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A Christmas Menagerie

From 鈥渁 partridge in a pear tree鈥 to Dylan Thomas鈥檚 cats, UA Fanthorpe鈥檚 donkey to Scrooge鈥檚 turkey, Bach鈥檚 Sheep May Safely Grace to Sheep sung about in the film White Christmas.

Robert Lindsay and Shiloh Coke perform prose and poetry alongside music depicting a range of animals and birds: from 鈥渁 partridge in a pear tree鈥 to Dylan Thomas鈥檚 cats, UA Fanthorpe鈥檚 donkey to Scrooge鈥檚 turkey, Bach鈥檚 Cantata Sheep May Safely Grace to Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep from the film White Christmas, Chuck Berry鈥檚 Run Rudolph Run, to Haydn鈥檚 symphony No. 83, 'The Hen'.

Producer: Juan Carlos Jaramillo

Readings
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Christmas Every Day and Other Stories, by William Dean Howells
Help Wanted, by Timothy Tocher
The Christmas Angel, by Abbie Farwell Brown
The Three Low Masses, by Alphonse Daudet
Talking Turkeys, by Benjamin Zephaniah
Tess of the d鈥橴bervilles, by Thomas Hardy
A Child's Christmas in Wales, a story, by Dylan Thomas (read by the poet)
What the Donkey Saw, by U.A. Fanthorpe
The Oxen, by Thomas Hardy
The Story of the Other Wise Man, by Henry Van Dyke
I saw a stable, low and very bare, by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
Bleak Weather, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The Barn by Elizabeth Coatsworth
A Child's Christmas in Wales, a story archive reading by Dylan Thomas

Release date:

1 hour, 14 minutes

On radio

Today 18:00

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are the time of the day

  • 18:01

    John Rutter

    The Donkey Carol

    Choir: The Cambridge Singers. Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: John Rutter. Conductor: John Rutter.
    • Rutter 鈥 Christmas Album.
    • Collegium CSCD510.
    • 4.
  • Charles Dickens

    A Christmas Carol, read by Robert Lindsay

  • William Dean Howells

    Christmas Every Day and Other stories, read by Shiloh Coke

  • 18:06

    Chuck Berry

    Run Rudolph Run

    • Top Tracks 888608327497.
    • 15.
  • Timothy Tocher

    Help wanted, read by Robert Lindsay

  • 18:09

    Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No. 83 in G Minor, Hob. I:83 "The hen", III Menuet Allegretto

    Orchestra: Orchestre de chambre de Paris. Conductor: Douglas Boyd.
    • Haydn Paris Symphonies (Boyd).
    • NoMadMusic NMM078D.
    • 3.
  • Abbie Farwell Brown

    The Christmas Angel, read by Shiloh Coke

  • 18:16

    Adolphe Adam

    O holy night (Minuit, Chretiens) - noel for voice and keyboard

    Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Music Arranger: Douglas Gamley. Music Arranger: Douglas Gamley. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Kurt Herbert Adler. Conductor: Kurt Herbert Adler. Conductor: Kurt Herbert Adler.
    • O Holy Night.
    • Decca 4330102.
    • 5.
  • Alphonse Daudet

    The Three Low Masses, read by Robert Lindsay

  • 18:20

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Sheep may safely graze, from Cantata BWV 208

    Music Arranger: Neville Marriner. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • The Academy - by Request.
    • EMI Classics 5689532.
    • 2.
  • Benjamin Zephaniah

    Talking Turkeys, read by Shiloh Coke

  • 18:27

    Reggie and the Deadbeats

    Reggae Christmas

    Performer: Reggie and the Deadbeats.
    • AW5085505.
    • 1.
  • 18:28

    Pete Cooper

    The Christmas Eve

    Performer: Pete Cooper.
    • Irish Fiddle Solos.
    • SCHOTT MUSIC Q53074.
    • 27.
  • Thomas Hardy

    Extract from Tess of the d鈥橴bervilles, read by Robert Lindsay

  • 18:32

    Trad.

    Deck the Halls, arr. for string orchestra

    Music Arranger: Bj枚rn Kleiman. Ensemble: Camerata Tchaikovsky.
    • Christmas without Words.
    • Orchid Classics ORC100186.
    • 3.
  • Dylan Thomas

    A Child's Christmas in Wales, A Story, read by the author

  • 18:36

    Irving Berlin

    Count Your Blessings (instead of sheep)

    Performer: Bing Crosby.
    • AudioSonic Music 1307362839511_AUDS28.
    • 97.
  • U.A. Fanthorpe

    What the Donkey Saw, read by Shiloh Coke

  • 18:39

    Greg Lake

    I believe in Father Christmas

    • have Yourself a Very British Christmas.
    • Countdown Media 4065142018418.
    • 2.
  • Thomas Hardy

    The Oxen, read by Robert Lindsay

  • 18:44

    Michel Corrette

    Sinfonia No. 2 (Six Symphonies de Noel) Allegro - Ou S'En Vont Ces Gais Bergers

    Ensemble: La Fantasia. Conductor: Rien Voskuilen.
    • Six Symphonies de Noel.
    • Brilliant Classics 93538.
    • S1 Tr5.
  • Henry Van Dyke

    The Story of the Other Wise Man, read by Shiloh Coke

  • 18:48

    Germaine Tailleferre

    Arabesque for Clarinet in B-Flat & Piano

    • L'Esprit Des Six.
    • Claves Records CD-1804.
    • 16.
  • Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

    I saw a stable, low and very bare, read by Robert Lindsay

  • 18:51

    Frederic Austin

    The Twelve Days of Christmas

    Singer: Harry Belafonte. Ensemble: Bob Carman Orchestra.
    • Documents 2 885150845004.
    • 16.
  • Ella Wheeler Wilcox

    Bleak Weather, read by Shiloh Coke

  • 18:57

    Eric Whitacre

    Lux aurumque, for chorus

    Performer: The King鈥檚 Singers.
    • High Flight.
    • Signum SIGCD262.
    • 3.
  • Elizabeth Coatsworth

    The Barn, read by Robert Lindsay

  • 19:03

    Max Richter

    On the Nature of Daylight - Written on the Sky

    Performer: Ang猫le Dubeau. Orchestra: La Piet脿.
    • Portrait.
    • Groupe Analekta, Inc. AN28745.
    • 8.
  • Dylan Thomas

    A Child's Christmas in Wales, A Story, read by the author

  • 19:08

    笔茅谤辞迟颈苍

    Alleluia nativitas for 3 voices [Nativity of BVM]

    Performer: Jan Garbarek. Choir: The Hilliard Ensemble.
    • Officium Novum: Jan Garbarek & The Hilliard Ensemble.
    • ECM.
    • 10.

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