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The Bridge

Readings by Paapa Essiedu and Alice St Clair take us from London to Paris and Istanbul. Music moves from Mississippi and Manhattan to a recording made inside Tower Bridge.

An exhilarating leap in the dark and a feat of engineering. Bridges shape our world, whether they're constructions thrown across a raging torrent, or synaptic sparks that help us understand each other converting incomprehension into meaning.

In the year which has seen Tower Bridge across the Thames marking its 125th anniversary this Words and Music features readings by Paapa Essiedu and Alice St Clair.

We travel from west to east on the Galata Bridge in Istanbul, which links Europe to Asia; move to the fateful Tallahatchie Bridge in Mississippi made famous in Bobby Gentry's song; and brood on the rainbow bridge that inspired Wagner. Other musical choices range from George Gershwin and Benjamin Britten, to Sonny Rollins, who practised his saxophone alone on the Williamsburg Bridge to Sally Beamish "Bridging the Day". There鈥檚 a bit of loitering under the arch of a railway bridge while W. H. Auden cocks an ear to a lover鈥檚 song; Thomas Hood's influential Victorian poem about a suicide on Waterloo Bridge; and a dizzy descent into the mechanical heart of Tower Bridge where Iain Chambers recorded his musique concrete composition 鈥� Bascule Chambers.

Readings:
Geert Mak First sight of the Galata Bridge 3 extracts.
W. H. Auden As I walked out one Evening
Thomas Hood The Bridge of Sighs
Seamus Heaney Scaffolding
Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Leonard Cottrell Pont du Carrousel
T. S. Eliot From The Waste Land, The Burial of the Dead
William Wordsworth Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
R. S. Thomas Ninetieth Birthday
Octavio Paz translated by Eliot Weinberger The Bridge
Geert Mak From The Bridge (Last sight of the Galata Bridge)

Producer: Zahid Warley.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 13 Sep 2020 17:30
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

  • 00:00

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    "Goldberg Variations" - Aria

    Performer: Rosalyn Tureck.
    • Albany TROY007.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:01

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations (Aria)

    Performer: Rosalyn Tureck.

  • Geert Mak

    First sight of the Galata Bridge, read by Paapa Essiedu

  • 00:05

    George Gershwin

    An American in Paris

    Performer: New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (conductor).
    • Sony Classical SMK47529.
    • Tr12.
  • 00:06

    George Gershwin

    An American in Paris

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.

  • Geert Mak

    First sight of the Galata Bridge, read by Paapa Essiedu

  • Geert Mak

    First sight of the Galata Bridge, read by Paapa Essiedu

  • W. H. Auden

    As I walked out one Evening, read by Alice St Clair-Erskine

  • 00:15

    L茅o Ferr茅/Apollinaire

    Le Pont Mirabeau

    Performer: L茅o Ferr茅.
    • Documents 600327.
    • CD1 Tr4.
  • 00:16

    L茅o Ferr茅

    Le Pont Mirabeau

    Performer: L茅o Ferr茅.

  • Thomas Hood

    The Bridge of Sighs, read by Paapa Essiedu

  • 00:22

    Bobbie Gentry

    Ode to Billie Joe

    Performer: Bobbie Gentry.
    • CURB 471206 2.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:23

    Bobbie Gentry

    Ode to Billie Joe

  • Seamus Heaney

    Scaffolding, read by Paapa Essiedu

  • 00:26

    Benjamin Britten

    Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, Op.10 - Wiener Walzer

    Performer: English Chamber Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson (conductor).
    • EMI CD-EMX 2111.
    • Tr7.
  • 00:28

    Benjamin Britten

    Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (Wiener Walzer)

    Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Alexander Gibson.

  • Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Leonard Cottrell

    Pont du Carrousel, read by Paapa Essiedu

  • 00:29

    Iain Chambers

    Bascule Chambers

    Performer: Docklands Sinfonia.
    • TOUCH TOUCHLINE6.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:31

    Iain Chambers

    Bascule Chambers

    Orchestra: Docklands Sinfonia.

  • T. S. Eliot

    From The Waste Land, The Burial of the Dead, read by Alice St Clair-Erskine

  • 00:43

    Sonny Rollins

    The Bridge

    Performer: Sonny Rollins.
    • BLUEBIRD ND90633.
    • Tr4.
  • 00:44

    Sonny Rollins

    The Bridge

  • William Wordsworth

    Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, read by Paapa Essiedu

  • 00:50

    Sally Beamish

    Bridging the Day

    Performer: Robert Irvine (Cello), Sally Beamish (Piano).
    • BIS CD-1171.
    • Tr5.
  • 00:51

    Sally Beamish

    Bridging the Day

    Performer: Robert Irvine. Performer: Sally Beamish.

  • R. S. Thomas

    Ninetieth Birthday, read by Paapa Essiedu

  • 01:03

    Richard Wagner

    Schw眉les Ged眉nst - aria from Das Rheingold

    Performer: Eberhard W盲chter, Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti (conductor).
    • Decca 4780382.
    • CD2 T13.

  • Octavio Paz translated by Eliot Weinberger

    The Bridge, read by Alice St Clair-Erskine

  • 01:07

    Richard Wagner

    Rhine maiden chorus from Das Rheingold

    Performer: Oda Balsborg, Hetty Pl眉macher, Ira Malaniuk, Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti (conductor).
    • Decca 4780382.
    • CD2 Tr15.

  • Geert Mak

    From The Bridge (Last sight of the Galata Bridge), read by Alice St Clair-Erskine

  • 01:08

    Richard Wagner

    Das Rheingold (excerpt)

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Georg Solti.
  • 01:09

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations, BWV 998 - Aria da capo

    Performer: Glenn Gould (piano).
    • SONY SMK 52619.
    • Tr32.
  • 01:11

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations (Aria da capo)

    Performer: Glenn Gould.

Producer's Notes: The Bridge

You know how the old joke goes 鈥� a weary and confused traveller asks a local the way to the big city only to be told - 鈥淲ell, if I were you, I wouldn鈥檛 start from here.鈥澨� Bridges are a kind of answer to that kind of question though as often as not we play both the traveller and the local.听 When we don鈥檛 know how to get from A to B or from A to Z we devise something - a bridge. 听It can be made of stone or steel or it can be altogether weightless 鈥� one of the rope bridges the mind strings across incomprehension.

This evening鈥檚听Words and Music,听with the actors Paapa Essiedu and Alice St Clair, examines the notion of the bridge and attempts to make one. 听It begins with a famous musical doodle 鈥� Bach鈥檚 aria from the Goldberg Variations - and leaps from there to Istanbul鈥檚 Galata Bridge which links Europe with Asia. 听It's not long before we鈥檙e waltzing along under the Pont Mirabeau with L茅o Ferr茅, or flowing lugubriously across London Bridge with T. S. Eliot. 听There鈥檚 a bit of loitering under the arch of a railway bridge while W. H. Auden cocks an ear to a lover鈥檚 song; some sighing with Thomas Hood; and a dizzy descent into the mechanical heart of Tower Bridge where Iain Chambers recorded his musique concrete composition 鈥� Bascule Chambers. You get the idea鈥�. as E. M. Forster once famously said -- only connect.听听听

听

Producer: Zahid Warley

Broadcasts

  • Sun 22 Jan 2017 17:30
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3
  • Sun 13 Sep 2020 17:30
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3

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