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Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Bass-baritone opera singer from North Wales; performed in major opera houses worldwide and preparing to play Wotan in Wagner's Ring at the Royal Opera.
On the island
Eight records
One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
Frank Sinatra is somebody that I I personally would have loved to be able to see and hear perform. Unfortunately, I never had the chance. But one for my baby is one of my pure favourites. In a way, it comes down to the fact that you have to perform a song with just a piano accompaniment, and therefore colors, words become imperative.
Well, obviously this is uh coloured by the fact that I come from Wales and the beautiful tradition we have there of male voice choirs and one of the most beautiful melodies, which actually is a very sad melody, Paham me dictero mavanu. Of course, mavanui. It's one of the most beautiful, haunting pieces of music that's ever come out of Wales.
Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45: II. Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras
Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Swedish Radio Chorus, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
There's one instance that I guess found out what true pressure was all about, and it was a live performance of the Requiem by Brahms, conducted by Claudio Arbado with a Berlin Philharmonic in the Musikverein in Vienna... Live broadcasts to Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Britain... it was truly a terrifying moment in my career. But what I came away from That concert was the fact that I could cope with that kind of pressure.
I guess we're going to another hemisphere now. And I I think it goes back to school days and relationships and boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever, always have a chosen piece of music. And Leslie and I have Lionel Rich's Hello and that's our kind of song.
This one is, I guess, uh about travelling and being in different countries and uh w which is part and parcel of my career anyway. It's a definite negative, of course, when you have three boys and and a family at home. It takes you away from uh people you love... and uh in a way stings uh an Englishman in New York, does talk about being away, I guess, and uh walking down Fifth Avenue.
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Allegro non troppo ma con brio
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
It brings us back again, I guess, to my childhood days in school. And my first introduction really to a classical symphony when I was sitting in my classes doing music A level... Brahms' first symphony was our set piece... and there's that one theme which instantly was recognizable and instantly went somewhere into my being that created such a huge shock and and perhaps a wake up call.
And I think it took a toll on my back and I bent down after the dress rehearsal to just put my socks on and something happened to my back and I couldn't walk. So in the next two days I was under the surgeon's knife in New York, which felt daunting. And after I came out of the first keyhole surgery that I'd had, this was the piece of music that I heard.
Return to SenderFavourite
Elvis Presley is another performer that I. Listened to very often in the car or at home. In fact, my children now always want this particular song whilst going to school in the mornings. And they all join together, which is, I think, so important in music.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:59How important is your height [six foot three] to your performance, especially since you act as well as sing?
Well, I've always had the height, which uh stood me in good stead wh whilst I was in school, because uh most of my uh early uh interests were to do with sports. And in a way I had to do it because it counteracted the fact that I also sang... and it was a very good balance in the end.
Presenter asks
8:57Why did you make the huge decision to leave Wales and go to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London?
I was offered a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before I even sat my A-levels... even when I uh walked in through that door at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which meant that I threw away all my childhood in Wales, which meant that I was away I we have a saying in Welsh, a wichtir square, which is the square mile, and I'd never been outside of that square mile. And it was an enormous step for me to actually go to London and actually stay there. That first six weeks at the Guildhall was terrifying for me. Terrifying. I was totally depressed. I was crying every night.
Presenter asks
26:18Has something different happened to your voice, or are you just ready now to sing Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle?
The keepsakes
The book
Frank McCourt
it makes one feel that you're very lucky and fortunate to be living at this day and age with all the modern equipment that we have and actually the strong feeling of family
The luxury
Wales Millennium Centre (new opera house in Cardiff)
I'd rather have it there with me on that island.
Uh no, I think because of a certain time in one's career and uh there there had to be a time where I would say yes. And uh the theatre was uh the right choice. The conductor most definitely was the right choice.
Presenter asks
27:06What are your fears about playing Wotan [in Wagner's Ring Cycle]?
Most definitely, the the ab ab absolute length of the opera and the the amount of singing that one has to do on the stage, plus the the amount of homework and dedication one has to to learn it... I'm worried about uh both of them [getting exhausted or getting bored].
Presenter asks
27:52Why have you suggested that you might only perform the Ring Cycle once on stage?
Well, um I'm a father, I have three boys, and usually Wagner productions take eight weeks rehearsals, and uh which culminates in only four performances, which uh sometimes is like the wind being taken out of your sails. But I definitely don't have another ring cycle within my calendar. Because I need to make that judgment after I've performed a treatment.
“I think that boundaries are there to be uh knocked down, and there's no straitjacket to say that I can't feather my own cap with lots of different musical styles.”
“there's absolutely no point in me singing a Welsh song or an Italian song or a German song and they can't hear the words. Otherwise uh there there's th all the thinking that the composer had with his poetry uh is thrown away.”
“I've had enough, really. I've had a bucket full of missing birthdays and uh football for the kids and and actually just being there to take them to school and being there to take them home for tea and having you know, conversations around the table. Uh it's it's a very sad part of one's life.”