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The Singer and the Song

Jessie Buckley and Julian Ovenden, both actors who sing themselves, with words and music on the theme of singing. Words from Flaubert to Mark Doty and a cornucopia of vocal music

Jessie Buckley and Julian Ovenden, both actors who sing themselves, with words and music that celebrate classical and traditional singing. You'll hear descriptions of the arrogant opera singer in Flaubert's "Madame Bovary", Thomas Hardy's poem about a Ballad Singer and Marge Piercy's admiration of opera, James Joyce's reflections on the tenor Caruso and evocations of wartime concert parties to an amateur choral society's rendition of "Messiah". With vocal music including mezzo Anne Sophie Von Otter with an evening hymn from Purcell, Janet Baker with Edward Elgar's Sea Slumber Song and Elkie Brooks performing her hit Pearl's a Singer.

Jessie Buckley was recently seen in Charlie Kaufman's film I'm Thinking of Ending Things and the TV series Fargo and Chernobyl. She's also in an upcoming TV film of Romeo and Juliet shot by the National Theatre.
Julian Ovenden has starred on Broadway, in the West End, and at the Proms. He was in Ivo van Hove鈥檚 All About Eve at the National Theatre and on TV he was in Bridgerton and Adult Material.

Producer : Elizabeth Funning

Readings:
Richard Llewellyn - How Green Was My Valley
Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Kubla Khan
Robert Louis Stevenson - Bright is the Ring of Words
Andrew Marvell - The Fair Singer
John Clare - Ploughman Singing
Thomas Hardy - The Ballad Singer
Marge Piercy - One Reason I Like Opera
Flaubert - Madam Bovary
James Joyce - The Dead
Dylan Thomas - Quite Early One Morning
Siegfried Sassoon - Concert Party (Egyptian Base Camp)
Charlotte Bronte - Shirley
Thomas Hardy - Under the Greenwood Tree
Mark Doty - Messiah (Christmas Portions)
D. H. Lawrence - Piano
Conrad Aiken - Evensong

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

New Year's Day 2021 18:15
麻豆约拍 Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • Richard Llewellyn

    聯How Green Was My Valley聰, read by Julian Ovenden

  • 00:39

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Sing to the Lord a New Song BWV 225

    Performer: Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor).
    • SDG716.
    • Tr 16.
  • 00:04

    Andr茅 Previn

    Vocalise for voice, cello and piano

    Performer: Sylvia McNair (soprano), Yo Yo Ma (cello), Andre Previn (piano).
    • RCA Red Seal 8869747250 2.
    • Tr 11.

  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

    聯Kubla Khan聰, read by Julian Ovenden

  • Robert Louis Stevenson

    聯Bright is the ring of words聰, read by Jessie Buckley

  • 00:06

    William Denis Browne

    To Gratiana dancing and singing

    Performer: Ian Bostridge (tenor), Julius Drake (piano).
    • EMI 7243 556830 2 1.
    • Tr 5.

  • Andrew Marvell

    聯The Fair Singer聰, read by Julian Ovenden

  • 00:11

    Maurice Ravel

    Vocalise en forme de habanera

    Performer: Kate Royal (soprano), Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Edward Gardner (conductor).
    • EMI 3944192.
    • Tr 6.
  • 00:14

    Trad arr Skaila Kanga

    Early one morning

    Performer: Tommy Reilly (harmonica), Skaila Kanga (harp).
    • Chandos CHAN 6643.
    • Tr 2.

  • John Clare

    聯Ploughman Singing聰, read by Jessie Buckley

  • 00:16

    Trad

    The Ox plough song

    Performer: James Findlay, Alex Cumming (accordion), Beth Orrell, Linda Adams, (harmony vocals).
    • Fellside FECD252.
    • Tr 4.

  • Thomas Hardy

    聯The Ballad Singer聰, read by Julian Ovenden

  • 00:19

    Arthur Sullivan

    I have a song to sing, O (Yeomen of the Guard)

    Performer: Sylvia McNair (soprnoa), Thomas Allen (baritone), Academy and Chorus of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner (conductor).
    • Philips 462 508-2.
    • Tr 13.

  • Marge Piercy

    聯One reason I like opera聰, read by Jessie Buckley

  • 00:24

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Bella figlia dell聮amore (Quartet from Rigoletto)

    Performer: Luciano Pavarotti (tenor), Huguette Tourangeau (mezzo), Joan Sutherland (soprano), Sherrill Milnes (baritone), London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge (conductor).
    • Decca 421303-2.
    • Tr 11.

  • Flaubert

    聯Madam Bovary聰, read by Julian Ovenden

  • James Joyce

    聯The Dead聰, read by Jessie Buckley

  • 00:34

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Questa o quella (Rigoletto)

    Performer: Enrico Caruso, Salvatore Cottone (piano).
    • Naxos Historical 8.110703.
    • Tr 3.

  • Dylan Thomas

    聯Quite Early One Morning聰, read by Julian Ovenden

  • 00:36

    Edward Elgar

    Sea Slumber Song (Sea Pictures op 37)

    Performer: Janet Baker (contralto), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley (conductor).
    • LPO0046.
    • Tr 1.

  • Siegfried Sassoon

    聯Concert Party (Egyptian Base Camp)聰 , read by Julian Ovenden

  • 00:43

    Zo Elliot

    There聮s a long, long trail a-winding

    Performer: Sir Thomas Allen (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano).
    • Hyperion CDA 67374.
    • 11.

  • Charlotte Bronte

    聯Shirley聰, read by Jessie Buckley

  • 00:48

    Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

    Pearl聮s a Singer

    Performer: Elkie Brooks.
    • Spectrum 551 329-2.
    • Tr 1.

  • Thomas Hardy

    聯Under the Greenwood Tree聰, read by Julian Ovenden

  • 00:51

    William Sterndale Bennett

    The Carol Singers

    Performer: Benjamin Luxon (baritone), David Willison (piano).
    • Decca 475047-2.
    • CD1 Tr 8.

  • Thomas Hardy (cont)

    聯Under the Greenwood Tree聰, read by Julian Ovenden

  • 00:58

    Anon

    Hark! What mean those holy voices?

    Performer: Psalmody, The Parley of Instruments, Peter Holman (director).
    • Hyperion CDA 67443.
    • Tr 14.

  • Mark Doty

    聯Messiah (Christmas Portions)聰 read by Jessie Buckley

  • 01:01

    George Frideric Handel

    Ev聮ry Valley shall be exalted (Messiah)

    Performer: Martyn Hill (tenor), La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roy, Jean-Claude Malgoire (conductor).
    • Sony SB2K 63001.
    • CD1 Tr 3.
  • 01:05

    Felix Mendelssohn

    Song without words, Book 1 (op 19) no 1, Andante con moto in E

    Performer: Howard Shelley (piano).
    • Hyperion CDA67935.
    • Tr 13.

  • D. H. Lawrence

    聯Piano聰 read by Julian Ovenden

  • Conrad Aiken

    聯Evensong聰 read by Jessie Buckley

  • 01:10

    Henry Purcell

    An Evening Hymn

    Performer: Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo), Jakob Lindberg (theorbo), Jory Vinikour (organ).
    • Archiv 4778114.
    • Tr 15.

Producer's Note - The Singer and the Song

This edition of Words and Music celebrates the act of singing.聽 Recently we鈥檝e been showered with research showing that singing helps mental and physical health, not to mention the social benefits of singing with others. So let鈥檚 indulge in a feel-good sequence of singers in literature and some of the music they sing.

Beginning with an exhortation to all voice types to sing 鈥渨ith shoulders back and head up so that song may go up to the roof and beyond to the sky鈥� , we鈥檒l hear from sopranos, tenors, contraltos and bass baritones, songs with and without words, choral and solo, sacred and secular,聽 artful and artless.

After the joyful motet by Bach, 鈥淪ing to the Lord a new song鈥�, 聽Coleridge takes us to the dreamy state of mind woven by the singing Abyssinian maid, a mood reflected in Andrew Marvell鈥檚 鈥淔air singer鈥� who needs only the air to cast her spell.

Then there is rustic song from the countryside 鈥� Clare鈥檚 ploughman and Hardy鈥檚 ballad singer, with some traditional English song.

And so to the opera, where Marge Piercy decidedly puts the movies in their place, talking us through the power of the opera, which is followed by the glorious quartet from Rigoletto, superbly demonstrating the character of each vocal part.聽 Then we join Emma Bovary at a performance of Lucia di Lammermoor, held in thrall by the 鈥減art hairdresser part toreador鈥� glamour of the leading tenor. And there is lively discussion of the singers of old from James Joyce, and the inimitable voice of Caruso, recorded in 1902.

After a poignantly brief picture of an old contralto from Dylan Thomas, staring and singing out to sea, there鈥檚 a glimpse of a wartime concert party from Siegfried Sassoon, and one of the songs mentioned in the poem, and then Charlotte Bronte鈥檚 Shirley sings, far too expressively for the liking of her disapproving audience. They would probably also disapprove of Pearl the singer, who stands up while she plays the piano鈥�

And so to Thomas Hardy鈥檚 bumbling and self-important church choir, who have rather overdone the carol singing the night before, as illustrated in Sterndale Bennett鈥檚 humorous song. The future for the gallery choir does not look rosy as girls are found to be actually singing in church鈥� But the music is redeemed by a local choral society rendition of 鈥淢essiah鈥�, described in transcendent terms in Mark Doty鈥檚 poem.

The programme closes with two nostalgic reflections, a song without words accompanying D H Lawrence鈥檚 remembrance of a mother singing, and Purcell鈥檚 鈥淓vening Hymn鈥� after Conrad Aiken鈥檚 vivid scene of a聽lullaby, drifting out across the city.

Elizabeth Funning, producer

Broadcasts

  • Sun 13 Mar 2016 17:30
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3
  • New Year's Day 2021 18:15
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3

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