Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Britain's most distinguished countertenor, chosen by Britten for Oberon and a key figure in the Baroque revival.
On the island
Eight records
I'm very fond of his opera Billy Bud. I think it's a wonderfully atmospheric piece.
A very esteemed colleague of mine, Michael Chance, singing one of my favourite composers, which is George Frederick Handel.
Choir of Winchester Cathedral, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, David Hill
It's so quintessentially English that I've always loved it.
I love the spoken voice... I'm a great lover of Alan Bennett. I love his powers of observation.
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73 (opening)Favourite
I've always adored Brahms's music. I've always said he's a desert Island composer of mine. I love Brahms are symphonies, and to hear the concerco bar conducted by Bernard to me is perfection.
Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364 (excerpt)
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Mozart's another great love of mine. I've always loved his music. I love instrumental playing. This particular piece I've always been very fond of.
Symphony No. 3 in F minor, Op. 28 'Irish' (opening)
This symphony I love because it reminds me of going on holiday in Ireland when I was a young child.
Beim Schlafengehen (from Four Last Songs)
This particular recording by Jesse Norman is, for me, the ultimate in forbidden fruit.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:44How surprised were you that the falsetto voice was where you found your voice, as it were?
I wasn't surprised at all, but I know a lot of other people are. I was a boy soprano, and as far as I was concerned, that's what I wanted to sing, and I really didn't give a damn what anybody else thought.
Presenter asks
3:23Why did you choose to sing falsetto?
Because I liked the repertoire and I liked the voice and my particular upbringing, my um school where I wo was at was extremely interested in that sort of music. I mean, I had I had a I had a very precocious Baroque background and therefore to me it was no surprise to sing this particular repertoire.
Presenter asks
11:07Back at school in the fifties, when you cultivated this form of singing, did you get a lot of stick from other boys?
Not really, because if you go to an all male boarding school, boys have to play girls' parts in school plays, boys have to sing in the everything in the choir, it's it's you have a go at singing that, and you're just told to do it, and the boys … I used to say to them, I bet I'm I'll make more money than you.
The keepsakes
The luxury
I'd make a special little shrine for it as a memory of the exotic Baroque world which I've inhabited from time to time.
Presenter asks
25:44You had a vocal crisis in your mid thirties. What happened?
I did, yes. It was a very traumatic time, and I've never concealed it. … I had a very bad schedule. … and my voice said, Right, thank you very much. And packed up on me literally in the studio. … I lost my self-confidence and I really couldn't sing decently for about another four years. … And then suddenly, in true British fashion, I said to myself, Pull this all together. And it came back again, luckily.
Presenter asks
31:21But what about emotionally? Could you stick it all alone for heaven knows how long?
No, I think I'll be pretty hopeless actually. … I like human company. … I think I'd miss my friends terribly, yes. … I wouldn't sing a lot, no. … I'd get on and make myself a habitation. I'd enjoy that. But once the novelty had worn off, then I think total depression would set in.
“Oh yes, entirely. It's it's an artificial voice. There's s such an an awful lot of um confusion about this and we're nothing to do with castrati, we're nothing to do with all these curious freaks that exist in the in the vocal world. No. It's a contrived falsetto voice. It's highly developed and turned into a voice in its own right.”
“And luckily I'd taken the trouble to um learn a large chunk of the piece so I didn't feel too much like a fish out of water.”
“He was like a prep school master a bit. He was very shy. Very correct. You could never cross a certain line with him. He was one of these people that always kept a distance between you and him.”
“My grandmother was very staunchly Irish. She would never sit in a room with the curtains open because she was afraid she might have been shot at by the IRA.”
“Gosh, I think it's probably the Brahms. As I've said before, I've always felt of Brahms as a desadarne type composer.”