Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Former musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, to which he devoted his whole career.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony in D minorFavourite
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
I heard it first at a prom concert... it's sort of like a flash of light to me.
USSR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov
It was absolutely terrific. He built it up to such a tremendous climax.
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
Arthur de Greef with the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Landon Ronald
The Griff, who in my day played it almost every one of the promenade seasons.
I like to quote it when a war goes a wooing for Mac Two.
Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61: II. Andante
Yehudi Menuhin with the composer conducting
I worked at this concerto with William Fimrose... we learnt this work together and ever since then of course I I think it's most wonderful work.
Sir Roderick's song from Ruddy Door.
Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944: II. Andante con moto
Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
I went to Voell... I wrote him a little note and he was so kind.
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company chorus
J.M. Gordon... called them the backbone of the offers. ... we sang Hell's Persia to them.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:53What would you want music to do for you on a desert island?
Well, I I should say I wanted to entertain me, keep me interested. and uh keep me amused as well. And otherwise I keep my mind occupied.
Presenter asks
5:12You're a Londoner, aren't you? Was yours a musical family?
I am, yes. Uh my father played the violin. My mother she didn't play any instrument, but she was very dramatically inclined.
Presenter asks
7:08Had you at that time any particular affection for Gilbert and Sullivan?
Um, not really. I'd never seen the offer company. I had seen two of the offers performed at the Guild Hall. That's all, I think.
Presenter asks
11:25You virtually devoted your musical life to one composer. Did you ever find yourself getting obsessed by him? Have you done any research into his life?
The keepsakes
The book
Full score of Tchaikovsky Symphonies
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
What now? Would it be possible if we have a book of a full score? Well that'd be good also. I have some metals and I have a say some scrolls of the uh Tastrosi Symphony.
I'd done a lot of reading on his life, yes, but the more I admire Solomon, the more I admire Gilbert. I'm a great Dilbert enthusiast, but I think after all he did write the Libretti and he was a very fine lyric writer. At the same time, I do feel that Sullivan set his words so well. I mean, they make the English language sound musical. And Ruth McClear, I I think that maybe if he'd lived he would have restored some of the works in Israel. I don't know. But um they were a wonderful combination.
Presenter asks
17:02What would be your mental approach to loneliness?
Well, I don't mind being on my own for a little time, but I For anything that I I I think I'd hate it. Having travelled about so much and being on tour, packing and unpacking, I have come to rely upon my wife and other people to do so much for me, I think I'd be completely Hopeless anyhow?
Presenter asks
21:30If you could take only one disc of the eight that you played us, which would it be?
I think I'd take the sensor flat.
“When I do it because I heard it first at a prom concert. When I was a student, it was under Sir Henry Wood many, many years ago, of course. And the passage I I wanted to play, one I always remember, it's sort of like a flash of light to me. And I I've always adored Frank ever since. And even when I was um with the company, after I'd changed many performers, I'd hum to myself, you know, pump, pom, pom, pom, pom. And people say, oh, that's all my humming is faint and it would be a good show tonight.”
“It was absolutely terrific. He built it up to such a tremendous climax. You couldn't realize that the forty corps could go on, on, on, on until everybody was almost out of their seats. And something I always remember.”
“I'm a great Dilbert enthusiast, but I think after all he did write the Libretti and he was a very fine lyric writer. At the same time, I do feel that Sullivan set his words so well. I mean, they make the English language sound musical.”
“J.M. Gordon, who was the producer of the company before the war, always called them the backbone of the offers. And I feel I should like to have something sung by them. Also, rather turns full circle, but I can go back to 1927, I think it was, when we were in Canada. And outside Calgary, we met the Sarsi Indians on the prairie and we sang Hell's Persia to them. I don't think they knew what it was all about, but we enjoyed it.”