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Passion Play

The Passion seen through ancient and modern eyes with Patrick O'Kane and Houda Echouafni and music by Bach, Part and Ferguson.

In Words and Music this evening the actors Houda Echouafni and Patrick O'Kane explore the story of The Passion and the way that it reverberates in our minds today. Christ's betrayal, the crucifixion and resurrection conjure up powerful images that many of us have grown up with, but images whose clarity, paradoxically, cloak much that is mysterious. The Passion has always inspired writers and composers and their very different ways of understanding it determine the path taken by Houda and Patrick – beginning with the Easter call to prayer of the Orthodox Church in Greece and Romania and traversing the more familiar territory of Handel's Messiah, Bach's St John Passion, as well Arvo Part's Passio and John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary. The words too combine the known with the less well known: the King James Bible with Housman, Michael Symmons Roberts with Philip Pullman and Colm Toibin.

Producer: Zahid Warley

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Sun 10 Mar 2019 17:30
±«Óãtv Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Trad.

    Toaca and Bells -call to prayer at Easter from Mysteries of Byzantine Chant

    Performer: Kontakion conducted by Mihail Diaconescu.
    • Philips.
    • 1.
  • 00:01

    Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane from The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman

    Houda Echouafni

  • 00:03

    Arvo Pärt

    Extract from Passio

    Performer: The Hilliard Ensemble.
    • ECM.
    • 1.
  • 00:09

    Pilate confronts Jesus from The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman

    Patrick OÂ’Kane

  • 00:12

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    From St John Passion

    Performer: Pears, Harper, Tear, Shirley Quirk and ECO cond. Britten.
    • Decca.
    • 13.
  • 00:16

    King James Bible – Matthew 27, 27-32

    Patrick OÂ’Kane

  • 00:16

    George Frideric Handel

    He was despised

    Performer: Academy of Ancient Music.
    • LÂ’Oiseau Lyre.
    • 15, CD1.
  • 00:26

    King James Bible – Part of Psalm 22

    Patrick OÂ’Kane

  • 00:27

    Joseph Haydn

    Father Forgive them for they know not what they do from The Seven last Words of our Saviour on the Cross

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • Philips.
    • 2.
  • 00:34

    King James Bible – Luke 23, 33-43

    Patrick OÂ’Kane

  • 00:35

    Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

    Stabat Mater

    Performer: Rinaldo Alessandrini.
    • Opus.
    • 1.
  • 00:40

    From The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin

    Houda Echouafni

  • 00:44

    John Adams

    And behold there was a great earthquake from The Gospel according to the Other Mary

    Performer: Gustavo Dudamel.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 16, CD 2.
  • 00:47

    King James Bible, Matthew Chapter 28, 1-10

    Patrick OÂ’Kane

  • 00:48

    Kosi Sigwili/Moses Madizi

    Alleluya from Kellela Moya

    Performer: Bana Ba Lesedi.
    • World Music Network.
    • 21.
  • 00:52

    Food for Risen Bodies III by Michael Symmons Roberts

    Houda Echouafni

  • 00:53

    Howard Ferguson

    Now, I bid thee beloved man from The Dream of the Rood

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Richard Hickox.
    • Chandos.
    • 14.
  • 01:00

    Scenes from The Passion: The First Path by Liz Berry

    Houda Echouafni

  • 01:03

    Phil Ochs

    The Crucifixion

    Performer: Phil Ochs.
    • A&M.
    • 5, CD 1.
  • 01:11

    Easter Hymn by A E Housman

    Patrick OÂ’Kane

  • 01:12

    Trad.

    Toaca and Bells -call to prayer at Easter from Mysteries of Byzantine Chant

    Performer: Kontakion conducted by Mihail Diaconescu.
    • Philips.
    • 1.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Apr 2015 17:30
    ±«Óãtv Radio 3
  • Sun 10 Mar 2019 17:30
    ±«Óãtv Radio 3

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