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The Uncanny

Morfydd Clark and Arinze Kene with some familiar and some distinctly unsettling readings and music. Follow an uncanny thread linking Poe, Britten, Miles Davis and Stevie Smith.

A programme exploring both the familiar and the eerie in music and readings, which are performed by actors Morfydd Clark and Arinz茅 Kene. The idea of the uncanny is associated with a sense of being unsettled and Freud published an essay in 1919 - Das Unheimliche - in which he looked at horror, disgust and idea of hidden and repressed experiences and emotions. This selection of words and music takes listeners on a path through stories, poems and sounds by Edgar Allan Poe, Benjamin Britten, Miles Davis and Stevie Smith among others.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 31 Oct 2021 17:30
麻豆官网首页入口 Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 聳 Songe d聮une nuit du Sabbat

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim (Conductor).
    • CBS CD39859.
    • Tr5.

  • Dannie Abse

    The Uninvited, read by Arinze Kene

  • 00:00

    The Residents

    On The Way (To Oklahoma)

    Performer: The Residents.
    • Mute STUMM 247.
    • CD1 Tr1.
  • 00:01

    Hector Berlioz

    Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat (Symphonie Fantastique)

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
  • 00:02

    The Residents

    On the Way (To Oklahoma)

  • 00:02

    Benjamin Britten

    The Turn of the Screw: Variation III 聳 Scene 4: The Tower

    Performer: Camilla Tilling (Soprano), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner (Conductor).
    • GLYNDEBOURNE GFOCD01107.
    • CD1 Tr5.
  • 00:04

    Benjamin Britten

    The Turn of the Screw (Variation III, sc.4: The Tower)

    Singer: Camilla Tilling. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.

  • Robert Frost

    Ghost House, read by Morfydd Clark

  • 00:09

    L茅o Delibes

    Copp茅lia 聳 Acte Deux 聳 Sc猫ne I - Sc猫ne et valse de la poup茅e

    Performer: National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge (Conductor).
    • DECCA 4145022.
    • CD2 Tr3.
  • 00:11

    L茅o Delibes

    Coppelia Act 2, sc.1 (Scene et valse de la poupee)

    Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Bonynge.
  • 00:13

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Lux Aeterna

    Choir: Schola Cantorum Stuttgart. Conductor: Clytus Gottwald.
    • EMI CDODEON28.
    • Tr11.

  • Edgar Allan Poe

    The Fall of the House of Usher, read by Arinze Kene

  • 00:15

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Lux Aeterna

    Choir: Stuttgart Schola Cantorum. Conductor: Clytus Gottwald.

  • Elizabeth Bishop

    Some Dreams They Forgot, read by Morfydd Clark

  • 00:20

    Franz Schubert

    Schwanengesang - Der Doppelg盲nger

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone), Gerald Moore (piano).
    • ORFEO C294921.
    • Tr6.
  • 00:22

    Franz Schubert

    Der Doppelganger (Schwanengesang)

    Performer: Gerald Moore. Singer: Dietrich Fischer鈥怐ieskau.

  • Catherine Smith

    Original Residents, read by Arinze Kene (taken from Lip, published by Smith Doorstop, 2007)聽 聽

  • 00:26

    Claude Debussy

    String Quartet in G minor 聳 2. Scherzo

    Performer: Quartetto Italiano.
    • PHILIPS 4208942.
    • Tr2.
  • 00:28

    Claude Debussy

    String Quartet in G minor (2nd mvt: Scherzo)

    Ensemble: Quartetto Italiano.

  • Robert Graves

    Welsh Incident, read by Morfydd Clark

  • 00:33

    Jacques Offenbach

    Tales of Hoffmann 聳 Acte I 聳 聭Les oiseaux dans la charmille聮

    Performer: Ren茅e Doria (Soprano), Choir and Orchestra of the Th茅芒tre National de l聮Op茅ra-Comique, Andr茅 Cluytens (Conductor).
    • PAPERBACK OPERA 20004.
    • CD1 Tr11.
  • 00:34

    Jacques Offenbach

    Les oiseaux dans la charmille (Tales of Hoffmann)

    Singer: Ren茅e Doria. Orchestra: Orchestre du Th茅芒tre National de l鈥橭p茅ra鈥怌omique. Conductor: Andr茅 Cluytens.

  • Lionel Fogarty

    Weather Comes, read by Arinze Kene

  • 00:41

    Miles Davis

    Great Expectations

    Performer: Miles Davis.
    • Columbia COL 516251 2.
    • CD2 Tr3.
  • 00:42

    Miles Davis

    Great Expectations

  • Vernon Scannell

    The Visitation, read by Morfydd Clark

  • 00:47

    Igor Stravinsky

    Petrushka - Scene 2: Petrushka聮s Room

    Performer: Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky (Conductor).
    • Sony 88697103112.
    • CD2 Tr5.
  • 00:48

    Igor Stravinsky

    Petrushka's Cell (Petrushka)

    Orchestra: Columbia Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Igor Stravinsky.
  • 00:52

    Salvatore Sciarrino

    Volubile (Caprices for violin)

    Performer: Marco Rogliano.
  • 00:53

    Salvatore Sciarrino

    Caprices for violin 聳 4: Volubile

    Performer: Marco Rogliano (violin).
    • ACCORD 202862.
    • Tr4.
  • 00:53

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Atmospheres

    Orchestra: South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ernest Bour.
  • 00:54

    Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Overture: Atmospheres

    Orchestra: Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ernest Bour.
    • EMI CDODEON28.
    • Tr1.

  • Sarah Waters

    The Little Stranger, read by Morfydd Clark

  • Edmund Blunden

    Illusions, read by Arinze Kene

  • 00:57

    Franz Schubert

    Der Doppelganger (Schwanengesang)

    Performer: Vladimir Sofronitsky. Music Arranger: Franz Liszt.
  • 00:57

    Franz Schubert

    Der Doppelg盲nger

    Performer: Vladimir Sofronitzki (piano).
    • HARMONIA MUNDI HM905169.
    • Tr9.

  • Edwin Muir

    The Horses, read by Morfydd Clark

  • 01:02

    David Bowie

    After All

  • 01:02

    David Bowie

    After All

    Performer: David Bowie.
    • EMI 7243 521901 0 2.
    • Tr4.
  • 01:05

    Hans Zimmer

    The Mole

  • 01:06

    Hans Zimmer

    The Mole

    Performer: Hans Zimmer.
    • Sony Classical 88985461482.
    • Tr1.

  • W. B. Yeats

    The Apparitions, read by Arinze Kene

  • Stevie Smith

    Fairy Story, read by Morfydd Clark

  • 01:08

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Don Giovanni (Finale)

    Singer: Roger Soyer. Singer: Peter Lagger. Singer: Geraint Evans. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
  • 01:08

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Don Giovanni Act 2, Scene 5 聳 Don Giovanni, a cenar teco

    Performer: Roger Soyer (Baritone), Peter Lagger (Bass), Geraint Evans (Bass), English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim (Conductor).
    • EMI CMS7639762.
    • CD3 Tr8.
  • 01:11

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Don Giovanni Act 2, Scene 5 聳 Da qual tremore insolito

    Performer: Roger Soyer (Baritone), Peter Lagger (Bass), Geraint Evans (Bass), English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim (Conductor).
    • EMI CMS7639762.
    • CD3 Tr9.
  • 01:13

    Franz Schubert

    Rastlose Liebe D138

    Performer: Simon Lepper. Singer: Ilker Arcay眉rek.
    • Franz Schubert: Der Einsame.
    • CHAMPS HILL RECORDS.
    • 18.

Producer's Notes: The Uncanny

[I found the following notes in my junk mail folder, apparently sent from my own email address.聽 I had never read them before.聽 I have no recollection of writing them.聽 They proved invaluable in constructing this programme]

Das Unheimliche

Twins

D茅j脿 vu

Robots

Golem

Doppelganger

Ventriloquist鈥檚 dummy

Deserted villages

Sense of being watched

Apparitions

Dreams

Whispering

The appearance of life in the inanimate 鈥� Olympia in Offenbach鈥檚 Tales of Hoffmann (adapted from Freud鈥檚 original source) and Delibes鈥檚 Copp茅lia.聽 The Statue comes to life and drags Don Giovanni to hell.

The sense that our homes 鈥� safe and comforting - carry echoes of those who occupied them before us 鈥� eerie, unknowable - Original Residents (Catherine Smith).聽 Deserted buildings shelter these memories more vividly 鈥� the fragment of wallpaper, broken furniture - Ghost House/Robert Frost.

Some ghost stories 鈥� Turn of the Screw (Henry James), The Little Stranger (Sarah Waters) 鈥� especially at a point when source of phenomena is still ambiguous.

Elements that make music unsettling.聽 Tritone (Debussy鈥檚 String Quartet).聽 Shepard tone 鈥� sense of infinite rising or falling scale 鈥� all over Hans Zimmer鈥檚 Dunkirk and Inception scores.聽聽 Incorporating minor 3rd into major key melody.聽 Progression that doesn鈥檛 resolve. (What makes Great Expectations by Miles Davis feel like it does?)

Doppelganger


Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Broadcasts

  • Sun 6 May 2018 17:30
    麻豆官网首页入口 Radio 3
  • Sun 31 Oct 2021 17:30
    麻豆官网首页入口 Radio 3

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