Léon Goossens

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, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:26

How do you do, ladies and gentlemen?

Presenter0:28

Our castaway this week is an oboeist, certainly the most famous oboist in the world. Here is Leon Goosens. And one question I don't have to ask is, if you come from a musical family. I do. How many members of the family are playing at the moment?

Léon Goossens0:42

Four.

Léon Goossens0:43

Eugene, conductor, and my two sisters, Maria and Sidonia, and myself.

Presenter0:47

Well, Sidoni was on this island a year or two ago. She probably left a message for you somewhere.

Léon Goossens0:52

And some kindling wood, I hope.

Presenter0:54

I hope the message is a respectful one. You know what younger sisters are. How difficult did you find it to narrow your choice for the desert island down to eight records?

Léon Goossens0:57

I doubt it.

Léon Goossens1:04

Well, I think it's the most difficult thing I've ever tackled.

Léon Goossens1:07

You see, after about fifty years of musical experience.

Léon Goossens1:12

One has amassed so much music and so much experience that it becomes almost impossible to choose one item from possibly seventy items. What was your approach to the problem, nostalgic?

Léon Goossens1:24

Mostly, yes.

Léon Goossens1:26

You could say, I think, that I was almost born in a proper basket in the theatre and being steeped in opera. So my first choice has been naturally opera and I've chosen a little piece from Tosca by Puccini. And that is the beginning of the last act where the bells take preference over everything. It's the most lovely moment and it sets the scene for the most perfect act.

Presenter1:57

The opening of the third act of Puccini's Tosca, played by the orchestra of the Scala Milan conducted by Victor Da Sabata.

Presenter2:04

Now what's your second choice?

Léon Goossens2:06

My second choice is a very great friend of mine I met in 1927 in America.

Léon Goossens2:13

Segovia, the famous guitarist. He is certainly one of the greatest artists, I think, alive today. And I've chosen from his uh various uh recordings uh Little Nocturne.

Presenter2:30

Segovia playing a nocturn by Toroba.

Presenter2:34

You said you were practically born in a property basket. Your father was conductor with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, wasn't he?

Léon Goossens2:40

Yes, for many, many years. And his father before him. With the same company. With the same company.

Presenter2:46

Yes. Are there sons to carry on the line into the fourth generation?

Léon Goossens2:50

I'm afraid there are not. No. I have two daughters, you see. And, um

Léon Goossens2:57

One is on the stage, the other is in business.

Presenter3:03

Yeah. There's

Presenter3:04

Where did the family come from originally? Gosens had a Spanish son.

Léon Goossens3:07

But my my father was born in Bordeaux.

Léon Goossens3:11

and for many years I think he and his father and his grandfather all lived in Bruges.

Presenter3:16

Mm-hmm.

Léon Goossens3:16

where his grandfather was a silver beater. Yeah.

Presenter3:19

Yeah.

Léon Goossens3:19

And uh he came over to England, I mean my father and his father, came over to England uh when Dad was in his teens, I think.

Presenter3:30

How early did you begin to take a personal interest in music?

Léon Goossens3:34

It was rather forced on me in the first place, I think, as most young children, about the age of seven when I

Léon Goossens3:41

Learnt the piano, or thought I was learning the piano. Then, of course.

Léon Goossens3:46

Uh I was attracted to the oboe.

Léon Goossens3:49

um, partly by design on my father's part, because every time the oboe played in the opera I was told that was the oboe until I got so accustomed to listening to it, you see, that when they said, Would you like to learn the oboe,

Léon Goossens4:02

I just threw myself at it straight away.

Presenter4:05

Yeah. It's a very easily transportable instrument. Your sisters being harpists must envy it. Yes, I quite agree. I'm sure they do. Did you have a a family orchestra?

Presenter4:16

It was children.

Léon Goossens4:17

I suppose we did, you know, every Sunday evening we used to make music between ourselves and sometimes our friends came in just to listen and that was a great thrill. My father played the piano for us and we used to play sonatas, little tunes and trios by Spore, the the string trios, and we just played what we could and dropped out when we couldn't go on any further. That's how it was great fun.

Presenter4:39

Let's have a look at the three.

Léon Goossens4:43

Well, record number three. Now, here is nostalgia.

Léon Goossens4:48

It's I call on thee, O Lord.

Léon Goossens4:51

The most beautiful little tune.

Léon Goossens4:53

And it takes me back to my first introduction to my wife.

Léon Goossens4:59

She is a dancer and this was one of her most successful pieces of music. She made a dance to this, and it's one of the loveliest things I've ever seen on a platform.

Presenter5:18

I Call On Thee, O Lord, an organ piece by Bach, played by Helmut Bacher.

Léon Goossens5:24

Uh

Presenter5:24

Where did you study?

Léon Goossens5:26

In Liverpool, until I was fourteen, I studied music at the Liverpool College. And then at fourteen, we all moved to London.

Léon Goossens5:36

and I went to the Royal College of Music.

Presenter5:37

What was your very first professional engagement, do you remember?

Léon Goossens5:41

It's a long time ago now, but I do remember actually as if it were last week. I played for a week at New Brighton in the Winter Gardens. I was the only oboe in the orchestra, naturally. It was a very small orchestra. And we played seven concerts. And I think I received one guinea as a payment.

Léon Goossens6:03

And when you left college?

Léon Goossens6:05

When I left college, I went to the Queen's Hall Orchestra as principal oboe and

Léon Goossens6:11

I stayed with them until the following year when I joined the army and went to the war. And I came back at the end of the war. Strangely enough, I got a bullet on the fifth of November and I was um in hospital on the tenth and the armistice was the next day. So I timed it very well I think.

Presenter6:31

And you came back to the Queen's Hole Orchestra.

Léon Goossens6:33

came back the Queen's Hall Orchestra as soon as I could after I'd

Léon Goossens6:37

Got my practice back, you see.

Presenter6:39

Right.

Léon Goossens6:40

And then?

Léon Goossens6:41

Then, of course, um after that I started with a trio with Albert Francella, the flautist, and a pianist, um Ticciate. We had this trio. We gave recitals in London and in various provincial towns. And that, of course, started my

Léon Goossens6:59

My solo career. Because I gave I gave recitals on my own after that.

Presenter7:01

Because I gave

Presenter7:06

Let's break off and have another record.

Léon Goossens7:09

Well, now I think um by way of a contrast from the last one, here is uh Little Rondo by Mozart.

Léon Goossens7:18

Uh I'm reminded of this.

Léon Goossens7:21

Always I keep thinking of it because it was so amusing at the time. I was rehearsing it with the Lena quartet.

Léon Goossens7:27

All three players off the quartet actually, for a concert at the Queen's Hall, and we were going to record it later.

Léon Goossens7:35

and they came to my studio in Chelsea.

Léon Goossens7:38

And they were very attracted by the studio and I thought at the time they were dying to get this rehearsal over and I couldn't understand it quite, you know. So at last I said, gentlemen, are you in a hurry to get away? Or can you sort of relax a little bit? And they said, oh, we're perfectly all right, but we're dying to finish the rehearsal so that we can play musical chairs. So you can imagine.

Léon Goossens8:03

My wife went out and made a pot of tea and we got as many chairs as we could and the moment we'd finished the rehearsal we played musical chairs and to see the Lena quartet falling all over the floor was the funniest thing in the world. A splendid atmosphere for making music, especially most artists. Perfect, absolutely perfect. So when you hear this little roundo it's quite an accompaniment to the musical chairs.

Presenter8:17

Perfect.

Presenter8:28

The rondo from Mozart's Oboe Quartet in F major.

Presenter8:32

Is there a big repertoire for the oboe as a solo instrument?

Léon Goossens8:35

Yes, there is. It's grown tremendously in the last few years.

Presenter8:38

Quite a number of composers have written works specially for you.

Léon Goossens8:41

Oh yes, yes rather. I mean people like um Arthur Bliss, Vaughan Williams.

Presenter8:41

Oh yeah.

Léon Goossens8:46

Um Arnold Becks, my brother Jean.

Presenter8:50

It's a very impressive list. Your brother Eugene composed a work for four Gusens as an orchestra. Yes, he did, yes. We produced.

Léon Goossens8:54

Yes, he did.

Léon Goossens8:56

Dave last year the Chelsea Town Hall was a great success.

Presenter9:00

Uh

Presenter9:01

And of course your music has taken you pretty well all over the world.

Léon Goossens9:04

Well, I think it it's taken me quite a long way. I mean, right as far as um Australia, New Zealand, um Turkey, Persia, America, Canada and more recently Russia, of course.

Presenter9:19

Is there any basic difference between concert hall procedure here and overseas in in Russia, for instance?

Léon Goossens9:25

No, I think it's very difficult to appreciate the fact that you are in Russia when you're playing there. It's just the same as any other country and everything is just as easy.

Presenter9:36

Have you any major musical ambition as yet unfulfilled? An any work that you want to play very much and haven't had an opportunity?

Léon Goossens9:42

Yes, I have a little collection of music, mostly concerti, um, by various composers. Uh one, for instance, is from Spain, another is from Hungary, uh one from Czechoslovakia, one from Romania.

Léon Goossens10:00

And I would.

Léon Goossens10:02

Love the opportunity of playing those one day.

Presenter10:05

Wh why hasn't it arrived? I is it that you'll find um concert promoters have rather

Presenter10:10

Scent idea.

Léon Goossens10:10

Yes, of course, apart from the fact that some of them are only relatively new works, do you see? But I think uh in general uh concert promoters are rather afraid of new works on uh a strange instrument. If you're on the piano or on the violin, that might be easier, you know.

Presenter10:29

Uh

Presenter10:30

Let's have record number five.

Léon Goossens10:32

Well, number five is a very attractive little recording of uh two of my favorite people, Michael Flanders and um Donald Swan.

Léon Goossens10:44

And this is a lovely little tune with amusing words and lovely music from At the Drop of a Hat, that great little show of theirs. Which is having such a success now in New York and tremendous success. Oh, they're brilliant couple. And this little song is called Miss Alliance.

Presenter11:06

Miss Alliance by Michael Flanders and Donald Swan. What next?

Léon Goossens11:11

Well, I think at this point it would be impossible to miss out.

Léon Goossens11:15

one of my loveliest experiences in music, and that was the um the years during which I played at the Goffengarten Opera.

Léon Goossens11:26

I could never forget.

Léon Goossens11:28

The amazing

Léon Goossens11:31

fascination I got every time I walked into that opera house because you got a a a smell of the stage, you got a smell of varnish, you got a smell of dust.

Léon Goossens11:43

And you got a smell of uh lemons and cabbages and oranges and bananas, do you know? All in one. It's so, as you know, terribly near the the market. It's a magnificent place.

Speaker 111:47

And our

Speaker 111:49

Hello?

Léon Goossens11:56

So that I've chosen uh one of the pieces of music from the Valkyrie.

Léon Goossens12:03

of Wagner, and this is the fire music.

Léon Goossens12:06

in the last act. It's the most wonderful piece of music.

Presenter12:14

The fire music from De Valkura.

Presenter12:17

Otto Edelmann with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Georg Salte.

Presenter12:22

Now, Leon, you are proposing to spend all these years on this island. How how well qualified are you to do it?

Presenter12:28

Could you look after yourself?

Léon Goossens12:30

Will

Léon Goossens12:31

I I think I could. I think we would all say that possibly before we actually got there, because we don't even know what sort of desert island it's going to be. I mean, does one come across penguins or does one come across turtles or what? See, that's the difficulty. One just has to take a chance. So I say with the other man, yes, just as easily as he might, possibly.

Presenter12:46

I see that's not

Presenter12:54

You'll think you could live off the land.

Léon Goossens12:56

Well, I would hope to live as long as my records lasted anyway.

Presenter13:01

Hmm.

Presenter13:02

Could you and and would you fashion any musical instruments?

Léon Goossens13:06

Uh

Presenter13:07

Yeah.

Léon Goossens13:07

I would have a girl there just rather. What? Oh, yes, I mean I'd

Léon Goossens13:11

I'd find some bamboo or something that was hollow.

Léon Goossens13:15

Bound to be something that's hollow on the island. And um

Léon Goossens13:19

I would make something out of that, all right. Oh yes. Splendid. Mind you, I wouldn't promise that it was the correct pitch, but still.

Presenter13:27

But good enough for that.

Léon Goossens13:28

Yes, it'd be good enough. Record number seven.

Léon Goossens13:32

Uh number seven, I think, is um something which brings a lump to my throat quicker than most anything in my life.

Léon Goossens13:42

And that is a thrilling moment in the coronation, 1953 years.

Presenter13:48

You played in the orchestra.

Léon Goossens13:49

I played in the orchestra there. It really was the most wonderful, wonderful experience.

Léon Goossens13:56

And I find it very difficult to choose the moment.

Léon Goossens14:00

that I really want to hear again and that I want to keep on hearing again on this desert island. But I think I can't go very wrong when I choose the actual moment of the crowning.

Presenter14:17

An excerpt from the coronation service. And now we come to your last one.

Léon Goossens14:23

My Lost is a recording.

Léon Goossens14:26

By Sir Thomas Beacham.

Léon Goossens14:28

Bless him.

Léon Goossens14:30

Okay.

Léon Goossens14:31

with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Léon Goossens14:34

This is a little work that had such great success wherever we went. We took it to all

Léon Goossens14:40

Paris, we took it to Brussels, we took it to Germany and played it all over Germany. And Sir Thomas used to use it as an encore after the concert. He used to call it one of his lollipops. Yes. And it certainly is a lollipop with a capital L.

Léon Goossens14:56

And that is the um the little piece by handle.

Léon Goossens15:00

And I think Sir Thomas arranged it for orchestra. It's the entry of the Queen of Sheba.

Léon Goossens15:06

and it's arranged for strings and two obers.

Presenter15:14

The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from Handel's Solomon, played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

Presenter15:22

Well, there are your eight records. If you could only take one of them, which would it be?

Léon Goossens15:25

Oh, I think undoubtedly they bar.

Léon Goossens15:28

I call on thee my lord.

Léon Goossens15:31

Because I think for two reasons. It's lovely music.

Léon Goossens15:36

And

Léon Goossens15:38

It does remind me of when I first met my wife, and I don't think we need

Léon Goossens15:41

Go ahead further into there.

Presenter15:42

And if you can take one luxury, what Yeah.

Léon Goossens15:47

Yeah. No, that's a difficult term.

Léon Goossens15:49

I've thought of so many things I'd like to take with me, and I think from luxury.

Léon Goossens15:56

And nothing else. I think the most perfect thing would be a camp bed. You see, I cannot lie on a beach without getting a a stone in the wrong position, right in my spine or something. So please let me have a nice camp bed and I don't ask for anything else.

Léon Goossens16:14

A bedside book? Oh, I think

Léon Goossens16:16

You see, I'm a very, very keen sailor, you see, love sailing.

Léon Goossens16:22

I think a nautical almanac would be the perfect for me, because that is a feast of information for any person who sails. It tells you everything, making knots, tides, all about the tides at London Bridge. You see, I can say, well, it's six o'clock about in the evening. Tide at London Bridge will be high in about forty minutes' time.

Presenter16:44

Very comforting thing to know on a desert island. I don't. Well thank you Leon Cousens for letting us hear your choice of desert island disc.

Léon Goossens16:52

Well, thank you.

Léon Goossens16:53

I only hope that it never happens.

Presenter16:56

Goodbye. Goodbye, everyone. Goodbye.