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Welcome To Heartbreak

Zubin Varla and Katie West guide you through the operatic emotions of a broken heart, reading exquisitely painful poetry from Audre Lorde, Alice Meynell, and Derek Walcott.

There cannot be a phenomenon in all the world that inspires poets and composers more than heartbreak. It is a universal experience, and yet at the same time feels utterly unique.

With Valentine’s Day approaching, why not indulge yourself in expressions of exquisite pain from the likes of Audre Lorde, Alice Meynell, Don Paterson and Derek Walcott, whose words take you through the stages of despair, denial, regret, acceptance and so on. All of it accompanied, of course, by lovelorn, lovesick music courtesy of Leoncavallo, Puccini, Tchaikovsky and Tom Waits.

Living through the operatic emotions of a broken heart alongside you are readers Zubin Varla and Katie West.

Readings:
Derek Walcott - The Fist
Walt Whitman - Sometimes with One I Love
Elizabeth Smart - By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
Sean Bonney - In Fear of Memory (after Pasolini)
Elizabeth Smart - By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
Alice Meynell - Renouncement
Percey Bysshe Shelley - When the Lamp is Broken
Anon - Donal Og (translated by Lady Augusta Gregory)
Don Paterson - A Vow
Pablo Neruda - Sonnet LXV (translated by Stephen Tapscott)
Lynn Emanuel - Frying Trout While Drunk from ‘The Nerve Of It: Poems Selected and New’ (2015). Aired by permission of University Of Pittsburgh Press.
Ernest Dowson - Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae
Ovid - Remedia Amoris (translated by Rolfe Humphries)
Kahlil Gibran - On Pain
Edna St. Vincent Millay - Time does not bring relief
Frank Bidart - Catullus: Excrucior
Frank Bidart - Catullus: Odi et Amo
Frank Bidart - Catullus: Id faciam
Kit Wright - My Version
Christina Rossetti - Mirage
Audre Lorde - Movement Song
Derek Walcott - Love After Love
Louis MacNeice - Autumn Journal: Canto XIX

Produced by Jack Howson.
A Reduced Listening production for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 9 Feb 2020 17:30

Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    The Carter Family

    Just Another Broken Heart

  • Derek Walcott

    The Fist, read by Katie West

  • 00:02

    Billie Holiday

    Good Morning Heartache

    • Billie Holiday: The Essential Recordings.
  • Walt Whitman

    Sometimes with One I Love, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:04

    Sam Cooke

    Good Morning Heartache

    • The World Of Sam Cooke.
  • Elizabeth Smart

    Extract from By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, read by Katie West

  • 00:05

    Ruggero Leoncavallo

    Pagliacci / Act 1: "Vesti la giubba"

    Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Orchestra: Vienna Volksoper Orchestra. Conductor: Leone Magiera.
    • I Pagliacci.
  • Sean Bonney

    In Fear of Memory (after Pasolini), read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:08

    Alban Berg

    Lyric Suite For String Quartet (1926): VI. Largo desolato

    Ensemble: Emerson String Quartet.
    • Complete Recordings.
  • Elizabeth Smart

    Extract from By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, read by Katie West

  • 00:14

    Rahsaan Roland Kirk

    Ain't No Sunshine

    • Blacknuss.
  • Alice Meynell

    Renouncement, read by Katie West

  • 00:17

    Missy Mazzoli

    Heartbreaker

    Performer: Michael Mizrahi.
    • Heartbreaker.
  • Percey Bysshe Shelley

    When the Lamp is Broken, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:22

    Tom Waits

    Bad Liver And A Broken Heart (In Lowell)

    • Small Change.
  • Anon, translated by Lady Augusta Gregory

    Donal Og, read by Katie West

  • 00:27

    John Tavener

    Prayer Of The Heart

    Singer: Björk. Ensemble: Brodsky Quartet.
    • Prayer Of The Heart.
  • Don Paterson

    A Vow, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:29

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    None But the Lonely Heart, Op. 6 No. 6

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Three Piano Concerts - Concert Fantasia.
    • Hyperion.
  • Pablo Neruda, translated by Stephen Tapscott

    Sonnet LXV, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:32

    Amy Winehouse

    Like Smoke (DEMO)

    • AMY.
  • Lynn Emanuel

    Frying Trout While Drunk, read by Katie West

  • 00:35

    Sidney Bechet

    Blues In My Heart

    • Sidney Bechet With Claude Luter And His Orchestra.
  • Ernest Dowson

    Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:38

    Toby Young

    I Carry Your Heart (SATB)

    Choir: The Oxford Choir. Librettist: E. E. Cummings.
    • Oxford Choral Highlights 2019.
  • Ovid, translated by Rolfe Humphries

    Remedia Amoris, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:41

    Traditional

    "My Heart Was Burnt By Love" - Traditional Egyptian Folk Song

    Performer: Michael Levy.
    • The Ancient Lyre.
  • Kahlil Gibran

    On Pain, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:44

    Franz Schubert

    Fantasie in F Minor D.940, Op.103: Largo

    Performer: Leon Fleisher. Performer: Katherine Jacobson.
    • Four Hands.
  • Edna St. Vincent Millay

    Time does not bring relief, read by Katie West

  • Frank Bidart

    Catullus: Excrucior, read by Zubin Varla

  • Frank Bidart

    Catullus: Odi et Amo, read by Katie West

  • Frank Bidart

    Catullus: Id faciam, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:47

    Jacobus Gallus

    Odi Et Amo

    Choir: Niederaltaicher Scholaren. Transcriber: Konrad Ruhland.
    • Carl Orff - Ante - Post.
  • Kit Wright

    My Version, read by Zubin Varla

  • 00:49

    Giacomo Puccini

    Le Villi - Opera in 2 Acts / Act 2: La Tregenda

    Orchestra: German Symphony Orchestra Berlin.
    • Puccini: Orchestral Music.
  • Christina Rossetti

    Mirage, read by Katie West

  • 00:54

    Joanna Newsom

    Does Not Suffice

    • Have One On Me.
  • Audre Lorde

    Movement Song, read by Zubin Varla

  • 01:02

    Bill Evans & Chet Baker

    Alone Together

    • The Complete Legendary Session.
  • Derek Walcott

    Love After Love, read by Katie West

  • Louis MacNeice

    Extract from Autumn Journal: Canto XIX, read by Zubin Varla

  • 01:11

    Daniel Johnston

    True Love Will Find You In The End

    • Welcome To My World.

Broadcast

  • Sun 9 Feb 2020 17:30

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