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A Woman's Lot

Ahead of International Women's Day, an exploration of expectations for women, and writers and composers breaking the mould, including Virginia Woolf, Warsan Shire, and Emily Hall.

"If we escape a little from the common sitting-room and see human beings not always in their relation to each other but in relation to reality". In Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, the author summons up the image of Shakespeare's sister seizing her opportunities. Today's Words and Music looks forward to International Women's Day on March 8th with writers and musicians challenging society's rules. Jessica Mitford's Hons and Rebels takes us to the Spanish Civil War, Sally Rooney and Aphra Behn imagine adulterous relationships, Warsan Shire writes in praise of Grace Jones, and Athena steps into her chariot of fire in Emily Wilson's new translation of The Iliad. Music includes compositions by Emily Hall, Clara Schumann, Fatoumata Diawara, Cecilia McDowall and Hildegard of Bingen, and pieces arranged or conducted by women including Alison Balsom, Rachel Podger, Barbara Hannigan and Emmanuelle Haim. The readers are Greta Scacchi and Lydia Wilson.
On March 8th Radio 3 has a special focus on women composing and performing.

Producer: Hannah Sander

READINGS
Virginia Woolf – A Room of One’s Own
Rose Macaulay – Crewe Train
Germaine Greer – The Female Eunuch
Aphra Behn – ‘The Willing Mistriss’
Audre Lorde – Sister Outsider
Susannah Gibson – Bluestockings: The First Women's Movement
Carol Ann Duffy – ‘Salome’
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice
Elizabeth Gaskell – Cranford
Jessica Mitford – Hons and Rebels
Elizabeth I – Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, 1588
Gabrielle Zevin – Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Warsan Shire – ‘Bless Grace Jones’
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½r (trans. Emily Wilson) – The Iliad
Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex
Hilary Mantel – Wolf Hall
Sally Rooney – Conversations With Friends
Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca
Virginia Woolf – A Room of One’s Own

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 3 Mar 2024 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

  • Virginia Woolf

    A Room Of One’s Own, read by Greta Scacchi

  • 00:01

    Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No. 49 ('Passione'): movt ii Allegro di molto

    Ensemble: Ludwig Orchestra. Conductor: Barbara Hannigan.
    • Alpha AJ0586.
    • Tr3.

  • Rose Macaulay

    Crewe Train, read by Lydia Wilson

  • 00:09

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations, Aria

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Ensemble: Brecon Baroque. Music Arranger: Rachel Podger.
    • Channel Classics CCSSA44923.
    • Tr1.

  • Germaine Greer

    The Female Eunuch, read by Greta Scacchi

  • 00:13

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations, Variation I

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Ensemble: Brecon Baroque. Music Arranger: Rachel Podger. Music Arranger: Rachel Podger.
    • Channel Classics CCSSA44923.
    • Tr1.

  • Aphra Behn

    ‘The Willing Mistriss’, read by Lydia Wilson

  • 00:16

    Clara Schumann

    Sechs Lieder aus Jucunde Op.23, O Lust, O Lust

    Performer: Susan Grifton (soprano), Eugene Asti (piano).
    • Hyperion CDA67249.
    • Tr15.
  • 00:18

    Fatoumata Diawara

    Mousso

    Performer: Fatoumata Diawara (guitar, vocals), Moh Kouyate (guitar), Hilaire Penda (bass), Sola Akingbola (percussion), Tony Allen (drums).
    • World Circuit Records WCD086.
    • Tr9.

  • Audre Lorde

    Sister Outsider, read by Lydia Wilson

  • 00:21

    George Frideric Handel

    Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17: Act 3, Sinfonia

    Performer: Le Concert d`Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm (conductor).
    • Warner Classics.
    • Tr10.

  • Susannah Gibson

    Bluestockings, read by Greta Scacchi

  • 00:24

    Caroline Shaw

    Fleishman Is In Trouble, Awoke One Morning

    Performer: Caroline Shaw.
    • Hollywood Records 00050087513016.
    • Tr1.

  • Carol Ann Duffy

    ‘Salome’, read by Greta Scacchi

  • 00:28

    Maurice Ravel

    Ma Mere l'Oye - suite vers. for piano duet, Les Entretiens de la Belle et de la Bete

    Performer: Katia & Marielle Labèque.
    • Phillips 4201592.
    • Tr22.

  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice, read by Lydia Wilson

  • Elizabeth Gaskell

    Cranford, read by Greta Scacchi

  • 00:35

    Isaac Albéniz

    Espana - Malaguena (arr. for guitar)

    Performer: Xuefei Yang.
    • EMI Classics 6983612.
    • Tr11.

  • Jessica Mitford

    Hons and Rebels, read by Lydia Wilson

  • 00:38

    Cecilia McDowall

    Alma redemptoris Mater - motet for chorus

    Choir: The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • Hyperion CDA68251.
    • Tr1.

  • Elizabeth I

    Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, read by Greta Scacchi

  • 00:43

    Emily Hall

    Instrumental

    Performer: Emily Hall. Performer: Ruth Wall.
    • Bedroom Community HVALUR23CD.
    • Tr3.

  • Gabrielle Zevin

    Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, read by Lydia Wilson

  • 00:46

    Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Dana Manno

    Pull Up To The Bumper

    Performer: Grace Jones.
    • UMC.
    • Tr2.

  • Warsan Shire

    ‘Bless Grace Jones’, read by Lydia Wilson

  • ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½r, translated by Emily Wilson

    The Iliad, read by Greta Scacchi

  • 00:50

    Benjamin Britten

    War Requiem, Dies Irae: Liber Scriptus

    Singer: Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya. Choir: The Bach Choir. Ensemble: Melos Ensemble. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Benjamin Britten.
    • Decca 4757511.
    • Tr3.

  • Simone de Beauvoir

    The Second Sex, read by Lydia Wilson

  • 00:54

    Lili Boulanger

    °ä´Ç°ù³Ùè²µ±ð

    Performer: Yehudi Menuhin. Performer: Clifford Curzon.
    • Warner Classics 825646208005.
    • Tr63.
  • 00:55

    Hildegard von Bingen

    Spiritus Sanctus vivificans vita - antiphon

    Singer: Anna Sandström. Ensemble: Armonico Consort. Conductor: Christopher Monks.
    • Signum Classics SIGCD235.
    • Tr6.

  • Hilary Mantel

    Wolf Hall, read by Lydia Wilson

  • 00:59

    Nina Simone

    Sinnerman

    Performer: Nina Simone.
    • UME – Global Clearing House.
    • Tr38.

  • Sally Rooney

    Conversations With Friends, read by Lydia Wilson

  • Daphne du Maurier

    Rebecca, read by Greta Scacchi

  • Virginia Woolf

    A Room Of One’s Own, read by Greta Scacchi

  • 01:10

    Claude Debussy

    Syrinx

    Performer: Alison Balsom. Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • Warner Classics.
    • Tr16.

Broadcast

  • Sun 3 Mar 2024 17:30
    ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3

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