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On the Edge

Texts and music exploring the idea of 'on the edge', with readings by David Threlfall and Alexandra Gilbreath. Including Kafka and JG Ballard, plus music by Wagner and Ligeti.

Words and Music exploring the idea of on the edge, writing and musical marginalia and tension. From birth to death, the seashore to the cliff, precipices and sleep, beginnings and endings, roadsides and corners, featuring artists as diverse as Wagner, Kafka, Ligeti, Ballard

With David Threlfall and Alexandra Gilbreath

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 29 Jan 2017 17:30
大象传媒 Radio 3

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The Bridge

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    Etudes, Op. 10 聳 No.12 in C minor

    Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano).
    • MELODIYA MELCD1002108.
    • Tr12.

  • W.B. Yeats

    The Second Coming read by David Threlfall

  • W.B. Yeats

    The Second Coming read by David Threlfall

  • 00:03

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Messa da Requiem 聳 Dies irae

    Performer: Sir Antonio Pappano.
    • EMI 6989362.
    • CD1 Tr3.

  • John Milton

    Paradise Lost read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:06

    Johannes Brahms

    Weighing, Op. 49 No. 4: Good evening, good night

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (vocal), Wolfgang Sawallisch (piano).
    • EMI CDS764820 2.
    • CD2 Tr26.

  • James Joyce

    Ecce Puer read by David Threlfall

  • 00:08

    Faure

    Requiem 聳 Agnus Dei

    Performer: The Cambridge Singers, Members of The City of London Sinfonia, John Rutter (director).
    • COLLEGIUM COLCD109.
    • Tr5.

  • Sylvia Plath

    Edge read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:13

    Henryk Miko艂aj G贸recki

    Symphony No.3, Op. 36 聳 II. Lento e Largo: Tranquillissimo Cantabillissimo, Dolcissimo, Legatissimo

    Performer: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles (Conductor).
    • TELARC CD80699.
    • Tr2.

  • Samuel Beckett

    Six Po猫mes read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:19

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Chamber Concerto - I Corrente

    Performer: London Sinfonietta, David Atherton (Conductor).
    • DECCA 4256232.
    • Tr4.

  • Thomas Hardy

    Beeny Cliff read by David Threlfall

  • 00:24

    Claude Debussy

    La Mer 聳 De l'aube 脿 midi sur la mer

    Performer: Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Myung-Whun Chung (Conductor).
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4764498.
    • Tr1.

  • Wallace Stevens

    The Idea of Order at Key West read by David Threlfall

  • 00:32

    叠箩枚谤办

    Anchor Song

    Performer: 叠箩枚谤办.
    • ONE LITTLE INDIAN TPLP31CDX.
    • Tr11.

  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    The Final Problem read by David Threlfall

  • 00:35

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 9, D minor, op. 125 聳 Molto vivace

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker, Ferenc Fricsay (Conductor).
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4636262.
    • Tr3.

  • E.T.A. Hoffmann

    The Devil聮s Elixir read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:40

    Franz Schubert

    Winterreise 聳 Der Leiermann

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore (piano).
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4151872.
    • Tr24.

  • Joseph Conrad

    Heart of Darkness read by David Threlfall

  • 00:45

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano (1982) Hommage a Brahms - IV Lamento, Adagio

    Performer: Andr茅 Cazalet (horn), Guy Comentale (violin), Cyril Huv茅 (piano).
    • DISQUES MONTAIGNE 782006.
    • Tr8.

  • H.P. Lovecraft

    The Dreams in the Witch House, read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:52

    Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Orfeo Ed Euridice 聳 Act Three - Aria: "Che Far貌 Senza Euridice?"

    Performer: Montiverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Derek Lee Ragin (Countertenor), John Eliot Gardiner (Conductor).
    • PHILIPS 434 093 2.
    • CD2 Tr6.

  • Sangharakshita

    The Bodhisattva Ideal read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • Mumon

    The Gateless Gate read by David Threlfall

  • 00:58

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Partita no.3 in E major - III Gavotte en rondeau

    Performer: Yehudi Menuhin (violin).
    • EMI CZS7678102.
    • CD2 Tr12.

  • Franz Kafka

    Cares of a Family Man read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 01:03

    B茅la Bart贸k

    Music for Strings, Percussion And Celesta 聳 III Adagio

    Performer: Academy of St Martin-in-the Fields, Neville Marriner (Conductor).
    • DECCA 4485772.
    • Tr3.

  • J.G. Ballard

    Crash read by David Threlfall

  • 01:07

    Wagner

    Tristan und Isolde - Dritter Aufzug - Mild Und Leise Wie Er L盲chelt

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker, Waltraud Meier (Soprano), Daniel Barenboim (Conductor).
    • TELDEC 4509 94568 2.
    • CD4 Tr12.

Producer's Notes: On The Edge

From birth to death, the seashore to the cliff, precipices and sleep, beginnings and endings, roadsides and corners, and various ideas of the limits of experience, the title On The Edge has allowed me to group together texts from a wide range of sources.听 听

The first edge in the programme is the moment when an established order gives way to an uncertain future: Chopin鈥檚 Revolutionary Etude and Yeats鈥� The Second Coming, followed by Milton鈥檚 account of the expulsion of the rebel angels from heaven accompanied by Verdi鈥檚 Requiem.听 The first two capture the excitement and uncertainty of the moment of transition.听 As for the second pair, the Verdi and the Milton: I decided early in the process that any setting of the Requiem Mass could have its place in this programme; and as well as being consistent with the theme of the beginning of a new order, the Milton introduces the first literal account of a fall over an edge into the proceedings when it mentions the nine days it took the rebel angels to fall from heaven down into hell.听

As the heaven-ordained order is restored at the end of the extract from Milton it seemed appropriate to move straight onto the transition over the edge into a peaceful sleep aspired to in Brahms鈥� Lullaby, and them immediately into the joy and grief of Joyce鈥檚 poem about the birth of his son as his father dies, a poem in which we encounter both edges of life in one.听 Faure鈥檚 rendering of the Agnus Dei and the Lux Aeterna are a fitting response to Joyce鈥檚 plea at the end of his poem, particularly in its graceful transition from the Agnus Dei over the edge into the Lux Aeterna.听 Sylvia Plath鈥檚 鈥�贰诲驳别鈥� asserts death as a sort of triumph, or consummation (鈥榳e have come so far/it is over鈥�).听 It is met here with Gorecki鈥檚 equanimity in the face of atrocity that goes over the edge.听

Next Beckett takes us, thematically, from death to the seashore, and I was struck by how easy it would have been to stay with the edge between the seashore and death.听 In the event, in Beckett鈥檚 poem the seashore鈥檚 shingle ebbs into loss, love, and death, and then the shimmering, shifting textures of Ligeti鈥檚 Chamber Concerto take us to Hardy鈥檚 much more lyrical association between death, loss and the seashore in Beeny Cliff; and the lyrical edge he finds there is picked up by Debussy in his evocation of the sea.听 Wallace Stevens, I would say, uses a restrained modernist lyricism as a bridge towards an even more mysterious edge than death, his 鈥榞hostlier demarcations鈥�.听 And Bjork, as she herself tells us, lives by the ocean.听

In the second half of the programme we move inland, initially to the Bernese Oberland and the Reichenbach Falls, over the edge of which Sherlock Holmes was eventually to fall in Conan Doyle鈥檚 The Final Problem, then via Beethoven鈥檚 鈥榮uicide scherzo鈥� to the dream-like landscape of Hoffmann鈥檚 aggressively Romantic tale The Devil鈥檚 Elixir, a story that turns on exactly who has fallen over the edge of a cliff, when, and what happens to them subsequently.听 From there, we turn inwards, with accounts of people on the edge, and of what might be found on the other side.听 The protagonist of Schubert鈥檚 Winterreise asks whether he should join the hurdy-gurdy man in this, the final song of Schubert鈥檚 cycle: I suspect that for him to do so would be for him to step over the edge; the song is joined by the narrator Marlow鈥檚 defence of Kurtz in Conrad鈥檚 Heart of Darkness, on the grounds that he has stepped over the edge and offers a report of what鈥檚 to be found there.听 Ligeti鈥檚 Horn Trio meets Conrad鈥檚 extremism 鈥� each is a response to an atrocity 鈥� but Ligeti鈥檚 Trio adds a new, more formal sense of the edge: Ligeti鈥檚 manuscript of the piece is covered in marginalia, notes on the edge of the page on how he envisaged the piece being performed.听 Similarly, Yehudi Menuhin鈥檚 own copy of Bach鈥檚 Sonatas & Partitas is reported to be covered in the performer鈥檚 marginalia, a fact that informed my decision to include one of his performances in this programme.听 Picking up from Conrad, Lovecraft and Gluck both offer us reports from over the edge, although from people heading in different directions: Lovecraft鈥檚 Gilman in Dreams In The Witch House is heading over the edge into a kind of delirium beyond life; Gluck鈥檚 Orfeo laments for Euridice who has died as the couple journey back over the edge from the underworld into the light.听 听

Two Buddhist texts point towards the paradox we meet if we try to approach the edge 鈥� then Kafka develops the sense of unease that can accompany any journey towards an edge 鈥� even if it鈥檚 just the corner of a room or other marginal part of a house, like a corridor or stairway.听 Ballard gives way completely, revelling unapologetically in the ecstasy to be found on the edge, as he examines the detritus swept to the edge of a road, and finally we join Isolde in her ecstasy as she narrates her journey over the edge into death.听 听

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Broadcast

  • Sun 29 Jan 2017 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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