The Idea of West
A sequence of poetry, prose and music on the idea of west and the West, with readings by Olivia Williams and Sean Arnold.
Olivia Williams and Sean Arnold with poetry, prose and music on the idea of west, and the West - powerful concepts in many cultures.
In English and Irish thought the west is associated with happiness, the 'land of lost content', the Celtic land of eternal youth. The sun sets in the west, and our western edge is a seemingly endless ocean.
But what if we follow the sun? In America the west was certainly still the promised land for several centuries, though today the mythology is (to say the least) questioned.
From Russia and the Middle East, the West - and Western attitudes - look rather different.
And there's another recurring association of the west in Western thought... death. But a fascinatingly positive view of death.
Last on
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Let Beauty awake (from Songs of Travel) [excerpt]
Performer: Roderick Williams (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano)
- Naxos 8.557643.
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William Wordsworth
Stepping Westward, readers Olivia Williams and Sean Arnold
00:01Claude Debussy
Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest (What the West Wind Saw, Preludes, Book 1, no. 7)
Performer: Krystian Zimerman (piano)
- DG 435 773-2.
John Masefield
The West Wind, reader Sean Arnold
00:06Ivor Gurney
Far in a Western Brookland (from Ludlow and Teme)
Performer: Adrian Thompson (tenor), Delme Quartet, Iain Burnside (piano)
- Helios CDH 55187.
Anon (14th c), translated by Bella Millett
The Land of Cockaygne (excerpt), reader Olivia Williams
00:12Manuel de Falla
Atlantida (excerpt)
Performer: Spanish National Chorus and Orchestra, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos (conductor)
- EMI CMS 565997-2.
00:14Arnold Bax
The Garden of Fand (opening)
Performer: London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult (conductor)
- Lyrita SRCD 231.
00:14Arnold Bax
The Garden of Fand (central sections)
Performer: Halle Orchestra, John Barbirolli (conductor)
- PRT PVCD 8380.
W B Yeats
The Shadowy Waters (excerpt), readers Olivia Williams and Sean Arnold
W B Yeats
The Wanderings of Oisin (excerpt), reader Olivia Williams
Louis MacNeice
Christopher Columbus (excerpt), reader Sean Arnold
00:26William Walton, arr. Carl Davis and Patrick Garland
Christopher Columbus – A Musical Journey (excerpt)
Performer: Jamie Glover and Julian Glover (speakers) Performer: ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales Performer: Richard Hickox (conductor)
- Chandos CHSA 5034.
Bishop George Berkeley
Verses on the Prospect of Planting Art and Learning in America, reader Olivia Williams
00:32Leonard Bernstein
America (excerpt, from West Side Story)
Performer: Orchestra and Chorus, Leonard Bernstein (conductor)
- DG 415 253-2.
Various
American slogans and epithets, readers Sean Arnold, Olivia Williams and others
00:33Village People
Go West (excerpt)
Performer: Village People
- Arista 74321178312.
Arthur Chapman
Out Where The West Begins, reader Sean Arnold
00:35Aaron Copland
The Tender Land – Suite (excerpt)
Performer: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland (conductor)
- RCA 09026615052.
00:36Traditional American
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ on the Range (excerpt)
Performer: The Ranch Boys
- Panachord 26038 [78 rpm].
00:37Aaron Copland
Rodeo (excerpt from complete ballet)
Performer: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman (conductor)
- Argo 440 639-2.
Amy Clampitt
The Prairie, reader Olivia Williams. (Excerpt from 'Westward', available in 'The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt', permission granted by The Estate of Amy Clampitt)
00:40Aaron Copland
Gun Battle, from Billy the Kid (excerpt, from ballet suite)
Performer: New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (conductor)
- Sony Classical SMK 63082.
00:40Traditional American
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ on the Range (excerpt)
Performer: Ken Maynard
- Yazoo 2023.
Chief Joseph
excerpt from an interview in Washington (DC), 1879, reader Sean Arnold
00:43MDFMK
MDFMK - American Dream
Performer: Mdfmk
Jalal Al-e Ahmad, translated from Farsi by John Green and Ahmad Alizadeh
Gharbzadegi (Westoxification, excerpt), reader Olivia Williams
00:46Le Trio Joubran
Asfâr (Journeys, excerpt)
Performer: Trio Joubran
- World Village WVF 479055.
Mozaffar al-Nawwab, translated from Arabic by Carol Bardenstein and Saadi A. Simawe
Bridge of Old Wonders (excerpt), reader Sean Arnold
00:50Dmitry Shostakovich
Dance of the Golden Youths (excerpt, from complete ballet The Golden Age)
Performer: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky (conductor)
- Chandos CHAN 9251/2.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
excerpt from a speech given at Harvard, 8 June 1978, reader Sean Arnold
00:53Sergey Rachmaninov
Symphonic Dances (excerpt from no. 3)
Performer: Philharmonia, Neeme Jarvi (conductor)
- Chandos CHAN 9081.
A E Housman
New Year’s Eve, reader Olivia Williams
00:58Manuel de Falla
Atlantida (excerpt)
Performer: Spanish National Chorus and Orchestra, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos (conductor)
- EMI CMS 565997-2.
J R R Tolkien
The Return of the King (excerpt), reader Olivia Williams
01:01Arnold Bax
The Garden of Fand (conclusion)
Performer: Halle Orchestra, John Barbirolli (conductor)
- PRT PVCD 8380.
W E Henley
Margaritae Sorori (To [in memory of] his Sister Margaret), reader Sean Arnold
01:06Richard Strauss
Im Abendrot (from Four Last Songs)
Performer: Felicity Lott (soprano), Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi (conductor)
- Chandos CHAN 8518.
Emily Dickinson
‘On this wondrous sea...’, reader Olivia Williams
Broadcast
- Sun 12 Feb 2012 18:30³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3