Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Concert pianist, academic in the cognitive psychology of music, and executor of poet Stephen Spender's literary estate.
On the island
Eight records
Gigue from Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, BWV 825
that's because that's exactly the sort of music I loved as a very early child.
String Quintet No. 4 in G minor, K. 516Favourite
Amadeus Quartet with Cecil Aronowitz
really reflecting the wonderful chamber music playing at Funtington, which was the Booths country house.
Und ob die Wolke sie verhülle (from Der Freischütz)
a voice I knew really only from records... was that of Tiana Le Lemnitz, and I was absolutely passionate for her.
Prisoners' Chorus (from Fidelio)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini
right at the end of the war I was doing a tour of Malcolm clubs, RAF Malcolm Clubs, in Germany, and uh I was asked to give a concert at Belsen. And it was one of the most extraordinary days of my whole life.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19
In nineteen forty seven I played at the last night of the Proms, and it was the first concert in the world to be televised.
Gee, Officer Krupke (from West Side Story)
one of the new friendships were with uh Lenny Bernstein, who was wonderful, in that he was very loyal, very funny, but he could be outrageous
I learnt his piano sonata and enga indeed gave the first performance of it in London.
Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581
Melos Ensemble of London with Gervase de Peyer
It's really to do with family life, because our family is very musical.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:22Do you have any sense yourself that to date you have lived a remarkable and untypically eventful life?
Oh, yes, it was certainly very varied and one was forever dovetailing the different parts of one's life, one's home life, one's professional life. And right now I'm uh editing journals and uh it doesn't stop. I'm hoping to go on.
Presenter asks
2:41What did you mean when you said that [your inner life is so largely music]?
Well, I think that where a lot of people have an inner life that's religion. If you're a musician, you're striving all the time to express something. Really spiritual. And your whole, as it were, spiritual life goes into... Producing in the most selfless way... The beauty of the music.
Presenter asks
9:58What happened [when your mother told you your father was alive and sent you to see him]?
Well, she'd sort of build him up as a sort of wonderful figure and somebody I should not only respect and emulate. And when the door was opened, there was this huge bearded man in crumpled clothes and carpet slippers, and we just stood staring at each other. We wouldn't say a word. In fact, what happened was that he persuaded me to play the piano to improvise. And that was the first moment in which I felt I had some communication with him. It was the only conversation we had, really.
The keepsakes
The book
Walter de la Mare
It tells of at least forty desert islands, of Daniel Deffo, of Robinson Crusoe, and many more. And I'd really enjoy the fellow feeling with all those inhabitants that I'd joined some kind of club of enthusiasts.
The luxury
Presenter asks
11:44What was life like with Mummy in London?
Well, she'd had a a great tragedy, which was to be uh struck deaf with typhoid fever, so she couldn't go on with her stage career. She unfortunately was rather bad at lip reading or any of the things that exist now. She wasn't able to do. Sometimes one would mouth words at her. I remember saying... Will you pass the butter, please? And my mother said, Natasha, how can you say those dreadful words? So that it it did have its problems.
Presenter asks
18:50Did you find [Stephen Spender] attractive?
Yes, very attractive. He was very tall and very beautiful. I don't know what he made made of me. I was ve I looked very old fashioned, with plaits round my head and so on. But everybody appe disappeared very sharply after lunch, and there he was facing all the w dishes, and so I stayed and helped him wash up, and then we took a a walk round Mecklenburg Square, and then we dined, and we couldn't stop talking. It was love at first sight, and from then on we just saw each other every day.
Presenter asks
28:03Given how central music was to your life, and given how accomplished you were as a performer, how difficult was that [giving up your career due to cancer surgery] to deal with?
It was very difficult, but I in one way, but I was prudent also in one day. Any work that I'd learnt but not yet performed for instance, I'd learnt the Brahm second concerto with Clifford Curson, but had not yet had a date for it. So if that was on the wireless, I turned it off. But otherwhi otherwise I simply got on with the next thing.
“I think there's one's inner life and one's outer life. One's inner life is not to be talked about because it's so largely music.”
“I don't want the sort of uh love that is uh demanded at pistol point, as it were. I don't want to own my husband. I want to be devoted to him.”
“I did think it extraordinary that you're married for fifty-five years and you don't hear one of these really super anecdotes.”