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Music from Wagner to Pink Floyd with readings exploring money ranging from Michael Lewis's The Big Short to Kathleen Raine's Worry about Money.

With tax return deadlines looming and rises in the cost of living, we've a financial theme as Jonathan Keeble and Emily Pithon perform readings from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and from Martin Amis's 1984 novel Money, from George Eliot's Silas Marner, which depicts a lonely weaver who hoards gold coins and Imtiaz Dharker's poem about today's consumerist society, The Garden Gnomes are on Their Mobile Phones, as well as Michael Lewis's investigation of investors on Wall Street, The Big Short. The music includes Beethoven's Rage Over a Lost Penny, Franz Lehár's Gold and Silver Waltz, Eartha Kitt singing Brother Can You Spare a Dime and Pink Floyd's Money.

You can find a Free Thinking episode exploring different aspects of Money in the playlist How We Live Now on the Free Thinking programme website.

Producer: Nick Holmes

READINGS:
Martin Amis Money
JRR Tolkein The Hobbit
Florence May Alt The Millionaire
Henry Austen Preface to Persuasion and Northanger Abbey
George Eliot Silas Marner
Emily Dickinson Simplicity
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Friday Black
Émile Zola Money
Michael Lewis The Big Short
Anthony Trollope The Prime Minister
Charles Dickens Little Dorrit
Chester Himes A Rage in Harlem
Kathleen Raine Worry about Money
Philip Larkin Money
Simon Armitage Ten Pence Story
Imtiaz Dharker The garden gnomes are on their mobile phones
Amos Russel Wells Things! Things

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 23 Jan 2022 17:30

Music Played

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

  • Martin Amis

    Money read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:02

    Jay Gorney

    Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

    Performer: Eartha Kitt.
    • LaserLight Digital 24 911.
    • 14.
  • J.R.R Tolkien

    The Hobbit read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:00

    Harry Warren

    The Gold Digger's Song (We're in the Money)

    Choir: London Sinfonietta Chorus. Orchestra: London Sinfonietta. Singer: Judy Blazer. Conductor: John McGlinn.
    • EMI CLASSICS: 7243 5 55189-2 7.
    • 1.
  • 00:08

    Richard Wagner

    Siegfried - Act II, Prelude

    Orchestra: Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
  • Florence May Alt (attrib. uncertain)

    LoveÂ’s Millionaire (extract) read by Emily Python

  • 00:19

    Ethel Smyth

    Concerto for violin, horn and orchestra (3rd mvt.)

    Performer: Richard Watkins. Performer: Sophie Langdon. Orchestra: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic. Conductor: Odaline de la Martinez.
    • CHANDOS CHAN-9449.
    • 6.
  • Henry Austen

    Preface to ‘Persuasion’ and ‘Northanger Abbey’ by Jane Austen read by Jonathan Keeble

  • George Eliot

    Silas Marner read by Emily Python

  • Emily Dickinson

    Simplicity read by Emily Python

  • 00:27

    Walter Donaldson

    My Baby Just Cares for Me

    Performer: Nina Simone.
    • Universal 980808.
    • 2.
  • 00:30

    Kenneth G. Finlay

    Daisies are our silver (hymn)

    Choir: Wells Cathedral Choir. Performer: Rupert Gough. Conductor: Malcolm Archer.
    • Hyperion CDP12104.
    • 8.
  • 00:32

    Pink Floyd

    Money

    Performer: Pink Floyd.
    • EMI: 7243-5821362.
    • 6.
  • Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

    Friday Black read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:36

    Franz Lehár

    Gold and Silver Waltz (Op. 79)

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • DG 4631852.
    • 6.
  • Émile Zola

    Money read by Emily Python

  • 00:39

    °Õ°ùä»å

    What Will We Do?

    Performer: June Tabor and Maddy Prior.
    • Topic Records TSCD450.
    • 10.
  • Michael Lewis

    The Big Short read by Jonathan Keeble

  • Anthony Trollope

    The Prime Minister read by Emily Python

  • 00:44

    Erich Wolfgang Korngold

    Deception - music for the film

    Orchestra: The Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: William T. Stromberg.
  • Charles Dickens

    Little Dorrit read by Emily Python

  • Chester Himes

    A Rage in Harlem read by Emily Python

  • 00:49

    Ennio Morricone

    A Fistful of Dollars (main title)

    Orchestra: The Ennio Morricone Orchestra. Conductor: Alessandro Alessandroni.
    • Camden 74321339432.
    • 2.
  • Kathleen Raine

    Worry about Money read by Emily Python

  • 00:53

    Lira

    We mali, ngicela ungizwe kahle (Oh money, please hear me well)

    Performer: Lira.
    • Sony Music CDSTEP135.
    • 4.
  • Philip Larkin read by Emily Python

    Money read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:58

    Elizabeth Maconchy

    Sirens' Song

    Choir: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Singers. Conductor: Odaline de la Martinez.
    • LORELT LNT-127.
    • 15.
  • 00:58

    Luciano Berio

    Cries of London – money, penny come to me

    Performer: The Swingle Singers.
    • DECCA 425 620-2.
    • 12.
  • 00:59

    Luciano Berio

    Money, penny come to me (Cries of London)

    Choir: The Swingle Singers.
  • Simon Armitage

    Ten Pence Story (extract) read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 01:01

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Rage over a lost penny

    Performer: Alfred Brendel.
  • 01:07

    Cy Coleman

    Big Spender

    Performer: Shirley Bassey.
    • EMI CDP-790469 .
    • 3.
  • Imtiaz Dharker

    The garden gnomes are on their mobile phones from Luck is the Hook (Bloodaxe Books, 2018) read by Emily Python

  • 01:09

    Steven Wilson

    Personal Shopper

    Performer: Steven Wilson. Featured Artist: Elton John.
    • Caroline International CAROL021CD.
    • 7.
  • Amos Russel Wells

    Things! Things (extract) read by Emily Python

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