Carnival
Poetry, prose and music evoking the spirit of carnival, with readings by actors Saskia Reeves and Tom Hiddleston. With music by Saint-Saens and Verdi, plus works by Poe and Byron.
Turn the world upside down, break all the rules and let the dead talk to the living and what have you got? Nothing less than the spirit of Carnival. This week Words and Music takes its cue from Rome's Saturnalia and the gris gris of New Orleans.
Carnival may be about laughter and licence but it also acknowledges darkness and unease. It's a kind of whistling in the dark and a kind of exorcism. It gives physical form to our fears and with its clowns, zombies and ritual helps us to reconcile ourselves to the obscene, the terrible and the outrageously wonderful in our lives. Most, if not all of us watch and all of us sometimes wear the mask and join the dance.
Musical intoxication is supplied by the likes of Saint Saens, Constant Lambert, Verdi and Berlioz and the verbal fireworks come courtesy of Edgar Allan Poe, Byron, Elizabeth Bishop, ee cummings, Malcolm Lowry and Goethe with the actors Saskia Reeves and Tom Hiddleston as the Lords of Misrule.
Last on
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
-
Camille Saintâ€Saëns
Introduction to the Carnival of the Animals and the Royal March of the Lion
Performer: London Sinfonietta with Pascal Roge and Christina Ortiz conducted by Riccardo Muti
- Carnaval des Animaux.
- DECCA 4144602.
-
Lord Byron
Beppo read by Tom Hiddleston
Camille Saintâ€Saëns
Kangaroos
Performer: London Sinfonietta with Pascal Roge and Christina Ortiz conducted by Riccardo Muti
- Carnaval des Animaux.
- DECCA 4144602.
Lord Byron
Beppo read by Tom Hiddleston
Camille Saintâ€Saëns
Persons with long ears
Performer: London Sinfonietta with Pascal Roge and Christina Ortiz conducted by Riccardo Muti
- Carnaval des Animaux.
- DECCA 4144602.
Lord Byron
Beppo read by Tom Hiddleston
Robert Schumann
Pierrot
Performer: Vladimir Ashkenaszy
- Piano Works.
- DECCA 4210102.
ee cummings
A Clown’s smirk in the skull of a baboon read by Saskia Reeves
Arnold Schoenberg
Enthauptung
Performer: Castellani, Marc and Staatskapelle Dresden.
- Pierrot Lunaire Erwartung.
- TELDEC 3984229012.
Angela Carter
extract from Nights at the Circus read by Saskia Reeves
Mac Rebennack
I walk on Gilded Splinters
Performer: Dr John
- The Very Best of Dr. John.
- RHINO 9548335532.
Mighty Sparrow
Sa Sa Yea
Performer: Mighty Sparrow
- 16 Carnival Hits Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener.
- ICE 920902.
Malcolm Lowry
Extract from Under the Volcano read by Saskia Reeves
Hector Berlioz
Le Carnaval Romain
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis
- Symphonie Fantastique.
- PHILIPS 4222532.
Goethe
Moccoli (Translator: W.H. Auden and Elizabeth Mayer) read by Saskia Reeves
Hector Berlioz
Le Carnaval Romain
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis
- Symphonie Fantastique.
- PHILIPS 4222532.
Elizabeth Bishop
The Armadillo read by Saskia Reeves
Gene Moore
Dark Footsteps
Performer: Gene Moore
- Carnival of Souls.
- BIRDMAN BMR012.
Edgar Allan Poe
from The Masque of the Red Death read by Tom Hiddleston
Gene Moore
from Profane –Sacrilege and reprise of Dark Footsteps
Performer: Gene Moore
- Carnival of Souls.
- BIRDMAN BMR012.
W.B. Yeats
The Circus Animals’ Desertion read by Tom Hiddleston
Igor Stravinsky
Si tum m'ami from Pulcinella
Performer: Philharmonia Orchestra
- Stravinsky: Pulcinella.
- NAXOS 8557503.
Anna Akhmatova
The Verdict (Translator: Max Hayward and Stanley Kunitz) read by Saskia Reeves
Constant Lambert
Intrata from Summer's Last Will and Testament
Performer: The Chorus of Opera North, The Leeds Festival Chorus, English Northern Philharmonia
- Summer’s Last Will and Testament.
- HYPERION CDA66565.
Dana Gioia
Sunday Night in Santa Rosa read by Saskia Reeves
Giuseppe Verdi
Ella e pura aria
Performer: Placido Domingo conducted by Riccardo Muti
- Un Ballo in Maschera.
- EMI CMS7695762.
Broadcasts
- Sun 17 May 2009 22:15Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3
- Thu 30 Dec 2010 17:00Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3