Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, best known for leading its famous performances.
On the island
Eight records
Prelude No. 3 in C-sharp major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1
Why have you chosen this? I think it's a very good example of Bach at his best, if I may say so.
Queen Mab Scherzo from Roméo et Juliette
Why do you choose this? Because it's a very difficult orchestral piece and I think it's superbly played in this case.
Jacques Offenbach (arr. Manuel Rosenthal)
I'm playing it here on this desert island because I just want to remind myself of what I've done in the past, and also because I rarely play my own records. And it might be interesting for me to take the time to hear myself.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:58How well do you think you could endure prolonged loneliness?
I think I would enjoy it very much at the moment because my profession brings me before so many people and even working with so many people with a large orchestra of approximately a hundred players. So I think it'd be a great great relief.
Presenter asks
4:45When did you decide that you wanted to be a musician?
I decided that when I was about fifteen years of age, my father had served 25 years in the Boston Orchestra and then decided to retire to Europe and I was confronted by a decision to be made at that time and I chose music and I chose conducting.
Presenter asks
5:08What was your very first professional engagement [as a musician]?
When I was a student in Berlin, my father having retired, I knew that I couldn't expect too much financial help from him. So much of my student days were spent in playing chamber music in various homes of German people in Berlin, where the wife played the piano or the husband played the cello or something like that. And I also played in the theatres and to earn my way through and even played at cafes and anything that could come along.
The keepsakes
The book
this would be a chance of a lifetime that I've been looking forward to all my life, that is to read the Encyclopedia Britannica.
The luxury
a very fine pair of binoculars
because I might get tired of watching the sea and getting sand between my toes and I might want to look for birds or animal life and perhaps look in the horizon to see that somebody might be willing to remove me from this island.
Presenter asks
6:14After a few years [in the Boston Symphony] you decided to form your own chamber orchestra.
I was bent on conducting and in those days it was extremely difficult for a young American to have an expensive toy like an orchestra entrusted to him. Most of the conductors in those days were well-known Europeans. But I was insisting on the fact that I wanted to conduct, and the only way I could do it was to pull myself up above my bootstraps, and I organized a chamber orchestra, which I called the Boston Sinfonietta, with my colleagues.
Presenter asks
8:15You embarked on a new project, your Esplanade concerts. Tell me about those.
It occurred to me that you get the greatest amount of finest literature in the world, gratis at public libraries as we have in the United States. You get the great works of art at our Museum of Fine Arts… and whenever it came to music, you had to dig into your genes and buy a ticket. And I knew very well that it cost money to maintain art museums and libraries. So I thought maybe I could dig up some funds for music which would be free to the public, the same as the other institutions. And for two years I went around and visually rang doorbells to try to raise sufficient money to get these concerts started and I was successful.
Presenter asks
14:17You played a Beatles number in Liverpool. What happened?
It was a sensation. Not only that, but when I finished the audience would not leave. And Mr. Grove, the conductor of the Royal Philharmonic of Liverpool was backstage, and when he heard all this applause, and I said, you know, I don't want to do this again because to anchor an encore is, you know, it takes the sheen off of it. He said, you've got to go out and do it again, and I did.
“I think it'd be a great great relief [to be alone because] my profession brings me before so many people and even working with so many people with a large orchestra of approximately a hundred players.”
“The only way I could do it [conduct] was to pull myself up above my bootstraps, and I organized a chamber orchestra, which I called the Boston Sinfonietta, with my colleagues.”
“I thought maybe I could dig up some funds for music which would be free to the public, the same as the other institutions. And for two years I went around and visually rang doorbells to try to raise sufficient money to get these concerts started and I was successful.”
“That [Jealousy] was the first orchestra record that reached the million mark. For which I got a gold record.”
“I'm an honorary chief in about 110 cities throughout the world, and one of my cars in Boston. I have an official Boston firehouse and a radio which gets all the calls and whenever I can I go.”
“I think I would like to take a very fine pair of binoculars with me. Because I might get tired of watching the sea and getting sand between my toes and I might want to look for birds or animal life and perhaps look in the horizon to see that somebody might be willing to remove me from this island.”