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Temperatures Rising

Hot landscapes of past, present and future. Raad Rawi and Pearl Chanda evoke summer idylls, parched deserts and dystopian visions through the words of John Clare and Kamala Das.

From John Clare’s white woolsack clouds to the daydreaming figure under Meleager’s plane tree, summer days have long been a time for writers to wander into fantasies and idylls.

But summer can be a time for extreme weather too - cathartic storms and raging wildfires burst forth in the music of Vivaldi and the epic accounts of Imru’ al-Qais and Cassius Dio. And the fierce sun inspires a particular vividness in the African desert of H Rider Haggard and the noontime scene in southern India that Kamala Das conjures.

These extremes may have had an exotic appeal in the past; but now, they hint at what is likely to become far more familiar, as temperatures rise.

Pack your sunscreen and join readers Raad Rawi and Pearl Chanda in the hot landscapes of past, present and future, with music by Debussy, Orff and Jobim.

Readings:
Sonnet - John Clare
Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt
Still Life with Sea Pinks and High Tide - Maura Dooley
King Solomon’s Mines - H. Rider Haggard
Wasteland - T. S. Eliot
A Hot Noon in Malabar - Kamala Das
A Something In a Summer’s Day - Emily Dickinson
The Day-dream - Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Epigram 196 - Meleager
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan - Isabella Bird
On the Idle Hill of Summer - A. E Housman
Hyperobjects - Timothy Morton
A Mancunian Taxi-driver Foresees His Death - Michael Symmons Roberts
Sonnet - Antonio Vivaldi
Ode - Imru’ al-Qais
Roman History - Cassius Dio
In A Dark Time - Theodore Roethke

Produced by Chris Elcombe.
A Reduced Listening production for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Nov 2021 17:30
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • John Clare - Sonnet

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • 00:01

    Claude Debussy

    Syrinx

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud.
  • 00:01

    Claude Debussy

    Syrinx

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud.
    • Sonates & Trio.
    • Erato.
    • 0190295773960.
    • 4.

  • Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting (Opening)

    Read by Raad Rawi

  • 00:05

    Carlos Niño

    Gongs, Cymbals and Bells (excerpt)

    • SpringrainFlight.
    • Leaving Records.
    • LR121.
    • 1.

  • Maura Dooley - Still Life with Sea Pinks and High Tide, from 'The Slivering' (Bloodaxe Books, 2016)

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • 00:07

    Alemu Aga

    The Sacred Names of the Begenna

  • 00:07

    ናለሙ ኣጋ

    The Sacred Names of the Begenna

    • The Begenna of Elders.
    • Laika.
    • 1.

  • H Rider Haggard - King Solomon’s Mines (excerpt from Chapter 5)

    Read by Raad Rawi

  • 00:12

    Modest Mussorgsky

    The Catacombs (Pictures at an Exhibition)

    Music Arranger: Maurice Ravel. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
  • 00:12

    Modest Mussorgsky

    Pictures at an Exhibition VIII: The Catacombs (Sepulchrum Romanum)

    Orchestrator: Maurice Ravel. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition - Borodin: Symphony No. 2.
    • EMI.
    • EMI 5 17582 2.

  • TS Eliot - The Wasteland (excerpt)

    Read by Pearl Chanda and T.S. Eliot

  • 00:15

    Antônio Carlos Jobim

    God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun

  • 00:15

    Antônio Carlos Jobim

    God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun

    • Stone Flower.
    • CTI.
    • 051742.
    • 8.

  • Kamala Das - A Hot Noon in Malabar

    Read by Raad Rawi

  • 00:19

    Isaac Albéniz

    El Corpus en Sevilla (Iberia)

    Performer: Alicia de Larrocha.
  • 00:19

    Isaac Albéniz

    Ibéria Book 3: El Corpus Christi En Sevilla

    Performer: Alicia de Larrocha.
    • Iberia - Navarra - Suite Espaňola.
    • Decca ‎.
    • 78 0388.
    • 3.

  • Emily Dickinson - A Something in a Summer's Day

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • 00:30

    Anonymous

    Greensleeves to a Ground

    Ensemble: Hespèrion XXI. Conductor: Jordi Savall.
  • 00:30

    Hespèrion XXI

    Greensleeves to a Ground

    Performer: Jordi Savall.
    • Ostinato.
    • Alia Vox ‎.
    • AV9820.
    • 2.

  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti - The Day-dream

    Read by Raad Rawi

  • 00:34

    Edvard Grieg

    Erotikon (Lyric Pieces)

    Performer: Edvard Grieg.
  • 00:34

    Edvard Grieg

    ‘Erotikon’ from 6 Lyric Pieces

    • Recording with Edvard Grieg (piano).
    • 2L.
    • 2L60SABD.
    • 4.
  • 00:37

    Steven Feld

    keafo, morning

    • Rainforest Soundwalks: Ambiences of Bosavi, Papua New Guinea.
    • EarthEar.
    • (696208010622).
    • 2.

  • Meleager, trans. Charles Abraham Elton - Epigram 196

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • 00:38

    John Cage

    Quartet for four percussionists (2nd mvt: Very slow)

    Ensemble: Percussion Ensemble Mainz.
  • 00:38

    John Cage

    Quartet for Four Percussionists, II: Very Slow

    Ensemble: Percussion Ensemble Mainz.
    • Music For Percussion Quartet.
    • Markus Hauke Percussion Projects ‎.
    • WWE 1CD 20015.
    • 3.

  • Isabella Bird - Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (excerpt)

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • 00:44

    Miles Davis

    Saeta (Sketches of Spain)

  • 00:44

    Miles Davis

    Saeta

    • Sketches Of Spain.
    • Columbia.
    • 88875111931.
    • 1.

  • Housman - On The Idle Hill of Summer

    Read by Raad Rawi

  • 00:48

    Carlos Niño

    Gongs, cymbals and bells

  • 00:49

    Carlos Niño

    Gongs, Cymbals and Bells (excerpt)

    • SpringrainFlight.
    • Leaving Records.
    • 1.

  • Morton - Hyperobjects (excerpt)

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • Michael Symmons Roberts - A Mancunian Taxi-driver Foresees his Death

    Read by Raad Rawi

  • 00:53

    Ennio Morricone

    Harmonica (Once upon a time in the West)

    Performer: Soundtrack.
  • 00:53

    Ennio Morricone

    Harmonica

    • Once Upon a Time in the West - (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
    • RCA.
    • 6.

  • Antonio Vivaldi - Sonnet for ‘Summer’ from the Four Seasons

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • 00:55

    Antonio Vivaldi

    Summer (The Four Seasons)

    Performer: Fabio Biondi. Ensemble: Europa Galante.
  • 00:55

    Antonio Vivaldi

    Four Seasons: ‘Summer’, 2nd movt

    Performer: Fabio Biondi. Ensemble: Europa Galante.
    • The Four Seasons.
    • Virgin Veritas.
    • 7243 5 45565 2 4.
    • 2.

  • Antonio Vivaldi - Sonnet for ‘Summer’ from the Four Seasons Part 2

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • 00:58

    Antonio Vivaldi

    Four Seasons: ‘Summer’, 3rd movt

    Performer: Fabio Biondi. Ensemble: Europa Galante.
    • The Four Seasons.
    • Virgin Veritas.
    • 7243 5 45565 2 4.
    • 3.

  • Imru’ al-Qais - Ode (final section)

    Read by Raad Rawi

  • 01:02

    Aboud Abdel Aal

    Alal Rimal

  • 01:02

    Aboud Abdel Aal

    Alal Rimal

    • Authentic Instrumental Music by the most famous Arab artists.
    • Orient Records.
    • LPO133.
    • 1.

  • Cassius Dio, trans. Earnest Cary - Roman History (translation): LXII : 17

    Read by Pearl Chanda

  • 01:05

    Carl Orff

    Olim lacus colueram (Carmina Burana)

    Choir: Collegium Vocale Gent. Conductor: Jos van Immerseel.
  • 01:05

    Carl Orff

    ‘Olim lacus colueram’ from Carmina Burana

    Choir: Collegium Vocale Gent. Conductor: Jos van Immerseel.
    • Carl Orff: Carmina Burana.
    • Zigzag.
    • ZZT353.
    • 12.
  • 01:09

    Maria Rossi & Kelly Jayne Jones

    Whispering Blackbird/The River Tib

  • 01:09

    Maria Rossi, Kelly Jayne Jones and Sam McLoughlin

    whispering blackbird / the river Tib, Manchester’s dark CPU

    • Recorded in session for Late Junction.

  • Theodore Roethke - In A Dark Time

    Read by Raad Rawi

  • 01:11

    John Lurie

    What do you know about music, you're not a lawyer

  • 01:11

    John Lurie

    What do you know about music, you’re not a lawyer

    • Down by Law and Variety.
    • Made To Measure.
    • MTM 14.
    • 1.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 4 Aug 2019 18:15
    ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3
  • Sun 7 Nov 2021 17:30
    ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3

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