Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

April Showers

A celebration in anticipation of precipitation. Music includes works by Chopin, Britten and Copland, readings come from Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen and George Mackay Brown read by Lucian Msamati and Lisa Dillon.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 22 Apr 2018 17:30
大象传媒 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Lost and Found

Next

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent

See all episodes from Words and Music

Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    Prelude No.15

    Performer: Martha Argerich.
    • DG 4158362.
    • Tr15.

  • Shakespeare

    Twelth Night, read by Lucian Msamati

  • 00:02

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Tempest

    Performer: Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Gustavo Dudamel.
    • DG 4779355.
    • Tr2.

  • Anon

    The Book of Genesis, read by Lucian Msamati

  • 00:07

    Igor Stravinsky

    The Flood

    Performer: London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen.
    • DG 4470682.
    • Tr3.

  • Anon

    The Book of Genesis, read by Lisa Dillon

  • 00:12

    Igor Stravinsky

    The Flood

    Performer: London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen.
    • DG 4470682.
    • Tr6.

  • Austen

    Pride and Prejudice, read by Lisa Dillon

  • 00:17

    Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    Prelude No.15

    Performer: Martha Argerich.
    • DG 4158362.
    • Tr15.

  • Hughes

    April Rain Song, read by Lucian Msamati

  • 00:23

    Bernstein

    Ain聮t Got No Tears Left

    Performer: Cleo Lane, Michael Tilson Thomas.
    • DG 4375162.
    • Tr17.

  • Mackay Brown

    Greenvoe, read by Lisa Dillon

  • 00:29

    Peter Maxwell Davies

    Naxos Quartet no.5 (Lighthouses of Orkney and Shetland)

    Performer: Maggini Quartet.
    • Naxos 8557398.
    • Tr1.

  • Lewis

    All Day it has Rained, read by Lucian Msamati

  • 00:39

    Tippett

    The Heart聮s Assurance: Compassion

    Performer: John Mark Ainsley, Iain Burnside.
    • Signum SIGCD066.
    • Tr3.

  • Sitwell

    Still Falls the Rain, read by Lucian Msamati

  • 00:45

    Benjamin Britten

    We are the darkness

    Performer: Neil Mackie, Roger Vignoles.
    • EMI CDC7492572.
    • tr3.
  • 00:46

    Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    The Four Seasons: Summer

    Performer: Neville Marriner. Performer: Alan Loveday. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
    • Decca.
    • 4786883.
    • 4.

  • Dickinson

    Summer Shower, read by Lisa Dillon

  • 00:58

    Bacharach

    Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

    Performer: Burt Bacharach.
    • A&M CD3159.
    • Tr5.

  • Longfellow

    Rain in Summer, read by Lisa Dillon

  • 01:01

    Aaron Copland

    The Second Hurricane

    Performer: NYPO, Leonard Bernstein.
    • Sony SMK60560.
    • Tr2.

  • Vaughan

    The Shower, read by Lisa Dillon

  • 01:05

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no.6 (Pastoral)

    Performer: Gewandhausorchester, Riccardo Chailly.
    • Decca 4782721.
    • CD3, Tr9.

  • Hardy

    Rain on a Grave, read by Lucian Msamati

  • 01:09

    Benjamin Britten

    Peter Grimes: Storm Interlude

    Performer: ROHCG, Benjamin Britten.
    • Decca 4256592.
    • Tr5.

Producer's Note

If erigenia is 鈥榯he harbinger of spring鈥�, it can only be because it is nourished and kissed into life by that other harbinger of spring, April showers. 聽The nightclub singer of Bernstein鈥檚 Ain鈥檛 got no tears left (here none other than Cleo Lane) knows this, as did Henry Vaughan in his poem The Shower.聽 Langston Hughes loves the April rain; for WW2 poet Alun Lewis it鈥檚 just one more grey aspect to the doomed monotony of combat; for George Mackay Brown鈥檚 character Mrs McKee it鈥檚 the catalyst that leads to a heartbreaking secret that will haunt her entire life.

Only Noah, his family and just two of every species are spared God鈥檚 wrath in the Flood from the Book of Genesis, accompanied here by spiky music Stravinsky wrote for a 鈥�60s TV version.聽 In Pride and Prejudice, beautiful Jane Bennet foolishly treks cross-country in the rain and succumbs to a remarkably precipitous cold the next morning; Chopin鈥檚 health was certainly not helped by his sojourn in soggy Mallorca with George Sand, a stay which nevertheless resulted in his set of 24 Preludes.

Thomas Hardy is moved by rain falling on his wife鈥檚 grave, while Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow delight in its rejuvenating qualities.聽 Musical storms come from Britten鈥檚 Peter Grimes, Beethoven鈥檚 Pastoral Symphony and Copland鈥檚 kids鈥� opera The Second Hurricane.

Now don鈥檛 forget your umbrella鈥�

Broadcasts

  • Sun 30 Apr 2017 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Sun 22 Apr 2018 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

The hidden history of plant-based diets

The hidden history of plant-based diets

Forget social media influencers - the meat-free movement started with the Victorians.

Books website

Get closer to books with in-depth articles, quizzes and our picks from radio & TV.