 
                
                        The games that people play
Christina Cole and Glen McCready read from novels including George Eliot's Felix Holt, John Fowles' The Magus and Dickens' Great Expectations. Music by Prokofiev, Nyman, Queen.
Chess, dominos, cards, roulette, dice, children's playground games and contemporary computer games are the inspiration for today's programme with readings by Glen McCready and Christina Cole from texts including the ancient Indian Mahabharata where a king loses his wife and his kingdom playing dice, George Eliot's Felix Holt which compares life with a board game, and Pushkin bring us revenge in The Queen of Spades. We also hear about other aspects of game play: psychological games - the mind games that humans play on each other - as well as social and political games. There are readings from Dangerous Liaisons; Dickens’s Great Expectations, John Fowles' The Magus and from Patrick Hamilton’s play Gaslight. And bringing us up right up to date we log on to the imaginative world of computer gaming, referencing the likes of Super Mario, Alan Wake, Final Fantasy, and Portal. 
Featured music is provided by composers including Arthur Bliss, Francois Couperin, Michael Nyman and Mozart - including a few rolls of the dice from his Musical Dice Game - as well as Kurtag, Xenakis, Ramin Djawadi, John Willams, Kenny Rogers and Queen. 
Producer: Chris Wines
You can find more programmes inspired by game playing in Radio 3's arts and ideas programme Free Thinking (9th January) and the monthly Sound of Gaming (6th January and available now on ѿý Sounds)
READINGS:
Cheng’en Wu: The Journey to the West
Lewis Carroll: Alice Through the Looking Glass
George Eliot: Felix Holt, the Radical
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos: Les Liasions Dangereuses
T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land – II. “A Game of Chess”
William Shakespeare: The Tempest (Act V)
Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa: The Mahabharata (Book 2 – LXIV)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The Gambler
Alexander Pushkin: Queen of Spades
Charles Dickens: Great Expectations
John Fowles: The Magus
Patrick Hamilton: Gaslight
Arthur Conan Doyle: The Return of Sherlock Holmes – ‘The Adventure of the Abbey Grange’
Rabindranath Tagore: Playthings
Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game
Grantland Rice: Alumnus Football
Ian M Banks: The Player of Games
Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games
Rick Burroughs: Alan Wake
Ken Nesbitt: The Games in My Room
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Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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    ![]() 00:01 00:01Chinese Plucked Instruments QuintetImperial Dancing Music Of Tang Dynasty 
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    Cheng'en WuThe Journey To The West read by Glen McCready ![]() 00:03 00:03Arthur BlissDance of the Red Pawns (Checkmate) Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones.Lewis CarrollAlice Through the Looking Glass read by Christina Cole ![]() 00:05 00:05Michael NymanThe Chess Game (The Man who mistook his Wife for a hat) Orchestra: Nashville Opera Orchestra. Conductor: Dean Williamson.George EliotFelix Holt, the Radical read by Glen McCready ![]() 00:06 00:06John WilliamsThe Chess Game (Harry Potter and the Philosohper's Stone) Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: John Williams.Pierre Choderlos de LaclosLes Liaisons Dangereuses read by Christina Cole ![]() 00:08 00:08François CouperinLa Virginite (Les Dominos) Performer: Agnès Clément.![]() 00:09 00:09Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAct 4 Cavatina (Le Nozze di Figaro) Singer: Sarah Tynan. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: David Parry.TS EliotThe Waste Land - II. “A Game of Chess” read by Glen McCready ![]() 00:11 00:11Jelly Roll MortonPearls ![]() 00:11 00:11Ramin DjawadiDark Wings, Dark Words (Game of Thrones) William ShakespeareThe Tempest : Act V read by Christina Cole & Glen McCready ![]() 00:13 00:13Giacomo PucciniCome e lunghi l'attesta (Tosca) Singer: Leontyne Price. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.![]() 00:15 00:15Bin IdrisMahabharata Krishna-Dwaipayana VyasaThe Mahabharata (Book 2 – LXIV) read by Christina Cole ![]() 00:17 00:17Frank LoesserLuck Be a Lady Tonight (Guys and Dolls) Singer: Marlon Brando.DostoyevskyThe Gambler read by Glen McCready ![]() 00:21 00:21Sergey ProkofievAlexis (Suite: The Gambler) Orchestra: Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Dima Slobodeniouk.![]() 00:23 00:23Kenny RogersThe Gambler PushkinQueen of Spades read by Christina Cole ![]() 00:27 00:27Franz von SuppéOverture: Pique Dame Orchestra: West German Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Michail Jurowski.Charles DickensGreat Expectations read by Glen McCready John FowlesThe Magus read by Christina Cole Patrick HamiltonGaslight read by Glen McCready ![]() 00:35 00:35György KurtágFragments of a Colinda melody (Jatekok) Performer: György Kurtág.![]() 00:37 00:37Robert SchumannSchon ist das Fest des Lenzes (Minnespiel, Op.101) Performer: Graham Johnson. Singer: Adrian Thompson. Singer: Geraldine McGreevy.![]() 00:44 00:44Iannis XenakisLinaia-Agon Performer: Ron Schaaper. Performer: Koen Kaptijn.Arthur Conon DoyleThe Return of Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Abbey Grange read by Glen McCready ![]() 00:42 00:42QueenPlay The Game Rabindranath Tagore: Playthings read by Christina Cole ![]() 00:47 00:47AnonymousRomance (Jeux Interdits) Performer: Miloš Karadaglić. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Paul Watkins.![]() 00:50 00:50Hans ZimmerDiscombobulate (Sherlock Holmes) Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Gavin Greenaway.![]() 00:52 00:52Wolfgang Amadeus MozartMusical Dice Game, K516f Performer: Neville Marriner.![]() 00:54 00:54Georges BizetLes Chevaux de Bois (Jeux d'enfants) Performer: Katia & Marielle Labèque.Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game read by Glen McCready ![]() 00:56 00:56Johann Sebastian BachRicercare a 3 (Musical Offering) Performer: Cristina García Banegas.Grantland Rice: Alumnus Football read by Christina Cole Ian M Banks: The Player of Games read by Glen McCready ![]() 00:57 00:57Nobuo UematsuBombing Mission (Final Fantasy VII) Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games read by Christina Cole Rick Burroughs: Alan Wake read by Glen McCready ![]() 01:01 01:01Petri AlankoAlan Wake ![]() 01:07 01:07Koji KondiSuper Mario Theme Ken Nesbitt: The Games in My Room read by Christian Cole ![]() 01:11 01:11Ellen McLainSuper Portal (Still Alive) Broadcast- Sun 7 Jan 2024 17:30ѿý Radio 3
 
 
            