Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A writer and the last surviving member of the Bloomsbury Set, she published five books about that circle.
On the island
Eight records
Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major, D. 929: II. Andante con moto
Pablo Casals, Mieczysław Horszowski & Alexander Schneider
relates to a sort of love affair, because when I was nine I was taken to a concert with Pablo Casals and others playing. And this is Pablo Casal's playing part of the second movement of Schubert's trio in E flat major. A a special thing which endears it to me is that he snored a little as he played, and his snore was really rather winning, and I rather hope we might hear it on the record.
I want that because when I went to Cambridge I was also swept up into a a mad group of madrical singers by quite a well known musician called Bodis Ord. And so I chose this this Monte Verdi magical.
Well, record number three comes when I was in London working in a book shop. and having hijinks and adoring dancing. Black Bottom, Charleston, the Lott. And it is fat swallows ain't misbehaving.
Victoria de los Ángeles & Gerald Moore
And this is because Rafe and I looped to Spain. I call it that. And we heard a lot of Spanish music, which I found very, very thrilling.
Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364Favourite
Isaac Stern, William Primrose & Perpignan Festival Orchestra conducted by Pablo Casals
Isaac Stern with William Primrose and the Perpignon Festival Orchestra Conducted by my dear Pablo Casares, playing part of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat.
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
it was written as a lament. very near the end of Strauss's life, for the bombed concert halls and opera houses in Germany. And I find it very, very moving, as well as a very beautiful, sad piece of music.
String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18: I. Allegro ma non troppo
Amadeus Quartet with Cecil Aronowitz & William Pleeth
Number seven is part of the first movement of Brahm Sextet, string sextet, in B flat major, played by the Amadeus Quartet.
Don Carlo: 'Dio, che nell'alma infondere'
Plácido Domingo & Sherrill Milnes
Expresses, I hope, my feeling for friendship. Placido, Domingo, and Cheryl Milne singing Dio que ne lalma infondre from Verdi's Don Carlo. The Friendship Song
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:15Do you think your judgment of [the Bloomsbury set] has become clouded at all by time, or do you recall them as clearly as ever?
I recall them very vividly in a way. I recall, for instance, Maynard's brilliance of his eyes. I think it showed his remarkable intelligence. I think he is the most intelligent person I've ever met in my life. But the fringe things rather get forgotten sometimes.
Presenter asks
5:37Did you know what you were doing aged eleven when you decided to set aside all religion?
I certainly did, I think, and I remember the moment extremely clearly, which took place in a seaside boarding house. and it was really more that it had slowly congealed in my mind that there was no reason to believe in a deity. And I got at A horrible shock. into my next sister above me by saying that I didn't believe in him. as I jumped into bed one night.
Presenter asks
15:35When you came across [the situation between Dora Carrington, Ralph Partridge, and Lytton Strachey], how did you react to it?
Well, I was rather uncertain about everything socially. I don't think I was of sort of prison. I I remember going down to their then house, which was called Tidmarsh, and being rather surprised by some of the conversation, but I was interested. The thing was that Carrington's feelings for Lytton were so extraordinary all absorbing, and unlike anything I'd come across
The keepsakes
The book
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
Ah, the book I thought of. It's a long book, but it is all one book. It's not an encyclopedia. It is the memoirs of Saint-Simon. And it's no good having the English translation because it's cut to pieces because it's in French.
The luxury
I'm an amateur botanist. … I'd like to be given an outfit for collecting … flowers and grasses and seaweeds.
Presenter asks
26:41How could you be so convinced [when Ralph died] that you'd never marry again?
Well, I don't really know, except that there was this extraordinary closeness in our marriage, and it was close in conversation and Communication.
Presenter asks
27:26Did you ever contemplate suicide [after your husband and son died]?
I did, but I don't think I had the courage, and perhaps I had more love of life.
“I want a a sweet oblivion at the end of the day, as I do when I go to bed at night.”
“I've believed that, I continue to believe it, but I think it's without solution. I d think that war will end the world probably. Because I think man is a vision. Warlike being.”
“I am amazed that they've got so well known. I do think that the battle has been scraped rather too much, perhaps by me among others.”