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Last broadcast on Sun, 15 Nov 2009, 22:15 on BBC Radio 3.
Synopsis
A sequence of poetry, prose and music exploring the theme of solitude, with readings by Paul McGann and Kirsty Besterman.
With works from Alexandre Dumas, William Wordsworth, Philip Larkin, Emily Dickinson and Maya Angelou as well as music from Bach, Delius, Strauss, Scriabin and Thelonius Monk.
Paul McGann
Kirsty Besterman
Producer Notes
Solitude
The desire to be alone, to roam far from the madding crowd, evokes complex emotions. Solitude can both inspire people and scare them. It can be a desperate state or a joyous one. And it can be experienced both when one is alone in a room and when one is surrounded by that madding crowd.
Paul McGann and Kirsty Besterman read works inspired by the state of solitude. Lord Byron feels freedom in isolation, surrounded as he is by the beauty of nature . Emily Dickinson too finds wonder in the loneliness of her secluded life in nineteenth century New England. And poets like Walt Whitman and James Tate, when alone, notice the tiny things in life in ‘Noiseless Patient Spider’ and ‘Cricket’. Alexandre Dumas in ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ and Stevie Smith both explore the sensation of being locked away and the fear of isolation that comes with enforced solitude.
Musically the idea of being alone has explored in many ways from the very simple idea of a solo instrument to the full orchestra creating the sensation of isolation. We start the programme by journeying with Strauss’ hero in ‘Ein Heldenleben’ as he retires from the world. But we discover just how much fun being alone can be with Rose Murphy’s version of ‘Me and My Shadow’.
Rued Langgard’s ‘String Quartet No. 6’ and Tomas Transtromer’s poem ‘Solitude’ are heard together as they both explore the ways in which the openness and isolation of a specific landscape, the Swedish landscape, has influenced both words and music. The Irish landscape is heard in Yeats’ ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’ in which the poet yearns for the peace and tranquillity of the island where he spent his boyhood summers.
The programme ends with Delius’ work for tenor, soprano, chorus and orchestra, ‘A Song of the High Hills’, a piece that epitomises the conflicting emotions provoked by solitude. Delius said with this piece that he “tried to express the joy and exhilaration one feels in the mountains and also the loneliness and melancholy of the high solitude and the grandeur of the wide far distances.”
Produced by Georgie Robinson.
Play List
00:00:00
RICHARD STRAUSS
Ein Heldenleben op 40 – Des Helden Weltflucht und Vollendung
Michael Schewalbe – violin
Berlin Philharmoniker con Herbert Von Karajan
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
EMI CDM7690272 tr 8
00:02:39
LORD BYRON
Solitude
Read by Paul McGann
00:04:41
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Personal Talk
Read by Kirsty Besterman
00:05:35
TRADITIONAL ARRANGED BY GORDON LANGFORD
All Through the Night
The Sellers engineering Band cod Alan Morrison
More reflections for Brass
BBC WMEM00272 tr 9
00:09:14
LI BAI
Drinking Alone by Moonlight
translator Arthur Waley
Read by Paul McGann
00:10:12
Me and My shadow
Rose Murphy
Rose, Jolson, Dryer
The Orginal Pop Idols
AVID AMSC748 tr 23
00:12:55
ROBERT MUCZYNSKI
Three Preludes for unaccompanied Flute
Allegro
Alexandra Hawley
Muczynski: Complete works for Flute
MARCO POLO 8225041 tr 18
00:13:44
MICHAEL DRAYTON
Sonnet XI: You Not Alone
Read by Paul McGann
00:14:36
PURCELL
Daniel Taylor
O Solitude, my sweetest choice
On the Muse’s Isle
ATMA ACD22133 tr 9
00:19:59
WALT WHITMAN
A noiseless patient spider
Read by Kirsty Besterman
00:20:56
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
The Sally Gardens
The Vibrators
Meltdown
FM REVXD121 tr 13
00:21:48
BOB CREWE AND BOB GAUDIO.
The sun Ain’t gonna shine
Walker Brothers
The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine
Phillips
320 212 BF tr 1
00:24:28
MAYA ANGELOU
Alone
Read by Maya Angelou
00:26:12
THELONIOUS MONK
Round Midnight
Thelonious Monk, George Taitt, Sahib shihab, bob paige, art blakey
The best of Thelonious Monk
Blue Note CDP7956362 tr 7 ’
00:29:24
JAMES TATE
Cricket Cricket
Read by Kirsty Besterman
00:30:24
JS BACH
Suite No 2 in D minor – Prelude
Haimovitz
Oxingale
OX2000 CD 1 tr 7
00:34:46
PHILIP LARKIN
Best Society
Read by Paul McGann
00:36:16
DOMENICO GABRIELLI
Trumpet sonata no 4 in D Major - Presto
Thomas Reiner And Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim con Sebastian Tewinkel
Baroque Trumpet
Naxos 8570501 tr 23
00:37:09
TOMAS TRANSTROMER
Solitude I
translated by Robert Bly
Read by Kirsty Besterman
00:38:33
RUED LANGGAARD
String Quartet No. 6 In one movement on a Swedish folk tune 1918-1919
The Kontra Quartet
Marco Polo DCCD 9302 – Tr 5
00:40:43
TOMAS TRANSTROMER
Solitude II
translated by Robert Bly
Read by Paul McGann
00:43:04
WS MERWIN
The Lantern
Read by Kirsty Besterman
00:44:04
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN
Prelude in C sharp minor for left hand op 9 no1
Stephen Coombs
The Early Scriabin
Helios CDH55286
00:46:37
MICHAEL DRAYTON
The Song of Jonah in the Whales Bellie
Read by Paul McGann
00:47:08
FAURE
Cantique de Jean Racine
Cambridge singers cond: Rutter
Faure: Requiem etc.
Collegium Colcd109 tr 12
00:53:50
ALEXANDRE DUMAS
Count of Monte Cristo
Translated by David Coward
Read by Paul McGann
00:54:46
STEVIE SMITH
The Commuted Sentence
Read by Kirsty Besterman
00:55:16
PROKOFIEV
Cinderella
Prokofiev: Cinderella
Cleveland Orch/ Askenaxy
DECCA 4101622 CD1 Tr 3
00:58:19
EMILY DICKINSON
It Might be Lonelier by
Read by Kirsty Besterman
00:59:03
LOUIS SPOHR
Clarinet concerto no 1 in c minor op 26 - Adagio
Michael Collins (clr) Swedish Chaber Orchestra cond Robin O’neil
Hperion CDA67509
01:02:25
W.B.YEATS
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Read by Paul McGann
01:03:14
FREDERICK DELIUS
Song of the High Hills – With quiet easy movement
Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera con Charles Mackerras
Delius: Appalachia/Song of the High Hills
Decca 4431712 Tr 2
Broadcast
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Sun 15 Nov 200922:15
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