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Idleness

The art of doing nothing, with music by Hoagy Carmichael, Debussy and The Kinks and words by Keats, Jerome K. Jerome and Tennyson read by Claudie Blakley and Tony Haygarth.

The weekly sequence of music, poetry and prose celebrates the art of doing nothing much at all. Claudie Blakley and Tony Haygarth rise from their couches to explore the idle thoughts of Keats, Jerome K. Jerome, Tennyson, Kenneth Grahame and Michel de Montaigne among others, and there is music from the likes of Debussy, Hoagy Carmichael, Vivaldi, Delius and The Kinks. Tune in if you can be bothered...

First broadcast in April 2011.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 16 Sep 2012 18:30
成人快手 Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Johnny Mercer & Hoagy Carmichael - Lazybones

    Performer: Hoagy Carmichael (voice & piano)

  • Silas Weir Mitchell

    Idleness, reader Claudie Blakley

  • Michel de Montaigne

    On Idleness, from 鈥楨ssays鈥� (excerpt), reader Tony Haygarth

  • 00:07

    Kurt Weill

    Sloth from 'The Seven Deadly Sins'

    Performer: Members of Hudson Shad, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies (conductor)

    • RCA 74321601192 Tr2.

  • Jerome K. Jerome

    The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (excerpt), reader Tony Haygarth

  • 00:12

    The Kinks

    Sunny Afternoon

    Composer: Ray Davies

    • Essential ESSCD592 Disc 1 Tr13.

  • James Thomson

    Summer from 鈥楾he Seasons鈥� (excerpt), reader Tony Haygarth

  • 00:17

    Fr茅d茅ric Chopin - Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20

    Performer: Ll欧r Williams (piano)

  • Plato, translator Robert Bridges

    Country Music, reader Claudie Blakley

  • 00:19

    Claude Debussy

    Pr茅lude 脿 l'apr猫s-midi d'une faune

    Performer: Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink (conductor)

    • Philips 4164442 Tr4.

  • John Keats

    Ode on Indolence, reader Tony Haygarth

  • 00:34

    Charlie Parker's Reboppers

    Blue in Green

    Performer: Miles Davis (trumpet), Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass)

    • CBS 460603 2 Tr3.

  • Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    The Lotos-Eaters (excerpt), reader Claudie Blakley

  • 00:41

    Hubert Parry

    The Lotos-Eaters (excerpt)

    Performer: Della Jones (mezzo-soprano), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Matthias Bamert (conductor)

    • Chandos CHAN8990, Tr13.

  • Robert Fuller Murray

    Indolence, reader Claudie Blakley

  • 00:46

    Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong

    Gone Fishin' (feat. John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra)

    Composer: Nick & Charles Kenny

  • Kenneth Grahame

    The Wind in the Willows (excerpt), reader Claudie Blakley

  • 00:51

    Frederick Delius

    Summer Night on the River

    Performer: Northern Sinfonia of England, Richard Hickox (conductor)

    • EMI CDM5650672 Tr4.

  • William Shenstone

    Sloth from 鈥楾he Speeches of Sloth and Virtue鈥�, reader Claudie Blakley

  • 01:01

    Jean鈥怋aptiste Lully

    Sommeil (from 'Atys')

    Performer: Les Arts Florissants, William Christie (director)

    • Harmonia Mundi HMC90125759 Disc 2 Tr9.

  • Joseph Crosby Lincoln

    The Ant and the Grasshopper, reader Tony Haygarth

  • 01:05

    Lerner & Loewe

    With a Little Bit of Luck (from 'My Fair Lady')

    Performer: Stanley Holloway (voice), John Alderson and John McLiam Band, Andr茅 Previn (conductor)

    • CBS CD70000 Tr5.

  • Robert William Service

    Laziness, reader Tony Haygarth

Broadcasts

  • Sun 10 Apr 2011 22:15
    成人快手 Radio 3
  • Sun 16 Sep 2012 18:30
    成人快手 Radio 3

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