Carlo Maria Giulini

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and you are listening to Desert Island Discs.

Speaker 10:05

This edition of Desert Island Discs was archived without the music.

Speaker 10:09

So although the Castaways choices are introduced, they're not part of this recording.

Speaker 10:15

Full details can be found on the Castaways page on the Desert Island Disc's website.

Speaker 10:20

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen sixty eight.

Carlo Maria Giulini0:24

Desert Island Disc

Speaker 10:25

This is a recording as it was being broadcast, rather than the studio recording.

Speaker 10:30

And for that reason you may hear some degradation in the sound quality.

Carlo Maria Giulini0:34

Each week a well-known person is asked the question, if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which aid gramophone records would you choose to have with you?

Carlo Maria Giulini0:43

As usual, the castaway is introduced by Roy Plumley. Our castaway this week, ladies and gentlemen, is a musician, Italy's most celebrated conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini.

Carlo Maria Giulini0:55

As many musicians do, Mr. Giulini, would you prefer to have

Presenter0:58

Scores

Carlo Maria Giulini0:59

Yeah.

Presenter0:59

Rather than records on a desert island?

Presenter1:02

Yes, of course.

Presenter1:03

Uh I must confess that I shouldn't like at all to have records because uh the idea that uh something in the performance uh has to be fixed forever is uh a terrible idea and uh I should be very desperate to to to think that I should listen always the same performance also also if the performance is great of course.

Carlo Maria Giulini1:30

What shall we start with?

Presenter1:33

I

Presenter1:35

Uh

Presenter1:36

Every year Busch with his quartet used to come to Rome and this was an unbelievable experience to have for many times all the Beethoven quartets played by him and also of course the Beethoven sonata with the duo with the Selkin and Concerto.

Presenter1:58

And uh what I should r really like to have uh Beaton quartet played by Bush quartet.

Presenter2:07

Opus 132, played by

Carlo Maria Giulini2:09

Right, the Bush Quartet.

Carlo Maria Giulini2:11

What's your second disk?

Presenter2:13

My second is a disc by a pianist, Artu Schnabel. I think Schnabel is important man, not only for the pianist but for all the musicians. His approach to the music, his phrasing, his sound, his kind to speak through the music is very important. And I should very much like have with me some Schubert. For instance, impromptu number two in A Flat Measure.

Presenter2:49

Where were you born, mister Deleni?

Presenter2:51

I'm bor I'm born in uh south Italy.

Presenter2:54

But uh for a case, because my my family is from uh North Italy and my father went in South Italy just for business, just in time that I was born and then we went back to North Italy.

Carlo Maria Giulini3:04

Whenever

Carlo Maria Giulini3:06

And you come from a musical family?

Presenter3:08

No, uh no, my my uh mother studied piano as all the girls, yes. And no. When did you start the study?

Presenter3:18

Very, very early, I was perhaps five years.

Presenter3:21

And where did you study?

Presenter3:23

I started uh I asked for a violin. I was in the uh in a town in very north uh Italy, and the name is Polzano, in the middle of the Dermites. And there I started with a nun, uh in yes, in the in the kindersho uh kindergarten kindergarten, yes.

Presenter3:42

And from there I started. Yes.

Presenter3:45

And you went to the Academy of San Citilia. In Rome, yes. You played in the orchestra there when you graduated. In Rome, yes.

Carlo Maria Giulini3:51

What did you do?

Presenter3:53

And you also played in a string quartet. Exactly, yes. When did you make your debut as conductor?

Presenter4:00

This conductor May was the first concert in Rome after the liberation of Rome, after the war. I was the first conductor who conducted and this was my first concert.

Speaker 14:06

Uh

Carlo Maria Giulini4:06

I f

Presenter4:11

A very beautiful moment, yeah.

Presenter4:14

And only two years after that you were appointed musical director of the Italian radio.

Presenter4:19

Yes, first as a second conductor and then uh two years later I went to Milano as first conductor.

Presenter4:26

Let's break off here for your next record. What do we have?

Presenter4:31

Uh yes. I of course I couldn't stay without Mozart. And uh

Presenter4:40

And Mozart is very uh

Presenter4:43

Close with in my remembrance.

Presenter4:45

With uh Bruno Wald uh performance which uh I used to play with in the in Rome with him.

Presenter4:53

And it's pity there is no uh opera recorded by Bruno Walter, because I think uh mo for Mozart it should be ne really necessary to have a opera, because in o uh uh his personality in the opera is complete. But because it's not uh possible to have an opera, then I chose um a symphony and perhaps the lines.

Presenter5:15

Which part of it shall we hear?

Presenter5:17

Perhaps the beginning.

Presenter5:20

When did you first come to Briff?

Presenter5:23

Uh the first time that I came away with it was in fifty-two and I went to Glaimbo for prepare the Falstaff that we performed then in Edinburgh Festival. This was my first contact musical contact with England.

Presenter5:40

Almost invariably you'll conduct the new Philharmonia orchestration. We are very close with Philharmonia and I conduct always with Philharmoni. You took that orchestra and chorus to Rome for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Verdi to sing the Verdi Requiem. This was a a great compliment to British musicians. Uh not to Rome, to Parma. This is more important than Philippa. More of a compliment.

Speaker 16:00

We took more.

Speaker 16:02

Yes, more of a compliment.

Presenter6:03

Well, yes. And I must tell that the and the um say that the reception of the this very, very difficult public requirement was absolute unbelievable. Unbelievable is something that nobody of us will forget.

Presenter6:19

The warmth and the enthusiasm of these people and it was marvelous to see a English orchestra play the overtures uh West Brisilian West Bridget or with and the the the audience of Parma get absolute mad and crazy.

Presenter6:33

Now, although you've conducted so much Verdi, you don't conduct Puccini.

Presenter6:39

I'm afraid not.

Presenter6:40

No. Why is this? Uh it's difficult to say. Um it's not uh uh it's absolutely mm personal feeling. I like Puccini of course, but uh I'm not able to control. I tried but uh I don't feel I can. Mm. It's difficult to answer why. Um it's something

Speaker 16:58

Hmm.

Presenter7:04

Uh I don't I don't I it's difficult to to to to express and to say why, but uh I know that this something happened that I it's impossible to let to do it.

Presenter7:15

Let's have another record, what next?

Presenter7:19

Uh the next record reminds me of another great experience that I had in my youth when I used to play in the orchestra, and it was the first contact with Otto Clampere.

Presenter7:31

And uh I never will remember uh performance of uh Beethoven Eroke and which I of course I listened to many times again, uh conducted by him and also with a great but this first time was something very important for me and I should have this record.

Presenter7:53

And uh if you like to play the beginning of the first move.

Presenter7:59

Now you've conducted so often at Covent Garden, mister Gellini, it came as rather a shock to us when you announced last year that you were going to give up opera. Is this a a permanent decision?

Presenter8:10

There is no permanent edition, uh this isn't for nothing. No, I will stop for few years.

Presenter8:17

And uh I hope then in uh

Presenter8:22

next four or five years, I don't know, to do once, uh every year, one opera, if I can find um uh good solution for this. But I don't want to go back to opera uh normally.

Presenter8:38

Where's your home? In Rome?

Presenter8:41

How much time in the year can you spend there?

Presenter8:44

Too less. No, too little time. This is my trouble really, yes. Too mu too less time for home, too less time for the family, for the my son.

Presenter8:55

You have three sons. Three boys, yes.

Carlo Maria Giulini8:55

I have three

Presenter8:57

Are the musical?

Presenter8:58

Uh very fan of music but not professional. No.

Presenter9:02

What's for the future?

Presenter9:04

Um

Presenter9:05

Any excitements? Are you breaking some new ground?

Presenter9:08

Exciting.

Presenter9:10

Uh music is always exciting. Uh when you you touch music is uh exciting and is uh then uh my my life is always done by this and uh I have a lot to do for the next year and um

Presenter9:33

Uh I should say everything is special and nothing special, but uh the the music is always the same thing. Let's have another record, what next?

Presenter9:43

Um the next record is uh Brams. Brams which is um

Presenter9:52

composer which I very very deeply uh love and feel and uh is another great conductor which I uh I met and uh which I very very deeply admired and he's the full temper.

Presenter10:13

Uh his great personality uh is unforgettable and I should have the four brands and if you want to play just a little bit of the beginning of the first movie.

Presenter10:27

What next?

Presenter10:30

Um the next uh is another

Presenter10:35

Great conductor with a quite different personality. He's a

Presenter10:39

Italian conductor DeSato. You worked with him at Scala, didn't you? Yes. I first I used to pl I used to play a lot of concert with him in Rome. Then uh he called me a scholar to be with him and we are were very close. There is a recording of the

Speaker 110:42

Up.

Presenter11:02

Debusinoctoons, and perhaps you could listen to a little bit of the beginning of Faith.

Carlo Maria Giulini11:09

How good?

Presenter11:10

Uh

Carlo Maria Giulini11:10

Do you think you would be on this desert island as a cow?

Presenter11:12

Mr. Wake, could you look after yourself? Are you good with your hands?

Presenter11:17

Uh to look uh after myself. Yes. For uh you mean for the physical problem? That's right.

Presenter11:24

No, I am afraid no. I should be in great troubles. I am terribly unpractical with myself and I am I am in great troubles just to to to put a light on a thing. What about food?

Carlo Maria Giulini11:39

What uh

Presenter11:41

Terrible. Terrible. I can do nothing. I could uh uh fish, but yes, I but I didn't know to do to cook the fish. But I I hope that there's f some fruit perhaps, yes. But uh yes, but I I should learn to f to to cook because I shouldn't I shouldn't die.

Carlo Maria Giulini11:44

You could

Speaker 111:53

Yeah.

Presenter11:59

Let's have another record.

Carlo Maria Giulini12:00

Let's have another day.

Presenter12:02

Uh I know that uh Toscanini uh used to rec uh to perform in a concert for The Last Act of Regoleto and this record and and you can you could find this record and if you don't mind to play something of the this uh last act of Rigoletto.

Presenter12:21

Now, Mr. Giulini, your last record. You haven't chosen any of your own recordings.

Presenter12:26

Are you going to?

Presenter12:28

No.

Presenter12:29

No, uh I must uh confess you that uh

Presenter12:35

The question is not easy because uh of course uh

Presenter12:41

In a certain way, uh in a from a sentimental point of view, I like my record because it's a great par it's a part of my work and of my life and I worked on this and I did my best in this record. But of course, like all the musicians, from a critical point of view, they don't like the record because they always should like to do better.

Presenter13:09

Then uh

Presenter13:10

I will forget this, and uh if I have one choice more.

Presenter13:16

I should like to have

Presenter13:19

The Voice by Titaruflo.

Presenter13:22

A main voice, Barryton.

Presenter13:25

A great, great artist, great interpreter.

Presenter13:29

And uh of course the record is very old and was reprinted perhaps, but still it's possible to listen which kind of sound and which kind of interpretation came out from this main.

Presenter13:43

And uh please uh play something of the Credo uh Valdi Roteldo.

Presenter13:53

Yeah.

Carlo Maria Giulini13:54

If you could take only one of the eight records you've played us, which would it be?

Presenter13:59

Boom.

Presenter14:01

I think the Beethoven stay perfect.

Presenter14:04

And one luxury to take to the island with you.

Presenter14:09

Object?

Presenter14:10

You don't want negative. No, not negative.

Presenter14:13

One book

Presenter14:15

Apart from the Bible and Shakespeare, which are already there. This is marvelous what you did, to think to have the Bible and Shakespeare. This because this is uh very very very intelligent that you say. It's really what you need. I I should say not one book but a very very very small poetry. That is uh uh San Francisco's uh Cant il Cantico de la Cratur. This is I don't know the English title. This is uh uh we call him Saint Francis of Assisi. San Francisco de Assisi, yeah. And this is the

Carlo Maria Giulini14:44

This is a

Presenter14:52

The tank

Presenter14:54

from uh man to God for everything.

Presenter14:58

For everything, for

Presenter15:01

for the good thing, for the beautiful thing and also

Presenter15:04

For the bed.

Presenter15:06

The Praise of Created Things by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Carlo Maria Giulini15:10

Uh

Presenter15:10

And it comes from the mirror of perfection.

Carlo Maria Giulini15:13

Uh

Presenter15:13

And thank you, Mr. Giolini, for letting us here for our choice of desert island text.

Carlo Maria Giulini15:16

Thank you.

Presenter15:18

Goodbye. Good day.