Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A writer of science books and one of the best-known science fiction authors.
On the island
Eight records
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
Solomon (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert Menges (conductor)
the first piece of music, classical or semi-classical, I ever got to know and love was the Grieg Piano Concerto.
Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61Favourite
Yehudi Menuhin (violin), Sir Edward Elgar (conductor)
the second record is the Elgar Violin Concerto, which was perhaps with the Greek one of the first pieces of music I ever got to know and love.
Sinfonia Antartica (Symphony No. 7)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult (conductor)
I love this piece because it has the mood of space as well as the remoteness of the Antarctic.
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
I think the third, which is here in fact played by Rachmaninoff himself, is the one with most meat to it.
Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
this of course is the famous opening... And Stanley Stanley Kubic discovered this. It was not my suggestion.
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43
In many ways, my favourite symphony, and perhaps the first great symphony I ever got to know. Well, Siberia's the second.
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral'
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan (conductor)
Obviously, one has to have some Beethoven, and I had a bit of a problem deciding which. But I think the Greatest is the Ninth Symphony, the Choral Symphony.
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (transcribed by Stokowski)
I think perhaps the greatest single piece of music that I know, and it's the Bach, Dakarta and Fug in D minor.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:41Does music mean a lot to you?
Yes, it always has. I used to spend much of my youth listening to a crystal set I built myself. I used to go to sleep with the earphones on and I heard a lot of music that way. And I collected quite a few records before the war. I lost most of them. They're dispersed during the war. Now I have a very large record collection.
Presenter asks
2:37What was the first branch of science to interest you?
Originally, I think paleontology. I collected fossils and had a small collection of um... Well, I had a mammoth tooth, which is quite a large mona. A friend of mine who was an archaeologist gave it to me. I also had a lot of flints, but through this mammoth tooth I got interested in the dinosaurs who still fascinate me. And then for some reason which I don't quite recall, I switched quite suddenly to astronomy, and then I realized I had found my Métier.
Presenter asks
3:35What was your first job when you left school?
I went straight into the civil service, into the Exchequer and Audit Department, and came to London and worked first in Whitehall in fact first at the old Board of Education and then went to the Post Office and then the war began and we were evacuated. I was then with the Ministry of Food evacuated to North Wales.
The keepsakes
The book
Francis Turner Palgrave
it would have to be a book of poetry. And probably the best bargain is Palgrave's Golden Treasury, latest edition.
The luxury
a solar powered short wave radio
undoubtedly a solar powered short wave radio, so at least I could tell what was happening in the rest of the world.
Presenter asks
6:04Did anybody take your idea [about communication satellites] up and get excited about it?
Well, a few people got excited about it. I know the Ameri the Americans did first, and I have reason to believe that this is one of the stimuli which started the American satellite program.
Presenter asks
13:44What's that [book about the making of 2001] called?
Um The Lost Worlds of two thousand and one. It's a diary of the film with many of the alternative ideas that we might have used and which might still make another good film.
Presenter asks
15:08Why do you want this to be your last novel? What do you want to devote your time to?
It'll be my sixtieth birthday present to myself. And I just want to enjoy Sri Lanka, my skin diving, my books, my records, my pet monkey and uh a lot of other things.
“I used to spend much of my youth listening to a crystal set I built myself. I used to go to sleep with the earphones on and I heard a lot of music that way.”
“I love this piece because it has the mood of space as well as the remoteness of the Antarctic.”
“the Sri Lanka Government recently passed an Act which is usually known by my name so I can now live in Sri Lanka without paying any income tax at all.”
“The great theme at the end of that last moment is really one of the most glorious themes in music. It sort of gets hold of you and it shakes you like a dog shaking a rat and you can't escape from it.”
“I think perhaps the greatest single piece of music that I know, and it's the Bach, Dakarta and Fug in D minor. I love this piece for many reasons and um I have worked it into what I think is my best short story, a story called Transit of Earth, which takes place on Mars and the story ends with the playing of this piece of music.”