Forum des auditeurs passionnés et critiques de France Culture

Un Book of the Week datant de 2012, rediffusé en 2017 et écouté en 2018 dans le sillage de l'écoute du Comte de Monte-Cristo (on devrait être payé, vu toute la publicité faite autour de cette rediffusion...) : The Black Count*.

Lecture ? First-class. Version abrégée du livre en 5 X 13 minutes de lecture ? Très bonne. Réalisation ? Impeccable (pas de musique, de vignette, etc).

Petite histoire, grande histoire (des colonies aux Antilles, de la Révolution, de Bonaparte, etc), le récit de la vie du père d'Alexandre Dumas (et de son grand-père) laisse de profondes traces dans la mémoire et éclaire vivement les éléments de l'intrigue du Comte de Monte-Cristo.

Pour aller plus loin, on pourra lire The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss – review Fri 28 Sep 2012




*In his new biography Tom Reiss reveals that Alexandre Dumas' father led a life of derring-do that is captured in his son's novels, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Born to a French nobleman, and a black slave in the colonies, the writer's father went on to rise rapidly through the ranks to become a general in the French army. General Alex Dumas' acts of heroism were met with great acclaim, but events conspired against him leading to an irrevocable reversal of fortune.

Read by Hugh Quarshie who appears regularly in BBC One's Holby City.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard

Encore deux jours d'écoute en ligne avant fermeture définitive (les concerts ne sont que très rarement rediffusés). Laisser passer ce choix de concerts serait fort dommage pour les amateurs :

Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert, East Neuk Festival Episode 1 of 4



Kate Molleson presents a selection of performances from the 14th East Neuk Festival, held in various locations across the Kingdom of Fife. As part of the festival, French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras embarked on an ambitious, day-long series of concerts dedicated to all six of JS Bach's Cello Suites and we hear him at the very start of his journey as he plays Bach's Suite for Solo Cello No 1 in G major. South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son performs works that, although composed around the same time, are as different as wine and bourbon - 'Le Tombeau de Couperin' by Ravel and piano arrangements of three songs by George Gershwin.


Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert, East Neuk Festival Episode 2 of 4



Kate Molleson presents the second Lunchtime Concert to feature performances from the East Neuk Festival. Recorded at Crail Parish Church, in the Kingdom of Fife, South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son plays Stravinsky's demanding and electrifying three movements for piano from his ballet, 'Petrushka'.
10 miles to the west of Crail lies the beautiful Kilconquhar Church where soprano Mhairi Lawson and theorbo player Paula Chateauneuf present an atmospheric and fascinating programme of songs depicting female characters entitled 'Mad Women, Queens and Lovers'.

Pour Anselme, contributeur trop rare, spécialisé dans le carbone 14... :



Toujours pour Anselme : dans le 3e numéro* du Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert, St Magnus International Festival, le présentateur dit (avec l'accent écossais de rigueur) : "I'm sitting on the beach, looking out on a flat calm sea over to the next small island in the bright sunshine. Rousay is known as the Egypt of the north due to the incredible amount of archeology finds here. You ony need to kick over a pebble and you uncover a tomb or an ancient settlement".

Très beau programme de guitare de Michael Butten dans les 2e ("Michael Butten performing works by Legnani, (Paganini's favourite guitarist), the Catalan 20th century composer Roberto Gerhard and one of Bach's great Sonatas and Partitas which has been borrowed from the violin repertoire by many guitarists") et 3e numéros ("The Red Note Ensemble and guitarist Michael Butten performing an eclectic mix of music suitable for small venues from Dowland to Villa-Lobos and McGuire).

Illustration du 4e numéro (programme Jean Français et Debussy, Syrinx pour les amateurs d'oiseaux, marins ou non) :



* More highlights from the St Magnus International Festival as the Festival goes on tour to some of the more remote communities on the Islands of Rousay and Westray. The Red Note Ensemble and guitarist Michael Butten performing an eclectic mix of music suitable for small venues from Dowland to Villa-Lobos and McGuire

Toute l'intelligence d'une station authentiquement culturelle (BBC Radio 3) abordant l'objection sans abjection, à travers le temps, les cultures, les objets. Quel programme ! Et ne faisons surtout aucune comparaison avec la station treinerienne aux petits pieds.

Hiding in Plain Sight I, Object!

Ian Hislop, editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye, has been invited by the British Museum to curate an exhibition celebrating the variety, ingenuity and extent of dissent around the world. With the help of museum curators he's collected artefacts that tell a story of the way people have made a stand, however humble or grand, against the constraints of the society in which they find themselves living from ancient Babylon to modern Washington DC. In a three part series in conjunction with the exhibition Ian goes beyond the objects to find dissent in other media and to tell the story of our seemingly unquenchable desire to kick against whatever system frustrates or oppresses them at the time.
In the first programme Ian looks at dissenting objects 'Hiding in Plain Sight', from a coded teapot with a deliberately provocative number under the spout to items of clothing that sent a message to observers without ever actual breaking any laws. There are also the everyday sedition of popular music but with a look at Indian protest songs rather than their more familiar and celebrated western counterparts, and there's the religious object masquerading as a condiment container, allowing dangerous sedition in the guise of providing for extra flavouring in food.

Producer: Tom Alban.

A selection of objects from the British Museum exhibition.



Teapot or punch pot made by Worcester Porcelain Factory, circa 1763-1770. Photo: Credit The Trustees of the British Museum.

Un concert de grande classe par la claveciniste française Béatrice Martin à Prague (encore trois semaines en ligne) : Gondolas on the Seine.

Hannah French introduces a concert given by harpsichordist Beatrice Martin, who plays French & Italian keyboard music at the Clam-Gallas Palace in Prague, as part of the city's annual Summer Festivities of Early Music.

Music includes pieces by Domenico Scarlatti, Louis Couperin, Rameau, Vivaldi and Francois Couperin.

Oeuvre à signaler, Antonio Vivaldi
Harpsichord Concerto in D 'L'estro armonico'
• Performer: Beatrice Martin.
• Music Arranger: Johann Sebastian Bach.

Je pense que ce post pas plus que les précédents, et sans doute encore moins probablement, n'attirera de réaction, vu que pour ressentir pleinement l'effet que produit cette lecture, il faut avoir nagé quelques milliers de kilomètres, en partie en eaux libres, lacs, fleuves et mer, par des températures de moins de 18° jusqu'à 15°, sans combinaison (mais avec de la graisse appliquée sur le corps).

Donc, disons-le tout de suite, cette lecture de Patrick Kennedy est un coup de maître. La réduction des mémoires de Tom Gregory par Sara Davies, un exploit.

De quoi s'agit-il ? En 1988, Tom Gregory, 11 ans et 333 jours traverse la Manche à la nage de Calais à Douvres en juste un peu moins de 12 heures.

Le récit découpé en 5 X 14 minutes narre la vie de ce garçon de l'âge de 8 à 12 ans, souvenir rétrospectif et récit au présent de la traversée et des entraînements dans le lac de Windermere.

Aventure humaine limite, réflexions sur la confiance en un soutien indéfectible, sur le dépassement de soi et ce qu'apporte la torture mentale et physique que représente le défi de cette traversée. La fin du récit, quand c'est au tour du jeune garçon de donner du courage à son entraîneur irascible et protecteur, est littéralement bouleversante.

Encore un exemple de lecture radiophonique du plus haut niveau.

A Boy in the Water Book of the Week, BBC 4 Mon 27 Aug 2018*

Un article d'Alice O'Keeffe (qui se montre bien de notre temps) : A Boy in the Water by Tom Gregory review – the youngest English Channel swimmer
In 1988, 11-year-old Gregory set a record that will never be broken. His book recalls the agonising swim and his charismatic coach Wed 29 Aug 2018

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*In September 1988, eleven-year-old Tom Gregory became the youngest person ever to swim the English Channel, trained by a coach at his local swimming baths in Eltham, South East London.
Tom first went to the swimming baths in Eltham when he was seven. As one of the slowest swimmers in his class at school, he could barely make it across a width without taking a break half way. Despite a reluctant start, his potential was soon spotted by the coach who ran the club. John Bullet was an old-school disciplinarian and a maverick in the Channel Swimming establishment, who had an impressive track record for training distance swimmers. He had established a team of local kids who trained together in open water at Dover, in the cold waters of Windermere, and in London Docks. When John singled Tom out as a Channel contender, Tom's training began in earnest; as his ability and stamina became evident, his (and John's) sights focussed on the world record for the youngest swimmer to make a solo crossing of the Channel.
As coach, mentor and inspiration John Bullet inspired extraordinary loyalty from his young swimmers. Tom and his older sister Anna were part of a close-knit group of young people who spent their holidays being mini-bussed around the country, camping out and listening to Top Twenty mix tapes, all the while training in conditions which would challenge swimmers of any age.
Tom describes the intensity and closeness of these five years of his life with affection and honesty; the account of his gruelling training and his record-breaking Channel swim, all before his twelfth birthday, is both exhilarating, and, to a generation brought up on stricter health and safety regulations, occasionally disquieting.
Tom's world record still stands today and can never be broken; since his swim the qualifying age for an official Channel challenge has been raised to sixteen.
Tom Gregory went on to become an officer in the Royal Anglican Regiment and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He now lives in Surrey with his wife and daughter.
Reader: Patrick Kennedy
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.
Credits
Role Contributor
Reader Patrick Kennedy
Author Tom Gregory
Abridger Sara Davies
Producer Sara Davies

Eugenia Cheng BBC 3 Private Passions  02 09 2018*.

Une femme que l'on écoute avec un grand bonheur : tout ce qu'elle dit est d'or. Sur les mathématiques, sur son histoire familiale, sur la musique, sur l'éducation, sur son engagement au service d'autrui, sur elle-même.



Extrait de son fil Twitter : "@DrEugeniaCheng  Abstract math is the most practical thing I have learnt. Yes we need to learn empathy, but I get it from abstract math. Thinking abstractly and logically enables me to see other people's points of view from *their* logic, not mine. (My next book is about this.) 23:12 - 11 avr. 2018 "

Magnifique portrait dans le New York Times (adorable jeu de mots dans le titre), Eugenia Cheng Makes Math a Piece of Cake, citation : ''The filling was a clever concatenation — “BAnana added to CHocolate gives you Bach,” Dr. Cheng said''.

En français sur Eugenia Cheng (peu de références) : Eugenia Cheng, la cheffe cuisto qui voulait nous faire aimer les maths

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* At first glance chocolate brownies, puff pastry and Battenberg cake don’t seem to have a great deal in common with theoretical maths, but Eugenia Cheng has harnessed her love of cooking in order to tackle the fear of maths so many of us share – and has published a book about it called How to Bake Pi.
Her mission is to rid the world of "maths phobia", and to this end she gave up her secure job teaching at Sheffield University to open up the world of maths to students from other disciplines as Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which also gives her the opportunity to pursue her own research in Category Theory - the purest form of maths.
And she’s a highly accomplished pianist, performing in concert halls around the world, as well as founding Liederstube - a popular venue for lieder and art song in Chicago which has hosted performers such as Gerald Finley and Richard Wiegold.
Eugenia explains to Michael how chocolate brownies and pure maths are related; how she prefers to work in cafes and bars with pen and paper rather than on a computer, and how her intensely emotional response to music is a release from the intensely ordered world of pure mathematics. And they dismantle stereotypes about Chinese ‘tiger mothers’, girls and maths, and the idea that people who are good at maths are automatically good at music.
Eugenia chooses music from Bach’s Matthew Passion, Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto – which she herself has played – and from Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony and Janacek’s opera The Makropulos Case, which take her on an emotional and philosophical journey towards a reconciliation with mortality.
Producer: Jane Greenwood
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3

Une émission inimaginable sur France Culture. Pardon, si, au début des années 1990 à l'époque des Chemins de la Connaissance : Komodo Dragon BBC 3 Natural Histories Tue 28 Aug 2018



Photo copyright ZSL London Zoo.

Histoire naturelle (vous saurez tout sur la salive du dragon), récit de voyageurs, récit d'un documentariste, mythologie, cinéma (origine de King Kong) et littérature. Tout s'enchaîne, c'est très bien réalisé, sons, paroles, extraits de film, lecture, c'est passionnant, c'est culturel.

"For me 1971 was the Year of the Dragon," says Brett Westwood. This was the year he first read the Hobbit and discovered the giant winged Smaug. Dragons are everywhere - in books, myths, tattoo parlours, computer games, and of course on the Indonesian island of Komodo. Here be dragons warned the ancient maps, but where does myth meet reality ... and why has the dragon reached into so many cultures around the world?
With contributions from zoologist Mark Carwardine who travelled to Komodo with Douglas Adams for Last Chance to See. Plus Joe Capon of the Attenborough Komodo Dragon House at London Zoo; film critic Antonia Quirke who explains the connection between King Kong and Komodo; Martin Arnold, author of a new book on Dragons: Power and Fear; and Matt Swarbrick who helped film the first dragon buffalo hunt - from bite to final throes.
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

Dédié au trop rare contributeur islandophile de ce forum, ce concert mémorable consacré à Bach par le jeune pianiste Víkingur Ólafsson Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert, Artist Spotlight at LSO St Luke's Thu 27 Sep 2018.

In the third programme of this week's Artist Spotlight series, the young Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, who has been described by the New York Times as 'Iceland's Glenn Gould'. Today, he focuses on the solo keyboard works of JS Bach, including Partitas, Sinfonas and his own arrangement of 'Widersthehe doch der Sunde'. recorded at LSO St Luke's in London.

Une stimulante émission en deux parties The Nature of Creativity BBC 3 Sunday Feature  Sun 16 Sep 2018.

La première moitié est consacrée à un tableau des influences de la nature (sons, couleurs, espaces, etc) sur la formation de l'esprit humain, sur les mythes et l'art. On y entend un conteur, un naturaliste, une scientifique verrier d'art (j'hésite à créer "verrière d'art"...), un professeur d'archéologie paléolithique, un neuro-scientifique spécialisé dans les sons. C'est passionnant.

La seconde partie donne la parole à des intervenants qui arguent que la créativité peut naître de domaines hors de la vie naturelle : la ville dense et l'ordinateur.

Cette partie est remarquable en ce sens qu'elle propose un contradictoire qui tente de démontrer que la créativité peut être déconnectée de la nature. C'est peu convaincant (les couleurs seraient plus belles sur un écran que dans la nature et la réalité virtuelle vous ferait accéder à des univers auxquels on n'aurait jamais accès), parfois risible : voyez comme vous pouvez déplacer cet oiseau avec vos lunettes virtuelles et le faire cohabiter avec un poisson.

Une émission qui a plusieurs mérites, dont celui de démontrer que la disparition des oiseaux, par exemple, ne permet plus au jeune contemporain de comprendre l'art et l'esprit de temps pas très anciens (exemples de la poésie de John Clare et de Wordsworth).

The cuckoo is a pretty bird...

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*Writer and producer Mary Colwell explores the relationship between nature and creativity, and asks, as nature disappears, are we compromising our ability to express ourselves in art, music and literature? Since the 1970s the world has lost half of the mass of wildlife on earth, so is this affecting human creativity?
The opening to Beethoven’s ground-breaking, 5th piano concerto starts with a piano imitation of the call of an Ortolan bunting. It is tiny, weighing just a few grams, but its song is powerful. Nature was a vital source of inspiration to him.
From the earliest times humanity has always woven nature into the very fabric of our cultural, spiritual and scientific lives. Nature has acted both as a source for inspiration, but also as a metaphor, allowing us to be more creative and expanding our understanding of ourselves.
The mysterious cave paintings, from as early as 30,000 years ago hint at a religious association with animals, where the veil between the real and spiritual was thin and insubstantial. For the ancient Greeks birds are especially commonly depicted in frescoes. plays, idioms similes and plays. Welsh storyteller, Dafydd Davies Hughes, describes how ancient tales, predating the Romans, used animals to tell us about morality and to instil social norms.
But does the lessening of nature in our lives mean we are becoming less creative? Simon Colton, Professor of computational Creativity at Falmouth University believes we are just as creative as ever, and new technology is allowing us even greater expression. Prof Vincent Walsh believes we are in an extraordinarily rich, creative age; “you could argue that as we have become more urban, our creativity has expanded.”

The Nature of Creativity is a rich and thought-provoking programme that presents new and challenging ideas about our relationship with the natural world. It is a Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 3.

Réponse dans The Etymology of Entomology (BBC 4 ) : "taxonomiste".

Une demi-heure du plus haut niveau, tant par le contenu savant que par la forme dynamique.

Pourquoi s'intéresser à l'entomologie ? Et aux noms des insectes ? Comment attirer de jeunes chercheurs dans le domaine ? Des scientifiques de grands instituts britanniques, américains et australiens répondent au zoologue entomologiste Dr. George McGavin. C'est passionnant, stimulant et, last but not least, "entertaining".

Comment faire aimer la nature et la protéger ? Non en gémissant quotidiennement comme à France Culture, mais en faisant découvrir les métiers pratiqués par des chercheurs passionnés.

Popular culture meets science, as zoologist Dr George McGavin delves into the strange, and often bizarre, names given to insects.



Zoologist Dr. George McGavin delves into the strange and often bizarre names given to the planet's insects.
There are an estimated 10 million living insect species, with new specimens being discovered almost daily. Entomologists are turning to ever more imaginative names, referencing everything from literary figures, celebrities and politicians to playground puns.
George takes us into the complex and intriguing world of the taxonomist. From the 18th century father of modern taxonomy Carl Linnaeus to the present day, he explains why naming the things that surround us is the foundation of all science.
There are flies named Pieza kake and S. beyonceae (after the singer); beetles with political connections - A. hitleri, A. bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi; and some entomologists have even named discoveries after romantic conquests. Unsurprisingly, names can prove controversial but, once set, are difficult to change.
George pieces together his story at Linnaeus' original collection at The Linnean Society, and at the capital's Natural History Museum and London Zoo. He also reveals some insects named after him at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft.
A Folded Wing production for BBC Radio 4.
Broadcasts Sat 9 Mar 2013 10:30 BBC Radio 4 [Rediffusion le 17 octobre 2018]