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Mushrooms

What Emily Dickinson calls "the elf of plants" provides the topic for today's playlist of readings alongside music by Bernard Hermann, Sun Ra, Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Gesualdo.

A foraging trip is the scene of a failed marriage proposal in Anna Karenina, wild mushrooms form the key ingredient in a Meera Sodha meal, they inform the psychedelic experiments of Timothy Leary. Alice in Wonderland encountered the caterpillar, composer John Cage became interested in them, musing on the idea of playing Beethoven making a mushroom more edible. These are some of the readings in today's programme exploring fungi, with music from a range of composers including Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, which Disney used for a scene with dancing mushrooms in Fantasia; Anna von Hausswolff's Theatre of Nature; a pygmy song for gathering mushrooms from the Bayaka people and Dvorak's evocation of a Bohemian forest. Our readers are Youssef Kerkour and Verity Henry.

Producer: Ewa Norman

READINGS:

The mushroom is the Elf of Plants Emily Dickinson
Mushrooms Roger Phillips
Surfacing Margaret Attwood
Mycelium Kathie Fiveash
Anna Karenina Tolstoy
Fresh India mushroom and pea kheema Meera Sodha
Journey to the Centre of the Earth Jules Verne
The Tempest William Shakespeare
Fun guy: is that Toad from Mario's head or is he wearing a hat? Keza MacDonald
Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
L S D Timothy Leary
Entangled Life Merlin Sheldrake
When is a mushroom not a mushroom? Rodney Bennett
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District Nikolai Leskov
The Sensitive Plant Percy Bysshe Shelley
Music Lovers' Field Companion John Cage
Mushrooms Sylvia Plath

You can find a Free Thinking discussion called Fungi: An Alien Encounter hearing from Merlin Sheldrake, in which Matthew Sweet cooks up some mushrooms for his guests available to download as an Arts and Ideas podcast

1 hour, 14 minutes

On radio

Sunday 18:00
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

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Nutcracker: Tea (Chinese dance)

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich.
    • Signum Classics SIGCD441.
    • CD2 Tr6.

  • Emily Dickinson

    The mushroom is the Elf of Plants 聳 Upstart, read by Verity Henry

  • 00:02

    Terry Noland

    There was a fungus among us

    Performer: Terry Noland & The Anita Kerr Singers.
    • Coral 62274.
    • Tr1.

  • Roger Phillips

    Mushrooms, read by Youssef Kerkour

  • 00:04

    Anna von Hausswolff

    Theatre of Nature

    Performer: Anna von Hausswolff.
    • SOUTHERN LORD: LORD280.
    • Tr1.

  • Margaret Attwood

    Surfacing, read by Verity Henry

  • 00:10

    Bayaka Pygmies

    Song for gathering mushrooms

    Performer: Bayaka Pygmies.
    • Wild Sanctuary.
    • Tr1.

  • Kathie Fiveash

    Mycelium, read by Verity Henry

  • 00:15

    Maurice Ravel

    Lever du jour (Daphnis et Chloe)

    Performer: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Performer: Yannick N茅zet鈥怱茅guin.

  • Tolstoy

    Anna Karenina, read by Youssef Kerkour

  • 00:21

    Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k

    Silent woods B.173

    Performer: Alisa Weilerstein. Performer: Anna Polonsky.
    • DECCA 4785705.
    • Tr8.
  • 00:28

    Tjinder Singh

    England is a garden

    Ensemble: Cornershop.

  • Meera Sodha

    Fresh India mushroom and pea kheema, read by Verity Henry

  • 00:30

    Bernard Herrmann

    The Mushroom Forest (Journey to the Center of the Earth)

    Orchestra: 20th Century鈥怓ox Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Herrmann.

  • Jules Verne

    Journey to the centre of the earth, read by Youssef Kerkour

  • 00:33

    Michael Nyman

    Prospero's Magic (Prospero's Books)

    Ensemble: Michael Nyman Band.

  • William Shakespeare

    The Tempest Ye elves of hills, read by Yousseff Kerkour

  • 00:37

    Koji Kondo

    Mario Theme

    Performer: OST - Original Soundtrack.
    • Nintendo RVL-SVMP-UKV.
    • Tr1.

  • Keza MacDonald

    Fun guy: is that Toad from Mario聮s head or is he wearing a hat?, read by Verity Henry

  • 00:40

    Walter Slaughter

    Alice in Wonderland

    Lyricist: Henry Savile Clarke. Conductor: Clifford Greenwood.

  • Lewis Carroll

    Alice in Wonderland, read by Ann Stephens and Richard Goolden

  • 00:40

    Jefferson Airplane

    White Rabbit

    Performer: Jefferson Airplane.
    • RCA VICTOR SF 7889.
    • Tr10.
  • 00:42

    Pink Floyd

    Alan's psychedelic breakfast

    Performer: Pink Floyd.
    • EMI CDEMD 1072.
    • Tr5.

  • Timothy Leary

    L S D, read by Verity Henry

  • Merlin Sheldrake

    Entangled Life, read by Youssef Kerkour

  • 00:46

    Sun Ra

    Enlightenment

    Performer: The Sun Ra Arkestra.
    • Gambit: Gambit-69309.
    • Tr1.

  • Rodney Bennett

    When is a mushroom not a mushroom?, read by Verity Henry

  • 00:52

    Dmitry Shostakovich

    Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk district: Act 2 Entr'acte

    Orchestra: Bastille Opera Orchestra. Choir: Ch艙urs de l鈥橭p茅ra Bastille. Conductor: Myung-Whun Chung.
    • DG 4779118.
    • Tr1.

  • Nikolai Leskov

    Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, read by Youssef Kerkour

  • 00:56

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    ... and at the hour of death

    Performer: V铆kingur 脫lafsson. Music Arranger: Christian Badzura.

  • Percy Bysshe Shelley

    The Sensitive Plant, read by Verity Henry

  • 01:00

    Carlo Gesualdo

    Peccantem me quotidie

    Ensemble: Marian Consort.

  • John Cage

    Music lovers聮 field companion, read by Youssef Kerkour

  • 01:05

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet in C major, Op.59 no.3 (4th mvt: Allegro molto)

    Ensemble: Belcea Quartet.

  • Sylvia Plath

    Mushrooms, read by Verity Henry

  • 01:12

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Tea (Chinese Dance) (The Nutcracker)

    Performer: Alexandra Dariescu. Music Arranger: Mikhail Pletnev.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 17 Oct 2021 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Sunday 18:00
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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