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 bPúcaÃ
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
Last on
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.
Broadcasts
- Sun 10 Sep 2023 17:30Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 3
- Sun 23 Feb 2025 18:00Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 3