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: The Aeneid

The Aeneid

BBC Radio 3 - Words and Music, The Aeneid

Episodes from the story of Aeneas, read by Olivia Darnley and John Sackville.

Including music by Purcell, Berlioz and Tangerine Dream; translations of the Aeneid by Dryden, Sarah Ruden and Cecil Day-Lewis and reworkings by Ursula Le Guin and Caroline Lawrence.

Virgil's Aeneid traces the epic journey of the Trojan hero from the ruins of his home town through to his arrival in Italy. It is full of incident and pathos as we move from Aeneas's struggles at sea, his tragic love for Dido, his descent into Hades and his battle with the Italian prince Turnus.  This Latin epic poem, written between 29 and 19 BC, has been a source of many retellings, including some from the standpoint of female characters who hardly appear at all in the original.  Olivia Darnley and John Sackville read from translations of the Aeneid by England's first poet laureate John Dryden (1631-1700),  a later holder of that post Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972) and contemporary translator Sarah Ruden, plus reworkings by Ursula Le Guin and Caroline Lawrence all set alongside music by Purcell, Berlioz and Tangerine Dream. 

Producer: Tony Sellors 

If you want more discussions relating to classic literature and the arts you might also be interested in a recent Free Thinking discussion about Phaedra and the excavation of Knossos, and a landmark discussion featuring translator Emily Wilson on her version of the Odyssey.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09kqjc0

Works included (timings from the start of the programme itself, after the introduction): 

00.00.00: Caroline Lawrence: The Night Raid, read by Olivia Darnley

00:00:20: Handel: Giulio Cesare: Se pieta di me non senti
Sabine Devieilhe (soprano), Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon (conductor)

00:03:36: Berlioz: The Trojans: Royal Hunt and Storm 
London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis (conductor)

00:03:36: Virgil, trans. Allcroft and Mason: The Aeneid, read by John Sackville 

00:05:56: Virgil, trans. Dryden: The Aeneid, read by John Sackville and Olivia Darnley

00:08:17: Lutosławski: Mi-parti
Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, Witold Lutoslawski (conductor)

00:12:05: Mendelssohn: Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage
London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (conductor)

00:15:10: Peter Baumann, Edgar Froese, Christophe Franke: Rubycon
Tangerine Dream

00:15:30: Virgil, trans, C. Day Lewis: The Aeneid, read by Olivia Darnley

00:16:12: Virgil trans. Sarah Ruden: The Aeneid, read by Olivia Darnley and John Sackville

00:18:10: Virgil, trans. John Dryden: The Aeneid, read by Olivia Darnley and John Sackville

00:24:13: Purcell: When I am laid in earth (from Dido and Aeneas)
Joyce DiDonato (mezzo), Il pomo d’oro, Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)

00:28:13: Magnus Lindberg: Graffitti
Finish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo (conductor)

00:28:32: Virgil, trans. Robert Fitzgerald: The Aeneid, read by Olivia Darnley

00:30:47: Shostakovich: Symphony No 4 in C minor
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons (conductor)
Label: DG 4835220

00:31:16: H.V.Morton: A Traveller in Rome, read by John Sackville

00:37:17: Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko (conductor)

00:41:44: Purcell, arr. David Rees-Williams: Dido's lament (When I am laid in earth)
David Rees-Williams Trio

00:47:26: Ursula Le Guin: Lavinia, read by Olivia Darnley

00:51:00: Virgil trans. Sarah Ruden: The Aeneid, read by Olivia Darnley and John Sackville

00:51:27: Tippett:  King Priam
London Sinfonietta, David Atherton (conductor)

00:52:52: Scriabin: Prometheus, the Poem of Fire
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Martha Argerich, piano, Claudi Abbado, conductor

00:52:53: Ovid, trans. Mary M. Innes: Metamorphoses, read by John Sackville and Olivia Darnley

00:53:58: Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman (conductor)

00:58:08: Ravel: Daphnis Et Chloé 1ère Partie: 4. Danse Générale 
Orchestre National de France, Eliahu Inbal (conductor) 

01:00:03: Dutilleux: Symphony No 2 
Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot (conductor) 

01:01:40: Caroline Lawrence: Queen of the silver arrow, read by John Sackville and Olivia Darnley

01:06:28: Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles: Postludium
SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra, Michael Gielen (conductor)

01:08:11: J.S.Bach: Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11: Ach, bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben
Iestyn Davies (counter tenor), Retrospect Ensemble, Matthew Halls (conductor)

01:08:20: Ovid, trans. Mary M. Innes: Metamorphoses, read by John Sackville and Olivia Darnley

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