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Razor Sharp

OT Fagbenle and Clare Corbett read from Graham Greene, Jane Austen, Malcolm X and Sandra Cisneros. Music includes Korngold's Symphony in F sharp and Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.

From barbers to seashells, sharp notes to cutting remarks. With readings by Clare Corbett and OT Fagbenle, today's programme plays with the phrase 鈥榬azor sharp鈥�, revelling in the drama and disruption inherent in these two short words. We'll hear the writing of Jane Austen, Dorothy Parker and Sandra Cisneros, and an example of the wonderful one-upmanship of Ethel Merman singing Anything You Can Do. Robert Graves looks at the unshaven 鈥楩ace in the Mirror鈥� and Rossini鈥檚 Barber of Seville and Sondheim鈥檚 Sweeney Todd compete to showcase their particular wares. Gangs of youths from the music of West Side Story to the TV series Peaky Blinders to Graham Greene鈥檚 Brighton Rock emanate menace, razors glinting in the sunshine, or tucked neatly into caps. Dizzee Rascal might be looking sharp, but it鈥檚 the words of Malcolm X which cut through. You can hear how he moves from sharp-suited youth to the civil rights activist whose racially charged words challenge white Americans in the 1960s. Musically, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and JS Bach play with sharp keys, while Handel鈥檚 music floats across the water as the 18th-century pleasure barge organised by the Sharp family glides down the Thames.

Producer: Katy Hickman

麻豆约拍 Radio 4 is broadcasting a reading of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock at 10.45 each weekday evening across this fortnight.

READINGS
The Razor Shell - Vernon Watkins
Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells - Helen Scales
The Good Sharps - Hester Grant
Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
The Face In The Mirror - Robert Graves
The Massacre - Walter De la Mare
Tired - Langston Hughes
Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
Miscast I - Amy Lowell
The Autobiography - Malcolm X
Loose Woman - Sandra Cisneros
Emma - Jane Austen
Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare
Interview - Dorothy Parker

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 4 Jul 2021 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

  • 00:01

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Orchestral Suite No 2 In B Minor, BWV 1067, VII Badinerie

    Performer: James Galway.
    • Masterworks.
    • Tr18.

  • Vernan Watkins

    The Razor Shell, read by O.T. Fagbenle

  • 00:03

    Edward Elgar

    Where Corals Lie (Sea Pictures)

    Singer: Janet Baker. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: John Barbirolli.

  • Helen Scales

    Spirals in Time, read by Clare Corbett

  • 00:08

    Kathryn Tickell

    Old Stones/Holy Island Jig

  • Hester Grant

    The Good Sharps, read by Clare Corbett

  • 00:11

    George Frideric Handel

    Flute Sonata in G Major, Op. 1 No. 5, HWV 363b

    Performer: Cicerone Ensemble.
    • NAXOS of America.
    • Tr1.

  • Herman Melville

    Moby-Dick, read by O.T. Fagbenle

  • 00:14

    Gioachino Rossini

    Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act I: Cavatina: Largo al facto

    Singer: Wolfgang Brendel. Orchestra: Munich Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Heinz Wallberg.
    • Orfeo.
    • Tr1.

  • Robert Graves

    The Face in the Mirror, read by O.T. Fagbenle

  • 00:19

    Stephen Sondheim

    A Little Priest (Sweeney Todd)

    Performer: Imelda Staunton. Performer: Michael Ball.

  • Walter de la Mer

    The Massacre, read by O.T. Fagbenle

  • 00:28

    Danny Elfman

    Ice Dance (Edward Scissorhands)

    Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Choir: Crouch End Festival Chorus.

  • Langston Hughes

    Tired, read by Clare Corbett

  • 00:31

    Various Artists

    Tommy

    Performer: Cillian Murphy.
    • UMC.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:31

    Nick Cave

    Red Right Hand

    Performer: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.
    • UMC.
    • Tr2.

  • Graham Greene

    Brighton Rock, read by O.T. Fagbenle

  • 00:36

    Philip Glass

    Koyaanisqatsi

    Performer: Lavinia Meijer.

  • Amy Lowell

    Miscast I, read by Clare Corbett

  • 00:40

    Dizzee Rascal

    Fix Up, Look Sharp

    • XL Recordings.
    • Tr6.

  • Malcolm X, with Alex Haley

    The Autobiography of Malcolm X, read by O.T. Fagbenle

  • 00:42

    Duke Ellington

    Exposition Swing

    Performer: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
    • Past Perfect.
    • Tr8.
  • 00:45

    Sam Cooke

    A Change Is Gonna Come

    Performer: Sam Cooke.
    • RCA Victor Records.
    • Tr7.

  • Sandra Cisneros

    Loose Woman, read by Clare Corbett

  • 00:50

    Erich Wolfgang Korngold

    Symphony in F sharp major, Op.40 (1st mvt: Moderato, ma energico)

    Orchestra: Oregon Symphony. Conductor: James DePreist.

  • Jane Austen

    Emma

  • 01:00

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Fugue in C sharp major (The Well-Tempered Clavier)

    Performer: George Lepauw.

  • Shakespeare

    Much Ado About Nothing

  • 01:06

    Irving Berlin

    Anything You Can Do

    Performer: Ethel Merman. Performer: Ray Middleton.

  • Dorothy Parker

    Interview

  • 01:09

    George Gershwin

    Rhapsody in Blue, for Piano and Orchestra

    Performer: Wayne Marshall. Orchestra: WDR Funkhausorchester.
    • CAvi.
    • Tr9.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 22 Nov 2020 17:30
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3
  • Sun 4 Jul 2021 17:30
    麻豆约拍 Radio 3

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