Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Less Is More

Readers Jane Lapotaire and John Heffernan look beyond Lent to the power of miniatures, simplicity, absence and loss, through the words of Basho and Joan Didion.

Lent starts this week, a time when many people give up something they love in the run up to Easter. But the value of 鈥榣ess鈥� to the human experience can be so much more than self-deprivation and abstinence, as this programme attempts to prove.

Minimalist artists and designers have shown that 鈥渓ess is more鈥�. Poets have long understood how to offer much with few words: like Basho and Buson, the Japanese masters of the haiku, or Edgar Allan Poe using repetition in The Bells.

American writer Joan Didion offers a personal experience of how mundane events take on painful but rich significance when we lose a loved one; Walt Whitman enjoys a sun bath in his birthday suit; and Sappho鈥檚 Fragments suggest art is all the more beguiling when only shards of the original work remain.

Join readers Jane Lapotaire and John Heffernan to experience the power of miniatures, memories, absence and simplicity to stir the spirit and spark the imagination. With music by Joseph Haydn, Duke Ellington, Marin Marais and Ann Southam.

Readings:

Robert Herrick - To Keep a True Lent
W. H. Davies - Money, O!
Haikus by Basho, Boncho and Onitsura (translated by Geoffrey Bownas)
Juan Ram贸n Jim茅nez - Eternidades
Walt Whitman - A Sun Bath: Nakedness
John Pawson - In Praise of Minimalism (excerpt)
Turner Cassity - The grateful Minimalist
Edgar Allan Poe - The Bells: IV (excerpt)
Kalpa Sutra - Life of Mah芒v卯ra, Lecture 5 (excerpt) (translated by Hermann Jacobi
Caleb Femi - My Father Wore a terrible story of poverty
Madeleine L鈥橢ngle - For Lent, 1966
John Keats - Ode on a Grecian Urn (excerpt)
W. B. Yeats - Never Give All The Heart
Joan Didion - Year of Magical thinking (excerpt)
Sappho - Fragments (translated by Anne Carson)
Rabindranath Tagore - The Gardener: II

Produced by Chris Elcombe
A Reduced Listening production for 大象传媒 Radio 3.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 13 Mar 2022 17:30
大象传媒 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

In Therapy

Next

Nordic Noir

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

    George Malcolm

    Nunc dimittis tertii toni

    Choir: Westminster Cathedral Choir. Conductor: Martin Baker.

  • Robert Herrick

    To Keep a True Lent, read by John Heffernan

  • 00:03

    Joan Whitney

    Money is the root of all evil

    Ensemble: The Andrews Sisters.

  • W. H. Davies

    Money, O!, read by Jane Lapotaire

  • 00:07

    Federico Mompou

    Musica callada

    Performer: Javier Perianes.

  • Basho and Boncho, translated by Geoffrey Bownas

    Selection of haikus, read by Jane Lapotaire

  • Juan Ram贸n Jim茅nez

    Eternidades, read by John Heffernan

  • 00:10

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Bourree II (Cello Suite no.4 in E flat major)

    Performer: Kim Kashkashian.

  • Walt Whitman

    A Sun Bath - Nakedness, read by Jane Lapotaire

  • 00:15

    Joseph Haydn

    Poco adagio con variazione (Divertimento in F major)

    Ensemble: Consortium Classicum.

  • John Pawson

    In Praise of Minimalism (excerpt), read by John Heffernan

  • 00:21

    Ann Southam

    Glass houses no.5

    Ensemble: Taktus.

  • Turner Cassity

    The Grateful Minimalist, read by John Heffernan

  • 00:24

    Thelonious Monk

    Raise four

    Performer: Thelonious Monk.
  • 00:29

    Tomoko Sauvage

    Making of a rainbow (Ombrophilia)

    Performer: Tomoko Sauvage.

  • Basho, Boncho and Onitsura, translated by Geoffrey Bownas

    Selection of haikus, read by Jane Lapotaire

  • Edgar Allan Poe

    The Bells: IV (excerpt), read by John Heffernan

  • 00:32

    Marin Marais

    Sonnerie de Sainte-Genevieve du Mont de Paris

    Performer: Alice Harnoncourt. Performer: Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Performer: Herbert Tachezi.

  • Bhadrabahu, translated by Hermann Jacobi

    Kalpa Sutra: Life of Mah芒v卯ra, Lecture 5 (excerpt), read by Jane Lapotaire

  • 00:43

    Jayanthi Kumaresh

    Varnam

    Performer: Jayanthi Kumaresh.

  • Caleb Femi

    My Father Wore a terrible story of poverty, read by Caleb Femi

  • 00:49

    Duke Ellington

    Apes and peacocks (The Queen's Suite)

    Ensemble: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
  • 00:52

    Trad.

    Simple Gifts

    Music Arranger: Aaron Copland. Choir: The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas.

  • Madeleine L鈥橢ngle

    For Lent, 1966, read by Jane Lapotaire

  • 00:54

    Atli Heimir Sveinsson

    Sounds of sound (Sounding Minutes)

    Performer: Manuela Wiesler.

  • John Keats

    Ode on a Grecian Urn (excerpt), read by John Heffernan

  • 00:58

    Francis Poulenc

    Flute Sonata (2nd mvt: Cantilena)

    Performer: Patrick Gallois. Performer: Pascal Rog茅.

  • W. B. Yeats

    Never Give All The Heart, read by John Heffernan

  • 01:02

    Trad.

    Yo voy por la calle loco

    Performer: Ni帽o Perez. Singer: Manuel Vallejo.

  • Joan Didion

    The Year of Magical thinking (excerpt), read by Jane Lapotaire

  • 01:07

    Gy枚rgy Kurt谩g

    Jatekok

    Performer: Gy枚rgy Kurt谩g. Performer: M谩rta Kurt谩g.

  • Sappho, translated by Anne Carson

    Fragments, read by Jane Lapotaire

  • Rabindranath Tagore

    The Gardener: II, read by John Heffernan

  • 01:10

    Arvo P盲rt

    Spiegel im Spiegel

    Performer: Ang猫le Dubeau. Ensemble: La Piet脿.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 23 Feb 2020 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Sun 13 Mar 2022 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.