Only Connect
Mark Strong and Bettrys Jones with various kinds of connections, from writers including Ann Sexton, Arthur Conan Doyle and Wendy Cope, plus music from Brahms to Kate Bush.
On the 50th anniversary of EM Forster's death, we focus on the words ‘Only connect…’ - the epigraph to his novel Howards End - and consider some of the many connections that we might experience. Attempts to connect with others and the pain when those attempts fail. The solace provided by seeking a connection with nature, communication with alien species, the ingenious process of deduction, the technology that connects us to one another, the associations we draw from treasured objects. And there are musical connections from Brahms, Kate Bush, Messiaen, Suzanne Ciani and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan among others.
Readings:
EM Forster – Howards End
Robert Browning – Two in the Campagna
Samuel Taylor Coleridge – To Nature
Paul Muldoon – Milkweed and Monarch
John Masefield – Up on the downs
Adrienne Rich – Face To Face
RS Thomas – They
Wendy Cope – For My Sister, Emigrating
Arthur Conan Doyle – The Stockbroker’s Clerk
Ivor Gurney – The Telegraph Post
Jenny Erpenbeck – Go Went Gone
Anne Sexton – When Man Enters Woman
John Keats – On First Looking Into Chapman’s 91Èȱ¬r
Naomi Mitchison – Memoirs of a Spacewoman
George Herbert – Deniall
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
In the Free Thinking playlist and available as an Arts and Ideas download - you can hear the authors Deborah Levy and Laurence Scott discussing with Shahidha Bari What's So Great About EM Forster in a discussion recorded with an audience at the British Library in partnership with the Royal Society of Literature /programmes/p0873lxv
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00
Nico Muhly
Books
Performer: Nico Muhly.- Milan FRZ811711034.
- Tr22.
-
E.M. Forster
Howards End
00:00Nico Muhly
Books
Robert Browning
Two in the Campagna
00:03Johannes Brahms
Piano Trio No. 1 in B major Op. 8 II: Scherzo, Allegro molto
Performer: Geoffroy Couteau. Performer: Amaury Coeytaux. Performer: Raphaël Perraud. Performer: Nicolas Baldeyrou.- La Dolce Vita LDV645D.
- Tr2.
00:03Johannes Brahms
Piano Trio no.1 in B major, Op.8 (2nd mvt: Scherzo: Allegro molto)
Performer: Geoffroy Couteau. Performer: Amaury Coeytaux. Performer: Raphaël Perraud.Samuel Taylor Coleridge
To Nature
00:10Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook
My Comfort Remains
- Virgin GBCPA9501128.
- Tr4.
00:11Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook
My Comfort Remains
Paul Muldoon
Milkweed and Monarch
00:16Einojuhani Rautavaara
Concerto for Birds and Orchestra I. The Bog
Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.- Ondine ODE1300-2Q.
- CD3 Tr9.
00:17Einojuhani Rautavaara
Cantus Arcticus (1st mvt)
Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.John Masefield
Up on the downs
00:23Sergey Rachmaninov
Etudes-tableaux Op. 39 No. 2 The Sea and the Gulls
Music Arranger: Ottorino Respighi. Orchestra: Oregon Symphony. Conductor: James DePreist.- Delos DE3071.
- Tr1.
00:24Sergey Rachmaninov
The Sea and the Gulls (Etudes Tableaux, Op.39 no.2)
Music Arranger: Ottorino Respighi. Orchestra: Oregon Symphony. Conductor: James DePreist.Adrienne Rich
Face To Face
00:33Olivier Messiaen
Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: Vocalise pour lÂ’Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps
Performer: Raphaël Sévère. Ensemble: Trio Messiaen.- Mirare MIR334D.
- Tr8.
00:34Olivier Messiaen
Quatuor pour la fin du temps
Performer: Raphaël Sévère. Ensemble: Trio Messiaen.R.S. Thomas
They
00:35Mason Bates
Mass Transmission: III. Wireless Connections
Choir: Cappella SF. Performer: Isabelle Demers. Conductor: Ragnar Bohlin.- Delos DE3573.
- Tr9.
00:35Mason Bates
Wireless Connections (Mass Transmission)
Performer: Isabelle Demers. Ensemble: Cappella SF. Conductor: Ragnar Bohlin.Wendy Cope
For My Sister, Emigrating
00:40Kate Bush
A Coral Room
Performer: Kate Bush.- EMI GBCNR0500008.
- CD1 Tr7.
00:40Kate Bush
A Coral Room
Arthur Conan Doyle
The Stockbroker's Clerk
00:45Richard Wolfson
Not Me
Composer: Andy Saunders. Performer: Towering Inferno.- Island CID 8039 524 106-2.
- Tr7.
00:46Towering Inferno
Not Me (Kaddish)
Ivor Gurney
The Telegraph Post
Jenny Erpenbeck (trans. Susan Bernofsky)
Go Went Gone
00:51Taj Mahal
Queen Bee
Performer: Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate.- Hannibal HNCD 1444.
- Tr1.
00:52Taj Mahal
Queen Bee
Anne Sexton
When Man Enters Woman
00:57Arthur Honegger
Pacific 231 "Mouvement symphonique No. 1"
Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.- Warner Classics 0946732.
- CD1 Tr1.
00:58Arthur Honegger
Pacific 231: Mouvement symphonique no.1
Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.John Keats
On First Looking Into Chapman's 91Èȱ¬r
01:04Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani
A New Day
- RVNG Intl FRKWYS 13.
- Tr1.
01:05Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani
A New Day
Naomi Mitchison
Memoirs of a Spacewoman
George Herbert
Deniall
01:09Alex Roth
Pontecelli: IV. Bridge of Sleepers
Performer: Philippe Honoré.- Signum Classics SIGCD270.
- CD2 Tr10.
01:10Alex Roth
Bridge of Sleepers (Ponticelli)
Performer: Philippe Honoré.Broadcast
- Sun 7 Jun 2020 17:3091Èȱ¬ Radio 3