Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A gardener and writer, known for his books and weekly column in Country Life, and for his garden at Great Dixter.
On the island
Eight records
Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano: II. Andante
Nicholas Daniel, Rachel Gough and Julius Drake
And one of the pieces that I did with two other friends in the same house as myself for one of the competitions they used to hold, we played the slow movement of Poule's trio.
Intermezzo in B-flat minor, Op. 117 No. 2
And this particular intimezo, number two of Opus 117, is a late Browns work. And Browns' piano music is is very personal and very internal, and you feel you are entering into the centre, into the heart of a man when you're playing it.
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: AriaFavourite
I think there can be no doubt that Bach was the greatest composer ever. He is so unexpected so often he does such wonderful things, and he had a great heart, too. I've been really enjoying lately, particularly, the Goldberg variations.
Cos fan tutte: Il core vi dono
Then suddenly, in the middle of all this flippancy, you get a love duet which is absolutely genuine.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, accompanied by Gerald Moore
Early nineteenth century was particularly rich in sort of Sturm and Rang, the poor neglected young man who was deserted by his girlfriend. And uh I think Muricke's poetry is very good and in this one called Homesickness you hear the trudge of a young man as he goes further and further from his loved one.
String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95: IV. Larghetto espressivo - Allegretto agitato
But uh the Beethoven that I really enjoy most are the late quartets, and these are very personal. Actually this is not one of the very latest, the Opus Ninety-five quartet, and it's a bit of the last movement, which has a really good rhythm.
Dichterliebe, Op. 48: Das ist ein Flten und Geigen
Peter Pears, accompanied by Benjamin Britten
Another example of the jilted man is um given in Heinrich Heine's set of poems called Dichtel Lieber, The Love of a Poet, where the p poor young man's been jilted and he hears his forsaking love at her wedding celebrations and the sound of the fiddles and the trumpets and it's a wild sort of waltz tune, rather a bitter sort of waltz tune.
Brno Janek Opera Orchestra, conducted by Frantiek Jlek
Janufa is my favourite opera of of Janacek, the Czech composer. So I'd just like to start with the opening prelude, where Janufa is waiting for her lover, who is in danger of being called up, in which case he wouldn't be able to marry her, and she is pregnant by him, and sh there would be a terrible family disgrace if she had um his child out of wedlock.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:50A lifetime spent in the same house in the same garden, Christopher, that's a rare achievement these days, isn't it?
Well, it is partly luck, and partly you have to make your luck, don't you think?
Presenter asks
2:10What was your father's legacy, and what was your mother's?
Well, [my father] was extremely keen on [topiary] ... [My mother] was the plants woman, and um she was very keen on the actual business of weeding, planting, sowing seeds, and and and I learnt from her the business of gardening deviling for me, she used to call it.
Presenter asks
4:01Was it an act of vandalism to rip out the [Lutyens-designed] rose garden?
Well, I know, and you know some people come they say, Where's the rose garden? looking around them and seeing a jungle of bananas and palms.
Presenter asks
6:55The keepsakes
The book
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert's letters the letters are so good, they're so personal, and they've got none of the sort of restriction that he felt uh when he was writing for the public. They are absolutely free and really most delightful and very revealing, too.
The luxury
A supply of Syndicate Scotch whisky
Well, I'm afraid I'm a a bit of a sybarite, and I would like my Scotch whisky, please. Well, yes, I I have a whisky which uh is called Syndicate that is sent to me from Edinburgh, uh a whole cargo of it. You have to come out to the desert island once a year, and um you get it at a slight discount, but it is an extremely nice whisky.
Did you talk gardening with Vita Sackville-West?
Oh yes. No, I didn't talk books or sex or anything like that.
Presenter asks
29:18What will happen to [Great Dixter] when you're no longer around?
That I don't know. It'll go to my niece, Olivia, and she's a very dear relation. But she does live abroad, and whether she will be able to live at Dixon, I think, is very doubtful. But she has some hard decisions to make, obviously.
“I think as you get older, you should your tastes should develop.”
“I think it's very boring if you don't have opinions.”
“People shouldn't be told that it's dead easy, um just because they want to hear it. They should be told that the fact that it's complicated is nothing to put them off and is something to be enjoyed. If it wasn't complicated, you'd get bored.”
“I think one should live in the present as Lull. I mean, I do want to look after the place and not pass it on as a wreck, but I think it's better not to hark back on the past too much and not to worry about the future.”