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Twins and doppelgangers

From Castor and Pollux to the Kray twins to Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Twin cities, twin towers, uncanny likenesses and shadows, the readers are Tracy-Ann Oberman and Don Gilet.

The involuntary double-take occasioned by seeing two people who look exactly alike or, imagine this, of coming face to face with your own likeness. This edition of Words and Music focuses on twins and doppelgangers. Lewis Carroll’s Tweedledum and Tweedledee rub shoulders with Carol Ann Duffy’s Kray Sisters, while Romulus and Remus are brought to life by the European Saxophone Ensemble, and the Ashvins, twin gods from Hindu mythology, sing to each other in Ravi Shankar’s opera Sukanya. The doppelganger appears in Schubert’s chilling and tragic song of the same name, while Imtiaz Dharker reveals our doubles who lurk in the pages of fiction. The likeness that that is always near at hand – our shadow – is sung about by Judy Garland and comes alarmingly to life in a story by Hans Christian Andersen. Another pair of twins – the twin cities of Cork and Coventry - are celebrated in verse by Raef Boylan and musically by Seán Ó Riada and Benjamin Britten respectively.

The readers are Tracy-Ann Oberman and Don Gilet.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Readings and *Music

*Harold Budd – Twins
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Homer's Hymn To Castor And Pollux
Percy Bysshe Shelley – Prometheus Unbound
*Maciej Małecki - Europa: Romulus and Remus
Lewis Carroll – Alice Through the Looking-Glass
*Otis Spann & Muddy Waters – Look Like Twins
Charles Dickens – Nicholas Nickelby
*Frédéric Devreese - Gemini, Suite for Double Orchestra : Dance of the Twins
Carol Ann Duffy – The Kray Sisters
*Miklos Rozsa – Twins
Hans Christian Andersen – The Shadow
*Judy Garland – Me and My Shadow
Elizabeth Jennings – The Child and the Shadow
*Seán Ó Riada - Port na bPúcaí
Raef Boylan – Be Rightly Proud
*Benjamin Britten – War Requiem, Op. 66: I. (a) Requiem aeternam. "Requiem aeternam"
*William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops III - dlp 4.3
Grace Schulman – Because
*Richard Rijnvos - Manhattan Square Dances (for two identical orchestras): Washington Square Dance
John Burnside – The man who was answered by his own self
*Franz Schubert - Schwanengesang, D. 957: XIII. Der Doppelgänger
Imtiaz Dharker – Double
*Jaco Pastorius – Twins
Ted Hughes – Gaudete
*Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto for 2 Cellos in G Minor, RV 531 (Arr. M. Prooijen for Cello, Double Bass & Chamber Ensemble): I. Allegro
Sarah Crossan – One
*Ravi Shankar - Sukanya, Act 1: I. Prelude. Aswini Twins Song to Love
Robert Louis Stevenson – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
*Black Box Recorder – The Deverell Twins
Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
*Howard Shore - Dead Ringers: Closing Credits

21 days left to listen

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 23 Feb 2025 18:00

Music Played

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

  • 00:01

    Harold Budd

    The Twins

  • 00:04

    Maciej Malecki

    Europa: Romulus and Remus

    Ensemble: European Saxophone Ensemble.
  • 00:10

    Muddy Waters

    Look Like Twins

  • 00:15

    Frédéric Devreese

    Dance of the Twins (Gemini)

    Orchestra: BRT Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels.
  • 00:22

    Miklós Rózsa

    Twins

    Orchestra: Münchner Symphoniker. Conductor: Miklós Rózsa.
  • 00:26

    Judy Garland

    Me and My Shadow

  • 00:31

    Seán Ó Riada

    Port na bPucai

  • 00:35

    Benjamin Britten

    Requiem aeternam (War Requiem)

    Choir: Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.
  • 00:39

    William Basinski

    The Disintegration Loops III - dlp 4.3

  • 00:41

    Richard Rijnvos

    Washington Square Dance

    Orchestra: Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Celso Antunes.
  • 00:46

    Franz Schubert

    Der Doppelganger (Schwanengesang)

    Performer: David Willison. Singer: Benjamin Luxon.
  • 00:52

    Jaco Pastorius

    Twins

  • 00:54

    Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto for 2 Cellos in G Minor, RV 531 (1st mvt: Allegro)

    Performer: Rick Stotijn. Performer: Johannes Rostamo. Ensemble: Camerata RCO.
  • 00:58

    Ravi Shankar

    Aswini Twins' Song to Love (Sukanya)

    Singer: Michel de Souza. Singer: Njabulo Madlala. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: David Murphy.
  • 01:05

    Black Box Recorder

    The Deverell Twins

  • 01:09

    Howard Shore

    Dead Ringers (Closing Credits)

    Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: James Fitzpatrick.

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