Family Portraits

An atmospheric programme of poetry and music inspired by family life, with county Durham-born actress Gina McKee and Live Theatre’s Donald McBride reading poems by Philip Larkin, John Clare, Sylvia Plath, Newcastle's own Thomas Whittle, and a newly-commissioned dramatic piece by Karen Laws. They are joined by members of the Northern Sinfonia playing music by Purcell, Haydn and Dvorák as well as music from Newcastle-based folk singer Emily Portman and concertina and Northumbrian pipes legend Alistair Anderson.

This edition of Words and Music is a fascinating exploration of the many facets of family life through three different portraits. The idyllic portrait of an ideal family is expressed through Louis Macneice's 'Happy Families', and by members of the Northern Sinfonia playing from Schubert's String Quartet No.7. Robert Graves' 'Brother' leads to Emily Portman singing Two Sisters, and Alistair Anderson plays a slow air on Northumbrian pipes before Robert Louis Stevenson's 'My House' and Gerald Durrell's comic recollections of his 'Family and Other Animals'.

The portrait of a family in turmoil brings together the violent words of Larkin's 'This be the Verse' with Haydn's 'Witches Minuet', played by members of Northern Sinfonia, then Gina McKee and Donald McBride re-enact Sawney Ogilby's bitter duel with his wife over Alistair Anderson and Emily Portman in a version of Canny Newcastle for concertina and pipes duet. Grief-stricken 'Young Howard' by Sean O'Brien is accompanied by Purcell's Chaconne in G minor.

The final portrait, of a 21st-century family, begins with 'Soup', a newly-commissioned dramatic piece by Karen Laws (Free Thinking Writer-in-Residence). Sylvia Plath's Family 'Reunion' leads to Emily Portman singing her stark version of 'Stick Stock' and Dilip Chitre's 'Father Returning Home' is accompanied by Glass's Grandmother and Kimitake. Alistair Anderson's 'Handing it On' represents the passing from one generation to another, a fitting end to the portrait of a 21st-century family.

Producer: Elizabeth Arno

Gina McKee (reader)
Donald McBride (reader)
Emily Portman (folk singer & concertina)
Alistair Anderson (northumbrian pipes & concertina)
Members of the Northern Sinfonia (string quartet)

Introduced by Ian McMillan

Recorded live on 23rd October in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall of Sage Gateshead as part of Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival 2009.