Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Distinguished oceanographer and marine explorer, best known for pioneering underwater exploration and conservation.
On the island
Eight records
I've chosen this one deliberately because Pagani sings my Mediterranean and it has for me a tremendous meaning because the tragedy of the Mediterranean today is perfectly sung by Pagani when he not only sings the beauty of the Mediterranean but also the tragedies of the Mediterranean, which I seen all these religions come out, emerge. And these religions could have brought peace to the world instead of that. They have fought each other and was a source of war. And he is a Jew, Pagani, and he suffers from this. He bleeds when he sings.
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903Favourite
Because it's a rarity and uh it fascinates me that Bach has written this because it's as romantic as Chopin or Lis and uh that's not Bach's style. So I wonder when he wrote this if he was deeply in love or if he just was anticipating what would come later. I really wonder.
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
Summertime, beautiful song, and I insisted to have the recording by Ella Fitchard because her voice is fabulous.
Ah, this one is special. They're all special. Yes. Daphne of the Dooms, a kind of opera that was written by Harry Parch. Harry Parch is an American composer that lived in Mexico and invented all the instruments of the orchestra. There's no instrument there, traditional instrument, it's all new.
St. François d'Assise: La prédication aux oiseaux
far less dangerous than going on a motorbike. Here that's um Saint Francis preaching to the birds. I love it because I love animals very very much. And uh Willem Kemp at the piano is master.
Sally Terry and Laurindo Almeida
That's one of my favorites. It's Bacchianos Basileios number five from Villa Lobos. It's simple melody but beautiful, played by Al Meida on the guitar and sung by Saliteri contralto.
Yeodi Menuin was a sheer environmentalist, by the way, very active. Yes, indeed. And also a fantastic violinist. Very active. Plays uh Caprice number twenty four of Paganini, variations that are absolutely fabulous.
That's a real social one, a rock record, because I like rock as well, by my friends Crosby and Nash.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:47Could you endure loneliness?
For a long time? No, I would not. I like to get away from stupid people. Right, yes. But I love the company of brilliant people. So I'm a social animal. I don't think I could resist very long on a desert island.
Presenter asks
1:04How much does music mean to you?
A tremendous amount. I have sacrificed almost everything in my life except music. I have sacrificed my family to a certain extent. I've sacrificed all my friends. I have sacrificed my privacy. But uh there's something I don't want anybody to touch is uh A minimum amount of time to uh Get closer to my friends the thousands of records that I have home.
Presenter asks
4:34Is it true that you were an unruly boy, that you were expelled from school?
It is. I was not a difficult boy, but I was a crazy boy. I had seen movies where um gangsters shot bullets through a window and it made just a small hole. It didn't break the window. So I uh tried in a big staircase where there were thirty or forty windows, I gathered some pebbles and I tried to throw the pebbles strong enough so that it would not break the window, but make just a little hole. But I never succeeded, and all the windows went down. But it it was a scientific experiment.
The keepsakes
The luxury
a stone from the stomach of a dinosaur fossil
I would like to touch something all day long.
Presenter asks
16:15When did you decide, and why, to leave the navy?
I have uh left the navy after twenty seven years of uh duty when I was elected director of the oceanographic institute in Monaco. That's a very prestigious house that was created by Prince Albert of Monaco and has been for decades the uh biggest institute in Europe. And I'm still director of this. After uh twenty five years now. Good. But when I uh accepted to be elected there, I uh accepted only if I could bring in my best friend as deputy director so that I could carry on my explorations.
Presenter asks
30:10What sort of castaway would you make?
I would be miserable. ... I hate mosquitoes, and there are plenty of those. I don't like sunburns. I don't like suntan. I hate I like company. I would try to make the best to survive, but I would spend my days waving a handkerchief for somebody to pick me up.
“I have sacrificed almost everything in my life except music. I have sacrificed my family to a certain extent. I've sacrificed all my friends. I have sacrificed my privacy.”
“I was not a difficult boy, but I was a crazy boy.”
“I became an inventor by necessity. And or by an inner urge to go deeper and to go further.”
“We never take crazy risks. We always take calculated risks.”