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Women and Music

From Delia Derbyshire's tape loops and Hildegard of Bingen's divine inspiration to readings from work by Anna Akhmatova, Jackie Kay, Shakespeare and Jane Austen.

From from Grace Jones to Ethel Smyth's March of the Women, Ivor Cutler's cry for liberation "Women of the world, take over!" to readings of Jane Austen and Dame Nelly Melba. Today's programme explores the deep relationship women have with music: not just as passive, unattainable muse but as composers, performers and instigators. The tender poetry of Anna Akhmatova and Jackie Kay sit alongside EM Forster's spirited Lucy, Shakespeare's longing, Delia Derbyshire's tape loops, William Blake's lullaby, the cold horror of a lost Stradivarius, and Hildegard of Bingen's divine inspiration. With music including Beethoven, Brahms, Nina Simone and punk pioneers The Slits.

Shobna Gulati and Sue Johnston are the readers.

Producer: Ewa Norman

There's plenty more music by women for International Women's Day being broadcast on 大象传媒 Radio 3 and available on 大象传媒 Sounds.

Readings:
Charlotte Bront毛: Jane Eyre
EM Forster: A Room with a View
Warsan Shire: Bless Grace Jones (from Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head)
Sophocles: Music (from Antigone)
William Shakespeare: Sonnet 128: How Oft, When Thou, My Music, Music Play'st
Laurie Stras: What if the composer known as 'Anonymous' was really a woman?
Belden C. Lane: The Great Conversation: Nature and the Care of the Soul
Esther Freud: Hideous Kinky
Dame Nellie Melba: Memories and Melodies
Gwyneth Lewis: Voice (from Sparrow Tree)
Sarah Jackson: Vocal Chords (from Pelt)
Min Kym: Gone
Nina Simone, interviewed by Brantley Bardin in Details magazine January 1997
Nandini Das: Courting India: England Mughal India and the Origins of Empire
William Blake: Cradle Song
Cosey Fanni Tutti: Re-Sisters
Jackie Kay: Piano 4pm (from Empty Nest: Poems for Families)
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
Vita Sackville-West: To Ethel: 8th May 1944 (from Quartet: How Four women changed the musical world)
Anna Akhmatova: Music

22 days left to listen

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Last 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

    Linda Hirst

    Women of the World

  • 00:02

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata in C minor, Op.111

    Performer: Maurizio Pollini.
  • 00:09

    Grace Jones

    I've seen that face before

  • 00:14

    Stef Conner

    Invocation of Calliope and Apollo

  • 00:17

    Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in E major, RV271 (L'Amoroso)

    Performer: Andrew Manze. Ensemble: The English Concert.
  • 00:22

    Hildegard von Bingen

    O vis aeternis

    Choir: Norwegian Soloists Choir.
  • 00:27

    Asm芒a Hamzaoui

    Sandia

  • 00:30

    Nellie Melba

    Comin' thro' the Rye

  • 00:32

    Midori Takada

    Trompe L'oeil

  • 00:38

    叠箩枚谤办

    Black Lake

  • 00:41

    Nina Simone

    Love Me Or Leave Me

  • 00:44

    Veena Sahasrabuddhe

    Mahakali Dhyaan Mantra

  • 00:48

    Johannes Brahms

    Wiegenlied, Op.49 no.4

    Performer: Truls M酶rk. Performer: Juhani Lagerspetz.
  • 00:51

    White Noise

    Here come the Fleas

  • 00:53

    Arvo P盲rt

    Spiegel im Spiegel

    Performer: Daniel Hope. Performer: Simon Mulligan.
  • 01:04

    The Slits

    Typical Girls

  • 01:09

    Ethel Smyth

    March of the Women

    Orchestra: Suffrage Sinfonia. Conductor: Alice Farnham.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Mar 2023 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Last Sunday 18:00
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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