Words and Music

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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Drama

Music: Classical

A journey of discovery, weaving music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

A weekly journey of discovery, weaving together a range of music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

Words and Music: Fly Me to the Moon

Fly me to the Moon

Fly Me to the Moon

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A trip to the moon featuring Zawe Ashton and Peter Marinker.

Take a trip to the moon. Zawe Ashton and Peter Marinker read transportive poetry from Alice Oswald and Archibald MacLeish.

On 20 July 1969, humans landed on the moon for the very first time. Or was it in fact the first time? Some say that adventurers and inventors have been making the trip to the moon for centuries. Just ask Edgar Allen Poe, who documented Hans Phall’s journey by hot air balloon. Or listen to Leoš Janáček, with his opera celebrating Mr Brouček, who made it all the way on a drunken dream. Or read Italo Calvino, whose classic character Qfwfq climbs up there to harvest lunar milk. 

The German astronomer Johannes Kepler was born on 27 December 1571. 450 years later Words and Music looks at space exploration.

In this edition of Words and Music you can experience the sensation of ascending to the moon and taking a moonwalk, beholding all the wonders lying in wait on the dark side. Your companions for the expedition are today’s readers: Zawe Ashton and Peter Marinker.

Readings: 
Orlando Furioso - Ludovico Ariosto
Stoned Moon Drawing - Robert Rauschenberg
Moon Palace - Paul Auster
Night - Etel Adnan
The Unparalleled Adventure Of One Hans Phall - Edgar Allen Poe
I am the moon, and you are the man on me - Claire Askew
A True Story - Lucian of Samosata 
The Man In The Moone - Francis Godwin
Thirteen Haiku - Yosa Buson
Lady Chatterley’s Lover - DH Lawrence	
There’s a moon inside my body - Kabir 
Letter - CS Lewis
Voyage To The Moon - Archibald MacLeish
Various Portents - Alice Oswald
Aniara - Harry Martinson 
Moonset - Carl Sandburg
Bad Moon - Claire Askew

Produced by Jack Howson.  
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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Words and Music

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