Words and Music - Weary with Toil

Another chance to hear Harriet Walter and Robert Glenister read poetry and prose on a theme of work and toil by Shakespeare, Kathleen Jamie, Simon Armitage, John Clare and Carol Rumens. With music by Beethoven, Handel, Elvis Costello and Shostakovich. Readers: Harriet Walker and Robert Glenister Producer's Note I've chosen poetry on the theme of work in all its aspects: love of work, despair at the loss of work, the monotony of work, work in the fields and work on the shop floor. The programme starts with Simon Armitage's poem 'The White-Liners' and includes Ruth Padel's 'Builders' and Jo Shapcott's 'Work in the City'. Factory life and industry is heard in Christopher Logue's 'I've worked here all my life', Fred Voss' 'All the Way' and Carol Rumens' 'Jarrow'. Some of the music in the programme reflects this -Iron Foundry, Mosolov's socialist realist depiction of life in a Soviet factory, Elvis Costello's lament for the death of shipbuilding and Handel's slave song from his oratorio 'Theodora'. The political is touched on in Paul Robeson's 'Joe Hill', a song about the death of a labour activist. Rural life is heard in John Clare's 'Labour's Leisure' and in Wordsworth's 'The Solitary Reaper' with music from Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and George Butterworth's beautiful setting of A.E. Housman's 'Is my Team Ploughing?' The sequence ends with a Raymond Carver poem, written at the very end of his life, reflecting his love of work and Handel's 'The Harmonious Blacksmith'. Fiona McLean (producer) Playlist CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN Le staccatissimo 12 Etudes Dans Les Tons Mineurs, Op 39 Jack Gibbons, Piano ASV CDDCS227 SIMON ARMITAGE The White-Liners Robert Glenister (reader) GEORGE ANTHEIL Ballet Mecanique Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra Conductor - Daniel Spalding NAXOS 8559060 FRED VOSS All the way Fred Voss (reader) EWAN MACCOLL My Old Man Black and White COOKCD 038 CHRISTOPHER LOGUE I've worked here all my life Robert Glenister (reader) MOSOLOV Iron Foundry Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Conductor - Riccardo Chailly DECCA 436 640-2 CAROL RUMENS Jarrow Harriet Walter (reader) ELVIS COSTELLO Shipbuilding The Best of Elvis Costello COLUMBIA CK 40101 RUTH PADEL Builders Harriet Walter (reader) SHOSTAKOVICH The Golden Age Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra RD CD 10 009 SIMON ARMITAGE CV Robert Glenister (reader) STEVE REICH Piano Phase Phase Patterns, Pendulum Music, Piano Phase, Four Organs Ensemble Avantgarde WERGO WER 6630-2 JO SHAPCOTT Work in the City Harriet Walter (reader) CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN Barcarolle 12 Etudes Dans Les Tons Mineurs, Op 39 Jack Gibbons, piano ASV CDDCS227 KATHLEEN JAMIE Flower Sellers, Budapest Harriet Walter (reader) PAUL ROBESON Joe Hill Songs of Free Men SONY MHK 63223 GRACE NICHOLS Water Pot Harriet Walter (reader) HANDEL Theodora Gabrieli Consort and Players Conductor - Paul McCreesh ARCIV PRODUKTION 469 061-2 JOHN CLARE Labours Leisure Robert Glenister (reader) BEETHOVEN Pastoral Symphony (final movement) Berliner Philharmoniker Conductor - Herbert von Karajan WILLIAM WORDSWORTH The Solitary Reaper Robert Glenister (reader) SCHUBERT At Evening after Work Die Schone Mullerin Gerald Moore, piano Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 415 186-2 SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 27 Harriet Walter (reader) GYORGY LIGETI Clocks and Clouds The Ligeti Project III TELDEC 8573876312 AUGUST KLEINZAHLER Staying Home from Work Harriet Walter (reader) EILEAN NI CHUILLEANAIN Swineherd Robert Glenister (reader) JUNE TABOR The Cloud Factory At the Wood's Heart TOPIC TSCD557 ROSEMARY DOBSON Folding the Sheets Harriet Walter (reader) GEORGE BUTTERWORTH Is my team ploughing? Six Songs from 'A Shropshire Lad' The Vagabond Bryn Terfel, baritone Malcolm Martineau, piano DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4459462 STEPHEN ROMER Work Harriet Walter (reader) RAYMOND CARVER Work Robert Glenister (reader) HANDEL Air and Variations, The Harmonious Blacksmith Trevor Pinnock, Harpsichord ARCHIV 413912