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May Day

From Malcolm Arnold's Cornish dances to Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles and a ceremony in Sarajevo, poems by Wendy Cope, Philip Larkin and The Workers' Maypole by Walter Crane.

Walter Crane's The Workers' Maypole is set alongside Jessica Mitford's account of a Hyde Park march; Gustav Holst's Egdon Heath underscores a reading from Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles; Richmal Crompton's Just William questions the idea of May Queens; we hear the remembrance of a Sarajevan ceremony from Priscilla Morris's new novel Black Butterflies, and John Stow's Survey of London takes us back to archers demonstrating their skills to Henry VIII. Plus poems by Sara Teasdale, Wendy Cope, Charles Causley and John Betjeman's Seaside Golf. The readers are Robert Glenister and Norah Lopez Holden. Amongst the composers and performers included in this episode are Malcolm Arnold's Cornish Dances, a kingfisher conjured in the music of Sally Beamish, a traditional May song performed by Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy, the Hawaiian May Day is Lei Day and a rendition of Sumer is Icumen In from the choir of Magdalen College Oxford, where every May Day crowds assemble and the bells ring out.

Producer: Fiona McLean

You can find a Free Thinking episode exploring May Day rituals available on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds and as an Arts & Ideas podcast and today's Drama on 3 The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff has been written by the folk performers The Young 'Uns.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 30 Apr 2023 17:30
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • Philip Larkin

    The Trees read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:00

    John Surman

    Road to St Ives - Perranporth

  • Thomas Hardy

    from Tess of the D’Urbervilles, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • 00:03

    Gustav Holst

    Egdon Heath

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones.

  • AE Housman

    The First of May, read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:07

    Benjamin Britten

    The Evening Primrose (Five Flower Songs)

    Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

  • Wendy Cope

    The Month of May read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • 00:11

    Anon.

    Sumer is icumen in

    Choir: Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford.

  • Richmal Crompton

    from The May King, read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:14

    AntonΓ­n DvoΕ™Γ΅k

    Goblins' Dance (Poetic Tone Pictures, Op.85)

    Performer: Vassily Primakov.

  • John Stow

    from The Survey of London 1603, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • 00:19

    The Watersons

    Hal-An-Tow (Mighty River of Song)

  • Philip Stubbes

    The Anatomy of Abuses 1583, read by Robert Glenister

  • Lady Wilde

    from Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages 1890, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • 00:24

    Frank Bridge

    The Story of My Heart (2 Poems of Richard Jefferies)

    Orchestra: Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Richard Hickox.

  • Flora Thompson

    Lark Rise to Candleford, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • 00:29

    King Nawahi's Hawaiians

    May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii

  • Charles Causley

    Green Man in the Garden, read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:33

    Malcolm Arnold

    4 Cornish Dances, Op.91 (no.1: Vivace)

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Bryden Thomson.

  • Sara Teasdale

    May Day, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • C.S. Gilbert

    from Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall 1820, read by Robert Glenister

  • 00:36

    Steeleye Span

    Padstow (Tempted and Tried)

  • 00:39

    Sally Beamish

    Cello Concerto (River (2nd mvt: The Kingfisher)

    Performer: Robert Cohen. Orchestra: Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Ola Rudner.

  • Manchester Pall Mall Gazette

    Manchester Pall Mall Gazette 1880, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • 00:43

    Benjamin Frankel

    Overture: May Day

    Orchestra: Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Werner Andreas.

  • Alfred Hayes

    Into the Streets May First 1935, read by Robert Glenister

  • William Crane

    The Worker’s Maypole 1894, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • Jessica Mitford

    from Hons and Rebels, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • 00:54

    Martin Carthy

    May Song

  • Stephen Vincent Benet

    May Morning, read by Robert Glenister

  • Priscilla Morris

    from Black Butterflies, read by Norah Lopez Holden

  • 00:57

    Arnold Bax

    May night in the Ukraine (Nocturne)

    Performer: Eric Parkin.

  • John Betjeman

    Seaside Golf, read by Robert Glenister

  • 01:03

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Lark Ascending

    Performer: Iona Brown. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 1 May 2022 17:30
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Sun 30 Apr 2023 17:30
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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