Marisa Robles

Speaker 20:00

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 seventy seven, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:32

Our castaway this week is the harpist Marisa Robles.

Presenter0:36

Uh

Marisa Robles0:36

How far

Presenter0:36

How frightened are you of this idea of being marooned on a desert island?

Marisa Robles0:40

Not very. I think it is almost a very desirable place to go today in the era we are living.

Presenter0:47

What would you be happiest to have got away from?

Marisa Robles0:50

I think possibly money, because it's been the reason, to my opinion, of so much unhappiness.

Marisa Robles0:56

Destruction

Marisa Robles0:58

and envy and this will be obviously avoided with my friends a few animals. I hope I have few animals.

Presenter1:04

Oh, I hope you will.

Marisa Robles1:05

So this yes, I I wouldn't miss at all uh money. I think it's one of the worst things, especially if you don't have it.

Presenter1:12

Did you find it difficult to choose eight records?

Marisa Robles1:15

No, I didn't, because the music that I hope to hear in this Ireland for the rest of my life

Marisa Robles1:21

Certainly as you've been with me.

Marisa Robles1:24

all the life before, so it's music that I always wanted to hear every day.

Presenter1:28

Watch the first one.

Marisa Robles1:30

The first one is going to be the Simple Symphony, The Pichikato Movement, by Benjamin Britton.

Presenter1:35

Then why do you choose this?

Marisa Robles1:36

The first time I went to a concert when I was a very young child.

Marisa Robles1:40

This uh symphony was played at the concert.

Marisa Robles1:42

And it just completely captivated me. And also this movement.

Marisa Robles1:47

I had a Harpies family.

Marisa Robles1:49

It reminded me very much of the sound the harp could produce, and is such a marvelous music.

Marisa Robles1:54

that the two associations together stayed with me all these many years.

Presenter2:58

Playful pizzicato from Britain's Simple Symphony for String Orchestra, and the composer was conducting himself.

Presenter3:06

Now, you're from Spain. Whereabouts in Spain?

Marisa Robles3:08

I was born in Madrid and I lived in Madrid until I came to England.

Presenter3:13

And you said that in your family

Marisa Robles3:15

Yes, I am the third generation of harpies. My great aunt, my teacher, was the first one, and then my mother was also a harpist and a pianist.

Marisa Robles3:23

And then they decided for me in the beginning, but I like the decision and I follow their career. Uh

Presenter3:28

So it was wished on you, really. It wasn't your idea.

Marisa Robles3:31

Well, it was almost an accident. I started to play one day just by myself during a party my aunt had with a lot of people in the house and I was bored with this very grown-up society a lot and I started to play by myself and I she thought it was a pupil that has arrived and she wasn't expecting and when she found out it was me, not having had a lessons yet on the instrument, she thought I had a natural facility and the thing to do would be start and that was the day after.

Presenter3:57

How old were you at then when you started?

Marisa Robles3:59

I was seven.

Presenter4:01

And your great aunt taught you.

Marisa Robles4:02

Yes, yes, that was my only harp teacher. She was also the teacher of Nicanor Tavaleta, one of the greatest ever.

Presenter4:08

When did you make your first professional appearance?

Marisa Robles4:11

At the age of nine I um I presented myself, I suppose, is the uh the word

Marisa Robles4:17

to a competition organized by National Radio of Spain for children under fourteen.

Speaker 34:22

Mm.

Marisa Robles4:22

And then I won the first prize. This was every Sunday four children played.

Marisa Robles4:28

And I won the first prize. So you can imagine, it was a great triumph that for the person. I was one of the youngest too. And the first prize was including a bicycle, which they didn't allow me to have. Very sad, because I wanted bicycle very much.

Speaker 34:40

Oh, very soon.

Marisa Robles4:40

But because in case I fall and I broken my arm or something, they took it away from me. That wasn't very nice. But a childhood of a person who is going to be a musician.

Marisa Robles4:49

And they think he's going to be a professional musician, it's a very sacrificing one. He does pay the dividends eventually, but at the time you don't realize this, and it's very hard.

Marisa Robles4:58

The other part we prized was to play for Franco in his residence and there he gave me a type of uh premium bond prize, which it wasn't very important to me. I wasn't terribly taken by that. No, not a bit. No, and also some chocolates and a kiss. He gave me a kiss. I I think that was quite nice.

Presenter5:08

No, just go to the bicycle.

Presenter5:15

Well that was very nice.

Presenter5:17

Well, we got you launched on your career. Let's have your second record.

Marisa Robles5:20

I like to hear um the duet Florestan and Leonora from Fidelio. It's my favorite opera and possibly my favorite piece of music ever.

Speaker 36:17

See you.

Presenter6:27

The duet from the second act of Fidelia

Presenter6:31

Christer Ludwig as Leonore and John Vickers as Floristan.

Presenter6:36

What happened next? You were making your debut at the age of nine?

Marisa Robles6:40

And then I went to Madrid Conservatoire, where my teacher, this lady great aunt, was the professor of heart.

Presenter6:46

Yeah.

Speaker 36:46

Yeah.

Marisa Robles6:46

And then I studied there solfeo, harmony, composition, obviously harp.

Marisa Robles6:52

And then I just embarked on a very, very busy schedule where my schooling was almost a little bit cut out because at that age I have to combine music, which wasn't to be my first priority, and general education. So, you know, I I know how to read and write. They did take care of that. But I didn't have as much chance as another children of my age.

Speaker 37:09

Yeah.

Marisa Robles7:14

And I had to miss certain hours of schools, but it was all very well balanced and calculated. And then in the conservatoire I met great Spaniards of musical life today, for instance, one of them, Teresa Brganza, to my opinion, one of the greatest sopranos in the world. We were extremely friendly. We used to save our money from the bust and the underground just to be able to go to concerts in in Spain. It was very cheap then, but still for young people quite expensive. And also to the cinema. We both love very much good films and together we did a lot of these things. So I like, if it's possible now, to hear

Speaker 27:27

So

Marisa Robles7:47

Her singing de Calubino part in the marriage of Figueroa, because I think it's difficult to improve on this version and certainly such a warm personality comes through.

Speaker 38:17

Holy case of faith possess.

Presenter8:48

Therese Abraganza as Garabino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

Presenter8:54

When did you first come to England?

Marisa Robles8:56

When I married an Englishman, I married him in Spain.

Marisa Robles8:59

And I have a child, fifteen year old, who is a clarinist, by the way, is learning the clarinet tool.

Speaker 39:04

Mm-hmm.

Marisa Robles9:04

So I came to England, obviously, with my husband then.

Marisa Robles9:08

But I am not married to this man. No, I divorced and I'm married now to Christopher Hyde Smith, in f in fact he's a flute player. And I've been England now for seventeen years nearly.

Presenter9:17

What was your first appearance here?

Marisa Robles9:19

This was uh for Eric Robinson, a programme called Music for You. Oh, yes, of course. It was marvelous. It was a great chance for young artists in this programme. It was such a very popular BBC programme. That was the beginning of a long story.

Presenter9:31

And after that you began to be a familiar figure in the concert halls. You've never been attached to an orchestra. You've always freelanced and always as a soloist.

Marisa Robles9:40

Yes, I was trained, as is always as a child, you always really aim for that type of solo, or at least somebody aims for it for you. And I played in an oak strain in Spain in my late teens and very early twenties, but that was only because the practice or the discipline of it. But my career has always been solo and chamber music. Chamber music came later on in my life.

Presenter9:59

And you have played quite frequently with your husband, with Christopher Heidzmill.

Marisa Robles10:03

Yes, we do a lot of recitals together, with the trio, with the Allegri string quartet, we have an ensemble. Yes, we do a lot of work together.

Marisa Robles10:11

And we enjoy it. It's good because it could be the opposite. It could be just absolutely impossible and very difficult, but it's just a lovely collaboration.

Presenter10:17

How big is the harp repertoire?

Marisa Robles10:19

Much bigger than people realize. This is a question that they make very often to me. I think people just realize that there's a Handel concerto and the Mozer concerto and the BC and the Ravel and they can't think of any more pieces. But there are many pieces, perhaps not as famous composers as those.

Marisa Robles10:34

which are very, very wanted by the public. And certainly the twentieth century has been a tremendous um achievement for the harp, because composers of the first rank are including the harp in their orchestral works, certainly in chamber works, and there are many solo works, so many of them also written for me, I am very pleased to say.

Presenter10:52

I am very pleased to say.

Marisa Robles10:55

Malcolm Williamson, William Mathias, Alon Hodinottos in Britain, of course, Joaquin Rodrigo in Spain, and like that several more names that might not mean so much to the general public, but certainly means a lot to the musicians.

Presenter11:10

Another record, please. What now?

Marisa Robles11:12

The Romanian Dances by Bartoc is just such a happy piece, strong, and to be in a desert island I want something to be able to dance to with optimism and life, and I think Bartoc has all this.

Presenter12:17

Two of Bartock's Romanian dances, Ernest Anseme conducting the Swiss Romant Orchestra.

Presenter12:23

How much does a harp weigh?

Marisa Robles12:26

As you think, depends on the harp, but the full size concert harp today, modern instrument, around forty kilos possibly, without cover just just as the instrument alone.

Presenter12:35

Yes, that's a lot to carry about, isn't it?

Marisa Robles12:37

Yes, but you see it's an advantage being a girl because the male harpies, I can see them carry the harp by themselves from the concert hall to the car. But I go to concerts and I say to the audience in the end and now, you know, just before I say goodbye, I do talk to my audience, I like to do that. And in the end I will have to say any volunteers to help me afterwards. And I find several type of boyfriends lovely. Really easy. And they carry for me to the car. I have an estate car. It's very, very easy actually. I don't think the problem is to carry it. The problem is to buy it. They are very expensive. And certainly to play it, you have to be very devoted and tremendously strong mind.

Speaker 312:57

It's lovely.

Marisa Robles13:11

and discipline to keep

Marisa Robles13:12

The standard of good playing in the harp is one of the most difficult instruments.

Presenter13:15

Yours is the concert hop.

Marisa Robles13:17

How many octave?

Presenter13:18

Yeah.

Marisa Robles13:18

Uh six octaves and then three more strings in the bass.

Presenter13:22

Is there any advantage in having an old harp, a vintage harp?

Marisa Robles13:25

It is a very beautiful instrument to look at and people collect them as such, as as an old um like a old furniture, as a collector's piece, but they are not playable so much anymore. We are talking about the eighteenth century harp, like Sebastian Ehre harps.

Speaker 213:37

Yeah.

Speaker 313:38

Yeah.

Speaker 213:38

Uh

Marisa Robles13:39

The advantage of a modern harp is the mechanics obviously are new, all the mechanical part in the harp, the instrument has tremendous amount of mechanics. It's difficult to say that word, but I did.

Speaker 313:50

And

Marisa Robles13:51

The sound improves with the years. You see, the soundboard is much warmer and improves indeed with age, like violins do, or these type of instruments. So we have two worlds. One improves because the age, but the mechanics deteriorate. So it's difficult to advise, depends what you're looking for.

Presenter14:10

Where are the best ones made, Nadi?

Marisa Robles14:12

Possibly in Italy, if you really

Marisa Robles14:15

like a brittle clear sound. Uh the old Americans, about fifty year old Lion Hill is Americans, very nice indeed, much warmer, much mellower, also very good in Germany. They are made beautifully in Russia too. And even in Britain, we have a person in in England making copper.

Presenter14:31

I didn't like that even.

Marisa Robles14:33

Well, even because I don't think apart from Wales, in England it has been a tradition at all for harps. Wales and Ireland, yes, but England hasn't cared so much for the instrument and and that now there are really harps being made in this country too. How many do you have?

Marisa Robles14:47

At the moment they have four hubs. There are um three Americans and one Italian. The three Americans

Marisa Robles14:54

have always been in my family.

Marisa Robles14:56

And the Italian is two-year-old that I bought myself because I want to be changed of sound and because I like it.

Presenter15:01

Record number five.

Marisa Robles15:03

The Prelude Number Seven in A Mega by Chopin, play by Alfred Courteau.

Presenter15:09

Why do you choose it?

Marisa Robles15:11

When I was also a very small child, I went to a concert.

Marisa Robles15:14

when Ruby Stein was playing the Twenty Four Preludes. And I thought that was it. I didn't want to hear any more ever. And then

Marisa Robles15:21

About the same week in Madrid, can you believe it? In those days too, Alfred Corteau was playing the same pieces and I really couldn't believe that I got even more involved with it. And as a child I decided that was going to be one of my pieces forever.

Presenter16:10

Alfred Courteau playing Chopin's seventh prelude in A major.

Presenter16:16

How much of the time do you spend travelling? Because you have several children. How many?

Marisa Robles16:20

I have three, Sing John, as I mentioned before, who is fifteen, and then I have with Christopher I have two, which is Grania, six, an iris name, beautiful uh name too, and Alexander, age five.

Speaker 316:29

Hmm.

Marisa Robles16:30

So I do have quite a lot of traveling, but I try to avoid to get away from this country in very long periods of times. But I enjoy very much indeed um the amount I do. And I have uh so much work in England I am perfectly happy with.

Presenter16:43

Record number six.

Marisa Robles16:45

Uh that will be uh The Four Seasons by Vivaldi, and perhaps you'll listen just to the beginning, spring.

Presenter17:51

Spring from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, The Academy of Saint Martin in the Field, conducted by Neville Mariner.

Presenter17:58

How practical are you?

Marisa Robles18:00

I think I am extremely practical.

Presenter18:01

You could look after yourself on an island, you think.

Marisa Robles18:04

Yes, I am sure I could. Um and I think I would aim for quite high standards too. I I would be able to manage quite well, I think.

Presenter18:10

Are you a good cook?

Marisa Robles18:11

Very. I'm very concited about my cooking, but I really do know I am a good cook.

Presenter18:16

We do try to escape.

Marisa Robles18:18

I don't think so. If any reason would be only my family, I would like to see them again, but that would be the only reason to trying to escape. But I think I like this life.

Marisa Robles18:27

Tremendously, this business of being with nature, it would be wonderful, yes.

Presenter18:32

Let's get back to another of the records that you'll be playing.

Marisa Robles18:34

Yes, this will be um the piano concerto by Rasmaninov, played by Mura Limpany. Um I have strong feelings about this has always been one of my most romantic things in my life when I was very young, whenever you associate yourself with being really in love.

Marisa Robles18:51

You walked back home and put this concerto and you were even more in love. It was just painfully so. And I just feel anybody who is in love and you listen to this, you realize uh that Rajmaninev was too. And Mura Limpany was the version I always heard and that was the one that I loved. I didn't realize that one day I was going to meet Mura and become very good friend with her. She's a great lady and I think she plays this music absolutely beautifully. So I couldn't live without it.

Presenter20:17

The Rachmaninoff second piano concerto, Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Mura Limpany as soloist. Now we come to your last record. We haven't had any harp music yet.

Marisa Robles20:28

No, no, I know that.

Marisa Robles20:30

I don't think it's necessary to have uh the harp music in the rest of the time that I'm going to be in this island. I have heard almost all the things I wanted to hear, and certainly the greatest music has not been written for the harp, and if I'm going to have to listen to music, I want to hear some of the greatest.

Presenter20:47

So what is your last record?

Marisa Robles20:49

The Brahms violin concerto with Oistra.

Marisa Robles20:53

And this is one of the greatest solo concertos, to my opinion, again, ever. And Brams is one of my favorite composers too.

Presenter22:00

The beginning of the third movement of the Brahms violin concerto, David Oistrach with the French National Radio Orchestra conducted by Klempere.

Presenter22:08

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

Marisa Robles22:13

Well, I know I said Fidelio was my favorite piece of music, but I couldn't take Fidelio.

Marisa Robles22:18

I think I would just

Marisa Robles22:19

take the four seasons by Vivaldi, because this will remind me

Marisa Robles22:23

of what people in in this world thought of the four seasons, including Vivaldi. And in comparison to the four seasons in this Ireland, the music would just really associate myself with both of the worlds. It will be type of link. So I think the four seasons will be the one.

Presenter22:37

Mhm. And one luxury to take to the island with you.

Marisa Robles22:40

Well, you see, for me, luxury is something that you have to share with somebody. If you say I take champagne or something like that, which I'm sure many people would think of doing, I wouldn't like to drink by myself. I think it's depressing, it's miserable. So I would dispense with all luxuries. And the only thing I would like to do is I would take with me some oils and a comb. I don't think I want a mirror because I'm not interested to see how I look, but to know how I feel. It would be more to do with making myself more clean and comfortable. And as I said, that would be something that I didn't have to share with anybody.

Presenter23:12

Right. And one book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare as obvious choices and we don't allow big encyclopedias either.

Marisa Robles23:19

No, it's a very small book for very small people. I couldn't be able to take a collection, I suppose, could I? It's only just one book.

Presenter23:26

Well, we might have several band together. What are we?

Marisa Robles23:28

Well, I would like the collection of AA Milne for children, and out of this when we were very young.

Presenter23:34

Yes, right. You shall have that, and we'll bind one or two of the others in with it.

Marisa Robles23:38

Yes, when now we are six, for instance. That's another great one.

Presenter23:41

Right. And thank you, Marisa Robles, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

Marisa Robles23:45

Oh, I enjoyed it tremendously, really. Very nice indeed. Thank you very much for having me.

Presenter23:49

Thank you. Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 224:00

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