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Circles, Curves and Contours

Texts and music on the theme of circles, curves and contours, with readings by Deborah Findlay and Hugh Fraser. With Shakespeare, Tennyson, Miles Davis, The Beatles, Bach and Bax.

Circles, Curves and Contours are explored as Words and Music strays from the straight and narrow. With literary selections from Shakespeare, Tennyson, Emily Dickinson and Tony Harrison and music from Miles Davis and The Beatles to Bach and Bax. The readers are Deborah Findlay and Hugh Fraser.

Producer: Harry Parker.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 21 May 2017 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

  • William Shakespeare

    Prologue to Henry V read by Deborah Findlay

  • 00:02

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - Variation 3 (1955)

    Performer: Glenn Gould.
    • CBS MYK 44868.
    • Tr4.
  • 00:02

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 聳 Variation 3 (1980)

    Performer: Glenn Gould.
    • CBS CD37779.
    • Tr1.

  • Richard Le Gallienne

    Orbits read by Hugh Fraser

  • 00:05

    James Hook

    Rondo, op. 83, c.1796

    Performer: The London Serpent Trio.
    • Titanic Records TI 100.
    • CD1 Tr6.

  • Christina Rossetti

    Up-hill read by Deborah Findlay

  • 00:07

    John Lennon / Paul McCartney

    The Long and Winding Road

    Performer: The Beatles.
    • Parlophone 5957132.
    • CD1 Tr4.

  • John Clare

    Flow on Winding River read by Hugh Fraser

  • 00:12

    Henry Mancini / Johnny Mercer

    Moon River

    Performer: Audrey Hepburn.
    • Warner WB245032.
    • Tr11.

  • Anon

    The River read by Hugh Fraser

  • 00:14

    Domenico Zipoli

    Elevazione for Cello and Oboe

    Performer: Consort of London, Robert Haydon Clark (Conductor).
    • Classic FM CFMCD34.
    • CD1 Tr10.

  • Edward Thomas

    The Combe read by Deborah Findlay

  • Alfred Lord Tennyson

    from Morte d聮Arthur read by Hugh Fraser

  • 00:18

    Arnold Bax

    Tintagel (Tone Poem)

    Performer: Royal Scottish National Orchestra, David Lloyd-Jones (Conductor).
    • Naxos 8557145.
    • Tr1.

  • Rudyard Kipling

    The Floods read by Hugh Fraser

  • 00:24

    Hamish MacCunn

    Land of the Mountain and the Flood

    Performer: 麻豆约拍 Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins (Conductor).
    • Hyperion CDA66815.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:30

    Terry Riley

    A Rainbow in Curved Air

    Performer: Terry Riley.
    • Columbia 4778492.
    • Tr1.

  • William Wordsworth

    My Heart Leaps Up read by Hugh Fraser

  • U. A. Fanthorpe

    Stanton Drew read by Deborah Findlay

  • 00:35

    Erik Satie

    les 6 Gnossiennes - No 1

    Performer: Chantal de Buchy (Piano).
    • PG PCD7657.
    • Tr10.

  • Emily Dickinson

    I Make His Crescent Fill or Lack read by Deborah Findlay

  • Emily Dickinson

    She Staked Her Feathers read by Deborah Findlay

  • Tony Harrison

    Timer read by Hugh Fraser

  • 00:39

    Richard Wagner

    Siegfried聮s Journey on the Rhine

    Performer: Staatskapelle Dresden, Marek Janowski (conductor).
    • EURODISC GD 69007 (1).
    • CD1 Tr7.

  • Carol Ann Duffy

    Valentine read by Deborah Findlay

  • 00:44

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Rondo alla Turca

    Performer: Alison Balsom (trumpet), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner (Conductor).
    • EMI Classics EMI3532552.
    • Tr1.

  • Ovid, John Dryden (Translator)

    The Story of Pygmalion and the Statue read by Deborah Findlay

  • 00:49

    Gerry Mulligan

    Venus de Milo

    Performer: Miles Davis (trumpet).
    • Capitol CDP7928622CAP.
    • Tr4.

  • L. P. Hartley

    From The Go-between read by Hugh Fraser

  • 00:53

    Jake Thackray

    The Castleford Ladies聮 Magic Circle

    Performer: Jake Thackray.
    • EMI CDP7962712.
    • Tr12.

  • Lewis Carroll

    From Alice Through the Looking Glass read by Deborah Findlay

  • 00:58

    Benjamin Britten

    Old Joe Has Gone Fishing

    Performer: Geraint Evans (Singer), Orchestra and Chorus Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Douglas Robinson (Chorus Master).
    • Decca 4145772.
    • CD1 Tr18.

  • Ogden Nash

    Soliloquy in Circles read by Hugh Fraser

  • 01:01

    Roebuck Staples (Traditional arrangement)

    Will The Circle be Unbroken?

    Performer: The Staple Singers.
    • New Cross CDCHARLY98.
    • Tr14.

  • David Saul

    Pi read by Deborah Findlay

  • 01:04

    Joni Mitchell

    The Circle Game

    Performer: Joni Mitchell.
    • Reprise 7599-27450-2.
    • Tr12.

  • Judith Fitzgerald

    Que Besa Sus Pies, Que Besa Sus Manos read by Hugh Fraser

  • 01:11

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations, BWV. 988 聳 Variation 24 (1980)

    Performer: Glenn Gould.
    • CBS CD37779.
    • Tr1.
  • 01:12

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations, BWV. 988 聳 Variation 24 (1955)

    Performer: Glenn Gould.
    • CBS MYK 44868.
    • Tr4.

Producer's Note: Circles, Curves and Contours

Circles, curves and contours have informed the work of musicians and writers as much as that of visual artists, all eager to explore a natural world of relatively few straight lines and angles.听 They have taken inspiration from the arcs and circles of geometry, the curves of natural forms including the human body and the contours and undulations of the landscape.

By way of a foreword to the arc of this sequence Shakespeare鈥檚 Prologue in Henry V听 speculates on how much of the external world can be encompassed within a circle, in this case the 鈥榳ooden O鈥� of the Elizabethan theatre: the encircling walls are not boundaries if one鈥檚 imagination is given free rein.

Bach used circular forms of music for much of his work, exemplified in this case by the Goldberg Variation No 3.听 Using the device of a round, or more accurately a canon, the themes are started, picked up and repeated and return to the beginning in a spiral of melody.听 There are two versions of the same variation here, both by the same pianist, Glenn Gould.听 He recorded the first in 1955 - a performance that made him famous and then, unusually for him, returned to the same pieces re-recording them 25 years later in a radical re-interpretation, a variation on the variation, completing the cycle.

An 1895 poem 鈥極rbits鈥� by the British poet Richard Le Gallienne uses the metaphor of the heavenly movements to describe the passing nature of human encounters.听 And a hundred years previously James Hook, the organist at Vauxhall Gardens which famously featured a spectacular Rotunda, composed his March, Andantino and Rondo the last part of which is heard here 鈥� a rondo being a musical form in which a refrain is stated, left and returned to in a series of overlapping musical circles.听 This Rondo is played on a trio of the most winding of wind instruments: the serpent.听

The curves of the instrument are of course designed to compress greater length into a shorter space but it is this aspect of a winding road that makes it longer and more difficult to travel.听 Christina Rossetti, in 鈥楿p-hill鈥�, and Paul McCartney in 鈥楾he Long and Winding Road鈥� both hope the twisting path will eventually lead to fulfillment.听 The Beatles came to the end of their long and winding road with the recording of this song, their last single as quartet.听 Paul McCartney objected to the adding of strings to the recording prompting him to leave the band.听 This is the version without the orchestra.听

John Clare on the other hand sees the meandering of the stream in his 鈥楩low on Winding River鈥� as not so much demanding as restful.听 The river bends in听 鈥楳oon River鈥�, taken from the soundtrack of Breakfast at Tiffany鈥檚, and the anonymous 鈥楾he River鈥�, are seen as hiding something promising, the great curve of a rainbow in Audrey Hepburn鈥檚 case.听 鈥楾he River鈥� is sometimes attributed to, of all people, Enoch Powell, but it seems he just quoted it once at friend鈥檚 funeral.

Rivers are sinuous because of the contours of the landscapes they course through and down from the heights, expressed in 鈥楨levazione鈥� by the baroque composer and Jesuit missionary Domenico Zipoli, to the deep, dark valley which Edward Thomas writes about in 鈥楾he Combe鈥� including an early expression of horror at the still controversial killing of badgers. 听Arnold Bax鈥檚 tone poem evokes the rocky contours of Tintagel on the Cornish coast.听 He wrote that he aimed to create 鈥榓 tonal impression of the castle鈥揷rowned cliff of (now sadly degenerate) Tintagel鈥�.听 He wanted to include the 鈥榯houghts of many passionate and tragic incidents in the tales of King Arthur鈥�.听 Alfred Tennyson had the same notion in his retelling in verse of Sir Thomas Mallory鈥檚 鈥楳orte d鈥橝rthur鈥�, this extract referring to the dissolution of the Round Table.

The contrasting contours of hills and valleys also features in Rudyard Kipling鈥檚 poem 鈥楾he Floods鈥�, presumably Indian, while听 Hamish MacCunn鈥檚 1886 work 鈥楲and of the Mountain and the Flood鈥�, written when he was only eighteen, evokes the Scottish equivalent.听

Terry Riley鈥檚 鈥楢 Rainbow in Curved Air鈥� from 1969 used electronics to describe the arch of the spectrum whilst William Wordsworth鈥檚 poem 鈥楳y Heart Leaps Up鈥�, sometimes called 鈥楾he Rainbow鈥�, is similarly minimalist in approach if not in style.听

Stanton Drew in Somerset is the home of a stone circle, the setting for U. A. Fanthorpe鈥檚 verse of the same name, provoking reflections on the timelessness of the landscape surrounding the prehistoric menhirs.

Erik Satie coined the term 鈥済nossiennes鈥� for his short experimental piano pieces that often lacked time signatures and conventional chord structures.听 They and the Gymnop茅dies have inspired many dancers.听 Russell Maliphant based his interpretation of the first three gnossiennes, of which we hear No 1, on choreographic drawings made by Nijinsky depicting curves and circles.听 Sir Frederick Ashton wrote of the pieces as 鈥渁 series of interrupted and overlapping recapitulations which causes the piece to fold in on itself as it were...听 and even succeeds in abolishing our time sense鈥�.听

It provides a background for Emily Dickinson鈥檚 enigmatic two poems which both use imagery of arcs and curves; 鈥業 Make his Crescent Fill or Lack鈥� is about what? The moon, the earth, the sun?听 And 鈥楽he Staked Her Feathers鈥� on the surface at least concerns the arc of a bird鈥檚 flight.听

鈥楾imer鈥� by Tony Harrison alludes to the curves of an egg-timer (as Shakespeare refers to an hour-glass in the Prologue earlier) and also the eternal nature of a circle in the form of a wedding ring.听 Like Harrison鈥檚 poem, Carol Ann Duffy鈥檚 鈥榁alentine鈥� is intensely personal, comparing onion rings to a wedding band.听 Their domestic settings contrast with the intervening grandiose aspirations of Richard Wagner鈥檚 epic Ring Cycle in which a ring can grant world domination.听 This orchestral passage from G枚tterd盲mmerung is Siegfried鈥檚 Journey on the Rhine, another winding river following the contours from Switzerland, through Germany to the Netherlands.

Another rondo as Mozart goes to town on the form in his celebrated 鈥楻ondo alla Turca鈥�, interpreted here by the trumpet virtuosa Alison Balsom.

The curves of the female human body have inspired artists for millennia and Ovid, translated in the seventeenth century by the poet John Dryden, tells the legend of Pygmalion creating a sculpture of a female form so perfect he falls in love with it whereupon it is brought to life by a goddess.听 And it is the curvaceous statue of a goddess鈥檚 body that is the muse for Gerry Mulligan鈥檚 composition 鈥榁enus de Milo鈥� played by trumpeter of a very different ilk, Miles Davis.听 The curve of a young lady鈥檚 nose prompts L. P. Hartley鈥檚 musings on beauty in an extract from 鈥楾he Go-between鈥� as he also notices the distracting orbit of other women.听 And in a different kind of social circle Jake Thackray observes women more buxom in his mischievous 鈥楾he Castleford Ladies鈥� Magic Circle鈥� -听 although even they couldn鈥檛 compete with Humpy Dumpty鈥檚 self-satisfaction with the ovoid form in this extract from 鈥楢lice Through the Looking Glass鈥�.

Benjamin Britten utilises the musical device of a round for his chorus 鈥極ld Joe Has Gone Fishing鈥� from 鈥楶eter Grimes鈥� to defuse a potentially unpleasant situation in the pub with a bit of social cohesion.听听听

Ostensibly light and humorous 鈥楽oliloquy in Circles鈥� by Ogden Nash actually deals with the rather grander theme of the cycle of life - a father鈥檚 thoughts on the birth and raising of offspring whilst Pops Staples, with his children, reflects on the other side of the coin, the death of a mother in The Staple Singers鈥� 鈥榃ill the Circle be Unbroken?鈥�.

David Saul wrote his verse about 蟺, the constant that expresses the relationship of the circumference to the diameter of a circle, as kind of mnemonic.听 Each word in it contains the number of letters that corresponds to the digits of 3 plus the first thirty-four decimal places in order (鈥業t鈥檚 a fact a ratio immutable鈥︹�� = 3.14159 etc. - except for the word 鈥榥othing鈥� which represents zero).听 In printed form the words are arranged to form a circle.

鈥楾he Circle Game鈥�, Joni Mitchell explained in 1968, is 鈥榓bout people and growing old and growing young and carousels and painted ponies and the weather and the Buffalo Springfield.鈥� 听More specifically she wrote it for Neil Young.听 Some hear in it a mother鈥檚 words to her son.听 The poet Judith Fitzgerald, like Joni Mitchell, a Canadian, died at the end of last year.听 She wrote 鈥楺ue Besa Sus Pies, Que Besa Sus Manos鈥� a few years previously but it was published in the month of her death.听 The title is a Spanish greeting, often abbreviated to qbsp, qbsm, meaning something like 鈥榢issing his feet, kissing his hands鈥�.听 Her circular imagery includes clocks, circuses, the sun and the moon and, again, the continuity between parent and child; father, son and Holy Ghost.

At the end of this roundabout sequence we come full circle: Glenn Gould again plays two takes of Bach鈥檚 Goldberg Variations, No 24 this time, the later one first and then, with the earlier version, back to the beginning.

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Producer: Harry Parker

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Broadcast

  • Sun 21 May 2017 17:30
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3

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