The Sky Smiles Down
Poetry and music on the theme of summer, with readings by Fiona Shaw and Robert Glenister. With writings by Clare, Heaney and Emily Dickinson plus music by Gershwin, Delius and Suk.
Fiona Shaw and Robert Glenister read poetry and prose on the theme of summer - from John Clare's 'Shepherd's Calendar', the misery of having to go to school on a Scottish summer morning, Walt Whitman's 'mad, naked summer night' and Jay Gatsby's party with music from George Gershwin, Dvorak, Joan Baez, Mendelssohn and Toru Takemitsu.
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00
Modest Mussorgsky
Tuileries (Pictures at an Exhibition)
Performers: Wiener Philharmoniker, Andre Previn – conductor
- PHILIPS 432512.
-
Emily Dickinson
My Garden, read by Fiona Shaw
Wordsworth
Summer Vacation from The Prelude, read by Robert Glenister
00:01Judith Weir
Sumer is i-cumen in (Themes and Variations)
Performers: ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Symphony Orchestra, Jac van Steen – conductor
- NMCD062.
William Blake
The Schoolboy, read by Robert Glenister
00:05Joan Baez
Never dreamed you'd leave in summer
- Diamonds and Rust.
- A&M 3932332.
00:08Gustav Mahler
po di Menuetto (Symphony no 3)
Performers: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink – conductor
- CSOR901701.
August Kleinzahler
The Damselfly, read by Fiona Shaw
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Summer in the South, read by Robert Glenister
00:18Olivier Messiaen
Les Orioles (Des Canyons aux Etoiles)
Performers: Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Myung-Whun Chung – conductor
F. Scott Fitzgerald
from The Great Gatsby, read by Fiona Shaw
00:25Charlie Parker's Reboppers
Once upon a summertime
Performer: Gil Evans – conductor
- Quiet Nights, Complete Columbia Sessions.
- CXK 67397.
Qabbani
In the summer, read by Fiona Shaw
Walt Whitman
from Song of Myself, read by Fiona Shaw
00:30Manuel de Falla
Danza Lejana - Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Performer: London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos – conductor
- DECCA 4102892.
Mark Doty
After the Fourth, read by Robert Glenister
00:37John Cage
Summer (The Seasons)
Performers: American Composers Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies – conductor
- ECM 4651402.
Mark Strand
My mother on an evening in late summer, read by Fiona Shaw
00:46Gerald Finzi
In five-score Summers
Performers: Roderick Williams – baritone, Iain Burnside – piano
- NAXOS 8557644.
00:47Zoltán Kodály
Summer Evening
Performers: Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Zoltan Kodaly – conductor
- DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4274082.
00:53Stephen Sondheim
Night Waltz (A Little Night Music)
Performer: Richard Rodney Bennett
- A Different Side of Sondheim.
- DRGCD5182.
Carol Ann Duffy
Midsummer Night, read by Fiona Shaw
00:57Felix Mendelssohn
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Performers: London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn – conductor
- EMI 5749812.
Seamus Heaney
Night Drive, read by Robert Glenister
A Teasdale
Summer Night, Riverside, read by Fiona Shaw
01:04George Gershwin
Summertime
Performer: Sarah Vaughan
- The Essential Sarah Vaughan.
- CBS 4671522.
John Clare
Summer Evening, read by Robert Glenister
01:09Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Water Mill
Performers: Robert Tear – tenor, Philip Ledger – piano
- LONDON 4303682.
Ted Hughes
The Harvest Moon, read by Fiona Shaw
01:12Toru Takemitsu
Rain Tree Sketch II
Performers: Fujita Piano Trio
- ASV CDDCA1120.
John Burnside
Summer, read by Fiona Shaw
01:17AntonÃn Dvořák
Adagio (Symphony no 8)
Performers: Berliner Philharmoniker, Rafael Kubelik – conductor
- DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4579022.
Broadcasts
- Sun 8 Jun 2008 22:15³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
- Sat 11 Sep 2010 18:00³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3