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Bradford

From Arthur Butterworth's Path Across the Moors to the 'mean streets' in AA Dhand's Virdee crime novels; famous concerts at St George's Hall to the play Rita, Sue and Bob Too.

As the city of Bradford hosts the New Music Biennial, which is being recorded for broadcast by Radio 3, this week's Words and Music brings us a mix of old and new writing and music evoking the city and its surrounds - from the drama of the moors to the quiet beauty of surrounding farmland; from the legacy of the Industrial Revolution to the multi-cultural magic of today. You will hear the music of Delius, of Jasdeep Singh Degun and Hans Zimmer - who imagines a woman from Bradford as the critical listener to all his film scores. There’ll be the emotional power of the Brontes, the wisdom of JB Priestley and the contemporary zip of AA Dhand's Virdee. We’ll hear how some of Bradford’s brilliant sons and daughters experienced the city, from the biography of the artist David Hockney to the memoir of the broadcaster Anita Rani to the working class playwright Andrea Dunbar who wrote Rita, Sue and Bob Too.

Our readers are Vinette Robinson who starred in Boiling Point and Enzo Cilenti of Game of Thrones and The Serpent Queen.

Readings:
Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day by Anne Brontë
Low Moor Iron Works 1829 by John Nicolson
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Music of Frederick Delius by Jeremy Dibble
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to Waggonhouses by Marjorie Olive Whitaker
Windy Ridge by William Riley
Bright Day by JB Priestley
Hockney, the biography by Christopher Sykes
Rita, Sue and Bob too by Andrea Dunbar
Bradford by Susanna Clark
The audiobook of The Right Kind of Girl by Anita Rani
The Family Tree by Sairish Hussain
BFD by Kirsty Taylor, performed by the poet
Hive Mother’s Prayer by Rachel Bower
The Blasphemers' Banquet by Tony Harrison
Streets of Darkness by AA Dhand
Bradford by Joolz Denby

The programme also includes an extract of Spinnin' and Weavin' about the Bradford-born cricketer Adil Rashid written and performed by Eddie Lawler

Produced in Salford by Olive Clancy

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 8 Jun 2025 18:00
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:01

    Frederick Delius

    On hearing the first cuckoo in spring RT.6.19 for orchestra

    Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder.
    • On hearing the first cuckoo in spring RT.6.19 for orchestra.
    • Halle.
    • 6.

  • Anne Bronte

    Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day read by Vinette Robinson

  • John Nicholson

    Low Moor Iron Works 1829 read by Enzo Cilenti

  • 00:04

    Handel Parker

    Deep Harmony, hymn tune

    Performer: Black Dyke Band.
    • Black Dyke Band Celebrate 150 Years.
    • Chandos.
    • 7.

  • Charlotte Bronte

    Jane Eyre read by Vinette Robinson

  • 00:07

    Arthur Butterworth

    Path Across the Moors

    Performer: Gavin Sutherland. Orchestra: Royal Ballet Sinfornia.
    • The Best of British Light Music.
    • Decca.
    • 16.

  • Benjamin Myers

    The Gallows Pole read by Enzo Cilenti

  • 00:12

    Sting

    Black Seam

    Performer: Swan Arcade.
    • Fellside Recordings Ltd.
    • Tr1.

  • Emily Bronte

    Wuthering Heights read by Emily Bronte

  • 00:14

    Alfred Newman

    Cathy's Theme from Wuthering Heights

    Composer: Angela Morley. Performer: Itzhak Perlman. Performer: Angela Morley.
    • Cinema Serenade II – The Golden Age.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 12.

  • Jeremy Dibble

    The Music of Frederick Delius read by Vinette Robinson

  • 00:17

    Frederick Delius

    North Country Sketches IV March of Spring

    Performer: Hallé.
    • Halle.
    • Tr7.
  • 00:12

    Sting

    Black Seam

    Ensemble: Swan Arcade.
    • Swan Arcade – Round Again.
    • Fellside Recordings.
    • 1.
  • 00:17

    Frederick Delius

    North Country Sketches IV March of Spring

    Orchestra: Hallé.
    • Frederick Delius: Orchestral Music.
    • Halle.
    • 7.
  • 00:19

    William Vincent Wallace

    Maritana

    Composer: Edward Fitzball. Orchestra: RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Director: Majella Cullagh.
    • Wallace: Maritana.
    • Marco Polo.
    • 3.

  • Marjorie Olive Whitaker writing as Malachi Whitaker

    ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to Waggonhouses read by Vinette Robinson

  • 00:21

    William Christopher Handy

    St Louis Blues

    Ensemble: Dizzy Gillespie Quintet.
    • Have Trumpet Will Excite!.
    • Fresh Sounds.
    • 5.

  • William Riley

    Windy Ridge read by Enzo Cilenti

  • 00:26

    Eric Fenby

    Rossini on Ilka Moor – Overture (1938)

    Performer: Royal Ballet Sinfonia.
    • Decca.
    • Tr11.

  • JB Priestley

    Bright Day read by Enzo Cilenti

  • 00:31

    Franz Schubert

    Trio in B Flat Major D898 for piano and strings second movement

    Performer: Christian Tetzlaff. Performer: Tanja Tetzlaff.
    • Naxos, ondine.
    • Tr2.

  • Hockney

    Christopher Skyes read by Vinette Robinson

  • 00:40

    Sergey Rachmaninov

    5 Morceaux de Fantaisie – No 1 Elegie

    Performer: Yuja Wang.
    • UME.
    • Tr8.

  • Andrea Dunbar

    Rita, Sue and Bob Too performed by Vinette Robinson and Enzo Cilenti

  • 00:45

    Mike Chapman

    Back to Bradford

    Composer: Nicky Chinn. Ensemble: Smokie.
    • Don’t Play Your Rock’n’Roll to Me.
    • Ariola Express.
    • 6.

  • Susanna Clark

    Bradford, read by Vinette Robinson

  • 00:47

    Ernest Tomlinson

    Kielder Water

    Performer: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Marco Polo.
    • Tr4.

  • Anita Rani

    Extract from the audiobook The Right Kind of Girl, read by Anita Rani

  • 00:52

    Jasdeep Singh Degun

    RPS Veer

    Performer: Jasdeep Singh Degun. Ensemble: Millenia String Quartet.
    • Jasdeep Singh Degun and Millenia String Quartet.
    • Real World Records.
    • 1.

  • Eddie Lawler

    Spinnin and Weavin, courtesy of the artist

  • Sairish Hussain

    The Family Tree read by Vinette Robinson

  • 00:56

    Ryuichi Sakamoto

    The Wuthering Heights

    Performer: Ryuichi Sakamoto.
    • Opus.
    • Milan.
    • 12.

  • Kirsty Taylor

    BFD performed by Kirsty Taylor

  • 00:59

    Cecil Armstrong Gibbs

    The Flooded Stream

    Performer: Geraldine McGreevy. Performer: Roger Vignoles.
    • Cecil Armstrong Gibbs: Songs.
    • Hyperion.
    • 32.

  • Rachel Bower

    Hive Mother’s Prayer read by Vinette Robinson

  • Tony Harrison

    The Blasphemers Banquet read by Enzo Cilenti

  • 01:04

    Reena Esmail

    Varsha

    Performer: Clare Bryant.
    • Bright Shiny Things.
    • Tr3.

  • AA Dhand

    Streets of Darkness read by Enzo Cilenti

  • 01:07

    Hans Zimmer

    Time

    Performer: Hans Zimmer.
    • Water Tower Music.
    • Tr12.

  • Joolz Denby

    Bradford (extract) read by Vinette Robinson

  • 01:11

    Edward Elgar

    Salut D'Amour (arr. for cello and piano)

    Performer: Johannes Moser. Performer: Richard Uttley.
    • Elgar.
    • Platoon Ltd.
    • 1.

Broadcast

  • Sun 8 Jun 2025 18:00
    ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3

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