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Art Deco

A celebration of the 1920s - the Art Deco era with music by Janacek, Tailleferre and Gershwin and readings from Dorothy Parker, Jean Rhys and PG Wodehouse.

This programme celebrates the world of Art Deco, a style that came into its own in the years after World War One and was named for an exhibition in Paris in 1925. Even if you don't know the name, the visuals are very familiar: think flapper girls in bobbed haircuts, candy-coloured Miami Beach architecture, French Riviera Hotels or New York's Empire State. The mood is light - it was a time to throw off the war years and show off. You will hear from fun-loving characters like Bertie Wooster and Lorelei Lee; about the lure of international travel in the writing of Ernest Hemingway or innovation in the music of Eric Satie. There is virtuosic showing off from Dorothy Parker and Agatha Christie as well as in Ravel, Germaine Tailleferre and Ella Fitzgerald. And we will touch too on the flipside of all this excess - this was after all a decade of fun that ended in economic depression - in writing from F Scott Fitzgerald and Claude Mackay and the music of Janacek.
The readers are Jessica Raine of The Devil's Hour and Call The Midwife with the Olivier-award-winning star of Hamilton, Giles Terera.

Readings:
Riviera Dreaming by Maureen Emerson
There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
Quartet by Jean Rhys
The Painted Veil by W Somerset Maugham
Symptom Recital by Dorothy Parker
My Man Jeeves by PG Wodehouse
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
Manhood by Michael Leiris
The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock
Jazzonia by Langston Hughes
Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
Art Deco's Bad Girl by Walker Mimms
The Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Evil Under The Sun by Agatha Christie
The Tropics in New York by Claude McKay
The Long Weekend by Adrian Tinniswood
The Second Coming by WB Yeats
Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
Echoes of the Jazz Age by F Scott Fitzgerald

Produced in Salford by Olive Clancy

15 days left to listen

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 27 Apr 2025 18:00

Music Played

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

  • 00:01

    Leos Janáček

    Sinfonietta, III: Moderato

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • Janacek: Sinfonietta: Rattle.
    • EMI.
    • 1.
  • Maureen Emerson

    Riviera Dreaming ready by Giles Terera

  • Sara Teasdale

    There Will Come Soft Rains read by Jessica Raine

  • 00:04

    George Gershwin

    An American In Paris

    Performer: Daniel Röhn.
    • Berlin Classics.
    • Tr 1.
  • Elizabeth Von Arnim

    The Enchanted April

  • Lola Ridge

    A Memory read by Giles Terera

  • 00:09

    Heitor Villa‐Lobos

    Choro no. 1 for guitar

    Performer: Carlos Bonell.
    • The Private Collection: Carlos Bonell.
    • Upbeat Classics.
    • 1.
  • Jean Rhys

    Quartet

  • 00:13

    Florence Price

    Symphony No 3 in C minor II

    Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: John Jeter.
    • Symphony No. 3, The Mississippi River & Ethiopia's Shadow in America.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.
  • 00:14

    Germaine Tailleferre

    Concertino for harp and orchestra: III. Rondo

    Performer: Nicanor Zabaleta.
    • Concertino for harp and orchestra: III. Rondo.
    • DG.
    • 1.
  • W Somerset Maugham

    The Painted Veil read by Giles Terera

  • Dorothy Parker

    Symptom Recital read by Jessica Raine

  • 00:20

    Duke Ellington

    Cotton Club Stomp

    Composer: Johnny Hodges. Composer: Harry Carney. Performer: Duke Ellington.
    • The Original Recordings That Inspired the Broadway Hit "AFTER MIDNIGHT".
    • Columbia/Legacy.
    • 1.
  • PG Wodehouse

    My Man Jeeves read by Giles Terera

  • 00:22

    Sandy Wilson

    The Riviera

    Performer: Showcast.
    • Dance Plant Records.
    • Tr 1.
  • Virginia Woolf

    Mrs Dalloway read by Jessica Raine

  • 00:25

    Zoltán Kodály

    Serenade Op .12 for 2 violins and viola: 1st mvt; Allegramente

    Performer: Vilmos Tátrai. Performer: István Várkonyi. Performer: György Konrád.
    • Hungaraton.
    • Tr 1.
  • Ernest Hemmingway

    The Sun Also Rises read by Giles Terera

  • 00:29

    George Antheil

    Hot-time dance for orchestra

    Conductor: Hugh Wolff. Orchestra: Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Antheil: Symphony No. 3 "American" & Other Works for Orchestra.
    • Naxos America.
    • 3.
  • Anita Loos

    Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

  • 00:32

    Friedrich Hollaender

    Falling in Love

    Performer: Marlene Dietrich.
    • Bringins Music.
    • Tr 14.
  • Michael Leiris

    Manhood read by Giles Terera

  • 00:36

    Duke Ellington

    The Mooche

    Performer: Duke Ellington. Orchestra: The Cotton Club Orchestra.
    • The Day it all Happened.
    • Barajazz.
    • 4.
  • Harry Craddock

    The Savoy Cocktail Book read by Jessica Raine

  • 00:38

    Eric Coates

    Moon Magic

    Orchestra: ѿý Concert Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Coates: Under The Stars - 17 Orchestral Miniatures.
    • Decca.
    • 1.
  • Langston Hughes

    Jazzonia read by Giles Terera

  • 00:41

    Louis Armstrong

    Muggles

    Performer: Louis Armstrong.
    • The Louis Armstrong Collection, Vol. 1: The First Decade 1923-32.
    • Acrobat.
    • 1.
  • Kate Atkinson

    Shrines of Gaiety read by Jessica Raine

  • 00:44

    Erik Satie

    La Belle excentrique - ballet: Can-can "Grande-Mondain"

    Performer: Jean-Pierre Armengaud. Performer: Michel Plasson. Orchestra: The Toulouse Capitole Orchestre.
    • Tout Satie!.
    • Erato.
    • 1.
  • Walker Mimms

    Art Deco’s Bad Girl, Still Ahead of Her Time read by Giles Terera

  • 00:46

    Lana Del Rey

    Art Deco

    Composer: Rick Nowels. Singer: Lana Del Rey.
    • Honeymoon.
    • Polydor.
    • 7.
  • Evelyn Waugh

    Vile Bodies read by Giles Terera

  • 00:48

    Bella Bartok

    Allegretto pizzicato (String Quartet No.4)

    Ensemble: Juilliard String Quartet.
    • The Six String Quartets.
    • Pearl.
    • 1.
  • Gladys Mitchell

    The Speedy Death read by Jessica Raine

  • 00:50

    Randy Newman

    Almost There (From "Princess and the Frog")

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Sally Herbert.
    • Disney Goes Classical.
    • Decca.
    • 1.
  • Theodore Dreiser

    An American Tragedy

  • 00:52

    Bedrich Smetana

    Quartet no. 1 in E minor (From my life) for strings, 1st movement; Allegro vivo

    Ensemble: Modigliani Quartet.
    • Grieg/Smetana.
    • Mirare.
    • 5.
  • Agatha Christie

    Evil Under the Sun read by Jessica Raine

  • 00:00

    Christopher Gunning

    Hercule Poirot Theme (Music Inspired by the Film)

    Performer: Marco Velocci.
    • Classical Creations.
    • Tr 1.
  • Claude McKay

    The Tropics in New York read by Giles Terera

  • 00:57

    Louis Armstrong

    Perdido Street Blues

    Performer: Johnny Dodds.
    • Universal.
    • Tr 12.
  • Adrian Tinniswood

    The Long Weekend read by Jessica Raine

  • 01:00

    Arnold Bax

    Tintagel

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3 - Bax: Tintagel.
    • Warner Chappell Music Ltd.
    • 1.
  • WB Yeats

    The Second Coming read by Giles Terera

  • 01:04

    Vernon Duke

    Autumn in New York

    Performer: Ella Fitzgerald. Performer: Louis Armstrong.
    • Ella and Louis.
    • Efor,S.L.
    • 1.
  • John Dos Pasos

    Manhattan Transfer read by Jessica Raine

  • 01:11

    Maurice Ravel

    Tzigane - rapsodie de concert, arr. for violin and orchestra [orig. for violin a

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti.
    • Deutsche Gramaphone.
    • Tr 5.
  • F Scott Fitzgerald

    Echoes of the Jazz Age read by Giles Terera

Broadcast

  • Sun 27 Apr 2025 18:00

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