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Texts and music on the theme of speed with readings by Maxine Peake and Andrew Scott. Includes Neruda, Wordsworth and Emily Dickinson, as well as John Adams, Alkan and Bach.

A hymn to speed: agitation and restlessness; frenzied, dynamic performances; and the feverish adrenaline of high-speed travel. 'We declare,' wrote Marinetti in his Manifesto of Futurism, 'that the splendour of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed.'

With music by John Adams, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Bach; and words by Pablo Neruda, Wordsworth and Emily Dickinson, read by Maxine Peake and Andrew Scott.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 4 Sep 2011 22:15

Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Michael Nyman

    Mgv

    Performer: Michael Nyman, Kathryn Stott, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

    • MN Records MNRCD115.
  • FT Marinetti

    Manifesto of Futurism

  • Jack Kerouac

    On the Road

  • 00:05

    Dizzy Gillespie

    A Night in Tunisia

    Performer: Charlie Parker Septet

    • Classics Records 980.
  • Elizabeth Coatsworth

    Swift things are beautiful

  • 00:09

    Henry Purcell

    Dido and Aeneas

    Performer: Catherine Bott, Emma Kirkby, John Mark Ainsley, Chorus and Orchestra of The Academy of Ancient Music

    • DECCA 436 992-2.
  • Pablo Neruda

    Sonnet IX

  • 00:11

    Steve Reich

    New York Counterpoint

    Performer: The Rascher Saxophone Quartet

    • CALA CACD 77003.
  • Kenneth Graham

    The Wind in the Willows

  • 00:16

    Richard Wagner - Die Walkure

    Performer: Vera Schlosser, Sir Georg Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker

  • 00:19

    Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich

    Galop from The Gadfly Op.97a

    Performer: Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Andre Kostelanetz

    • Sony Classical SBK 62 642.
  • Emily Dickinson

    There came a wind like a bugle

  • 00:21

    NiccolΓ² Paganini

    Caprice No.5 in A minor

    Performer: Ruggiero Ricci

    • DECCA 4400342.
  • 00:24

    Charles-Valentin Alkan

    Comme le vent, Op39. No.1

    Performer: Bernard Ringeissen

    • Marco Polo 8.223285.
  • William Wordsworth

    Prelude

  • 00:30

    Arvo Pärt

    Spiegel im Spiegel

    Performer: Tasmin Little, Martin Roscoe, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Richard Studt

    • EMI Classics 50999 6 294432 8.
  • Robert Frost

    The Master Speed

  • Christina Rossetti

    Swift and sure the swallow

  • 00:36

    Antonio Vivaldi

    Agitata da due venti

    Performer: Cecilia Bartoli, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca

    • DECCA 455 981-2.
  • Irvine Welsh

    Trainspotting

  • 00:42

    John Adams

    Short Ride in a Fast Machine

    Performer: Simon Rattle, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

    • EMI Classics 7243 5 55051 25.
  • Anonymous/Trans Seamus Heaney

    The Names of the Hare

  • 00:48

    Charles-Valentin Alkan

    Le chemin de fer, Op.27

    Performer: Laurent Martin

    • Naxos 8553434.
  • Robert Louis Stephenson

    From a Railways Carriage

  • 00:54

    Gustav Holst

    The Planets, Op.32

    Performer: Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Charles Dutoit

    • DECCA 417 553-2.
  • Simon Armitage

    Zoom!

  • 00:59

    Samuel Barber

    Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op.14

    Performer: Hilary Hahn, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Hugh Wolff

    • Sony Classical SK 89029.
  • Thomas Middleton

    The Witch

  • 01:03

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude in C Minro BWV 847

    Performer: Pierre Hantai

    • Mirare MIR 9930.
  • Seamus Heaney

    The Underground

  • 01:05

    Sergey Prokofiev

    Romeo and Juliet, Op.64

    Performer: The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Mark Ermler

    • Royal Opera House ROH 309/10.
  • William Cowper

    Retirement

  • 01:09

    Henry Purcell

    An Evening Hymn

    Performer: Emma Kirkby, Christopher Hogwood, Anthony Rooley, Richard Campbell, Catherine Mackintosh

    • L’Oiseau-Lyre 417 123-2.

Broadcast

  • Sun 4 Sep 2011 22:15

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