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Luck and Chance

From bridge and horse racing to a high stakes poker game, the musical Guys and Dolls where gambling runs right through to Stravinsky's ballet music Jeu de Cartes

Do you feel lucky? On this edition of Words and Music, card games, poker and a day at the races are the themes explored in a selection of poetry, prose and music.
Anne-Marie Duff and Paterson Joseph treat us to characters from Dostoevsky’s gamblers, Ian Fleming's James Bond plays for high stakes in Casino Royale and Fred D’Aguiar’s poem, Black Swan, reimagines the thoughts of a race horse before the big day. We hear about the dark side of gambling from Charles Baudelaire as well as a high stakes poker game from the American author Colson Whitehead. Life is a card game in a poem by Hayley Agnew and we explore the highs stakes of playing bridge in Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. Ian McMillan, presenter of the Verb reads from his memoir My Sand Life, My Pebble Life describing a bingo hall he visited on seaside holidays.

Musically we hear from Stravinsky’s Jeu des Cartes and from Checkmate by Hans-Hubert Schönzeler. An apt addition is Prince Yeletsky's aria from Tchaikovsky's opera The Queen of Spades sung by Gevorg Hakobyan. Prokofiev’s The Gambler also makes an appearance and we couldn’t leave without a burst of Luck be a Lady from Guys and Dolls, the musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and Joni Mitchell singing Lucky Girl. And on the theme of horses, you may recognise a famous piece of music, the William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini.

Producer: Belinda Naylor

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Apr 2024 18:00
Â鶹Éç Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • Casino Royale

    Ian Fleming

  • 00:01

    David Arnold

    Nothing Sinister

    Performer: Nicholas Dodd. Performer: David Arnold.
    • Casino Royale.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.

  • House of Mirth

    Edith Wharton

  • 00:03

    Igor Stravinsky

    Jeu de cartes: Troisième donne

    Conductor: Herbert von Karajan. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra.
    • Stravinsky, Roussel, Herbert von Karajan.
    • 5.
  • 00:05

    Michael Ball & Alfie Boe

    Luck Be A Lady

    • Together in Vegas.
    • Universal Music.
    • Tr 1.
  • 00:09

    Sergey Prokofiev

    Four Portraits and Dénoument from The Gambler, Op. 49: Portrait No. 1, Alexis

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Prokofiev: Semyon Kotko Suite & The Gambler.
    • Chandos.
    • Tr 9.

  • The Gambler

    Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  • Black Swan

    Fred D’Aguir

  • The Queen of Spades and Other Stories

    Alexander Pushkin

  • 00:18

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Queen of Spades, Op. 68, TH 10: Odnazhdy v Versale

    Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan. Performer: John Fisher. Orchestra: Kauno Miesto Simfoninis Orkestras.
    • Arias of Love & Sorrow.
    • Delos.
    • 10.

  • Gambling

    Charles Baudelaire

  • 00:22

    Carlos Rafael Rivera

    Wham, Be-Bop, Boom, Wham

    Performer: Mildred Bailey.
    • Lessons in Chemistry.
    • Columbia.
    • Tr 1.

  • Lessons in Chemistry

    Bonnie Garmus

  • 00:27

    Joni Mitchell

    Lucky Girl

    Performer: Joni Mitchell.
    • The Complete Geffen Recordings.
    • Geffen.
    • Tr 2.

  • Luck is not Chance (1350)

    Emily Dickinson

  • 00:31

    Sergey Prokofiev

    The Love for Three Oranges Suite, Op. 33b: II. The Magician Tchelio and Fata Morgana Play Cards

    Performer: Andrew Litton.
    • Prokofiev: The Symphonies.
    • Naxos.
    • Tr 402.

  • My Sand Life, My Pebble Life: A Memoir of Childhood and Sea

    Ian Macmillan

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

    Roald Dahl

  • 00:41

    Edmund Rubbra

    Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, Op. 63: II. Allegro moderato

    Performer: Hans-Hubert Schönzeler. Performer: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
    • Rubbra: Symphony No. 5 - Bliss: Five Dances from Checkmate - Tippett: Little Mus.
    • Chandos.
    • 2.

  • Occasional Dispatches from the Republic of Anhedonia

    Colson Whitehead

  • 00:47

    Dawn Agard

    Long Shot, Kick de Bucket

    Performer: The Pioneers.
    • The Wackness - Music From The Motion Picture.
    • Jive.
    • Tr 1.

  • Second Wind

    Dick Francis

  • When In Disgrace With Fortune And Men's Eyes (Sonnet 29)

    William Shakespeare

  • 00:51

    Gioachino Rossini

    Guillaume Tell (William Tell): Overture

    Performer: Moscow Chamber Orchestra.
    • Good Music for Little Guys.
    • Delos.
    • Tr 1.
  • 01:08

    Frederick Loewe

    With a Little bit of Luck

    Performer: Stanley Holloway.
    • My Fair Lady.
    • Columbia.
    • Tr 11.

  • Life is a Card Game

    Hayley Agnew

  • 01:07

    Franz von Suppè

    Pique Dame: Ouverture

    Performer: Georg Solti. Performer: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Light Cavalry - Ouvertures from Vienna to Paris.
    • Jube Classic.

Broadcast

  • Sun 7 Apr 2024 18:00
    Â鶹Éç Radio 3

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