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Only Connect

Mark Strong and Bettrys Jones with various kinds of connections, from writers including Ann Sexton, Arthur Conan Doyle and Wendy Cope, plus music from Brahms to Kate Bush.

On the 50th anniversary of EM Forster's death, we focus on the words ‘Only connect…’ - the epigraph to his novel Howards End - and consider some of the many connections that we might experience. Attempts to connect with others and the pain when those attempts fail. The solace provided by seeking a connection with nature, communication with alien species, the ingenious process of deduction, the technology that connects us to one another, the associations we draw from treasured objects. And there are musical connections from Brahms, Kate Bush, Messiaen, Suzanne Ciani and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan among others.

Readings:

EM Forster – Howards End
Robert Browning – Two in the Campagna
Samuel Taylor Coleridge – To Nature
Paul Muldoon – Milkweed and Monarch
John Masefield – Up on the downs
Adrienne Rich – Face To Face
RS Thomas – They
Wendy Cope – For My Sister, Emigrating
Arthur Conan Doyle – The Stockbroker’s Clerk
Ivor Gurney – The Telegraph Post
Jenny Erpenbeck – Go Went Gone
Anne Sexton – When Man Enters Woman
John Keats – On First Looking Into Chapman’s Â鶹ԼÅÄr
Naomi Mitchison – Memoirs of a Spacewoman
George Herbert – Deniall

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

In the Free Thinking playlist and available as an Arts and Ideas download - you can hear the authors Deborah Levy and Laurence Scott discussing with Shahidha Bari What's So Great About EM Forster in a discussion recorded with an audience at the British Library in partnership with the Royal Society of Literature /programmes/p0873lxv

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Jun 2020 17:30
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Nico Muhly

    Books

    Performer: Nico Muhly.
    • Milan FRZ811711034.
    • Tr22.

  • E.M. Forster

    Howards End

  • 00:00

    Nico Muhly

    Books

  • Robert Browning

    Two in the Campagna

  • 00:03

    Johannes Brahms

    Piano Trio No. 1 in B major Op. 8 II: Scherzo, Allegro molto

    Performer: Geoffroy Couteau. Performer: Amaury Coeytaux. Performer: Raphaël Perraud. Performer: Nicolas Baldeyrou.
    • La Dolce Vita LDV645D.
    • Tr2.
  • 00:03

    Johannes Brahms

    Piano Trio no.1 in B major, Op.8 (2nd mvt: Scherzo: Allegro molto)

    Performer: Geoffroy Couteau. Performer: Amaury Coeytaux. Performer: Raphaël Perraud.

  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

    To Nature

  • 00:10

    Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook

    My Comfort Remains

    • Virgin GBCPA9501128.
    • Tr4.
  • 00:11

    Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook

    My Comfort Remains

  • Paul Muldoon

    Milkweed and Monarch

  • 00:16

    Einojuhani Rautavaara

    Concerto for Birds and Orchestra I. The Bog

    Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.
    • Ondine ODE1300-2Q.
    • CD3 Tr9.
  • 00:17

    Einojuhani Rautavaara

    Cantus Arcticus (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.

  • John Masefield

    Up on the downs

  • 00:23

    Sergey Rachmaninov

    Etudes-tableaux Op. 39 No. 2 The Sea and the Gulls

    Music Arranger: Ottorino Respighi. Orchestra: Oregon Symphony. Conductor: James DePreist.
    • Delos DE3071.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:24

    Sergey Rachmaninov

    The Sea and the Gulls (Etudes Tableaux, Op.39 no.2)

    Music Arranger: Ottorino Respighi. Orchestra: Oregon Symphony. Conductor: James DePreist.

  • Adrienne Rich

    Face To Face

  • 00:33

    Olivier Messiaen

    Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: Vocalise pour lÂ’Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps

    Performer: Raphaël Sévère. Ensemble: Trio Messiaen.
    • Mirare MIR334D.
    • Tr8.
  • 00:34

    Olivier Messiaen

    Quatuor pour la fin du temps

    Performer: Raphaël Sévère. Ensemble: Trio Messiaen.

  • R.S. Thomas

    They

  • 00:35

    Mason Bates

    Mass Transmission: III. Wireless Connections

    Choir: Cappella SF. Performer: Isabelle Demers. Conductor: Ragnar Bohlin.
    • Delos DE3573.
    • Tr9.
  • 00:35

    Mason Bates

    Wireless Connections (Mass Transmission)

    Performer: Isabelle Demers. Ensemble: Cappella SF. Conductor: Ragnar Bohlin.

  • Wendy Cope

    For My Sister, Emigrating

  • 00:40

    Kate Bush

    A Coral Room

    Performer: Kate Bush.
    • EMI GBCNR0500008.
    • CD1 Tr7.
  • 00:40

    Kate Bush

    A Coral Room

  • Arthur Conan Doyle

    The Stockbroker's Clerk

  • 00:45

    Richard Wolfson

    Not Me

    Composer: Andy Saunders. Performer: Towering Inferno.
    • Island CID 8039 524 106-2.
    • Tr7.
  • 00:46

    Towering Inferno

    Not Me (Kaddish)

  • Ivor Gurney

    The Telegraph Post

  • Jenny Erpenbeck (trans. Susan Bernofsky)

    Go Went Gone

  • 00:51

    Taj Mahal

    Queen Bee

    Performer: Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate.
    • Hannibal HNCD 1444.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:52

    Taj Mahal

    Queen Bee

  • Anne Sexton

    When Man Enters Woman

  • 00:57

    Arthur Honegger

    Pacific 231 "Mouvement symphonique No. 1"

    Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.
    • Warner Classics 0946732.
    • CD1 Tr1.
  • 00:58

    Arthur Honegger

    Pacific 231: Mouvement symphonique no.1

    Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.

  • John Keats

    On First Looking Into Chapman's Â鶹ԼÅÄr

  • 01:04

    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani

    A New Day

    • RVNG Intl FRKWYS 13.
    • Tr1.
  • 01:05

    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani

    A New Day

  • Naomi Mitchison

    Memoirs of a Spacewoman

  • George Herbert

    Deniall

  • 01:09

    Alex Roth

    Pontecelli: IV. Bridge of Sleepers

    Performer: Philippe Honoré.
    • Signum Classics SIGCD270.
    • CD2 Tr10.
  • 01:10

    Alex Roth

    Bridge of Sleepers (Ponticelli)

    Performer: Philippe Honoré.

Broadcast

  • Sun 7 Jun 2020 17:30
    Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3

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