Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Material World

With readings from Brokeback Mountain, John Donne, The Devil Wears Prada and The Road to Wigan Pier. And music by John Tavener, Ella Fitzgerald, Puccini and Lana Del Rey.

The choice between denim and chiffon skirts is the quandary for the young woman who works for a powerful fashion magazine editor in Lauren Weisberger's novel from 2003 The Devil Wears Prada, whilst in Brett Easton Ellis's American Psycho Timothy Price sports a cotton shirt, linen suit, silk tie and leather lace ups. In George Orwell's On Wigan Pier, he writes about new clothes allowing you to "stand on the street corner, indulging in a private daydream of yourself as Clark Gable or Greta Garbo". Today's Words and Music is like a draper's shop offering poems by John Donne, Cynthia Miller and Mark Doty. There's music written by Saint-Sa毛ns inspired by the story of Le Rouet d'Omphale, an episode in the story of Hercules when he was condemned by Apollo to spend three years disguised as a woman spinning wool for Omphale and William Grant Still's orchestration of Florence Price's Dances in the Canebrakes, a thicket of tall cane plants found in the cotton producing regions of the American South. Bobby Vinton croons about Blue Velvet, Lana Del Rey about blue jeans, and Celine Byrne performs the aria "mi chiamano Mim矛" from La Boh猫me, Puccini's opera about a seamstress and her artist friends in 1830s Paris. Kim Addonizio declares that what women really want is a tight red dress while Jane Eyre eschews a symphony of silks. Strauss brings music to Moliere鈥檚 satire Le bourgeois gentilhomme and Madonna declares we are living in a Material World.

Our readers are Kate O'Flynn and Matthew Needham.

Producer: Belinda Naylor

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 4 Dec 2022 17:30
成人快手 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Proust

Next

A Christmas Menagerie

See all episodes from Words and Music

Music Played

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

  • 00:03

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Italian Concerto, Op. 2, BWV 971 (Arr. for Mandolin & Guitar): I. Allegro

    Performer: Dorina Frati. Performer: Piera Dadomo.
    • Naxos 8.578183.
    • Tr 1.
  • 00:04

    Orlande de Lassus

    Canta, Giorgia, canta

    Ensemble: Ensemble Origo. Director: Eric Rice.

  • Maggie O聮Farrell

    The Marriage Portrait read by Kate O聮Flynn

  • 00:06

    Orlande de Lassus

    Libro de villanelle, moresche, et altre canzoni (Excerpts): No. 16, 脕lla la, pia calia

    Performer: Ensemble Origo.
    • Naxos 8.579063.
    • Tr 4.

  • John Donne

    To His Mistress Going to Bed read by Matthew Needham

  • Charlotte Bronte

    Jane Eyre read by Kate O聮Flynn

  • 00:11

    Bobby Vinton

    Blue Velvet

    • Epic 4675702.
    • Tr 1.
  • 00:15

    Richard Strauss

    Le bourgeois gentilhomme Suite, Op. 60, TrV 228c: VII. Auftritt des Cl茅onte

    Performer: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Naxos 8.573460.
    • Tr 1.

  • Lauren Weisberger

    The Devil Wears Prada read by Kate O聮Flynn

  • 00:22

    Suede

    She's In Fashion

    • Suede Ltd.
    • Tr 2.

  • Mark Doty

    Couture read by Matthew Needham

  • 00:28

    John Tavener

    The Protecting Veil

    Performer: Matthew Barley.
    • Signum Classics SIGCD585.
    • Tr 8.
  • 00:30

    Sergey Prokofiev

    Cinderella, Op. 87, Act 2: No. 36, Duet of the Prince and Cinderella

    Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Robert Irving.
    • Warner Classics 9072312.
    • Tr 23.

  • Cinderella

    Cinderella read by Kate O聮Flynn

  • George Orwell

    The Road to Wigan Pier read by Matthew Needham

  • 00:38

    Camille Saint鈥怱a毛ns

    Le rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31, R. 169

    Performer: Orchestre national de Lille.
    • Naxos 8573745.
    • Tr 4.

  • Osman Yousefzada

    The Go Between read by Matthew Needham

  • 00:47

    Gulam Mohammad

    Inhi Logon Ne

    Performer: Sanjeevani Bhelande.
    • Sony Music Entertainment.
    • Tr 1.

  • Kim Addonizio

    What do Women Want read by Kate O聮Flynn

  • 00:51

    Gregory Porter

    In Fashion

    Performer: Gregory Porter.
    • Blue Note 0602547857330.
    • Tr 6.

  • Annie Proulx

    Brokeback Mountain read by Matthew Needham

  • 00:57

    Lana Del Rey

    Blue Jeans

    Performer: Lana Del Rey.
    • Polydor/Interscope Records 371 080-6.
    • Tr 3.

  • Cynthia Miller

    To become a dragon first wear its skin read by Kate O聮Flynn

  • 01:02

    Giacomo Puccini

    La boh猫me, Act I: S矛. Mi chiamano Mim矛

    Performer: Celine Byrne.
    • Signum Classics SIGCD702.
    • Tr 9.

  • Ian McEwan

    Atonement read by Kate O聮Flynn

  • 01:08

    Frank Foster

    Shiny Stockings

    Performer: Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.
    • Verve 5390592.
    • Tr 9.

  • Brett Easton Ellis

    American Psycho read by Matthew Needham

  • 01:11

    Madonna

    Material Girl

    • Warner Records 093624992738.
    • Tr 6.

  • W H Yeats

    He Wishes for Clothes of Heaven read by Matthew Needham

  • 01:13

    Florence Beatrice Price

    Dances in the Canebrakes (Arr. W.G. Still for Orchestra): No. 3, Silk Hat and Walking Cane

    Performer: Chicago Sinfonietta.
    • Cedille CDR90000-185.
    • Tr 3.

Broadcast

  • Sun 4 Dec 2022 17:30
    成人快手 Radio 3

The hidden history of plant-based diets

The hidden history of plant-based diets

Forget social media influencers - the meat-free movement started with the Victorians.

Books website

Get closer to books with in-depth articles, quizzes and our picks from radio & TV.