Recipes
Texts and music about food and drink, with readings by Ben Miles and Emily Joyce. With Dickens, Enid Blyton and Fannie Flagg, plus Martinu, Bernstein and Rodrigo.
A celebration of all things culinary and mixological, from an ancient recipe for chocolate to James Bond's iconic 'Vesper' Martini. Texts come from Charles Dickens, Enid Blyton and Fannie Flagg, while music includes morsels by Martinu, Bernstein and Rodrigo. Recipes, factual and fictional, basic and outlandish, read by Ben Miles and Emily Joyce.
Last on
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00
Martinu
La revue de cuisine: Tango
Performer: St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood.- Decca 4336602.
- 4.
-
Bible
Verses from Deuteronomy, Luke and Genesis, read by Ben Miles and Emily Joyce
00:03Thoman Newman
Fried Green Tomatoes (soundtrack): Ghost Train
Performer: Orchester Thomas Newman.- MCA MCD10461.
- 10.
Fannie Flagg
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, read by Ben Miles
00:08Martinu
La revue de cuisine: Charleston
Performer: St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood.- Decca 4336602.
- 6.
James Hamilton-Paterson
Cooking with Fernet Branca, read by Ben Miles
00:14Jean‐Michel Jarre
Lawrence of Arabia (soundtrack): First Entrance to the Desert
Performer: Philharmonia, Tony Bremner.- Silva Screen FILMCD036.
- 3.
Shararazod Eboli
Recipe for Stuffed Camel, read by Emily Joyce
00:16Jean‐Michel Jarre
Lawrence of Arabia (soundtrack): First Entrance to the Desert
Performer: Philharmonia, Tony Bremner.- Silva Screen FILMCD036.
- 3.
Francois Marin
Les Dons de Comus (1758), read by Emily Joyce
00:19Leonard Bernstein
La bonne cuisine
Performer: Roberta Alexander, Tan Crone.- Etcetera KTC1037.
- 10-13.
Elizabeth David
Italian Cooking, read by Emily Joyce
Leader Scott
Tuscan Scenes and Sketches (1888), read by Emily Joyce
00:25Benjamin Britten
Paul Bunyan: Cooks Duet
Performer: Francis Egerton (Sam), Graeme Broadbent (Ben); Royal Opera, Richard Hickox.- Virgin.
- 7.
00:27Carey Blyton
A Little Frog Music
Performer: Richard Deering.- Apollo Sound.
- 24.
Enid Blyton
The Magic Faraway Tree, read by Ben Miles
00:30Carey Blyton
Overture: The Hobbit
Performer: Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Gavin Sutherland.- White Line CDWHL2140.
- 2.
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers, read by Ben Miles
00:35Monty Norman
James Bond Theme
Performer: John Barry and His Orchestra.- Capitol 72435405542.
- 1.
Ian Fleming
Casino Royale, read by Ben Miles
00:38Shirley Bassey
Diamonds Are Forever
- Capitol 72435405542.
- 17.
Charles Dickens
Recipe for Christmas Punch, read by Ben Miles
00:43Bedrich Smetana
Macbeth and The Witches
Performer: Radoslav Kvapil.- Unicorn-Kanchana DKPCD9152.
- 1.
William Shakespeare
Macbeth, read by Emily Joyce
00:49Giuseppe Verdi
Macbeth: Finche appelli...
Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, LPO, Lamberto Gardelli.- Decca 4218892.
- 7.
00:56Joaquín Rodrigo
Fantasia para un Gentilhombre
Performer: John Williams, ECO, Charles Groves.- CBS MYK42542.
- 4.
Antonio Colmenero
A Curious Treatise of the Nature and Quality of Chocolate, read by Emily Joyce
00:58Joaquín Rodrigo
Fantasia para un Gentilhombre
Performer: John Williams, ECO, Charles Groves.- CBS MYK42542.
- 4.
Laura Esquivel
Like Water For Chocolate, read by Emily Joyce
01:06Martinu
La revue de cuisine: Tango
Performer: St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood.- Decca 4336602.
- 5.
Emily Dickinson
Recipe for Gingerbread, read by Emily Joyce
01:10Bolcom
Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise
Performer: Jody Karin Applebaum (sop), Marc-Andre Hamelin.- Music & Arts CD729.
- 25.
Producer Note
If music be the food of love, read on: Words and Music heads to the kitchen (and the cocktail cabinet!)
Savoury dishes range from the basic to the outlandish. Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes (which inspired a feature film with a fine soundtrack by Thomas Newman) could not be simpler or more delicious, while one suspects few will be tempted to try James Hamilton-Paterson’s Otter with Lobster Sauce or a traditional Arabic stuffed camel feast at home! Elizabeth David introduced the very idea of Mediterranean cooking to this country: her evocation of uccelletti, the Italian delicacy of roasted songbirds, feeds on an earlier description from the 19th century.
Enid Blyton meets J.R.R. Tolkien by way of her nephew, composer Carey Blyton: his spiky Little Frog Music gives way to an overture based on Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Further liquid refreshment of the literary sort comes from Ian Fleming’s iconic ‘Vesper’ martini, concocted in Casino Royale by James Bond himself. There’s Charles Dickens’ own recipe for Christmas Punch, while the Witches’ brew from Shakespeare’s Macbeth is evoked by the music of Smetana and Verdi.
Throughout, Martinu’s perky jazz ballet La revue de cuisine makes its presence felt, along with Leonard Bernstein’s La bonne cuisine which sets recipes by Emile Dutoit in Bernstein’s own witty translations. Along the way, we also hear Maurice Jarre’s suitably epic soundtrack for David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un Gentilhombre and the battle of opposing cooks in Britten’s Paul Bunyan arguing the benefits of soup versus beans.
And for dessert…? I hope you left room for some of William Bolcom’s Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise…!
Broadcast
- Sun 31 Aug 2014 17:55鶹Լ Radio 3
The hidden history of plant-based diets
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