Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Architectural historian best known for the television series 'Six English Towns'.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60 (opening of the finale)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
I really could not live without Beethoven. And although I've heard some of the symphonies and concertes as many times as I want to, there are others which I never tire of. And one of them is the fourth symphony.
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 (part of the last movement)
Clifford Curzon with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by István Kertész
Donald Toby said of the C minor piano concerto that it is perhaps the most sublime of all Mozart's instrumental works. Well, who am I to disagree with Tovy?
Intermezzo in C major, Op. 119 No. 3Favourite
I don't think we could do better than have one of the Indemeltsers from Oppos a hundred and nineteen. I should like the third one.
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (prior to the last movement)
Pablo Casals with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
He is the English composer that I particularly cherish. And I very much love the cello concerto.
Alice Is at It Again (from Noël Coward at Las Vegas)
CAD always meant a great deal to me. I loved him as a playwright, as an actor. and as a composer of light music, and as a personality.
Impromptu No. 2 in F minor, Op. 31
I should like some more piano music at this point. I've already said that I am very fond of piano music. I would like some foulry.
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
Yehudi Menuhin with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Rudolf Kempe
for me the Valencaccetto of Brahms is a supreme Valencaceto, one of the most glorious works of music in the world.
Bournemouth Sinfonietta, conducted by Kenneth Montgomery
I have chosen the signature tune by Thomas Arne. that we had for the television series that you kindly referred to as Six English Towns. I got very fond of it.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:42How gregarious are you? Could you endure solitude?
Well, I'm fairly gregarious, but I think that I could endure it better than some people. I live alone.
Presenter asks
3:14What did you read [at Queen's College, Oxford]?
I read Modern History. ... originally with a view to becoming a schoolmaster. But by the time I came down, the one thing that I was absolutely sure was that under no circumstances would I become a schoolmaster.
Presenter asks
5:50What happened to you when the war came along?
Well, some of us were on a thing called the Central Register ... I thought that I would be sent to the Ministry of Education. Not at all. I was told to go to the Admiralty. And I said, Well, I don't really know the bow from the Starn. And they said, Oh, good, well, we can teach you. ... So I was asked if I would like to serve in London or in Bath, and I said, In London. So I had a note to it, a day later, proceed to Bath. Which I did.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
John Betjeman and John Piper (editors)
Well, that would be a perpetual pleasure living in England again through those books.
The luxury
a super comfortable divan bed with cushions and an awning
I would have a super comfortable divan bed. And you would have to provide cushions, and I think an awning also.
What was the job [at the Admiralty]?
Well, I was doing a rather dull job then in establishments ... And then suddenly, at the end of nineteen forty two, I was told to proceed to London. And when I got there I found that I was to be in what was called Cabinet section. My job was to help to brief the First Lord for the Cabinet.
Presenter asks
16:07Which is your favourite cathedral?
Well, I used to be asked this question and say that I can't say. ... But I now think I can save. And I think it would be Lincoln.
Presenter asks
22:00How good a builder are you yourself? You're on this desert island, you've got to build somewhere to live.
I should think I'd be absolutely hopeless. ... if I could get something to chop this cocoanut, I might get at it and do that.
“From a very young age I loved architecture. Even when we as children, when we were taken on holiday in the car, I used to escape from the family and rush into the church.”
“Cabinet papers fall into two main groups. Ninety-nine per cent of them are papers from departments asking for something to be done ... But there are also just a few. Which are papers? Circulated by any minister. For their colleagues to think about. They're not action papers, they're thought papers, and of course they're far the most interesting.”
“I proposed an entirely new syllabus, which was to deal with the visual arts, not historically. But aesthetically, that's to say. I was concentrating on form. Colour Texture Decoration. These aesthetic things.”