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Miniatures

It's a small, small world this week with musical miniatures and readings by Simon Chandler and Yasmin Taheri on all things pocket-sized.

Simon Chandler and Yasmin Taheri read a selection of prose and poetry exploring tiny things in this week's Words and Music small but perfectly formed episode taking a microscope to the miniature. We'll hear about dolls and their houses, model making and netsuke figures as well as examples of small literary forms such as limericks, haiku and flash fiction. Musically our soundtrack includes piano miniatures from Erik Satie (who died 100 years ago this month), Debussy's Petite Suite and Rolfe Kent's score for the film 'Downsizing'.

You can find plenty more about Satie on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sounds as part of Radio 3's Satie day

Producer: Jessica Treen

Readings:
Matsuo Basho – The Old Pond
Enid Blyton – The Enchanted Village
Tim Dunn – Model Villages
Edward Lear – The Was An Old Man With A Beard
William Shakespeare – Romeo & Juliet
TH White – Mistress Masham’s Repose
Edward Lear – There Was A Young Lady Whose Nose
The World’s Smallest Vacuum Cleaner – European Cleaning Journal
Edward Lear – There Was An Old Man In A Boat
Simon Garfield – In Miniature
Anon – For Want of A Nail
Edmund de Waal – The Hare with Amber Eyes
Margaret Atwood – Cat’s Eyes
WB Yeats – The Dolls
Emily Dickinson – It’s Such A Little Thing To Weep
Jessie Burton – The Miniaturist
Aingelda Ardizzone – The Little Girl and The Tiny Doll
Ray Bradbury – A Sound Of Thunder
Matsuo Basho – Wake, Butterfly
Jo Shapcott – Quark
Neil Jordan - The Well of Saint Nobody
Lydia Davis – Lost Things
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – The Little Prince
Matsuo Basho – Spring is Passing

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 6 Jul 2025 18:00

Music Played

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

  • Basho

    The Old Pond

  • 00:00

    Claude Debussy

    The Little shepherd (from 'Children's corner') arr. Robert Aitken for flute...

    Performer: Judith Hall.
    • Nimbus.
    • Tr2.
  • 00:01

    Claude Debussy

    The Little shepherd (from 'Children's corner') arr. Robert Aitken for flute

    Performer: Judith Hall.
    • Images and Impressions: Music for Flute & Harp.
    • Nimbus.
    • 2.
  • Enid Blyton

    The enchanted Village

  • 00:04

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Nutcracker - suite (Op.71a), no.1; Miniature overture

    Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
    • Tchaikovsky: 1812/Romeo & Juliet/Nutcracker Suite: Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
    • Decca.
    • 1.
  • 00:06

    Benjamin Britten

    Simple symphony for string orch... (Op.4), 2nd mvt; Playful pizzicato

    Performer: English Chamber Orchestra.
    • Decca.
    • Tr3.
  • Tim Dunn

    Model Villages

  • 00:09

    Adalgiso Ferraris

    It’s A Small World

    Performer: Walt Disney World Band.
    • Walt Disney Records.
    • Tr3.
  • 00:10

    Anne Shelton

    It's A Small World

    • Jane Records.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:10

    Stephen Sondheim

    Small World

    Performer: Bette Midler.
    • Gypsy.
    • Rhino Atlantic.
    • 4.
  • Edward Lear

    There Was An Old Man With A Beard

  • 00:13

    Frédéric Chopin

    3 Waltzes for piano, Op 64 no 1 in D flat major: "Minute"

    Performer: Alexandre Tharaud.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • Tr12.
  • William Shakespeare

    Romeo and Juliet

  • 00:16

    Georg Philipp Telemann

    Susanna, HWV 66, Gulliver Suite for two violins: Lilliputsche Chaconne

    Performer: Andrew Manze.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • Tr14.
  • TH White

    Mistress Masham’s Repose

  • 00:18

    Georg Philipp Telemann

    Susanna, HWV 66, Gulliver Suite for two violins: Lilliputsche Chaconne

    Performer: Andrew Manze.
    • Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Violin Solo: Gulliver Suite for Two Violins.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 14.
  • Edward Lear

    here Is A Young Lady Whose Nose

  • 00:20

    Andrew Manze

    Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Violin Solo: Gulliver Suite for Two Violins

    • Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Violin Solo: Gulliver Suite for Two Violins.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 15.
  • 00:21

    Al Dubin

    Tip Toe Thru' the Tulips with me

    Performer: Tiny Tim.
    • God Bless Tiny Tim.
    • Reprise.
    • 2.
  • European Cleaning Journal

    The World’s Smallest Vacuum Cleaner

  • 00:22

    Rolfe Kent

    Downsizing Waltz

    Performer: Rolfe Kent.
    • Downsizing (Music from the Motion Picture).
    • Water Tower Music.
    • 1.
  • Edward Lear

    There Was An Old Man In A Boat

  • 00:25

    Amy Beach

    Children's Carnival, Op 25; Columbine

    Performer: Elise Williams.
    • Children's Carnival, Op. 25 and Children's Album.
    • Pastel Records.
    • 7.
  • Simon Garfield

    In Miniature

  • 00:26

    Robert Schumann

    Marchenerzahlungen (Fairy Tales), Op 132, No.4

    Performer: Michael Collins.
    • BIS.
    • Tr6.
  • 00:27

    Fritz Kreisler

    Marche Miniature Viennoise

    Performer: Tine Thing Helseth.
    • EMI.
    • Tr24.
  • 00:28

    Fritz Kreisler

    Marche Miniature Viennoise

    Performer: Tine Thing Helseth.
    • Tine Thing Helseth: Tine.
    • EMI.
    • 24.
  • Anon

    For Want Of A Nail

  • Edmund de Waal

    The Hare with Amber Eyes

  • 00:31

    Toru Takemitsu

    In the woods for guitar: no.1; Wainscot Pond - after a painting by Cornelia Foss

    Performer: Ji Hyung Park.
    • Scarlatti, Albéniz, Takemitsu & Others: Works for Guitar.
    • Naxos.
    • 6.
  • 00:33

    Cécile Chaminade

    Les Sylvains, Op. 60

    Performer: Mitra Kotte.
    • Cécile Chaminade – Les Sylvains.
    • Genuin.
    • 1.
  • Margaret Atwood

    Cat’s Eyes

  • WB Yeats

    The Dolls

  • 00:36

    Gioachino Rossini

    Petite messe solennelle for soloists, chorus, 2 pianos and harmonium: Sanctus

    Performer: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.
    • EMI Classics.
    • Tr4.
  • Emily Dickinson

    It’s Such A Little Thing to Weep

  • 00:41

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    6 Little preludes for keyboard (BWV.933-8), no.2 in C minor (BWV.934)

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • Hyperion.
    • Tr2.
  • Jessie Burton

    The Miniaturist

  • 00:44

    Alla Pavlova

    Thumbelina Suite: III. Tango

    Orchestra: Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Pavlova: Symphony No. 6 - Thumbelina Suite.
    • Naxos.
    • 3.
  • 00:48

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    6 Bagatelles for piano (Op.126), no.2 in G minor;

    Performer: Alfred Brendel.
    • Beethoven: Alfred Brendel plays, vol.4.
    • Vox Box.
    • 2.
  • Aingelda Ardizzone

    The Little Girl and The Tiny Doll

  • 00:51

    Paul Schoenfield

    Vaudeville: A Concerto for Piccolo Trumpet - 2. Bear dance

    Performer: Paul Schoenfield.
    • Schoenfield: 4 Parables; Vaudeville; Klezmer Rondos.
    • Decca.
    • 1.
  • 00:54

    Keith Textor

    Doll House

    Composer: Marilyn Scott. Performer: Count von Count. Performer: Dolly Pardon.
    • Sesame Street: The Count Counts, Vol. 2 (The Count's Countdown Show from Radio 1.
    • Sesame Workshop Catalog.
    • 11.
  • Karen McCarthy Woolf

    Top Doll

  • 00:55

    Hole

    Doll Parts

    • Sesame Workshop Catalog.
    • Tr6.
  • 00:56

    Pauline Oliveros

    Bye Bye Butterfly

    Performer: Pauline Oliveros.
    • New World Records.
    • Tr3.
  • Ray Bradbury

    The Sound of Thunder

  • 00:57

    Pauline Oliveros

    Bye Bye Butterfly

    Performer: Pauline Oliveros.
    • New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media: Women In Electronic Music - 1977.
    • New World Records.
    • 3.
  • 00:57

    Kate Simko

    The Creative Part

    Performer: Kate Simko.
    • The Ghostly International Company.
    • Tr4.
  • Jo Shapcott

    Quark

  • Neil Jordan

    The Well of Saint Nobody

  • 01:02

    Erik Satie

    The Creative Part

    Performer: Pascal Rogé.
    • Satie: Piano Focus.
    • UME.
    • 4.
  • 01:05

    Shirley Horn

    Wee Small Hours

    • Verve Reissues.
    • Tr12.
  • Lydia Davis

    Lost Things

  • 01:06

    David Mann

    Wee Small Hours

    Composer: Bob Hilliard. Performer: Shirley Horn.
    • Shirley Horn With Horns.
    • Verve Reissues.
    • 12.
  • Lydia Davis

    Lost Things

  • 01:09

    Gustav Holst

    The Planets - suite Op.32: Mercury, the winged messenger

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • Shirley Horn With Horns.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 3.
  • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

    The Little Prince

  • Matsuo Basho

    Spring is Passing

Broadcast

  • Sun 6 Jul 2025 18:00

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