
Featherbrained
A sequence of poetry, prose and music on the theme of birds and the human imagination, with readings by Anna Maxwell Martin and Jonjo O'Neill.
An exploration of birds and the human imagination from Wallace Stevens to the crows in Disney's Dumbo with the actors Anna Maxwell Martin and Jonjo O'Neill.
Is there something atavistic about an earthbound creature's fascination with flying? Could this be why birds have such a grip on our imagination? Think of it - Shakespeare's starlings and jackdaws - Rossini's thieving magpie - Lewis Carroll and the dodo....The Owl and the Pussycat ...Messiaen's extraordinary musical aviary ... we're always adding to the list. Somehow, it seems, our minds are refreshed and perplexed by birds. Although profoundly different we seek out similarities with their behaviour; then, perversely, we decide to envy their singularity; we ponder their savagery, then wonder if we should follow their example; even as we hunt them, we marvel at their resilience - windblown scraps flying against a howling gale, or sandmartins snuggling together in deep domesticity. This evening's edition of Words and Music is an exploration of all things featherbrained - an all too human swoop from Wallace Stevens' blackbird to the singing crows in Disney's Dumbo; from the ambivalent sweetness of the dove you can hear in Du Fay or Penalosa to the slight and sensual figure of a wading girl that James Joyce transforms into a seabird. Whether a lark ascending makes your heart leap or whether you're stirred by the brassy lure of a buzzard, prepare to take wing.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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J A Baker
From The Peregrine read by Jonjo ONeill
Mark Doty
Migratory read by Anna Maxwell Martin
Wallace Stevens
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird read by Anna Maxwell Martin
James Joyce
Extract from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man read by Jonjo ONeill
J A Baker
The Nightjar from The Peregrine read by Anna Maxwell Martin
Thom Gunn
Tamer and Hawk read by Anna Maxwell Martin
Seamus Heaney
Homecomings read by Anna Maxwell Martin
Fleur Adcock
The Last Moa read by Anna Maxwell Martin
Producer's Note - Featherbrained
Is there something atavistic about an earthbound creature’s fascination with flying? Could this be why birds have such a grip on our imagination? Think of it – Shakespeare’s starlings and jackdaws – Rossini’s thieving magpie – Lewis Carroll and the dodo….The Owl and the Pussycat …Messiaen’s extraordinary musical aviary … we’re always adding to the list. Somehow, it seems, our minds are refreshed and perplexed by birds. Although profoundly different we seek out similarities with their behaviour; then, perversely, we decide to envy their singularity; we ponder their savagery, then wonder if we should follow their example; even as we hunt them, we marvel at their resilience – windblown scraps flying against a howling gale, or sandmartins snuggling together in deep domesticity. This evening’s edition of Words and Music is an exploration of all things featherbrained – an all too human swoop from Wallace Stevens’ blackbird to the singing crows in Disney’s Dumbo; from the ambivalent sweetness of the dove you can hear in Du Fay or Penalosa to the slight and sensual figure of a wading girl that James Joyce transforms into a seabird. Whether a lark ascending makes your heart leap or whether you’re stirred by the brassy lure of a buzzard, prepare to take wing.
Producer: Zahid Warley
Broadcasts
- Sun 1 Jun 2014 17:30
- Mon 28 Dec 2015 16:30
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