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Drumming

Drumming. Mariah Gale and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith celebrate one of the oldest musical arts in readings from Whitman, Housman, Kamau Braithwaite, N Scott Momaday and others, and including music by Copland, Steve Reich, Mahler and Gene Krupa.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 25 Oct 2015 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

  • John Farrar

    The Drum read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:00

    Gioachino Rossini

    Overture 聭La gazza ladra聮 (excerpt)

    Performer: London Classical Players, Roger Norrington (conductor).
    • EMI CDC 745091-2.
    • Tr5.

  • James Whitcomb Riley

    The Drum read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

  • 00:05

    Chappie Willett

    Jungle Madness

    Performer: Gene Krupa鈥檚 Swing Band.
    • PROPERBOX 1.
    • CD1 Tr16.

  • Yusef Komunyakaa

    Ode to a Drum read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

  • 00:09

    Philip Glass

    Concerto Fantasy for 2 Timpanists and Orchestra (excerpt)

    Performer: Evelyn Glennie (timpani), Jonathan Haas (timpani), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz (conductor).
    • ORANGE MOUNTAIN OMM0014.
    • Tr6.

  • Kamau Braithwaite

    The Making of the Drum read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:14

    Alexander Borodin

    Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor (excerpt)

    Performer: Berlin Philharmonic, Simon Rattle (conductor).
    • EMI 517822.
    • Tr20.

  • Richard Leigh

    Hearing of a Drum read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:18

    Florence + The Machine

    Drumming Song

    • UNIVERSAL 2718884.
    • Tr1.

  • Robert Louis Stevenson

    Prelude read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

  • 00:22

    George Frideric Handel

    The Trumpet聮s loud clangour (from An Ode for St Cecilia聮s Day)

    Performer: James Gilchrist (tenor), The King聮s Consort, Robert King (conductor).
    • HYPERION CDA67463.
    • Tr8.

  • John Scott of Amwell

    The Drum read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

  • 00:27

    Gustav Mahler

    Der Tambourgs聮gsell (from Des Knaben Wunderhorn)

    Performer: Matthias Goerne (baritone), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly (conductor).
    • EMI 4673482.
    • Tr20.
  • 00:33

    Traditional Indian

    Raag Bhupal Todi (excerpt)

    Performer: Pandit Kamalesh Maitra (tabla tarong), Trilok Gurtu (tabla), Laura Patchen (tanpura).
    • SMITHSONIAN CDSF40436.
    • Tr3.

  • Thomas Merton

    Ariadne read by Mariah Gale

  • Ancient Chinese translated by Heng Kuan

    Ling Tai read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:39

    Sola Akingbola

    Kulumba Yeye

    Performer: Sola Akingbola and others.
    • ARC EUCD2114.
    • Tr9.

  • Gabriel Okara

    Piano and Drums read by Mariah Gale

  • 00:44

    MG Improvisation

    La lluvia

    Performer: Rub茅n Gonz谩lez (piano), Amadito Vald茅s (timbales), and others.
    • WORLD CIRCUIT WCD060.
    • Tr3.
  • 00:49

    Native Flute Ensemble

    Flute and Drum Quest

    • ARC EUCD2079.
    • Tr13.

  • N. Scott Momaday

    House Made of Dawn (excerpt) read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

  • A.E. Housman

    On the idle hill of summer read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

  • 00:54

    Carl Nielsen

    Symphony No. 5 (1st movement, excerpt)

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis (conductor).
    • LSO LIVE LSO0694.
    • Tr6.

  • Walt Whitman

    Beat! beat! drums! Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

  • 01:07

    Aaron Copland

    Fanfare for the Common Man

    Performer: Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati (conductor).
    • DECCA 4142732.
    • Tr5.
  • 01:12

    Joseph Haydn

    Sonata for piano (H.16.23) in F major, 3rd movement; Finale (Presto)

    Performer: Marc-Andr茅 Hamelin.
    • Joseph Haydn Piano Sonatas.
    • HYPERION.
    • 003.

Producer's Note - Drumming

Few forms of musicmaking, except perhaps singing, are as old as drumming. Yet the supposedly simple act of hitting a resounding membrane with a stick or hand to produce a satisfying sound has long been weighted with symbolism and cultural significance. This programme explores some of those loaded meanings, as well as taking time to enjoy the art of drumming 鈥� present in so many civilisations 鈥� just for its own sake.聽聽

In Western cultures the primary association of drums is surely with warfare and the military life. The drum鈥檚 role as a recruiting tool and stirrer of the blood 鈥� for better or worse 鈥� is shown in poems by Stevenson, Housman, James Whitcomb Riley, Richard Leigh and John Scott of Amwell, as well as in Handel鈥檚 setting of Dryden鈥檚 celebration of the invigorating power of drum and trumpet, and Mahler鈥檚 Der Tambourgs鈥檊sell, lamenting the sorry fate of a fallen drummer-boy. But it can also evoke the sheer joy of movement, as in Borodin鈥檚 Polovstian Dances, Gene Krupa鈥檚 Jungle Madness or in the riotously controlled Cuban timbales-playing of Amadito Vald茅s. And it can stand for the claustrophobic internal pounding of mental instability, in Florence + the Machine鈥檚 Drumming Song or in the devastating side-drum assault of Nielsen鈥檚 Fifth Symphony.

聽In non-Western cultures, drums can signify many other things: in an extract from the native American novelist N. Scott Momaday鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize-winning House Made of Dawn, the acquisition of expertise on the drum is a rite of passage; in poems by Gabriel Okara, Thomas Merton and the ancient Chinese poet Ling Tai drums conjure almost hypnotic states of calm sensuality; and both the Nigerian poet Yusef Komunyakaa and the West Indian Kamau Braithwaite explore the symbiotic relationship not only between the drummer and his instrument, but between the drummer and the animal who has died to make his music possible. 聽

We end, however, with a pairing whose contrasting messages seem somehow to complement one another: Walt Whitman鈥檚 mighty cry of indignation against the drum鈥檚 militaristic bluster; and Aaron Copland鈥檚 glorious harnessing of its power for good in echoing and uplifting Fanfare for the Common Man.

聽Lindsay Kemp

Broadcast

  • Sun 25 Oct 2015 17:30
    成人快手 Radio 3

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