Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A singer, best known for her performances.
On the island
Eight records
Marian Anderson, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner & Robert Shaw Chorale
I've chosen this because it was one of the very first records that I can remember hearing of of classical music. And I still have my copy of this old scratchy seventy-eight. It's very, very dear to me because I aside from loving the music, I'm very, very fond of Marian Anderson.
Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
that's very dear to me because I heard the Bach Cello suites played by Pierre Fournier the first time I ever was outside of the United States.
I Have a Dream (Speech in Detroit, 1963)
Martin Luther King's speech that's become known as the Dream Speech is a speech he made in Detroit in 1963.
Could Love Forever (from The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet)
the reason that I want to listen to Could Love Forever is that it was composed by a child of uh eleven years of age at the time. And this is real inspiration as far as I'm concerned.
Tristan und Isolde: Act II DuetFavourite
Kirsten Flagstad & Lauritz Melchior, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf
this takes me back again because we spoke earlier about my listening to the Saturday broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera, and this recording has been made by the Met.
Children's Corner: Golliwogg's Cake-Walk
because I do adore piano music, and particularly solo piano music. And W C I can't think of anything better, really.
Le nozze di Figaro: Act II Finale
Jessye Norman, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
it's the only record that I've chosen in which I've taken part. And because I have such fond memories of this recording and the The whole atmosphere of the recording was so relaxed and so marvellous, I would hate to think of being on a desert island and not being able to listen to this particular record.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:53Could you endure loneliness?
I think I could, if I had enough things with me, to sort of make it a bit more comfortable.
Presenter asks
1:18What would you be happiest to have got away from?
The telephone I would be so happy to get away from the telephone.
Presenter asks
3:32Was there music in the family?
Always, absolutely always. We were marched out, I think, as soon as we could walk on our own to piano lessons. ... My father was an insurance broker. ... Very musical in that he loved to sing. He wasn't trained professionally in music at all, but my mother and my father both enjoyed music enormously.
Presenter asks
4:42Was singing an early ambition, or did you have any other ambition as a youngster?
As a youngster, I was very interested in in medicine and all kinds of other things. I didn't think of of music as a profession at all. It was something that I did as a hobby and it was what I enjoyed. And I never imagined having a career in music. It just didn't seem very realistic.
The keepsakes
The luxury
I can't imagine being anywhere without lots and lots of huge green bottles of Perrier water.
Presenter asks
5:33What was your introduction to operatic music?
To operatic music was certainly via the radio, where I listened to the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts on uh Saturday afternoon. And this was certainly my earliest acquaintance, other than, I guess, one or two gramophone records, certainly with uh operatic music, yes.
Presenter asks
20:40What do you think is more important in your career, opera or the concert platform?
That's a very difficult question. I would hate to have to choose between the two.
“I think for about the first hundred years I would enjoy enormously the absence of a telephone.”
“I'm a singer.”
“I only got past the square knot. I think I finally got that down. But the rest of it I wasn't very good at it.”