Alvar Lidell

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Disc's archive. For rights' reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen sixty nine.

Presenter0:12

Desert Island Disc

Alvar Lidell0:22

Each week, a well-known person is asked to

Presenter0:25

The question, if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which eight gramophone records would you choose to have with you? As usual, the castaway is introduced by Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:36

This week's castaway, ladies and gentlemen, retired recently after 37 years as a BBC announcer and newsreader, it's Alvala Dell.

Presenter0:43

Alvar, you've been listening to music for most of your working day for all those years.

Presenter0:48

When you got home at night to play records. When I got home, I just went to bed. I was too tired in here. You must have found it very, very hard to choose just eight to last potentially for the rest of your life. Oh, this was quite impossible, yes. What were you looking for when you cho when you chose them? Records to evoke the past.

Speaker 10:50

But hell I

Alvar Lidell0:51

To hydro in the ocean.

Presenter1:01

To bring you great music, to give you uplift watches. Great music.

Speaker 41:04

What?

Presenter1:05

And also a reminder of one or two artists where the artists matter more than the music for in the choice.

Presenter1:11

Um, what's the first one you have there?

Presenter1:14

Well, I've deliberately chosen something I'm rather a sluggish getter-upper. So I've chosen a sparkling...

Speaker 11:17

Get her up.

Presenter1:20

In Vienna's overture.

Presenter1:21

Adonadiana by Riznicek.

Presenter2:25

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Donna Diana. What's your second record?

Presenter2:29

A shopping next.

Presenter2:31

Chopin must have Chopin early love.

Presenter2:33

The barquerole, because uh it has with it such a glorious sense of euphoria being caressed and rocked in the cradle of the deep.

Presenter2:42

And I've chosen uh a particular recording.

Presenter2:45

Because I think it is supreme of this work, that of Dino Lepatti.

Presenter3:50

The opening of Chopin's Baccarolle in F Sharp Major, played by Dino Lopati.

Presenter3:56

Alva, were you born in London? Yes, Wimbledon Park, SW19. You come from a Swedish family, don't you? Yes, my father emigrated at the end of the last century.

Presenter4:05

and uh brought my mother over, settled in London.

Presenter4:08

as an agent for Swedish timber and we children were brought up and my mother decided we should have an English upbringing.

Presenter4:14

So I'm uh what's called a second generation Englishman.

Presenter4:17

You went to Oxford. What did you read? Classics. With a view to work.

Presenter4:21

Well, uh nothing of you really just uh to being educated at Oxford, I mean, which was the thing to do then.

Presenter4:26

What did you do when you came down?

Alvar Lidell4:26

Yeah.

Presenter4:28

I came down bang in the middle of the slump, or this is the beginning of the slump, 1930, stunt gun in 1929, hadn't it, in New York.

Presenter4:37

And I didn't know what to at all. I had, through the appointments board at Oxford, been lined up for a job at HMV, because the only thing I knew was that I wanted a job which had to do with music. Yes. And I hoped to get into HMV on their artistic side. But unfortunately, they were actually not taking on new people. They were even finding some of their old people at that time, so that fell through.

Speaker 44:54

Uh Uh

Presenter4:55

What you do?

Presenter4:57

Yeah, I was qualified to teach. I did a little what's now called supply teaching.

Presenter5:02

Um I had vague aspirations uh about the stage and uh the films and even a bit of singing. Yes. I never got very far with a film extra parts because I was always too tall for the costume they had in mind.

Speaker 45:13

Yeah.

Presenter5:14

So

Presenter5:16

Um I also

Presenter5:18

Applied to the BBC for this reason that in 1928, while I was at Oxford,

Presenter5:24

BBC had wanted somebody who could...

Presenter5:27

Speak some Swedish authentically.

Presenter5:30

And who could speak English with a Swedish accent. And I was expert.

Speaker 45:35

Uh

Presenter5:35

As all we children were, from having heard a lot of broken Swedish when we were young.

Presenter5:39

I was just the chap. 1928, Lance Heaverkin was producing a programme about Sweden and I was engaged for the job. Went up Savoy Hill and he put me in front of a microphone, gave me something to read, disappeared at the cubicle.

Presenter5:50

Came back literally in a flash and said, okay, no problem, your voice is suitable for the microphone. So I did that job. And then three years later, 31, I remembered this and thought, well, I'm interested in music. My voice is okay for the mic.

Presenter6:02

Uh I can speak of it, right? I had a bit of acting at Oxford.

Presenter6:05

I think this might add up to BBC Announcer, so I applied for an audition.

Presenter6:09

I got an interview very soon, January 31.

Presenter6:12

and was thought to be suitable and put on the waiting list.

Presenter6:16

I then proceeded to wait, uh knocking about as before, a bit of teaching, etcetera.

Presenter6:20

Forgot all about the BBC. Next thing that happened was that uh I met

Presenter6:24

The man was now a very distinguished BBC producer, Raymond Rakes, who had also been at Exeter College Oxford.

Presenter6:29

And he said, What are you doing? I said, I'm out of a job. What are you doing? He said, Well, I'm just going on tour with an Italian marionette company as manager. And you're just the chap I'm looking for. I want somebody who can sing.

Presenter6:40

We're going to have to sing the prologue to Pariachi live, and we then proceed to do it with Marionette's to recording music.

Presenter6:46

And you're going to have to supply ten minutes of uh song as an orchestra with piano as an interview.

Presenter6:51

So off we went.

Presenter6:53

Uh to the Theatre Royal.

Presenter6:55

Norwich for one week.

Presenter6:57

And my share of the takings was sixteen and sixpence.

Presenter7:00

Then we moved on to New Brighton for a week, and that was a quid or so that time.

Presenter7:06

But then

Presenter7:08

Raymond was taking the marionettes to Birmingham for Christmas week, and there were to be children's matter days, and he said, well, I think, actually, I'm sorry, I shall have to get a conjurer.

Presenter7:18

Pity, that would have been the good week, well into two pounds. It might have been yes, you'll never know. On the other hand, I think it was quite a good idea not to turn up in Birmingham as a sort of.

Presenter7:26

You know, uh, a second-rate singer, when a few weeks later, because I very soon heard from the VBC that there was a vacancy as an announcer in Birmingham, which I took. Hmm. February 32. Yes. Was there a lot happening in Birmingham in those days, a lot of programmes originating in the Midlands? No, the regions were really kept very short of money.

Presenter7:44

They operated on a shoestring. They had to take uh what London put out mainly and just have a few odd programmes of their own.

Presenter7:49

But I mean it covered the whole field, you know. There was music, serious music, light music.

Presenter7:53

Drama, variety, talks. Recitals. How long were you in the Birmingham? I was supposed to have six months training.

Presenter8:00

But obviously they must have forgotten all about me because after about 15 months, still no word from London, I made a move myself and got a transfer. And I came to London 18 months after joining. That would be September 33. Let's break off at this point and have another record. What do we have? I was brought up on the three B's and a particular Beethoven. There is one particular thing that I cannot do without, and that's theoreka.

Presenter8:22

The third symphony.

Alvar Lidell9:16

The opening of Beethoven's third symphony, Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchard.

Presenter9:22

Extra.

Alvar Lidell9:22

Yeah.

Presenter9:22

Yeah.

Alvar Lidell9:23

Uh

Presenter9:23

What were the highlights in your pre war career?

Presenter9:26

Well, uh one of the turning points in this difficult early stage was early 1934.

Presenter9:32

Uh I was reading the news on the night that the obituary of Elgar was included.

Presenter9:36

And this must have been

Presenter9:37

It must have triggered off something that was right because everybody agreed that this had been a very good bulletin. It was so important, I'd just fallen completely in love with the cello concerto, amongst others.

Presenter9:48

And there was no room. It was self-conscious. This mattered to me enormously, Elgar's death. Now wish I'd put over a good woodachin.

Presenter9:55

Um

Presenter9:56

So I always remember that. I remember also the abdication.

Presenter9:59

Later, 1936, when I happened to be the chap on duty one afternoon.

Presenter10:05

was hand for it and handed this.

Presenter10:07

Momentous document.

Presenter10:09

which we were to broadcast at three o'clock after it had been

Presenter10:12

Proclaimed in the House of Commons.

Presenter10:14

You announced the outbreak of war two in twelve.

Presenter10:17

Yes, yes, that was even more momentous. We were manning number 10 Downing Street and the war room roundabout September 3rd in case of anything. You know, there might have been.

Presenter10:27

Government announcements immediately on the outbreak of war to be read from the war room, as indeed they were.

Presenter10:33

Uh something might have been happening on Downing Street. I happened to be there on that morning.

Presenter10:37

and knew already that there was going to be an important statement at ten o'clock. I didn't know of what kind.

Presenter10:42

About a quarter to ten, the Prime Minister Secretary had to be this.

Presenter10:46

And this was a communique giving

Presenter10:48

The terms of

Presenter10:51

This country's ultimatum.

Presenter10:53

To Germany.

Presenter10:54

Saying that it would expire at 11 o'clock and the Prime Minister would broadcast at 11:15. I then stayed on after doing that.

Presenter11:01

and announced Neville Chamberlain from the Cabinet Room.

Presenter11:05

and was the only person with him in the room while he made the.

Presenter11:08

Terrible speech he had to make. Yes. Was he communicative at all?

Presenter11:12

Oh no, he was uh totally absorbed in this

Presenter11:15

To him.

Presenter11:17

Ghastly end.

Presenter11:19

To his efforts he was a a grief-stricken, despondent man.

Alvar Lidell11:23

Yeah.

Presenter11:23

Yeah.

Alvar Lidell11:24

You had a spell in the RAF, then at the end of the war, Third Prevention.

Presenter11:28

A third program, yes.

Presenter11:30

1946 for five years. Yes.

Presenter11:32

And then or rather the voice of the Home Service.

Presenter11:35

Well, yes, uh nineteen fifty-one, I think it was, they set up again another

Presenter11:40

specializing newsreading team and I came back to home service.

Presenter11:43

Let's have record number four now. What shall we have? Well, here's an example of a record I've chosen because of the artist: the singer Kirsten Flagstar.

Presenter11:51

I think one of the most glorious singers ever, she made her reputation as a Barnadian soprano.

Presenter11:57

And it is a miracle that after years of that kind of

Presenter12:00

Weightlifting, she used to call it.

Presenter12:02

Um

Presenter12:03

Her voice, the the the radiance, the gold of her voice, survived unimpaired. I remember her for her song recitals more than her operatic triumphs.

Presenter12:11

And I remember her in particular as an incomparable Grieg singer.

Presenter12:15

Now, if ever on this island I was feeling lonely or unloved, I know exactly what antidote I should use, and it would be flagstart singing.

Presenter12:22

Is Libradish or?

Presenter12:25

In the original Norwegian words for I love you rather more beautiful than the hard German je ediskelde.

Alvar Lidell13:32

Kirsten Flagg starts singing Grieg's I Love You.

Presenter13:34

Uh

Presenter13:35

Did you usually have time to rehearse a bulletin to yourself?

Presenter13:38

You always get a certain amount of time, but uh the nature of the

Presenter13:42

BBC's news is last minute. They keep everything back as long as possible.

Presenter13:46

Quite rightly. So as to be as up to the minute as possible. You will have a quick look through.

Presenter13:51

And um

Presenter13:53

In the war very often you didn't see things.

Presenter13:55

Now you mostly see things. Very often not time to check pronunciations, for example. That does happen. Yes. Well, we're terribly well served though. We have a whole pronunciation unit concerned with nothing else but that. And they actually attend on us during the daytime, Woolletins.

Presenter14:10

And in the evening, whether or not we've got the superb, unrivalled pronunciation index. I think there's something like 80,000.

Presenter14:17

Received pronunciations of names, people, and places. So, more often than not, you can find it. And always the risk, of course, of a ridiculous typing error or an unspotted double meaning to give you with giggles. Oh, you're right, yes, indeed. We had once, not me, and I don't think it actually went out, but it was printed as Gandhi is in goal again.

Presenter14:39

Now you've left the corporation, how do you feel about freelancing? I'm not going to talk about retirement because I don't believe for a minute you're going to do that. No, you're absolutely right. I'm going to fight like anything not to retire, you know, to keep working because...

Presenter14:50

The nature of one's work here for so long has been uh

Presenter14:54

At a sort of uh high pitcher of nervous tension, alertness, you know, and if I didn't keep up this looking at the clock.

Presenter15:00

Uh I should um

Presenter15:02

I'm sure deteriorate rapidly. Let's have some more music.

Presenter15:05

Now we come to

Presenter15:07

I referred to it earlier, Elgar, yes, the cello concerto. This was recorded by a young cellist whom I regard as one of the world's most important musicians in any sphere, Charlie Dupre.

Presenter15:19

Moreover, she had to conduct a cellist.

Presenter15:23

John Wavirale.

Presenter15:25

And between them and with the London Symphony Orchestra, they made what is to me an absolutely outstanding record. In fact, I I find it difficult to believe.

Presenter15:32

that they had the vitality in recording conditions to produce.

Presenter15:37

This work.

Presenter15:38

This marvel of sensitivity.

Alvar Lidell16:37

The opening of the El Garcello Concerto.

Presenter16:39

Uh

Alvar Lidell16:39

Jacqueline Dupre with

Presenter16:41

with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbie Raleigh.

Presenter16:44

What's number six to be?

Presenter16:46

I hear again.

Presenter16:47

Uh it's forays à present, but I've chosen it more for the sake of the artist and music, although I love the song.

Presenter16:52

Singers Maggie Tate.

Presenter16:54

Now there's something about this singing

Presenter16:57

Or this singer, perhaps I should say, which uh I can only call

Presenter17:02

Innocence.

Presenter17:04

Or perhaps

Presenter17:05

Uh vulnerability. Anyway, I find it absolutely heartrending.

Presenter18:13

Color's Appleys and Lab sung by De Maggie Tate.

Alvar Lidell18:17

Um now we've dumped you on this island, Alva. How well could you

Presenter18:21

You take for loneliness. Are you reasonably self sufficient?

Presenter18:24

I think I'm fairly good at uh making do and mending or at improvising.

Presenter18:29

Um, I'm not very practical. I can hear the family laughing like drains. Um, you know, I can get hold of.

Presenter18:36

Chunks of wood and put them together like me. Yes. What about the mental aspect?

Presenter18:40

Um, I think I would be badly afflicted by loneliness, to tell you the truth. Would you try to escape?

Presenter18:45

No, I'm frightened of the C too. I'm a terribly frightened person. Frightened of the microphone, too, really. Record number seven.

Presenter18:53

Well, um Schubert.

Presenter18:55

I must have the double cello quintet C major.

Presenter18:59

And if I were never rescued from a desert island,

Presenter19:02

I would hope that with my last breath I would have the strength to get to the gramophone and put the needle down.

Presenter19:07

Add the slow movement to this work.

Presenter19:09

and fade away.

Presenter19:11

But I do also very much love the First Movement.

Presenter19:14

For the sake of the

Presenter19:16

Two cello tune

Presenter19:18

One of the loveliest Stephen Schubert ever thought of.

Alvar Lidell20:23

An excerpt from the first movement of the Schubert Quintet in C major, the Amadeus Quartet and William Pleeth.

Presenter20:29

Uh

Alvar Lidell20:29

Uh

Presenter20:29

Uh

Alvar Lidell20:29

Now we come to your

Presenter20:30

Last ray code. What's that to be? Um.

Presenter20:33

Brams, there is one piece of music that is quite indispensable.

Presenter20:37

Uh my wife and I both love it. In fact, it was after giving her.

Presenter20:42

A record of this way back over thirty years ago, that on the same night I proposed and was accepted.

Presenter20:49

So here, please let me have the academic festival overture.

Presenter20:53

and conducted by the ideal.

Presenter20:56

Rams conductor, recently 80 Sir Adrian Volta.

Alvar Lidell22:04

The closing passage of the academic festival overture by Brahms

Alvar Lidell22:07

Sir Adrian Bolt and the London Philippine.

Presenter22:10

Harmonic Orchestra.

Presenter22:11

There you are.

Alvar Lidell22:11

Yeah.

Presenter22:11

Eight records, Alba. If you would only choose one of them, which would it be? Well, it was Hasbro the Schubert, you see. Slow movement. Slow movement that you didn't play. That's it.

Alvar Lidell22:16

Yeah.

Speaker 422:17

Field.

Presenter22:19

And one luxury to take to the island with you.

Presenter22:22

Oh yes, simple. Two packs playing cards, please, our door bridge.

Presenter22:26

Bridge is hard.

Presenter22:28

Playing bridge? Oh, no, I would simply arrange hands, you will see, and bid them in an imaginary way. But you see, the thing with bridge, it's picking out the bridge hands, you see, because one day you're going to get 13 spades. Yes. All right, well, good luck.

Presenter22:40

And one book.

Presenter22:41

Assuming that you already have the Bible and Shakespeare. Yes. Well, now, this is a matter of rationing, I suppose. I mean, I don't know how many volumes I can take. I know exactly what I want to take, but you may say it's too many. It's this is sixteen volumes. Is it one work? Yes.

Presenter22:55

The Oxid English Dictionary. Oh, that's all right.

Speaker 122:56

Who is it?

Presenter22:58

Thank you, Alvaladell, for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you very much. I enjoyed it enormously. Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 123:11

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk/slash radio four.