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Moonstruck

Poetry, prose and music about the moon, read by Art Malik and Alexandra Gilbreath. With texts by WB Yeats, Charles Baudelaire and Virginia Woolf, and music by Schumann and Debussy.

Art Malik and Alexandra Gilbreath read poetry and prose that explores our ancient and continuing fascination with the moon, in various guises: as a symbol of purity, as a capricious, changeable being, as an object to reach in the imagination and through scientific exploration. With texts by Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare, Charles Baudelaire, Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath, and music from Mendelssohn, Debussy, Schumann, Judy Garland, and Radiohead.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 17 Jan 2016 17:30
麻豆约拍 Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Francesco Cavalli

    La Calisto - opera in a prologue and 3 acts

    Conductor: Ren茅 Jacobs. Performer: Concerto Vocale.
    • HM.
    • HMC-1.

  • Ben Jonson

    Hymn to Diana read by Art Malik

  • 00:00

    Felix Mendelssohn

    A Midsummer night's dream - incidental music Op.61

    Conductor: Charles Mackerras. Performer: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
    • VIRGIN CLASSICS.
    • VC 7 90725--2.

  • William Shakespeare

    A Midsummer Night's Dream听(opening) read by Art Malik and Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:04

    Gabriel Faur茅

    La Bonne chanson Op.61 for voice and piano

    Performer: Ian Bostridge. Performer: Julius Drake.
    • EMI CLASSICS.
    • 5 57-609 2.
  • 00:07

    Richard Strauss

    Capriccio - opera in 1 act Op.85 [1940-41]

    Conductor: Neeme J盲rvi. Performer: Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
    • CHANDOS.
    • CHAN-7113.

  • Virginia Woolf

    Night & Day (extract from Chapter 5) read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:10

    Judy Garland

    Burton Lane - Old Devil Moon

    • CAPITOL.
    • CDR 7-48426 2.
  • 00:13

    Claude Debussy

    Suite bergamasque for piano

    Performer: Zolt谩n Kocsis.
    • PHILIPS.
    • 412-118-2.

  • Charles Baudelaire

    The Gifts of the moon read by Art Malik

  • 00:19

    Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k

    Rusalka - lyric fairy tale in 3 acts B.203, Op.114

    Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda. Performer: Anna Netrebko. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • DG 474 240-2.
  • 00:24

    Camille Saint鈥怱a毛ns

    Tarantelle Op.6, arr. for flute, clarinet & piano [orig. for fl, clarinet & orch]

    Performer: Nash Ensemble.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDA-67431/2.

  • WB Yeats

    The Cat and the moon听read by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:27

    Moscow S O

    Frank Skinner/Hans Salter - The Wolf Man main title/The Kill (extracts)

    Conductor: William T. Stromberg.
    • MARCO POLO.
    • 8-223747.

  • Curt Siodmak

    Even a man who is pure in heart read by Art Malik

  • Julian Hawthorne

    Were-Wolf read by Art Malik

  • 00:27

    Van Morrison - Moondance

    • WARNER.
    • 7599-27326 2.
  • 00:32

    Benjamin Britten

    4 Sea interludes [from 'Peter Grimes'] Op.33a [concert version]

    Conductor: Benjamin Britten. Performer: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
    • LONDON.
    • 425-659-2.

  • Federico Garcia Lorca

    Moon Rising听read by Art Malik

  • 00:36

    Santiago de Murcia

    Prelude y allegro for guitar [1714]

    Performer: William Carter.
    • LINN RECORDS.
    • CKD-288.

  • Percy Shelley

    The Moon听read by Alexandra Gilbreath听

  • 00:38

    Arnold Schoenberg

    Pierrot lunaire Op.21 for voice and ensemble

    Conductor: David Atherton. Performer: Mary Thomas. Performer: London Sinfonietta.
    • DECCA.
    • 425-626 2.

  • Sylvia Plath

    The Moon and the yew tree听read by Alexandra Gilbreath听

  • 00:40

    Robert Schumann

    Liederkreis Op.39

    Performer: Sir Andr谩s Schiff. Performer: Robert Holl.
    • DECCA.
    • 436-123 2.
  • 00:43

    Joseph Haydn

    Il Mondo della luna - dramma giocoso in 3 acts H.28.7

    Conductor: Antal Dor谩ti. Performer: Lausanne Chamber Orchestra.
    • PHILIPS.
    • 432-420-2.

  • Cyrano de Bergerac

    Journey to the Moon (extract) read by Art Malik

  • 00:45

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Atmospheres

    Conductor: Claudio Abbado. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 429-260-2.

  • May Swenson

    Landing on the Moon ready by Alexandra Gilbreath

  • 00:53

    Radiohead

    Radiohead - Sail to the Moon

    • PARLOPHONE.
    • 584-543 2.

  • Carol Ann Duffy

    Woman in the Moon read by Alexandra Gilbreath

Producer's Note - Moonstruck

Throughout history the heavens above us have been a source of great fascination, and especially our closest neighbour, the moon.听 It is a perpetual companion in our lives, central to many myths, legends and religions, and it has provided writers and musicians with a rich source of inspiration. The Ancient Greeks allied the moon with Diana, goddess of the hunt, who was seen as pure and chaste and celebrated for her constancy, as invoked by Ben Jonson.

The waxing and waning of the moon鈥檚 cycle give it another character 鈥� that of a capricious being, changeable on a whim, something that can interfere with human events, lives and loves.听 Shakespeare explored this theme many times, including in A Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dream, as haveVirginia Woolf in Night and Day and Baudelaire, in his prose-poem, The Gifts of the Moon.听 Musically, many composers have linked the moon with affairs of the heart, and here we have Dvorak鈥檚 Rusalka, Faure鈥檚 La lune blanche, and the show tune, That old devil moon.

The animal kingdom has not escaped the moon鈥檚 influence either, and WB Yeats finds common traits between a cat and the moon.听 Human transformation is a topic that needs inclusion too 鈥� the superstition of vampires and werewolves during a full moon has given rise to a whole genre of melodramatic fiction, and to a colourful range of films.

Britten鈥檚 Sea Interlude portrays the moon鈥檚 effects on the water, leading on to the effects of the moon on personality. The Greek philosopher Aristotle thought that the brain was the 鈥榤oistest鈥� organ in the body, and therefore highly susceptible to the influence of the moon, thus linking the moon with madness. Unfortunate ladies in the 19th century in particular were portrayed as lunatics, and Percy Shelley reflects this.

Attitudes to the moon have changed with scientific development. The telescope has brought it closer and its surface has been examined and mapped out. Moon travel has been explored in science fiction by Jules Verne and HG Wells among others, but Cyrano de Bergerac got there earlier in 1657, with his Voyage to the Moon, a satirical, and, at the time, blasphemous story, which asks what would happen if the moon was really the earth, and our earth was its moon, as his intrepid explorer discovers. A century later Haydn uses the idea of moon travel as the backdrop to a fanciful comic opera, while the music of Ligeti was famously used by Stanley Kubrick in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

May Swenson expresses the anxiety as well as the celebration which accompanied the Apollo landing in 1969, when science fact caught up with science fiction.听 What effect would this have on our relationship with the moon? The final word is left to

Carol Ann Duffy, who looks back askance from the moon to the earth today.

听

Producer: Janet Tuppen

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