Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Peace and Protest

Juliet Stevenson and Jamie Glover with poetry and music on activism and the search for calm, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-Ins, and Greenham Common.

Actors Juliet Stevenson and Jamie Glover with readings and music exploring themes of activism, protest and the search for peace as part of a pairing of Words and Music episodes marking the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

John Lennon said of peace that it 鈥渋s not something you wish for; it's something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away鈥�. Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono staged two 鈥渂ed-ins鈥�, one in Montreal and one in Amsterdam; welcoming the world's press to join at their bedsides. While in Montreal, Lennon recorded his 'Give Peace a Chance' anti-war song. We also hear Yo-Yo Ma鈥檚 Donna Nobis Pacem (Give us Peace) followed by Olivier Messiaen鈥檚 Quatuor pour la fin du temps, written when he was a prisoner of war in German captivity and first performed by his fellow prisoners. And in Philip Glass鈥檚 opera Satyagraha, Mahatma Gandhi makes a plea for non-violent resistance to injustice. The selection of readings includes All of these People by Michael Longley, Jerusalem by Naomi Shihab Nye and Ann Pettitt鈥檚 Walking to Greenham.

The selection of readings also includes Between Waves, Heather Glover鈥檚 winning poem in the Poems for Peace competition run by the Royal Society of Literature. We also explore the peace of nature in WB Yeats鈥檚 The Lake Isle of Innisfree, in which the poet longs for the tranquillity of the island where he went as a boy, away from his adult life in the city. He imagines a life similar to that of the American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, living in nature at Walden Pond. We end with Denise Levertov鈥檚 Making Peace on the need for poets to write of peace, creating an energy field more intense than war.

Producer: Fiona McLean

Readings:
Archive 大象传媒 World Service John Lennon and Yoko Ono
How the World Split in Two - Moniza Alvi
All of These People - Michael Longley
Immigrant Blues - Li-Young Lee
Jerusalem - Naomi Shihab Nye
Between Waves - Heather Glover
Walking to Greenham - Ann Pettitt
Prince Charming - Christopher Logue
The Iliad - Homer trans Martin Hammond
The Peace of Wild Things - Wendell Berry
The Lake Isle of Innisfree - WB Yeats
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Walden - David Henry Thoreau
Making Peace - Denise Levertov

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 2 Aug 2020 17:00
大象传媒 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Everything Must Change

Next

Head to Toe

See all episodes from Words and Music

Music Played

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

  • John Lennon and Yoko Ono (大象传媒 World Service Archive)

    John and Yoko at the Amsterdam Bed-In

  • 00:00

    Anon.

    Dona Nobis Pacem

    Performer: Yo鈥怸o Ma.
    • SONY CLASSICAL 88697344802.
    • Tr1.

  • Moniza Alvi

    How the World Split in Two read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 00:03

    Olivier Messiaen

    Quatuor pour la fin du temps - Intermede

    Performer: Maryvonne Le Dizes, Pierre Strauch and Alain Damiens.
    • Adda 581029.
    • Tr4.

  • Michael Longley

    All of These People read by Jamie Glover

  • 00:05

    Arvo P盲rt

    Spiegel im Spiegel

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti.
    • Deutsche Grammophon 4763399.
    • Tr6.

  • Li-Young Lee

    Immigrant Blues read by Jamie Glover

  • 00:10

    Philip Glass

    Protest from Sattagraha

    Performer: Douglas Perry and New York City Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
    • SONY SBK64133.
    • Tr6.

  • Naomi Shihab Nye

    Jerusalem read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 00:16

    John Lennon

    Imagine

    Performer: John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.
    • Parlaphone 8219542.
    • Tr1.

  • Heather Glover

    Between Waves read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 00:22

    George Butterworth

    Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad - Is my team ploughing?

    Performer: Roderick Williams and Iain Burnside.
    • NAXOS 8572426.
    • Tr6.
  • 00:25

    Joni Mitchell

    The Fiddle and the Drum

    Performer: Joni Mitchell.
    • REPRISE K244070.
    • Tr9.

  • Ann Pettitt

    from Walking to Greenham read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 00:29

    John Lennon

    Give Peace a Chance

    Performer: Plastic Ono Band.
    • Parlophone 8219542.
    • Tr20.

  • Christopher Logue

    from Prince Charming read by Jamie Glover

  • 00:32

    Ian Campbell

    The Sun is Burning

    Performer: Simon & Garfunkel.
    • CBS CD63370.
    • Tr10.
  • 00:34

    Gideon Klein

    String Trio - Lento

    Performer: Daniel Hope, Philip Dukes and Paul Watkins.
    • NIMBUS NI5702.
    • Tr2.

  • Homer translated by Martin Hammond

    from The Iliad read by Jamie Glover

  • 00:41

    Beethoven

    Symphony no 6 聳 Allegro ma non troppo

    Performer: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
    • Decca 4783513.
    • CD1 Tr6.

  • Wendell Berry

    The Peace of Wild Things read by Juliet Stevenson

  • W.B. Yeats

    The Lake Isle of Innisfree read by Jamie Glover

  • 00:52

    Max Richter

    Written on the Sky

    Performer: Max Richter.
    • FAT CAT CD1304.
    • Tr11.

  • Virginia Woolf

    from To the Lighthouse read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 00:55

    Toru Takemitsu

    Toward the Sea - The Night

    Performer: Aureole with Laura Gilbert.
    • KOCH 374492.
    • Tr7.

  • Henry David Thoreau

    from Walden or Life in The Woods read by Jamie Glover

  • 00:59

    Aaron Copland

    Down a Country Lane

    Performer: Leo Smit, piano.
    • Sony Classical SM2K66345.
    • CD2 Tr11.
  • 01:01

    Harold Arlen

    Over the Rainbow

    Performer: Israel Kamakawiwo驶ole.
    • HOT IZPROMO1.
    • Tr1.

  • Denise Levertov

    Making Peace read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 01:05

    Morten Lauridsen

    O magnum mysterium

    Performer: Handel and Haydn Society Chorus.
    • AVIE AV0039.
    • Tr4.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 17 Mar 2019 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Sun 2 Aug 2020 17:00
    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.