Idleness
The art of doing nothing, with music by Hoagy Carmichael, Debussy and The Kinks and words by Keats, Jerome K. Jerome and Tennyson read by Claudie Blakley and Tony Haygarth.
The weekly sequence of music, poetry and prose celebrates the art of doing nothing much at all. Claudie Blakley and Tony Haygarth rise from their couches to explore the idle thoughts of Keats, Jerome K. Jerome, Tennyson, Kenneth Grahame and Michel de Montaigne among others, and there is music from the likes of Debussy, Hoagy Carmichael, Vivaldi, Delius and The Kinks. Tune in if you can be bothered...
First broadcast in April 2011.
Last on
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00Johnny Mercer & Hoagy Carmichael - Lazybones
Performer: Hoagy Carmichael (voice & piano)
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Silas Weir Mitchell
Idleness, reader Claudie Blakley
Michel de Montaigne
On Idleness, from βEssaysβ (excerpt), reader Tony Haygarth
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00:07Kurt Weill
Sloth from 'The Seven Deadly Sins'
Performer: Members of Hudson Shad, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies (conductor)
- RCA 74321601192 Tr2.
Jerome K. Jerome
The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (excerpt), reader Tony Haygarth
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00:12The Kinks
Sunny Afternoon
Composer: Ray Davies
- Essential ESSCD592 Disc 1 Tr13.
James Thomson
Summer from βThe Seasonsβ (excerpt), reader Tony Haygarth
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00:17FrΓ©dΓ©ric Chopin - Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20
Performer: LlΕ·r Williams (piano)
Plato, translator Robert Bridges
Country Music, reader Claudie Blakley
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00:19Claude Debussy
Prélude à l'après-midi d'une faune
Performer: Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink (conductor)
- Philips 4164442 Tr4.
John Keats
Ode on Indolence, reader Tony Haygarth
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00:34Charlie Parker's Reboppers
Blue in Green
Performer: Miles Davis (trumpet), Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass)
- CBS 460603 2 Tr3.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The Lotos-Eaters (excerpt), reader Claudie Blakley
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00:41Hubert Parry
The Lotos-Eaters (excerpt)
Performer: Della Jones (mezzo-soprano), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Matthias Bamert (conductor)
- Chandos CHAN8990, Tr13.
Robert Fuller Murray
Indolence, reader Claudie Blakley
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00:46Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong
Gone Fishin' (feat. John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra)
Composer: Nick & Charles Kenny
Kenneth Grahame
The Wind in the Willows (excerpt), reader Claudie Blakley
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00:51Frederick Delius
Summer Night on the River
Performer: Northern Sinfonia of England, Richard Hickox (conductor)
- EMI CDM5650672 Tr4.
William Shenstone
Sloth from βThe Speeches of Sloth and Virtueβ, reader Claudie Blakley
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01:01JeanβBaptiste Lully
Sommeil (from 'Atys')
Performer: Les Arts Florissants, William Christie (director)
- Harmonia Mundi HMC90125759 Disc 2 Tr9.
Joseph Crosby Lincoln
The Ant and the Grasshopper, reader Tony Haygarth
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01:05Lerner & Loewe
With a Little Bit of Luck (from 'My Fair Lady')
Performer: Stanley Holloway (voice), John Alderson and John McLiam Band, AndrΓ© Previn (conductor)
- CBS CD70000 Tr5.
Robert William Service
Laziness, reader Tony Haygarth
Broadcasts
- Sun 10 Apr 2011 22:15ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
- Sun 16 Sep 2012 18:30ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
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