Representation of Chaos
Performer: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Rene Jacobs (conductor).- HARMONIA MUNDI HMC972039.40.
- Tr 1.
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00:10Mick Harvey, Nick Cave and Thomas Wydler
Red Right Hand
Performer: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.- MUTE CDMUTE172.
- Tr 1.
Shakespeare
Othello Act 1, Scene 3 read by Art Malik
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00:16Verdi
Otello - dramma lirico in 4 acts, Act 2; Credo in un Dio crudel [Iago]
Performer: Bryn Terfel (bass baritone), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paul Daniel (conductor).- DG 4778091.
- Tr 4.
Shakespeare
Macbeth Act I Scene V read by Frances Barber
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00:22TRAD
Lady Mary Hey's Scots Measure
Performer: Jordi Savall (treble viol), Andrew Lawrence King (harp).- ALIA VOX AVSA9865.
- Tr 18.
Hilary Mantel
Wolf Hall read by Art Malik
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00:26John Taverner
Missa Corona spinea: Gloria
Performer: Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips (director).- GIMMELL CDGIM046.
- Tr 1.
John le Carr茅
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold read by Frances Barber
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00:33Dmitry Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 8 Op. 110, IV Largo
Performer: The Medici Quartet.- NIMBUS NI5077.
- Tr 4.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The Gulag Archipelago read by Art Malik
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00:39John Tavener
Akhmatova Requiem, 1st Mvt.
Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson (soprano), 大象传媒 SO, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (conductor).- CARLTON CLASSICS 1565691972.
- Tr 1.
Anna Akhmatova
Requiem read by Frances Barber
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00:41John Tavener
Akhmatova Requiem, last Mvt.
Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson (soprano), 大象传媒 SO, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (conductor).- CARLTON CLASSICS 1565691972.
- Tr 18.
Shakespeare
Julius Ceasar Act III, Scene 2 read by Art Malik
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00:45Pauline Hall
1. Forspill / Prelude from Suite from the play "Julius C忙sar"
Performer: The Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra, Christian Eggen (conductor).- SIMAX PSC 3105.
- Tr 5.
Shelley
The Mask of Anarchy read by Frances Barber
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00:50Trad arr. Martin Carthy/Ernest Jones
The Song of the Lower Classes
Performer: Martin Carthy.- GREEN LINNET GLCD1136.
- Tr 14.
Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities read by Frances Barber
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00:57Hector Berlioz
La Marseillaise, arr. for double chorus and orchestra [after Rouget]
Performer: Marcel Vanaud (baritone), Francois Le Roux (baritone), Francoise Pollet (soprano), Tibere Raffalli (tenor), Olivier Picard (soprano), Toulouse Capitol Orchestra, Toulouse Capitole Choir, Michel Plasson (conductor).- EMI CDC 749470 2.
- Tr 8.
Wordsworth
The Prelude read by Art Malik
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01:04Fr茅d茅ric Chopin
Study in C minor, Op.10 no.12 'Revolutionary'
Performer: Murray Perahia.- SONY CLASSICAL SK61885.
- Tr 12.
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01:07Trad.
Stone Grinds All
Performer: American Fife Ensemble.- NEW WORLD RECORDS, 80276-2.
- Tr 17.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Concord Hymn read by Frances Barber
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01:10William Billings
Lamentation Over Boston
Performer: The Continental Harmony Singers, conducted by Thomas Pyle.- NEW WORLD RECORDS, 80276-2.
- Tr 2.
Producer note
As sparklers, rockets and Catherine wheels light up the skies this weekend, Words and Music takes a trip to the darker side of Bonfire Weekend with the theme of Treason and Plot.聽 We start with Guy Fawkes鈥� infamous scheme, with the ominous verse The Fifth of November heard over the menacing backdrop of Berlioz鈥檚 Symphonie Fantastique. Stravinsky takes us soaring into the November sky with his Fireworks before Milton鈥檚 rich evocation of gunpowder in Paradise Lost explodes into Haydn鈥檚 Representation of Chaos from his oratorio The Creation. Milton鈥檚 charismatic Satan was partly inspired by Guy Fawkes and in turn, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds took inspiration in their Gothic ballad Red Right Hand from Paradise Lost.
From Guy Fawkes we move to two other villains, perhaps the greatest Shakespeare ever created: the scheming Iago from Othello and the awesome Lady Macbeth. Verdi鈥檚 aria 鈥楥redo in un Dio crudel鈥� from his opera Otello perfectly captures the darkness of Iago鈥檚 soul and the murky intrigue that permeates Shakespeare鈥檚 play.
We remain in the politically and religiously unstable world of the Tudors for an extract from Hilary Mantel鈥檚 Wolf Hall in which the wily Cardinal Wolsey does his best to buy time as his luck runs out with the capricious Henry VIII. The Gloria from John Taverner鈥檚 聽Missa Corona spinea, (likely to have been written for Wolsey himself), is full of the grandeur and majesty of the Tudor age, with all its attendant drama.
A movement from Shostakovich鈥檚 String Quartet No. 8 takes us into the hellish paranoia of Stalin鈥檚 Russia, an excerpt from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn鈥檚 Gulag Archipelago reminds us of how everyday life was permeated by a culture of spying and political plotting.
Plotting might be a murky business but it鈥檚 also the route to revolution and social change. Mark Antony鈥檚 speech at Caesars funeral from Shakespeare鈥檚 Julius Caesar is a masterclass in oratory and the unmasking of plotters. In Shelley鈥檚 Mask of Anarchy, the poet calls for an overthrow of the social order that to many at the time would have seemed treasonous.
The French Revolution sent shock waves across Europe, depictions of the civil strife there from both Dickens and Wordsworth demonstrate the shock and fear engendered by this blood soaked episode. Berlioz鈥檚 full throttle version of La Marseillaise and Chopin鈥檚 'Revolutionary study' are full of the explosive tumult of that era. Ralph Waldo Emerson鈥檚 Concord Hymn, written to commemorate the Battle of Concord which took place at the start of the American Revolution, offers a more reflective stance on those who pay the ultimate price for the political maneuvering and intrigue which can see nations fall and history made.聽
Broadcasts
- Sun 6 Nov 2016 17:30大象传媒 Radio 3
- Sun 3 Nov 2019 17:30大象传媒 Radio 3
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