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Portraits

From Amy Sackville imagining Velazquez painting Las Meninas, to Edward Elgar's friends, whose moods inspired his Enigma Variations. The readers are Chlo毛 Sommer and Ewan Bailey.

From Amy Sackville imagining Velazquez painting his masterpiece Las Meninas and Robert Lowell looking at Holbein's Thomas More, to Edward Elgar's friends, whose moods inspired his Enigma Variations, and Rembrandt's The Night Watch as seen by King Crimson. As the National Portrait Gallery in London opens its doors again for the first time since 2020, let our readers Chlo毛 Sommer and Ewan Bailey guide you round a sonic exhibition of portraits, where you鈥檒l encounter Dorian Gray gazing at his own likeness and reflecting sadly that he will age, while the painting remains unchanged (spoiler alert: that鈥檚 not quite how it pans out). In Jane Austen鈥檚 Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennett鈥檚 feelings about Mr Darcy undergo a transformation as she stands looking at his portrait, while Wendy Cope is moved to tears by a painting of a long dead couple. The music includes Margaret Bonds鈥� portrait in song Minstrel Man in which a Black man sings of the pain and humiliation of the role he has to play, there鈥檚 also The Gnome from Mussorgsky鈥檚 Pictures at an Exhibition, Joni Mitchell revealing the multiple facets of Charles Mingus鈥檚 personality, and Missy Mazzoli鈥檚 distinctive take on Rembrandt鈥檚 Self-Portrait with Dishevelled Hair.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

You can hear music associated with particular portraits in the National Portrait Gallery collection being played on 大象传媒 Radio 3's Breakfast programme and an episode of Free Thinking considers the idea of creating a portrait in a documentary, photo series and through oral history, as well as images seen on the gallery walls.

Readings & *Music

*Ralph Vaughan Williams - 3 Portraits from the England of Elizabeth: No. 1, Explorer
Wendy Cope - Dutch Portraits
*Pehr Henrik Nordgren - Portraits of Country Fiddlers, Op. 26 (Arr. D. Woodruff): II. Tuumsi Tuumsikelija (The Thinker)
Robert Lowell - Sir Thomas More
*Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition, Piano Concerto Version: I. Gnomus
Josephine Tey - The Daughter of Time
*Charles Mingus - Portrait
*Sam Prekop - Faces And People
Jake Morris-Campbell - Self-Portrait in Passport Photobooth
*Michael Nyman - The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: Scene 3: The Photographs: What is this?
*Kraftwerk - Spiegelsaal
Eavan Boland - The Photograph on My Father鈥檚 Desk
Edward Lear - Self-Portrait of the Laureate of Nonsense
*Gregory Porter - Mona Lisa
David Dabydeen - A Harlot鈥檚 Progress
*Margaret Bonds - 3 Dream Portraits, Minstrel Man
Amy Sackville - Painter to the King
*King Crimson - The Night Watch
Sophie Haydock - The Flames
*膾riks E拧envalds - In My Little Picture Frame
*Oneohtrix Point Never - Last Known Image of a Song
Dante Gabriel Rossetti - The Portrait
*Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations, Op. 36: I. C.A.E.
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
*Missy Mazzoli - Self-Portrait with Dishevelled Hair
Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
*Gerard Schurmann - 6 Studies of Francis Bacon: VI. Self-Portrait
Elizabeth Jennings - Old Man
*Joni Mitchell - God Must Be a Boogie Man
Keith Douglas - Vergissmeinnicht,
*Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski - Symphonic Pictures "Russian Painters": III. Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Henry James - The Portrait of a Lady
*Nikolai Myaskovsky - 12 Romances After Lermontov, Op. 40: No. 4, To the Portrait
Thomas Randolph - Upon his picture
*Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian - Cave Painting

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 18 Jun 2023 17:30
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

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    3 Portraits from the England of Elizabeth: No. 1, Explorer

    Orchestra: Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland鈥怭falz. Conductor: Karl鈥怘einz Steffens.
    • CapriccioNR C5314.
    • Tr8.

  • Wendy Cope

    Dutch Portraits

  • 00:02

    Pehr Henrik Nordgren

    Portraits of Country Fiddlers, Op. 26 (Arr. D. Woodruff): II. Tuumsi Tuumsikelija (The Thinker)

    Performer: Athens Guitar Duo.
    • Claudio Records ClaudioCR6037-2.
    • Tr9.

  • Robert Lowell

    Sir Thomas More

  • 00:03

    Pehr Henrik Nordgren

    The Thinker (Portraits of Country Fiddlers)

    Performer: Athens Guitar Duo.
  • 00:03

    Modest Mussorgsky

    Pictures at an Exhibition, Piano Concerto Version: I. Gnomus

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Geoffrey Simon.
    • Signum Classics SIGCD2095.
    • Tr2.

  • Josephine Tey

    The Daughter of Time

  • 00:08

    Charles Mingus

    Portrait

    Performer: Charles Mingus.
    • Blue Note CDP724382835325.
    • Tr8.
  • 00:12

    Sam Prekop

    Faces And People

    Performer: Sam Prekop.
    • Thrill Jockey thrill 061.
    • Tr6.

  • Jake Morris-Campbell

    Self-Portrait in Passport Photobooth

  • 00:14

    Michael Nyman

    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: Scene 3: The Photographs: What is this?

    Singer: Matthew Trevi帽o. Singer: Rebecca Sj枚wall. Singer: Ryan MacPherson. Orchestra: The Nashville Opera Orchestra. Composer: Dean Williamson.
    • Naxos 8.660398.
    • Tr10.
  • 00:17

    Kraftwerk

    Spiegelsaal

    • Kling Klang 50999 6 99588 2 3.
    • Tr2.

  • Eavan Boland

    The Photograph on My Father聮s Desk

  • Edward Lear

    Self-Portrait of the Laureate of Nonsense

  • 00:20

    Gregory Porter

    Mona Lisa

    • Blue Note CDP 724382835325.
    • Tr1.

  • David Dabydeen

    A Harlot聮s Progress

  • 00:26

    Margaret Bonds

    3 Dream Portraits, 1. Minstrel Man

    Singer: Will Liverman. Performer: Paul S谩nchez.
    • Cedille CDR90000-200.
    • Tr8.

  • Amy Sackville

    Painter to the King

  • 00:30

    King Crimson

    The Night Watch

    Performer: King Crimson.
    • EG Records EGCD 12.
    • Tr4.

  • Sophie Haydock

    The Flames

  • 00:36

    E虅riks Es虒envalds

    In My Little Picture Frame

    Singer: Joshua Carlisle. Singer: Ally Atwood. Singer: Ally Atwood. Choir: The Choir of the West. Choir: The Choir of the West. Conductor: Richard Nance. Conductor: Richard Nance.
    • Signum Classics SIGCD603.
    • Tr10.
  • 00:41

    Daniel Lopatin

    Last Known Image of a Song

    Performer: Oneohtrix Point Never.
    • Warp Records.
    • Tr13.

  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti

    The Portrait

  • 00:43

    Edward Elgar

    Enigma Variations, Op. 36: I. C.A.E.

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Adrian Boult.
    • Warner Classics 7 64015 2.

  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice

  • 00:46

    Missy Mazzoli

    Self-Portrait with Dishevelled Hair

    Singer: Sasha Cooke. Performer: Kirill Kuzmin.
    • PENTATONE PTC5186961.
    • Tr4.

  • Oscar Wilde

    The Picture of Dorian Gray

  • 00:52

    Gerard Schurmann

    6 Studies of Francis Bacon: VI. Self-Portrait

    Orchestra: 大象传媒 Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Gerard Schurmann.
    • Chandos CHAN 9167.

  • Elizabeth Jennings

    Old Man

  • 00:58

    Joni Mitchell

    God Must Be a Boogie Man

    Performer: Joni Mitchell.
    • Nonesuch 79817-2.
    • Tr11.

  • Keith Douglas

    Vergissmeinnicht

  • 01:03

    Vladimir Jurowski

    Symphonic Pictures "Russian Painters": III. Portrait of an Unknown Woman

    Orchestra: Norrk枚pings Symfoniorkester. Conductor: Michail Jurowski.
    • CPO 777875-2.
    • Tr6.

  • Henry James

    The Portrait of a Lady

  • 01:07

    Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky

    12 Romances After Lermontov, Op. 40: No. 4, To the Portrait

    Singer: Elizaveta Pakhomova. Performer: Olga Solovieva.
    • Toccata Classics TOCC0355.
    • Tr10.

  • Thomas Randolph

    Upon his picture

  • 01:10

    Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian

    Cave Painting

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jon Hargreaves.
    • NMC Recordings NMCD268.
    • Tr3.

Broadcast

  • Sun 18 Jun 2023 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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