The Moon
The Moon in all her silvery glory, with writers such as Wordsworth, composers such as Schubert and Schoenberg and the actors Patrick O'Kane and Fenellla Woolgar.
What would Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata sound like if it was played by the Moon? Tune in to this evening's edition of Words and Music and you can hear for yourself, thanks to a piece conceived by the sound artist Katie Paterson. Katie's piece, Earth-Moon-Earth, is part of a programme which celebrates the Moon - whether metaphorical green cheese or cruel, silvery goddess.
The Moon has always dazzled and puzzled us. Composers such as Beethoven, Chopin and Schoenberg and writers such as Larkin, Auden and Emily Dickinson have all fallen under her spell, and tonight's programme, featuring the actors Fenella Woolgar and Patrick O'Kane, is an invitation to succumb once more to her enchantment.
Producer: Zahid Warley
Readings:
Nocturne - James Attlee
This Lunar Beauty - W.H. Auden
With how sad steps - Sir Philip Sidney
Sad Steps - Philip Larkin
I watched the Moon around the house - Emily Dickinson
Drinking Alone - Li Po (trans Arthur Waley)
The Moon and the Yew Tree - Sylvia Plath
Preface to Frankenstein -Mary Shelley
Strange fits of Passion - William Wordsworth
Autumn - T.E. Hulme
Moon Landing - W.H. Auden
Icaromenippus - Lucian (trans Thomas Francklin)
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00Franz Schubert
Ständchen D 957 No. 4
Performer: Mischa Maisky (Violoncello), Daria Hovora (Piano).- Deutsche Grammophon 449 817-2.
- Tr12.
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James Attlee
From 'Nocturne', read by Patrick OÂ’Kane
James Attlee
From 'Nocturne', read by Fenella Woolgar and Patrick OÂ’Kane
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00:04Frédéric Chopin
Piano Concerto No.1 In E Minor, Op.11- II: Romanze. Larghetto
Performer: Martha Argerich (Piano).- EMI CDC 5567982.
- Tr2.
W. H. Auden
This Lunar Beauty, read by Patrick OÂ’Kane
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00:15Vincenzo Bellini
Vaga Luna
Performer: Luciano Pavarotti.- Decca 4144542.
- Tr3.
Sir Philip Sidney
With how sad steps, read by Fenella Woolgar
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00:19Harry M. Woods
What a little moonlight can do
Performer: Billie Holiday.- Verve 5198252.
- Tr1.
Philip Larkin
Sad Steps, read by Patrick OÂ’Kane
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00:24AntonÃn Dvořák
Jednani – Act One - Mesicku na nebi hlubokém (Song of the Moon)
Performer: Renee Fleming (Soprano), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras (Conductor).- Decca 4605682.
- CD1 Tr6.
Emily Dickinson
I watched the Moon around the house, read by Fenella Woolgar
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00:32Lorenz Hart
Blue Moon
Performer: Elvis Presley.- RCA 07863677352.
- Tr13.
Li Po, translated by Arthur Waley
Drinking Alone, read by Patrick OÂ’Kane
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00:35Arnold Schoenberg
Pierrot Lunaire Part 1 - Mondestrunken
Performer: Jane Manning (Soprano), Vesuvius Ensemble.- Forum FRC9106.
- Tr1.
Sylvia Plath
The Moon and the Yew Tree, read by Fenella Woolgar
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00:39Arnold Schoenberg
Verklärte Nacht Op. 4 - Pesante
Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan (Conductor).- Deutsche Grammophon 4153262.
- Tr3.
Mary Shelley
Preface to Frankenstein, read by Fenella Woolgar
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00:44Claude Debussy
Suite Bergamasque – III Clair de Lune
Performer: Pascal Rogé (Piano).- Decca 4177922.
- Tr3.
William Wordsworth
Strange fits of Passion, read by Fenella Woolgar
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00:50Felix Mendelssohn
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Incidental Music Op. 61- No. 7 Nocturne
Performer: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa (Conductor).- Deutsche Grammophon 4398972.
- Tr8.
T. E. Hulme
Autumn, read by Patrick OÂ’Kane
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00:56Brian Eno
Silver Morning (feat. Daniel Lanois)
- Virgin ENO CDX 10.
- Tr8.
W. H. Auden
Moon Landing, read by Patrick OÂ’Kane
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01:01Karl Suessdorf, John Blackburn
Moonlight in Vermont
Performer: Ella Fitzgerald (vocal), Louis Armstrong.- Verve 5433042.
- Tr3.
Lucian, translated by Thomas Francklin
from Icaromenippus, read by Fenella Woolgar
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01:07The Moon and Katie Paterson
Earth-Moon-Earth – Beethoven’s Sonata, op. 27, No. 2 “Moonlight” reflected from the surface of the moon
Performer: Automated Piano.- not applicable.
Producer's Notes:
Today she’s in a waxing gibbous phase; by Tuesday she’ll be full and refulgent; and about ten days after that she’ll be a waning crescent and hardly visible at all... I’m talking about the Moon, of course.Ìý
The attention we pay to her comes and goes in the same sort of way. ÌýWhen she’s really close to Earth – as she was at the start of this month - we’re astonished – hypnotised by her orange glamour. Most of the time though she’s no more than an icy chip chinking along in a flood of darkness, taken for granted if not wholly ignored.Ìý
The moon’s mutability is part of her allure and writers and composers, it seems, have always found it all too easy to give in to lunar enchantment.Ìý Take your pick – for Chopin her light was the perfect prompt to contemplation; for Beethoven she was as stealthy as a cat’s paw and as lithe; for Emily Dickinson she moves like a benevolent spectre; for Sylvia Plath she’s ominous and neurasthenic; and for the satirist, Lucian – she’s a goddess weary of men’s scrutiny and conjecture.ÌýÌý
In this evening’s Words and Music the actors, Fenella Woolgar and Patrick O’Kane invite you to risk her further displeasure! ÌýAnd if you listen hard you may actually hear what she has to say as the sound artist, Katie Paterson, has found a way of capturing the moon’s voice.ÌýÌýÌý
Ìý
Producer: Zahid WarleyÌý
You can find out more about Katie Paterson’s work and her sound installation Earth- Moon- Earth by visiting her .Ìý
Broadcasts
- Sun 31 Dec 2017 17:30Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3
- Sun 14 Jul 2019 17:30Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3
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