Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Opera singer known for acting; acclaimed for controversial Carmen and daring Salome under Peter Hall; also sings jazz and popular ballads.
On the island
Eight records
talking about acting, Sinatra was a great actor, but why was he a great actor? ... because he drew upon his own experiences. That's what set him apart from everyone else.
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un fauneFavourite
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Ernest Ansermet
this was the first classical music I heard. My mother brought back some ... recordings from Holland ... and when I played this music and I I I think I was five, six, seven, I was absolutely overwhelmed by it.
this takes me back to the seventies in New York. I used to listen to the jazz station there all the time.
the music of lamentation is my contribution to rekindling the spirit of empathy. for it is only the moments of reflection that give us a chance to lament, heal, and find a deep peace.
I would have to have the the spoken voice, and particularly his, and uh and I think I think the poem speaks for itself.
I think he is to playing what Mozart was to composition. He just does it. And always surprising harmonically and rhythmically and and full of wit.
Round the Horne (episode featuring J. Pease Mold Gruntfuttock)
Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Horne
I would have to laugh, and I I listened to the Round the Horn tapes. I've got all of them in my car, and I've listened to them over and over and over again.
Concerto in F (Third Movement)
I believe this rendition is from the film American in Paris.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:01Would you have liked to have been an actress?
I've never thought about [it] ... I mean, if the right thing sort of came along, perhaps I would do it. Perhaps I would. But I I've never thought about that. I just did it. I just responded to the text and the ... drama, just sort of instinctively.
Presenter asks
2:35Does it really matter if an opera singer can't act?
Well, to some it doesn't matter the voice alone is enough. ... It isn't easy to act ... as an opera singer. Mainly because one is preoccupied with the vocal requirements. It's very, very difficult. It's hard. It is hard work.
Presenter asks
3:26Tell me about your interpretation of Carmen.
I I don't know, you know, I never ha uh sort of had a a preconceived idea of of Carmen. ... I think when you do a roll, what happens is that you ... are revealed in the character. You have to be. ... It's just that you understand what that is, something in your imagination. ... she's not wicked, she's full of fear and superstition. But like anyone who has to get on in life, particularly a woman, a woman alone, woman working in a cigarette factory, you know, living the rough life, has to survive. She's not very trusting of anyone.
The keepsakes
The book
The Poetical Works of John Donne
John Donne
I've selected for very, very personal reasons the poetical works of John Donne. I think he understood through a very personal experience, those elements in human nature that often conflict in the physical. The flesh. and the spirit.
The luxury
Presenter asks
10:36How did your mother spot your talent?
Well, my sister Frances um sang in the choir, and uh I would play the piano for her and sing along. My mother uh said to you have a voice. You have a voice there. And I remember looking at her and thinking, Why are you saying that? Do you think I can't play the piano?
Presenter asks
18:25Why don't you listen to opera?
What I've selected here is the music I listen to. ... I think it's just you're just it's too much a part of me. It's too much a part of me. ... I'd probably be too critical.
Presenter asks
25:29What don't you like in a conductor or a director?
Indifference. Coldness. Arrogance um lack of compassion. You know, you're you're working with emotions that ju you know, that are always right, you know, fever pitch most of the time. So y and a a singer after all, is the one we have to do it. We have to sing. We have to convey the the meaning through the text, which is the most powerful. And you need the support behind you to to do that, to feel free enough to do that.
“I think when you do a roll, what happens is that you ... are revealed in the character. You have to be.”
“I think the thing is that I was I was perhaps not ready uh for marriage. I I I I was always a bit afraid of it.”
“Someone said home is where the soul is, so I I guess somewhere my ... soul has has drawn me to this place.”