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ON NOW : Today
24/05/2013

Today Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.

Something Understood

Image for Intimations of Mortality

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Intimations of Mortality

Duration:
30 minutes
First broadcast:
Sunday 26 August 2012

Death is a subject we are often reluctant to discuss. It is often considered morbid to do so. It has commonly been described as the last taboo. However, some argue that a sense of our own mortality plays a vital part in our understanding of life. Further, that demystifying the process of death can be essential to getting the most out of life.

Mark Tully considers the advantages of being open to the intimations of mortality which we may come across daily.

In conversation with Baroness Rabbi Julia Neuberger he discusses attitudes to risk, memento mori and living legacies. With readings from Virginia Woolf, Kabir and music by Nitin Sawnhay and Gustav Mahler, he asks whether being open to intimations of mortality can bring more to life.

The readers are Helen Ryan and Kenneth Cranham.

Produced by: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.

Music Played

6 items

  • Lyrics by Walter Chalmers Smith, Music traditional Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

    Performer: London Philharmonic Choir and London Philharmonic Orchestra

    Hymns Triumphant, EMI, 724385198922

  • Image for [traditional]

    [traditional] When the Saints Go Marchin’ In

    Performer: Percy Humphrey (vocals), The Preservation Hall Jazz Band

    When the Saints Go Marchin’ In, Sony, 074643865029

  • Image for Elton John

    Elton John Song for Guy

    Performer: Elton John

    A Single Man, Mercury Records, B00000APS1

  • Image for Zbigniew Preisner

    Zbigniew Preisner Qui Erat et Qui Est

    Performer: Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk, Varsov Chamber Choir directed by Ryszard Zimak, Elzbieta Towarnicka (soprano)

    Requiem for my Friend, Erato, 3984-24146-2

  • Image for Nitin Sawhney

    Nitin Sawhney Taste the Air

    Performer: Nitin Sawnhey, feat. Natty

    Last Days of Meaning, Positiv LLP, B0051SSHNS

  • Image for Gustav Mahler

    Gustav Mahler “Aufersteh’n, ja Aufersteh’n wirst du” from Symphony No. 2 in C Minor “ Resurrection”

    Performer: Heather Harper, Helen Watts, the London Symphony Orchestra directed by Sir Georg Solti

    Mahler – Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, Decca, 4758501

  • Readings from this programme

    Title: ‘The Time Before Death’ from Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds
    Author: Kabir
    Publisher: Bloodaxe
    ISBN-10: 1852247665

    Title: Man’s Concern with Death
    Author: Arnold Toynbee
    Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
    ISBN-10: 0340023805

    Title: A Writer’s Diary
    Author: Virginia Woolf
    Publisher: Mariner Books
    ISBN-10: 0156027917

    Title: ‘Death Be Not Proud’ from The Complete English Poems
    Author: John Donne
    Publisher: Penguin Classics
    ISBN-10: 0140422099

    Title: ‘Rembrandt’s Late Self-Portraits’ from Being Human
    Author: Elizabeth Jennings
    Publisher: Bloodaxe
    ISBN-10: 1852248092

    Title: ‘On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth’ from Twenty-Two Essays of William Hazlitt
    Author: William Hazlitt
    Publisher: Adamant Media Corporation
    ISBN-10: 0543859584

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