Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Pianist, lecturer, and broadcaster.
On the island
Eight records
Haydn Trumpet Concerto (third movement)
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
closing passage of the trumpet concerto, conducted by Neville Marriner, trumpet Alan Stringer
Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55 (slow movement)
chosen because it charmed him as a young man in a record shop
Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 (first movement)
Yehudi Menuhin and Georges Enescu
a recording he loved and wore out
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
closing passage of the piece
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (18th Variation)Favourite
the very piece that helped him woo his wife Jean
Fantasy in C major, Op. 17 (second movement)
closing passage of the second movement
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
closing passage of the concerto
In conversation
Presenter asks
5:38How early did you start learning the piano?
I would think either the age of three or the age of four. Not absolutely sure which.
Presenter asks
8:04What happened to you when you came back after Oxford?
Well, I became an organist a little bit. I went to Blackheath and I was an organist at St Margaret's Lee, but I decided for one reason or another that the piano was the instrument for me rather than the organ.
Presenter asks
11:41After the war, when you were belatedly launched in London, did engagements come in thick and fast?
No, I wouldn't say thick and fast, no. Actually, I would like to go back a little, Roy, if I may, and tell you what led up to my going back onto the concert platform.
Presenter asks
17:14A great deal of your professional career has been devoted to musical lectures. How did those start?
The keepsakes
The book
Walter de la Mare
I've thought about this a great deal, and I've come to the conclusion that I should enjoy most a collection of poems called Come Hither by Walter de la Maire.
The luxury
I take my dummy keyboard. Yes, but you see, I can't tune a piano, and the piano would go very much out of tune. And I think that with the dummy keyboard, I have got perfect pitch, so that I can imagine all the performances. And what's more, I can keep my technique in order for the time when I'm rescued when that ship appears on the horizon.
Jean, my wife, and my realizing that quite honestly, the nervous strain of trying to keep up this concert performance was gradually killing me. I think largely because I'd started so late. … I thought of some way of getting round this and this idea of talking about the lives of the composers came to us.
Presenter asks
20:33You do a lot of sailing, Joe, don't you? Could you build a boat?
I dare say I could.
“I'm a very dependent, gregarious sort of creature, and always get other people to do the dirty jobs rather than doing them myself.”
“I think you'll find the noise of seabirds maddening.”
“I remember it took me three weeks – baths of perspiration – to write music for 'Spring on the Farm' where Britten would think nothing of doing about three films in two days. To be alongside a genius like this was very awe‑inspiring.”
“And Delius' old gramophone was there, just as he'd left it. And I listened to Beecham's recording of 'Cuckoo in Spring', actually in the room where it was composed, and I found it jolly moving.”
“I had two sessions after lunch and all my inefficiency as a staff officer was more than covered by my lunch hour concerts.”
“I can't tune a piano, and the piano would go very much out of tune. And I think that with the dummy keyboard, I have got perfect pitch, so that I can imagine all the performances. And what's more, I can keep my technique in order for the time when I'm rescued.”