Words and Music - The Year

This edition of Words and Music explores the changing seasons for the first programme of the New year. Andrew Lincoln and Emma Fielding read a selection of poetry interspersed with seasonal music. I chose Ted Hughes' Seasons Songs as a thread for the programme. These fine poems are full of sharp observation and the feeling of natural forces of destruction and renewal. Alongside Ted Hughes, I chose a range of poetry which picked up on these themes from Thomas Hardy, Robert Frost and William Blake among others. I selected some music directly linked to seasons - from Piazzolla's atmospheric tangos from Kremerata Baltica, to Cage's studies in sound for his Seasons and the legendary recording of Gershwin's Summertime from Sarah Vaughan. At other times, there's abstract music which seemed to match the mood of the readings. Fretwork's recording of Byrd leads to Robert Grave's A Prayer for Spring; Steve Reich's Music for mallet instruments, voices and organ matches picks up on the "famous express" of Hughes' Deceptions leading to Gerald Manley Hopkins's poem about the cuckoo where "the whole landscape flushes on a sudden at a sound". A centre point for the programme is Samuel Barber's Summer Music in a vibrant recording by the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet which leads to the playful poem "Hay" by Ted Hughes. The programme draws to a close with DH Lawrence's elegy for winter, and Ligeti's sparse Atmospheres. I end with Tennyson's poem, Death of the Old Year which beautifully depicts the feeling of loss at the end of the year, and tentative hope as a new year begins. Jessica Isaacs (producer) Readers: Emma Fielding (EF) and Andrew Lincoln (AL) 00:00:00 Sir Michael Tippett: New Year space ship landing Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by R. Hickox Chandos CHAN 9299 Tk 5 00:00:05 Ted Hughes: New Year Song (EF) 00:01:40 Let an anthem praise Parley of instruments and Peter Holman Hyperion CDA66924 Tk 2 00:04:15 Thomas Hardy At the entering of the New Year (AL & EF) 00:05:45 Byrd: Te lucis a 4 no 2, verse 2 Fretwork Virgin classics VC5450312 Tk 21 00:07:00 Robert Frost 'A Prayer in Spring' (EF) 00:08:30 Mahler arr Berio: Fruhlingsmorgen Andreas Schmidt (baritone) Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by C. Garben RCA 09026611842 Tk 12 00:10:00 Ted Hughes: March morning unlike others (AL) 00:11:30 Piazzolla: Primavera portena Gidon Kremer/Kremerata Baltica Nonesuch 7559795682 Tk 16 00:13:20 Chaucer: General Prologue from Canterbury Tales read in Middle English by Trevor Eaton Pearl GEM0160 00:14:20 In the merry month of May Deller Consort/Alfred Deller Vanguard 08503971 Tk 23 00:16:00 Wordsworth: Lines written in Early Spring (AL) 00:17:00 Richard Rodgers June is burstin out all over (from Carousel) Claramae Turner, Barbara Ruick and mixed chorus Capitol CDP7466352 Tk 6 00:21:00 Reich: Music for mallet instruments, voices and organ Amiata ARNR0393 Tk 1 00:21:20 Ted Hughes: Deceptions (AL & EF) 00:22:20 Gerald Manley Hopkins: Repeat that, repeat (AL) 00:25:20 Barber: Summer Music Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet BIS CD952BIS Tk 1 00:36:30 Ted Hughes: Hay (EF) 00:37:30 Sumer is a-comin in The Dufay Collective Chandos Chan 9396 Tk 20 00:42:00 Piazzolla: Verano porteno Gidon Kremer and Kremer Baltica Nonesuch 7559795682 Tk 4 00:43:40 William Blake: The schoolboy (AL) 00:44:40 Cage: Seasons Margaret Leng Tan: prepared piano, toy piano American Composers Orchestra conducted by D. Russell Davies ECM 4651402 Tk 4 00:46:00 Summertime Sarah Vaughan Mercury 83069922 Tk 12 00:49:00 Ted Hughes: The Harvest moon (EF) 00:50:00 El-Khoury: Autumn leaves Orchestre Colonne conducted by P. Dervaux Naxos 8557692 Tk 7 00:53:00 Rossetti: Autumn Song (AL) 00:53:30 Ted Hughes: Leaves (EF & AL) 00:54:20 Ligeti: Autumn at Varsovie Toros Can (piano) Empreinte Digitale Ed 13125 Tk 6 00:56:15 Ted Hughes: The Seven Sorrows (EF) 00:57:45 Vivaldi: Concerto in F major, Op 8 no 3 Adagio molto Gidon Kremer & Kremerata Baltica Tk 10 01:00:30 Thomas Hardy: Darkling Thrush (AL) 01:01:36 Cage: The Seasons American Composers Orchestra conducted by D. Russell Davies ECM 4651402 Tk 2 01:03:00 Ted Hughes: Warrior of Winter (EF) 01:04:00 DH Lawrence: A Winter’s Tale (AL) 01:05:00 Ligeti: Atmospheres Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by C. Abbado DG 4292602 Tk 2 01:07:00 Ted Hughes: Warm and Cold (EF) 01:08:00 Lux Hodie The Boston Camerata Nonesuch 71315 Tk 9 01:09:00 Tennyson: Death of the Old Year (EF) 01:12:00 Byrd: Miserere a 4 Fretwork Virgin classics VC5450312 Tk 22