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Poetry, prose and music on the theme of home with words by Marilynne Robinson, Emily Dickinson, Yeats, Thom Gunn and DH Lawrence and music by Dvorak, Butterworth, Schubert and Jerome Kern. The readers are Adjoa Andoh and Robert Glenister.

Producer: Fiona McLean.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 11 Oct 2015 17:30

Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Toru Takemitsu

    Toward the Sea III – Cape Cod

    Performer: Auréole.
    • KOCH 374492.
    • Tr9.
  • William Carlos Williams

    Nantucket read by Adjoa Andoh

  • John Clare

    The reeking supper waits the labourer home read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:04

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Water Mill

    Performer: The Duke Quartet with Anthony Rolfe Johnson.
    • NAXOS 8557114.
    • Tr4.
  • Emily Dickinson

    Tho’ I get home so late read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:09

    Aaron Copland

    Letter From ѿý

    Performer: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
    • EMI CDC7497662.
    • Tr3.
  • D.H. Lawrence

    Piano read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:16

    Robert Schumann

    Kinderszenen - Traumerei

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4311672.
    • Tr7.
  • 00:19

    Peter Maxwell Davies

    Seven Songs ѿý - ѿý

    Performer: The Choir of St Mary’s Music School.
    • UNICORN DKPCD9070.
    • Tr9.
  • Robert Crawford

    Cambuslang read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:21

    Sir James MacMillan

    From Ayrshire

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4763159.
    • Tr 8.
  • John Burnside

    The Man who was answered by his own self read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:27

    Kurt Weill

    Lonely House

    Performer: Teresa Stratas and the Y Chamber Symphony.
    • NONESUCH 9791312.
    • Tr 9.
  • Thomas Hardy

    At Tea read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:32

    Franz Liszt

    Romance oubliée

    Performer: Hüseyin Sermet.
    • NAÏVE V4873.
    • Tr2.
  • Philip Larkin

    ѿý is so Sad read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:36

    The Beatles

    She's Leaving ѿý

    • PARLOPHONE PCS72112.
    • Tr19.
  • Marilynne Robinson

    ѿý read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:41

    Antonín Dvořák

    Goin’ ѿý

    Performer: Art Tatum.
    • PROPERBOX60.
    • Tr1.
  • Richard Wilbur

    Boy at the Window read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:45

    Claude Debussy

    The Snow is Dancing

    Performer: Pascal Rogé.
    • DECCA 4430212.
    • Tr 8.
  • Thom Gunn

    A ѿý read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:49

    Mark-Anthony Turnage

    Twice Through the Heart – China Cup

    Performer: Sarah Connolly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • LPO0031.
    • Tr 9.
  • 00:54

    Paul Ben-Haim

    Berceuse Sfaradite

    Performer: Itzhak Perlman and David Garvey.
    • RCA82876625172.
    • Tr 4.
  • Seamus Heaney

    ѿýcomings read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:59

    John Dowland

    My Lord Willoughby’s Welcome ѿý

    Performer: Jakob Lindberg.
    • BIS CD824.
    • Tr16.
  • W.B. Yeats

    The Lake Isle of Inisfree read by Robert Glenister

  • 01:00

    Bedrich Smetana

    From my ѿýland - Moderato

    Performer: Itzhak Perlman and Samuel Sanders.
    • EMI CD7473992.
    • Tr 5.
  • Michael Longley

    ѿýcoming read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 01:05

    Jean Sibelius

    The Swan of Tuonela

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4495152.
    • Tr 6.
  • 00:00

    Toru Takemitsu

    Toward the Sea III – Cape Cod

    Performer: Auréole.
    • KOCH 374492.
    • Tr9.
  • William Carlos Williams

    Nantucket read by Adjoa Andoh

  • John Clare

    The reeking supper waits the labourer home read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:04

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Water Mill

    Performer: The Duke Quartet with Anthony Rolfe Johnson.
    • NAXOS 8557114.
    • Tr4.
  • Emily Dickinson

    Tho’ I get home so late read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:09

    Aaron Copland

    Letter From ѿý

    Performer: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
    • EMI CDC7497662.
    • Tr3.
  • D.H. Lawrence

    Piano read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:16

    Robert Schumann

    Kinderszenen - Traumerei

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4311672.
    • Tr7.
  • 00:19

    Peter Maxwell Davies

    Seven Songs ѿý - ѿý

    Performer: The Choir of St Mary’s Music School.
    • UNICORN DKPCD9070.
    • Tr9.
  • Robert Crawford

    Cambuslang read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:21

    Sir James MacMillan

    From Ayrshire

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4763159.
    • Tr 8.
  • John Burnside

    The Man who was answered by his own self read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:27

    Kurt Weill

    Lonely House

    Performer: Teresa Stratas and the Y Chamber Symphony.
    • NONESUCH 9791312.
    • Tr 9.
  • Thomas Hardy

    At Tea read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:32

    Franz Liszt

    Romance oubliée

    Performer: Hüseyin Sermet.
    • NAÏVE V4873.
    • Tr2.
  • Philip Larkin

    ѿý is so Sad read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:36

    The Beatles

    She's Leaving ѿý

    • PARLOPHONE PCS72112.
    • Tr19.
  • Marilynne Robinson

    ѿý read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:41

    Antonín Dvořák

    Goin’ ѿý

    Performer: Art Tatum.
    • PROPERBOX60.
    • Tr1.
  • Richard Wilbur

    Boy at the Window read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:45

    Claude Debussy

    The Snow is Dancing

    Performer: Pascal Rogé.
    • DECCA 4430212.
    • Tr 8.
  • Thom Gunn

    A ѿý read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:49

    Mark-Anthony Turnage

    Twice Through the Heart – China Cup

    Performer: Sarah Connolly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • LPO0031.
    • Tr 9.
  • 00:54

    Paul Ben-Haim

    Berceuse Sfaradite

    Performer: Itzhak Perlman and David Garvey.
    • RCA82876625172.
    • Tr 4.
  • Seamus Heaney

    ѿýcomings read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:59

    John Dowland

    My Lord Willoughby’s Welcome ѿý

    Performer: Jakob Lindberg.
    • BIS CD824.
    • Tr16.
  • W.B. Yeats

    The Lake Isle of Inisfree read by Robert Glenister

  • 01:00

    Bedrich Smetana

    From my ѿýland - Moderato

    Performer: Itzhak Perlman and Samuel Sanders.
    • EMI CD7473992.
    • Tr 5.
  • Michael Longley

    ѿýcoming read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 01:05

    Jean Sibelius

    The Swan of Tuonela

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4495152.
    • Tr 6.

Producer Note

This edition of Words and Music looks at the idea of home - the domestic, memories of childhood, feelings of being alone at home, exile and homecoming. 

The programme begins with William Carlos Williams’ short poem, ‘Nantucket’, evoking a summer’s day on the island off Cape Cod, with the bed at the heart of the room. It’s heard alongside Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea - Cape Cod. Then comes John Clare’s ‘The reeking supper waits the labourer home’ which, like Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Water Mill’, tells the story of a happy, busy, family home.

Childhood memories are heard in D.H. Lawrence’s poem, ‘Piano’, with the adult poet recalling the sound of a woman singing ‘taking me back down the vista of years’. Peter Maxwell Davies’ ‘Seven Songs ѿý’ is a sequence telling of an hour in a child’s life as they make their way back from school in the Orkneys. Here, you’ll hear the lovely final song, ‘ѿý’, in which the aroma of a bacon sandwich welcomes the child. Robert Crawford’s poem, ‘Cambuslang’, tells of his parents still living in the childhood home that he left long ago heard alongside James MacMillan’s ‘From Ayrshire’, his musical evocation of Robert Burns’ ‘Ca’ the Yowes to the Knowes’, itself an expression of coming home. Franz Liszt’s ‘Romance oubliee’ accompanies Thomas Hardy’s ‘At ѿý’, a short poem in which a young wife makes tea in her new home for a woman, unaware to her, is her husband’s first love and for whom he still yearns.

The American novelist Marilynne Robinson, heard recently on Free Thinking on Radio 3, was the starting point for this programme. Her masterpiece, ‘ѿý’, tells the story of a prodigal son returning to his Congregational minister father’s house in Iowa. You’ll hear it with the Beatles’ ‘She’s Leaving ѿý’, the story of another child and her bewildered parents and Art Tatum’s version of Dvorak’s ‘Going ѿý’.

Another aspect of home is heard in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s ‘Twice Through the Heart’, a musical setting of Jackie Kay’s poems about a woman convicted of the murder of her husband after years of domestic abuse. Now, in ‘China Cup’, sung by Sarah Connolly, she remembers her old home and her new, a prison cell.

‘ѿý’ ends with Michael Longley’s ‘ѿýcoming’, the story of Odysseus’ return and Sibelius’ beautiful ‘The Swan of Tuonela’, evoking his Finnish home in a tale of a man leaving home to venture into the underworld.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 7 Dec 2014 17:30
  • Sun 11 Oct 2015 17:30

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