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The Opium of the People

John Sessions and Claire Harry read texts on the subject of Faith and Atheism by Nietzsche, Philip Larkin, Lucretius, Karl Marx and Charles Darwin with music by Beethoven, Richard Strauss, Janacek, Byrd and Mahler.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 Apr 2012 18:30

Music Played

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

  • Friedrich Nietzsche

    Also sprach Zarathustra, Prologue, reader John Sessions

  • 00:00

    Richard Strauss

    Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30

    Performer: Philadelphia Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch (conductor)

    • EMI 5 56364 2 Tr1.
  • Friedrich Nietzsche

    Also sprach Zarathustra, Backworldsmen, reader John Sessions

  • 00:05

    Fonseca

    Lagartija azul

    Composer: Fonseca

    • Manteca MANTDCD244 CD2 Tr2.
  • Fulke Greville

    Chorus Sacerdotum from Mustapha, reader Claire Harry

  • 00:09

    William Byrd

    Fantasia Γ‘ 6 No. 2

    Performer: Phantasm

    • Simax PSC 1143 Tr1.
  • 00:14

    Jean Sibelius

    Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82, 3rd movement (excerpt)

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis (conductor)

    • RCA 09026 61963 2 Tr6.
  • Karl Marx

    Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, reader John Sessions

  • Emily Dickinson

    This World is not Conclusion, reader Claire Harry

  • 00:23

    Aaron Copland

    Appalachian Spring Suite (excerpt)

    Performer: City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox (conductor)

    • Virgin 5 61702 2 Tr6.
  • 00:26

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, Variations 1 & 2

    Performer: Julian Rachlin (violin), Nobuko Imai (viola), Mischa Maisky (cello)

    • DG 477 637 8 Tr2-3.
  • Charles Darwin

    On the Origins of Species (6th Edition, excerpt), reader John Sessions

  • Robert Frost

    Design, reader Claire Harry

  • 00:29

    Leos JanÑček

    The Cunning Little Vixen, orchestral suite (excerpt)

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras (conductor)

    • Decca 475 867 CD2 Tr10.
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley

    Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, reader John Sessions

  • 00:34

    Leos JanÑček

    The Cunning Little Vixen, orchestral suite (excerpt)

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras (conductor)

    • Decca 475 867 CD2 Tr10.
  • Wallace Stevens

    High-Toned Old Christian Woman, reader Claire Harry

  • 00:43

    Charles Trenet

    Y'a de la joie

    Performer: Charles Trenet and His Orchestra

    • ASV AJA 5166 Tr2.
  • Lucretius

    De Rerum Naturae, Book 5 (excerpt), reader John Sessions

  • 00:47

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130, 5th movement

    Performer: Busch Quartet

    • EMI 5 09655 2 CD2 Tr9.
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

    Fears in Solitude (excerpt), reader Claire Harry

  • 00:56

    Carl Nielsen

    Helios Overture (excerpt)

    Performer: Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky (conductor)

    • Chandos CHAN 9287 Tr1.
  • 00:59

    Philip Glass

    Anima Mundo, The Garden (excerpt)

    Performer: Choir and Orchestra, Michael Riesman (conductor)

    • Elektra Nonesuch 7559 79329 2 Tr3.
  • attrib. Laozi

    Tao Te Ching, reader John Sessions

  • Anon

    Upanishad (excerpt), reader John Sessions

  • Anon

    Bhagavad Gita (excerpt), reader John Sessions

  • 01:03

    C. H. Lloyd

    Psalm 137: By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept

    Performer: Westminster Abbey Choir, Andrew Lumsden (organ), Martin Neary (conductor)

    • Virgin 7243 4 45036 2 Tr15.
  • Philip Larkin

    Church Going, reader Claire Harry

  • William Wordsworth

    Tintern Abbey (excerpt), reader John Sessions

  • 01:10

    Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No. 3 in D minor, Langsam (excerpt)

    Performer: Royal Scottish Orchestra, Neeme JΓ€rvi (conductor)

    • Chandos 9117 CD2 Tr3.
  • D. H. Lawrence

    The Ship of Death (excerpt), reader Claire Harry

Broadcasts

  • Sun 13 Feb 2011 22:15
  • Sun 15 Apr 2012 18:30

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