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Texts and music inspired by apples, with readings by Olivia Williams and Oliver Ford. Including Keats, Kafka and Christina Rossetti plus Schumann, Purcell and Janacek.

Olivia Williams and Oliver Ford Davies read poems and prose inspired by apples with work by Keats, Kafka and Christina Rossetti and music by Schumann, Purcell and Janacek.

Apples are such a common place food and yet have been deployed in literature and myth to mean much more than the crisp bite and juicy, healthy froth on the tongue. They are a symbol of temptation, seduction and the fall of man as well as, in the savouring of the old names of disregarded varieties, a sort of nostalgic longing for an England of abundant orchards.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Thu 29 Dec 2011 17:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Benjamin Britten; Words and Melody from β€œFolksongs for Schools” collected and arranged by H E D Hammond and R Vaughan Williams

    I will give my love an apple

    Performer: Philip Langridge, Tenor; Carlos Bonell, Guitar

    • NAXOS855722021.
    • 19.
  • 00:01

    John Tavener

    The Serpent from Fall and Resurrection

    Performer: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Singers and City of London Sinfonia

    • CHANDOS CHAN9800.
    • 04.

  • John Milton

    From Paradise Lost

  • 00:03

    Igor Stravinsky

    The Enchanted Garden from The Firebird Suite

    Performer: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Symphony Orchestra, cond. Pierre Boulez

    • SONY CLASSICAL SMK45843.
    • 01.

  • Angela Carter

    From The Magic Apple Trees

  • W B Yeats

    The Song of Wandering Aegnus

  • 00:11

    Robert Schumann

    Evening Song

    Performer: Heinz Hollinger, Oboe, Alfred Brendel, piano

    • PHILIPS 4168982.
    • 04.

  • Elizabeth Mayo

    Lessons on Objects, As given to children between the ages of six and eight,

  • 00:14

    Monaco/Burke

    An Apple for the Teacher

    Performer: Bing Crosby, Connie Boswell, John Scott Trotter and his orchestra

    • ASV CDAJA5147.
    • 17.
  • 00:17

    Gerald Finzi

    Cello Concerto - Rondo Adagio – Allegro giocoso

    Performer: Raphael Wallfisch, cello; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; cond Vernon Handley

    • CHANDOS CHAN10425X.
    • 03.

  • Leonard Clark

    Apple Trees

  • 00:27

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Linden Lea

    Performer: Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano; Gerald Moore, piano

    • EMI CDM5650092.
    • 15.

  • U A Fanthorpe

    The Apple War

  • 00:30

    Steve Reich

    Drumming Part 1 (extract)

    Performer: Steve Reich and Musicians

    • DEUTSCHE GRAMAPHON 4743232.
    • 01.

  • Franz Kafka, trans Malcolm Paisley

    From The Transformation (the Metamorphosis)

  • 00:34

    Kalevi Aho

    The Dungbeetles (Grief over the Stolen Ball of Dung) from Symphony No 7

    Performer: Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra cond. Max Pommer

    • ONDINE ODE7652.
    • 04.

  • Sue Owen

    The Poisoned Apple

  • 00:39

    Francis Poulenc

    Bois meutri

    Performer: New London Chamber Choir, cond. James Wood

    • HYPERION CDA66798.
    • 03.

  • Untitled

    From The Song of Solomon, King James Bible

  • 00:42

    Leos JanÑček

    String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters, Adagio

    Performer: The Smetana Quartet

    • TESTAMENT SBT1075.
    • 10.

  • Sappho, trans. Henry De Vere Stacpoole

    Like the sweet apple

  • John Keats

    Sharing Eve’s Apple

  • 00:49

    M. Philippe-Gerard, lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer

    (Ah the Apple Trees) When the World Was Young

    Performer: Peggy Lee

    • MCA B000057L39.
    • 01.
  • 00:52

    Olivia Williams

    Christina Rosetti

    Speech An: Apple Gathering

  • 00:54

    Henry Purcell

    An Evening Hymn

    Performer: Elin Manahamn Thomas, Soprano, David Miller, lute & theorbo

    • COR16081.
    • 24.

  • Philip Larkin

    As Bad As a Mile

  • 00:58

    Emmanuel Chabrier - Sous Bois

    Performer: Richard McMahon

  • Charles Tomlinson

    Paring the Apple

  • 01:04

    Georg Philipp Telemann

    Georg Philipp Telemann - Largi, from Quator in D minor, from Tafelmusik

    Performer: Musica Antiqua Koln, cond. REinhard Geobel

Broadcasts

  • Sun 10 Jul 2011 22:20
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Thu 29 Dec 2011 17:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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