The Fading Light
John McCarthy explores poetry and music inspired by sunsets and the fading light. He considers how they are used to help people express feelings and ideas about ageing.
As the sun goes down everyday, occasionally resulting in spectacular sunsets, the event can affect people in different ways. A good red sunset (especially over the sea) can provoke great joy, but the fading light can also encourage melancholia. It is no wonder that, throughout history, people have used images of sunset and the dying light to reflect on ageing and mortality.
John McCarthy explores some of the ways in which images of fading light have been used to describe our place in the world.
He considers different approaches to ageing - with music including Dylan and Debussy, and poetry from the likes of Thomas Hardy, Tennyson and Shakespeare.
A Whistledown production for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4.
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Music Played
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Ravi Shankar
Raga Marwa
Performer: Ravi Shankar. Performer: Alla Rakha.- The Ravi Shankar Collection (Digitally Remastered).
- Warner Classics/ EMI Records.
- B00815GJV0.
- 2.
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Bob Dylan
Not Dark Yet
Performer: Bob Dylan.- Dylan (3 discs).
- Columbia.
- B002ABCKL4.
- 10.
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
Dark Pastoral
Composer: David Matthews. Performer: Steven Isserlis. Orchestra: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Concert Orchestra.- Recorded by Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms 2010.
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Claude Debussy
Clair de Lune
Performer: Walter Gieseking.- Heritage Records.
- Walter Gieseking Plays Debussy.
- B00BM8UW98.
- 27.
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Jerry Bock
Sunrise Sunset
Performer: Henry Goodman. Performer: Beverly Klein. Composer: Sheldon Harnick.- Fiddler on the Roof.
- K-Tel.
- B005HP0QWU.
- 9.
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Dylan Thomas
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Performer: Dylan Thomas.- Dylan Thomas – His Complete Recorded Poetry.
- Marathon Media International.
- B00LZWBDGM.
- 16.
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John Cale
Do Not Got Gentle Into That Good Night
Performer: John Cale.- Words for the Dying.
- ADA Global.
- B000B6ETD2.
- 16.
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Richard Strauss
Im Abendrot from Vier Letze Lieder (At Sunset from Four Last Songs)
Performer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Orchestra: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic. Conductor: Georg Solti. Lyricist: Joseph von Eichendorff.- Kiri Te Kanawa Sings Mozart and Strauss.
- Decca Music Group Ltd.
- B0042JG6SU.
- 4.
Readings
Title: ‘The Prince of Tides’
Author: Pat Conroy
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: Ìý978-0553268881
Ìý
Title: Poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’
Author:Ìý Thomas Hardy
Publisher: Viking
ISBN: 978-0670806805
Ìý
Title: Poem ‘There’s a Certain Slant of Light’
Author: ÌýEmily Dickinson
Publisher: W&N
ISBN:Ìý 978-0460878951
Ìý
Title: ‘A Writer’s Diary’
Author: Virginia Woolf
Publisher: ÌýMartino Fine Books
ISBN: 978-1614272434
Ìý
Title: Poem ‘T¾±³Ù³ó´Ç²Ô³Ü²õ’
Author: Tennyson
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: ÌýÌý978-1479122844
Ìý
Title: Poem ‘Long Life’
Author: Elaine Feinstein
Publisher: ÌýCarcanet Press Ltd
ISBN:Ìý 978-1847770615
Broadcasts
- Sun 24 May 2015 06:05Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4
- Sun 24 May 2015 23:30Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4