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Goodbye to All That

A sequence of poetry, prose and music saying farewell to all things old. With texts by Robert Graves, Shelley and Shakespeare, plus music from Mozart, Strauss and Ravel.

Goodbye to All That: words and music saying farewell to all things old: the collapse of old orders; the end of a relationship; or a farewell to one's old life. With words from Hermann Hesse, Cicely Fox Smith, Graham Greene and Shakespeare and music from Bach, Strauss and Benjamin Britten.

Robert Graves wrote that his autobiography 'Goodbye to All That' was 'a bitter leave-taking' of England. It was published after the First World War and described the collapse of society as he saw it. Taking Graves's title, this edition of Words and Music threads together different coloured goodbyes, which are very much on my mind at the moment as I bid my own farewell to Radio 3.

Although for Graves it was bitter, the end of something can offer hope, as Hermann Hesse explains in 'Stages', the opening poem of the programme. With an end comes a new beginning and the poet urges us to 'Be ready bravely and without remorse'. Hope runs through this programme like thread through a needle, finding its expression in the music of Haydn's The Creation, Parry's Songs of Farewell, and even Durufle's hymn Sanctus from his Requiem.

But of course farewells can be woven with sadness especially when marking the end of a relationship, as Alun Lewis, Graham Greene and Cole Porter evince. Strauss takes us by the hand, through sorrow and joy, to say one final goodbye to the day in 'Im Abendrot' ('At Sunset') which brings the programme to a close.

Producer: Gavin Heard.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 17 Mar 2013 18:30
成人快手 Radio 3

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Under the Baobab Tree

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Tears, Idle Tears

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Joseph Haydn

    The Creation

    Performer: Sunhae Im; Jan Kobow; Hanno M眉ller-Brachmann, Chrstine Wehler; VokalEnsemble K枚ln; Capella Augustina; Andreas Spering

    • NAXOS 8.557380-81.

  • Herman Hesse

    Stages, Anna Chancellor

  • Constantine Cavafy

    The God Abandon鈥檚 Antony, Tom Hughes

  • 00:06

    Sam Philips/Eden Bridge Music

    Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us

    Performer: Alison Krauss

    • DECCA 6106552.

  • John Betjeman

    Inexpensive Progress, Anna Chancellor

  • 00:11

    Dmitry Shostakovich

    The Gadfly

    Performer: Lawrence Power; Simon Crawford-Phillips

    • Hyperion CDA 67865.
  • 00:13

    John Kander

    Cabaret

    Performer: Liza Minnelli. Lyricist: Fred Ebb.

    Performer: Liza Minnelli; Michael York; Ralph Burns

    • MCA 2504282.

  • Lord Byson

    Stanzas to a Lady leaving England, Tom Hughes

  • 00:17

    Carl Orff

    Der Mond

    Performer: Klaus Rainer Sch枚ll; Bl盲ser Ensemble Mainz

    • WERGO WER61742.
  • 00:19

    Hubert Parry

    My Soul, There is a Country

    Performer: Choir of St George鈥檚 Chapel, Windsor; Roger Judd; Christopher Robinson

    • HYPERION CDA66273.

  • Jean Toomer

    Storm Ending, Anna Chancellor

  • 00:23

    Cole Porter

    Everytime We Say Goodbye

    Performer: Cleo Laine; Laurie Holloway

    • K WEST KNEWCD101.
  • 00:27

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Die Kunst der Fuge (BWV.1080), no.1; Contrapunctus 1

    Performer: Juilliard String Quartet

    • Sony Classical.

  • Algernon Charles Swinburne

    In Harbour, Tom Hughes

  • 00:32

    Gavin Bryars

    Farewell to Philosophy

    Performer: Julian Lloyd Webber; English Chamber Orchestra; James Judd

    • POINT 4541262.

  • Thomas Hardy

    The Darkling Thrush, Anna Chancellor

  • 00:38

    Benjamin Britten

    A Ceremony of carols for boys' voices and harp (Op.28); no.9; Spring carol

    Performer: Winchester Cathedral Choir; Simon Bell; Francis Kelly; Andrew Lumsden

  • 00:40

    Alexander Ilynsky

    Berceuse for piano (Op.13), no.7

    Performer: Christopher Headington

    • Kingdom KCLCD 2008.

  • Cicely Fox Smith

    Journey鈥檚 End, Tom Hughes

  • 00:42

    Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k

    Nocturne in B major for strings, Op.40

    Performer: Stephanie Gonley; English Chamber Orchestra; Sir Charles Mackerras

    • EMI CDEMX2232.

  • Alun Lewis

    Goodbye, Anna Chancellor

  • 00:50

    Maurice Durufl茅

    Requiem Op.9

    Performer: Olaf B盲r; Ann Murray; Richard Eteson; Choir of King鈥檚 College Cambridge; Peter Barley; English Chamber Orchestra; Stephen Cleobury

    • EMI CDC7498802.
  • 00:53

    John Woolrich

    Come, Sweet Death

    Performer: The Schubert Ensemble

    • BLACK BOX BBM1092.

  • Graham Greene

    The End of the Affair, Tom Hughes

  • 00:55

    Astor Piazzolla

    Finale (Tango Apasionado)

    Performer: Astor Piazzolla; Pablo Zinger; Fernando Suarez Paz; Paquito D鈥橰ivera; Andy Gonzalez; Rodolfo Alchourron

    • American Clave AMCL1019.

  • William Shakespeare

    Sonnet 87, Anna Chancellor

  • 00:59

    Peter Maxwell Davies

    Farewell to Stromness

    Performer: David Holzman

    • CENTAUR CRC2102.
  • 01:02

    Louis Alter and EddieDe Lange

    Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?

    Performer: Billie Holiday; Charlie Beal

    • SOUNDTRACK FACTORY SFCD33506.

  • Robert Frost

    The Road Not Taken, Tom Hughes

  • 01:04

    Richard Strauss

    Im Abendrot

    Performer: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf; Radio-Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin, George Szell

    • EMI CD7472762.

Broadcast

  • Sun 17 Mar 2013 18:30
    成人快手 Radio 3

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