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Texts and music on the theme of money, with readings by Sylvestra Le Touzel and Dan Stevens. Includes Dostoyevsky, Defoe and F Scott Fitzgerald, plus Beethoven, Puccini, Stravinsky.

Money makes the world go round. It also tends to bring out the worst in people, and a wealth of novels and poems have been written on and around the subject. The gentlemen in Jane Austen's novels usually have plenty of it, while the unfortunate Katerina Ivanovna in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment certainly does not. Defoe's Moll Flanders and F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby are on the make, while characters in Dickens and E Nesbit are in a ruinous state through losing their money. And Martin Amis's John Self thinks he's making money, later to find that he's actually losing it too.

Sylvestra Le Touzel and Dan Stevens read poems and texts which show the impact money, or lack of money has on literary characters' lives, with music by Beethoven, Puccini, Stravinsky and Abba.

Producer - Ellie Mant.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Thu 22 Dec 2011 17:00

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Richard Wagner - Das Rhinegold (excerpt)

    Performer: Oda Balsborg, Hetty Plumacher, Ira Malaniuk, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Georg Solti

  • Christopher Darlington Morley

    Not Negotiable read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:01

    John Gay

    The Beggar's Opera - Overture

    Performer: City of London Sinfonia, conducted by Christian Curnyn, arranged Benjamin Britten

    • CHANDOS CHAN105482.
  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:06

    Ignace Joseph Pleyel

    Sonatina no.1 in C major

    Performer: Martin Souter (fortepiano)

    • ISIS CD024.
  • Jason Guriel

    Money is Also a Kind of Music read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:08

    Milton Grant, Fred Wray

    Rumble (excerpt)

    Performer: Hal Blaine and Friends

    • HARKIT HRKCD8201.
  • Daniel Defoe

    Moll Flanders read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:11

    John Tavener

    The Repentant Thief (2nd Dance)

    Performer: Andrew Marriner (clarinet), London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas

    • COLLINS 20052COL.
  • John Keats

    Robin Hood – To a Friend read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:15

    Erich Wolfgang Korngold

    Robin Hood and his Merry Men (The Adventures of Robin Hood)

    Performer: ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Philharmonic, conductor Rumon Gamba

    • CHANDOS CHAN10336.
  • Jenny Joseph

    Cutting Off One’s Ear for Someone Else is Wrong read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:19

    Jonathan Richman - Vincent van Gogh (excerpt)

    Performer: Jonathan Richman

  • Charles Dickens

    Bleak House read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:21

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Rondo a capriccio Op.129 'Rage over a Lost Penny'

    Performer: Evgeny Kissin (piano)

    • RCA 09026 689112.
  • Martial translated by JA Pott

    Epigrams Book 9 – To Garricus read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:27

    Giacomo Puccini

    Gianni Schicchi (excerpt)

    Performer: Jose van Dam, Angela Gheorghiu, Felicity Palmer, Roberto Alagna, Luigi Roni, London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano

    • EMI CDC 556590.
  • Martin Amis

    Money: A Suicide Note read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:29

    Barrett Strong

    Money (That's What I Want)

    Composer: Janie Bradford, Berry Gordy

    • TAMLA MOTOWN ZD72514.
  • Dorothy Parker

    Biographies read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:34

    Alfred Newman

    How to Marry A Millionaire – Street Scene

    Performer: City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Nic Raine

    • SILVA SCREEN FILMXCD352.
  • The Bible

    Matthew 6:24 read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:40

    Musorgsky - Boris Godunov (excerpt)

    Performer: Vladimir Vaneev, Zlata Bulycheva, Kirov Opera and Orchestra, conductor Valery Gergiev

  • Leonard Bacon

    A Concert read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • William Shakespeare

    The Merchant of Venice read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:42

    Franz Liszt

    Mephisto Waltz no.1 (excerpt)

    Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)

    • EMI CZS 5747892.
  • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

    Crime and Punishment read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:47

    Henry Purcell

    Blessed is he that considereth the poor (excerpt)

    Performer: King’s Concert, conductor Robert King

    • HYPERION CDS44150.
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald

    The Great Gatsby read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:52

    Kurt Weill

    The Threepenny Opera - Overture

    Performer: Ensemble Modern, conductor HK Gruber

    • RCA 74321661332.
  • Hilaire Belloc

    Lord Finchley read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 00:54

    ABBA

    Money money money

    Performer: Abba

    • POLAR 9819297.
  • Thomas Hardy

    The Mayor of Casterbridge read by Dan Stevens

  • 00:59

    Igor Stravinsky

    The Rake's Progress (excerpt)

    Performer: Peter Bronder, The Monteverdi Choir conducted John Eliot Gardiner

    • DG 4596482.
  • Jean Ayer

    Everyday Things read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 01:02

    Aaron Copland

    Appalachian Spring (excerpt)

    Performer: The New York Virtuosi, conductor Kenneth Klein

    • COLLINS 10972.
  • E. Nesbit

    The Story of the Treasure Seekers read by Dan Stevens

  • 01:07

    [traditional]

    Pop Goes the Weasel (excerpt)

    Performer: Sophie Aldred, Richard Mitchley and children

    • ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Audiobooks 978 1405677301.
  • Anonymous

    Life’s a Game read by Sylvestra Le Touzel

  • 01:09

    Sergey Prokofiev

    The Gambler Suite - Denouement

    Performer: Scottish National Orchestra, conductor Neeme Jarvi

    • CHANDOS CHAN 8803.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 20 Feb 2011 22:15
  • Thu 22 Dec 2011 17:00

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