Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Prima donna opera singer, brought up sailing in Stockholm's archipelago.
On the island
Eight records
Well, actually, to tell you that I have been sailing most of my life, so this idea with a desert island is something which is very
No, not in the house. But my father was a frustrated tenor. He wanted to have uh song as his profession, but they couldn't afford it when he grew up, so he had to start working in in other business.
Excerpt from a Finnish language course
Because I don't know Finnish, and I have sung songs by Sibelius and Kilpinen, for instance, in Finnish, the beautiful Luolnotar by Sibelius. And I was so ashamed of not knowing the language. So I've said to myself, Whenever I get time enough, I'll learn Finnish.
Yes, and I'm very hungry. You see, I've learned a lot from this lady. ... there w there's one thing I've been fascinated by during my whole life and career, and that is where is the border between the very sublime and the parody. And she has taught me what is ridiculous when we do a little too much in the singing.
Happy Polka (from The Age of Gold)Favourite
Yes. Yeah, that that's why I have to have that record on the island, because I have to keep myself in shape, you know. ... And that keeping in shape is not only the physical one, but it's the psychical part of it. I have to be in a happy mood to survive the day.
Regency Rake
Should I remind myself of what I'm happily missing by bringing one of these records?
Well, this also sounds like the inside of my head, because when I'm walking about in in life, you know, I've got all that music inside the head and and then it's confronted with what I hear on the outside.
Clifford Curzon with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Well, I would like you to hear a piece which makes me feel very happy and in a good mood, and I'm sure you'll need it after this session.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:44As a child did you hear a lot of music?
Yes, and I would like to give you a little example of what I could hear, which also is in the navel and Viking tradition.
Presenter asks
4:24You were rather stage struck, weren't you? I believe you learned the whole of Hamlet at the age of fourteen.
Yes. I never thought of song as a profession. I I wanted to be an actress. So I um well, I l I learned Hamlet in in Swedish first and in English later. ... and uh I was very angry that I wasn't born a man. But then I read a book on Sarah Bernard, and she she actually performed Hamlet for the first time when she was sixty, so I've got a few years just left.
Presenter asks
12:22What do you refer to when you say the new style [of performing opera]?
Well, where the uh the whole production is a unit of uh action, lighting and the musical part of it. Wh which perhaps is more dramatic and and also ensemble work, if I may say so. rather than stars standing next to each other competing.
The keepsakes
The book
Simone de Beauvoir
I'm going to bring another book which I'm always bringing actually and I'm trying to get through it and I've never managed so far and it's uh Simon de Beauvoir The Second Sex. … It is everything about women that you should know and learn about. But I've never got further than the second page.
The luxury
When I travel around the world there's one thing I miss more than anything else, and that is my own bed. … If I could bring bring my own bed, please.
Presenter asks
19:28Do you have a discipline to keep yourself fit for a very grueling job?
Yes. Yeah, that that's why I have to have that record on the island, because I have to keep myself in shape, you know. And that keeping in shape is not only the physical one, but it's the psychical part of it. I have to be in a happy mood to survive the day.
Presenter asks
21:58In Sweden you are appointed a court singer. Tell me about that.
Well, that's that That's all it is. No, I mean, nowadays it really doesn't m mean more than an honorary title. But in the old days it meant that uh you had to perform at the court on royal command. Well, I I have been Singing for my royalty is on on uh sort of state visits and uh when our present king married his queen then uh we gave a gala performance which I wrote. I'd composed it.
Presenter asks
23:13You have recently published a witty and perceptive book, 'In My Own Key'. Not so much an autobiography, but a book about the job of a singer.
Well, it's a pamphlet actually. Try trying to get a little bit of a message. ... it was uh meant to be just a little answer to some of the most common questions we get over and over and over again. about our profession. As for instance, how we learn things by heart and uh can we see the audience and Doesn't ever anything wrong happen on the stage?
“I love the sea, but I fear the sea. I was brought up in boats.”
“I was very angry that I wasn't born a man. But then I read a book on Sarah Bernard, and she she actually performed Hamlet for the first time when she was sixty, so I've got a few years just left.”
“It's the language of Errol Flynn, I would say, because I I loved him. passionately and I went to the movies and I saw for instance Robin Hood. thirty five times Captain Blood thirty four And the Seahawk something like twenty eight times. So I And he had a very beautiful pronunciation. It was very good for me.”
“You do not have to look like a rabbit to sing in French. That was one of the best advices I've had for years.”
“There's another thing I I don't have to listen to on my desert island, and that is the background music. which is the worst pollution of our age, I think. For us especially who walk around with a concert program to memorize, it's such a torture to hear the how should I say, undefined. music at the back of shops or hotels.”
“I have a very wonderful memory of my son Jens. He was about four or five years old when I learned Macropolis case for the first time in Swedish. And I was sitting at home on a bright winter day. We're trying to learn. put out the light and shut your mouth. And it was very difficult, and I couldn't get in. I tried it over and over and over and over again, and I was so in it that I didn't see anything. Suddenly I looked up, and there were four little children of about four years. old, in winter clothes, with rosy cheeks and open mouths, and my son Jens had invited them Come and take a look at mummy, she's so funny.”