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The Seven Ages of Woman

A special edition to mark International Women's Day, exploring the lives of women from birth to death in poetry, prose and music. The readers are Fiona Shaw and Ellie Kendrick.

To mark International Women's Day a special edition exploring the lives of women from birth to death in poetry, prose and music. The readers are Fiona Shaw and Ellie Kendrick. With words by Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Carol Ann Duffy, Kate Chopin, Muriel Spark, Kathleen Jamie, Emily Dickinson and Mrs Gaskell and music by Sofia Gubaidulina, Sally Beamish, Joan Baez, Judith Weir, Elisabeth Maconchy, Tineke Postma and Louise Farrenc.

Producer: Fiona McLean.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 5 Mar 2017 17:30
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

    Amy Beach

    Sketches - Fireflies

    Performer: Kirsten Johnson.
    • GUILD GMCD7317.
    • 4.

  • Sylvia Plath

    Morning Song read by Fiona Shaw

  • 00:03

    Teresa Carre帽o

    Le Sommeil de l聮enfant

    Performer: Clara Rodriguez.
    • NIMBUS NI6103.
    • 12.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Sonnet 14 read by Ellie Kendrick

  • 00:07

    Joan Baez

    Diamonds and Rust

    Performer: Joan Baez.
    • A&M CDA3234.
    • 1.
  • 00:12

    Sally Beamish

    The River 聳- March Watercolour

    Performer: Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Performer: Robert Cohen.
    • BIS CD971.
    • 2.

  • Kate Chopin

    from The Awakening read by Ellie Kendrick

  • 00:16

    Sofia Gubaidulina

    Quintet for Piano, Two Violins, Viola and Violoncello

    Performer: Rieko Aizawa. Performer: Kai Vogler. Performer: Mira Wang. Performer: Mira Wang. Performer: Ulrich Eichenauer. Performer: Peter Bruns.
    • BIS CD898.
    • 4.

  • Emily Dickinson

    I聮'm Wife read by Fiona Shaw

  • 00:23

    Carole King

    Like a Natural Woman

    • EPIC CD32110.
    • 12.

  • Mary Gaskell

    from Cranford read by Fiona Shaw

  • 00:27

    Louise Farrenc

    Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano

    Performer: Ambache Chamber Ensemble.
    • CARLTON 3036600302.
    • 9.

  • Carol Ann Duffy

    Anon read by Ellie Kendrick

  • 00:33

    C茅cile Chaminade

    Chanson Bretonne

    Performer: Kimberly Schmidt.
    • KOCH 372402.
    • 9.

  • Carol Ann Duffy

    Demeter read by Fiona Shaw

  • 00:37

    Judith Weir

    Songs from the Exotic 聳 The song of the girl ravished away by the fairies in South Uist

    Performer: Susan Bickley. Performer: Ailish Tynan. Performer: Iain Burnside.
    • SIGNUM SIGCD087.
    • 6.
  • 00:39

    Lydia Kakabadse

    Russian Tableaux 聳 Mother Volga

    Performer: Ensemble, George Vass, conductor.
    • NAXOS 8572524.
    • 4.

  • Kathleen Jamie

    Flower Sellers, Budapest read by Fiona Shaw

  • 00:45

    Chen Yi

    Making the Hand-pulled Noodles

    Performer: The Ying Quartet.
    • QUARTZ QTZ2055.
    • 10.

  • Sara Teasdale

    There will come soft rains read by Ellie Kendrick

  • 00:50

    Jennifer Higdon

    Southern Harmony 聳 Soft Summers

    Performer: Ying Quartet.
    • QUARTZ QTZ2055.
    • 12.

  • Muriel Spark

    from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie read by Fiona Shaw

  • 00:55

    Karen Tanaka

    At the Grave of Beethoven 聳 First Movement

    Performer: Brodsky Quartet.
    • CHALLENGE CC72009.
    • 5.

  • Elizabeth Bishop

    One Art read by Fiona Shaw

  • 01:01

    Tineke Postma

    Before Snow

    Performer: Tineke Postma. Performer: Marc van Roon. Performer: Frans van der Hoeven.
    • CHALLENGE CR73313.
    • 3.

  • Mary Oliver

    When Death Comes read by Ellie Kendrick

  • 01:06

    Gra偶yna Bacewicz

    Partita - Toccata

    Performer: Joanna Kurkowicz, violin, and Gloria Chien, piano. Performer: Gloria Chien.
    • CHANDOS CHAN10250.
    • 13.

  • Edna St Vincent Millay

    First Fig read by Fiona Shaw and Ellie Kendrick

  • 01:10

    Elizabeth Maconchy

    Music for Strings - Finale

    Performer: London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Barry Unsworth.
    • LYRITA SRCD288.
    • 13.

Producer Note

This week鈥檚 programme is a special edition to celebrate International Women鈥檚 Day. The theme is 鈥楽even Ages of Woman鈥�, a take on Jacques鈥� description of the life of a man in 鈥楢s You Like It鈥�. You鈥檒l hear poems and prose portraying the life of a woman as child, mother, worker, artist, wife and friend. And with music all composed by women.聽

The programme begins with Amy Beach鈥檚 鈥楩ireflies鈥�. Born in 1867 Beach was the first female composer to achieve wide recognition in the United States, a child prodigy who began giving public recitals at the age of seven.

Like Amy Beach the poet Elizabeth Browning showed talent at a very early age. Educated at home she was reading Milton and Shakespeare by the age of ten and, by 12, had written her first 鈥榚pic鈥� poem. Here you鈥檒l hear 鈥楽onnet 14鈥� in which she expresses her views of what constitutes genuine love and her expectation of her husband to be, Robert Browning.

The great singer-songwriter Joan Baez鈥檚 鈥楧iamonds and Rust鈥� also describes a relationship between two writers 鈥� Baez herself and her lover Bob Dylan.

Kate Chopin鈥檚 novel, 鈥楾he Awakening鈥�, published in 1899, was a landmark of early feminism, telling the story of a woman鈥檚 awakening to sexual passion and the difficulties she faces reconciling her role as wife and mother to her new desires. Published 20 years after Ibsen鈥檚 鈥楾he Doll鈥檚 House鈥� it shares many of the same themes. One reviewer wrote: "We are well-satisfied when Mrs. Pontellier deliberately swims out to her death in the waters of the gulf." After the censoring of the book which followed its publication Chopin never wrote another novel. The reading is heard alongside Sofia Gubaidulina鈥檚 early 鈥楶iano Quintet鈥�. In mid-twentieth century Russia Gubaidulina faced very different problems. As a composer whose work expressed her religious convictions she found herself in opposition to the Soviet authors and was denounced, along with six other composers for writing 鈥榥oisy mud instead of real musical innovation鈥�. Gubaidulina鈥檚 response was to say that being blacklisted gave her the artistic freedom to write what she wanted without compromise.

A passage from Mrs Gaskell鈥檚 Cranford shows the capacity of women to form a community through friendship and is heard with Louise Farrenc鈥檚 exuberant Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano in E Minor.

鈥楧emeter鈥� by the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy tells the myth of Demeter and her lost daughter Persephone, a beautifully moving exploration of loss, reconciliation and a mother鈥檚 love. Judith Weir鈥檚 鈥楾he Song of the girl ravished away by the fairies in South Uist鈥� is a setting of a Scottish Gaelic folk song in which a child cries out to be reunited with her mother.

Woman鈥檚 work is heard in Chen Yi鈥檚 鈥楳aking the hand-pulled noodles鈥� from her 鈥楢t the Kansas City Chinese New Year Concert鈥� and Kathleen Jamie鈥檚 鈥楩lower Sellers, Budapest鈥�.

Responses to war come in the American poet Sara Teasdale鈥檚 鈥楾here will come soft rains鈥�, a work about the senseless destruction caused by war and the fascism espoused by Muriel Spark鈥檚 character Miss Jean Brodie. The Japanese composer Karen Tanaka鈥檚 鈥楢t the Grave of Beethoven鈥� is in part a response to her shock on hearing the news of the civil war in Kosovo which was being reported in 1999 as she wrote her String Quartet.

鈥楽even Ages of Woman鈥� ends with Elizabeth Maconchy鈥檚 Finale from her 鈥楳usic for Strings鈥�, which she has called 鈥榓n extrovert happy-go-lucky movement鈥� and Fiona Shaw and Ellie Kendrick reading Edna St Vincent鈥檚 First Fig, her glorious four line poem extolling the virtue of women living their lives 聽to the full.聽

Broadcasts

  • Sun 8 Mar 2015 17:30
    成人快手 Radio 3
  • Sun 5 Mar 2017 17:30
    成人快手 Radio 3

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