Linda Esther Gray

Speaker 30:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.

Speaker 30:05

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in 1983, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:30

This week our castaway is the singer Linda Esther Gray.

Presenter0:34

Linda, with what degree of dread does the idea of a desert island strike you?

Linda Esther Gray0:40

Utterly and entirely.

Presenter0:41

Uh

Presenter0:42

Do you think some music would help? A little. Do you have a big collection of records?

Linda Esther Gray0:46

Well, my husband has a huge collection of records and I sort of share it. I'm allowed to play them occasionally if I ask in the right manner.

Linda Esther Gray0:54

And so m our record collection at home is more a reflection of his musical taste. I don't really like records. I like them just as a record of a performance, perhaps.

Linda Esther Gray1:05

But I'd rather go to the theatre or the concert hall.

Presenter1:08

Well, now you've got your eight records, a very small pile. What's the first one?

Linda Esther Gray1:12

The first one is Scotland the Brave and it's played by the Edinburgh City Police pipe band.

Presenter1:17

I had a suspicion that you came from Scotland.

Linda Esther Gray1:19

Yeah

Presenter1:22

Why do you choose this particular record?

Linda Esther Gray1:24

Well, my grandfather was a policeman, and we always turned out for the marches of the police pipe band, and one day I was lost during this occasion. Oh, no. I was about two and a half, and I was found again behind the drum major.

Speaker 11:33

As a

Presenter1:33

Uh

Linda Esther Gray1:38

In the part of the parade, so I started off early with my friend.

Presenter1:41

Well if you are going to get lost it's not a bad idea to get lost with all those police going round about to go and look for you.

Linda Esther Gray1:45

Introductive

Speaker 31:45

Uh

Speaker 31:46

Uh It was a Uh

Presenter1:47

Let's listen to that record.

Presenter2:33

Scotland the Brave by the Edinburgh Police Pipe Band. You're not from Edinburgh.

Linda Esther Gray2:38

No, I'm not. I'm from the west coast.

Presenter2:40

Whereabouts?

Linda Esther Gray2:40

From Greenook. Well, 30 miles. Yes. A lot of shipyards, yes.

Presenter2:41

Thank you very much.

Presenter2:45

Now your parents, I know, were connected with the local church. Your father was an elder in the kirk.

Linda Esther Gray2:49

Mhm, it's a session card too.

Presenter2:51

So as a very little girl you went to the primary Sunday school.

Linda Esther Gray2:54

I did.

Presenter2:55

And you got a very bad report. Do you remember what was said?

Presenter3:00

She has no voice and can't sing at all.

Linda Esther Gray3:03

I suspect that's true.

Presenter3:04

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray3:06

So

Presenter3:07

So because of that you had a few lessons.

Linda Esther Gray3:09

That's uh my mother sent me so that I would get into the Sunday school choir the next time there was an audition session. I went when I was three. Yes, I got in, I think they felt sorry for me really.

Presenter3:14

I went on speaking.

Presenter3:18

When did you start piano lessons? When did you start music lessons in general?

Linda Esther Gray3:22

Well, I had singing lessons when I was three, quite seriously, and I learned um to read music when I was about three or four. And then I went to piano lessons. I suppose I must have been about eight.

Presenter3:31

Mm-hmm.

Linda Esther Gray3:31

And then Cherlo a couple of years behind that.

Presenter3:34

The cello at ten.

Linda Esther Gray3:35

About ten, yes.

Presenter3:37

What else were you good at at school?

Linda Esther Gray3:39

Well, the only other thing I was good at was running.

Linda Esther Gray3:42

Athletics and hockey. I wasn't good at anything at school really, I don't think.

Presenter3:46

Was there a lot of music in the school? Was there an orchestra?

Linda Esther Gray3:48

Oh, a tremendous amount. We had an orchestra, we had um school choir and we had a school opera.

Presenter3:53

And all

Linda Esther Gray3:53

And all these things were what I went to school for really.

Presenter3:56

You were in the school opera? Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray3:57

Yeah.

Presenter3:58

What did you think?

Linda Esther Gray3:59

Well, we always did a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. We worked for the whole year to put this opera on, and it really was quite a high standard looking back on it. We had a very, very good, enthusiastic music teacher, Mr Miller, who conducted it.

Presenter4:10

Mr. Mayor.

Presenter4:12

Did you play lead?

Linda Esther Gray4:12

Did you play leads? The first year I was in the chorus of the gondoliers, and after that I had the contralto leads, not the soprano. I hadn't actually realized I had anything above C at that point.

Presenter4:23

A small contralta.

Presenter4:28

Well, let's have your next record. Now, that's Gilbert and Solomon.

Linda Esther Gray4:30

That is Gilbent Savannah and it's the gondoliers because it reminds me of these very, very happy days at school.

Presenter4:36

What shall we hear from it?

Linda Esther Gray4:36

We'll hear Danza Catucha, and it's sung by the Glimbone Festival Chorus, and of course that played a big part in my life later.

Speaker 15:30

Yeah.

Presenter5:46

Dance a catucha from the gondoliers sung by the Gleinborn Festival chorus.

Presenter5:51

So what happened when you left school? Had you got the desire to be a singer?

Linda Esther Gray5:57

Yes.

Presenter5:57

And to perform.

Linda Esther Gray5:58

Oh, to be a performer at all costs I had to sing.

Presenter6:01

So what did you do?

Linda Esther Gray6:02

Well, I pretended that I would like to be a music teacher'cause I thought this was more acceptable to my parents really and the background I was brought up with. So I went to the Academy of Music, I sat at the entrance exam and got in to the Academy of Music to study

Presenter6:09

Yeah.

Presenter6:14

It's

Presenter6:15

In Edinburgh.

Linda Esther Gray6:16

No, in Glasgow.

Presenter6:17

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray6:17

To study singing, piano and cello.

Presenter6:20

What sort of singing interested you?

Linda Esther Gray6:24

anything really. It was just the idea of making that sound on a stage and communicating to people. N nothing particularly. I didn't really know very much about singing. I had been in for the local festival. Leader I was the only sort of Brahms leader and Schubert leader at that time was a big thing in my life.

Presenter6:40

Had you seen much opera?

Linda Esther Gray6:41

Do you know I don't think I'd seen an opera?

Presenter6:43

Did you take a drama course as well?

Linda Esther Gray6:45

It was the Academy of Music and Drama and a lot of the time was spent in the fourth year. At the beginning you see I didn't do a performance course, I did a teachers' course, which was pure and simply music to teach, you know, to pass on to children. And then I was given a scholarship to do a fourth year.

Presenter6:52

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray7:00

And then it was really, we were on to the. I had to tell the truth at this point, you know.

Presenter7:00

And then

Presenter7:04

Good edged away from that teaching business.

Linda Esther Gray7:06

Yeah, that's right. I've done it gradually.

Presenter7:08

And you did four years there?

Linda Esther Gray7:10

Yes, I did a fourth year.

Presenter7:12

Another record.

Linda Esther Gray7:14

This is Beethoven's Triple Concerto, and it's Herbert von Karian conducting with Oestrach, Rostropovich and Richter.

Presenter7:23

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray7:23

Now this is very much typical of the kind of music I was involved in at the Academy of Music, because, you know, later on music always expresses an emotion in opera and something really removed from pure music. This is enjoying the art of music for its sake, and the standard of performance in this record is excellent.

Presenter8:49

The opening of the second movement of the Beethoven Triple Concerto

Presenter8:53

Herbert von Carrian conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Presenter8:57

And we only heard one of the three solos, which was Rostopovich.

Presenter9:03

What happened when you left the Glasgow Academy?

Linda Esther Gray9:06

Well, I entered the the Cincinnat competition while I was still there and I didn't win it. I was second. But the second prize was a year at the London Opera Centre. The joke at the time was the third prize was two years, but that

Presenter9:13

But

Linda Esther Gray9:20

But that was really only a joke.

Presenter9:20

Yeah.

Speaker 39:21

Not with the

Presenter9:21

Is really

Speaker 39:21

Do you need a

Linda Esther Gray9:23

So I came to London for a year.

Presenter9:26

and the London Opera Centre all took place in that converted cinema down in the East End.

Linda Esther Gray9:29

Yeah.

Presenter9:31

Which was a very exciting place.

Linda Esther Gray9:31

Which is very

Linda Esther Gray9:32

It was a very exciting place and I couldn't have done without it. It was a marvellous bridge for me between an academy, which was very academic, into the world of theatre.

Presenter9:43

Do you remember what productions you did there?

Linda Esther Gray9:45

I can remember quite well. The main production I did was the Coronation of Papea.

Presenter9:48

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray9:49

And I also took part in The Magic Flute, John Copley produced, directed that, and we did excerpts from False Staff.

Linda Esther Gray9:58

And I also did um Minotti, the telephone, which is most unlikely. There's a top E flat in it. I think I frightened the E flat away. I've never sung one since.

Presenter10:05

That's a solo piece, isn't it?

Linda Esther Gray10:07

Yeah, it was a good long I think that's was one of the reasons why we did it. I think they were the main things I did.

Presenter10:12

Who are your fellow students who have done rather well since?

Linda Esther Gray10:15

Well, Nan Christie, of course, was my great friend and I shared a flat with her in Hammersmith for two years. A flat, that's calling it names. It was a wee tote room, you know. But we actually managed to survive and we never fell out.

Presenter10:24

We actually managed

Presenter10:28

And what was your very first job when you left?

Linda Esther Gray10:30

My very first job was the third apparition in Macbeth at Glenbourne. I was in the chorus for three months and they gave me the third apparition to sing.

Speaker 310:40

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray10:41

And then immediately following that, which I really count as my main debut, was um Mimi in Lab O M for the Glambone Touring of

Presenter10:48

Mm-hmm.

Presenter10:49

But but of course your studies weren't over. When you left the London Opera Centre, you studied with a very great lady indeed.

Linda Esther Gray10:57

I did. I studied with Damie Viterner.

Linda Esther Gray11:00

And I still study with Damie Viterna. But of course I should have mentioned that the person I studied with in the academy was Muriel Dixon. And you know, it's very important at the beginning.

Linda Esther Gray11:11

The first step you take as a singer is important. It puts you down a road, and that road you really have to follow, unless you're going to go backwards. So that was a very good beginning, and then that was carried further forward with Dame Eva.

Presenter11:17

And that's a good one.

Speaker 111:18

Uh

Presenter11:24

And you've chosen a record of Dame Eva's.

Linda Esther Gray11:27

Well, the reason I went to study with Dame Eva was this record.

Linda Esther Gray11:30

When I was about twelve I had one uncle who was passionately fond of opera, and although I had never seen an opera, he talked about it. He went to King's Seat and sat in the amphitheatre in Greenock.

Speaker 111:39

And we know.

Linda Esther Gray11:40

when he used to do it. And the name he mentioned was Eva Turner. He mentioned it constantly. She'd obviously made a great impression on him.

Linda Esther Gray11:49

And when I came to London I didn't know who to study with'cause it's it's a big decision'cause you don't want to chop and change too much and I left it for a wee while.

Linda Esther Gray11:58

And this had always been at the back of my mind, and one day somebody came in with this record to the opera centre and played it to me.

Linda Esther Gray12:05

And they said, Now, would you not quite like to sound like that at the top of your voice?

Linda Esther Gray12:10

So I said, Oh, yeah, I'll give that a try So these topsies, which of course are famous, was the reason I went,'cause I thought maybe she'll be able to help me. And she did through the y I mean, she's ninety two now and I've been going for twelve years and each time I go back for another

Linda Esther Gray12:26

dose of the medicine as it were because I mean we don't always get told we're good.

Presenter12:30

She's a wonderful character.

Linda Esther Gray12:33

She's a wonderful woman.

Presenter12:34

You haven't mentioned what this record is.

Linda Esther Gray12:36

The record is um Inquesta Reggia Puccini.

Presenter12:40

From Turendot.

Linda Esther Gray12:41

From Turin Dot.

Presenter13:39

Dame Eva Turner singing in Questa Regia from Puccini's Turin Dot.

Presenter13:44

So you are with the Glindborn Touring Company?

Presenter13:46

Do they tour only in the south of England in that?

Linda Esther Gray13:50

In England only, but we went to Newcastle. I think that was the furthest north.

Presenter13:54

At that time you won a useful scholarship and an award that got you on your way.

Linda Esther Gray13:58

I won the Ferrier scholarship of which I really was proud because I was second twice, you know, before I won it.

Presenter14:06

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray14:06

So to win it was marvellous for me then. And the Christie Award, I was given that by Gleimbaugh.

Presenter14:11

What other parts did you sing with Kleinborg?

Linda Esther Gray14:14

I sang The Countess in the Marriage of Figaro, and I sang Tatiana in Eugenon Yegin in Russian.

Presenter14:20

And

Linda Esther Gray14:20

And the last one I did was some fry shoots.

Presenter14:24

Are you good at languages?

Linda Esther Gray14:25

Not too bad when I'm singing them. When it comes to speaking them that's a bit different.

Presenter14:30

And then Scottish opera. It must have been very exciting to sing in your home territory.

Linda Esther Gray14:35

It was marvellous. It was a very exciting time in my life to be part of such a wonderful company.

Presenter14:41

What was the first occasion? Where were you in Glasgow?

Linda Esther Gray14:44

We were in Glasgow, yes. Although I I think I was scheduled to do Bo M in Glasgow, which I did eventually, but someone was ill in the turn of the screw just before that.

Presenter14:52

Mm-hmm.

Linda Esther Gray14:53

And I sang Miss Jesse in the turn of the screw on the tour and I can't remember exactly where.

Presenter14:56

But all your school friends were there to cheer you up.

Linda Esther Gray14:59

Well, I shouldn't have think for a minute. I mean, they've drifted back later with

Presenter15:02

Ha ha ha.

Presenter15:03

But your parents would have.

Linda Esther Gray15:04

Oh yes, my mum and dad have been to everything.

Presenter15:07

I mean they were swung round to your musical curriculum.

Linda Esther Gray15:10

Oh, it didn't take much swinging. Oh, yes, they were very, very encouraging.

Linda Esther Gray15:14

And they join in and they come to First Nights. And my father enjoys it, and my mother claps.

Presenter15:20

That's a fine distinction. Well, Linda, where do we go now?

Linda Esther Gray15:26

My next record is the overture to Demise the Singer.

Presenter15:29

Wagner, why do we choose that?

Linda Esther Gray15:31

Well, many, many reasons rolled into one. Um by this time I'd had a little girl, Kirsty.

Presenter15:37

Yes.

Linda Esther Gray15:38

She was five weeks old. I sang this with Scottish Opera. This was my first Wagner Roe.

Linda Esther Gray15:42

But I wasn't scheduled to sing it.

Linda Esther Gray15:44

And the person who was singing it fell ill, as can happen, you know, with singers, it happens all the time.

Linda Esther Gray15:50

It just happened that I was covering it and Kirsty was five weeks old and had to be looked after at the same time. So my husband and I rushed at eight o'clock in the morning to the airport with the baby in a sling to find a stripe.

Linda Esther Gray16:04

nor aeroplanes.

Linda Esther Gray16:06

We beg I didn't look like an opera singer, I can tell you that, with jeans and an anorat and a baby and a sling, you know, and a pram and a buggy and a husband and

Speaker 116:12

Yeah, how

Linda Esther Gray16:14

Begged them to let me on any aeroplane going in that direction and, you know, I was politely told there were other people who were just as anxious. So at quarter past two we got on an aeroplane.

Linda Esther Gray16:24

which took me to Edinburgh, not Glasgow. So I arrived in Edinburgh at half past three.

Linda Esther Gray16:30

and then had to t a taxi to Glasgow. Well eventually we arrived at ten past five. My sister begins at half past five.

Presenter16:36

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray16:37

Pram lost.

Linda Esther Gray16:39

fed baby and um all my friends up there took th over the baby and she was put in a wee laundry basket to go to sleep in the wings.

Presenter16:48

So she had a very early indoctrination into opera.

Linda Esther Gray16:50

She did indeed, and um has gone on like that ever since. But you know, the feeling of standing on stage.

Linda Esther Gray16:57

having had a baby, you know, it's a big decision for a person with a career, I mean, as anybody knows. To be able to do both was wonderful. My husband in the wings, my dad was in the wings, he'd rushed up to help hold the baby.

Presenter17:11

Right, then let's hear the overture to Demeistocene.

Linda Esther Gray17:13

Yeah.

Presenter18:10

The overture to Wagner's The Master Singers of Nuremberg, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rudolf Kempe.

Presenter18:18

You said that your husband is the one with the record collection. Is he a musician?

Linda Esther Gray18:22

No, he's not a musician, he's a biochemist, but his hobby is music. He loves music.

Presenter18:28

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray18:28

Yes. And he's been to most of my first nights and performances and is jolly critical. But, you know, we went to school together when we were five. We started school on the same day and we were in the same class all the way through school.

Presenter18:38

You've known each other since you were five.

Linda Esther Gray18:40

We were, yes. And he sang in the school opera. He was involved in the gondoliers and all these operas. He was King Gamma in Radigore, actually.

Presenter18:40

With

Presenter18:46

Yeah.

Presenter18:48

Does he sometimes travel with you?

Linda Esther Gray18:49

Yes, he and Kirsty are able to come with me quite a lot midterm and summer holidays, Easter holidays, and also our planet.

Linda Esther Gray18:56

My working schedule so that they are able to break a long period. If I'm away for four weeks, then I always hope they'll be able to come in the middle for ten days. And you know, Kirsty, she's well seasoned because often she has to sit through a performance'cause we don't know anybody to babysit. So, when she was about five, she managed the Valkyrie, so she'd do not too badly.

Presenter19:15

Oh, good for her There's a a Wagnerium de camp.

Linda Esther Gray19:18

Yeah, hope so.

Presenter19:20

Right, now let's move on to the English National Opera, with whom you sung quite a deal. What was the first role you sang for them?

Linda Esther Gray19:26

What

Linda Esther Gray19:28

Mikhaila

Linda Esther Gray19:30

In Carmen.

Presenter19:30

You have never sung the lady herself yet.

Linda Esther Gray19:33

Carmen Oyo

Presenter19:33

Oh yeah.

Linda Esther Gray19:34

Samezo Ro. Uh, sopranos do sing it, I mean you're not wrong, but it's not I don't think it's one that I would tackle.

Presenter19:41

And what other road?

Linda Esther Gray19:42

Well, of some Aida, Fidelio.

Linda Esther Gray19:45

is older.

Presenter19:47

Yes, you took over from someone in a hurry in a solder, didn't you?

Linda Esther Gray19:50

No, that's not quite right. When the Welsh national opera did Tristan and Isolde, I wasn't initially scheduled to do Isolde. But about six months before they found that they had no Isolda and at that point I took over. So, I mean, I had six months to learn it. It wasn't as hurried as, um, Eva, for instance.

Presenter19:58

Yeah.

Speaker 119:58

Yeah.

Presenter20:07

Now you've been singing a lot of Wagner lately.

Linda Esther Gray20:09

Pierre

Presenter20:09

And you are currently singing Brunhilde for the English National Opera. Now, we've established you're not a mezzo. Are you a lyric soprano or a dramatic soprano? Or both?

Speaker 320:20

Both.

Presenter20:23

What roles do you particularly want to sing that you haven't tackled yet?

Linda Esther Gray20:27

Well, I'm about to do Tannhuizer and that is one of them. I'd like to do Lone Green, I have no plans for that. But I'm also going to do Turin Dot next year.

Presenter20:38

Yes.

Linda Esther Gray20:39

And that's exciting.

Presenter20:40

How about the concert platform? How important a part in your plans does that hold?

Linda Esther Gray20:46

A very important part and I en very much enjoy being myself on stage, being able to communicate directly with an audience.

Presenter20:53

Yeah. You like to do a recital.

Linda Esther Gray20:55

Yes.

Presenter20:56

You don't find that sort of rather nerve-wracking, do you think?

Linda Esther Gray20:58

It's very, very nerve wracking for me. I mean, it's of the three things, opera, concert with orchestra and recital, that is the hardest for me. Because it's so far away, you know, from the Brunhilders and the Isoldas, you know, to come down, to refine your technique, to refine your expressive abilities.

Presenter21:16

You sang at the Royal Opera House. What did you say?

Linda Esther Gray21:19

I sang Zieglinde first and then I sang Leonora Fidelio.

Presenter21:24

And where have you sung abroad?

Linda Esther Gray21:27

Um, well I've sung a lot in France and I've sung in Germany and I've sung in America and I plan to sing more in America.

Presenter21:33

You were in Dallas in America? Several times.

Linda Esther Gray21:35

And several times.

Presenter21:37

And you've got a couple of very important foreign debut next year, Linda.

Linda Esther Gray21:40

Yes. Well, I sing at La Scala for the first time.

Linda Esther Gray21:44

And I sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in the next year for the first time.

Presenter21:48

What part are you singing?

Linda Esther Gray21:49

Zieglinde in America and um Tannhuizer and Ariadne at La Scala.

Presenter21:54

We've got to record number six.

Linda Esther Gray21:57

We are known.

Linda Esther Gray21:58

This is Juanita the Spanish lobster.

Linda Esther Gray22:01

And I'm not entirely inexperienced in your desert island, you know. We always spend our holidays on a Scottish island.

Linda Esther Gray22:08

And when Christie was about three we went to Aran.

Linda Esther Gray22:11

And Peter said we had two showers. The first was ten days and the second was eight days. Showers of rain, I mean.

Presenter22:16

So it's been

Linda Esther Gray22:17

So we spent a lot of time in the car hoping, yes, we were there for three weeks, hoping for sunshine. And every time we got in the car, Kirsty wanted to hear this record, and it reminds me very much of family, and I would miss that when I was away.

Presenter22:19

You were away from seeing me.

Speaker 122:33

Juanita, Juanita, beloved, Be peaceful, be gentle, be savage no more You are the ocean's rare

Presenter22:51

West Pristation in your sh

Speaker 122:56

The shellfish of a dog adore You the shellfish of adore.

Speaker 123:18

And when he'd finished singing,

Speaker 123:20

Juanita would say, Ah, shut up.

Speaker 123:24

You making me sick, huh?

Presenter23:27

An excerpt from Juanita the Spanish Lobster, composed by David Haslam, with words by Johnny Morris, who also, believe it or not, was singing. I had no idea he could sing like that. Now, apart from home life and music, what are your favorite occupations? What do you like doing on holiday and when you have a day off?

Linda Esther Gray23:45

Well, really, I have to catch up. When I've got a day off, everybody has to have clean underwear and things like that. Very basic.

Presenter23:54

Have you any skills that would be useful apart from doing the washing and mending on a desert island?

Linda Esther Gray23:57

On a desert island? Not really. Although I'm quite practical. My dad's very handy, you know, and I spent a lot of my childhood running about with a screwdriver for him, so I think.

Presenter24:05

So I think

Linda Esther Gray24:06

I might recall some of that.

Presenter24:08

You could put up a hut.

Linda Esther Gray24:09

I think I probably could.

Presenter24:10

Ever done any fishing?

Linda Esther Gray24:12

Well, I couldn't do that, I couldn't kill them.

Presenter24:14

Are you a good cook?

Linda Esther Gray24:15

Well, I'm sort of erratic, but now that we've got a freezer things have improved because on a good day I put it in the freezer.

Presenter24:19

Because they're like good.

Presenter24:21

Would you try to escape?

Linda Esther Gray24:22

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray24:24

Yes, definitely. I couldn't stay. I wouldn't be able to stay. I would just get on a wee raft and go. Hope for the best.

Presenter24:30

Not too we

Presenter24:34

Record number seven.

Linda Esther Gray24:36

This is the prelude to Tristan and Disorder conducted by Reginald Goodon.

Presenter24:40

Yes. Now you're on this record, aren't you? Yes. In fact, you sing Isolde.

Linda Esther Gray24:42

Yes, I agree.

Linda Esther Gray24:44

I do. But preparing this for the performances with Mr Goodall was a long term project and it was wonderfully exciting. I mean another gate had been opened for me, an expressive flood and somebody

Linda Esther Gray24:57

leading you down the path. I mean, he'd worked with Furtwengler and Flagstad and all these people and he passes on this tradition to all his students and to be in the little room with him and learning this from them was fantastic.

Speaker 125:06

Down in the

Linda Esther Gray25:11

And he's such a kind person, you know, when you're working with him. He never makes you feel that what you've got to contribute

Linda Esther Gray25:17

Is not worth having. I mean, it might be completely wrong, but he lets you have a little go at it. And the only sort of slight way that he ever gets at me.

Linda Esther Gray25:25

is when you're on stage and he wants to ask you something, something that he's asked maybe a hundred times that you could possibly do for him, and I keep conveniently forgetting'cause I don't want to do it. Suddenly you find that he forgets your name.

Linda Esther Gray25:38

And he looks up at the stage and you see Miss M

Speaker 125:38

And it looks like

Linda Esther Gray25:42

Miss Isolda, would you like to? But it's a very strange thing because of all the orchestra, it's a huge orchestra, he never forgets their name. Very odd.

Presenter25:54

Just yours when you're not cooperating fully. You went to America with him, didn't you?

Linda Esther Gray25:56

Cooperating footage.

Linda Esther Gray25:59

Yes, we went to promote this record and I got to know him even better then.

Presenter26:04

doing all the chat shows and whatever.

Linda Esther Gray26:06

Well, I I don't think he did much chatting, but

Presenter26:08

It was nice to have him there.

Linda Esther Gray26:09

Always nice to have him there.

Speaker 326:11

Yeah.

Presenter26:12

So we're going to hear now the prelude to Trustana Nisolde.

Presenter27:09

part of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.

Presenter27:12

Reginald Goodall conducting the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera. Now, Linda, although you're on that record, we only heard the prelude.

Linda Esther Gray27:20

Ashrabb, I don't want the rest of the record, thank you, because I would have to walk out to see if that was with me on the island.

Presenter27:26

You wouldn't take it? No. You wouldn't play the vocal part? No. You don't like playing your own record? No.

Presenter27:31

Other people do, they fortunately.

Presenter27:34

What's the last one you've chosen?

Linda Esther Gray27:36

My last record is from The Ring Cycle by Wagner, and it's from Die Valcuri. Now I've sung Zieglinde before, although this is my first Brunhilde, and so it brings back many happy memories of the Royal Opera House and of Dallas, where I first sang it.

Linda Esther Gray27:52

And I've had an enormously enjoyable period rehearsing Brunhilde at the Coliseum, because in a way, although I've never had a home as an opera singer.

Linda Esther Gray28:01

That is the nearest I've come to it in lots of ways.

Linda Esther Gray28:04

Because I'm allowed to find myself and enormous support from everybody round about me. And this performa I've chosen the performance of Flagstad Singing with Furtwengler conducting because I think that she just was the best Wagner singer that ever will be. And I'm sure that the repetiteurs at the Coliseum will certainly approve of all the crotchets and the dots being in the right place as well as such a marvellously moving performance.

Presenter29:37

Kirsten flagstarters Brunhilde in a recording of The Valkyrie conducted by Fortwengler.

Presenter29:44

Now, Linda, if you could have only one disc after the H you've chosen, which would it be?

Linda Esther Gray29:48

The last one.

Presenter29:50

and one luxury to take with you, one object of no practical use, but something that you would like to have around.

Linda Esther Gray29:56

Well, now this is really tricky. I mean everybody finds this a problem in your programme, don't they?

Linda Esther Gray30:01

The thing as a singer you have to give up is, first of all you can't eat garlic,'cause tenors don't like it.

Linda Esther Gray30:07

Secondly, you can't eat chocolate'cause that's not good for the voice nor the figure.

Presenter30:12

I just said it was bad for the voice.

Linda Esther Gray30:13

Oh, it's well, it clogs it up a bit. You know, you have to be a bit clean. Lemons are better than chocolate. And thirdly, is wine. Now I really can't decide among these three, so is there any chance I could have a wee drop of everything?

Presenter30:15

You know what you have to be

Presenter30:17

Lemons

Presenter30:25

I don't see why we shouldn't make you up a food parcel.

Linda Esther Gray30:28

Lovely, that would be fine.

Presenter30:31

And one book you have the Bible and Shakespeare already planted.

Linda Esther Gray30:34

Hmm.

Linda Esther Gray30:35

Well, in a way, books to me are like records. I have to do a lot of reading for research and background work so that I could live without a book, but I like poetry. So if you could compile a nice big book of Shelley and Keats, Yeats, people like that.

Presenter30:51

All right. Well, take you around a bookshop to find one that really satisfies you in the way of an anthology.

Linda Esther Gray30:51

Yeah.

Linda Esther Gray30:55

All right, thanks.

Presenter30:57

And thank you, Linda Erster Gray, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

Linda Esther Gray31:01

Thank you very much. I've enjoyed it.

Presenter31:03

Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 331:29

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