蜜芽传媒

This edition takes as a starting point Yeats' poem Sailing to Byzantium for a meditation on immortality and the journey of the soul. The calls of "phos"/light in John Tavener's Ikon of Light hint of the world to come suggested in Yeats' poem. Charles Causley's poem I am the song and the reading of Traherne are a meditation on mans' existence matched with Biber's extraordinary Mystery sonatas in the vibrant recording by Monica Huggett. It is Pierre Boulez' electroacoustic piece Repons, that takes the listener deep into the impenetrable tomb in Anthony Thwaite's Monologue in the Valley of the Kings. The mysteries of life and death lead to Beethoven's monumental Appassionata sonata in a new recording by Paul Lewis.

There are also lighter moments to life's journey with Adrian Mitchell's affectionate poem Elephant Eternity and the nobel prize winner, Wislawa Szymborska's wry poem Utopia accompanied by the shimmering strings of Stanley Black and his orchestra. But, there is also a sinister tone in TS Eliot's Whispers of immortality followed by the brooding darkness of Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. The journey from life to death is distilled in Emily Dickinson's poem Chariot with the pulsating rhythms of Reich's Music for mallet instruments, voice and organ and in Don Paterson's new translation of Rilke's poem Parting. The programmes ends with Yeats' Byzantium written three years after Sailing to Byzantium and exploring perfection of the human soul in a city of eternal art.

Jessica Isaacs, Producer
Readers: Deborah Findlay (DF) and Andrew Lincoln (AL)

Playlist
00:00:00
Tavener Ikon of Light Fos 1
Tallis Scholars
Gimmell CDGIM005 Tr 1

00:00:40
Yeats: Sailing to Byzantium (DF)

00:04:38
Auden: Orpheus (DF)

00:05:04
Messiaen: Vingt Regards Regard de la Croix
Stephen Osborne (piano)
HYPERION CDA673512 Tr 7

00:09:24
Music of Ancient Greece Plainte de Tecmessa
Atrium Musicae de Madrid & Gregorio Paniagua
HMA 1951015 Tr 4

00:09:36
Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn (AL)

00:12:54
Biber: The Joyful Mysteries. The Annunciation
Monica Huggett & Sonnerie
Gaudeamus CD GAU 350 Tr 1

00:13:00
Charles Causley: I am the song (DF)

00:13:36
Traherne: extract from Centuries of Meditations (AL)

00:18:15
Finzi: Intimations of Immortality:
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting
Corydon Singers & Orchestra / Matthew Best
Hyperion CDA66876 Tr 13

00:22:00
Boulez: Repons
Ensemble Intercontemporain / Pierre Boulez
DG 4576052 Tr 12

00:23:00
Anthony Thwaite: Monologue in the Valley of the Kings (AL)

00:27:00
Beethoven: Sonata no 23 "Appassionata" in F minor (2nd and 3rd movements)
Paul Lewis (piano)
Harmonia Mundi 901906.08

00:41:24
Longfellow: I am poor and blind (AL)

00:43:30
John Masefield: Troy Town is covered in Weeds (DF)

00:47:00
Orlando Gibbons: What is our life?
Concordia with Rachel Elliott (soprano) / Mark Levy
Metronome METCD 1039 Tr 4

00:51:15
Karger/Wells: From here to Eternity
Stanley Black and his orchestra
Guild GLCD5104 Tr 21

00:51:40
Adrian Mitchell: Elephant Eternity
read by Andrew Lincoln

00:52:05
Wislawa Szymborska trans Adam Czerniawski: Utopia (DL)

00:54:40
Ravel: Miroirs Noctuelles
Cecile Ousset, piano
EMI CDC7499422 Tr 15

00:59:40
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Reflections (AL)

01:00:30
Gibbons: Silver Swan
The Hilliard Ensemble / Paul Hillier
EMICDC7491972 Tr 12

01:02:20
Stockhausen: Stimmung
Singcircle
Hyperion CDA66115 Tr 37

01:03:50
TS Eliot: Whispers of Immortality (DF)

01:05:30
Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem - Lachrymosa
London Symphony Orchestra / Andre Previn
EMI 7243 5 72658 2 CD 2 Tr 2

01:14:30
Elizabeth Jennings: Answers (DF)

01:15:21
JS Bach: Wir Mussen durch viel Trubsal
English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner
SDG 50G107 Tr 14

01:22:50
Crumb: Black Angels (God music)
Kronos Quartet
Nonesuch 9 79394-2 Tr 7

01:25:45
Steve Reich: Music for mallet instruments, voices and organ
Amadinda Percussion Group
AMIATA ARNR0293 Tr 1

01:28:25
Emily Dickinson: The Chariot (DF)

01:29:45
Gesualdo: Io Parto e non piu dissi
Collegium Vocale Koln
Maestro CBS M2YK46467

01:31:30
Rilke/Patterson: Parting (DF)

01:32:45
Messiaen: Vingt Regards - Regard du silence
Steven Osborne (piano)
HYPERION CDA673512 Tr 17

01:36:50
Yeats: Byzantium (AL)

01:38:50
Tavener Ikon of Light: Epiphania
Tallis Scholars
Gimmell CDGIM005 Tr 7

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