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Pictures at an Exhibition

From poems by WH Auden and Ben Okri to music from Mussorgsky and Ruth Gipps, with readings performed by actors Graham Seed and Lara Sawalha, celebrating museums as they re-open.

Drop off for spies, meeting place for lovers, or gallery openings which are part of the social whirl - the readings in today's Words and Music range from John le CarrΓ© and Julian Barnes to poems inspired by artworks from, among others, Percy Shelley, Elizabeth Jennings, Ben Okri, WH Auden - also contemporary poet Sarah Howe reads a poem inspired by a piece from the Liverpool Museum as part of the TIDE project. The main readers are Graham Seed and Lara Sawalha, and the music includes pieces inspired by art and museums from Modest Mussorgsky's sequence which gives the programme its title to Puccini's painter Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca, to other representations of paintings by the likes of Ruth Gipps, Ottorino Respighi, Cole Porter, and music by Leonardo Vinci (not the painter, but a good enough artistic pun), among others. Public galleries and museums in England are due to re-open later this week and commercial art galleries are already staging exhibitions.

Producer: Juan Carlos Jaramillo

You can find out more about the TIDE project http://www.tideproject.uk/

On Free Thinking in the coming weeks you can hear discussions about some of the exhibitions opening including Alice in Wonderland at the V&A, James Ensor at the Serpentine Gallery, Jean Dubuffet at the Barbican and already broadcast- a discussion featuring the portraits of Thomas Lawrence at the Holburne Museum Bath and a conservator working on Barbara Hepworth's art ahead of the exhibition opening at the Hepworth Wakefield.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 26 Jun 2022 17:30
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Anon

    Atmosphere and people walking at the British Museum

    Performer: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Sound Effects Archive.
    • ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ.
    • 1.

  • Alfred Lord Tennyson

    Two Voices read by Lara Sawalha

  • 00:00

    Modest Mussorgsky

    Pictures at an Exhibition, Promenade I

    Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.
    • Mariinsky MAR 0553.
    • 1.

  • Julian Barnes

    Metroland read by Lara Sawalha

  • 00:03

    Giacomo Puccini

    Recondita Armonia, Tosca

    Performer: Rolando VillazΓ³n. Orchestra: Munich Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Michel Plasson.
    • Erato 3952452.
    • 9.

  • W. H. Auden

    MusΓ©e des Beaux Arts read by Graham Seed

  • 00:07

    Ottorino Respighi

    Trittico Botticelliano for small orchestra, No.3, La Nascita di Venere

    Performer: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • DG 437533-2.
    • 16.
  • 00:09

    Cole Porter

    You're the Top

    Performer: Ella Fitzgerald. Ensemble: Buddy Bregman & Orchestra.
    • Verve Master Edition 537 257-2.
    • CD2 Tr 8.

  • Dona Tartt

    The Goldfinch read by Lara Sawalha

  • 00:14

    Kaija Saariaho

    Sept papillons for cello, Papillon II, Leggiere, molto espressivo

    Performer: Anssi Karttunen.
    • Ondine ODE1047-2.
    • 5.

  • Elizabeth Jennings

    Rembrandt's Late Self-Portraits read by Graham Seed

  • 00:17

    Giovanni Gabrieli

    Canzon a 7 (S.31) [1615 no.5] arr. for brass ensemble

    Music Arranger: Arthur Frackenpohl. Performer: Charles Schlueter. Performer: Philip Smith. Performer: Ronald Romm. Performer: Mark Gould. Performer: William Vacchiano. Performer: William Vacchiano. Performer: William Vacchiano. Performer: Frederic Mills. Performer: Frederic Mills. Performer: Frederic Mills. Performer: Frederic Mills. Performer: Frederic Mills. Performer: Neil Balm. Performer: Neil Balm. Performer: Neil Balm. Performer: Neil Balm. Performer: Neil Balm. Performer: Neil Balm.
    • CBS MK45744.
    • 2.

  • John Ashbery

    Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror read by Lara Sawalha

  • Benjamin Myers

    Male Tears read by Graham Seed

  • 00:22

    Antonio Vivaldi

    The Four Seasons, Concerto for vln & orch (RV.297) (Op.8`4) "L'Inverno", Largo [la Pioggia]

    Performer: Anne‐Sophie Mutter. Ensemble: TrondheimSolistene.
    • DG 4632592.
    • 11.

  • William Carlos Williams read by Lara Sawalha

    Hunters in the Snow

  • 00:26

    Leonardo Vinci

    Chi temea Giove regnante, from Farnace

    Performer: Cecilia Bartoli. Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • Decca 4781521.
    • 11.

  • John Galsworthy

    The Forsyte Saga Awakening Part 1 The Encounter read by Lara Sawalha

  • 00:33

    Stephen Sondheim

    Sunday in the Park with George, Putting it together

    Performer: Barbra Streisand. Conductor: Peter Matz.
    • Columbia 5063612.
    • 1.

  • John le CarrΓ©

    A Perfect Spy read by Graham Seed

  • 00:39

    Morton Gould

    Boogie-woogie etude for piano

    Performer: Shura Cherkassky.
    • DG 4778168.
    • 2.
  • 00:40

    Philip Glass

    Window of appearances, from Akhnaten

    Performer: Milagro Vargas. Performer: Melinda Liebermann. Orchestra: Staatsoper Stuttgart. Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies.
    • CBS MK45580.
    • CD1 Tr 9.

  • Percy Bysshe Shelley

    Ozymandias read by Lara Sawalha

  • Thomas Hardy

    In the British Museum read by Graham Seed

  • 00:45

    Anon.

    Alleluia

    Choir: Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge. Director: Mary Berry.
    • Herald HAVPCD151.
    • 6.
  • 00:47

    Dimitri Cantemir

    Der makam-i Huseyni Sakil-i Aga Riza

    Ensemble: Hespèrion XXI. Conductor: Jordi Savall.
    • Alia Vox AVSA9870.
    • 21.

  • Sarah Howe

    In the Chinese Ceramics Gallery read by Sarah Howe

  • 00:50

    Traditional

    Toques y Cantos a ElegguΓ‘, OggΓΊn y Ochosi

    Performer: Guiros de San Cristobal de Regla.
    • Tonga Productions TNG4CD 9303.
    • CD1 Tr 2.

  • Valerie Bloom

    Once upon a time read by Graham Seed

  • 00:53

    Youssou Ndour

    4. 4. 44

    Composer: Kabou Gueye. Performer: Youssou Ndour.
    • Nonesuch 266044-2.
    • 1.

  • William Empson

    Homage to the British Museum read by Lara Sawalha

  • 00:57

    Ruth Gipps

    Knight in armour, Op.8, for orchestra

    Orchestra: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Rumon Gamba.
    • Chandos CHAN20078.
    • 3.

  • Edward Carpenter

    Artemidorus, Farewell read by Graham Seed

  • Ben Okri

    What does it mean to be human? read by Graham Seed

  • 01:04

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Fantasia for piano, chorus and orchestra in C minor, Op. 80

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Choir: Vienna State Opera Choir. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • DG 4790913.
    • 4.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 16 May 2021 17:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Sun 26 Jun 2022 17:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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