Music for Solitariness

Available for 27 days

As part of the BBC's Wellbeing Week, Radio 3 Unwind's Niall Breslin introduces a mixtape on the theme of Solitariness. From Noel Coward enjoying his travels unhindered by attachments, and J.S. Bach's sublime writing for solo violin, to William Grant Still's poignant "Song for the lonely", today's Classical Mixtape reflects on the experience of being alone. Many will recall the long running children's TV dramatisation of Robinson Crusoe, with its memorable theme music, but there is less well-known music in this half hour mix, such as Margaret Hubicki's "Lonely piper", and Rebecca Dale's magical setting of Wordsworth celebrating the joys of solitude "I wandered lonely as a cloud". Kurt Weill's "Lonely house" sweetens into solitary dreaming from Debussy, and the sequence ends with a heart-breaking folk song setting from the Auvergne about an abandoned shepherdess, lushly orchestrated by Joseph Cantaloube. Producer: Helen Garrison