Gwyneth Lewis
Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis introduces her personal musical choices, including Poulenc, Brahms, Mozart, Bach, a French chanson and one haunting Welsh folk song.
As part of British music season on Radio 3, poets from across the country reveal the music which inspires them.
Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis has the unusual distinction of having written the largest poem in the world, and it's about music. The words are six feet tall, inscribed over the entrance to the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, the music venue designed by Zaha Hadid: 'In these stones horizons sing'. Gwyneth has a passion for opera and the human voice, a passion which began early when her father played his favourite operas on every car journey - the whole family would sing along. As a child she sang in her school choir, singing opera in Welsh. Gwyneth talks very movingly about the depression she has suffered throughout her life; it was music - and particularly a Brahms choral work (the Alto Rhapsody) which she says 'saved my life'. She reads a poem inspired by listening to opera singers, The Voice. And although she is Welsh through and through and she was for a time National Poet of Wales - she reveals that she doesn't have much time for Welsh music.
Choices include Verdi, Poulenc, Brahms, Mozart, Bach, a French chanson - and one haunting Welsh folk song.
Producer Elizabeth Burke
First broadcast 02/06/2013.
Last on
Clip
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Poet Gwyneth Lewis on music and depression
Duration: 01:31
Music Played
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Giuseppe Verdi
Bella Figlia d'amore, from Rigoletto
Conductor: Georg Solti. Orchestra: Orchestra della RCA Italiana. Singer: Alfredo Kraus. Singer: Rosalind Elias. Singer: Robert Merrill. Singer: Anna Moffo. -
Giuseppe Verdi
Bella figlia dell'amore (Rigoletto)
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Traditional Welsh
Lisa L芒n
Ensemble: Carreg Lafar. -
Traditional Welsh
Lisa Lan
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B茅la Bart贸k
Quartet No.1, III - Allegro vivace
Ensemble: Tak谩cs Quartet. -
B茅la Bart贸k
String Quartet No.1 (3rd mvt: Allegro vivace)
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Soave sia il vento, from Cosi fan Tutte
Singer: Janet Baker. Conductor: Colin Davis. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Singer: Richard van Allan. Singer: Montserrat Caball茅. -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Soave sia il vento (Cosi fan tutte)
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Charles Trenet
La Mer
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Charles Trenet
La Mer
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Johannes Brahms
Alto Rhapsody, extract
Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Choir: Ernst鈥怱enff鈥怌hor. Singer: Marjana Lipov拧ek. Conductor: Claudio Abbado. -
Johannes Brahms
Alto Rhapsody (excerpt)
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Francis Poulenc
Salve Regina, from Dialogues des Carmelites
Conductor: Pierre Dervaux. Orchestra: National Theater Opera Orchestra of Paris. Choir: Paris Opera Chorus. -
Francis Poulenc
Dialogues des Carmelites (Act 3, tableau 4: Salve Regina)
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Agnus Dei, from Mass in B Minor
Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble. Singer: Nathalie Stutzmann. Conductor: Marc Minkowski. -
Johann Sebastian Bach
Agnus Dei (Mass in B minor)
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