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Blow winds, blow

From all directions, violent and gentle, the wind is captured in the words of Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney and Emily Dickinson and the music of Britten, Miriam Makeba and Debussy.

鈥楤low, winds, and crack your cheeks!鈥� railed King Lear and we start and finish with the violence of winds, on land and sea. Joseph Conrad, Zora Neale Hurston and Seamus Heaney write about the unequal battle with an unseen enemy, and you can hear the smallness of humankind in the eye of a storm, in the works of Britten鈥檚 Peter Grimes and Vaughan Williams鈥檚 Sinfonia Antartica.
Gentler winds feed the senses and summon memories for Derek Walcott and William Wordsworth, while Emily Dickinson welcomes in the footless stranger. But there are unearthly winds that make people behave strangely, in Joan Didion鈥檚 description of the Santa Anas, and Voltaire believed an east wind could bring utter despair.
Composers from Debussy to Toru Takemitsu and Nirmali Fenn have taken the movement of wind as inspiration in their work. And the Swedish Chamber Choir vocally recall the gusty mountain wind in Jan Sandstrom鈥檚 Biegga louthe.
There鈥檚 more bluster from the readers Adrian Scarborough and Amaka Okafor who bring to life those great windbags and blowhards, Shakespeare鈥檚 Polonius and Pam Ayres鈥檚 know-it-all husband.

Producer: Katy Hickman

Readings:
Shakespeare - King Lear
Thomas Hardy - Far from the Madding Crowd
Frances Hodgson Burnett 鈥� The Secret Garden
Emily Dickinson 鈥� The Wind tapped like a tired Man
Percy Bysshe Shelley 鈥� Ode to the West Wind
Derek Walcott 鈥� Osmeros
Lyall Watson 鈥� Heaven鈥檚 Breath
William Wordsworth 鈥� The Prelude
Seamus Heaney 鈥� Cow in Calf
Shakespeare 鈥� Hamlet
Pam Ayres 鈥� They Should Have Asked My Husband
Joan Didion 鈥� 鈥楽anta Anas鈥�
Samuel Taylor Coleridge - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Zora Neale Hurston 鈥� Their Eyes Were Watching God
Seamus Heaney 鈥� Storm on the island
Joseph Conrad 鈥� Typhoon

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 8 Oct 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

  • 00:01

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Sinfonia Antartica: Epilogue

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vernon Handley.
    • Warner 5753132.
    • Tr6.

  • William Shakespeare

    King Lear, read by Adrian Scarborough

  • 00:04

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Sinfonia Antartica: Epilogue

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vernon Handley.
    • Warner 5753132.
    • Tr 6.

  • Gillian Clarke

    Wind, read by Amaka Okafor

  • 00:07

    Jan Sandstr枚m

    Biegga louthe (Song to the Mountain Wind)

    Choir: Swedish Chamber Choir. Director: Simon Phipps.
    • Musica Rediviva MRSACD103.
    • Tr20.

  • Thomas Hardy

    Far From the Madding Crowd, read by Adrian Scarborough

  • 00:13

    Bob Dylan

    Blowin' In The Wind

    • Columbia.
  • 00:15

    Claude Debussy

    Preludes, book 1, no.7: Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest

    Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
    • Chandos CHAN10421.
    • Tr7.

  • Frances Hodgson Burnett

    The Secret Garden, read by Amaka Okafor

  • Emily Dickinson

    The wind 鈥� tapped like a tired man, read by Amaka Okafor

  • 00:19

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    6 Bagatelles for wind quintet: No. 1

    Performer: London Winds.
    • Chandos CHAN 10876.
    • Tr1.

  • Percy Bysshe Shelley

    Ode to the West Wind, read by Adrian Scarborough

  • 00:21

    Miriam Makeba

    West Wind

    Performer: Miriam Makeba.
    • Strut STRUT180CD.
    • Tr 9.

  • Derek Walcott

    Omeros, Book 6, Ch XLIV, II, read by Amaka Okafor

  • 00:25

    Ana茂s Mitchell

    Any Way the Wind Blows

    Performer: Members of the Cast.
    • Sing It Again Records 093624899273.
    • Tr 2.

  • Lyall Watson

    Heaven鈥檚 Breath: A Natural History of Wind, read by Amaka Okafor

  • 00:29

    Claudio Monteverdi

    Zefiro torna

    Ensemble: L鈥橝rpeggiata. Conductor: Christina Pluhar.
    • Erato 2361402.
    • Tr15.

  • William Wordsworth

    Prelude: Introduction, read by Adrian Scarborough

  • 00:34

    Xia Weinan

    Whisper of the Wind

    Performer: Xianji Liu.
    • Naxos 8.579136.
    • Tr3.

  • Seamus Heaney

    Cow in Calf, read by Amaka Okafor

  • 00:37

    Peter Maxwell Davies

    An Orkney Wedding, With Sunrise

    Performer: George McIlwham. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Peter Maxwell Davies.
    • Naxos 8572352.
    • Tr5.

  • William Shakespeare

    Hamlet Act I, sc III, read by Adrian Scarborough

  • 00:44

    Richard M. Sherman

    Colonel Hathi's March (The Elephant Song)

    Performer: J. Pat O鈥橫alley. Choir: Disney Studio Chorus. Composer: Robert B. Sherman.
    • Walt Disney Records 0927-44 358-2.
    • Tr3.

  • Pam Ayres

    They Should Have Asked My Husband, read by Amaka Okafor

  • 00:48

    William Byrd

    The Battle arr. Howarth for brass ensemble [orig. for keyboard], The Bagpipe and the drone

    Performer: Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.
    • Decca 448183-2.
    • Tr16.
  • 00:49

    Nirmali Fenn

    Scratches of the wind

    Performer: Daniel Havel.
    • Kairos 0015055KAI.
    • Tr3.

  • Joan Didion

    The Santa Anas, read by Amaka Okafor

  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

    The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (text of 1834), read by Adrian Scarborough

  • 00:54

    Toru Takemitsu

    How Still the Wind

    Orchestra: London Sinfonietta. Conductor: Oliver Knussen.
    • DG 4534952.
    • Tr3.

  • Zora Neale Hurston

    Their Eyes Were Watching God, read by Amaka Okafor

  • 00:59

    Richard Strauss

    Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64: XVIII. Stille vor dem Sturm

    Performer: Kristina Blaumane. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski.
    • London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO0106D.
    • 18.
  • 01:01

    Richard Strauss

    Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64: XIX. Gewitter und Sturm

    Performer: Kristina Blaumane. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski.
    • London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO0106D.
    • 19.

  • Seamus Heaney

    Storm on the Island, read by Adrian Scarborough

  • 01:05

    Trad.

    Blow The Man Down

    Performer: The Longest Johns.
    • Decca (UMO) 358 6336.
    • Tr12.

  • Joseph Conrad

    Typhoon, read by Adrian Scarborough

  • 01:11

    Benjamin Britten

    4 Sea interludes [from 'Peter Grimes'] (Op.33a) no.4; Storm

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Steuart Bedford.
    • Collins Classics 10192.
    • Tr14.

Broadcast

  • Sun 8 Oct 2023 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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