Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A British conductor, music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, described as probably the most successful of the new generation of British conductors.
On the island
Eight records
Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542
I spent two months in 1963, just before I went up to Cambridge, studying and living actually in the house built onto the church. So the sound of this organ has very happy memories for me.
Magnificat (from Collegium Regale)
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
I've chosen, of course, a recording of the King's College Choir that was made during my time there, and I'm playing the organ on this record.
Richard Lewis, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent
Elgar is one of my absolutely favourite composers, and the Dream of Gerontius, I think, is one of his greatest works. And the tenor on this recording is Richard Lewis, who was the great Gerontis for many, many years. And I had the great fortune of actually doing the piece with him five or six years ago, and it was one of the most moving experiences of my life.
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Karel Ančerl
The Janacek Glagolitic Mass has a very a strong place in my affections for another reason, also, because that was the first piece I ever conducted in Toronto.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Davis
This is a record I'm very proud of. Strauss is a composer I feel very close to... And I'm very, as I say, I'm very proud of this recording because I think it shows the orchestra at its very best.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Davis
I think if the Strauss showed the orchestra in its voluptuous mood, this shows the orchestra in its very brilliant virtuosity.
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
It's not perhaps the neatest Marla 9 recording that there is, but it is a recording that shows this quality that I've been talking about, this intensity of feeling all the time.
Missa SolemnisFavourite
New Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Otto Klemperer
I've sort of been saying to myself, Well, I've for a few years I've saying, Well, when I'm forty, maybe I'll do it when I'm forty two and I'm saying maybe when I'm forty five... because I think it's such an incredible m monument to attempt to scale. So I'm I'm going to take Klempa's recording with me so that when I'm rescued from the desert island I shall be ready for it finally.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:11Was there ever any doubt that you were going to do anything other than music?
I don't think so. I suppose for a brief time when I was at school and I was really into Latin and Greek, I thought I'd be a classics master... But I suppose really from the age of two. Well, my mother tells me I was singing before I was talking and I obviously loved music immediately.
Presenter asks
5:27What was it that gave you the urge to be a conductor at that time?
Well, yes, I think there was really, because it was the first time I actually picked up a stick and conducted an orchestra, I felt it was a way of making music that I... could do that I had a natural aptitude for, and I really did fall in love with it instantly the moment I picked up the stick
Presenter asks
7:48How did Franco Ferrara teach you?
Well, we would stand up in front of a rather dreadful orchestra once a week and and sometimes he wouldn't say anything, and it was quite maddening at times... But he was just a great inspiration... he had a way of just breathing life into the music that I've seldom seen.
The keepsakes
The book
Jonathan Swift
a book I've never read and I've always wanted to read is Gulliver's Travels
The luxury
a collection of apostle spoons
they're something that gives me intense pleasure just to look at and to touch and to feel, and to admire the craftsmanship
Presenter asks
11:03Was there one moment in time you can put your finger on and say that was the breakthrough?
Yes. I think most conductors have to have something like that because there has to be some opportunity that comes your way and you seize... So it came for me in October 1970... a conductor fell ill for a performance of a piece called The Glagolitic Mass by Janacek in the Royal Festival Hall. And I took over... and it was successful, and that was really what launched my career
Presenter asks
17:20How much does the orchestra become the family with you?
Oh, very much. I have an incredible affection, both musical and personal, for all of them. I mean, it is like a family. Well, you know, they say a relationship with an orchestra and a conductor is like a marriage, but you know, the husband and the lover and the son sometimes. It's a very complex relationship, but very beautiful.
Presenter asks
24:44How would you describe what a conductor does?
Condata's primary function, of course, is to keep the orchestra playing together... After that, of course, it becomes more hard to put into words because what what a conductor does then is really to pull these hundred people of diverse musical tastes and backgrounds into something that makes a cohesive whole.
“What I learned from him was what I call the habit of perfection, you know, the fact that never for a second when he was working there with the choir and with the organ was there any the hint that anything less than perfection would be accepted.”
“I think music is something that's so intensely enjoyable. I feel so incredibly lucky to be doing this as a way of earning my living and living my life that I think one should always be conscious of that and really enjoy music making.”
“It's that sort of unpredictability of making music, and of course any recreative art is extraordinary because no two performances are ever the same. So you're always exploring, always looking for something new.”