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Texts and music inspired by the colour blue, with readings by Angel Coulby and Raymond Coulthard. Including Keats, Kipling and Wells, plus Gershwin, Joni Mitchell and Miles Davis'.

Angel Coulby and Raymond Coulthard read texts inspired by the colour blue, from seas and skies, to a lover's eyes, and blue's associations with sadness and hope. Texts include John Keats' Blue! Tis the Life of Heaven, Rudyard Kipling's Blue Roses, Mary Elizabeth Coleridge's The Blue Bird, and excerpts from H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau and James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Blue-toned music ranges from Stanford's setting of Coleridge's poem to a jazz trio arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and tracks by Joni Mitchell, Brian Eno and Miles Davis.

First broadcast in January 2013.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 Jun 2014 17:00
蜜芽传媒 Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Gershwin arr. Monty Alexander

    Blue Rhapsody

    Performer: The Monty Alexander Trio.
    • TELARC CD83578.
    • Tr1.

  • William Gass

    On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry (excerpt), reader Raymond Coulthard

  • 00:05

    Michael Tippett

    The Blue Guitar (3rd movement: Dreaming)

    Performer: Craig Ogden (guitar).
    • NIMBUS NI5390.
    • Tr3.

  • John Keats

    Blue! 'Tis the Life of Heaven, reader Angel Coulby

  • 00:06

    Joni Mitchell

    Blue

    Performer: Joni Mitchell (vocals, piano).
    • REPRISE 7599271992.
    • Tr5.

  • Christopher Moore

    Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art (excerpt), reader Raymond Coulthard

  • 00:10

    Clifton Parker

    The 'Blue Lagoon'

    Performer: 蜜芽传媒 Concert Orchestra, Rumon Gamba (conductor).
    • CHANDOS CHAN10279.
    • Tr14.

  • Edith Farr Geer

    Bermuda Seas, reader Angel Coulby

  • Francis Saltus Saltus

    Blue, reader Raymond Coulthard

  • 00:17

    Seasick Steve

    My home (blue eyes)

    Performer: Seasick Steve (vocals, guitar), Dan Magusson (drums).
    • ATLANTIC 5051865615828.
    • Tr11.

  • Thomas Gent

    Black Eyes and Blue, reader Angel Coulby

  • 00:19

    Joby Talbot

    Blue cell

    Performer: Apollo Saxophone Quartet.
    • BLACK BOX BBM1078.
    • Tr2.
  • 00:25

    Miles Davis

    Blue In Green

    • COLUMBIA CK64935.
    • Tr3.

  • Henry Lawson

    Two Little Blue Eyes, reader Raymond Coulthard

  • George Meredith

    Blue is the sky, reader Angel Coulby

  • 00:30

    Irving Berlin arr. Robert Farnon

    Blue Skies

    Performer: Robert Farnon and his orchestra, Dave Goldberg (guitar).
    • GUILD GLCD5129.
    • Tr7.
  • 00:33

    Robert Fripp arr. Andrew Keeling

    Midnight Blue

    Performer: The Metropole Orkest, Jan Stulen (conductor).
    • DGM 1102.
    • Tr2.

  • H.G. Wells

    The Island of Doctor Moreau (excerpt), reader Raymond Coulthard

  • 00:35

    Max Reger

    Improvisation uber den waltzer'An der schonen, blauen Donau' for piano

    Performer: Konstanin Scherbakov (piano).
    • EMI 5697042.
    • Tr1.

  • Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

    L'Oiseau Bleu, reader Angel Coulby

  • 00:39

    Stanford

    The blue bird

    Performer: Oxford Camerata, Jeremy Summerly (conductor).
    • NAXOS 8553088.
    • Tr16.

  • Ronald Campbell Macfie

    The Blue Bird, reader Raymond Coulthard

  • 00:44

    Brian Eno

    Deep Blue Day (from the album Apollo)

    Performer: Brian Eno.
    • EMI 6845312.
    • Tr9.
  • 00:46

    Elena Kats鈥怌hernin

    Blue Rose

    Performer: Acacia Quartet.
    • VEXATIONS840 8401202.
    • Tr19.

  • DH Lawrence

    The Blue Jay, reader Angel Coulby

  • 00:51

    Walter Donaldson arr. Grofe

    My Blue Heaven

    Performer: Harvey and the Wallbangers, London Sinfonietta, Simon Rattle (conductor).
    • EMI CDC7479112.
    • Tr6.

  • Rudyard Kipling

    Blue Roses, reader Raymond Coulthard

  • 00:54

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    6 Bagatelles for piano (Op.126), no.3 in E flat major

    Performer: Steven Kovacevich (piano).
    • PHILIPS 4269762.
    • Tr21.

  • Anne Bronte

    The Bluebell, reader Angel Coulby

  • 00:58

    Simon Fisher Turner

    Blue (soundtrack) (excerpt)

    • MUTE CDSTUMM49.
    • Tr4.

  • James Frey

    A Million Little Pieces (excerpt), reader Raymond Coulthard

  • 01:02

    Jennifer Higdon

    blue cathedral

    Performer: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano (conductor).
    • TELARC CD80596.
    • Tr4.

  • Marjorie Evasco

    Is it the Kingfisher?, reader Angel Coulby

Producer's Note

Blue was a latecomer in art, language and the written word, but amongst the colours it is in the modern day by far the most popular. Early on in this edition of Words and Music, in excerpts from William Gass鈥� 1970s philosophical exploration of the colour blue, and Christopher Moore鈥檚 novel Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art, along with Joni Mitchell鈥檚 classic song Blue from her same-titled album, we鈥檙e introduced to dozens of associations, from oceans to diamonds, virgins to movies, alcohol to ink. For the rest of the programme I have taken as my starting point a handful of blue connections, from the obvious in nature to the long-held appeal of blue eyes, and how it can represent both sadness and hope.

听

The most obvious blues around us 鈥� azure seas and cerulean skies 鈥� are seen through the words of John Keats, and in Edith Far Geer鈥檚 vision of Bermuda Seas, along with Clifton Parker鈥檚 stirring music for Frank Launder鈥檚 1949 film The Blue Lagoon. The American poet, Francis Saltus Saltus, makes the connection between these blues in nature around us and the blue hues in a lover鈥檚 eyes, as does the blues musician Seasick Steve in My home (blue eyes). It is blue eyes which fight for supremacy over black in a poem by the 18th century Irish writer Thomas Gent (though Cupid swiftly puts them in their place), and that鈥檚 followed by Henry Lawson鈥檚 short verse about a father鈥檚 gentle hopes for his blue-eyed child. George Meredith鈥檚 Blue is the sky brings together the blue above with the eyes of his lover, questioning whether one of them shows more of heaven than the other.

听

A collection of words and music about blue wouldn鈥檛 be complete without that most famous of birds, the Bluebird, the subject of Mary Elizabeth Coleridge鈥檚 poem, which we hear in its original form and in its choral setting by Charles Villiers Stanford, and also in a poem of the same title by Ronald Campbell Macfie. And not to be forgotten alongside its more famous cousin, DH Lawrence introduces us to a mischievous Blue Jay, who laughs at the author and his black dog in the snow.

听

Rudyard Kipling writes of a lover searching elusively for Blue Roses (we also hear Elena Kats-Chermin鈥檚 piece for string quartet of the same name). In The Bluebell, Anne Bronte, the youngest member of the Bronte literary family, tells a story of bitter childhood memories of the sweetest of wild flowers. The sense of loss in Bronte鈥檚 text is echoed in one of Beethoven鈥檚 late Bagatelles, written long after he had begun mourning the loss of his hearing.

听

A short excerpt from Simon Fisher Turner鈥檚 soundtrack to Derek Jarman鈥檚 Blue (his final feature film made at the end of his life, when he had almost lost his sight due to AIDS related complications) leads us into a passage from James Frey鈥檚 gritty semi-fictional novel A Million Little Pieces, in which a young man talks about his sense of loneliness and despair during rehabilitation from alcoholism and drug abuse, but then seems to find a sense of freedom in the colour blue as he begins to recover. That intimate text is accompanied by Jennifer Higdon鈥檚 orchestral work, blue cathedral: in Higdon鈥檚 words, 鈥淏lue 鈥� like the sky. Where all possibilities soar.鈥�

听

And finally, the colour blue can be found in the search for God, according to the Filipino poet Marjorie Evasco.

听

Music with blue tones featured in the programme also includes a jazz trio arrangement of Gershwin鈥檚 Rhapsody in Blue, a paraphrase for piano of Johann Strauss鈥� The Blue Danube, Irving Berlin鈥檚 Blue Skies, Walter Donaldson鈥檚 Blue Heaven, Michael Tippett鈥檚 sonata for solo guitar, The Blue Guitar, Joby Talbot鈥檚 Blue Cell for saxophones, Miles Davis from his iconic album Kind of Blue, Brian Eno鈥檚 Deep Blue Day from his album Apollo, and an orchestration of Robert Fripp鈥檚 evocative soundscape Midnight Blue.

听

Andy King (producer)

Broadcasts

  • Sun 26 Jan 2014 17:30
    蜜芽传媒 Radio 3
  • Sun 15 Jun 2014 17:00
    蜜芽传媒 Radio 3

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