To Infinity and Beyond
Sequence of texts and music exploring the idea of infinity, with readings by Saskia Reeves and David Annen. Includes Herrick and Browning, plus Beethoven and Dutilleux.
This Words and Music explores the idea of Infinity, from numbers to space, metaphysics to love, and time to artistic expressions of what is boundless.
Saskia Reeves and David Annen read poetry and prose from Herrick to Douglas Adams and Browning to the Zohar, with music by Beethoven, Dutilleux and Skempton.
Last on
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00
Philip Glass
Knee Play 1 (Einstein on the Beach)
Performer: The Philip Glass Ensemble
- CBS M4K38875.
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Infinite Numbers 1
Pi, readers David Annen and Saskia Reeves
W. H. Auden
Numbers and Faces, reader David Annen
00:03Claude Debussy
Reflets dans l'eau (Images – Premier Livre)
Performer: Pascal Rogé (piano)
- DECCA 443 021-2.
00:08Charles Ives
The Unanswered Question
Performer: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
- DG 439 869-2.
Roy Jacobstein
Infinity Plus One, reader Saskia Reeves
The Zohar (cited by Daniel Matt)
The Aroma of Infinity, reader David Annen
00:15Henri Dutilleux
VII Temps suspendu (Ainsi la Nuit)
Performer: Arditti Quartet
- WHLIVE 0003.
T. S. Eliot
Burnt Norton (Four Quartets), reader Saskia Reeves
00:20Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Infinite Shining Heavens (Songs of Travel)
Performer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson (tenor), David Willison (piano)
Wallace Bruce
The Infinite, reader Saskia Reeves
00:23Olivier Messiaen
Oraison (1937)
Performer: Ensemble d’Ondes Martenot de Montréal
- SUB ROSA SR250.
00:31Conlon Nancarrow
Prelude (Prelude and Blues)
Performer: Cheryl Seltzer (piano)
- MUSIC MASTERS 70682.
Infinite Numbers 2
Fractions, readers Saskia Reeves and David Annen
Robert Herrick
God, reader David Annen
00:32Johann Sebastian Bach
Ricercar (The Musical Offering, BWV.1079)
Performer: Fretwork
- HMU 907395.
Galileo Galilei
The First Day (excerpt), readers Saskia Reeves and David Annen
00:41Karlheinz Stockhausen
Flautina
Performer: Kathinka Pasveer (flute)
- STOCKHAUSEN STOCKHAUSEN28.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Traveller through Infinity, reader Saskia Reeves
Douglas Adams
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (excerpt), reader David Annen
00:46John Cage
Sonata 5 (Sonatas and Preludes)
Performer: Rolf Hind (piano)
- WARP WARPCD144.
Infinite Numbers 3
Decimals, readers Saskia Reeves and David Annen
00:48Henry Purcell
Hear my Prayer, O Lord
Performer: Armonico Consort
- SIGNUM SIGCD235.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Bohemian Hymn, reader Saskia Reeves
The New English Bible (Genesis, 11)
The Tower of Babel, reader David Annen
00:52György Ligeti
Coloana infinita (Etudes)
Performer: Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
- SONY SK62308.
Lucretius (trans. R. E. Latham)
Matter and Space (extract from The Nature of the Universe), reader David Annen
00:55Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet in F major, Op.135, 3mvt
Performer: Takacs Quartet
- DECCA 470 849-2.
01:03Howard Skempton
Even Tenor
Performer: Joanna MacGregor (piano)
- SOUND CIRCUS SC007.
M. C. Escher
The Graphic Work (excerpt), reader David Annen
Joan Miro
Quotation, reader Saskia Reeves
Rabindranath Tagore
What is Boundless and Endless, reader David Annen
01:07Gustav Mahler
Der Abschied (extract)
Performer: Christa Ludwig (mezzo-soprano), Czech PO, Vaclav Neumann (conductor)
- PRAGA PR254052.
01:11Michael Vetter
Breathing Wind (extract)
Performer: Michael Vetter and The Overtone Choir
- AMIATA ARNR0192.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Finite and Infinite, reader Saskia Reeves
Giacomo Leopardi
The Infinite, reader David Annen
Broadcasts
- Sun 12 Jun 2011 22:25³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
- Sun 1 Mar 2015 21:50³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3