Free Thinking - Words and Music

Synopsis

Experience the journey of a lifetime in an hour-and-a-half with young Liverpudlian actors Annabelle Dowler and Kevin Harvey, and music performed by folk-singer Belinda Sykes, jazz/rock-percussionist Bill Bruford, pianist Ashley Wass and the Elias String Quartet!

This edition of Words and Music is an interpretation of Shakespeare’s declaration about life, the ‘Seven Ages of Man’ from As You Like It, through the words of Blake and the Mersey Sound; Marlowe and Raleigh, Sassoon and Pinter; Pam Ayres and Kipling. Plus, Don’t Fence Me In, a newly-commissioned take on Shakespeare’s ‘Second Childishness’ by Free Thinking Writer in Residence, Angela Clarke.

Bill Bruford plays percussion improvisations that represent the passing of time, while Belinda Sykes punctuates the programme with folk ballades that convey the raw experience of life. Ashley Wass and the Elias String Quartet play music that ties in with youth, from Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Op.44 No.2 to Grieg’s Arietta, and from Debussy’s String Quartet to Kurtag’s Jatekok nursery rhythms. They come together for the ‘Lover’ in the Adagio from Elgar’s Quintet and, as old age approaches, play from Haydn’s String Quartet Op.76 No.1 and Bax’s In a Vodka Shop to represent Shakespeare’s ‘Slippered Pantaloon’ and ‘Second Childishness’. Ashley Wass brings the programme to a close with more Grieg, his ‘Recollection’, which is followed by Kipling’s ‘The Way through the Woods’ and Bill Bruford’s percussion beat fading as life comes to a close.

Producer: Elizabeth Arno

Recorded live on 1st November in the Small Concert Room of St George’s Hall Liverpool as part of Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival 2008

Annabelle Dowler (reader)
Kevin Harvey (reader)
Bill Bruford (percussion)
Belinda Sykes (singer)
Ashley Wass (piano)
Elias String Quartet
Introduced by Ian McMillan

PART 1: YOUTH
Shakespeare: Seven Ages of Man (As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII)
Mendelssohn: String Quartet op.44 no.2 (Andante)
Blake: Cradle Song
Grieg: Arietta (Lyric Pieces, Book 1, Op.12)
Laurence Sterne: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (extract)
Traditional: Hush my babe
Debussy: String Quartet (2nd movement)
Roger McGough: First Day at School
Bill Bruford: Improvisation
Brian Patten: Gust becos I cud not spel
Kurtag: Jatekok: Tumblebunnies

PART 2: ADULTHOOD
Traditional: The trees they do grow high
Marlowe: The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Raleigh: Her Reply
Elgar: Quintet (Adagio)
Traditional: Courting is a Pleasure (Lovely Molly)
Sassoon: In me, past, present future meet
Bill Bruford: Improvisation
Britten: Divertimento No.1 (March)
Dickens: Little Dorrit (extract)
Bach: Contrapunctus 2 (Art of Fugue, BWV.1080)
Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn: Come, Captain Age
Bach: Contrapunctus 9 a 4 ‘alla duodecima’ (Art of Fugue, BWV.1080)
Shostakovich: March: Allegretto (3 Fantastic Dances, Op.5)
Harold Pinter: A Slight Ache
Shostakovich: Waltz (3 Fantastic Dances, Op.5)

PART 3: OLD AGE
Traditional: The Ages of Man
Pam Ayres: Oh I wish I’d looked after my teeth
Bax: In a Vodka Shop
Haydn: String Quartet Op.76 No.1 (Adagio sostenuto)
Longfellow: My Lost Youth
Traditional: Hush, my babe
Cole Porter: Don’t Fence me In
Sung by Ella Fitzgerald, VERVE 8219902 Tr16
Angela Clarke: Don’t Fence me In (new commission)
Grieg: Recollection (Lyric Pieces, Book 10, Op.71)
Kipling: The Way through the Woods

Broadcast

1. Sun 2 Nov 2008
   22:30
   BBC Radio 3