Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A principal singer with the English National Opera Company, known for his long tenure with the company.
On the island
Eight records
Why Can't We Have the Sea in London?
Well, yes, I would very much like to have one of his old music hall songs. Could I have Why Can't We Have the Sea in London? which was sung by Billy Williams.
Deh vieni, non tardar (from The Marriage of Figaro)Favourite
The Marriage of Figaro, because that really is my favourite opera... my wife, Edica Johns, and I used to do school's recitals... we used to do a whole lot of excerpts from Mary Jefficro, and the one which I would like to choose because of that is the song she used to sing.
Bella figlia dell'amore (from Rigoletto)
Enrico Caruso, Marcella Sembrich, Antonio Scotti and Gina Severina
As Marolo was the very first professional operatic role I did, I would like to have one of the most celebrated pieces in opera, the quartet from Rigoletto, and I'd simply love to have Caruso, who after all was such a great tenor, and I'd like to have him with Sembrich and Scotty and Severina.
Eric Schilling, Anne Dowdall and Duncan Robertson
I'd like to hark back a little to intimate opera. Um one of the roles I enormously enjoyed doing was The Cooper by Thomas Arne. And in fact in this recording I am singing The Cooper. It's an arrangement of Arne by Joseph Horobitz.
Brother Mine and Sister Mine (from Die Fledermaus)
Well, I would like very much to choose from Fledemaus, which I think is the finest operetta ever written, the Sadler's Wells recording of Brother Mine and Sister Mine from that nineteen fifty-nine season.
The Fly Duet (from Orpheus in the Underworld)
Eric Schilling and June Bronhill
Well, of course I would love it to be Orpheus in the underworld because I probably performed that more than anything else. And what I would like out of all that delicious score is the fly duet where Jupiter, he finds that Eurydice is down in Hades in a room in Pluto's dwelling.
Erbarme dich, mein Gott (from St Matthew Passion)
Thinking very carefully about being remote on a desert island, I think there would be a a certain sense of loneliness... and I would very much like to have something from what I consider to be the masterpiece of otherworldly music, the St. Matthew Passion.
String Quintet in C major, D. 956: II. Adagio
Amadeus Quartet with William Pleeth
It is such pure music. So sublime and for its own sake I think there are occasions when one wants pure music and if I could have the second movement.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:44Did you grow up to hear a lot of music?
In fact, I did, although it was not very what you might call classical music. My family background wasn't completely unmusical. My sister used to play the piano, but uh my chief musical influence, I suppose, in a way, was my old father, who was a compulsive singer. He sang about the house all day long
Presenter asks
3:35What inspired that change [from accountancy to singing]?
Uninhibited singing, if I may put it that way, was rather a family tradition, and I carried that with me into the office and occasionally was singing there, which soon got me into trouble. But at least a fellow pen-pusher proved to be a piano and singing student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and he soon persuaded me that I ought to try my luck with a few lessons there.
Presenter asks
7:25What was the next step after [taking lessons at the Guildhall]?
Well, I got a scholar[ship] from there to the Royal College of Music. And of course I went into the offerer department there.
The keepsakes
The book
The Albatross Book of Living Verse
Louis Untermeyer
practically every day I read poetry. Not a great deal, but I do love my verses. And there's an old collection which I've had for very many years. called the Albatross Book of Living Verse. It has all my favourite poems right from Chaucer up to very recent times.
The luxury
It is something I'd like very much to have. It is so marvellous to gaze upon the heavens, the moon, and the stars. And I could also cheat a bit by looking out to see for the possibilities of rescue, I suppose.
Presenter asks
What happened when you finished your studies [at the Royal College of Music]?
I had a sort of lead into a small company. My professor knew the director of that company. And so I went straight into Intimate Opera, uh a small group which performed chamber operas. In fact, there were only three singers for each opera.
Presenter asks
31:35How would you manage on a desert island? Could you look after yourself?
Well, I fear I'm not very good at do-it-yourself and that sort of thing. I'm pretty bad, in fact. ... I can't swim. ... Your next question, which is going to be, would I try to escape? I can tell you frankly, I don't think I would. I'd uh sit very tight until somebody came to... rescue me.
“The Marriage of Figaro ... was in fact the first opera performance I'd ever seen in my life, and I found it absolutely stunning.”
“There's nothing like uh travelling with intimate opera or opera players where you can never relax into the chorus or the scenery or anything else. The responsibility is absolutely yours to keep the thing going.”
“I do uh humbly think that we have grown with our opportunities, uh you know, and are worthy to be called the English National Opera.”