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Women Walking

From Elizabeth Bennet's wet walk in Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice to Robyn Davidson's trip across the Australian desert. With music from Eliza Carthy to Ethel Smyth.

From the Yorkshire moors of Emily Bronte, and the travels around Britain of Jini Reddy, to the Paris city streets paced by George Sand as she carved out her freedom to live an unconventional life as a writer, and the idea of the fl芒neuse described by Lauren Elkin: from the fearlessness of Little Red Riding Hood in the Brothers Grimm story and Stephen Sondheim's musical Into the Woods to the endurance of Robyn Davidson crossing the Australian desert with a camel: today's programme looks at women walking alone, at this "impropriety" in earlier centuries and at rebels who strode out unchaperoned, those walking alone in life, the female 'flaneuse' and women adventurers. Nina Sosanya and Natalie Simpson are the readers and music comes from composers and performers including Fanny Mendelssohn, Cecile Chaminade, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Higdon, Laurie Spiegel, Grace Jones and Eliza Carthy among others.

This week sees International Women's Day on March 8th and Radio 3 is looking at Spring, nature and the Soundscapes for Wellbeing project https://canvas-story.bbcrewind.co.uk/soundscapesforwellbeing/
You can find Jini Reddy in a recent Verb discussion about The Walk /programmes/m000rwmz
Radio 3 also has a focus on women in classical music running on March 8th.

Producers: Janet Tuppen and Torquil MacLeod

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Mar 2021 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

    Gustav Mahler

    Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen no.2 Ging heut Morgen 眉bers Feld (I Went This Morning over the Field)

    Performer: Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton (conductor).
    • Virgin VC 790703 2.
    • Tr 2.

  • Brothers Grimm

    Little Red Riding Hood read by Natalie Simpson

  • 00:02

    Bedrich Smetana

    From Bohemia聮s Woods and Fields (Ma Vlast)

    Performer: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiri Belohlavek (conductor).
    • SUPRAPHON 1109572.
    • Tr 4.
  • 00:03

    Sergey Prokofiev

    Peter & the Wolf 聳 wolf theme

    Performer: Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado (conductor).
    • DG 429 396 2.
    • Tr 8.

  • Carol Ann Durry

    Little Red Cap read by Nina Sosanya

  • 00:06

    Claude Debussy

    Pelleas et Melisande 聳 opening

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (conductor).
    • DG 435 344 2.
    • Tr 1.
  • 00:08

    Grace Jones

    Walking In The Rain

    • Island Life.
    • Universal-Island Records Limited.
    • Tr 8.

  • Jane Austen

    Pride & Prejudice read by Natalie Simpson

  • 00:12

    Clementi

    Sonatina in C major, Op.36 no.3: Spiritoso

    Performer: Martin Souter (Broadwood fortepiano).
    • ISIS CD024.
    • Tr 15.

  • Mary Higgs

    Glimpses into the Abyss read by Nina Sosanya

  • 00:14

    Eliza Carthy & Norma Waterson

    Poor Wayfaring Stranger

    • Gift.
    • Topic Records Ltd.
    • Tr 1.
  • 00:18

    Frederick Delius

    North Country sketches: Winter landscape

    Performer: Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley (conductor).
    • CHANDOS CHAN 24137.
    • Tr 6.

  • Emily Bronte

    Walking in Nature: Memories read by Natalie Simpson

  • 00:21

    Frederick Delius

    North Country sketches: The March of Spring

    Performer: Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley (conductor).
    • CHANDOS CHAN 24137.
    • Tr 6.
  • 00:23

    Frederick Delius

    North Country sketches: Winter landscape

    Performer: Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley (conductor).
    • CHANDOS CHAN 24137.
    • Tr 6.

  • Charlotte Bronte

    Letter after both Anne & Emily聮s deaths by Nina Sosanya

  • Margaret Hamilton Noel-Paton

    Walking Alone in Life: Wartime Loss - WW2 read by Nina Sosanya

  • 00:28

    Laurie Spiegel

    Wandering In Our Times

    Performer: Laurie Spiegel.
    • The Expanding Universe.
    • Unseen Worlds UW09.
    • CD2 Tr10.

  • Jini Reddy

    Wanderland (Bloomsbury Books, 2020) (Jini Reddy)

  • 00:32

    Gubaidulina

    The deceitful face of hope and of despair

    Performer: Sharon Bezaly (flute), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Mario Venzago (conductor).
    • BIS SACD 1449.
    • Tr 1.
  • 00:36

    Waltz in C Sharp Minor op.64 no.2

    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 477 7483.
    • 6.

  • Georges Sand

    Histoire De Ma Vie (translated by Janet Tuppen) read by Natalie Simpson

  • 00:37

    Chaminade

    Cortege

    Performer: Peter Jacobs (piano).
    • HELIOS CDH 55199.
    • Tr 22.

  • Virginia Woolf

    Mrs Dalloway read by Nina Sosanya

  • 00:43

    Jennifer Higdon

    All Things Majestic (Cathedrals)

    Orchestra: Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Giancarlo Guerrero.
    • Jennifer Higdon 鈥� All Things Majestic.
    • NAXOS 8.559823.
    • 8.559823.
    • 8.

  • Nora Naranjo-Morse

    Wandering Pueblo Woman read by Natalie Simpson

  • 00:50

    Leonard Bernstein

    Times Square (On the town)

    Performer: Studio orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (conductor).
    • COLUMBIA CK 2038.
    • Tr 8.
  • 00:52

    Aaron Copland

    Quiet City

    Performer: New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (conductor).
    • DG 419170 2.
    • Tr 5.

  • Lauren Elkin

    Flaneuse read by Natalie Simpson

  • 00:58

    John Cage

    In a landscape

    Performer: Giancarlo Simonacci.
    • BRILLIANT CLASSICS 9176.
    • Tr 19.

  • Elizabeth Austen

    The Girl Who Goes Alone read by Nina Sosanya

  • 01:00

    John Cage

    In a landscape

    Performer: Giancarlo Simonacci.
    • BRILLIANT CLASSICS 9176.
    • Tr 19.

  • Robyn Davidson

    Tracks read by Natalie Simpson

  • 01:03

    Earth Cry

    • ABC CLASSICS.
    • 476 569 2.
    • 5.
  • 01:05

    Ulrich Urban

    Das Jahr, for piano, M盲rz

    • Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn: The Year.
    • Koch Schwann 367192.
    • 367192.
    • Tr 3.

  • Clarissa Pinkola Est茅s read by Nina Sosanya

    Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

  • 01:10

    Louise Farrenc

    Overture no.2 Op.24 in E flat major

    Performer: NDR Radio Philharmonic, Johannes Goritzki (conductor).
    • CPO 999 820 2.
    • Tr 6.

Producer's Note

The female observer of city life; the girl wandering in the countryside; the woman adventuring on her own: these are modern concepts.聽 In centuries past, to be a woman walking alone would have caused more than a few raised eyebrows!聽 I want to explore instances of women walking alone either literally or figuratively, examine perceptions of their behaviour, and hear from these women in poetry and prose.聽

The programme opens with a familiar warning given to children, especially to girls, followed by a modern tale of inquisitiveness and self-discovery by Carol Ann Duffy.

Next I鈥檝e explored the censure the unchaperoned lady received in polite society both from men and other women, and the sexual connotations of a woman walking the streets.聽 Following this are poignant texts from Emily and Charlotte Bronte, well known for wandering on the moors in contravention of society鈥檚 expectations.聽 Their experiences in nature bring a vibrancy and immediacy to their expressions of homesickness and loss.

Georges Sand had to enter somewhere.聽 Frustrated by the constraints on her sex, she describes in her autobiography how she found the solution 鈥� to stride out on the streets of Paris disguised as a man.聽 Virginia Woolf also loved walking the city streets - 聽wandering around London's parks for reflection and inspiration. In her novel Mrs Dalloway she brilliantly depicts how the mind wanders from one topic to another, as Clarissa Dalloway sets out across London.聽 Two other city flaneuse appear: one a village woman in the big smoke, the other a New Yorker living abroad.

Elizabeth Austen鈥檚 poem neatly describes the double standards women encounter when walking alone today, while Robyn Davidson in her memoir on crossing the Australian desert with camels is almost matter-of-fact about her extraordinary journey.

The musical choices reflect my personal reaction to the texts I have chosen.

Producer: Janet Tuppen

Broadcasts

  • Sun 4 Dec 2016 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Sun 7 Mar 2021 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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