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Clockwise

A sequence of poetry, prose and music on the theme of clocks and timekeeping, with readings by Toby Jones and Romola Garai.

Clockwise: The award-winning actors Toby Jones and Romola Garai explore our obsession with clocks and timekeeping. The imperious shrilling of the alarm clock; the way ticking sometimes sounds like fate approaching; the moments elongated or abbreviated by emotion: the way the imagination tends to go blank before the notion of eternity: these are all part of a meditation on why and how we measure time - from Handel's pieces for musical clocks to St Augustine's Confessions ... and all in the time it takes your average chronometer to tick from five thirty in the evening to six forty-five.

Producer: Zahid Warley.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 26 Mar 2017 17:30

Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Sergey Prokofiev

    Clock scene from Cinderella

    Performer: Mikhail Pletnev and Russian National Orchestra.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • Tr23.
  • Russell Hoban

    The Mouse and His Child read by Toby Jones

  • 00:03

    George Frideric Handel

    Allegro moderato from Pieces for a Musical Clock

    Performer: Leo van Doeselaar.
    • Etcetera.
    • Tr11.
  • Sylvia Plath

    Morning Song read by Romola Garai

  • 00:05

    Unknown

    When the Hands of the clock pray at Midnight

    Performer: Ella Fitzgerald.
    • Classics.
    • Tr4.
  • ee cummings

    There are so many tictoc read by Romola Garai

  • 00:09

    Claude Debussy

    La Cathedrale Engloutie

    Performer: Leopold Stokowski with the New Philharmonia Orchestra.
    • Decca.
    • Tr14.
  • Richard Wilbur

    Bell Speech read by Romola Garai

  • 00:17

    FrΓ©dΓ©ric Chopin

    Β“MinuteΒ” Waltz Number 6 Β– Op. 64 number 1

    Performer: Maria JoΓ£o Pires.
    • Erato.
    • Tr3.
  • Douglas Dunn

    At Cruggleton Castle read Toby Jones

  • 00:20

    Joseph Haydn

    Symphony in D Β“The ClockΒ” - Andante

    Performer: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra cond. Sir Colin Davis.
    • Philips.
    • Tr 10.
  • W H Auden

    As I walked out one evening read by Romola Garai

  • 00:30

    Richie Havens and Mark Roth

    Alarm Clock

    Performer: Richie Havens.
    • Stormy Forest.
    • Tr9.
  • George Woodcock

    From The Tyranny of the Clock read by Toby Jones

  • 00:39

    Louis Andriessen

    De Tijd - extract

    Performer: Schönberg Ensemble.
    • Elektra Nonesuch.
    • Tr1.
  • St Augustine

    From Chapter X1, Confessions read by Toby Jones

  • 00:54

    Brian Eno

    Reverse harmonics bells from Bell Studies for The Clock of The Long Now

    Performer: Brian Eno.
    • Opal.
    • Tr11.
  • James Thurber

    The Thirteen Clocks read by Romola Garai

  • 00:59

    William Byrd

    The Bells

    Performer: Sophie Yates.
    • Chandos.
    • Tr15.
  • Stephen Edgar

    Incident at Grantley Manor read by Toby Jones

  • 01:08

    The Beatles

    Tomorrow Never Knows

    • Parlophone.
    • Tr14.
  • Anonymous

    Epitaph read by Toby Jones

Broadcasts

  • Sun 17 May 2015 17:30
  • Sun 26 Mar 2017 17:30

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