Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

The Triumph of Time

The BBC Philharmonic and conductor Ludovic Morlot are joined by soprano Elizabeth Atherton to explore our experiences of time.

From the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester
Presented by Tom McKinney

Conductor Ludovic Morlot joins the orchestra for a programme exploring our experiences of time. At the centre of the programme is Dutilleux's 'Le temps l'horloge' (Time, clock); Soprano Elizabeth Atherton joins the BBC Philharmonic for this, his last important work. Through poetry by Charles Baudelaire, Robert Desnos and Jean Tardieu he explores different facets of our experience; "The other day I listened to time passing in the clock" are the soprano's opening lines. The second poem is a meditation on timelessness beside an ancient artefact, and in the last, Baudelaire advocates getting drunk as a way of escaping time altogether.

A 16th-century Flemish woodcut by Pieter Bruegel the Elder provides inspiration for Harrison Birtwistle's 1971 classic, "The Triumph of Time". At the centre of this allegorical picture, suspended from a tree, is a fascinating early chiming clock accompanied by weighing scales. The inexorable tread of a cortege with Death on a horse and an elephant at the rear are integral to this stunning music.

Betsy Jolas describes her work "A Little Summer Music" as "walking stroll" and it contains a section she calls "knocks and clocks". Ravel's iconic Boléro with its unrelenting side-drum-propelled forward tread invites the orchestra to use time to explore texture and colour before its emphatic conclusion.

Honegger's Pacific 2-3-1 is a picture of a powerful steam locomotive starting, reaching full speed and then reaching its destination. Beyond this, and a famous 1949 French film based on the music, Honegger admitted he was experimenting with time "giving the impression of a mathematical acceleration of rhythm, while the movement itself slowed". And time is certainly of the essence in Dukas's Sorcerer's Apprentice; the sorcerer returns in the nick of time to prevent watery catastrophe.

Honegger: Pacific 2-3-1
Jolas: A Little Summer Suite
Dutilleux: Le temps, l'horloge
Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

8.15 Music Interval (CD)
Birtwistle: Harrison's Clocks - Clock 1 (Joanna MacGregor)
Brahms: Verlorene Jugend (Consortium, Andrew-John Smith)
Beethoven: Piece for Musical Clock WoO.33 - No.2 Scherzo (Hans-Ola Ericsson)
Haydn: Piece for Musical Clock H.19.9 - Minuet (Hans-Ola Ericsson)
Dowland: Time stands still (Ed Lyon, Theatre of the Ayre)
Lassus: In hora ultima (Capella Sancti Michaeli, Currende Consort)

8.30
Birtwistle: The Triumph of Time
Ravel: Boléro

Elizabeth Atherton (soprano)
BBC Philharmonic
Ludovic Morlot (conductor)

2 hours, 28 minutes

Music Played

  • Arthur Honegger

    Pacific 231

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic. Conductor: Ludovic Morlot.
  • Betsy Jolas

    A Little Summer Suite

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic. Conductor: Ludovic Morlot.
  • Henri Dutilleux

    Le Temps l'horloge

    Singer: Elizabeth Atherton. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic. Conductor: Ludovic Morlot.
  • Paul Dukas

    The Sorcerer's Apprentice

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic. Orchestra: Ludovic Morlot.
  • Harrison Birtwistle

    Harrison's Clocks : Clock 1

    Performer: Joanna MacGregor.
  • Johannes Brahms

    Verlorene Jugend Op.104 No.4

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piece for a musical clock No.2

  • Joseph Haydn

    Minnet

  • John Dowland

    Time stands still

  • Orlande de Lassus

    In hora ultima

  • Harrison Birtwistle

    The Triumph of Time

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic. Conductor: Ludovic Morlot.
  • Maurice Ravel

    Bolero

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic. Conductor: Ludovic Morlot.
  • Morfydd Llwyn Owen

    Rhapsody in C sharp minor

    Performer: Brian Ellsbury.
    • Morfydd Owen: Portrait of a Lost Icon.
    • Tŷ Cerdd.
    • 5.
  • Morfydd Llwyn Owen

    Gweddi y Pechadur

    Performer: Brian Ellsbury. Singer: Elin Manahan Thomas.
    • Ty Cerdd.
  • Grace Williams

    Suite for 9 Instruments: I. Allegro moderato

    Ensemble: London Chamber Ensemble.
    • Grace Williams: Chamber Music.
    • Naxos.
    • 301.
  • Grace Williams

    Suite for 9 Instruments: II. Andantino

    Ensemble: London Chamber Ensemble.
    • Grace Williams: Chamber Music.
    • Naxos.
    • 302.
  • Grace Williams

    Suite for 9 Instruments: III. Allegro con brio

    Ensemble: London Chamber Ensemble.
    • Grace Williams: Chamber Music.
    • Naxos.
    • 303.

Broadcast

  • Wed 1 Mar 2023 19:30