Words and Music - The Ringing Grooves of Change

The starting point for this week’s Words and Music is a quotation from Tennyson’s ‘Locksley Hall’, the poem read by Judi Dench in BBC TV’s adaptation of Cranford recently. By ‘the ringing grooves of change’ Tennyson was referring to the pressure imposed on people by change, in his experience the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution. Revolutions – and periods of change - during history have always inspired poets and composers. Sometimes they’ve written in direct response to events and sometimes more obliquely. During the French Revolution poets like Blake, Wordsworth and Shelley responded very quickly to what was happening as did composers like Lefevre and Gossec: in the programme you’ll hear Lefevre’s ‘Hymne a l’Agriculture’ and Gossec’s ‘March Symphonie Militaire’ as well as extracts from Wordsworth’s ‘The Prelude’. The Spanish Civil War too inspired writers like George Orwell and Stephen Spender and composers like Samuel Barber who wrote a choral setting of Spender’s ‘A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map’ in response to the conflict in Spain. In Russia Shostakovich lived through the October Revolution, the Civil War and two World Wars as well as the horrors of Stalinism. And, although he remained loyal to the ideals of the October Revolution he, along with other poets and composers, detested Stalin. This is all expressed in his music including the piece in the programme, ‘In the Deserted Village’ from ‘The Fall of Berlin’. Although the piece expresses the horror of war it was written for a film which was presented to Stalin as a present on his seventieth birthday, an indication of the difficulties faced by artists during this period of Russian history. Poets like Alexander Blok had a complex response to what was happening in Russia, moving from idealism to disgust at the aftermath of revolution in poems like ‘On the Field of Kulicovo’. The programme though ends on a note of optimism and hope with Arthur Hugh Clough’s ‘Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth’ and Beethoven’s ‘Egmont Overture’. Fiona McLean - producer. Tracklist. ARTUR VINCENT LOURIE Prelude - Suite Christian Ockert - double bass Leipziger Streichquartett MDG 307 1192-2 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH The Prelude Adrian Lukis (reader) FREDERIC CHOPIN Etude in C Minor, opus 10 Vladimir Horowitz - piano SONY CLASSICAL SMK90428 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH The Prelude Penny Downie (reader) LEFEVRE Hymne a l'Agriculture The Wallace Collection John Wallace - conductor NIMBUS NI5175 LORD BYRON from Don Juan Adrian Lukis (reader) JANE AUSTEN from Pride and Prejudice Penny Downie (reader) GOSSEC Symphonie Militaire - Larghetto The Wallace Collection John Wallace - conductor NIMBUS NI5175 TRADITIONAL Song on Liberty Music of the American Revolution Sherrill Milnes - baritone Jon Spong - harpsichord NEW WORLD 802762 LOUIS SPOHR Quartet no 34 in E Flat Major - Larghetto con moto Moscow Philharmonic 'Concertino' String Quartet MARCO POLO 8225307 GEORGE ORWELL from Homage to Catalonia Neville Jason (reader) PAUL ROBESON The Four Insurgent Generals 'Songs for Free Men' PEARL GEMMCD9264 ALEKSANDR BLOK On the Field of Kulicovo Penny Downie (reader) ALEXANDER MOSOLOV Oh, You Russians, Good Warriors String Quartet no 2 'On Patriotic Themes of 1812' Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble TRITON 17004 W.B. YEATS The Second Coming Adrian Lukis (reader) SAMUEL BARBER A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map Cambridge University Chamber Choir GAMUT CLASSICS GAMCD535 ANNA AKHMATOVA Prologue and Epilogue Penny Downie (reader) DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH In the Devastated Village The Fall of Berlin Moscow Symphony Orchestra Adriano - conductor NAXOS 8570238 HANNS EISLER In die Stadte kam ich Hollywood Songbook Dietrich Fischer Dieskau - baritone Aribert Reimann - piano TELDEC 4509974592 ROBINSON JEFFERS Shine, Republic Adrian Lukis (reader) KATHLEEN RAINE Change Penny Downie (reader) JONI MITCHELL Slouching Towards Bethlehem Night Ride Home GEFFEN 9243022 PHILIP LARKIN Homage to a Government Adrian Lukis (reader) BEETHOVEN Egmont Overture op 84 Berliner Philharmoniker Herbert von Karajan - conductor DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4155062 ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH from The Bothie Adrian Lukis (reader)