A Melodrama for an Age of Prosperity
A verse play for radio based on Herodotus by Peter Gurney
Music by Humphrey Searle
Production by Raymond Raikes
ARGEJA, daughter of Polycrates (June Tobin); POLYCRATES, king of Samoa (Michael Hordern ); CITIZENS of Samos (Philip Cunningham. Hugh Dickson , Cabriel Woolf ); HERALD (John Hollis ); EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR (Heron Carvic ); HERODOTUS, the historian (Charles Simon ); A CAPTAIN (John Humphry ); AMASIS, king of Egypt (Leon Quarlermaine ); THE RING (Diana Olssen ); MESSENGER (Jon Rollason ); A FISHERMAN (Douglas Storm); ANACREON, the singer and poet (Kenneth Dight ); LYDIAN AMBASSADOR (Hugh Manning ); OROETES, governor of Lydia (Malcolm. Hayes); Other Voices (members of the BBC Dratna Repertory Company)
Singers and the Sinfonia of London conducted by the composer
Polycrates' rule in Samos began c. 540 B.C.