Sir Peter Pears

Sir Peter Pears0:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie 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 eighty three.

Sir Peter Pears0:11

And the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:30

Our castaway this week has made many records, he's the tenor Sir Peter Pears.

Presenter0:36

Do you play records a lot?

Presenter0:38

I used to. I don't know that I do so much now.

Presenter0:41

I'd stick to some old favourites, Juno. There's a big collection, isn't it? Yes, quite a big collection. Not in the thousands. No. But in a modest hundred or two.

Sir Peter Pears0:45

Yeah.

Sir Peter Pears0:49

Yeah.

Presenter0:51

Did you have any plan in selecting your eight?

Presenter0:55

I wanted to be reminded

Presenter0:57

of a very happy life.

Presenter1:00

I regard rather as going to the desert island, as going on the way to the descent to Avernus into Hades and so on, and don't know that I shall ever get back from my desert island. In fact, I'm not I'm not supposed to. I'm supposed to accept my lot, aren't I? No, no, no, no. There are ways and means. I mean, a a very intricate and well organised rescue service will be put in after a suitable lapse of time. That's lovely to hear. But I should like to be reminded of England and of my friends, and of music which I have enjoyed both listening to and performing.

Sir Peter Pears1:17

Yeah.

Presenter1:33

Right. Where do we start? What's the first one?

Presenter1:37

We start with an old tune which was sung all over East Anglia for years, and still is, called The Foggy Foggy Dew.

Presenter1:48

It's a song which I might like to think was sung to me by my mother, except I don't think my mother would altogether have approved, and I know that my old uncle Stuart

Presenter1:57

wrote to me quite soon after the record was published that it wasn't at all right for me to be singing such a song. I disagree with him. I think it's a sweet song and charming.

Speaker 42:07

He reminds me of the winter time, And of the summer tomb.

Speaker 42:18

And of the many, many times that I held her in my arms.

Speaker 42:25

Just to keep her from the foggy, foggy

Presenter2:37

Your recording of The Foggy Foggy Dew with Osyan Ellis accompanying you on the harp.

Presenter2:43

What part of the country do you come from?

Presenter2:46

I was born in Farnham, but only, I think, more or less by chance, in the sense that my mother and her family had taken a house there for a short time. I wasn't resident there for long years. It was really only, I think, for quite a few months I stayed there. I regard myself as a typical product of the Raj, really. My parents

Presenter3:11

were abroad all my youth. My father hardly met me, nor I him, until he retired when I was thirteen, I being the youngest of seven. Really? And he was building bridges and roads and things all over the empire.

Presenter3:28

So you went to boarding school very early? I did when I was still six.

Presenter3:33

Were any of your brothers there? They had been. They were a good deal older than I. They had gone on to the navy.

Presenter3:39

that I regarded my prep school, which I was very happy at, as my home, because

Presenter3:44

There was no other comparable house, you know. Was there any musical tradition in the family? A certain amount.

Presenter3:52

My old uncle Stuart himself was a very good organist, and he had the distinction of conducting the first performance in the subcontinent of India of the Mozart Requiem when he was living in Madras, working there. I think that's quite a record. Oh, that's really something. And of course your school was musical. Moderately musical.

Sir Peter Pears4:06

Yeah.

Presenter4:11

Were you put to the piano? Oh, yes, I was put to the piano, but I I willingly went to the piano.

Presenter4:16

And I willingly practised. I enjoyed doing that. That I started when I was still five. We had a musical cousin who played minute waltz in I think less than a minute.

Presenter4:28

What were you good at at school apart from music?

Presenter4:31

I like to consider myself reasonably good at cricket. I had a certain distinction, a unique occasion.

Presenter4:38

When I played at the Oval. The Oval, no? The Oval. That Sacred Turf. On what occasion was that? That was when I went in number thirteen.

Sir Peter Pears4:44

On what is

Presenter4:47

which is rather rare, too, I think.

Presenter4:50

I was playing for the young amateurs, so called. We were very young. I was eighteen or seventeen at the time.

Presenter4:55

for the young amateurs of Sussex against the young amateurs of Surrey, and they had a number of youngsters whom they wanted to try out.

Presenter5:04

and I was among them, and I was really a bowler.

Presenter5:07

So I was put in last, as far down as I could be at number thirteen and to my great joy and triumph I made far and away the biggest score I'd ever made when I went into bat.

Presenter5:19

I made eighty one not out. Unthinkable. That was a glory for you. Oh, a great day. The greatest day in my life, I think. Sure. You weren't picked up for the county side or anything like that. No, I wasn't, I'm afraid.

Speaker 35:21

That is good.

Sir Peter Pears5:22

Yeah.

Sir Peter Pears5:28

Yeah.

Presenter5:30

Well, let's go further back to your prep school again.

Presenter5:34

You went on to Lansing from there. Yes, I did. Is Lansing a musical school? Yes, it is. It was and remains so. Like most schools nowadays, they have more possibilities, I mean.

Sir Peter Pears5:35

Yeah.

Sir Peter Pears5:37

Sing a musical screen.

Presenter5:45

More pianos, more, more opportunities. I believe you helped to start the school orchestra. Yes, I did.

Sir Peter Pears5:47

I believe

Presenter5:51

I volunteered to play the bassoon.

Presenter5:54

But he was a deficient bassoon.

Presenter5:56

And for some reason the conductor had chosen The Dance in the Hall of the Mountain King from Grieg's Bjørgent.

Sir Peter Pears5:57

For some reason.

Presenter6:03

Which goes bump bop bop bum bum bop bum bum bum bum bum bum bum we remember.

Speaker 36:08

Yeah.

Presenter6:08

The top note was an F sharp bomb bomb bomb bomb boop that didn't function. Nothing I blew could make it function. I blew and blew, but it just didn't sound. And so we had pop bop pop pop bop bomb bop bomb pop bop bomb bop bomb bomb. You see it was it was lacking.

Presenter6:23

Why did you volunteer for the bassoon? Because nobody else would take it. No, nobody else did. There were cl there were clarinetists and string players, but no bassoonists.

Sir Peter Pears6:26

But he else would take it.

Presenter6:31

That was very public spirited of you. Let's have your second record.

Sir Peter Pears6:33

Yeah.

Speaker 36:34

Yeah.

Presenter6:37

Well, this is Shepherd's Hay, one of my favorite pieces of Percy Granger's arrangement, and played by Benjamin Britton and the E. C. O.

Presenter7:45

Percy Granger's arrangement of Shepherd's Hay played by the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Britton.

Presenter7:51

Now what happened after lunching?

Presenter7:54

After dancing I went to Oxford. I got a temporary organ scholarship.

Presenter8:00

to play the organ at Harford while I lived at Keble.

Presenter8:04

And what part of what I was trying to do was to get to reading music. But first of all I had to pass a telefying examination called Past Mods.

Presenter8:15

which, alas, I fail'd.

Presenter8:18

Disgraceful, but I did. Oh dear. And so I got sent down for a term to think about it.

Presenter8:24

And I couldn't afford to come up again. So I went back to the old classical way of life of teaching at my old prep school. Yes, the inevitable last resort. That's it, yes. And having been there for th for three or four years,

Presenter8:38

It began to dawn on me that perhaps there was something else I could do like seeking.

Presenter8:43

and on the famous afternoon.

Presenter8:46

When

Presenter8:47

The wife of the headmaster had a friend to visit her.

Presenter8:51

for tea, and asked me to go and and help entertain her.

Presenter8:56

And she was a great dab at at tea leaves in cuffs.

Presenter9:00

and palms and all that sort of thing and she wanted to read my palm and see what was left in my teacup.

Presenter9:07

and she told me with great solemnity that I was about to make a great resolution.

Presenter9:15

which I would never regret.

Presenter9:17

And the headmistress then said, in light tones, That means, you see, Peter, that you should give up all this silly idea of singing, and stay at Prep Schoolmastery.

Presenter9:28

I didn't agree. I thought it wasn't probably that. I thought it might well be the other way round. Yes. And I think perhaps I was right. I got an operatic exhibition at the Royal College.

Presenter9:38

And

Presenter9:39

went there again for not very long, I'm afraid, for only two terms. Was opera an enthusiasm, a particular enthusiasm, or did this just happen to come up? I think it really just happened to come up because um

Presenter9:52

I was the tenor, that was clear, and they were lacking in tenors, you know, as they always are. They were glad to give me a small sum to keep me from starving, and give me one lesson a week.

Presenter10:03

I'd wanted rather more than that.

Presenter10:05

What was your second subject? Composition, which I did with Herbert Howells. And what productions did you sing in? I sang in various acts from grand operas. I did the last act of Rigoletto.

Presenter10:17

And I did both acts, I think, finally, of Cosy and then in the the most grand production was of The Village Romeo and Juliet.

Presenter10:28

and conducted by Sir Thomas himself.

Presenter10:30

Sir Thomas Beecham? Yes. Oh, this was really terrific. It was. It was a great moment. I was the poor horn player. I didn't have very much to sing, but it was all fun, and a good experience, I think.

Presenter10:42

And then I thought that I needed more singing lessons than I was getting, and so I auditioned for the BBC.

Presenter10:49

and for the next four years or so I spent a great deal of time at BBC.

Presenter10:54

Within the B B C Singers.

Presenter10:56

Well, let's stop here for your third record. What next?

Presenter11:00

Well, this one is from the vintilizer.

Presenter11:03

a remarkable song, In the Village, which gives a picture of the singer going on with his journey, while the dog barks at him through the snow.

Speaker 411:20

Maybe dilant roy.

Speaker 411:40

Yeah.

Speaker 411:53

Us we lin sweet z

Presenter12:12

In the Village from Schubert's Winteriser, you singing to Benjamin Britton's accompaniment.

Presenter12:18

Now you were in the BBC Singers, Peter, and you went on an American tour. But that wasn't with the BBC lot, was it? It was with a group. It was.

Presenter12:26

Functioning then called the New English Singers. And we did two or three coast-to-coast tours in America.

Presenter12:34

which I greatly enjoyed. We sang mostly madrigals.

Presenter12:37

Also folk song arrangements.

Speaker 312:39

How many of you?

Presenter12:40

There were six. In universities or concert halls?

Sir Peter Pears12:43

Uh

Speaker 312:43

Worth

Presenter12:46

They held three thousand people. It was quite unsuitable, but but

Presenter12:50

They liked it. You had a season at Glindbourne, Peter. I did. I sang the chorus at Glindbourne in nineteen thirty-eight.

Presenter12:57

And I had one silent part. I walked majestically across the stage in Macbeth as Il Re d'uncano on my way to be killed. I'm sure you stopped the opera. Absolutely. There was a very important performance.

Presenter13:14

The two gave in Brighton in a Brighton church.

Presenter13:18

Well, that was my first ever Saint Matthew Passion.

Presenter13:23

It was a two organ accompaniment throughout.

Presenter13:26

and the organ was a full tone sharp.

Presenter13:30

So that a lot of it was really rather high.

Presenter13:33

I don't know how I managed it.

Presenter13:35

Oratoria was to play a big part in your career.

Presenter13:38

I've been very lucky,'cause I've really virtually only sung the music that I loved.

Presenter13:44

And I've been also extraordinarily lucky with my accompanists, for instance, Benjamin Britton. Yes. Now that, of course, was the most important part of your musical life, your long association with Benjamin Britton. Where did you first meet him?

Sir Peter Pears13:57

I was ready.

Presenter14:00

Well, I met him very briefly at a rehearsal at the BBC when I was in the BBC Singers. We sang a piece of his called A Boy Was Born in nineteen thirty four, I think. He does come in to supervise it, as he said. Yes, he had. And then I I met him later. We had a mutual friend who was killed in a crash and I met saw him over that occasion and gradually got to know him better.

Sir Peter Pears14:12

Yes, he had.

Presenter14:23

While I was looking at some press cuttings I came across a splendid misprint.

Presenter14:27

Some writing about your first recital together, which, it said, was in aid of Spanish publican funds.

Presenter14:36

Which I thought it was a splendid good cause. Yes, sir. Yes. A very minor cause, isn't it, I think. But Spanish Republican comes, of course. It Spanish war relief thing at the time of the Spanish War. Record number four. A different accompanist this time, not Ben.

Presenter14:53

But Julian Julian Breem, I've been lucky enough to do a lot of concerts with him marvellous player, marvellous accompanist.

Presenter15:01

And this one is one I've chosen is one of my favourite of all the lute songs. It's by Philip Rossiter, who only wrote one small book of songs, but they are all gems. And this one in many ways is the best of all, I think. Sweet Come Again.

Speaker 415:19

Sweet come again, your happy sight so light.

Speaker 415:27

He's alive.

Speaker 415:30

Since you from heads on our retired, I see in pray.

Speaker 415:39

Still must I born and bright.

Presenter15:49

Julian Bream accompanying you on the lute in Philip Rossiter's Sweet Come Again.

Presenter15:55

In nineteen thirty nine, with war imminent, you and Benjamin Britton decided to go to the United States. But having got there, you you changed your minds and decided you wanted to be here. It wasn't easy to get back, was it?

Presenter16:09

No, it wasn't there, but there were no passages available at all. We had to wait a very long time. How long?

Presenter16:15

Well, about six months on the East Coast. We had been on the West Coast before.

Presenter16:19

Reading an article on the West Coast by E. M. Forster.

Presenter16:24

about East Anglia and Aldborough and a particular poet.

Presenter16:29

that set us rather longing to be back in England.

Presenter16:34

And so we waited for a passage, and finally got it on aboard the Axel Johnson, a Swedish ship.

Presenter16:40

Freeze freight boat.

Presenter16:42

And, um, we took a long time to cross the Atlantic, four weeks, I think it was. In a nasty incident. Well, our ship, which I think was rather old.

Presenter16:51

let off some sparks in the middle of the night.

Presenter16:54

and the rest of the convoy was rather frightened by this, or or cross about it, or something. Anyhow they they speeded up and left us far behind. So we were waiting for the the U boat to put its head up above the water and to let us have something. But luckily nothing happened.

Presenter17:13

Anyway, you got back to London safely.

Presenter17:16

You went into a production of Tales of Hoffman at the Strand Theatre. I did. A curious production. Rather fancy, wasn't it? It was. It was it had been pulled about a bit and a bit of Offenbach had been added to it. It was a very strange affair.

Presenter17:30

I don't know whether it really worked or not, but a lot of ballet. Yes, a lot of ballet.

Sir Peter Pears17:33

The Slog

Presenter17:35

Was that only in London, or or did you tow? And I think I think there was somewhere else to match it, perhaps.

Sir Peter Pears17:37

There we go

Presenter17:43

And then you joined the SAT as well, so that was touring. That was touring, yeah. And wartime touring was very glamourous. Rather uncomfortable a lot of it, but

Sir Peter Pears17:45

Yes, that is.

Sir Peter Pears17:47

That was Tori, yeah.

Sir Peter Pears17:50

Well

Presenter17:53

Of course it was all tremendous experience for me, and I I thoroughly enjoyed it, I must say. What parts were you singing? I was singing uh Tamino, Varshek and The Barted Bride, Ferrando and Cozy, and even in The Duke in Bigoletto, and even some Risolfos in Bohem. Most unsuitable, but

Sir Peter Pears18:04

Uh

Presenter18:13

Now, in due course, you were to sing in most of the Britain operas, including the first performance of the most successful opera, undoubtedly the most successful British opera of this century, Peter Grimes. That's right, yes. I we had talked about the whole work when we were in America, and I helped him to put together uh a plan of a libretto. I can't say that I wrote the libretto, I didn't.

Presenter18:39

But I I did help him design the shape of the opera.

Presenter18:43

And um he wants me to sing it.

Presenter18:47

And I of course was very flattered by that, but I wasn't sure that I could. However, he insisted, and so I did.

Presenter18:54

And of course I it was

Presenter18:57

I suppose that may be said to have made me famous. The bus driver bus conductor, rather, who used to pass Saddlerswell's Theatre, used to say out loud, This way for Peter Grimes, the sadistic fisherman people used to flock in.

Presenter19:16

Now you have in fact chosen an orchestral part of Peter Grimes. Yes.

Presenter19:23

One of the C interludes. There are four interludes, and this is the one which is Dawn.

Presenter20:28

The first of the four C interludes from Peter Grimes, Benjamin Britton conducting the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Now you sang in most of the Britain operas, and of course you contributed ideas or suggestions for the libretto to most of them. Well, you know, wha if one lives with a composer, one can't help having ideas for what comes next. And he was he I don't say that I

Presenter20:55

uh insisted on him doing any of my my ideas or anything, but he was on the look out for poems and I would look find poems for him.

Presenter21:03

and and certainly discuss ideas of of operas and things.

Presenter21:08

And for instance the last opera he wrote, The Death in Venice, he had had in mind for quite some time.

Presenter21:15

I encouraged him, of course, to finish it, and he did finish it just fairly before he had to have his heart surgery, which was sad.

Presenter21:22

It was strange about Death in Venice that the nub of the of the story is the fact that there is cholera at Venice in the story, and in the opera too, of course. But in fact, when we went to do the first performance of Death in Venice in Venice at the Finicci Theatre,

Presenter21:40

There was what looked like a little cholera epidemic raging in a small way at Naples.

Presenter21:48

And they were the people were

Presenter21:50

were quite fearful that it might in fact spread, so that we were on icy ground, as it were. Yes, that was a nasty coincidence. It was a nasty coincidence. It mercifully didn't didn't develop, so it was all right. Of course, you settled in Alborough on the Suffolk coast. Why was that such a precious place to Britain? Was it part of his childhood? Well, yes, it was. I mean, his roots were East Anglian, and he'd really never lived further away from Alborough even than Lowstoft, a matter of twenty miles. He was really East Anglian deeply.

Presenter22:25

Born and bred.

Presenter22:26

And I had been a Sussex man, natural fact.

Presenter22:29

Such routes I had had to be pulled out from the downs my school days.

Presenter22:36

But I g I was very fond of I am still very fond of Suffolk, and and I've got to know the Suffolk people a bit, who are at first sometimes a little bit dry and putting off.

Presenter22:47

but have warm hearts under you.

Presenter22:50

In due course you and Benjamin Britton founded the Alborough Festival. It was quite modest to start with, wasn't it? It was indeed, yes. It had to be. I mean, our theatre was the Jubilee Hall, which in those days held about three hundred, but now, owing to fire restrictions, only held two hundred and twenty.

Presenter23:10

There were the churches, of course, but that was the size of it.

Presenter23:13

and it was all on a very modest scale.

Presenter23:17

And it wasn't until we began to have more grandiose ideas and

Presenter23:22

Built the the Maltings, which gave us such a fame for its wonderful acoustics.

Presenter23:29

that we realized that that the festival had taken us up, as it were. It had grown too big for us. We had to expand. How did the locals respond? Very well. I mean, they were always very helpful.

Presenter23:42

S some more than others, but I think the golfers were a little bit suspicious at first.

Presenter23:49

It was their r their kingdom, the sailors and the golfers that it belonged to.

Presenter23:55

But um they got used to us, I think. Has the festival caused any expansion of the town?

Presenter24:02

Hardly any, I think.

Presenter24:04

Hardly any.

Presenter24:05

The town has slightly expanded, but I don't think it's

Presenter24:09

Because of the festival already. From Oldborough, you and Brittain went off on many concert tours all over the world. Yes, indeed.

Presenter24:17

The Far East Bali

Presenter24:19

Japan

Presenter24:21

Macau, where we tasted Macau Pidgin and learned how to play fan tan. Successfully? Um, not very. Talking.

Presenter24:33

And uh South America too, and the States, of course.

Presenter24:37

In nineteen seventy six, Benjamin Britton died. You've carried on the festival on your own.

Presenter24:43

Yes, with of course help of of good friends and fellow artistic directors, and I've had a great deal of assistance from them.

Presenter24:51

and our two youngest artistic directors, Maria Peria and

Presenter24:56

Oliver Larson have been quite extraordinarily helpful in the planning and the and the carrying out of the present festival. Which is on at the moment.

Sir Peter Pears25:03

Which is on

Presenter25:04

On the moment, yes. And I very much hope they will continue to help us.

Presenter25:09

Record number six.

Presenter25:11

This is one of my favourite English songs, which Ben Britton arranged very slightly for his own playing.

Presenter25:20

to give us a slightly stronger atmosphere than Charles Dibdin did in his rather stilted late eighteenth century version.

Sir Peter Pears25:27

They

Presenter25:30

It's Tom Bowling.

Presenter25:32

The song is written in memory of the composer's brother, who was lost at sea.

Speaker 425:52

We're a sheer of clice port on board.

Speaker 426:00

Dali or Kuhn.

Speaker 426:07

No more he'll hear the trembless howling, for death hath brought him to

Speaker 426:22

His form was of the merless beauty, his heart was kind and soft.

Presenter26:37

Dibden's Tom Bowling in which you're accompanied by Benjamin Britton.

Presenter26:42

Now, as well as the Festival, another enterprise in Aldborough is the Britain Peers School for Advanced Musical Studies, which is an excellent enterprise, and I'd like you to tell us about it.

Presenter26:53

We have hopes that one day

Presenter26:56

To come surely not yet we will be able to function as an all year round school of advanced studies but at the moment we are only in possession of enough resources to to function for about two or three months in the summer.

Presenter27:13

We work extremely hard and we have very talented young singers and uh players. We have both strings and voices.

Presenter27:22

I have my colleagues who are of the utmost value to me Nancy Evans with me for singing, and Hugh Maguire in charge of the string playing.

Presenter27:34

And it is a very happy enterprise.

Presenter27:37

The young

Presenter27:38

Players and singers seem very much to be enjoy themselves. They certainly work extremely hard. How are they chosen?

Presenter27:45

We audition about eighty to a hundred people a year, mostly from colleges or institutions. We go to Glasgow and we go to Manchester, we go to Cardiff and we have them in London and so on. It varies very much each year how many we can take.

Presenter28:03

We find twenty is about

Presenter28:05

The right number, not more.

Presenter28:07

where you could really concentrate with each singer.

Presenter28:10

On daily work and daily classes and daily exercise.

Presenter28:16

We are enormously pleased at this festival.

Presenter28:20

They are taking part in two performances of The Turn of the Screw.

Presenter28:24

And it's a workshop production, certainly, but it's a very skilful production, I think, and I think it's working very well.

Presenter28:32

You have also opened the Britain Library to scholars? Yes. That is in an old barn closely attached to the Red House where we live.

Presenter28:43

And that is composed of all Ben's library, including a lot of scores which he worked from and marked. And um I have managed to collect a great many songs over the years, old songs and new songs, and we have a very comprehensive collection of of vocal music.

Presenter29:05

As well as valuable manuscripts and rare editions.

Presenter29:09

And I've no doubt that it's very useful to you because you are writing your autobiography.

Presenter29:15

Well, I'm supposed to be.

Presenter29:17

Yes, it will be useful to me. It will.

Presenter29:19

You haven't got very far? I've got it in my mind, you know, and that's the most important part.

Presenter29:25

What's your seventh record?

Presenter29:26

It's part of Ben's last string quartet, which I think in many ways is the finest thing he wrote.

Presenter29:36

He was already, of course, very ill.

Presenter29:39

But he he couldn't live without writing music. I mean, he would have simply have stopped life if he'd stopped writing music. Was he a disciplined writer? Did he write certain hours each day? Oh, very much so.

Presenter29:50

He got up um on the early side and worked all morning till a late lunch at one.

Presenter29:58

and then always went for an hour walk at least an hour, sometimes some more, and then went back to his desk again for at least a couple of hours in the evening and if it was a question of orchestration or instrumentation, he would have gone later well into the night.

Presenter30:16

But the main work was always done in the morning. Yes. He was a morning man rather than a night bird.

Presenter30:24

A quartet of his uh is, I think, one of his most beautiful pieces, and this is the second movement, an ostinato.

Presenter31:32

The second movement, the ostinato, from Britain's String Quartet No. three, opus ninety four, played by the Amadeus String Quartet.

Presenter31:41

Now we put you on this island, Peter. Do you think you could look after yourself?

Presenter31:46

I can cook, but of course I have

Presenter31:49

Something to cook. Now, assume you came across some sort of raft or something of that sort. Would you try to get away?

Presenter31:56

I think I probably would. Do you know anything about navigation? You've all lived by the sea. You love the sea. Yes, but I d I I've I've not been a sailor at all, so I don't think I could really be very helpful there.

Sir Peter Pears32:01

Yeah.

Presenter32:06

I should rely on being rescued, I think.

Presenter32:08

On the whole, I think that's a a sound way of looking at things. We've got your last record.

Presenter32:14

This is one of my favourite tunes, which Percy Granger arranged most beautifully, I think, and it's called The Springer Time.

Speaker 432:23

Once I heard a scream of time.

Speaker 432:30

It prosper by night and by day.

Speaker 432:37

Till a false young man came a quarter.

Speaker 432:48

Early strong all this time.

Speaker 432:59

The cardinal standing

Speaker 433:03

I bade him choose for me.

Speaker 433:12

They chose me the lady.

Speaker 433:17

And the fire

Presenter33:23

Percy Granger's arrangement of The Sprig of Time. If you could take only one disc out of the eight you played as Peter, which would it be?

Presenter33:32

Very difficult to decide.

Presenter33:34

But I think I would as soon take that as any.

Presenter33:38

The Grainger record.

Presenter33:40

And you're allowed to take one luxury, one object that would give you pleasure to have, but is of no practical use.

Presenter33:47

I think I'd take a picture. Which picture? I know you collect pictures. Yes. Well, I think I would take a picture by Godi Wzenska, which is a portrait of

Presenter33:56

A strange artist of his time. He was a painter.

Presenter34:01

But it reminds me very much of a old and valued friend, too. What was his time, incidentally? First World War. He was killed in the First World War.

Presenter34:11

And you're allowed one book you have the authorized version of the Bible, and you have the complete works of Shakespeare. What else would you like?

Presenter34:18

I would have, I think, the commonplace book VM Forster, which has been published in a limited edition.

Presenter34:26

Expensive, but very well worth having. Full of his thoughts and his family's thoughts and um jottings.

Presenter34:35

over the last two hundred years, follow everything's

Presenter34:39

And thank you, Sir Peter Piers, for letting us hear your Desert Island discs. Thank you.

Presenter34:44

Goodbye, everyone.

Sir Peter Pears35:10

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