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The Seven Deadly Sins

Adjoa Andoh and Rory Kinnear explore human sins with poetry by Milton, Spenser, Shakespeare, Carol Ann Duffy and Stevie Smith and music by Kurt Weill, Mahler and Takemitsu.

Adjoa Andoh and Rory Kinnear visit the sins of pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth with poetry and prose by Milton, Carol Ann Duffy, Spenser, Shakespeare, Stevie Smith, Emily Dickinson and Christopher Marlowe and music by Kurt Weill, Mahler, Takemitsu, Verdi and Shostakovich. Rory and Adjoa explore the misery of sin experienced by Hamlet, Iago and Lady Macbeth alongside the idle enjoyment felt by Huckleberry Finn, the exhilaration on discovering that Einstein was a fellow Scot and the thrill of a feast in Dickens鈥� 鈥楢 Christmas Carol鈥�.

Producer: Fiona McLean

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Thu 27 Dec 2018 17:00
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

    George Frideric Handel

    Concerto 1 - Allegro

    Performer: Academy of St. Martins-in-the-Fields, Iona Brown (Conductor).
    • Philips 4100482.
    • Tr4.

  • Christopher Marlowe

    Dr Faustus, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:03

    Leos Jan谩膷ek

    Overture: Jealousy

    Performer: Czech Philharmonic, Jiri Belohlavek (Conductor).
    • Chandos Chan 9080.
    • Tr5.

  • William Shakespeare

    Othello, read by Rory Kinnear

  • 00:09

    Thomas Campion

    Fire, fire, fire, fire! (The Third Booke of Ayres (1617) XX)

    Performer: Steven Rickards (Countertenor), Dorothy Linell (Lute).
    • Naxos 8553380.
    • Tr8.

  • Carol Ann Duffy

    Warming Her Pearls, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:13

    Claude Debussy

    Chansons de Bilitis 聳 La fl没te de Pan

    Performer: V茅ronique Gens (Soprano), Roger Vignoles (piano).
    • Virgin Classics VC 5453602.
    • Tr9.

  • William Shakespeare

    Othello, read by Rory Kinnear

  • 00:17

    Kurt Weill

    The Seven Deadly Sins 聳 Unzucht (Lust)

    Performer: Marianne Faithful, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies (Conductor).
    • RCA 74321601192.
    • Tr6.
  • 00:22

    Toru Takemitsu

    Masque for Two Flutes - Continu

    Performer: Aur茅ole Trio with Patricia Manson (flute).
    • KOCH 374492.
    • Tr3.

  • Emily Dickinson

    Wild Nights, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • Ted Hughes

    Echo and Narcissus, read by Rory Kinnear

  • 00:26

    Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto for Flute, Strings and Harpsichord in G Minor, Op.10 no.2 "La Notte" 聳 Largo - Presto

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan (Conductor).
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4133092.
    • Tr3.

  • Ben Jonson

    On Gut, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:28

    Robert Beaser

    Choral Variations for Orchestra - The Seven Deadly Sins - Gluttony

    Performer: Jan Opalach (Bass-baritone), American Composers Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies (Conductor).
    • ARGO 4403372.
    • Tr7.

  • Robert Burton

    from The Anatomy of Melancholy, read by Rory Kinnear

  • 00:32

    Camille Saint鈥怱a毛ns

    Danse Macabre, Op.40

    Performer: Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme J盲rvi (Conductor).
    • CHANDOS CHSA 5104.
    • Tr4.

  • Edmund Spenser

    The Faerie Queene, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:38

    Modest Mussorgsky

    Pictures At An Exhibition - VI. Samuel Goldenberg Und Schmuyle

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan.
    • Deutsche Grammophon 439 013 2.
    • Tr15.

  • Charles Dickens

    A Christmas Carol, read by Rory Kinnear

  • 00:42

    George Frideric Handel

    Alexander聮s Feast - Allegro

    Performer: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI HMX 2901685.
    • Tr21.

  • Stevie Smith

    Alone in the Woods, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:46

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Messa da Requiem 聳 Sequenza - Dies Irae

    Performer: Sinfonie Orchester und Chor des WDR Koln.
    • IDIS IDIS 656768.
    • CD1 Tr3.

  • John Milton

    Paradise Lost, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:49

    Dmitry Shostakovich

    Symphony No.10, Op.93 - Allegro

    Performer: The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (Conductor).
    • EMI CDC 5552322.
    • Tr2.

  • William Shakespeare

    Julius Caesar, read by Rory Kinnear

  • 00:54

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Macbeth - Prelude

    Performer: Budapest Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lamberto Gardelli.
    • HUNGAROTON HCD12738402.
    • CD1 Tr1.

  • William Shakespeare

    Macbeth, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 00:57

    Hamish MacCunn

    Six Scotch Dances - Dirk Dance

    Performer: Murray McLachlan.
    • DIVINE ART 25003.
    • Tr4.

  • Robert Crawford

    Alba Einstein, read by Rory Kinnear

  • 01:01

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Le Nozze di Figaro 聳 Voiche sapete

    Performer: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Soprano), John Pritchard (Conductor).
    • EMI CDC7479502.
    • Tr10.

  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 01:04

    Jean Sibelius

    Melodrama from Svartsjukans Natter 聳 (Nights of Jealousy), JS 125 (1893)

    Performer: Laura Vikman (violin), Joel Laakso (cello), Folke Gr盲sbeck (piano).
    • BIS CD1412.
    • Tr11.

  • Mark Twain

    Huckleberry Finn, read by Adjoa Andoh

  • 01:08

    Ferde Grof茅

    Grand Canyon Suite: Grand Canyon Suite: I. Sunrise

    Performer: New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Enrique B谩tiz (Conductor).
    • CDC 7 49056 2.
    • Tr1.

Producer's Notes:

听

The Seven Deadly Sins are a list of what was - and is - seen in the church as cardinal sins, the worst vices that cut someone off from God鈥檚 grace, sins with roots in the human desire for excess.听 They are envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth, greed, extravagance and lust and pride.听 They have inspired writers and composers for centuries.听 A few years ago one of the Pope鈥檚 close allies, Monsignor Girotti, suggested that we should be thinking of new list of modern sins.听 For him those sins are carrying out experiments on human beings, polluting the environment, causing social injustice, inducing poverty, becoming obscenely wealthy and taking drugs are the new sins.听 Perhaps, like him, we all have a sense of what we consider a sin.听

We begin with Christopher Marlowe鈥檚 Renaissance play 鈥楧r Faustus鈥� in which the demon Mephistopheles introduces Faustus to the seven deadly sins. 听Envy tells that he cannot read and so wishes that all books be destroyed, Sloth is so shattered he cannot be bothered to describe himself. 听Faustus finds the sins laughable, Marlowe鈥檚 way of showing us that he is on the side of the devil. 听Janacek鈥檚 overture 鈥榋补谤濒颈惫辞蝉迟鈥� or 鈥楯ealousy鈥� begins with thundering tympani and fury and was written as the opening to an opera about a violent and jealous man, a fitting introduction to Rory Kinnear鈥檚 Iago from Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥极迟丑别濒濒辞鈥�. 听Campion鈥檚 鈥楩ire, fire, fire鈥� takes us into the sin of lust. Carol Ann Duffy鈥檚 beautiful poem 鈥榃arming Her Pearls鈥� is a monologue from a servant who wears the pearls to warm them before they are put around her mistress鈥� neck. The reader can see her strong feelings as a profound love, lust and possibly envy. You鈥檒l hear the poem followed by Debussy鈥檚 鈥楥hansons de Bilitis鈥�, musical settings of deeply erotic poems by Pierre Louys.听听

The sin of Gluttony starts with Adjoa Andoh鈥檚 reading of Ben Jonson鈥檚 鈥極n Gut鈥�, his pessimistic view of the nature of man heard with the American composer Robert Beaser鈥檚 鈥楪濒耻迟迟辞苍测鈥� from his 鈥楽even Deadly Sins鈥� with words by Anthony Hecht.听听

Wrath begins with Stevie Smith鈥檚 鈥楢lone in the Woods鈥�, an unusual poem from Smith in which the trees rail at their fury with man at the destruction of nature. 听Satan鈥檚 fury in Milton鈥檚 鈥楶aradise Lost鈥� - as well, perhaps, as his greed and pride - is heard with Shostakovich鈥檚 Tenth Symphony, premiered in 1953 after the death of Stalin whose brutality is heard in the breath-taking second movement, a furious indictment of Stalin鈥檚 existence in the world.听

Hamish MacCunn鈥檚 鈥楧irk Dance鈥� is followed by Robert Crawford鈥檚 鈥楢lba Einstein鈥�, envy but in an understandable way in the story of the Scots discovering that Einstein was, yes, one of them.听听

We end with a gentle view of sloth from Mark Twain鈥檚 鈥楬uckleberry Finn鈥�, Twain conveying the romantic beauty of the Mississippi and the idyll of a lazy life on the river, heard with Ferde Grof茅鈥檚 鈥楽耻苍谤颈蝉别鈥� from his 鈥楪rand Canyons Suite鈥�, inspired by Grof茅鈥檚 memories of the sun rising as he slept outdoors.

听

Producer: Fiona McLean.

听

Broadcasts

  • Sun 10 Dec 2017 17:30
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3
  • Thu 27 Dec 2018 17:00
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3

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