All Aboard!
Poetry, prose and music on the theme of boats, with readings by Anne-Marie Duff and Jonathan Keeble. With music from Wagner, Vaughan Williams, Debussy and Nick Drake.
All Aboard!
Robinson Crusoe is stranded without one, Yann Martel's Pi Patel is stranded with a tiger on one, and Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men are causing chaos mucking about on one. Boats feature frequently in literature and poetry as a means of exploring, escaping or just enjoying the water. Today's Words and Music features famous fictional boats along with important real life vessels such as Captain Cook's explorers, the Titanic, and those used during the Dunkirk landings. Extracts are read by Anne-Marie Duff and Jonathan Keeble and accompanied by nautical music from Wagner, Vaughan Williams, Debussy and Nick Drake.
Producer - Ellie Mant.
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Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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Shipping forecast
from Radio 4, read by Nick Miller
John Masefield
Cargoes, reader Anne-Marie Duff
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00:01The Shanty Crew
Rolling Coal
Performer: The Shanty Crew
- BREWHOUSE BHCD9601.
Evelyn Waugh
Brideshead Revisited, reader Jonathan Keeble
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00:04Hoagy Carmichael
Riverboat Shuffle - extract
Performer: Hoagy Carmichael (voice/piano) Performer: Perry Botkin and His Orchestra
- TIMELESS CBC1011.
Arthur Conan Doyle
J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement, reader Anne-Marie Duff
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00:06Richard Wagner - Overture to The Flying Dutchman
Performer: Berlin Philharmonic Performer: Seiji Ozawa (conductor)
Brian Patten
There is a boat down on the quay, reader Jonathan Keeble
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00:09Frank Bridge
Sea Idyll - extract
Performer: Kathryn Stott (piano)
- CONIFER CDCF186.
Jerome K. Jerome
Three Men in a Boat, reader Anne-Marie Duff
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00:13Frank Loesser
Sit down you're rocking the boat from 'Guys and Dolls'
Performer: David Healey (voice) and Ensemble
- MUSIC FOR PLEASURE CDMFP5978.
William Shakespeare
Sonnet 80, reader Jonathan Keeble
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00:17Jean Sibelius
Chorus of Winds from 'The Tempest' Suite No. 2
Performer: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Performer: Leif Segerstam (conductor)
- ONDINE ODE9142.
Kenneth Grahame
The Wind in the Willows, reader Anne-Marie Duff
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00:24Claude Debussy
En Bateau (Petite Suite)
Performer: Claude Helffer and Haakon Austbo (pianos)
- HARMONIA MUNDI HMA 190957.
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00:27Carl Nielsen
Paraphrase on 'Nearer My God to Thee'
Performer: Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra Performer: Clark Rundell (conductor)
- CHANDOS CHAN10038.
Robert W Daniel (Philadelphia Banker)
Geoff Tibballs: The Titanic, reader Jonathan Keeble
Alan Jenkins
The Sailor's Vow, reader Anne-Marie Duff
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00:30All About Eve
Martha's Harbour
Performer: All About Eve
- MERCURY 8342602.
Daniel Defoe
Robinson Crusoe, reader Jonathan Keeble
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00:35Jacques Offenbach
Robinson Crusoe 鈥� Sea Symphony (Act 2)
Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Performer: Alun Francis (conductor)
- OPERA RARA ORC7.
Herman Melville
Billy Budd, reader Anne-Marie Duff
![]()
00:39Benjamin Britten
Billy in the Darbies (Billy Budd)
Performer: Simon Keenlyside (baritone) Performer: London Symphony Orchestra Performer: Richard Hickox (conductor)
- CHANDOS CHAN9826.
Yann Martel
Life of Pi, reader Jonathan Keeble
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00:46Igor Stravinsky
The Owl and Pussycat
Performer: Adrienne Albert (soprano) Performer: Robert Craft (piano)
- SONY CLASSICAL SM2K46298.
J.M. Barrie
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, reader Anne-Marie Duff
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00:50Maurice Ravel
Une Barque sur l'Ocean
Performer: Boston Symphony Orchestra Performer: Seiji Ozawa (conductor)
- DG 4158452.
Martial, translated Pott and Wright
Epigrams Book 10, reader Jonathan Keeble
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00:58Nick Drake
River Man
Performer: Nick Drake (vocals/guitar)
- ISLAND CID871.
Dava Sobel
Longitude, reader Anne-Marie Duff
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01:03Ralph Vaughan Williams
A Sea Symphony (3rd movt 鈥� The Waves) 鈥� extract
Performer: Liverpool Philharmonic Choir Performer: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Performer: Vernon Handley (conductor)
- EMI CDEMX2142.
Radio archive requesting boats
29 May 1940, read by Alan Howard
Arthur D. Divine
The Story of the Second World War (compiled Henry Steele Commager), reader Jonathan Keeble
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01:08Ivor Gurney
War Elegy - extract
Performer: 91热爆 Symphony Orchestra Performer: David Lloyd-Jones (conductor)
- DUTTON CDLX 7172.
Richard Henry Wilde
Barcarola, reader Anne-Marie Duff
![]()
01:11Felix Mendelssohn
Gondellied
Performer: Daniel Levy (piano)
- EDELWEISS ED1024.
Words and Music: All Aboard!
All Aboard 鈥� Producer鈥檚 Note
Robinson Crusoe is stranded without one, Yann Martel鈥檚 Pi Patel is stranded with a tiger on one, and Jerome K. Jerome鈥檚听 Three Men are causing chaos mucking about on one. Boats feature frequently in literature and poetry as a means of exploring, escaping or just enjoying the water. 听Today鈥檚 Words and Music features famous fictional boats along with important real life vessels such as Captain Cook鈥檚 explorers, the Titanic, and those used during the Dunkirk landings. Extracts are read by Anne-Marie Duff and Jonathan Keeble and accompanied by nautical music from Wagner, Vaughan Williams, Debussy and Nick Drake.
The programme begins with John Masefield鈥檚 famous poem Cargoes, with its vivid description of a dirty British coaster, accompanied by a sea shanty sung by hard-working sailors carrying the same cargo of Tyne coal. Quite a contrast to the decadence of guests on board a 1920鈥檚 cruise liner in Evelyn Waugh鈥檚 Brideshead Revisited. Arthur Conan Doyle was fascinated by the mystery of the Marie Celeste, and Wagner鈥檚 Flying Dutchman and the following poem by Brian Patten also use the idea of ghostly ships, or crews. For Jerome K Jerome鈥檚 3 Men, a boat is just a way of having a good day out, while Shakespeare鈥檚 Sonnet 80 compares a scorned lover to a worthless boat; and the Shakespeare link continues with incidental music Sibelius wrote for his play The Tempest.听 A Philadelphia banker鈥檚 real-life account of the sinking of The Titanic is accompanied by Nielsen鈥檚 Paraphrase on Nearer my God to Thee, written to commemorate all the Danish lives lost in the disaster; this incorporates the hymn tune which some claim was played by the band as the ship sank. Robinson Crusoe is desperately trying to build a boat to escape his surroundings; Offenbach wrote a little-known comic opera based on the novel, while Hermann Melville鈥檚 Billy Budd can only escape his predicament by death, poignantly captured by Benjamin Britten鈥檚 music. Yan Martel鈥檚 Pi is trapped on a boat with only a Bengal tiger and a hyena for company; Edward Lear has a less intimidating cat sailing with an owl to get married in his famous poem, set here to music by Stravinsky. And we stay with a child鈥檚 view-point for JM Barrie鈥檚 depiction of a boy sailing a stick boat on a pond, and imagining the adventurers on board. The Roman poet Martial muses on the salvation of a mariner by a boat which won鈥檛 float, while Captain Cook was more interested in the life-saving properties of sauerkraut on board his explorers. Arthur D Divine describes the horror of taking part in the Dunkirk landings, and the huge importance of amateur sailors to bring the troops back to safety, and Ivor Gurney also dwells on the subject of war, this time WW1 in his War Elegy. The programme ends with a safer passage, on board a gondola, with Mendelssohn鈥檚 lilting Gondellied to close.听
Producer 鈥� Ellie Mant
听
Broadcasts
- Sun 3 Jun 2012 18:3091热爆 Radio 3
- Sun 3 Jun 2018 17:3091热爆 Radio 3
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